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

Chapter 760 Eternal Glory of the Land
Loyalty must be rewarded.

Li Yi, acting on the emperor's orders, personally visited Liu Hongji's residence to present a belated birthday gift.

"Lord Liu, please receive the imperial decree."

With a sense of unease, Liu Hongji set up an altar, burned incense, and his family listened respectfully to the imperial edict.

Li Yi opened the bright yellow silk scroll containing the imperial edict.
"I have heard that ministers who are trusted and capable will surely benefit future generations. The achievements of those who are skilled in archery and fur should shine brightly for posterity. Liu Hongji, the former Duke and General of the Vanguard, once followed the emperor from Jinyang, initiated the uprising to revive the Tang Dynasty, pacified Bashu in the south, and crushed the Turks in the north. His achievements are inscribed on bronze vessels and his merits are engraved on banners."

His son, Renshi, inherited his father's mantle, was skilled in strategy and tactics, served the emperor with a halberd, and displayed the same qualities as his father. He mediated disputes and defended against foreign aggression, demonstrating unwavering loyalty and integrity.

Ranks are awarded to reward merit, and rites are used to honor virtue.

Ren Shi is hereby specially granted the title of Marquis of Chiyang County, with a fief of one thousand households.

May we inherit the teachings of the swallow and forever bear the glory of our land!

When Li Yi read this aloud...
Liu Hongji also looked surprised.
His eldest son, Liu Renshi, was overjoyed. He had been dissatisfied with his father for only allocating him 500 mu of land, but unexpectedly, he was suddenly granted the title of marquis.

Although he was the eldest son,
But he was dismissed from his post and stripped of his title of Duke of Ren. Who knows if there is any possibility that he can be reinstated?

He had been stripped of his official rank and title when he followed the King of Qin in the defeat at Qianshuiyuan, but was immediately reinstated after the King of Qin's great victory. This time, however, it's different; he's involved in a treason case.

It's possible that he will never have the chance to regain his official rank, and thus he will have no title to inherit.

Unexpectedly, while his father's title has not been restored, he has received the title of county marquis.

"The third day of the tenth month in the sixth year of the Wude era of the Tang Dynasty."

"Lord Liu".

Seeing that he was still lost in thought, Li Yi called out with a smile.

"Ah, Your Majesty, I, Liu Hongji, and my son, thank you for your grace!" Liu Hongji stammered.

Liu Renshi accepted the imperial edict, his face beaming with excitement.

The Liu family was overjoyed and warmly welcomed Li Yi.

"I really didn't expect that a sage would be so sentimental." Old Liu was so moved that he almost cried.

"Even the emperor was moved by Lord Liu's loyalty."

Li Yi's visit today is to send a signal to the outside world: Pei Ji has been exiled, but Liu Hongji's son has been granted a marquisate, meaning there will be no further purges or expansions.

In addition, Liu Hongji's donation of land was commended.

Liu Hongji's performance this time was indeed very impressive.

In particular, he only gave each of his sons five acres of land, but donated more than a thousand acres to the imperial court, which is astonishing.

This may well contain elements of Liu Hongji testing the court, or even a gesture of weakness or a complaint.
After all, these were founding heroes who had made such a show of force; the imperial court couldn't very well go after them all.

This old wolf,

Lying on her back with her legs in the air, her soft belly was completely exposed.
Whether or not there was an element of deliberate performance involved, this kind of posture is exactly what the emperor needs right now.

"His Majesty said that Lord Liu has made great contributions to the court in the past years by fighting in the east and west. Now that the world is at peace, Lord Liu can rest at home for a few years."

Liu Gong is in his prime; he will still have time to serve the country in the future.

Liu Hongji finally felt at ease.

He had a good relationship with Li Xiaochang and they often visited each other. Their children became in-laws, and he even took Li Xiaochang's half-sister as a concubine. Who could have known that Li Xiaochang would end up in such a terrible situation?

Fortunately, his son Liu Renshi didn't get along with Li Yizong and Li Yili, otherwise he would have been completely dragged into this mess.

"The Duke of Yongkang is currently in Shuofang fighting against the rebel Liang Shidu."

I am willing to go to the front lines and serve in the military!

Li Yi comforted him, saying, "Lord Liu should rest at home and recuperate. He should also take care of the old wounds he sustained on the battlefield."

It also allows them to personally teach their own children.

"His Majesty greatly appreciates Lord Liu's donation of land, money, and grain to the court, and His Majesty does not wish to disappoint Lord Liu's sincere devotion."
Therefore, it was decided that

Of the land, grain, and silk donated by Lord Liu, the court will keep half, and Lord Liu, you can keep the other half. His Majesty also said, "You are a founding hero; leaving each of your sons five hundred mu of land is a bit too little."
We should at least leave each of them ten or twenty acres.

Liu Hongji warmly invited Li Yi to have dinner at his residence.

A large table of delicious food was prepared, and Li Yi did not stand on ceremony.

In a way, he and Liu Hongji were related. Liu Hongji not only had a marriage alliance with Li Xiaochang through their children, but he also took one of Li Xiaochang's sisters as a concubine.

Although she was Li Xiaochang's half-sister, she was still Li Yi's adoptive father's biological sister and Li Yi's biological aunt.

Previously, Liu Hongji was still having a headache over the arrangements for this concubine, Li Shi.
Li Yi is currently at the Liu family's dinner table.

Tell Liu Hongji to invite this aunt out so that she can pay her respects in person.

Li was a married woman, and her brother's rebellion would not implicate her. However, in general, in cases of major rebellion, to avoid suspicion, a concubine would often be divorced to sever ties.

Liu Hongji was also concerned about Li Yi's position as prime minister, so he was conflicted about the matter. Since he was involved in Li Xiaochang's rebellion, keeping Li Xiaochang's sister in the household seemed inappropriate. However, divorcing her might anger Li Yi.

Now Li Yi has arrived.
Aunt and niece meet,

This made Liu Hongji understand that Li Shi could stay without worrying about any negative impact.

Originally, Li Yi and Liu Hongji had no contact.
Although this aunt is here, she only sends gifts during holidays. Now, we've become closer.

Li Yi also called Liu Hongji "uncle".

After the meal, Li Yi took his leave, and Liu Hongji and Li's family personally escorted him to the door.

Having received reassurance, Liu Hongji finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he ultimately donated half of his fortune,
But being able to escape unscathed from the Li Xiaochang treason case is already enough to satisfy me.

Li Yi left the Liu residence.

Sitting in the carriage with his eyes closed, resting, Liu Hongji's performance in this crisis was still worth learning from. As expected of an old rogue, his reactions were quite quick.

In contrast, Liu Hongji's longtime partner, Changsun Shunde, performed far worse.

Changsun Shunde was the Empress's cousin and had some merits and achievements, but he was also quite greedy. He not only liked to annex land, but also encroached on official and private land.

While on duty as a palace guard, he stayed at the Inner Secretariat and unexpectedly discovered that some palace servants were stealing valuables from the palace. According to the law, they should have been beheaded and their heads displayed to the public. However, after being discovered, these palace servants bribed Changsun Shunde with gold and silver, and Changsun Shunde actually let them go.

After this incident came to light, Li Shimin did not pursue the matter severely according to the law. Instead, considering that he was a meritorious official and also the Empress's cousin, he made the matter public in the palace and finally rewarded him with dozens of bolts of silk, which he then carried out.

The emperor hoped that Changsun Shunde would feel ashamed as a result and take it as a warning.

However, Changsun Shunde did not restrain himself much and continued to embezzle and accept bribes, seize land, and compete with the people for profit.

He was dismissed from office and removed from his post for being involved in a treason case last time.

He spent his days in a drunken stupor, his spirit was decadent, and he indulged himself greatly.

Li Shimin sent Yuwen Shiji to visit him at his residence, but upon hearing the report, Yuwen Shiji shook his head.

They also gave up on Changsun Shunde.

In contrast, Liu Hongji's performance was commendable. He handled the crisis well, being proactive and not giving up or slacking off, but doing everything he was supposed to do.

Liu Hongji is capable of admitting his mistakes and is willing to make sacrifices.

He was both a key figure in the succession of the retired emperor and had a close relationship with the new emperor. Now that he has adopted the right attitude, at only forty years old, he is sure to have a bright future ahead of him.

Restoring official titles and ranks is only a matter of time.

However, if Changsun Shunde doesn't adjust his mindset, even though he is the Empress's cousin, the Emperor will no longer value him.

at night,

A family dinner.

Li Yi suggested to his wives and concubines that in the narrow inland areas of the Central Plains, keeping 1,000 hectares of fertile land would be enough, and the rest should be sold off gradually.

"Just like last time, the land will not be sold to those nobles, powerful landowners, or landlords, but only to the common people who do not have enough land to give them."

If you don't have enough money on hand, you can repay in installments.

Du Shiniang was already somewhat used to it, so she wasn't too surprised when she heard this.

Luo San Niang put down her chopsticks and said, "My lord, we only have three thousand hectares of land left."

“We have three thousand acres of land in the heart of the Central Plains, but we’ve acquired quite a lot of land on the frontier, especially in Lingnan, where we’ve recently acquired a great deal,” Li Yi said.

"My lord, how can the land in Lingnan compare to the land in the Central Plains? The best land in the suburbs of Chang'an is worth one tael of gold per mu, but land in Lingnan and Jiaozhi is worth less than one tael of gold per qing. The price difference is a hundredfold..."

"That's why we don't want to hold onto so much land in the Central Plains, especially the two capitals."

Li Yi planned to reserve only a thousand or so hectares of land in the core areas of the Central Plains, such as Guanzhong, Longxi, and Sanhe, which would still amount to 100,000 mu.

For ordinary people, and even small and medium-sized landowners, land is their lifeline.

But for a top noble like him, land is not so important, or rather, having too much land is sometimes not a good thing.

In fact, Li Yi acquired all these territories during the war over the past five or six years. At that time, he didn't spend much money at all, so now he's selling them for several times, or even ten times, the profit.

Moreover, those lands made a fortune from grain when grain prices were high in those years.

Selling land now is just a way to make enough money and leave the market.

Turn around and move on to other things.

Businesses like mining and trading are less conspicuous and less likely to be attacked, yet you can still make just as much money.

Raising pigs is more profitable than buying land to rent out now.

The land in Lingnan was not valuable. Grain could be grown three times a year in Jiaozhi, so it was not worth much. Transporting it to the Central Plains was not a good business either, as the journey was too long and the transportation costs were too high.

Buying up land and establishing large-scale operations there seems to be a very unprofitable business.

But Li Yi wasn't planning to buy land in Lingnan to grow rice; he wanted to grow sugarcane and cotton there, and then produce sugar and textiles.
Once these were processed and transported to the Central Plains, they were far superior to grain.

In the Central Plains, where there is a large population and limited land, the government prioritizes grain production and does not allow the large-scale cultivation of cash crops such as cotton and sugarcane.

The north remains a major threat to the imperial court. Future expansion, whether for defense or development, will require more than just food.
Cotton-padded clothes and quilts are also the most needed items. Even cotton processed into cotton armor is a powerful weapon for protecting the country.

“If my husband says to sell, then let’s sell.” Du Shiniang calmly supported her husband and let Luo Sanniang and the others carry out the matter.

"Men are responsible for external affairs, and women are responsible for internal affairs. When it comes to important matters, it is the men who should make the decisions."

(End of this chapter)