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

Chapter 9: The Beam Raising Banquet
After the meal, there was no need to shout. Everyone put down their bowls and continued to work under the scorching sun.

A lot of soil had been dug, so they started to make the Hu foundation while the weather was good. Luo San and his colleagues were all experienced workers. They took a smooth bluestone slab and placed the Hu foundation mold on it. They first sprinkled some wood ash, then filled it with dry loess, patted it, stepped on it, and finally tamped it down with a hammer.

Finally, remove the mold and a piece of Hu Ji is ready.
Luo San was very skilled in his movements. He only needed three shovels, six kicks and nine hammers to complete a piece of Hu Ji without any delay.

For several days,
Eighteen households in Luojiawan sent at least one person to help dig the soil and build the foundation. Soon all the preparations were completed.

Luo Er invited two master craftsmen and four skilled workers, and paid the six of them four dou of millet a day.

Luo Er, Luo San, Luo Wu and the others are actually all considered half-skilled workers.

After picking a good day, construction officially began.

The roofs of the three main rooms in the east courtyard were also demolished, and most of the walls below were demolished. The prepared Huji earth bricks were laid one by one to form the walls.

The master craftsman is very experienced and does the job quickly and well.

Compared with direct rammed earth walls, brick-based walls are much faster to build, mainly because the initial construction of the brick-based walls takes more time and effort.

The higher the wall gets, the more bamboo frames need to be built. The craftsmen and workers build on top, while Luo Er and his team mix the straw mud and shovel it into buckets below, and then hang it on the frame above for the masters to use.

Lao Wu in the village is also a good hand. His best skill is that he can throw Hu Ji bricks weighing more than ten pounds directly onto a very high shelf from the ground, and Luo San on the shelf cooperates with him tacitly and can catch them accurately every time.

Li Yi was a little nervous watching from the side, but the two of them were still able to chat while doing it.

The house renovation is progressing very quickly.

There are three rooms on the east and west sides, and they are also built on the existing foundation.

With Luo Er and Luo San helping out, Li Yi didn't have to worry too much. He was mainly responsible for logistics. Every day, about 20 people cooked for the family, and the staple food was millet rice.

The dishes are mainly water spinach, eggplant, cucumber, amaranth, leek, which are common vegetables in the Tang Dynasty.

He would go hunting with Gousheng and the others every day.
Fishing for frogs, catching fish, shrimps and loaches, even the little tabby cat at home contributed to the work, and almost every night they caught several field mice that came to Li Yi's house to steal food without knowing their own limitations.
The villagers call these white-bellied voles long-tailed rabbits. They scald the hair off them with boiling water and then roast the skin with straw until it turns golden brown. It is a delicacy that is as good as dog meat.

Li Yi also has secret seasonings that can make the food even more delicious.

Li Yi is willing to add oil and salt, and has various soy sauces, chicken essences, etc. No matter whether it is a frog, toad, loach, eel, shrimp, or field mouse, it can be transformed into a gorgeous one, making everyone praise the food.

Only Sanniang often nagged him, saying that it was too wasteful of oil and salt.

Every March, June, and September when Wangqu went to the market, Li Yi would go to buy some lard, or pig's trotters, pig's heads, pig's offal, etc. These were much cheaper than pork, but the villagers generally disliked the small amount of meat, and they didn't know how to process it well, so the taste was strong.

Li Yi has cooking wine, white wine, star anise, cinnamon, pepper, Sichuan peppercorns, etc., so even pig intestines can be stewed into delicious food. Although in detail, the spices Li Yi used are actually much more expensive than pork itself in this era.
For example, pepper. It is said that in the West Market of Chang'an, one ounce of pepper was worth one ounce of gold.

The pepper in Chang'an was brought to Chang'an from the Western Regions via the Silk Road by Sogdian merchants. They said it came from India.

It is transported from thousands of miles away and is known as black gold.

However, pepper is not the most expensive. Camphor is three times more expensive than pepper. One ounce of camphor is sold for three ounces of gold, which is more than 20,000 yuan.

Li Yi uses a lot of pepper, white pepper, black pepper, five-spice powder, and even star anise, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cumin, fennel, etc. in his cooking, but they are actually very expensive now.

Although a pound of pork is expensive now, it is only 150 coins per pound, but a pound of pepper can be worth 128,000 coins, which can buy more than 800 pounds of pork.

A grain of pepper can even be worth several cents.

Even in Chang'an City, even if it was the family of a duke or a high-ranking official of the fifth rank or above, it would be impossible for them to be as extravagant as Li Yi and use such valuable spices to braise pig heads, pig intestines, pig lungs, or even to pickle frogs and long-tailed rabbits.

However, normal nobles and bureaucrats would not eat such cheap meat.

Li Yi now knew that pepper and cloves were quite valuable, but he had not yet thought about selling the little stock in the kitchen. Firstly, the quantity was not large, and secondly, he did not have the appropriate channels.

Twenty or so people need to eat four dou of millet a day.

The six and a half stones of rice at home were consumed very quickly.

Soon it was time to raise the beam.

This is a big day,
It was customary to hold a banquet to thank relatives and friends, so Li Yi went to Wangqu Market early to buy some vegetables. He bought a large pig's head, four large pig's trotters, pig's liver, pig's lungs, pig's stomach, and lard, which cost him two thousand coins in total.
There is no need for eight dishes, nor is there a demand for hard dishes like chicken, duck, fish and meat.

But it must be said that

Braised pig's head, pig's offal, and pig's trotters are still stewed with soybeans.

Li Yi also put together eight hot and cold dishes.
When the auspicious time comes, the beams are erected.

Li Yi threw the bamboo poles that Luo Er and Luo San had prepared in advance into the fire.
The sounds of fishing rods exploding rang out one after another.

Guo Erlang presented Li Yi with a piece of cloth as a congratulatory gift. "I didn't expect the house to be finished so quickly. Congratulations. Now, the next step is to find a new wife, right?"

"Thank you, Uncle, for coming." Li Yi accepted the gift with a smile. It was quite generous, and it seemed that he still held some weight in Guo Cunzheng's heart. Wang Lizheng also rushed over and gave him two jars of wheat wine as a gift.

"Congratulations, congratulations! Township Chief Wang was going to come and congratulate you, but the county magistrate sent someone to the township to send him a letter, summoning him to the county office for work. Township Chief Wang asked me to congratulate you and bring you a gift."

Village head Wang presented eight bowls, eight dishes and eight pairs of chopsticks.

"The village head and the township head are too polite,"

"My fellow villagers, we will have a long time to spend together in the future," said Wang Lizheng, patting his arm.

Invite them both to the table.

Another guest arrived. It turned out to be two village chiefs who had also sent people to give gifts. The two village chiefs in Yusu Township, one of them was surnamed Feng, and he was from Fengjiabao on the Wujiguan Plateau. His family owned more than 2,000 acres of land in Yusuchuan, Fanchuan, and Shenheyuan. He was the largest landowner in Xingshengli, but he was not a native of Fengjiabao.
He was originally from Hedong. The Feng family was originally a merchant family. Later, they became dependent on Duke Tang. After following the emperor into the pass, some of the Feng brothers served as officials in the court, some served in the army, and Feng Liulang bought land and built a house in Shenheyuan, becoming a free and easy landlord in the countryside.

Another village chief, surnamed Dong, was a native of Fengjiabao. In his youth, Dong studied at the Imperial Academy and even took the imperial examination for the rank of scholar. Although he failed, he remained a renowned scholar in the surrounding area. Because of his unwavering integrity, he had no interest in a career in government. Instead, he taught in his village for many years and gained medical expertise, earning him the nickname "Leng Xiucai."

This scholar, Mr. Leng, treated the poor for free and had a very good reputation in the surrounding area.

Now that he is old, he was invited by the Wannian County Magistrate to serve as a township assistant because he valued his reputation in the village.

Feng Xiangzuo sent someone to deliver a bucket of white flour to congratulate him, while Leng Xiucai sent the four words "good luck". Li Yi had never met these two Xiangzuo before and did not take the initiative to invite them. However, he was very happy that they sent people to congratulate him, and hurriedly welcomed them over.

The so-called beam raising banquet actually didn't even have tables and benches.

It was to entertain the craftsmen and neighbors who helped repair the house and to thank everyone for their hard work. The only guests from outside were Village Chief Guo, Li Zheng Wang, and the two people sent by the township officials.

The vegetables were placed on the ground, and people were squatting on them.

But no one thought it was impolite, instead they thought Li Yi was too polite. Since the renovation, he had two dry meals a day, with a few dishes every day, and from time to time he would buy some pig offal, or pig heads and pig trotters as a snack.
The dishes were full of oil and salt. Some people even joked that they had gained weight by repairing Wuyi's house.

Everyone was extremely satisfied with the beam-raising banquet. Li Yi also specially draped a red cloth over each of the two craftsmen and four skilled workers as a token of his gratitude.

After putting up the beams, it’s time to put on the roof.

This no longer requires a skilled craftsman, Luo San and his team can do it themselves.

Lay the rafters on the beams, and then cover them with the prepared yellow-backed grass little by little. This work is quick, and the roof of every room is covered with thatch in a few days.

The last step is to paint the Huji wall again.
Mix loess, chopped wheat straw and white clay dug from the rice fields and use it to paint the walls.

Plastering the wall here and repairing the wall there.

The remaining Hu Ji enclosed more than an acre of land around the east courtyard, and also enclosed the west courtyard that was not touched this time, leaving a gate in the middle to connect the two courtyards.
The walls of the west courtyard have also been demolished and cleared, and are now fenced off. It can be temporarily used as a vegetable garden in the future, making it convenient for growing vegetables.

A small toilet was built next to the east wing.

The whole yard is quite large, covering an area of more than one acre, with a large courtyard, but it seems a bit empty, and there are no corridors connecting several courtyards like the wealthy families.

The well has not been dug yet, the doors and windows have not been made, and there is no furniture in the house.

Sanniang and Lanxiang came to deliver water. Looking at the newly renovated house and courtyard, they were happy for Li Yi. "The next step is to hire a carpenter to build doors and windows, beds and other furniture."

Lancao added, "We also need to ask a felt craftsman to roll out the wool felt for the bed, so that we can sleep comfortably."

Li Yi also said, "I think we still need to dig a well. This way we can use water more conveniently and avoid having to go to Guozhuang or Luojiabao to fetch water."

"We need to build a kitchen stove too," Li Yi was not satisfied with the existing fire pit in the straw hut. The stove was made of three stones. It was too simple. It could not exhaust smoke and the fire was too weak, wasting firewood. He planned to build a smokeless wood stove that could save firewood, preferably one that could accommodate three large and small pots.
But in this case, you still have to buy an iron cauldron.

The price of iron pans seems to be quite expensive now.

Building doors and windows, furniture, water wells and stoves, all of which cost a lot of money. Li Yi still had some gold in his hands, but he couldn't just sit there and eat it all.

We need to find some more income, and we can't just rely on the harvest from those dozens of acres of land.

Lanxiang looked at the big yard with some envy. Although it was still bare, for her who still had to live in a straw hut in the rice field, this house was even better than the earthen cave her family had lived in before.

"Brother, you are still missing something."

"What?"

"We're still short of a sister-in-law," Lanxiang held Sanniang's hand, "but there's already one."

Sanniang blushed, shook off Lanxiang's hand and ran away in a hurry.

During this period, in addition to getting up early every day to make tofu at the gangster's house, Sanniang spent most of her time helping Li Yi cook and wash clothes. Whenever she had time, she also helped Li Yi manage the rice fields.

(One of the traditional corridor courtyard styles of the Tang Dynasty)

(End of this chapter)