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

Chapter 478 The Dragon Returns to the Sea
After the start of winter, the weather gradually gets colder.

Yellow flowers alone bear dew, while red leaves have already drifted away in the wind.

In Xingdaofang, Chang'an, Cui Yingluo rested her chin on her hand, gazing at the chrysanthemums blooming under the eaves outside the window.

After the Frost's Descent, there will be no more flowers in the world as splendid as this one. Its skin is soft and its bones are slender, like a woman in a green dress with her hair in two buns.

In the courtyard not far away, the persimmons have turned red.

Many leaves have fallen from the tall persimmon trees, revealing clusters of bright red blossoms on the branches, like red lanterns hanging high.

Upon seeing the red persimmons, Cui Yingluo couldn't help but think of persimmon liquor, and then of the Sikong Mansion, which was the only place in the world that brewed persimmon liquor.

The image of that person who caused her so much distress floated into her mind.

To this day, she still finds it hard to accept that the Crown Prince acted as matchmaker and the Emperor bestowed a marriage upon her, and that the Princess of Wu'an had already signed the dowry agreement.

But before she could even officially marry into the family, he divorced her with a letter.

"Seventh Sister".

The maid Siqi came in and said, "I heard that Prince Wu'an is leaving the capital tomorrow."

"Oh."

"I also heard that Zheng's Rou Niang will be going to Mingzhou as well."

Cui Yingluo still rested her chin on her hand, gazing at the chrysanthemums outside the window, blooming so brilliantly, especially with dewdrops on them, making them even more beautiful.

"My lady, why are you still spacing out?" Siqi asked anxiously.

Cui Yingluo sighed, "Then what do you want me to do?"

Siqi said, "Why don't you follow Zheng Rou Niang's example, pack your things, and secretly leave the capital for Hebei tomorrow? That Zheng lady is the illegitimate daughter of Minister Cui of Xingyang, while you are the legitimate daughter of the Cui family of Qinghe."

"He doesn't want me anymore."

"My wife, are you confused? Zheng Rou Niang went to Prince Wu An, and he didn't refuse her anymore, did he? Are you really willing to accept this?"

Cui Yingluo had already been through the ordeal of burning coal and the imperial decree to marry, and had also made a contract with Prince Wu'an, making her Prince Wu'an's concubine.

It was only because of the unreasonable demand that the Cui family compensate for the loss of their property that the family fell out, and Prince Wu'an did indeed write a letter of divorce.

But Siqi felt she couldn't admit it.

“Siqi, if I elope with Prince Wu’an like this, the Cui family of Qinghe and Yanling will lose all face, and my parents will be so angry they’ll vomit blood.”

"But my wife, you clearly love Prince Wu'an so much, you can't disregard your own happiness for the rest of your life."

"If you miss out on Prince Wu'an, what will you do then? Are you just going to marry anyone?"

Remarriage is not so easy. Even for a legitimate daughter of one of the five noble families, she has already experienced one marriage. However, she is not widowed or divorced, but divorced, and even divorced as a concubine.

Li Yi held such a high position and wielded so much power.

The Zheng family could no longer choose a better husband for her. It would be good enough if she could be married to a son of a collateral branch of the five surnames. She might only be able to become someone's second wife or concubine.

Siqi felt that this was not the right path to take.

She would rather do what Zheng Rouniang did, abandoning her family and eloping with Li Yi.

Cui Yingluo remained silent.

She had met Li Yi in her hometown of Yanling, Yuzhou, Henan. At that time, her father offered to arrange for her to become Li Yi's concubine, but Li Yi refused.

"Wife, you're spacing out again. Hurry up and decide, he's leaving tomorrow."

······
The autumn wind is blowing.

Li Yi left the capital.
Princess Du Shiniang led a group of people to see him off. Shiniang gave him a willow branch as a gift and draped a robe she had sewn herself over his shoulders.

"Be careful on the road, and don't catch a cold at night."

Jin Yushu, however, looked delighted. "Your Highness, rest assured, I will certainly serve Your Majesty well."

She went to Hebei as she wished. Although she was reluctant to part with Li Shu, whom she had raised, she still entrusted Li Shu to Shi Niang and the others in order to give birth to a son or daughter.

Originally, the two Hu women, as well as Hongxiao and Zheng Rouniang, were also supposed to go.

However, before setting off, Dilraba became pregnant and stayed behind.

Li Yi stayed at home for a month this time, and not only did Dilraba get pregnant, but Ji Lingyi also got pregnant again.

After a month of hard work, Du Shiniang successfully landed two successful bids, and she was quite satisfied.

Dilraba couldn't go to Hebei, but the four carefully selected women who were originally scheduled to go with her still went, and Shi Niang even added four more.

Zheng Rou Niang had four concubines and twenty-four household maids.

These twenty-four concubines included ten women from prominent families in Luoyang Palace, selected by Consort Yin and others, ten women from the Dugu family, and four Taiji Palace maids bestowed by the emperor.

They were all young and beautiful, from prominent families, and skilled in poetry and literature.

Du Shiniang's plan was for these women to go to Hebei to serve her. If any of them caught Li Yi's eye and became pregnant, they would be promoted to concubines.

If she is able to give birth to a son, she will be promoted to a concubine.

Before they set off, Shi Niang had already obtained the official documents for them to be released from prison and become free people. They are now registered as free people under the Li family's household registration.

If a daughter is born, she is taken as a concubine; if a son is born, he is taken as a secondary wife.

Li Yi, a prince of the first rank and a high-ranking official, was entitled to have ten concubines.

There are still many spots available.

Li Yi didn't particularly like Shi Niang's insistence on increasing the size of the Li family, but he could understand it considering her circumstances.

She herself has to observe two years of mourning, and she won't have the chance to have children.

Compared to Shi Niang, who directly brought together a bunch of unfamiliar beauties, some of whom were former wives and concubines of the Dugu family or other noble wives and daughters who hadn't yet entered officialdom, Li Yi preferred to first establish some emotional connection before getting involved. For example, Luo San Niang or Huo Yu.

Sleeping with someone who's too unfamiliar feels like hiring a masseuse.

Human energy is limited.
Even emperors usually only have about ten concubines at a time.

The Royal Deer Park houses many deer.

Even the most magnificent stag king, thrown into a deer enclosure with twenty or thirty does, will charge into the enclosure with an air of exhilaration.
Over the next two or three months, it will tirelessly mate with the female deer, then lose over a hundred pounds, eventually becoming so exhausted it can barely walk, reduced to skin and bones, and bald.
Three months later, the magnificent stag king could only be carried out, and it would take a year and a half for it to recover.

Even a stag king as fierce as it is can't withstand thirty does, and would lose fifty or sixty pounds in a month, let alone a human.

Previously, Emperor Li Yuan frequently bestowed upon Li Yi fresh deer blood and venison from the Deer Park. Deer blood and wine were indeed potent.
But it also drains your body.

Li Yi is quite restrained. Even though he now has many wives and concubines, he doesn't indulge in nightly revelry. After all, there are no fields that can be over-plowed, only oxen that die from exhaustion.

Having lived two lives, I know I should cherish my youth.

Even when he was at home during this time, facing the expectant and longing eyes of his concubines, he only came once every three days, working one day and resting two.

I'll score at most two goals, but I'll never risk my life.

Li Yi believes that in order to have a large and prosperous family, it is also important to ensure good prenatal and postnatal care, especially after pregnancy. Childbirth and child-rearing are also crucial.

These days, a couple might have seven or eight children, but only two or three will actually survive to adulthood. Some people can even conceive more than a dozen, and some can have more than ten children.

There is no concept of contraception, people marry young, have a long reproductive age, and continue to have children until they can no longer have any.

However, few of them survive to adulthood; many are miscarried or born prematurely, and many die shortly after birth. In almost every place, there is a place where dead infants are thrown away.

Even if they manage to survive to one year old, many more will die young from illness, hunger, or accidents.

These days, there are many children who are mentally challenged or disabled. Some are born with deformities, while others become mentally challenged or deaf due to brain damage caused by illness, and then become mute. There are also those who are disabled due to accidental falls, burns, scalds, and so on.

During the chaos and famine at the end of the Sui Dynasty, these poor children were often the first to be abandoned, and there were actually fewer mentally challenged or disabled children than in peaceful times.

Li Yi has five children, four of whom are his biological children and one is raised by his family. All of them are well-fed, healthy, and chubby, which is no easy feat, considering that the Li family has dedicated nannies, wet nurses, midwives, and even a family doctor.

Even ordinary officials' families would find it difficult to have such good conditions.

In this era, even within the royal family, miscarriages and infant deaths were frequent occurrences, and the same was true for noble and official families.

The better the conditions, the higher the survival rate of the baby.

It's said that the poorer you are, the more children you have.

In those days, people had little security. Having a son not only protected them from being taken advantage of or bullied by others, but also provided them with important labor force for the family in the future, and even a guarantee for their old age.

Another important reason for having so many children is that the survival rate is too low these days, so the only option is to have more children, just like farming, where you sow a lot but reap little, so you have to scatter more seeds.

The same applies to having children. If you have ten or eight, three or five will grow up. Even if some of them are daughters, you'll still have one or two sons.

These were all forced by the times; the era's environment and productivity determined these factors.

Unlike later generations, when it didn't matter whether one had children or not, whether one got married or not, or even whether one had relatives or clans, there weren't as many needs.

The needs that children, spouses, and relatives have long been replaced by the state and society.

Productivity has changed everything.

But this classical agrarian society still had to rely on the old system to function.

Even royalty, nobles, and powerful clans paid increasing attention to clan and lineage succession.

These days, if a family has eight sons, even if they are the poorest people or even tenant farmers, once the children are grown up, they can do whatever they want in the village, and no one will dare to bully them.

Nobles, officials, and powerful families would take many concubines in order to ensure eugenics.

For ordinary people, it's best to just get pregnant first and worry about raising and nurturing them; as long as they survive, that's enough.

Li Yi returned to Hebei to take up his post.

In addition to four concubines, there were twenty-four maidservants.

There was also a staff of advisors from the Prince of Wu'an's mansion, as well as five hundred infantrymen and cavalrymen in his personal entourage and tents, and five hundred infantrymen and cavalrymen of the Imperial Guards transferred by the emperor from the Yuan Dynasty.

He had a thousand elite infantry and cavalry as his attendants and guards.

His maternal uncle, Zhang Daoyuan, the governor of Xiangzhou, also accompanied him, as did Wang Daoxuan, the prefect of Luozhou and the Prince of Huaiyang.

Chen Junbin, Prefect of Xingzhou; Zhang Zhiang, Prefect of Zhaozhou; Yang Gongdao, Chief Clerk of the Grand General's Office of Mingzhou; and Zhang Liang, Military Advisor.
This team has a lot of members.

The four military commanders of the Prince of Wu'an's mansion, Liu Heizi Luo Dafu, and Liu Heita Su Dingfang, were responsible for leading eight deputy military commanders, along with the four imperial guards sent by the emperor, Li Cunxiao, to escort the troops on the road.

Seeing that Du Shiniang's eyes were full of reluctance,
Li Yi turned around and hugged her, making her blush.

“I’m not in Beijing, so take good care of yourself. If you need anything, you can write to me, or ask my third uncle to contact my two senior brothers, or ask your cousins ​​for help.”

Du Shiniang's eyes reddened. "My husband, please take good care of yourself while you're away. I'll take good care of the children at home."

Also leaving Tianjing were Li Kaidao, the Prince of Beiping, and Li Da'en, the Prince of Dingxiang. They went ahead of Li Yi, crossing the Pujin pontoon bridge, passing through Hedong to Taiyuan. Then Li Da'en went to Yanmen, and Li Kaidao went to Yingzhou via Jingxiao.

Li Kaidao set off early in the morning, not with Li Da'en, eager to return home, and galloped away on horseback.

Once Chang'an was far behind and completely disappeared from sight, Prince Li Kaidao of Beiping slowed down.

He finally left Chang'an and decided never to come back.

Li Yuan had no good intentions.

The thought that he had become the governor of Yingzhou, and that the court had taken over Beiyanzhou and Tanzhou in exchange for Yingping, made him very unhappy, but in Chang'an, he had no choice but to agree.

Finally, the dragon returned to the sea and the tiger entered the mountains and forests.

(End of this chapter)