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

Chapter 510 National Treasure
February of the fifth year of the Wude era.

Li Yi swept across the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains, and most of the remaining enemy forces surrendered.

“Dingzhou was the ancient state of Zhongshan, which was once a state with a thousand chariots.” Yun Dingxing accompanied Li Yi as they walked along the streets of Dingzhou. “During the Warring States period, there were seven states with ten thousand chariots and five states with a thousand chariots. The chaos and struggle for power were what we know as the Warring States period.”

The seven states with ten thousand chariots were the seven powerful states of the Warring States period: Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, and Qin.

There were five states with a thousand chariots, the most prominent of which was the Zhongshan State, with nine thousand chariots. They were fond of hunting, martial arts, and war, and after two periods of prosperity and three periods of destruction, they almost became the eighth most powerful state in the Warring States period.

Li Yi smiled and said, "It's a pity that Zhongshan was established by the Bai Di and Xian Yu, and the feudal lords of the Central Plains regarded it as their confidant."

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, when the king was respected and the barbarians were expelled, the barbarians were naturally not tolerated by the Chinese feudal lords, which was the best reason for expanding the territory.

Although the Xianyu Zhongshan was destroyed by the State of Jin, Duke Wu of Zhongshan led his people away from the barren Taihang Mountains and migrated to the eastern plains, where they established a new capital in what is now Dingzhou. They transformed from a nomadic barbarian tribe with disheveled hair and left-fastening robes into a vassal state that respected Confucianism, learned the Zhou rites, and reformed its political and military systems in accordance with the rites of the various states of China.

However, after Zhao Yang, who had once destroyed the state of Zhongshan, the state of Zhao still destroyed the state of Zhongshan.

Later, Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty enfeoffed his ninth son, Liu Sheng, as the King of Zhongshan, with his capital in what is now Dingzhou.

The Prince of Zhongshan had a vast fiefdom and is said to have had over a hundred sons. Liu Bei, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, claimed to be a descendant of the Prince of Zhongshan.

Li Yi and his group strolled through Dingzhou Fangshi.

With the rebels and Turkic army defeated, public morale gradually stabilized, the southward exodus of refugees ceased, and many began returning to their hometowns.
Spring plowing has begun, and no one wants to miss it. Missing the planting season means missing a harvest.

The market has become lively again.

Dingzhou is, after all, a large city in the region, especially since it has the Feihu Road that connects it to the northern frontier.

Chatting as we strolled around
Li Yi is quite relaxed now. Hengyi has been recovered, the rebels and Turks have been driven away, and the number of people killed and captured is considerable. It is a great achievement.

He did not follow the army northward, but instead sent Shuang Shilu and Qin Wutong with 5,000 men northward to Juyong Pass.

In addition, Liu Heita, Xue Zhong, and Liu Jun were dispatched with 5,000 troops to Mo Yingcang to assist Su Dingfang in continuing to wipe out the remaining enemy forces.

Li Yi was stationed in Dingzhou.
The people of Youzhou have finally made their move.

Shuang Shilu reported that the Youzhou troops had set up defenses on the border, preventing them from advancing north. They clearly wanted to take Juyong Pass alone, and even wanted to recover Beiyan Prefecture in one fell swoop, not wanting their allies to share the credit.

Meanwhile, Wang Junkuo, whom Li Yi had been keeping a close eye on, led his troops to attack Gao Kaidao's stronghold in Yuyang.

Previously, they were as still as dead dogs, but now they are as fierce as wolves and tigers. Faced with Youzhou's reaction, Li Yi was quite decisive and ordered Shuang Shilu and the others to retreat to Yizhou to wipe out the remaining enemies and maintain order among the people.

He didn't even bother to step into the territory of the Grand General's Mansion of Youzhou.

Let Wang Junkuo and his group fight it out themselves if they want to claim credit.

It would be better to have the armies halt their operations and establish military farms. This year is destined to be a year of famine, and the army cannot rely entirely on the imperial court for grain supplies. It would be better if they could solve some of the problem themselves.
Self-reliance leads to abundance; a single bushel of grain grown in military farms is far better than three to five bushels transported from the Central Plains.

"There's a copperware shop here, let's go take a look."

Li Yi saw a bronze ware shop and became interested, or rather, he saw that some of the items in the shop had inscriptions on them.

It was still in seal script, very beautiful, making him feel like it was an antique.

Yun Dingxing was quite knowledgeable. After entering, he saw Li Yi head straight for a large cauldron. "This is a bronze cauldron with iron feet. It looks quite old. It's an antique."

The shopkeeper greeted them with a smile.

After reopening following the war, these customers clearly stood out.

He did not recognize that Li Yi, who was in charge, was the current Grand Administrator of Dingzhou and Prince of Wu'an.

Li Yi looked at the bronze tripod covered with green rust spots. He examined the characters on it, which were in seal script, and specifically the Zhongshan Small Seal script, which is said to be the most beautiful seal script.

"Shopkeeper, where did you get this?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "We just received this; a customer gave it to us."

Yun Dingxing examined it for a while and said, "Judging from its appearance, it should have just come out of the ground. It's possible that the rebels dug up a large tomb before, which should be an ancient tomb of the Zhongshan Kingdom."

"Not a counterfeit?" Li Yi asked.

“Who would try to imitate this thing? It’s not unusual for a bronze and iron cauldron to be made together. Besides, look at the Zhongshan Small Seal script on it. That’s not easy to imitate.”

Li Yi examined it carefully and found that there were 77 lines of inscriptions on the outer wall, totaling 469 characters.

Seeing their curiosity about the inscription, the shopkeeper said, "I have some knowledge of Zhongshan seal script. I have been studying the contents of this inscription for several days. It records the story of Sima Zhou, the prime minister of Zhongtong State, leading his army to attack Yan State and expand its territory."

What a good thing.

Li Yi felt that whether the tripod was real or not was no longer important; the inscription alone was valuable, as it was first-hand historical material.

Perhaps this thing is worthless in people's eyes nowadays.

But Li Yi quite liked it.

Yun Dingxing said, “This thing is a ritual vessel, and it must have come from a certain King of Zhongshan. It should be a set, with at least nine tripods. How come there is only one?”
"Shopkeeper, what about the other eight tripods?"

The shopkeeper, not expecting someone to know anything about this, could only chuckle awkwardly and say, "I only received this one."

If he really had a set of nine, he wouldn't have displayed it in this store.

The tripod is over fifty centimeters tall and weighs over a hundred kilograms.

Li Yi took a liking to it; this thing was worth collecting. Although it came from the ground and was only one of a set of nine, the inscription on it alone was worth collecting—over four hundred characters! Inscriptions on bronze artifacts are rarely this long.

The shopkeeper was a little hesitant when he saw that he wanted to buy it.

They are indeed a copperware shop, but this item is actually on display and not intended for sale. They don't know what price to ask for it.

“You also have a square pot here, sell it to me as well, I’ll give you fifty taels of gold.”

The shopkeeper was taken aback.

Gold, a hard currency, fifty taels of gold is still very valuable even in chaotic times.

Even now, with the war raging in Hebei and grain prices so high, one tael of gold can buy two bushels of rice.

After some hesitation, the shopkeeper finally decided to sell the two bronze items he had just acquired. He had bought them for a very low price, basically at the price of copper.

That large cauldron only cost twenty strings of five-zhu coins, which is equivalent to a little over two taels of gold.

Swallowing hard, he realized these were indeed distinguished guests. Judging from their attire and accents, the innkeeper guessed that these people might be officials from the newly established Dingzhou Grand General's Office, or even advisors to the Prince of Wu'an.

"May I be so bold as to ask, are you from the Grand Steward's mansion?"

"how?"

"Don't misunderstand. If you are from the Grand Steward's Mansion, we would like to ask you for a favor. Could you exchange some of the gold for grain? Grain is hard to buy now, even if you have money, you can't buy it."

I heard that Dingzhou will soon be implementing a grain rationing system with fixed quotas and distribution…

"If we can get some grain, the price can be even lower," the shopkeeper offered.

“I can give you ten bushels of grain,” Li Yi said.

The shopkeeper was overjoyed upon hearing this, "Then these two items will be ten shi of grain plus forty taels of gold."

The shopkeeper got a discount of ten taels of gold for his ten shi of grain, which is equivalent to a saving of five taels of gold.

Li Yi wasn't short of money right now, and he happily completed the deal.

The square pot was very large; the shopkeeper said it weighed over fifty jin (approximately 25 kg) and was over sixty centimeters tall. The pot had a regular shape and distinct edges, with a three-dimensional Kui dragon, full of spirit and climbing, cast on each of the four sides.

What is particularly eye-catching is that there is a beast-face ring handle on each side of the pot's belly. Although the beast faces are ferocious, with vertical eyes and curled eyebrows and beard, they are lifelike.

Of course, it wasn't just the shape that attracted Li Yi to this teapot.

There are also 450 Zhongshan seal characters on the pot. The inscription records that in the fourteenth year of King Cuo of Zhongshan, after Zhongshan defeated Yan, this pot was cast using bronze ware from Yan.

Both this and that cauldron clearly originated from the tomb of the King of Zhongshan.

The inscriptions also record the history of the Zhongshan State's great victory in attacking Yan.

These Zhongshan seal script characters are slender and elongated, with a balanced and neat structure, and the brushstrokes combine strength and gentleness, making them very beautiful.

Li Yi generously bought two bronze artifacts from the Zhongshan Kingdom for ten shi of grain and forty taels of gold. The shopkeeper was all smiles. He had bought them for three taels of gold, but he made more than ten times the profit by reselling them. Most importantly, he got ten shi of grain in return.

Food is hard to buy even if you have money these days.

Moreover, this opportunity allowed him to get to know several officials from the Grand Steward's Mansion, which would pave a wider path for him in the future.

Stepping out of the market,

Yun Dingxing said, "If Sikong hadn't been so agreeable just now and had let me bargain, these two items could have been exchanged for ten shi of grain."

Li Yi simply smiled and said, "These two items bear thousands of Zhongshan seal characters, making them national treasures. They not only commemorate a precious period of history but also represent the casting of bronze artifacts from the Warring States period and the beautiful artistic expression of the Zhongshan seal script."

It's worth five hundred taels of gold.

However, what Hebei lacks most right now is food. In the eyes of most people, those precious art treasures are not as valuable as food.

"Lord Yun, we must implement the grain tax system in Hengyi and Dingzhou as soon as possible, so that the Ever-Normal Granary can supply the people with fixed quantities and ensure their livelihood."

Yun Dingxing sighed, "Minister, even a clever cook can't cook without rice. This grain tax system is good, but it requires grain in the granaries. But now, the three prefectures of Yi, Ding, and Heng, especially Yi, have been almost completely looted. Where is there any grain left in the granaries?"

Mingxing Zhao was already barely holding on, and after this military campaign, their food supplies for tens of thousands of troops were completely exhausted.

The six prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Grand General's Office of Dingzhou—Ding, Yi, Heng, Zhao, Xing, and Ming—are all currently experiencing food shortages.

"Then we can only borrow from those who have grain. In the name of the Grand Steward's Office, we should have the Ever-Normal Granary purchase grain from all grain merchants, grain stores, and large landowners."

"Buying grain?"

"Yes, we can buy grain from them at the market price plus 10%. However, we can only pay one-third of the grain price temporarily, and the rest will be considered a loan with interest."

Yun Dingxing thought for a moment, "Given the current situation, even if we increase the price by 10%, I'm afraid we still won't be able to buy any grain, not to mention that we can only pay 30% in cash and have to borrow the rest."

How much interest should we offer? If it's too low, they won't be willing to pay; if it's too high, we can't afford it!

“In this way, we’ll pay half in cash and the other half in bonds,” Li Yi said.

"Sikong, that's like robbing someone."

"Robbery? This is called sharing the same boat. If the royal army hadn't marched north and quickly defeated the Turks and rebels, Hebei would still be peaceful, and the three prefectures of Yi, Ding, and Heng would still be able to preserve their property?"
In the face of food shortages and famine, those who have grain on hand should offer it up, except for enough for their own consumption. I am willing to accept a slightly higher price from them.
But hoarding grain and not selling it is strictly prohibited!

(End of this chapter)