A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 599 The Crown Prince is clever
"Teacher, I also want to build a village here. I don't need much land, just three to five hundred acres."

At night, under the starlight, frogs were chirping and mosquitoes were dancing. Cheng Qian shook his fan and suddenly said to Huai Yu.

Huaiyu, who was eating watermelon, heard this and wiped his mouth, "Why do you suddenly have such an idea?"

"My experiences these days have made me think that I should learn more about people's sentiments and build a small village. I can visit it frequently in the future, and I can always understand the lives of the tenant farmers through the village head."

"It's very good." Huaiyu handed Cheng Qian a piece of watermelon. This watermelon is not big in size, has thick skin and many seeds, but it is still quite sweet. There is a Zhuangzi next to Shangwu Fort, known as Guazhou Fort. It turned out that it was also an industry acquired by Pei Ji. The Pei family specialized in growing melons in that village.

The melons grown were large and sweet, famous far and wide, and were even used as tribute by the royal family.

Guazhou Fort has a thousand acres of land, which was originally the temple field of Yunqi Temple. Yunqi Temple is one of the many temples along the banks of the Jinghe River in Fanchuan. The temple covers an area of ​​[-] acres, and is the same as the Niutou Temple under the Shaoling Plateau on the north bank of the Jinghe River. Across the river, when renovating the temple fields, Pei Ji bought the thousand acres of land and turned it into melon cultivation.

"What do you think of Guazhou Fort next door, Your Highness? It also has a thousand acres of land?"

"Whose family belongs to Guazhou Fort now?"

"As far as I know, Guazhou Fort is now under official ownership, and Sinong Temple continues to be in Guazhou,"

Cheng Qian said he wanted to buy it, "Can you ask the teacher to come forward and help me buy it quietly?"

The prince did not want to buy and run the village under the name of Donggong, but wanted to use another pseudonym. Wu Huaiyu supported it, so he said that it would be better to buy it in the name of Li Dalang, and tell the public that the descendants of the Li family in Longxi would buy a separate property here.

Early the next morning, Wu Huaiyu didn't even return to Chang'an. He directly asked the steward to return to Chang'an for him. He went to Taifu Temple and all the procedures were completed.Sinong Qing Dou Jing was the emperor's cousin, the son of Dou Kang, the prime minister of Wudechu, and the second brother of the current consort Dou Dan. This small request to the prince naturally opened the door to convenience.

Dou Jing even came to Fanchuan in person and presented the completed procedures to Cheng Qian.

"Guazhou Castle has a total of 980 acres of land, and there are [-] acres of farmland next to the original Yunqi Temple."

According to the formalities, the current new owner of the thousand acres of land in Guazhou Fort is named Li Gaoming and Li Dalang. Gaoming is Cheng Qian's cousin, but not many people know about it, and generally no one dares to call the prince by his nickname.

"Across the river from Guazhou Fort, there are [-] acres of land. It used to be that the Pei family grew melons. It was originally the Niutou Temple's farmland, but now it's also the Sinong Temple that grows melons. Do you want it, Your Highness?"

Cheng Qian was wearing a coarse cloth jacket, and his skin was much darker. Dou Jing didn't even recognize that he was the prince's nephew at first sight.

"As long as we have this Zhuangzi," Cheng Qian was still very polite to Dou Jing, "I just want to have a Zhuangzi so that I can more easily understand the lives of the villagers."

"The prince understands the people and has a kind heart." Dou Jing flattered him. However, Dou Jing, who served as Sinongqing twice, was actually quite capable. In the early days of the Kingdom, he was the chief administrator of Bingzhou when Yuanji was guarding Taiyuan. , promoted military settlements in Bingzhou, with an annual grain harvest of 10,000+ shi, and later joined the court as the Minister of Agriculture, and also eliminated many corrupt officials such as Zhao Yuankai. Although he was not the eldest son of the Dou family and could not inherit the Duke of Chen State, He is also very prestigious among the brothers. The Prince Consort Dou Dan and other brothers all admire this elder brother.

"I can call some experienced experts from Sinong Temple to help manage Zhuangzi."

"That's not necessary," the prince refused. He had many thoughts of his own about Zhuangzi. He didn't simply want to get a Zhuangzi to his name and then leave everything to others to take care of.

The prince left Dou Jing to have lunch at Shangwu Fort.

Sweet potato porridge, corn steamed buns, a bowl of fried sweet potato stems, and a plate of fried salt shaker meat.

Dou Jing originally thought that the prince was very dissatisfied with him, so he let him eat this, but when he saw the prince also sitting down, with the same sweet potato and millet porridge in the wooden bowl, he was eating fried sweet potato stalks, and the salty salt meat was also I was really surprised when I could eat it with big mouthfuls.

The prince has been staying in the country for a few days, but it feels like he has been kidnapped by a kidnapper.

And the appetite is amazing, enough to eat three big bowls.

Dou Jing ate. The sweet potato and millet porridge was just so-so. Although the sweet potato was a bit sweet, it was just a bowl of multigrain porridge. As for the salt, you can only see a little flax oil flower. It is refreshing, but it is a bit bland, and it is no different from eating grass.

As for salt jar meat, it is actually too hot to preserve the meat. It is salted and put in jars, and then hung into the well for storage. When eating, it is picked up, cut into pieces, and fried. , it can be kept longer, but it still has a bit of an off-flavor, and the meat is salty, so it’s definitely not delicious, especially since the meat is still pork.

Dou Jingna is the county official and Sinong Qing of Xindu County, let alone the Dou family of Fufeng. Not to mention the glory of his ancestors in the Han Dynasty, since the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Dou family has been a famous family of relatives who have been married to the royal family for generations.

Your noble son, when will you be able to serve pork?

But the prince's food was so delicious that he could only endure the discomfort in his heart and ate two pieces of the meat. He swallowed both of them without chewing.

After finally finishing the meal, Dou Jing took Cheng Qian and Huai Yu to Guazhou Fort. Officials from Sinong Temple summoned the local villagers and tenant farmers and told them that the thousand acres of land here would belong to this wise man.Cheng Qian specially put on a long robe, showing a bit of maturity, and crossed his hands to the tenants and villagers, "I am Gao Ming, the Li family of Longxi, the eldest in the family, and a student of Duke Wu. Now I have bought this Guazhou Fort. Zhuangzi and his thousand acres of land are destined to form a master-tenant relationship with everyone..."

Huaiyu stood aside and saw Cheng Qian standing there pretending to be mature. In fact, it could be seen that he was still a little nervous and even more excited.

In his speech to the farmers, he actually tried his best to imitate the way Wu Huaiyu arrived at Shangwubao that day. He briefly introduced himself, and then announced that he would continue to rent the land to the original tenants. He even gave the original tenants' Shangzhuang money, that is, The rent was refunded.

He also announced a reduction in rent and implemented the same lease as Wujiapu. Only summer grain was divided into [-] and [-], and the rent per mu was no more than a stone. Other straw or autumn crops were not divided. There was no need for tenants to invite wine and gifts, or give Zhuangzi Just do some chores for free.

Not only that, Cheng Qian also told everyone that he had ordered two pigs in Xiawubao Village. The pigs would be killed tomorrow and the meat would be delivered to everyone for a banquet.

Invite more than 200 villagers from Guazhoupu to have two meals. Tomorrow morning they will eat soybean noodles, and they will eat eight large bowls of four meat and four vegetarian dishes at noon.

As soon as these words came out, the tenants who were summoned, as well as the villagers of Guazhoubao who were not tenanted in Zhuangzi, the young men and women, all drooled. Although they were half-believed, the yamen man wearing a green robe was still from the capital. Everyone who came here said that this person was from the Li family in Longxi.

The new owner, who looked like a little kid, also said that he was a student from Wujiabao next door. Recently, Fanzhuang has been transformed into Wuqu, and the villagers of Shangwubao who have been replaced by the new owner are said to be very lucky now, and rents have been reduced. Not to mention, the emperor had to waive the rent for one year.

Although everyone did not know which noble family in Beijing this brilliant young master from the Li family in Longxi was, they were all very happy about this change.

The rent has been reduced and the mortgage has been returned.

This also requires them to have two meals.
Please just say please,

Cheng Qian bought flour directly from Wujiabao and invited several guillotine makers.

Guillotine noodles is a kind of noodle recipe first developed in Qizhou, in the west of Beijing. Use a guillotine to chop the noodles into a shape as wide as a leek leaf. Put it in the pot and cook it, take it out, and add seasonal vegetables or other ingredients. Minced meat, etc., add fine salt, sesame oil, minced onion, ginger, garlic, etc., and then drizzle some balsamic vinegar, and you will have a delicious Qishu noodles.

Generally speaking, it was only when the landlords and wealthy landlords held banquets that they would make noodles. This was very grand, with more than 200 households and thousands of people eating so many noodles. No wonder they had to hire a noodle maker.

So much guillotine dough needs to be kneaded in advance, and pressed repeatedly with a pole, and then rolled into a thin crust, and then guillotined. Three people make the dough, and village women have to be arranged to help sift, knead, press, and roll the dough.

Only when they saw several large trucks of flour shipped from Wujiabao did everyone believe it.

Wujia Fort is now also called Xiawu Fort. It not only has a water mill built on the Lishui River, but also later added a windmill. Now Shangwu Fort is also building a windmill. The windmill of Xiawu Fort is very famous in this area. , a new thing. In the dry season, there is no need to compete with the villagers for water, but it can also drive a large amount of milling. A lot of wheat can be ground in one day, and the ground is fine, and the processing fee is cheap.

The villagers from Guazhoupu all came to help with the work.

Kneading the dough, pressing it, and rolling it out are so exciting.
Dou Jing returned to Chang'an at dusk. Along the way, she felt as if she had had a dream.
"If I hadn't watched the prince grow up, I would have thought that the boy was a different person than Duke Yi."

"It's really hard to believe,"

Dou Jing and several subordinates all sighed.
"What do you think, Prince?"

"I think this may be a good thing. There are many aristocratic children in Chang'an who can't tell the difference between leeks and wheat seedlings when they grow up."

Cheng Qian walked around Guazhou Fort,

The manor covers an area of ​​20 acres, which is two acres larger than the Yunqi Temple next to it. Yunqi Temple used to be very prosperous and was known as one of the eight major temples in Fanchuan. However, after the reorganization of the Zhenguan Dynasty, the temple fields have been taken away long ago. There are only [-] monks left. Although they occupy [-] acres of land, they are no longer as prosperous as they once were. They can no longer lend money and collect rents. Even the oil mills have been taken away. A large number of monks have returned to secular life, and there are no more slaves. People can be used again, and the people nearby no longer rely on them so much.

Compared with the deserted Yunqi Temple, this villa that was once owned by Pei Ji's son is now very lively. The villagers are still helping and busy preparing for tomorrow's banquet. The tenants who have rent reduction and remand are even more happy.

The other villagers are also happy. After all, although most of them are not able to share the farmland in Zhuangzi, most of them still rely on Zhuangzi all year round. Not to mention doing long-term work or part-time work, even if there is a famine or disaster, that will not be enough. If you need to borrow money or grain from the village, or if you need to use an ox or a cart, you usually borrow money from the village.

Even if the villagers go to Zhongnan Mountain or Chang'an City to work, they will still live here. Now the new landowner looks young, but he seems to be a good person.

"As expected of Mr. Wu, he is as kind and kind as Mr. Wu. We will live a good life in the future."

"No, if the Wu Family Fort in Shenheyuan was replaced by the Wu family, in less than three years, the lives of the people in the village would be much better. In three years, I haven't heard of anyone pawning his wife and selling his daughter to ruin his family."

"No, when the Wujiabao villagers have famine, disease, or weddings and funerals, they ask the Wu family to borrow money and grain. They never charge high interest rates. They borrow cattle and plows, and they can pay for it in exchange for work. Not to mention that the Wu family also raises pigs. I am making money by making brushes and leather, etc."

(End of this chapter)