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

Chapter 475 Iron-Blooded Prince
"Go to Changshoufang in the west of the city!"

As the sun set, Li Yi stood in front of the palace gate and gave instructions to Song Yi.

After Dou Jiande entered the capital, the emperor bestowed upon him a residence in Changshoufang, west of the city. However, Dou Jiande died only half a month after arriving in the capital, and did not live a long life at all.

At dusk, the white banners of the Dou Mansion in Changshoufang hung low, and the white paper lanterns swayed in the autumn wind.

Li Yi dismounted, the goldfish-shaped pouch on his gold and jade belt swaying.

"The Prince of Wu'an has arrived!" the gatekeeper announced, his voice trailing off.

A group of former Hebei subordinates looked over from inside the gate.

Li Yimai entered the mansion and went straight to the mourning hall to pay his respects.

After helping with the preparations, Qi Shanxing came forward and first presented Li Yi with a plain robe, which Li Yi put on. Dou Jiande's adopted son offered three sticks of incense.

Li Yi took the incense and went to the altar to pay his respects.

The emperor has already dispatched officials to handle the funeral arrangements, and the imperial edict posthumously granting him the title of Duke of Xia has been issued. Before the coffin, Cao, the widow of Dou Jiande, held the infant son born to her concubine in her arms and cried until her eyes were red and swollen.

May the soul of Duke Xiang of Xia rest in peace in the netherworld!

Incense.

"I still remember that when Dou Gong was in Mingzhou, he said that the world was in turmoil, and all he wanted was a bowl of hot porridge. He hoped that Hebei would be at peace."

"Please rest assured, Lord Dou, I, Li, will ensure that the people of Mingzhou in Hebei can enjoy a bowl of hot porridge as soon as possible."

"A crocodile cry for a mouse, all hypocritical!"

Cao Dan, Dou Jiande's brother-in-law, suddenly interrupted Li Yi, his tone filled with hostility, "You spoke so kindly in Hebei, promising to treat the King of Xia and his subjects well, but once you arrived in Chang'an, you turned your back on them without a second thought."

Li Yin could sense the suppressed anger of the Dou family members and former subordinates in the mourning hall.

He placed the incense sticks properly and completed the ritual.

He said to Cao, "Please accept my condolences."

Cao bowed in gratitude.

Li Yi turned to look at Cao Dan. Before coming to the capital, Cao Dan had been recommended by Li Yi to be the Prefect of Dingzhou, a local official of the third rank.

He came to Chang'an, but he could no longer return to Hebei. The court appointed him as General Yunhui, which was a third-rank general, but it was just a nominal title without any specific duties.

Moreover, Cao Dan was very worried after Dou Jiande's sudden death, fearing that they would be next.

"General Cao, do you know why Lord Dou died?"

Dou Jiande's brother-in-law, Qi Shanxing, has received his transfer order and has been appointed as a consultant to the Prince of Wu'an's Palace, a fifth-rank official.

He is now Li Yi's subordinate. In the summer, he served as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Before coming to the capital, he was recommended by Li Yi to be the Inspector General of Jizhou. Now, however, he has become an advisor to Li Yi's Prince of Wu'an. The difference is quite significant.

I'm also quite depressed.

But Qi Shanxing, Dou Jiande's old brother, later married the Cao sisters. Although he also rebelled with a knife back then, at least he had some education.

Back then, Dou Jiande was the village head, while he served as a township assistant.

No one believed that King Xia died from accidentally ingesting mica, even though the imperial physicians examined him and came to the same conclusion, they still did not believe it.

Whether you believe it or not, we're all in Chang'an now.

People are knives and servants, and I am fish and meat.

What good would it do for Cao Dan, the brother-in-law, to question Li Yi like that? If he angered Li Yi, things would only end worse for everyone.

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Qi Shanxing immediately stepped forward.

“Brother, you mustn’t speak carelessly. Master Dou died from poisoning caused by accidentally ingesting mica while taking elixirs. Several famous doctors have already reached a conclusion on this matter.”

Cao Dan retorted, "You surnamed Qi, how could you speak on behalf of outsiders?"

Li Yi stood in the mourning hall.

"When His Majesty heard of the sudden death of Duke Dou, he was deeply saddened. He posthumously granted Duke Dou the title of Duke of Xia, bestowed upon him the posthumous name of Xiang, and ordered Duke Dou's son to inherit the title of Duke of Xia, to continue the state and the family. He also bestowed upon him the secret artifacts of the Eastern Garden, the drums and swords of the court, and specially suspended court for one day. Such treatment is already very special."

Lord Cao, do not speak rashly and betray the Emperor's grace, causing further trouble for the officials of Hebei.

finished,

Li Yi did not stay at the Dou family's house for long.

Qi Shanxing personally escorted him to the door.

"Your Majesty, please forgive Cao Dan somewhat; he has always been reckless."

Li Yi nodded. "Don't worry, I won't hold it against him. Has Lord Qi received the imperial order to transfer him?"

"Yes, I will follow the court's arrangements. However, I need to help with the funeral arrangements for Lord Dou. Could you give me some time? I will go to Hebei after Lord Dou's burial."

"Row."

Qi Shanxing, Liu Heita, Su Lie, Zhang Xuansu, Wang Cong, Sima Caizhang, and others were all former subordinates of Dou Jiande, and the emperor also allowed them to attend the funeral. Furthermore, they were officials of Li Yi's Prince's Palace, not officials of the Mingzhou Grand General's Office.

The two parted ways at the Dou family's door.

He took off his mourning clothes and rode back to Shengye Lane in the east of the city.

Li Yi and Dou Jiande weren't particularly close, so he just came to offer his condolences.

When I got home, a guest came to visit.

It had been more than a year since I last saw Prince Li Daoxuan of Huaiyang.

"Brother Wang." Li Daoxuan smiled and came up from afar to give Li Yi a big hug. This fierce general of the royal family had grown taller and stronger.

His once fit physique is now turning into that of a traditional, pot-bellied military general.

He'd gained weight, and his belly was much bigger. "What are you doing in Chang'an?"

"I received an imperial decree appointing me as the Prefect of Luozhou."

Li Yi was a little surprised. Li Daoxuan had performed too well in Hedong before, and later became the governor of Xizhou. Only two years later, he was promoted to governor.
However, the position of Prefect of Luozhou was geographically important, so it cannot be considered a demotion.

“Actually, I would prefer to go to Mingzhou and continue to follow Brother Wang. Back then, when we were in Hedong, those days were truly exciting, and I still feel passionate when I think about them now,” Li Daoxuan said with a smile.

Li Yi was speechless. The boy was only eighteen years old, yet he was already reminiscing about the past.

However, historically, Li Daoxuan seems to have died in battle at this age. When Liu Heita rebelled, this royal prince was the commander-in-chief and led the troops into battle. He agreed with his chief clerk Shi Wanbao that he would personally lead the troops to charge and lure the enemy, and then let Shi Wanbao ambush them.

As a result, Li Daoxuan charged into the enemy ranks and drew the enemy's attention, while Shi Wanbao remained inactive, completely disregarding the young prince. As a result, Li Daoxuan was trapped in the enemy ranks until he died in battle.

Looking at this perpetually passionate young man, Li Yi felt as if he himself had grown old.

Although my soul is indeed no longer young.

"Come on in, let's talk inside."

Li Yi brewed him tea, but Li Daoxuan wanted to drink wine. "Bring me a pot of persimmon wine. In that remote place of Xizhou, we've gotten used to drinking persimmon wine."

Replace the tea with wine.

After drinking half a cup of wine, Li Daoxuan became more talkative.

His transfer to Luoyang this time was indeed somewhat of a demotion, stemming from his somewhat excessive actions while in Xizhou.

There are many Jihu people in Xizhou,
They have repeatedly caused trouble in recent years.
Then, when this young prince became the governor of Xizhou, he took ruthless measures and actively purged the Jihu.

During his two years as the governor of Xizhou, Li Daoxuan did nothing but focus on fighting the Ji Hu.

He ordered the Jihu tribe to be registered as a unified population, to be allocated land and distributed, and to pay rent and perform corvée labor.

But if there are those who do not obey, he will personally lead his troops to conquer them.

This prince was a fierce warrior, and few of the Qi Hu tribes could defeat him. After defeating the Qi Hu tribes, as was customary, he would cut off the chief's head and sell the chief's entire family as slaves to the accompanying merchant caravan.

Other methods of execution include drawing lots, with eleven lots drawn to determine the winner.

The unfortunate young man was dragged out and killed. His entire family was also sold into slavery.

The remaining 90% who were lucky were scattered and resettled.

This iron-fisted suppression strategy provoked repeated resistance from the Ji Hu, but the Ji Hu of Hedong, who had been crippled by Li Yi, were no match for Li Daoxuan now.

So they fought for two years.
The Ji Hu of Xizhou were either completely defeated or fled. Some fled to Yanzhou on the west bank of the Yellow River, some went to Liang Shidu of Xia Yin, some fled north to Shizhou and Lanzhou, and some went to Shuozhou to join Yuan Junzhang.

Li Daoxuan frequently crossed the line to attack, which not only angered the Ji Hu people, but also the Tang Dynasty governors and prefects around him.

Not long ago, he even led a light cavalry deep into Mayi territory to attack Yuan Junzhang and the Turks' rear.

Li Yuan was also afraid that his nephew would get into trouble, and also afraid that he would offend the Turks too much, so he simply transferred him to Luoyang as governor.

“We can’t just exterminate the Ji Hu; we also need to appease them. We have to use both methods, otherwise, if we don’t give them any way out, they will have no choice but to rebel,” Li Yi said.

"Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts. Those Hu people should be killed. If we let them go now, they will feign surrender, but they will rebel again when the opportunity arises. Didn't my brother say before that these people fear power but do not appreciate kindness, and we cannot be polite to them?"

At the very least, we can't let them continue settling in the tribe; we have to disperse them, otherwise there's no way to truly control and manage them.

Li Yi had to admire him; what he said made a lot of sense, only his methods were a bit too radical. These things couldn't be accomplished overnight.

Take these Qihu people for example. They were originally Xiongnu people who migrated south. They migrated south during the Han Dynasty. At first, they were obedient border guards for the Han people. However, they took advantage of the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty and began to move south continuously, which basically made them uncontrollable.

Later, the Five Barbarian Invasions were started by them.

Now, hundreds of years later, in the valleys of Shaanxi and Shanxi, the Jihu tribes, although they intermarry with the Han people, still maintain a great deal of independence and autonomy, and are the source of turmoil.

Throughout history, dynasties have tried to combat and govern it, but it has always been a malignant tumor that cannot be eradicated.

From Li Yi's perspective, who came later...

To completely eliminate these people, the key is to utterly destroy them so that they can integrate into the Central Plains dynasty and assimilate into the Han people.

Otherwise, if they continue to live and govern themselves in tribal and village form, and retain their traditional customs of the Qihu, then they will never enter the Chinese civilization and will always be a hidden danger.

Today's Ji Hu,
After the mid-Tang Dynasty, their basic territory became the base for the Tanguts who migrated there. During the late Tang and Five Dynasties period, and into the Song Dynasty, the Tanguts grew stronger and stronger, eventually establishing the Western Xia Dynasty.

If the Jihu are not eliminated, they will also establish their own country.

When are you going to Hebei?

"In the next few days."

“Then let’s go together. I’ll go to Luoyang with you.”

Li Daoxuan took another big gulp of persimmon liquor. "Actually, I think the court should make you the Grand Governor of Bingzhou. Now the Turkic Khaganate is constantly invading, and the situation in Hedong is unstable."

But the sage believed in people like Li Da'en and Li Kaidao, and even appointed the Prince of Qi as the Grand General of Bingzhou and Dou Cong as the Chief Secretary of the Grand General's Office of Bingzhou. He said that it was you, my brother, who defended Hedong in the first place. It was we and the Prince of Qin who defeated Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang and took back Hedong.

"Faced with the Turks, I don't understand why Your Majesty would choose to go to such lengths instead of using your elder brother, the Prince of Qin, and the Prince of Qi, who abandoned Taiyuan and fled, and the Duke of Qiao, who didn't contribute in the Battle of Hedong. Why is that?"

“I led troops to Mayi to attack the Turks, but His Majesty transferred me to Luoyang instead.”

Li Daoxuan reeked of alcohol and was very dissatisfied.

"You've had too much to drink, stop." Li Yi stopped him from talking nonsense, as it would be bad if these words reached the emperor's ears.

"I'm not drunk, I'm just not convinced. Take Li Yuan, the Prince of Lujiang, for example. What merits did he ever achieve? He tried to pacify Shannan, but he suffered defeat after defeat."

Brother Wang, when you go to Shannan, you will be able to sweep across forty prefectures there.

Now Li Yuan has become the Grand Commander of Youzhou! Why? His achievements are far less than mine! I'm more qualified to be the Grand Commander of Youzhou than he is!

···
(End of this chapter)