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

Chapter 820 Why Not?

"The eight maids His Majesty bestowed upon us were all of the highest quality, each worth ten taels of gold. And those ten fine horses, each also worth ten taels of gold..."

That evening, Luo San Niang nestled in Li Yi's arms, telling her husband about things at home.

The gifts that Xueyantuo sent to Li Yi were handed over to the imperial court by him, and the emperor then rewarded him with a beautiful woman and a fine horse.

One hundred and eighty taels of gold were sold, all of them of the highest quality.

“In Luoyang, an ordinary maidservant only costs a few thousand coins, and some children only cost a few hundred coins each.”

"A good horse that can be used as a warhorse would cost ten thousand coins."

My lord, those Xueyantuo people are really generous. They sold eight maids and ten horses for 180 taels of gold. Are they really going to donate the rest to the court? This was all a gift from His Majesty.

The three hundred taels of gold and five hundred taels of silver they previously sent have already been handed over to the imperial court.

Luo San Niang was somewhat reluctant to part with it.

Actually, she felt that since it was a gift from the emperor, she should keep it.

It's only right that the Situ family employs beautiful maids and fine horses.

Li Yi inhaled the pleasant scent of the pomegranate soap on her body, stroked her hair, and thought of her as that young, blond girl from Luo Family Fortress.
Now it's like a sparrow turning into a phoenix.

Her skin became fairer and smoother, her hair became jet black and shiny, and her body became fuller.

Even their way of speaking has changed.

Wealth nourishes people.

There's one thing: she's quite fond of money.

"A mere hundred or eighty taels of gold is nothing to speak of. Now that you manage so many of the family's businesses, remember this..."
There are certain kinds of money you shouldn't be greedy for or touch.

The Xueyantuo were ambitious. They were still a subordinate tribe of the Turks, but they wanted to bypass Tuli Khan and establish themselves in the northern desert.

The Tang Dynasty would not agree to such a thing.

As the prime minister, how could I accept their gifts or speak on their behalf?

Third Sister was puzzled, "Then why did the Western Turkic Mohesheni Shu accept the Li'erlang, and also the Li'erlang given by Tuli Khan?"

They even accepted gifts from the King of Da Ning of Tuyuhun?

"That's different. The imperial court needs to establish marriage alliances with the Western Turks and Tuyuhun. It's a strategic necessity for the imperial court."

Both the King of Tuyuhun and Mohesheni of the Western Turks wanted to marry their sisters to Li Yi, and this had already been approved by the emperor.

Therefore, Li Yi and they are now relatives.
The emperor instructed Li Yi to accept the gifts they presented, which was tantamount to an affirmation of the relationship between the two countries.

When Xueyantuo offered gifts to Li Yi, Li Yi refused to accept them, which was also a way of expressing his stance.

It was even an insult to the Xueyantuo.

Even if the emperor were to bestow gifts upon them, the proceeds would be sold and donated to the national treasury. This was also a reminder to the court officials not to accept gifts from the Xueyantuo people and not to speak on their behalf.

Luo San Niang had no idea about all the intricacies involved.

She didn't think about it anymore and coiled around him like a water snake, saying, "My love, I've calculated it, today is the auspicious day, please plant another one for me."

Her breath felt hot and itchy on my face. "Do you want to have more? You already have a son and a daughter, making a perfect family."

Luo San Niang said gently, "You can never have too many children. While you're still young, have as many as you can. It's not like we can't afford to raise them."
"I want to bear you many sons, my lord, to continue our family line."

Li Yi felt that he already had more than a dozen children, which was enough, but his wives and concubines all wanted to have more.

It's not about having children to compete for favor or anything like that; it's just that in their minds, if you can have children, you should have them, the more the better.

“I’m worried about you going through a lot. Ten months of pregnancy is exhausting, and childbirth is even more painful. Raising a baby from infancy is no easy task either.”

"What's so hard about it? It's a woman's natural duty to give birth and raise children."

Unable to persuade them,

I couldn't persuade them at all.

After saying a few more words, Luo San Niang actually cried. She felt that Li Yi didn't want to have children with her, which meant he didn't like her anymore.

This made Li Yi quickly try to appease him.
I tried everything to coax her, but nothing worked. I might as well prove it with my actions.

Water and milk blend together,

Luo San Niang's tears turned to laughter, but she quickly began to sob again...

Women like Luo San Niang wouldn't understand the affairs of the imperial court.
In fact, the vast majority of ordinary people don't understand this; they don't even know the real situation.

Ordinary people only like to make wild guesses and spread rumors.

In the Hall of State Affairs,

People heard that Li Yi sold the beautiful woman and precious horse given to him by Xueyantuo for 180 taels of gold and then donated the money to the national treasury.

Before the meeting, everyone joked with him.

Yuwen Shiji said, "The Minister should send this gold into our government office to supplement the food expenses of the canteen, improve the meals, and provide the officials with some firewood, rice, and other welfare."

Attendant Pei Ju said, "Wang Ji, a corrector in the Secretariat and a waiter-in-waiting, is about to resign because the daily supply of three liters of wine has been stopped."

Wang Ji, also known as Scholar Wang, was the younger brother of Wang Tong, a great Confucian scholar of the Sui Dynasty. He was very talented and wrote a fine poem. During the Sui Dynasty, he served as a corrector in the Secretariat and later as the assistant magistrate of Liuhe County. Due to the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, he resigned his post and returned to his hometown.

Last year, he was summoned by the imperial court and served as a court attendant. Wang Ji's family belonged to the Longmen branch of the Hedong Wang clan. He was a highly talented man, but also unrestrained and fond of wine. Li Yi had met him; he was fond of Laozi and Zhuangzi, as well as the metaphysics of the Wei and Jin dynasties, and admired Tao Yuanming. He was always caught in a contradiction between worldly involvement and detachment.
Longing for rural life, yet always feeling like a talent that is not being recognized.

Wang Ji was serving as a court attendant in the Secretariat. Originally, the Chamberlain Chen Shuda admired him greatly, but after Chen Shuda resigned and returned home to observe mourning for his parents, Wang Ji became increasingly dissatisfied with his position in the Secretariat.

He has once again expressed his intention to resign from his official post.

“Wang Ji is a man of exceptional talent,” Li Yi said. “I hereby decree that he shall be given one dou of wine every day.”

Li Yi arranged for Wang Ji to live in his own office and assist him with paperwork, essentially making him his office director. He gave Wang Ji a dou of wine a day and also provided him with a salary increase and subsidies for charcoal, rice, and flour.

Wang Gui smiled and reminded Li Yi, "My relative is fond of drinking and often makes mistakes. Moreover, he has a stubborn and unyielding personality. Situ, you should be prepared."

"It doesn't matter. What I value is his talent. As for his drinking habit and unconventional personality, they don't matter. When employing someone, you should use their strengths."

After these words were spoken, no one dared to offer any further advice.

In fact, Wang Ji's elder brother, Wang Tong, was the most famous Confucian scholar of the Sui Dynasty. Countless high-ranking officials and renowned scholars both inside and outside the court were once Wang Tong's students.

Those people claimed to be disciples of the He Fen School, with over a thousand students and disciples.

For example, Wen Yanbo, who was recently dismissed from his post as prime minister, as well as the deceased Xue Shou and Du Yan, were all students of Wang Tong.

In addition, Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng, Du Ruhui, Chen Shuda, Wang Gui, and others all went to Longmen to attend classes.

Although Wang Tong died young,

But it is precisely because of this relationship,

The imperial court summoned the brothers Wang Ji and Wang Ning to serve as officials. Even though Wang Ji, a court official, often drank and made mistakes, he was always taken care of by powerful figures.

"Speaking of this wine, although the imperial court has banned private brewing, many people still brew it privately, so a ban alone is not enough to enforce it."

The public's demand for alcohol remains high, so I think we can make a slight adjustment.

Wei Zheng loved wine, and his family's brew was quite famous. In the past, his official position was low and his salary was meager, so his wife, Pei, would brew several batches of wine every year to sell in order to supplement their household income.

Even now that he's a prime minister, he still brewed some wine all along.

Now that the alcohol ban is in effect, Wei Zheng can no longer brew his own alcohol at home, and his Wei family's homemade brewing business is about to end.

"Does Wu Yi have any good ideas?"

Li Yi said, "Actually, the main reason for banning private brewing is the shortage of grain, and brewing wine requires grain, so the court had no choice but to ban it."

Therefore, I have an idea: after all the wine merchants in the country register with the government...

As long as they can transport grain from south of the Yangtze River northward to the five major granaries—Liyang Granary in Hebei, Xingluo and Huiluo Granaries in Henan, Yongfeng Granary in Guanzhong, and Changping Granary in Shanzhou—...
They were then given the appropriate wine tokens.

The imperial court purchased the grain they brought at market price, and in addition, provided a wine brewing permit for every three shi of grain for every one shi of wine brewed.

Brewing is permitted only with a wine permit.

This wine license is essentially a permit and quota for brewing.
At the same time, after paying their grain taxes but before collecting alcohol and salt, they also needed to pay for a brewing license and prepay alcohol tax.

Liquor owners, liquor licenses, liquor quotations, liquor taxes,
These things piqued the curiosity of the prime ministers.

"To give you an example, let's say Prime Minister Wei is a winemaker who makes a living by brewing wine. He goes to Jiangnan to buy 100 shi of grain, transports it back to Xingluo Granary, and pays the debt."

The imperial court purchased rice at the market price of twenty coins per dou (a unit of dry measure), and paid him twenty guan (another unit of dry measure) for this hundred shi (a unit of dry measure).

He was granted a permit to brew wine with a yield of thirty-three shi (a unit of dry measure), and the tax rate was two sheng (another unit of dry measure) for every dou (a unit of volume) of wine. The tax would be levied according to the price at which he sold his wine.

After delivering grain, the distillery must first pay taxes and obtain a wine permit before it can brew and sell wine. The total amount of wine brewed and sold cannot exceed the number of wine permits it holds…

Wei Zheng stroked his beard and said, "Isn't it a bit too high to charge two liters of tax for a dou of wine?"

"Alcohol is not a common necessity, and with the current food shortage, it would be better to set a higher alcohol tax. This would both curb the amount of alcohol produced and increase tax revenue."

As for the details of this grain-for-wine-license exchange, they can be further refined, such as ensuring that no tariffs are levied along the way when transporting grain from Jiangnan to the five major granaries.

"I estimate that the wine tax will amount to at least 200,000 strings of cash a year."

The most important thing is not increasing the wine tax by 200,000 strings of cash, but that if these wineries want to brew wine, they have to find a way to transport grain from Jiangnan, whether they buy the grain themselves or entrust merchants to buy it.
This is especially true given the current food shortages in the north.

Both can mobilize grassroots resources to transport grain from the south to the north.

Three shi of grain can be exchanged for a brewing license for one shi of wine, while one shi of grain can be used to brew three shi of wine.
There's a huge difference here.
These are the stored grains that were input by the wine merchants.

“There has been no wine tax since the Sui Dynasty,” Wei Zheng stated frankly.

The Sui Dynasty not only had no wine tax, but it also had no salt tax, no mining tax, and not even a commercial tax.
After unifying the country, the Sui Dynasty quickly ushered in the prosperous Kaihuang era, and these lenient policies played a crucial role in this success.

Wei Zheng's subtext was that the imperial court was now imposing taxes on mining, alcohol, and commerce.

Isn't this a bit too much of a scramble for money?

"Gentlemen"
I've always believed that it's better to guide than to block.

The ban on private brewing has good intentions, but it is difficult to implement in practice, so it might be better to make some changes.

As long as the distillers can bring grain from Jiangnan and deliver it to the designated warehouses, they can obtain a wine license. After paying the wine tax, they can obtain a wine permit and openly brew and sell wine.

Those who make a living by brewing wine will not lose their jobs or livelihoods, and those who enjoy drinking wine will not be without wine to drink.

The imperial court, on the other hand, increased its grain reserves and its wine tax revenue—why not?

(End of this chapter)