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

Chapter 759 Forty and No Longer Confused
Today is Liu Hongji's 40th birthday.

But the mansion was deserted today, with no guests visiting.

He was implicated in Li Xiaochang's rebellion and was eventually dismissed from his post and removed from the list of officials. Although he was not exiled or his family property confiscated, he was still flogged one hundred times outside the palace, which completely tarnished the reputation of this founding hero.

right now,

Instead of the usual lively celebrations for her 40th birthday, no relatives or friends dared to visit.

Liu Hongji, the Duke of Ren, who was originally granted a fief of 900 households as a meritorious official of the Yuanmou campaign, is now just a commoner.

Even the two rows of halberds on the main gate were taken back.

Liu Hongji seems to have a positive outlook.

The cane wounds on his back and buttocks have almost healed. At forty, he is in the prime of his life.

"Why are you looking so sad? Today is my birthday, not my death anniversary. If no one comes, we'll just close the door and celebrate by ourselves as a family."

It is said that one should be established at thirty and free from doubt at forty.

This phrase is quite apt to describe Liu Hongji. Before the age of thirty, he was a somewhat muddle-headed playboy.

His family was a prominent local clan. His father, Liu Sheng, served as the governor of Hezhou during the Sui Dynasty, holding the rank of third grade.

As a young man, Liu Hongji disliked studying and preferred to associate with chivalrous people. As an adult, he did not engage in production and eventually squandered his family fortune.

Yet he remained unrestrained and unconventional. Later, through his father's influence, he was appointed Right Attendant. When Yang Guang campaigned in Liaodong, he was specifically summoned to serve.

The down-on-his-luck Liu Hongji was so delayed that he couldn't even prepare the armor and horses for the expedition, thus missing his journey. Finally realizing that he was late and would be executed,
When they arrived at Fenyin in Hedong, he and a few companions deliberately slaughtered oxen, which landed them in the county jail and allowed them to escape the Liaodong campaign. They spent more than a year in jail before being redeemed.

After being released from prison,
He lost his status as a Right Attendant and simply fled into the world, becoming a horse thief.

It was during his impoverished days as a horse thief that he arrived in Taiyuan and met Li Yuan and his son Li Shimin.

Liu Hongji had been in the underworld for many years, but he had a good eye for talent. He could see that the world was in chaos and that Li Yuan and his son were very powerful. So he accepted the Li family's offer to join them.

Thinking back to that time,

Liu Hongji and Li Shimin rode together when they went out and slept on the same bed; they were as close as brothers.

When Li Yuan and his son decided to raise an army, Liu Hongji was ordered to recruit soldiers, and he quickly gathered more than two thousand men.

When Wang Wei, the deputy commander, and Gao Junya plotted against Li Yuan, Liu Hongji and Changsun Shunde led elite troops to ambush behind the main tent. When they arrived, they charged out first and killed the two men.

From Taiyuan to Chang'an,

Liu Hongji served as the Left Commander of the General's Office and was always at the forefront of the battle, making outstanding contributions. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, he was named one of the seventeen meritorious officials of Taiyuan and received an iron certificate of immunity from death.

although,

Liu Hongji also suffered defeats. In the battles of Qianshuiyuan and Jiexiu, he was defeated and captured as the commander-in-chief, but this did not affect his merits.

Back then, he was the vanguard of the righteous army, leading more than a thousand men to cross the Yellow River first, and then conquering Fengyi.

When attacking Chang'an, the various armies had not yet gathered. He seized the opportunity to strike and won the first battle. After the capture of Chang'an, his achievements were ranked first!

Looking back,

Before he turned thirty, all he wanted to do was be a wandering knight-errant.

Later, however, he became a deserter and a bandit.

At the age of thirty, he stood firm, following Li Yuan and his son in campaigns to the east and west, repeatedly achieving military merits.

He became a founding hero of the Tang Dynasty through his own abilities, and became the Duke of Ren, achieving far greater success than his father, who served as a prefect.

They even amassed a fortune of thousands of acres of land and tens of thousands of coins.

Now forty,

Having experienced so much in life, I am no longer confused, and my mind has truly matured.

Just like now,

Dismissed from office and removed from the list of officials
He wasn't too bothered that no guests or relatives came to his birthday celebration.

They were not misled by these immediate, superficial things at all.

"previously,
Situ Li Yi sold off his land several times, selling off thousands of acres at a time, which I didn't quite understand at the time.

Now I'm past forty.

Liu Hongji looked at the family in the hall.

Wives, concubines, and children—it was quite a large family.

Life is unpredictable, and the world is full of uncertainties.

He called his sons before him, some born to his principal wife and others born to his concubines.

"I once heard Li Situ say something like this: No one knows whether tomorrow or an accident will come first."
I was implicated in this treason case and dismissed from my post. Was it unjust? Yes, it was quite unjust. But I did have close ties with them, so it wasn't entirely unjust.

And you brothers, I know some of you also like to mess around outside, saying it's to make friends, but it's really just fooling around.

of course,

I went through the same thing back then, so I can't really say much to you.

Some things you can only understand and comprehend after experiencing them yourself. If I try to explain them now, you won't listen or understand.

"No one can predict what will happen in the future."
Today, I'd like to take this opportunity to arrange some things.

He called his sons to follow him one by one, and gave each of them fifteen servants and five hundred acres of land.

According to Tang law, if parents live together and do not separate their households, they are entitled to cohabitation and share property; otherwise, separate registration and separate property would be subject to legal punishment. However, to avoid disputes among brothers over inheritance after the parents' death, it was customary in common practice to pre-divide family property.

The property is pre-allocated so that when the parents pass away, the brothers can divide it according to this arrangement without any disputes. However, while the parents are still alive, this pre-allocated property remains family property and is not considered private property.

Liu Hongji's sons are all under twenty years old, and the youngest is only a few years old.

No one could have imagined that Liu Hongji, who owned thousands of acres of fertile land and tens of thousands of strings of cash, would divide his property in advance at the age of forty, and even more unexpectedly, each of his sons would only be given five hundred acres of land and fifteen slaves.

On the contrary, for the daughters,

Liu Hongji was quite generous, providing each of his daughters with a thousand acres of land, a thousand bolts of silk, ten thousand coins, and thirty servants as dowry. This was more than double what he gave his sons.

This time,

Liu Hongji's wife also found it incomprehensible.

The family clearly has so much property, so why is the pre-divided share so small?

She didn't say anything since both the legitimate and illegitimate children received the same amount, but why did she only receive such a small amount, which is less than a drop in the ocean of the Liu family's wealth?

"Ah Lang is in the prime of his life, why is he in such a hurry to divide the family property in advance?"

Liu Hongji sat there.

"Life is unpredictable. Look at how glorious Pei Ji was these past few years, but he fell from grace just like that. Even though he retired, he still couldn't maintain his integrity in his later years and was exiled to Jingzhou."

Li Xiaochang was our relative by marriage. Suddenly, his house collapsed, two of his seven sons were cut in half at the waist, and the remaining seven—father and his sons—along with his nephews, were all exiled to Lingnan.

Who knows what the future holds?

When I was young, my family was a prominent local clan, and my father was a prefectural governor. I never imagined that one day I would squander the family fortune.

Little did I know that I would later become a horse thief.

When I was forced to steal horses to support myself, I never imagined I would later become a founding hero.

He pointed to his sons, "If they are capable, they don't need a fortune; they can start from scratch."

If they lack ability, these lands can keep them from freezing and starving.

His wife asked him about the family's assets, suggesting that he give more to his sons, as each son would have enough land to go around.

Liu Hongji smiled and shook his head, "If they really don't have the ability, how can they defend so much land? Haven't you heard the story of the child holding gold in the bustling city?"
As the saying goes, a poor man has three treasures: an ugly wife, a small plot of land, and a tattered quilt.

"If you lack ability, five hundred acres of land and fifteen servants are enough; anything more will only bring trouble."

"What will happen to our family's thousands of acres of land and tens of thousands of dollars in assets in the future?" the wife asked.

Liu Hongji smiled.
"I intend to keep a hundred acres of land for myself, and offer the remaining thousand acres to the imperial court!"

"what!"

As soon as this word comes out,
Liu Hongji's wives, concubines, children, servants, and even his maids all cried out in surprise.

"Of course, not all of it will be offered to the imperial court."
For any male member or relative of my Liu family who owns less than 100 mu of land, I can supplement their ownership to 100 mu and gift it to them.”

"More than a thousand hectares of land, all donated?"

“Yes, leaving a hundred acres of land is enough,” Liu Hongji said.

Liu's wife was displeased. How could such a thing be done? Even among the noble families of Chang'an, no one had ever heard of it. "My lord," she said, "even if Minister Li keeps selling land, he sells more than he donates. How can someone donate their entire fortune?"

Liu Hongji, however, remained resolute.

"Ten years ago, I was still a bandit, barely making ends meet. I had no family fortune. I squandered all the property left by my family. I couldn't even afford the clothes and horses to go to Liaodong to fight."

"The thousands of acres of fertile land and tens of thousands of strings of cash that we now own were all acquired in less than ten years."

Liu Hongji has now figured it out. You can't take these things with you when you die. If his sons are capable, even five hundred acres of land will be enough for them to study or learn martial arts. In the future, they can either buy clothes to go to the battlefield and earn fame, or study and take the imperial examinations to enter officialdom.
If you have the ability, you can get ahead and build your own business.

Incompetent
No matter how much wealth he leaves behind, he will squander it all, just like he did when he was young.

If it is a spoiled and unfilial descendant, having too much money will only bring disaster upon them.

"I currently hold no official rank or title, and according to the land limit regulations, I can only occupy a hundred mu of land. Even if I include those boys who are over sixteen, the total amount of land I can occupy is no more than a thousand mu."

Liu's wife said anxiously, "Didn't the imperial court announce the land restriction order to the whole country? It only restricts future land acquisitions, not previous ones. At most, it just means that our family can no longer buy land beyond the limit in the future."

Liu Hongji looked at his wives, concubines, and children.
Even if I donate all these thousands of acres of land and tens of thousands of coins, do you think you'll lack food or clothing?

this day,
The atmosphere at the Liu family's home was very unpleasant.

His wives and concubines didn't understand, nor did his children. The older and younger ones argued and quarreled, but nothing could change the resolve of Lord Liu, who had suddenly become free of confusion.

The next day,

He then submitted a memorial to the throne.
He wanted to donate most of his land and property.

He left each of his sons only 500 mu of land and 15 servants. He also gave the remaining land to male members of his clan within five degrees of kinship, supplementing the amount for those with less than 100 mu of land, and giving each of them 10 strings of cash and an ox.

The rest were all offered to the imperial court.

The news spread quickly.

This sparked heated discussions throughout Chang'an.

After the morning court session,

Li Yi reported this matter to the emperor.
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin frowned. "What does Liu Hongji mean by this? Is he worried that I will punish him again because of Pei Ji's exile?"

Li Yi disagreed, saying, "Perhaps, but judging from Liu Gong's experience, perhaps after this incident, Liu Gong has become more open-minded and clear-headed."

"This matter has caused such a great deal of discussion, how do you think the imperial court should handle it?"

"Since Lord Liu is so sincere, the court cannot let him down. It would be better to accept a portion of the donation, taking 1,000 hectares of land and 30,000 strings of cash, and let Lord Liu keep the remaining several hundred hectares of land and more than 10,000 strings of cash."

The imperial court has taken these fields and money, which can be used to fulfill the merit-based land rewards for the soldiers; this is a practical matter.

Li Shimin pondered for a moment, "Did I punish Liu Hongji too harshly? Should I first restore his title and then send him to serve as a prefect in another region?"

"Your Majesty, you must not. The decrees of the court cannot be changed overnight. Liu Gong was dismissed from his post and removed from office because he was involved in a treason case, not because he was innocent."

Of course, he was also implicated, but he remained loyal to His Majesty.

In my opinion, the fact that Lord Liu is still willing to donate most of his family fortune to the court shows that he has no resentment towards the court and remains loyal to it.

But orders cannot be changed overnight.
"We can restore his title in a year or two, and then appoint him as a prefectural governor, giving him a chance to reform. This way, the authority of the court will not be damaged!"

Li Shimin thought it made a lot of sense. "Alright, we'll do as you say. I will remember the thousand acres of land and thirty thousand strings of cash that he offered."

(End of this chapter)