A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1163 If you don’t eat the toast, you will be punished by drinking wine

This fall,

The Western Regions are peaceful and tranquil.

The Anxi Army was busy patrolling the Silk Road, building military castles, and reclaiming wasteland for farming. The tribes in the Western Regions were also busy grazing cattle and sheep so that the livestock could fatten up in autumn in preparation for the coming cold winter.

The nine-surname Sogdian Hu people became more and more active on the Silk Road.

Wu Huaiyu saw off Cheng Yaojin, Fan Xing, Wu Huaiyi and other generals who were on the Western Expedition, and also welcomed the first batch of garrison soldiers who were transferred from Guanlong to replace some of the Beiya Imperial Guards left behind in the Western Expedition.

As the emperor's personal troops, most of these elite imperial guards had to return to Chang'an.

Along with the arrival of the first batch of replacement garrison soldiers, there were also many children, relatives and family members recruited by the Anxi Army, as well as some landless clients and poor people in Guanlong. When they heard that the three states of Anxi were now distributing land and granting land, they came with fertile land, so many people signed up and followed the replacement soldiers.

The sky is high and the air is fresh in autumn, and the horses are fat.

Some people come, some people go.

Batches of Jian's sons, brothers and their families, exiled prisoners, and people eager to own land arrived, and Anxi also sent people to the Central Plains in batches.

They are mainly the former nobles and powerful people of the three states of Yitingxi in the eastern Tianshan Mountains, especially the royal family, nobles and powerful people of the former Gaochang Kingdom.

According to the court's policy,

Although these people surrendered after being defeated in the war, they still had to be relocated to the inland area, either to Chang'an or to Guanlong and Guandong. This was to remove the fuel needed to support the cause and clear the way for the imperial court to control the three states.

Whether they like it or not, individual will is powerless in the face of the state apparatus.

Now the 32,000 Anxi troops are fully staffed, with elite soldiers and powerful weapons. They have no room for resistance.

But there are still many people who don’t want to leave.
After all, although many nobles and powerful people in Gaochang were also Han people, most of them were descendants of Han Dynasty garrisons and had lived in the Western Regions for hundreds of years.

Some people tried to escape to Yanqi, Qiuci and other countries, while others tried to bribe officials and find ways to stay.

The Eight Immortals cross the sea, each showing their magical powers.
It felt a bit chaotic for a while.

Countless Gaochang nobles who were once high and mighty are now in constant fear. For them, the Central Plains is not their homeland, but Xizhou is their hometown. Migrating to the Central Plains brings them the fear of the unknown.

In order to stay, some people offered bribes and gifts, while others quietly escaped.

Some people even gave their daughters to the soldiers of the Anxi Army, and were willing to take them as concubines, just because they wanted to have someone to rely on and avoid being forcibly relocated to the Central Plains.

Many Anxi Army soldiers could not stand such a test.

Many people accepted gifts and bribes, and even took as their wives the daughters they gave as gifts.

"Zhao Chounu, you must tell the truth in front of the Prime Minister,"

Li Keyong, the flying crow, yelled and scolded at his captain. The person being scolded was a burly man as tall as an iron tower. He was from Hebei and had some mixed Hu blood. In his early years, when Wu Huaiyu was stationed in Youyan, he joined the army behind the mountain and was appreciated by Wu Huaiyu for his proficiency in martial arts and bravery in combat and was selected as a guard soldier.

Later, Wu Huaiyu returned to the court, and Zhao Chounu stayed in Youzhou and followed Li Keyong.

He was also Li Keyong's trusted subordinate. When Li Keyong was transferred to Lingnan before, he also took him south and went to Luzon to suppress the rebellion of the island barbarians. This time, he also participated in the Western Expedition as a captain and made contributions and won medals.

Zhao Chounu, a strong man nearly two meters tall, knelt down in front of Wu Huaiyu and said, "Prime Minister Wu, I made a big mistake out of greed. Please punish me."

Wu Huaiyu kicked him and said, "Don't give me that shit. Hurry up and get up. If you have something to say, let's talk. What's going on?"

The matter is actually very simple.
Zhao Chounu is currently the captain of the Anxi Ya Army, in charge of a cavalry regiment of 200 men. He is also the confidant of Li Keyong, the commander of the Ya Army, and was once a personal soldier of Wu Huaiyu. Therefore, this guy has some reputation in the Anxi Army and Gaochang City.

Everyone knows the Anxi soldiers; they are the personal army of Prime Minister Wu.

A lieutenant in charge of 200 men was not a high-ranking official position, but he was Li Keyong's confidant, and Li Keyong was the adopted son of Prime Minister Wu. Zhao Chounu was also a personal soldier of Wu Huaiyu, so his qualifications were quite extraordinary, especially for the Gaochang nobles who were as anxious as ants on a hot pot.

"Zuo Chongxi, a native of Chonghua Township, Gaochang County, Xizhou, was originally a lieutenant under General Zhang Xiong, a member of the Gaochang King's command, and was also the brother of his concubine."

Wu Huaiyu knew this Zhang Xiong, the General of the Left Guard of Gaochang State. Zhang Xiong's aunt was Concubine Zhang, the mother of King Qu Wentai. Zhang Xiong was once a famous general of Gaochang State and had a very close relationship with King Qu Wentai. It was not an exaggeration to call him the left and right arm of the king.

Zhang Xiong was a member of the pro-Tang faction in Gaochang, but later Qu Wentai sided with Yu Gushe and rebelled against the Tang. Zhang Xiong tried to dissuade him many times but to no avail. Just before the Tang Dynasty's Western Expedition, Zhang Xiong suddenly died. It was said that he died of hernia, but it was also said that he was poisoned by the Turkic Tutun Ashina Ju.

Zhang Xiong was the cousin of King Qu Wentai, and Zuo Chongxi was the brother of Zhang Xiong's concubine. The ancestors of the Zhang and Zuo families were from the same hometown, both from Nanyang, Henan.

The Zuo family had been a wealthy family in Gaochang for generations, especially when Zhang Xiong was still alive, Zuo Chongxi was also quite prosperous. But with Zhang Xiong's sudden death, Zuo Chongxi's life became difficult, and after the Tang army conquered Gaochang, he lost his backing.

The Zuo family is quite wealthy.
But at this time, the powerful people in Gaochang were in a panic and could not give away their gold and silver treasures. He was not even qualified to see Wu Huaiyu.
Later, I don't know how, I got in touch with Zhao Chounu,

"How much did you receive?" Wu Huaiyu asked.

Zhao Chounu knelt down again and said, "I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have accepted his money, let alone taken his daughter as a concubine."

Li Keyong kicked him in frustration and said, "Just say whatever Minister Wu tells you to say."

"Yes, yes, Zuo Chongxi gave me 100 taels of gold and 10,000 silver coins. Later, he also gave me 1,000 pieces of silk and gave me his daughter as a concubine."

Wu Huaiyu was a little surprised when he heard this.

Are all the people of Gaochang so rich?

Zuo Chongxi was originally just a captain of Gaochang. Even though he was from a prominent family in Gaochang, why did he give so many gifts to a captain of the Anxi Yabing army?

This gift, not counting his daughter, is worth more than 1,300 strings of cash.

At the beginning of the Zhenguan period, Wei Zheng, a fourth-rank official, wanted to marry his son to the daughter of the Hedong Wang family, a family of five surnames. The Wang family was from the Longmen Wang family, a branch of the Wang family. Her father, Master Wang, was extremely poor and asked for a dowry of one million, or one thousand strings of cash. As a result, Wei Zheng was forced to pawn his books and borrow high-interest loans.

Wu Huaiyu turned around and asked Li Keyong,
"Have you checked this Zuo family?"

"I checked and found out that they are indeed quite rich. The ancestors of the Zuo family were originally from Nanyang, Henan, and moved to Gaochang three or four hundred years ago. By the time of Zuo Chongxi, they were indeed quite powerful and wealthy."

Now Zuo Chongxi only has money left.
As for how rich he was, Li Keyong found out that this guy had 500 to 600 slaves and servants, and more than 10 dan of silver. It was said that he also had tens of thousands of pieces of white silk, hundreds of thousands of dan of highland barley, millet, and wheat, as well as many grain fields, vineyards, and flower fields. He also had a mill, an oil mill, and shops and caravans.
He also worshipped Buddha, was enthusiastic about Buddhist merits, and donated money to build one big Buddha and two Bodhisattvas.

There was even a large temple in Chonghua Township, Gaochang, which was funded and built by the Zuo family. In addition, in the Thousand Buddha Caves in Gaochang, each generation of the Zuo family built many caves and carved Buddha statues.

"Is he really that rich?" "That's probably right. The Zuo family's wealth is definitely much more than what we found out."

More than ten stones of silver and money, this number is comparable to the five or six camels of gold treasure in Gaochang.

The silver coins circulated in the Western Regions were measured by wen, while the copper coins in the Central Plains were counted by zi.

These silver coins are basically imitations of the silver coins of the Persian Sassanid Dynasty. Each one weighs a little more than a copper coin.

One stone of silver coins is equivalent to nearly 20,000 silver coins, which is equivalent to about 640 strings of Tang coins. More than ten stones of silver coins are worth about 10,000 strings of copper coins.

If you have a lot of wealth, you are a wealthy man no matter where you put it.

Moreover, his family had tens of thousands of pieces of silk, hundreds of thousands of shi of grain, hundreds of thousands of slaves, as well as a large number of farms, shops, and caravans.
"What is the price of grain in Xizhou City recently?" Wu Huaiyu asked Li Keyong.
"Recently, grain prices are still rising. One silver coin can buy one dou and three liters of highland barley, which is 25 coin per dou. And one dou of low-quality white flour costs 36 coin, and the price is still rising."

One dou of highland barley costs twenty-five copper coins.
This price is not cheap anymore.

A few years ago, the cheapest price of a dou of rice in Chang'an was only two or three wen. Later, although the low grain price hurt the people and the court made some adjustments, the price of rice in the capital remained at five or six wen for a long time. After that, the Huanghuai area suffered consecutive floods and then frost and snow disasters, but the price of rice only remained at around ten wen a dou.

"Our Anxi Army has been buying wheat and millet everywhere recently. The Zuo family has hoarded so much grain but refused to sell it. Now they are willing to take out more than a million yuan to bribe my Yabing Captain and even give him their daughter."

"We need to investigate this Zuo family thoroughly."

"Prime Minister Wu, I have checked. The main reason why the Zuo family is so rich is that they lend money. The interest rate of the Zuo family's loans is very high.

If you borrow ten coins of silver, you will have to pay one or two coins of interest every month. If you can’t pay it back on time, you will be fined one coin every month. The interest will compound, and if you can’t pay it back, you will have to sell your wife and daughter, or even your land and house to pay off the debt.”

Zuo's loan interest rate is as low as 1% per month, and as high as 2% or even 3%. The key is that he likes to lend money for a short period of time.

The shorter the time, the faster the turnover and the higher the interest income.

Especially the compound interest. If you borrow ten cents of silver and it rolls over for a year, the interest will not be twelve cents, but dozens of cents. Many people cannot afford to pay it back, so they can only pawn their wives and children, sell their houses and land. This is how the Zuo family accumulated their wealth.

The Zuo family made a fortune by skinning people and sucking their blood. Every year they bought land, operated workshops, and organized caravans for trade.
They made their fortunes through exploitation, but they also like to donate money to build Buddhist caves and statues.

"A man had borrowed ten wen of silver from Zuo Shi, and was to pay it back one month later with an interest of two wen of silver. However, he failed to pay it back on time, and delayed for three months, resulting in a loan of thirty wen of silver. When the borrower could not pay back, Zuo Shi took away the man's vineyard at half the price to pay off the debt. If the loan was not enough, he asked the man to give up his fifteen-year-old son as payment.
The fifteen-year-old son was worth only six pieces of silk and five coins of silver.

Five coins of silver were only worth one hundred and sixty coins, and six pieces of silk from Xizhou were only worth more than one thousand coins. Altogether, the fifteen-year-old boy was worth two thousand copper coins.

In the Central Plains, a healthy slave of fifteen years old was worth at least twenty thousand coins.

Even in Xizhou, the amount would be far more than two thousand copper coins, and Zuo gave them a 70% discount.

"Does the Zuo clan have grain stores in Gaochang City and Chonghua Township?"

"Yes, and there are more than one. The Zuo family has grain shops in Gaocheng and other cities. There are more than 20 grain shops. There are even grain shops in Yiwu, Yanqi, Qiuci, Jinman, etc. The Zuo family is not only a big landlord, but also a big grain merchant."

"Then the grain prices in Anxi have been rising recently. Did the Zuo family deliberately hoard grain to drive up the price?"

Li Keyong said that Zuo Shi did indeed behave in this way.

"Why are you being so polite? We will raid the Zuo family and put Zuo Chongxi in jail. The saint is merciful and has allowed them to move to the Central Plains. As surrendered people, their lives and property will be preserved. What else can we not be satisfied with?

You actually refused to accept my toast and drank the wine for punishment, and you still want to play this game with the imperial court, huh."

If you don't appreciate the favor I've given you, then I won't be polite.

In particular, the Zuo family has hoarded more than 100,000 shi of grain. Now the Anxi military farming has just begun, and the military needs a large amount of grain. All parts of the Western Regions are busy purchasing grain. The Zuo family still dares to hold so much grain and even dares to hoard grain and raise the price. Isn't this courting death?

"Strict investigation, severe punishment,"

Kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

Zhao Chounu again apologized to Wu Huaiyu.
"Zhao Chounu, according to military law, I should have beheaded you and sent your head to various military garrisons. However, considering that this is your first offense, I will give you one more chance."

"I will now demote you to deputy team leader and confiscate the bribes you received. You must reflect on this."

Zhao Chounu quickly thanked him.
"Prime Minister Wu, what about the Zuo family's daughter?"

"Of course I will not be a servant of the government. Do you still want to keep me?"

"My subordinates dare not,"

Li Keyong kicked him over and said, "Get out of here now."

After Zhao Chounu left, Li Keyong made a cup of tea for Wu Huaiyu, "Thank you, foster father, for not killing this dog slave."

"Zhao Chounu was a personal soldier of my Ya army. This kid just made a mistake that many people would make. Considering it's the first time, I'll forgive him this time. But you have to keep a close eye on him in the future. There won't be a second chance."

"Yes,"

"I have a task for you. You will lead the guards to supervise and inspect the officers and soldiers in the various military towns. There has been some chaos recently. There are still many cases like Zhao Chounu. Strengthen supervision."

"I will bring people to raid the Zuo family right away."

"The hundreds of thousands of dan of grain are very important. We must quickly confiscate them and store them in the military warehouse."

More than 100,000 dan of grain can provide food for more than 30,000 Anxi soldiers for several months, and can greatly alleviate the current situation of having to buy grain everywhere.

We can just wait until the military settlements start to harvest next year, and then we won’t need to buy grain everywhere.

"There must be many families like the Zuo family in Gaochang, and they must have a lot of grain in their hands. We can talk to them and ask them to sell all the grain to the Protectorate. We will buy it all at the market price."

"Tell them to sell their grain and land to the Protectorate, take the money, and quickly move to the interior."

"I'll give them some time to spare, but they must all pass through Yumen Pass before the New Year. If they haven't moved inland by the New Year's Day, then they won't be able to leave."

This sentence "Don't go" is full of murderous intent, they can all understand it.

(End of this chapter)