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

Chapter 799 A Magnificent Eighty Thousand Words
the next morning,

When Li Yi and his party left Baiguwu, more than a thousand former temple servants came to see them off.

Everyone was reluctant to see Li Yi leave. During this short period of time, everyone experienced unprecedented peace and happiness.

They feared that once Li Yi left, they would fall back into the abyss.

Many villagers cried and wailed.

A profound sense of loss, like the death of one's parents.

Zhang Bing said goodbye to his father and his brothers and sisters. Although he was reluctant to leave, he longed to leave this small village.

Zhang Bing's father patted his son's shaved head and said, "Son, go on, and be a good boy."

Zhang Bing's mother held her son's hand, tears streaming down her face.

"Why are you crying? So many people envy Da Bing. He's following the current prime minister. Look, he's been given five bolts of silk as a settlement allowance."

They used to give two shi of grain and two bolts of silk every year, and even now, at the end of the year, they still gave two shi of grain and two bolts of silk directly.

Our kid can make a lot of money if he goes out and hangs out with influential people.

My dear soldier, you have no idea how many people envy you. Our Baiwu Valley has over a thousand households, but Lord Situ chose only you.
These days, so many families have come to our house wanting to propose marriage; our doorstep has been worn down by the constant stream of people coming and going.

"Why don't you book one before you leave?"

Everyone knows that Zhang Bing is a promising and lucky kid who was chosen by Situ. Whether he's a follower or something else, he'll be working by Situ's side.

Therefore, many people came to propose marriage, and they didn't even ask for any dowry. Some were even willing to give money. If the marriage was settled, then their family would be able to have some connection with Situ.

Ten-year-old Zhang Bing hesitated for a moment.
Then his gaze fell upon Li Enze, who was waiting for him to the side.
Li Enze shook his head slightly at him.

"Father, Mother, I'm going to Luoyang with Master Situ. I don't know when I'll be back, so I'll postpone the appointment."

"Not ordering anymore?" Zhang Bing's father whispered to his son, "You little brat, I don't know what kind of luck you had this time to get Master Situ to appoint you as his attendant, but you don't have any ability. What if you get kicked out later?"
"Now's the time to seize this opportunity and quickly arrange a marriage. Several families are quite well-off, and they're even willing to pay extra!"

Zhang Bing shook his head.

Old Zhang was somewhat dissatisfied. "Forget it, go and do a good job. You'll get two shi of grain and two bolts of cloth a year. In the past, if you were herding sheep for the temple, you'd only get a bowl of thin porridge a day."

Zhang's mother said, "Don't waste this money and grain. Remember to save it and send it home. I'll save it for you to marry a new wife in the future."

The family had so much to say.

Once the carriages and horses started moving,

Li Enze reminded Zhang Bing again, and only then did he tearfully bid farewell to his parents and catch up with the convoy.

On the car,
Li Yi couldn't help but turn around and look at the village.

The ancient battlefield

It later almost became a hell.

Now the sunlight pierces through the layers of dark clouds, shining down again and bringing them light and warmth once more.

The seeds of hope have been planted, but it remains to be seen whether they will sprout, grow strong, and survive.

Lower the carriage curtain,

Li Yi began to look through the text in his hand.
These are reports compiled by Li Yi's imperial guards, garrison soldiers, and household retainers after conducting investigations in various places over the past few days.

The investigation into Baiguwu involved many aspects.

Fields, mountains, forests, villages, population, workshops—this place, past and present.

Ownership of farmland and forests
The lives of the people, as well as the local products, markets, and prices.

How much of this land used to belong to Shaolin Temple, and how much to the common people? What were the original lease agreements, and what were the living conditions of the people here?
They even investigated the lending situation and interest rates here.

It even knows how many oxen and farming tools are there locally, how many sheep are raised, and how many people have craftsmanship skills.
Several thousand people were divided into groups to conduct a survey and registration.
They thoroughly investigated and registered the backgrounds of the more than 10,000 mu of farmland and the more than 1,000 households here.

Now all of these have been compiled and submitted to Li Yi.

Everyone was puzzled as to why Situ wanted to investigate these matters.

But Li Yi looked through these raw, first-hand, real data in the car, and he looked at them very carefully.

Any decision requires the support of accurate and reliable information.

The county government may have some records of land and population, but the records of Dengfeng County are definitely inaccurate. The more than 1,000 households in Baiwu Valley were not on the official household register in the past.

Here, the price varies depending on factors like land price, forest price, marriage cost, concubine price, engagement price, and even the price of a cow or a pig.

How much is the loan interest?

These things definitely require personal investigation.

From Baiguwu to Luoyang, it's over a hundred li.
The carriage moved very slowly.

The road is difficult to walk on.

The journey was very bumpy.

Fortunately, there was a heater in the carriage, so it wasn't cold. Li Yi checked and organized the data in the carriage, and compiled it into a memorial to the throne.

This memorial is called the Memorial from Baiguwu.

The journey took over six or seven days, covering more than a hundred miles. Along the way, Li Yi also compiled and wrote a memorial to the emperor from Baiguwu, which contained more than 80,000 words.

The carriage arrived at the outskirts of Luoyang.

The emperor has already sent Xu Luoren to greet them.

"His Majesty heard from the Anbaiqi that the Grand Commandant was returning to the capital today, so he specially ordered us to come out of the city twenty li to welcome him."

Luoyang suburban post station

Xu Luoren also arranged a welcome banquet.
Chickens and sheep were slaughtered, and a lavish feast was prepared. "Minister Situ must have had a hard time on his inspection tour."

"Fortunately."

Xu Luoren smiled and said, "I have good news for you, Situ. His Majesty thinks your residence in Tongji Ward, Luoyang, is too small."
A special decree was issued, allocating half of the Huixun Archway originally bestowed upon the King of Wei to the Minister of Works for the construction of his residence.

Li Yi's residence in Tongjifang was only about twenty mu (approximately 1.3 hectares).
Huixunfang originally covered more than 500 mu of land, but it has now been divided in two. Li Yi occupies the western half of the ward, which is more than 200 mu, while King Yue Li Tai occupies the eastern half, which is also more than 200 mu.

"Now, the half of the Yue King's territory has been renamed Daoshu Ward, while the half of the Wei King's territory will remain Huixun Ward. One ward has been divided into two wards."

"Huixunfang is a good place. It faces the Luo River to the north, and the imperial city is just across the river. Not far to the northwest of Huixunfang is Tianjin Bridge."

Coming from Tianjin Bridge, there is a large area of ​​land on the south bank of the Luo River. The Luo River overflowed and turned into a marshland of several hundred acres.

When Emperor Yang Guang built Luoyang, the eastern capital, he constructed dikes to control the flooding of the Luo River. However, the Luo River later overflowed to the south, resulting in a swamp of more than 300 mu (approximately 20 hectares) south of the Luo River dike.

Lotus and water chestnuts grow in abundance around the embankment, willows provide shade, and water birds flock together.

The pond is about seven li in circumference.

Although this swamp is now neglected and appears somewhat desolate.

But now the emperor has bestowed these three hundred acres of marshland upon Li Yi to be used as a garden.

He was granted half of Huixun Archway, more than 200 mu of land, and another 300 mu of marshland in front of the archway.

This is not the outskirts of Luoyang.

Instead, it's right next to the Tianjin Bridge.

Separated from the imperial city only by the Luo River, this area was already a scenic spot, making it a popular location for high-ranking officials and nobles to establish their residences and mansions.
The place where Li Yi was located was truly a magnificent sight in the capital.

Xu Luoren spoke of these things with a look of envy.

Even though Luoyang is now just Luozhou and no longer the capital, it is still Luoyang.

"His Majesty instructs you to return to your residence after entering the city, soak in a warm bath, and rest at home for half a day before going to the palace to meet the Emperor early tomorrow morning."

Li Yi really wanted to go home, take a nice hot bath, and then get a good night's sleep on a comfortable heated bed. Not only had he been traveling a bumpy road, but he also had no opportunity to shower. Even in the dead of winter, Li Yi felt very uncomfortable.

He took out the memorial from Baiwu Valley and handed it to Xu Luoren.
"General Xu, please forward this memorial to His Majesty."

Xu Luoren saw that the memorial was in a black silk bag with a seal on it, and knew that it was a sealed document directly presented to the emperor for his reading.

It felt very heavy when I received it.

After having a welcoming banquet with Li Yi, Xu Luoren immediately rushed back to Luoyang Palace to personally present the weighty official document to the emperor.

Li Shimin was somewhat surprised when he received it.
Upon opening it, one sees a thick memorial, densely filled with Li Yi's unique lean and muscular calligraphy.

Li Shimin was increasingly astonished as he read the 80,000-word memorial from Baiguwu, and he couldn't put it down.

This is far more detailed and comprehensive than the intelligence he had previously obtained.

"Your Majesty, it's time to eat."

Before we knew it, the sky had darkened.

"Hmm?" Li Shimin looked up and realized that he had been reading for more than two hours straight. He had already read the 80,000-word memorial several times, but he was still engrossed in it.

The evil of Zhihu Temple and the suffering of the tenants were beyond his expectations.

Li Yi swiftly suppressed the temples, registered the tenants, granted them land, distributed land, and forgave their debts. He also helped them build Confucian temples, community schools, and community granaries.
On one hand, they ruthlessly suppress; on the other hand, they are compassionate.

His trip added nearly ten thousand new households to the national household registration system: tenant farmers were granted citizenship, monks who returned to secular life were granted citizenship, and lay Buddhists were re-registered.
More than 200,000 mu of temple land were re-registered in the land register, and tens of thousands of mu of land hidden under the names of lay Buddhists and others were also measured and registered.

Population, land, taxes,
There were also large amounts of money, silk, and grain confiscated.

These figures exceed a state's tax revenue for ten years.

However, Li Yi's thunderous rebuke still left room for maneuver; the eight eminent monks, including the Venerable Shanhu, were relocated to the Daxingshan Temple in Chang'an to translate scriptures.

The selection of a highly virtuous monk as abbot from Baima Temple demonstrates their experience and composure.

The 80,000-word report allowed Li Shimin to see the true living conditions of the common people without actually going deep into the countryside; they were far worse than he had imagined.

Those seemingly trivial records of prices, customs, and so on are so real and detailed.

This is something he usually doesn't hear from the officials or in their memorials when he sits in the imperial court.

Li Shimin closed the memorial and tucked it into his robes.

"It's lunchtime, and Wu Yi probably hasn't eaten yet. Let's go to Wu Yi's residence in Tongji Lane and have dinner there for free."

Palace Attendant Pei Huaijie hurriedly requested instructions: "I will immediately send someone to the Minister's residence to inform them to prepare food and welcome His Majesty."

"I'm going to Wu Yi's house, there's no need for all this. I'll just change into some plain clothes and have a hundred riders accompany me. There's no need to notify me in advance."

Li Shimin now wanted to see Li Yi and have a heart-to-heart talk with him.

can not wait anymore.

I can't wait even one night.

There are so many things I want to say, and so many things I want to ask Li Yi in person.

It was getting late.

The palace gates will be locked.
However, Li Shimin still decided to go to Li Yi's house for dinner, and even decided to stay at Li Yi's residence tonight, to have a long talk with him by candlelight and sleep side by side with him!

tonight,

It's destined to be a sleepless night!

(End of this chapter)