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

Chapter 727 Two Old Friends

Golden autumn October.

The corn and sorghum in the fields have been harvested and stored in the warehouse, and the wheat in the fields has been thoroughly watered.

The weather was fine.

Luo Er then wandered around in front of his pigsty.

“Hey, let’s slaughter that big spotted pig, and pick out a fat sheep to slaughter too. Let’s have a feast. Our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson are coming back to Beijing, so let’s prepare a good meal to entertain them.”

Luo Er's wife has improved a lot in recent years; her complexion is rosy, and her gray hair has even turned quite a bit darker. In the past, she worked tirelessly from dawn till dusk soaking, grinding, and boiling soybeans to make soy milk. During the silkworm season, she was even busier than usual, never having a moment to spare.
Now, both of the family's sons are military officers, and the family owns over a thousand acres of fertile land. The land in other villages has been leased out, while the land in the local village is managed by long-term laborers, with occasional workers hired during busy farming seasons.

The house had nine large rooms and two courtyards, with servants who did laundry and cooked, and maids who served tea and water.

They lived a life of luxury and ease.

"Row."

Luo Er's family readily agreed. The fact that their family had been living such a wonderful life in recent years was naturally all thanks to their son-in-law.

Back then, we rented land from others to cultivate, and then ground tofu to sell in villages and markets. It was incredibly hard work, and we could barely make ends meet.

Later, San Niang and Wu Yi started a tofu skin workshop, and their lives suddenly improved.

Not to mention that his two sons followed Wu Yi into the army one after the other, and successively made meritorious contributions and received official positions.

She'd be happy to kill even more than just one pig or sheep.

"Catch a few more chickens, ducks, and geese and kill them all together," she instructed.

Luo Er's family built a row of ten pigsties in their outer courtyard, each holding two pigs, which meant they could raise twenty pigs a year. Unlike other villagers who had to buy piglets from the Li family and pay for them with pig manure, Luo Er raised two sows himself.

Every year, not only do they not have to pay for their own piglets, but they can also sell some more piglets.

All of this pig manure can be fermented and used to fertilize the fields. The pigs, once fattened, will not be sold to the Li family, but will be taken directly to the market to be slaughtered and sold for meat.

These two sows and ten pigsties can bring Luo Er a considerable income each year.

Although Luo Er has become wealthy, living in a large courtyard, owning more than a thousand acres of land, and having two sons who are officials, and his daughter who is a concubine of the Prince of Dai, he still retains the simplicity and frugality of the past.

He was still wearing his old short-sleeved shirt and wide-legged trousers.

His back is still hunched, but now anyone who sees him has to stop, smile, and greet him.

Although the old man's clothes still had patches on them
But they not only have over a thousand acres of land, but also several workshops and shops.

Even so, he still can't stay idle.

Luo Er didn't like managing workshops and shops either. He partnered with Shi Gou, an old friend from the village, and each of them took on an apprentice.

They were doing jobs like castrating and slaughtering pigs.

Nowadays, with more people raising pigs, the Li family has passed down the technique of fattening pigs. Both male and female pigs must be castrated as early as possible. This way, the pork won't have a rancid smell, and the pigs will grow fast and fat.

Castrating pigs isn't actually difficult; Luo Er and Shi Gou used to help manage the Li family manor, so they knew how.

Now that I'm old,

Instead of staying home and enjoying a comfortable life, the two old men are willing to come out and do this work. They feel that this job offers them freedom and independence.

After castrating the pig, the villagers would treat him to a meal. He would drink with the castrated pig testicles and roe, chatting and boasting with the villagers. He really enjoyed this feeling.

Especially towards the end of the year, many pig farmers will slaughter one or two pigs and sell them at the market. They can earn more money than selling directly to the Li family, and they can also earn some offal.

Luo Er wasn't actually short of the wages he earned from castrating and slaughtering pigs, or the meals and drinks he received, nor was he short of the offal that others gave him.

He just didn't like sitting at home wearing a silk gown.

He enjoys lively atmospheres. In the past, he sold tofu, carrying his tofu basket through villages and alleys. Even in his old age, he can't stay idle.

Straighten the hemp rope, and sharpen the knife.

He called over his apprentice, a burly man with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He was an outsider, tall, strong, and honest. Luo Er took him in as his apprentice and even rented fifty acres of his own land for him to farm.

"Apprentice, go and call your Uncle Shi Gou here."

"Today we're going to kill a big pig."

A gentle autumn breeze was blowing.

Luo Er became excited and told his wife to instruct the kitchen to boil water and prepare a large wooden basin, etc.

Perhaps because he has made tofu all his life, Luo Er is now unwilling to touch anything related to tofu, and would rather castrate or slaughter pigs.

Villagers from all around praised Luo Er and Shi Gou for their skill in slaughtering pigs. They said that although they looked like two old men, they were more skilled at slaughtering pigs than their two tall apprentices.

Shi Gou is now a wealthy household in the village.
He owned about a hundred acres of land both on and off the plateau, and also acquired several hundred acres of land in other villages. Two of his sons became soldiers in the local government. Although they were not as wealthy and powerful as the Luo family, who had become generals and lieutenants, they were still captains and deputy captains, which were proper ninth-rank military officers.

Shi Gou soon arrived with his apprentice, a burly man who was also his tenant farmer. During the busy farming season, the apprentice would work the land, and during the off-season, he would follow Shi Gou around to castrate and slaughter pigs.

"We'll kill the biggest one later."

Luo Er took Shi Gou to see the pigs.

Shi Gou looked at it and said, "If this pig is raised a little longer, it can gain another hundred or so pounds of meat. If we want to hold a banquet, we can buy meat from the butchers on the street."

Luo Erdao said, "The pigs I raise are of a good breed, and they are fed sweet potatoes, corn, pig feed, and rice bran, so they are very clean."

The pig is perfect to slaughter at the end of the year; it's a bit early to slaughter it now. But Luo Er, who is usually quite stingy, is unusually generous today. This is to entertain his son-in-law, daughter, and grandson.

"My grandson is the Duke of Anding County, a title bestowed by the Emperor," Luo Er said proudly. His two sons had followed Li Yi in battle for several years, but they hadn't even earned the title of baron yet.

"Is Third Sister pregnant again?" Shi Gou asked with a smile.

"Yes, she's pregnant again," Luo Er said with a smile.

"What a series of good news! I heard that the third prince has been appointed by His Majesty as the deputy commander of Yusu Town, a seventh-rank official."

Shi Gou's words revealed a hint of envy.

Although Luo San had been in charge of most of Yusu Township and also served as the Grand Minister of Agriculture of the Kingdom of Liyi County, he was not an official appointed by the imperial court.

Now, Luo San is indeed wearing the official robes of the imperial court, specifically the green seventh-rank official robes.

"Our Yusu Township has become Yusu Town, and the town mayor and deputy mayor are now on the same rank as a county magistrate."

"Indeed, His Majesty is very satisfied with our Yushu Township."

Shi Gou lowered his voice slightly, "But I heard that the imperial court is going to try out a new policy here. All those unregistered tenant farmers will have to be registered this time. I heard they'll be registered as customers and won't have to pay rent or taxes, only perform corvée labor."

They don't need to pay grain to the public granary.

This time, all of us registered households will have to pay grain to the public granary, at a rate of two liters of millet per mu.

Both old men owned a considerable amount of land.

Originally, grain was also collected from the community granary, but now the imperial court says that since the community granary in Yushu Township was managed by the township itself, it should be renamed the community granary.

A government-controlled granary should be established in the county, and two bushels of millet should be levied per mu.

“One mu yields two sheng of millet, which is twenty or thirty shi a year,” Shi Gou said. In the past, these twenty or thirty shi of grain were the food for a family.

Even during the worst famine years, a bushel of millet could be exchanged for a young woman or a wife.

Luo Er said, "Two liters of millet per mu is not much." He had heard that this new policy was proposed by his son-in-law, the Prince of Dai, so of course his family had to support it.

"Tell me, should the grain from this one mu and two sheng of millet in the granary be shared with the tenants?" Shi Gou asked.

“We’ve already split the harvest 50/50 with the tenants, so there’s no need to share the grain from this one mu and two sheng of the granary, right?” Luo Er said generously.

Shi Gou chuckled, "It's supposed to be a 50/50 split, but we're following the rules of the Prince of Dai's mansion these days. We only get half for the staple grain season. For the wheat fields on the plateau, we only get half for the summer wheat, and for the rice fields below the plateau, we only get half for the autumn rice."
"We grow corn and soybeans on the plateau, and rice, rapeseed, and radishes down below. We didn't get a share of those."

“We’ve been good enough to our tenants.”

"Do you lack that liter of millet?" Luo Er said with a laugh.

"Hehe, we don't lack anything." Yushuchuan is a land of plenty, and the yield per mu is quite good, whether it's wheat grown on the plateau or rice grown along the Hao River.

Besides, although the two old men usually traveled from village to village slaughtering pigs, they also owned a thousand or eight hundred acres of land, and their annual rent alone amounted to over a thousand bushels of grain.
We don't really need those twenty or thirty shi (a unit of dry measure).

"No, that's not it. My son-in-law is leading the way, so we all have to follow. Without Wu Yi, would our Yusu Township be as lively as it is now, and would we two brothers be living such a good life?"

"That's not the case."

"I also heard that after Yushu Township is changed to Yushu Town, the taxes levied on merchants entering the market, as well as the money collected from itinerant merchants, stationary merchants, and workshops, will all be collected by the town government. A town government office will be set up specifically, and a town magistrate will be appointed to manage the town and collect industrial and commercial taxes." Shi Gou's information network is quite good.

Luo Er ordered his apprentice to drive out the pig he had chosen.
"Give it a good meal, add more bran, don't just feed it sweet potato vines, add some sweet potato too."

Shi Gou said, "This is the last meal; it won't make you gain weight."

Even death row inmates get a good meal before they're executed. This pig should have a decent last meal so it can be reborn as a human in its next life.

The pigs were driven out of their comfortable pigsty.

In the midst of the panic and anxiety, when they saw Luo Er's pig farmer bring over a bucket of pig feed and pour it into the pig trough, their eyes were immediately drawn to the unusually abundant pig feed that was being served today.

"We don't understand or care about official matters, but I, this old man, do know that Yusu Township is the hometown of the Prince of Dai."

Nobody dares to cause trouble here.

"Whether it's a rally, the city government, a levy fee, or a commercial tax, I believe nothing will change."

"We have the Prince of Dai as our protector, why should we worry about anything else?"

Luo Lao Er believed that

With the son-in-law present,

Even if Oyasu Village becomes Oyasu Town, there won't be any major changes.

Whether it's charging two liters of grain per mu for public granaries, levying industrial and commercial taxes, or requiring unregistered households to register as customers, Luo Er doesn't think any of these things will change anything.

"Hey bro, our good days are just beginning!"

"This place, Oshuku, will only get better and better. Just you wait and see."

Shi Gou stroked his beard, watching the pig burying its head in its food. "Yes, the Prince of Dai wouldn't allow anyone to act recklessly."

Sanlang is still the deputy mayor.

I wonder who will issue this city administration order.

"Whoever he is, even if he comes from Chang'an, he's just a lowly city magistrate, not even in the official ranks. He still has to abide by the rules here!"

(End of this chapter)