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

Chapter 797 I've Tolerated You for a Long Time
"Xiao Yu impeached me for forming a faction and plotting a rebellion?"

At Baiguwu, Li Yi couldn't help but smile as he listened to the imperial edict relayed by An Yuanshou, the Right Thousand Bull Guard and Hundred Cavalryman who had rushed over.

In front of the son of the Duke of Liang, Li Yi did not hide his expression. He laughed and scolded, "I've been putting up with that old guy for quite a while now."

Sixteen-year-old An Yuanshou was tall and handsome.

He hadn't expected Li Yi to scold Xiao Yu like that in front of him, so he could only smile and say, "Prime Minister Xiao is indeed a bit confused. After being reprimanded by His Majesty several times, he actually shouted that he wanted to become a monk."

His Majesty agreed, but he went back on his word at the last minute, making himself a laughingstock.

Li Yi knew Xiao Yu fairly well; he was a proud and aloof man who got along with no one. He and Chen Shuda had even been ready to fight. When working with Feng Deyi, Feng had a way of dealing with him. During discussions, Feng would agree wholeheartedly, but when reporting to the emperor, he would wait for Xiao Yu to finish speaking before immediately expressing his opposition.

Xiao Yu was so angry that he wanted to beat him up in front of the emperor.

Anyway, Xiao Yu doesn't get along with anyone.

Previously demoted from the imperial court to the position of governor of Qizhou, he still couldn't keep quiet, because Li Yi's crackdown on Buddhist monks had angered this devout Buddhist.

Several petitions to attack him were unsuccessful.

To put it bluntly, Li Yipeng was disloyal to the party and intended to rebel.

You can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say things like that.

Li Shimin initially tolerated Xiao Yu because he was his cousin's husband, their children were related by marriage, and Xiao Yu was a veteran of two dynasties.

But Xiao Yu was oblivious to the times, didn't know when to advance or retreat, and still wouldn't stop.

Li Shimin was also getting impatient, "Since you believe in Buddhism so much, why do you only let your daughters and sons become nuns, but you don't become one yourself?"

Xiao Yu sent all four of his children to become monks and nuns, which has long been criticized by many people.

After all, some of the children were so young when he sent them away from home.

When Li Shimin issued this decree to inquire about Xiao Yu's true intentions, it was unclear whether he was genuinely sincere or not. He submitted a memorial requesting an explanation.

Li Shimin immediately spoke frankly, saying that he knew your family had always had a connection with Buddhism, and your great-grandfather, Emperor Wu of Liang, was a devout Buddhist. Since you have a fondness for Buddhism, I will not go against your wishes and will allow you to become a monk.

Once this decree was issued,
Xiao Yu was now in a difficult situation.
Despite how much Xiao Yu usually acts like a devout Buddhist, he hesitates when it comes to actually becoming a monk.

Even though his great-grandfather, Emperor Wu of Liang, said he wanted to become a monk, he was actually just asking his ministers to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to redeem him from the temple, which was a disguised way of giving money to the temple.

Xiao Yu's wife, Lady Dugu, who was also Li Shimin's maternal aunt, also pleaded with tears in her eyes. Even Xiao Yu's sister, Empress Xiao, upon hearing about this, hurriedly wrote a letter to him, urging her brother not to actually become a monk.

The Xiao family of Lanling still depends on him for support.

Xiao Yu then submitted another memorial to the emperor, stating, "After careful consideration, I have decided that I cannot become a monk."

Li Shimin could no longer tolerate this. Going back on his word, is this the demeanor a minister should have? I have endured this for so long, yet he has shown no remorse!
He was stripped of his title and fiefdom as Duke of Song and demoted from Qizhou to Shangzhou.

The transfer of the governor of Guannei to the governor of Shannan was naturally a demotion.

Li Yi felt no sympathy for Xiao Yu's self-destructive behavior, but he also knew that it was precisely because Xiao Yu couldn't get along with anyone and loved to spout nonsense that Li Shimin was sometimes willing to keep him around and use him.

Such people are not worried about forming cliques or engaging in favoritism; the court needs people like them.

This old fellow will return to the court sooner or later and become prime minister again. In history, he was dismissed by Li Shimin six times and then appointed prime minister six times, which is quite unique.

"An Baiqi, you must be tired from your journey. Come inside and warm yourself by the fire."

The 17,000 mu of farmland, the more than 3,000 mu of medicinal herb gardens, and the thousands of mu of forest in Baiwu Valley, which originally belonged to Shaolin Temple, have now been distributed by Li Yi to the tenants of several villages here.

Some families own as little as 100 mu of land, while others own as much as 300 or 400 mu.

During this time,

The villagers are celebrating like it's New Year's Day every day.
At Li Yi's request, the county and township authorities made special arrangements to process their household registrations and confirm their land deeds.

The villagers themselves were also very enthusiastic.

Under Li Yi's arrangement, a Confucian temple and a community school were built using discarded temple bricks and tiles, and a community granary was also constructed.
Li Yi distributed some of the confiscated grain to the villagers as rations, and also stored 100 shi of grain in the community granaries of each village.

Each village was divided into baojia (a system of mutual responsibility and management), and village chiefs and baojia chiefs were elected. Strong men were also organized into patrol teams, and in their spare time they trained in guns, sticks, and fists, taking turns to guard the village and patrol.

The village is changing rapidly.

The changes are enormous.

Li Yi wasn't in a hurry to return to Luoyang; he considered this place as his experimental field and wanted to make arrangements before leaving.

Nowadays,

It was the day the village school reopened, even though it was almost Chinese New Year.

However, Li Yi still invited two teachers to the newly built community school.

The two elderly men, in their fifties or sixties, were from the same village. They had some education and had once served as officials in Luoyang. Now that they were old, they had returned to their hometown to retire.

Li Yi sent someone to invite them to come here to teach and enlighten children, and the two old men naturally did not refuse.

Li Yi allocated fifty mu of land to the primary school as school land. The villagers helped cultivate the land, and the harvested grain was used for the teachers' food rations, wages, and some school expenses. The remainder was stored in the village granary.

Children under ten years old in the village can study at the school for free for three years, just like the earliest Wuji Primary School. They only attend classes for half a day, and the children can also go home to help with farm work. They have holidays during the busy farming season.

This school is even more rudimentary than Wuji Elementary School, where Li Yi once studied.
In the dead of winter,

The two classrooms were packed with children, and many villagers also sat in the back to listen. "At birth, people are inherently good; their natures are similar, but their habits differ."

The first lesson of the new semester was the same for both classes: the Three Character Classic compiled by Li Yi.

An Yuanshou followed Li Yi to the classroom and quietly sat in on the lesson.

"Situ is concerned about the world, yet he still finds time in his busy schedule to leave a school for the people of this small village. That's truly a great act of kindness," said An Yuanshou, expressing his willingness to donate. He explained that he was on a mission and couldn't carry much money or silk with him.
Fortunately, this man was a top-tier powerful figure from Wuwei.
My father and uncle were both dukes of the current dynasty. Two dukes in one family, that's quite an achievement.

The An family's ancestors were princes of Parthia. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Prince Ananda moved east and settled in Liangzhou, gradually becoming a prominent and powerful family in Liangzhou.

When the Tang Dynasty was first established, Hexi was controlled by Li Gui's Liangzhou. An Xinggui, who was in Chang'an, volunteered to take charge and, with the help of his brother An Xiuren and other Liangzhou clansmen and relatives, managed to overthrow Li Gui and surrender Hexi to the Tang Dynasty.

Afterwards, An Xinggui was appointed as Grand General of the Right and Right Martial Guard, and was granted the title of Duke of Liang. He was also granted 10,000 bolts of silk and a fief of 600 households. Meanwhile, his brother An Xiuren was appointed as Grand General of the Left and Governor of Liangzhou, and was granted the title of Duke of Shen and a fief of 600 households.

An Yuanshou is a rising star among the younger generation of the An family.

At only sixteen years old, he was appointed as Right Thousand Oxen Guard and selected into the Hundred Cavalry to serve the emperor, earning his deep trust.

Of course, a scion of such a prestigious family would never go out without money.

He has gold on him.

He pulled out a book of gold pages. The pages of this book were made of gold, each page weighing one tael, and ten pages made a book. Each page could also be folded into several equal parts. These gold pages were easy to carry, and the thin gold leaves were easy to prevent counterfeiting and facilitated transactions.

He took out a book of gold pages and then pulled out a gold knife, shaped like scissors. He carried it with him when he went out, which could not only ward off evil spirits and protect him, but also serve as travel expenses at any time.

He was about to take more out.

"stop,

This primary school isn't short of money or supplies. Although the conditions look simple, there aren't many expenses; it's just the support of two teachers and some small daily expenses.

An Yuanshou's family belonged to the Sogdian ethnic group.

These Sogdians who migrated eastward were the most adept at business. Known as the "Eastern Sogdians," they traveled eastward along the Silk Road, opening up several trade routes. Some went directly to Chang'an and Luoyang along the Hexi Corridor, while others went through the Western Regions to the northern and southern grasslands of the Gobi Desert, and then reached the Turks, or even the Khitans and Goguryeo.

These people not only engaged in trade, but also established settlements along trade routes and promoted Sabaodynastic autonomy, making them quite formidable.

An Yuanshou's family were the Sabao of the Sogdians' settlement in Liangzhou. They were leaders of the merchant group and even the leaders of a theocratic system.

Not to mention, he was one of the wealthiest Sogdian merchants.

Li Yi declined, but he still kept the ten taels of gold leaves, which were worth 80,000 coins. At the current grain price, that could buy several hundred bushels of rice.

But this was merely a small amount of pocket money for An Yuanshou.

Although he was young, he knew how much the emperor favored Li Yi. Xiao Yu's identity was also not simple: he was the head of the Lanling Xiao clan, the emperor's maternal uncle and father-in-law, and a prime minister of two dynasties. As a result, in order to protect Li Yi, the emperor directly stripped Xiao Yu of his title of duke.

"Please ask Situ to let Yuan Shou do his part as well."

"Row."

Li Yi smiled and agreed, "Later, have someone use these ten taels of gold to buy grain and store it in the village granary in preparation for famine. Then, I'll have them record your good deed."

"Is there anything special about this village? Situ seems to care about them a lot?" An Yuanshou was still quite young and couldn't help but ask.

Li Yi looked at the village in the cold wind.

The snow from a few days ago has melted.

It gets colder after the snow melts.

But instead of staying home and keeping warm by the fire, the villagers were busy braving the cold wind.

The able-bodied men trained with spears and clubs in the cold wind.

Children are learning to read in the classroom.

The women organized themselves to clean the village, clear weeds, level the village roads, and clean up the front and back of every house. The villagers in the village helped each other to repair roofs and walls.

Land was distributed and allocated.
They've also been registered as law-abiding citizens.
The mountain that had been weighing on their heads was lifted, and even the debts that had previously suffocated them were all forgiven.

They were given a new lease on life.

Hope was on everyone's face.

This kind of village is actually quite common in this era.
However, they had a harder life and were more oppressed than most villages in the past.

"I will continue to pay attention to this village and will come back to visit often in the future. I hope they can live a better life."

There were countless villages like this in the Tang Dynasty, and Yusu Township used to be similar, but today Yusu Township and Luojiabao have succeeded.

"I will arrange for someone to deliver new crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, and yams to them. I will also send people to guide them in continuing to grow medicinal herbs and teach them how to grow tea."
Plant some more cotton, fruit trees, etc.

Teach them how to raise pigs and accumulate manure to increase crop yields. The successful experience of Yushu Township can be promoted here, and even one-on-one assistance can be provided.

The young An Yuanshou didn't quite understand why Li Yi cared so much about such a small village.

This is just an ordinary village.

Li Yi noticed his confusion and smiled, saying, "This is just an experimental field. New crops and new methods always need to be tested first to summarize the lessons learned. Governing a country and governing a state is the same; we must be extremely careful."

(End of this chapter)