A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 463 The Emperor Bestows Two Bowls of Noodles

In the Taiji Palace,

Emperor Li Yuan, dressed in a purple robe, was having tea with his old friend Pei Ji, as well as Grand Secretaries Feng Lun and Xiao Yu, and Attendant-in-Ordinary Chen Shuda.

Today's main topic is discussing the establishment of the Tian Ce Mansion.

Feng Deyi held a draft document: "The Tiance Prefecture shall be established with one Chief Clerk, one Military Advisor, two Attendant Gentlemen, and shall also be in charge of the affairs of the Prefectural Governor. There shall be two Military Advisors and Libationers, who shall advise on military affairs, assist in etiquette, and receive guests."

The four officials in charge of publicity and guidance are responsible for the work of mentors and guides.

Two chief clerks, responsible for receiving and reporting imperial edicts. Two registrars, two secretaries and military advisors, responsible for drafting memorials and petitions, and proclaiming imperial edicts. Two military advisors each for the six departments of granary, cavalry, armored soldiers, and armored officers, and six military advisors…

As the Tian Ce Mansion, which is in charge of conquering the whole country, its staff is quite complete.

It was said that Xu could appoint his own officials, but the main officials were still to be appointed by the emperor.

Li Yuan stroked his beard and said, "The Chief Secretary of the Tiance Prefecture will be Tang Jian, the Minister of Rites and concurrently the Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, and the Chief Military Advisor of the Tiance Prefecture will be Yuwen Shiji, the Vice Minister of the Chancellery."

As soon as this word comes out,
The prime ministers remained silent. Tang Jian was a senior official and a meritorious minister. He had been on campaigns in recent years and had made great contributions. He had always been trusted by the emperor. It was only natural that he was appointed as the chief secretary of the Tiance Prefecture.

It was somewhat surprising that Yuwen Shiji was appointed as the Sima of Tiance Mansion, since the Sima of Tiance Mansion, like the Chief Secretary, was a third-rank official.

Previously, Yuwen Shiji was merely a General of the Cavalry in the Prince of Qin's mansion.
However, he later served as the Chief Secretary of the Luozhou General Administration under Li Yi, and this time he was promoted to Vice Minister of the Chancellery upon entering the court.

But as everyone knows, the emperor chose him primarily because of his sister, Consort Yuwen. Consort Yuwen had given birth to the emperor's eleventh son and had recently been enfeoffed as the Prince of Song, and was deeply favored by Li Yuan.

Yuwen Shiji and the emperor were cousins, and they were superior and subordinate in the previous dynasty. They had always had a good relationship. Although he came to the Tang Dynasty relatively late, he was always appreciated by the emperor.

He had been working in the Prince of Qin's residence for a long time, but he was the emperor's man. Now he has been promoted to the third-rank position of Sima of the Tian Ce Mansion, which makes sense.

Emperors have always preferred to appoint people based on nepotism, and the prime ministers are well aware of this.

Moreover, there was a prime minister named Feng Deyi, who had a good relationship with Yuwen Shiji, and he must have contributed to this matter as well.

After some discussion
The appointment of Yu Zhining and Du Ruhui as Attendants-in-Ordinary was decided, both of whom were of the fourth rank or lower. The appointment of Su Shichang and Dou Shilun as Military Advisors-in-Chief was also decided, both of whom were of the fifth rank or lower.

Su Shichang was also an old friend of the emperor, having previously served as the Minister of the Xiangzhou Secretariat, the son of Wang Shichong, while Dou Shilun was the son of Dou Kang.

The chief clerks were Li Xuandao and Yu Shinan, and the secretaries were Xue Shou and Xue Yuanjing.

Most of the main officials in the Tian Ce Mansion were either his own people or newly surrendered officials, with fewer people from the original Qin Prince's Mansion and the Grand Secretariat.

After the matter was agreed upon,
The emperor, holding his teacup, brought up the next matter.

"Previously, Prince Wu'an said that Hebei should establish two major general administrations and six intermediate general administrations, and that the major general administration should no longer control the intermediate general administrations. The major and intermediate general administrations should each manage their own affairs. What do you think?"

Pei Ji immediately replied, "What Prince Wu'an said makes a lot of sense. Now that the war in Hebei has been quelled, the Xingtai has been abolished, and the Grand General's Office really doesn't need to take over the other General's Offices anymore."

"Alright, then issue an edict that the Grand General's Office shall not interfere with the other General's Offices."

Xiao Yu reported, "Your Majesty, Yang Shidao, the governor of Lingzhou, has reported a great victory, defeating the invading Turks."

Li Yuan didn't even lift his eyelids when he heard this.

Yang Shidao was the younger brother of Yang Gongren. Li Shuliang, the Prince of Changping, had been defeated and killed while trying to rescue him. Now that the Turks had withdrawn, Yang Shidao sent troops to follow them, ambushing a small group of Turks and beheading dozens of them, yet he still had the nerve to call it a great victory.

However, Li Yuan still appointed Yang Shidao to this important position because Yang Shidao had married his widowed daughter, Princess Guiyang. Even though he knew that Yang Shidao's abilities were far inferior to his elder brother Yang Gongren and that Yang Shidao enjoyed hunting, banquets, and poetry in Lingzhou, he still appointed him to this important position.

"I hereby confer upon Yang Shidao the title of Duke of Ande County, and commend the soldiers of Lingzhou!" Li Yuan declared.

As for his unfortunate cousin, Prince Chang Le, Li Shuliang, he was posthumously granted the title of General of the Left Guard and Governor-General of Lingzhou, with the posthumous name of Su. His eldest son, Xiaoxie, was enfeoffed as Prince of Fanyang, and his second son, Xiaobin, was enfeoffed as Prince of Tongchuan.

"Your Majesty, Prince Xiaogong of Hejian led two thousand warships eastward. Taking advantage of the surging river and the enemy's unpreparedness, Chief Clerk Li Jing captured the towns of Jingmen and Yidu, advancing to Yiling. Xiao Xian, with Wen Shihong leading tens of thousands of elite troops, was stationed at Qingjiang, but was defeated by Xiaogong and Li Jing. They captured over three hundred warships, killed tens of thousands who drowned, and pursued the fleeing enemy to Bailizhou."

Xiao Xian's Jiangzhou governor Gai Yan surrendered with five prefectures, and Ezhou governor Lei Changying also surrendered.

Xiao Xian, along with his general Qiu He, chief secretary Gao Shilian, and military advisor Du Zhisong, were on their way to Jiangling to pay homage when they heard of the arrival of the Great Tang army. They went to the Prince's camp to surrender!

"Your Majesty, I congratulate you! Congratulations on the great victory in the southeast! The pacification of Jing and Xiang will be achieved soon!"

Compared to the great victory at Lingzhou, this was undoubtedly a truly great victory.

Despite the swelling of the river after the torrential rain, Li Xiaogong and Li Jing seized the opportunity to launch an attack, decisively defeating Xiao Xian's army. Now, Xiao Xian is trapped in Jiangling City, left with only the isolated city and a few thousand soldiers.

The surrounding six states surrendered.

Even Qiu He and others, the general manager from Jiaozhi who came to pay homage to Xiao Xian, simply ran directly to the Tang army camp to surrender.

Xiao Xian originally controlled Jing and Xiang provinces and had hundreds of thousands of troops, but he was fighting among his subordinates and had some kind of plan to send the scattered soldiers back to farming. Now that the Tang army is launching a fierce attack, he can only let the emperor guard the country's gates.

Although Xiao Xian was a descendant of the Liang Dynasty royal family, he was only a county magistrate in the previous dynasty. In his early years, he made a living by selling books in Chang'an. When a group of military leaders in Jingxiang raised an army to rebel against the Sui Dynasty, they did not want to be the first to rebel, so they pushed him, a member of the Liang Dynasty royal family, to be their leader. This resulted in Xiao Xian never having any real power.

After all these years of fighting, the result has been mutual destruction.

Now that Li Xiaogong has led his troops to besiege Jiangling City, the Liang army has no time to summon reinforcements to the capital.

Li Yuan stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

After years of planning in Shannan, the harvest is finally in sight.

He also knew that Li Yuan and Li Xiaogong had not made much progress in Shannan before, and had suffered repeated defeats and lost territory. Now they were so powerful, which was largely due to the efforts of Li Jing, the chief secretary.

"Well done! Tell them not to let their guard down. They must seize the opportunity to finish the battle quickly and take Jiangling as soon as possible."

"An imperial edict was issued, bestowing upon Xiao Gong, the Prince of Hejian, the title of Prince of Zhao, and increasing his fief to ten thousand households. Li Jing, the Marquis of Yongkang, was promoted to Duke of Yongkang, and each was granted a thousand bolts of silk!"

"Your Majesty, Prince Li Yi of Yan has submitted a memorial requesting to serve in the court and attend to Your Majesty."

Li Yuan pondered,

In front of several prime ministers, he asked directly, "You say that the Prince of Yan requested to come to court, but is that sincere?"

Xiao Yu stated frankly, "In my opinion, Li Yi's request to enter the court is merely a gesture; if the court were to actually order him to enter, he might not be willing."

The three kings of the north have always been independent rulers of their own territories. Although Li Yi had submitted to the court long ago, the imperial court had never been able to truly control Youzhou.

He may only be feeling the impact of the imperial court's unification of Hebei, which is why he has volunteered to enter the court.

Li Yuan took a sip of tea. "If Li Yi truly wants to join the court, then I would like to let him stay in Youzhou for a few more years. But if he is just pretending to test me, then I cannot let him go back."

"An imperial edict appointed Li Yi, the Prince of Yan, as the General of the Left Wing Guard and concurrently the Right Guard Commander of the Crown Prince."

"Li Yuan, Prince of Lujiang, is hereby appointed as the Grand General of Youzhou, and Wang Junkuo, General of the Right Guard and Duke of Peng, is appointed as the Chief Secretary of the Grand General's Office of Youzhou to assist in the defense of Youzhou!"

Li Yi wanted to test the court, so Li Yuan simply went along with it and left Li Yi in Chang'an.

Since you requested to go to court on your own initiative, do you dare to change your mind again? Then the emperor will have a legitimate reason to take action.

Li Yi was clearly far inferior to Li Yuan in his ability to outmaneuver him.

The meeting concluded.

The emperor invited the prime ministers to dinner and served them a meal in the main hall.

When the food was served, the prime ministers were somewhat surprised; it was just a bowl of noodles.

The large bowl contains hand-pulled noodles as wide as chive leaves, topped with minced meat.

"Meat noodles, topped with mutton." Li Yuan said with a smile while peeling garlic.

The prime ministers didn't find anything special about it. They picked up their noodles and started stirring. Prime Ministers Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda were from the south and didn't eat garlic with their noodles.

However, the emperor, Pei Ji, and Feng Deyi would peel a few cloves of garlic before eating noodles, because eating noodles without garlic would only diminish the flavor by half.

In fact, the eating habits of emperors and prime ministers were similar to those of ordinary people.

Night falls.

The banquet at Wuji Fort has finally come to an end.
The villagers ate until their bellies were full, but no one was in a hurry to go home. They gathered in groups of three or five at the foot of Wuji Fort to chat.

The weather is just right,

After a hearty meal, they would squat or stand, gazing at the rice paddies by the river, feeling utterly content.

However, this satisfaction did not seem to last long.

Some people started using the outhouse at the bridgehead. This outhouse is now an upgrade from the one Li Yi originally built; it's bigger and cleaner.

Many villagers usually eat only thin porridge and wild vegetables, barely scraping by. But today they ate their fill of stewed meat noodles, and even ate several large bowls.

It was comfortable.

But my stomach couldn't take it right away.

Many people started having diarrhea and had to go to the toilet.
After finishing one trip, he made another one shortly after.

Although the outhouses at the bridgehead have been upgraded and there are public toilets every now and then in the market, they are still always full.

Those who couldn't wait ran to the fields.

When Li Yi first heard the report, he thought it was because of poor hygiene and that everyone had been poisoned.

Later, Luo San told him that it was just that his stomach couldn't handle it for a while, and he would be fine after a few bowel movements.

This left Li Yi speechless; he had completely forgotten about it.

Quickly send Luo San to Wuji Pharmacy to have the pharmacist prepare some medicine, bring it back, cook it, and give it to these fellow villagers who have diarrhea.

Do something bad with good intentions.

However, none of the villagers blamed Li Yi; they just lamented that their stomachs were not cooperating, as they had finally managed to eat so much good food, but their stomachs couldn't hold it in.

Consuming two hundred pigs and thirty thousand catties of flour in one meal—if the Tang Dynasty had a Guinness World Record, it would definitely break that record.

The sky darkened.

An angel suddenly arrived.

"Today His Majesty held court with the prime ministers, and afterwards he bestowed upon them a meal. Since the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Wu'an were not in Chang'an today, he specially sent his servants to deliver the meal."

The exquisite rosewood food box was opened.

The eunuch brought out two bowls of noodles from inside. They were large, exquisite white porcelain bowls made from Xing kiln white porcelain. Inside were chopped noodles topped with minced mutton, chopped green onions, and minced chives.

It tastes just like the braised pork noodles we had at Wujibao today, except the pork was replaced with mutton.

What was most unusual was that the emperor sent two bowls, one for Li Yi and one for Li Shimin.

The emperor was telling him that everything that happened here today was under his control, including not only his hosting of this grand banquet for ten thousand people, but also the Prince of Qin's secret rendezvous.

"It was delivered by fast horse, the noodles haven't clumped up yet," the eunuch said with a smile.

Besides the noodles, the emperor also gave Li Yi an imperial decree.

It was an imperial edict that ordered Li Yi to establish the state and set up government offices and officials.

As the Prince of Wu'an, he can establish a set of officials for the state and the government. The Wu'an Kingdom can have one head of the household, two chief farmers, two commandants, eight guards, two attendants, one temple chief, one food official, one school official, one stable and livestock chief, one assistant chief, one chief prefect, and one assistant prefect.

The Prince of Wu'an's residence could be staffed with tutors, advisors, friends, literary advisors, East and West libationers, chief clerks, military officers, clerks, subordinates, registrars, secretaries, military advisors, military advisors of various departments, and military advisors.

It was also permitted to establish the Tent Palace and the Personal Affairs Palace, each with its own military commander, deputy military commander, prefect, and clerk.

There were 333 people in the tent, 160 of whom were personal attendants, and commanders such as captains, brigade commanders, squad leaders, and squad deputy commanders.

Li Yi's officials, including those in the state and the prefectural offices, were all of official rank and were appointed by him through recruitment and appointment.

The five hundred soldiers in the Imperial Household Department and the Tent Department were composed of sons of nobles, officials, and meritorious officials, while the officers were military officers from the imperial court.

"Prince Wu'an, His Majesty has instructed you to submit a list of state officials and their assistants as soon as possible. The court will arrange for the military officers and staff of the Imperial Household and the Imperial Household departments as soon as possible."

Li Yi was somewhat puzzled.

How could the princes and nobles of the Tang Dynasty, who were not feudal, establish their own kingdoms and governments?
How could this Prince of Wu'an possibly have five hundred soldiers and a host of officials?
I don't understand!
(End of this chapter)