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

Chapter 786 Bloodstained Wedding Banquet

In the twilight of winter,
The farmhouse courtyard suddenly fell silent.

The monk Tanman turned his head to look at him.

A young man in his early twenties stood in the courtyard, wearing a linen blue shirt and a black soft turban, making him stand out from the crowd.

Tanman was a steward monk in charge of the estates and fields of Shaolin Temple. He was in charge of a estate and its tenants in Baiguwu. He knew all about a hundred tenants there very well, and the place was like his private kingdom.

He had never seen this person before.
Moreover, this person is different from the tenants here.

Tanman turned around.

"Zhang Shifu, who is this?"

Zhang Dashan's father rushed over and fawned over the burly monk Tanman, saying, "These are passing merchants who came to celebrate a wedding and wanted to share in the joy."

"Oh?" Tanman chuckled upon hearing that the young man was a passing merchant, then took a few more steps to stand before Li Yi.
He looked down at Li Yi several times, asking, "Who are you, merchant? Where are you headed?"

Li Yi also sized up the monk. He was tall and burly, with a shiny shaved head and ordination scars. His monk's robe was clearly made of silk.

His face was full of fat, and he reeked of alcohol when he spoke.

“A man from Chang’an, who came from Luoyang, intends to go to Dengfeng.”

"Oh, are you going to Dengfeng to burn incense and worship Buddha, or to sell goods?"

Li Yi chuckled twice, not answering the man's questioning, but instead said, "Today is the wedding day of this family's son. Why are you, a monk, barging into their bridal chamber?"

Looking at Li Yi's proud and solemn appearance, and then at the four attendants behind him, Tanman couldn't figure out their identities for a moment.

“Sir, you are just passing through and are unaware of local customs, so why bother with your business? I see it’s getting late, and you’ve already had your wedding feast, so you should hurry on your way. Otherwise, it’s not convenient to spend the night in this desolate wilderness.”

Li Yi sneered.
"Regardless of local customs, there is no custom where a monk takes the place of the groom in the bridal chamber on the wedding night. As a monk, do you not abide by the precepts?"

Tan's face darkened.
"I advise you to leave immediately and not meddle in other people's business, lest you cause trouble for yourself!"

"Oh, what kind of trouble?"

"This entire area, spanning a hundred miles, is Shaolin Temple territory, and everyone must abide by Shaolin Temple's rules," Tanman said fiercely, as several martial monks surrounded him from behind.

Li Yi chuckled coldly a few more times.
"All I know is that this is Henan, the Henan of the Tang Dynasty, and if I'm going to uphold anything, it's the law of the land."

Tanman looked Li Yi up and down again.

"Sir, you're in business; harmony brings wealth. Why meddle in other people's business and invite trouble?"

"Here, I'll give you a gourd of wine and a roast chicken. You should hurry on your way while it's still light!"

Li Yi sized up the wine-and-meat monk.
He now had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on, and despite his many experiences, he was still furious.

"If the road is uneven, someone will level it; if there is injustice, someone will take care of it. Today, I'm going to take care of this matter!"

A younger monk stepped forward from behind Tanman, rolled up his sleeves, and was about to throw a punch at Li Yi. "You ungrateful wretch, how dare you meddle in our Shaolin Temple's business! You're asking for it!"

Li Cunyi stepped forward a few paces.
He reached out and grabbed Tan Feng's fist, twisted it behind his back, and Tan Feng was already kneeling in pain, his hands were grabbed behind his back.

"Let go, Ye Ye!" Tan Feng cried out in pain.

With a forceful movement, Li Cunyi caused Tan Feng to kneel on the ground, unable to rise.

"Watch your mouth, you bald monk!"

The shout of "bald monk" enraged Tanman and the others, who immediately threw punches at him.

As it turned out, Li Cunyi alone was enough. He first forcefully dislocated Tan Feng's arm, kicked him to the ground, and then faced off against Tan Man and the other monks.

Two iron fists were swung.

One punch and he'd be down.
Sweeping kick, high kick, straight kick,
In no time at all
Five or six monks all collapsed.

Li Yi, dressed in a blue robe, remained standing there without moving.

Li Enze, Li Cunli, and several others stood guard on either side of him.

At this time,

The villagers in the courtyard seemed to have just realized what was happening.

Someone screamed.

someone exclaimed.

Old man Zhang Shifu was completely stunned and couldn't react for a moment.

The groom, Zhang Dashan, stood there as if his legs were made of lead, his lips trembling, at a loss for what to do.

The high and mighty monks were actually beaten to a pulp by a passing customer.

Although Zhang Dashan felt a sense of satisfaction from the punches and kicks, he was also filled with fear.

The villagers of Baiguwu usually do not deal with the government and do not even know who the county magistrate is, but the estate manager of Shaolin Temple is someone they dare not offend.

In order to prevent the monks from taking over their land or exchanging it for inferior land, they even had to endure their wives and daughters being humiliated by the monks, and even on the first night of a new bride's marriage, the monks would sleep with her.

In order to rent land, one had to first pay a deposit as a guarantee, which could be equivalent to six months or even a year's harvest. If one couldn't raise enough money for this deposit, one had to borrow money from monks.

Not to mention, 60% of the harvest from the land had to be paid in rent. In addition, they had to do 30 to 40 days of unpaid labor for the temple every year, which was considered a form of labor rent.

At this time, there are also various ways to rent wine and gifts.
The various types of wines, such as "Ren Dong Jiu," "Chun Jiu," "Kan Mai Jiu," and "Xin Mi Jiu," are all ways to exploit the tenant farmers.

But they had no choice. Generations had lived in this area, renting land from the temple and cultivating it year after year, yet they still always owed the temple money.

The villagers were filled with fear and unease.

When was the last time the monks were beaten?
Several years ago, when Wang Shichong became the Emperor of the Great Zheng in Luoyang, he sent his nephew, the Prince of Tang, Wang Renzhe, to garrison Baiguwu. This Prince of Tang, who had murdered the Emperor Tai, came to this place, forcibly seized land, demolished temples and estates, and forcibly conscripted people and monks to build Huanzhou City.
At that time, the monks defied the imperial decree of the Zheng state, and as a result, many of them were killed.

Even Shaolin Temple was destroyed. After the war, a monument was erected at Shaolin to record the end of the Great Cause, when the nine regions collapsed and bandits attacked and plundered countless people, both true and secular. This temple was robbed by mountain bandits, but the monks resisted. The bandits then set fire to the pagoda courtyard, and all the buildings in the courtyard were destroyed in an instant. Only the Ling Pagoda stood tall and alone.

The entire Shaosi Forest was burned down, leaving only one pagoda.

The so-called burning of the temple by bandits was actually Wang Zeren's revenge against Shaolin for disobeying orders.

However, when the Tang army attacked Huanzhou later, Shaolin Temple also helped to capture the city and the king.

In the eyes of the villagers, Shaolin Temple was incredibly powerful; even Wang Shichong, who once ruled from Luoyang, was no match for Shaolin Temple here.

right now,

These businessmen actually dared to assault the monks of Shaolin Temple!
The sky is falling.

The villagers all stayed away from Li Yi.
The Zhang father and son even wanted to help the monks on the ground.

"You're helping them my ass! These bald monks are trying to take your new bride, and you're still going to help them?" Li Cunyi cursed.

Zhang Shifu's lips trembled, and he couldn't speak.

Li Yi saw the villagers' reactions.
I couldn't help but feel a bit angry at their lack of ambition and saddened by their misfortune.

"You need not be afraid. I am the Prime Minister of the Imperial Court, an imperial envoy from the Emperor to Shandong to observe the local customs and traditions."

When Li Yi revealed his identity, the villagers looked at him with fear and uncertainty, half believing and half doubting.

They could hardly believe that the young businessman who had just been at their table at a wedding banquet was actually a prime minister of the imperial court.

"You dare impersonate imperial officials? You're courting death!"

Tanman cursed loudly on the ground.

Li Cunyi kicked him in the chin, and Tanman screamed as he lay down. Li Cunyi dragged him like a dead dog to Li Yi.
"Open your dog eyes and look carefully! This is none other than the Grand Minister of Works, Grand Master of the Palace, Chancellor, General of the Left Guard, Imperial Envoy to Shandong Taoist Temples and Customs, Pillar of the State, Prince of Wei, Li Xianggong, with a fief of 5,000 households and a real fief of 1,800 households!"

This series of official titles,
This left Tanman bewildered and uncertain.

Tanman had heard of Li Yi's name before. After all, several years ago, when Wang Shichong was rampaging and Shaolin Temple was in trouble, Li Yi led his troops from Shannan into Henan and swept through the prefectures.

The story of the thirteen Shaolin monks who later saved the King of Qin was actually fabricated; they did not actually save the King of Qin, but only helped him.

At that time, one of Li Yi's troops attacked the Dengfeng area, while Wang Junkuo attacked Xuanyuan Pass. Seeing this opportunity, the Shaolin Temple believed that their great revenge could be avenged. So they instigated Wang Renzhe, the deputy general of Huanzhou City, to defect. Then, in the middle of the night, thirteen warrior monks sneaked into the city.

With the help of both inside and outside forces, they captured Wang Renzhe and surrendered the city to the Tang army.

They had never even seen the King of Qin, let alone saved him. Afterwards, they were rewarded by the King of Qin, and the leading warrior monk, Tanzong, even received the highest honor of a nine-turn general.

They also reclaimed the temple fields that Wang Shichong had seized, and the King of Qin bestowed upon them 4,000 mu of permanent land, plus 3,000 mu of allotted land.

The monks spread the word everywhere, saying that the thirteen monks righteously saved the King of Qin, and so on.

The common people had no idea about these things and took them all seriously.

Tanman certainly knew the truth. Back then, they were oppressed by Wang Shichong and his nephew, and even the Shaolin Temple was burned down, leaving only a pagoda.

The monks had their temple lands seized, their money and grain looted, and their temples burned down; they were nearly starving to death when Li Yi led the Tang army to their rescue.
They then took action to help capture Huanzhou, which turned the tide.

But back then,
The three leaders of Shaolin Temple—Abbot Shanhu, Abbot Zhicao, and Chant Master Huiyang—went to pay their respects to Li Yi's army camp.
They didn't see it; they were too late. Li Yi continued eastward.

after that,
When Li Yi held positions such as Left Vice Minister of the Shaanxi East Circuit, Governor of Luozhou, and Pacification Commissioner of Henan and Hebei Circuits, the Three Masters of Shaolin also visited him in Luoyang.

Tanman accompanied him that time, but he was not qualified to meet Li Yi, though he was aware of Li Yi's reputation.

He couldn't immediately connect the young man before him with the renowned Minister Li.

He was more inclined to believe that the person was an imposter.

Li Yi sat down.
Looking at Tanman, whose face was covered in blood,
"Enze, go to the camp and summon my entourage and guards."

"Groom, tell me what's going on with these monks today. Don't worry, I'll take care of it for you!"

Zhang Dashan dared not say anything.
Li Cunyi then demanded that Tanman confess. Tanman, unable to withstand Li Cunyi's punches and kicks, quickly confessed everything.

"This is all consensual, and it's also our local custom. Zhang Shifu didn't have the money to marry off his son, so I lent him the money with low interest, just for the sake of sleeping with the bride for one night."
Zhang Dashan is willing, Zhang Shifu is willing, even the bride is willing, why are you interfering?

Li Cunyi slapped him hard, swelling half of his face. "Damn it, you still have the nerve to talk like that, you shameless bastard! You sleep with someone else's wife on their first night, are you even human?"

"When someone borrows money from you, they pay interest."

Tan Man's teeth were almost all knocked out, and his face was swollen like a pig's head. "Stop hitting me, stop hitting me," he begged incoherently, finally stopping his stubbornness. "I, I was just doing what the local people do, everyone does it this way."

quickly,

Li Enze brought Li Yi's entourage of imperial guards and ceremonial regalia.

When these imperial guards appeared, along with the entourage of Li Yi, the prime minister and imperial envoy, were also arrayed,

Tanman's eyes were filled with despair.

A glimmer of light finally appeared in the eyes of the groom, Zhang Dashan.

(End of this chapter)