A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 928 A luxurious time

Early in the morning.

Brother Seng got up early and put on a new blue ninth-grade military attaché uniform today. He also called two Shanyue slaves, hitched the oxen to the cart and rushed to the Anping Pier twenty miles away.

When people are happy, they are in good spirits,

Brother Seng is carrying a bag on his shoulder, which contains money, and there is silk in the car. He is going to make a big purchase today to buy a full-moon wine for his son.

This year, happy events have really come one after another.

After he lost in a gambling stall at Jiangzhou Wharf, he made up his mind to sign up at the Wu Family Recruitment Point, and his whole life changed.

Chun Sansanniang, who had been in love with her for a long time but dared not speak out, followed him south to the fields of the Huozhong warrior family in Lugang. She was attacked by Shanyue. She participated in the defense of Lugang and was rewarded for her meritorious service by killing enemies. She was selected as the Liuzhou Shouchou Lang. Once they crossed the sea, they won another battle and captured thirteen island barbarians. They were appreciated by the military prime minister and directly awarded him with honors.

Now my son is also born,

One with a handle,

Now he has a wife who loves him tenderly, a newborn son, 230 acres of land, three slaves, a horse and two cows, and a yard.
He is also the deputy of the ninth rank team,

Brother Seng nodded, "I want to buy a hairpin for my wife."

······
Buying and buying all the way, the Shanyue slaves following behind carried them and kept delivering them to the bullock cart.

Arriving at the dock with two slaves, he started shopping boldly, first going to the stall selling pork, pork, pork bones, pig feet,

I also went to the grain store to buy flour and the liquor store to buy wine.
Finally I went to buy a sheep.

Then I also bought some trash fish, which is good for making soup or frying. The trash fish is cheap. One pound of pork can buy twenty or thirty pounds of trash fish, and one penny can buy five or six pounds. Even cheaper ones can be bought for one penny. Buy ten pounds.

The queen has twelve trees of jewelry flowers, and the concubine has nine trees of first-grade flowers, in descending order according to the grade.

As the wife of a military attaché from the ninth rank, Chun Sanniang could only wear a gold hairpin at most, otherwise it would be an overstep.

Brother Seng looked at those gold hairpins and wanted to buy one for his wife.

The mutton in Liuqiu is very expensive, but today is a happy day,
Before leaving the dock, he went into the gold and silver shop and took out a custom-made longevity lock with his son's name engraved on it.

The longevity silver lock is very beautiful,
Brother Seng paid the balance and his eyes fell on the gold and silver jewelry in the store. These women's gold and silver jewelry were very beautiful.

Although the price is expensive, I bought a lot generously.
Then I went to buy fish. There were a lot of fish on the pier, all kinds of fish. The fishermen and fishmongers were shouting. Brother Seng bought some red fish first.
Red is festive, although red fish is much more expensive, costing one or two cents per pound.
Then I bought some fish suitable for making fish balls.
Buy some more shrimps,

I went to buy eggs again, and they were dyed red. Eggs were also expensive, almost the same as meat.

The Tang Dynasty was a hierarchical society, and clothing was worn according to status. The same was true for gold and silver ornaments. The more prominent a woman's status, the more gorgeous the headdress she wore, and there was no limit on the number.

"Sir, do you want to buy jewelry for my wife?"

But ordinary women are only allowed to wear one gold hairpin at most.

I have all this that I never dreamed of before.

He, Liu Lingbao, also has a child.

Pork belly costs six cents per catty, and bones cost two cents per catty.
One pound of meat is equivalent to two buckets of rice.

In the past twenty years, I was like a floating apple with no roots, and I was in a haze, but now things are changing.

"Buy a gold hairpin!" The clerk in the store said politely when he saw that he was wearing an official robe.

Just ask about the price.
The lightest gold hairpins weigh only one or two, and cost tens of thousands.

One tael of gold is worth eight thousand, plus the craftsmen's labor fees. In addition, these jewelry are shipped from the Central Plains, so they are naturally more expensive.

Brother Seng can't afford it.
He is now an official, but he is only the lowest one, from the ninth rank, with a monthly salary of one thousand and fifty, plus two hundred and fifty for food and two hundred for miscellaneous expenses, for a total of fifteen hundred.

Foreign officials originally had positions with no salary. Since Zhenguan, their salary has been improved and their salary is one level lower than that of Beijing officials.

The lumi of a ninth-grade Beijing official is thirty shi, and the first-class foreign official is reduced by two shi and five dou, so he can get twenty-seven shi and five dou.

In addition, he was given a hectare of farmland, which was used to collect rent. The rent was six dou per mu, which was sixty shi per year.

If the salary and land rent are not enough, salt can be given in lieu of the salary and rent.

Brother Seng’s salary and miscellaneous expenses for the whole year totaled only 18,000 yuan.

But now he has only been a ninth-grade official for a few months.

"We have gold-coated silver hairpins here, which look just like gold hairpins." The clerk noticed the situation at a glance and immediately introduced another product.

"how much is it?"

"Our hairpin also weighs one tael and costs one penny in gold..." the waiter praised, and finally said, "This gold-coated silver hairpin only costs two thousand five hundred yuan."

Brother Monk calculated in his mind that nine coins of silver cost one thousand four hundred and forty coins, one coin of gold cost eight hundred coins, the gold and silver cost of the hairpin was two thousand two hundred four, and the labor fees were charged two hundred six.

"Bring it to me and see."

The boy took out the gold-wrapped silver hairpin and handed it to him.
Brother Seng looked at it carefully and found that the hairpin was made just like gold. It was impossible to tell that it was covered with silver.

"It's really gold wrapped in silver, one coin of gold and nine coins of silver, nothing else?"

"That's natural. Look at our signboard. The name of our Jinyutang is very famous. The Wu family's industry has opened many semicolons in Chang'an, Luoyang and other places. We have always been honest, and we dare to If you lie, you will pay ten!"

"Your Jin Yu Tang is also the property of the Wu family, the family of Prime Minister Wu?"

"Of course." Brother Seng nodded, "I can certainly trust the Wu family's property. Okay, wrap it up for me."

The clerk was happy to make another order, and immediately took a small box and packed it up.

Brother Seng also paid readily.
I asked the Shanyue slave to bring me silk to pay the bill, and I paid twelve and a half bolts of silk.
Two thousand five hundred dollars to buy a hairpin for my wife is quite luxurious. One calf is gone, but dozens of stones of rice are left.

However, thinking that his wife was traveling all the way with him, and had just given birth to a child for him, and he had never bought anything for her before, Brother Seng still luxuriated in this.

When we left the city, we took half an ox cart.

Chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, eggs, fish, we returned home with a load of chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, eggs, and fish, which also emptied Brother Seng’s pocket.
At the gate of the city, I happened to meet Wu Huaiyu.

Brother Seng quickly gave way and saluted at the roadside.

"I remember you, brother monk Liu Lingbao," Huaiyu rode an Arabian horse, which was transported to Guangzhou Port by the Arabian Sea. Although these Arabian horses are not very big, they are heat-resistant, fast and have strong endurance. , but it is very suitable for the southern region of the Tang Dynasty.

Seeing him bringing a slave with tattoos on his face and a bullock cart full of things, he asked, "What kind of happy event are you doing?"

There is so much fish and meat, and there is a sheep, it must be a happy event, otherwise who would dare to eat like this, just a small team deputy.

"Back to the Prime Minister, my son is one month old today. I am going to invite my relatives, friends and colleagues to celebrate him together."

"Congratulations, I'll also go and congratulate you. Are you welcome?" Wu Huaiyu happened to have nothing to do, so he was willing to go and have some fun and take a look at everyone's life.

Brother Seng was surprised, stunned for a moment, and then said excitedly, "The Prime Minister is willing to honor you. It is an honor for my whole family. I welcome you most."

"Let's go then."

Brother Seng’s home is on the outskirts of Dongning City.

The village was full of soldiers who were guarding the camp, and there were a hundred households of guarding men. Most of them were single men, and some had families like Brother Seng and Song Wei.

Because of Shouzuolang's status as an officer and soldier, this village is not only close to Liuzhou City, but also allocated more and better land. Each Shouzuolang has 200 acres of land.
Brother Seng had better luck. He was awarded an official position and received thirty acres of land. Later, he was allotted one hundred acres of professional land and one hundred acres of official land.

Originally, Xun, Guan and Dingtian Yongye were given based on the highest value and were not cumulative, but Liuqiu is now special and directly superimposed.

Brother Seng then had 330 acres of permanent land, 100 acres of job land, and two acres of homestead land.

"You have so much land, can you cultivate it?" Huaiyu asked on horseback. Brother Seng followed on foot next to the ox cart. Regarding this question, he said honestly, "This year's spring plowing did not come to cultivate all the land, only cultivated it. Some are planted with rice, sweet potatoes, and sugar cane,”

"We are still continuing to open up wasteland, and we will basically be able to plant it by next spring."

New wasteland is plowed roughly at first, and even planting must be rotated. It cannot be plowed carefully, but it can be planted more.

"My family now has eight people, young and old, and three slaves, one horse and two cows. We can barely manage it at ordinary times. When the farming season is busy, we hire some day laborers to help."

Huaiyu smiled and said, "You have become a landlord now,"

With three hundred and thirty acres of land, he can indeed be considered a landlord. If he can hold on to this property, when the land is matured in the future, it will also be a good family fortune.

Brother Seng is also still young. He is already a military attache and has a good salary.

Walking on the rural road in the suburbs, looking at the lush fields and crops, Wu Huaiyu was also full of sighs. It has only been so long that there is already such vitality here.

Even on the road leading to Dongning City in Liuzhou, you can still see some tribesmen coming with some local goods. Although there are grocery stores in every village now to sell and receive goods, they are definitely better than here. The goods at the port are more expensive and not as uniform, and the price for purchasing local products is also lower.
Some Yi people are sometimes willing to come to the city if they have a lot to buy or sell.

When they were approaching Brother Seng's village, they met a group of Yi people on the road, about seven or eight people. They were carrying deer skins, medicinal materials, etc., and even a few deer on their shoulders.
When I asked, it turned out that it was not the tribe that had surrendered before, but the tribe north of Zengwen River in the north. They now took the initiative to trade with the Tang people.

"I bought all these deer,"

Wu Huaiyu offered a good purchase price, even a little higher than the one at the dock, and rewarded each person with ten dollars, "Let's go to the dock for a stroll. When you're done, you can go to Liuzhou Yamen to see Wang Jishishi and talk to him." Let’s talk, if we’ve negotiated, your village will also have our grocery store in the future, and transactions will be much more convenient.”

The barbarians took the rewards and went away happily.

Wu Huaiyu pointed to the deer, "Just in time, I will add some dishes to your son's full moon wine later, which can be regarded as a gift from me."

Today, Brother Seng’s son was having a full-moon banquet, and he invited a lot of people, including fellow military attachés from the camp, the village chiefs, security guards, and acquaintances like Song Wei Xiaomao who moved from Lugang.
At home, Chun Sanniang was just out of confinement and was holding her baby. Her mother-in-law was taking her daughter and Song Wei's wife and other women to steam and make cakes. Although we couldn't invite all the villagers in the village to have a wedding banquet today, Brother Seng decided to send two wedding cakes, two wedding cakes, two red eggs, and two fish to every family in the village, making up eight wedding gifts.
This is also a rare honor.

There are still many tables set up at home, with eight dishes on each table, including stewed pork, pork bone and seaweed soup, stewed mutton, boiled eggs, stewed chicken, stewed duck, steamed fish, and boiled shrimp. The staple food includes steamed cakes, soup cakes, and glutinous rice. meal,

I also specially bought some rice wine.

Wu Huaiyu bought some deer on the road and brought them with him, and added some dishes, such as grilled venison skewers, braised venison, venison stewed with tofu, and venison steaks.

Eight courses became twelve.

The arrival of Wu Huaiyu made the full moon wine in the village even more grand. Wu Huaiyu didn't prepare any gifts, so he gave Brother Seng's son a sharkskin dagger as a gift.

"I dare you to ask the Prime Minister to help me choose a name for my son."

"Chengxi, Cheng, inherit, Xi, blessing, Chengxi, inherit good fortune." Huaiyu explained.

"Liu Chengxi, inherit the good fortune, a good name, thank you, Prime Minister Wu, for giving me the name." Brother Seng didn't have much education, but he could tell that the name was very good. He thanked her repeatedly, and Chun Sansanniang also came up with her child in her arms to express her gratitude.

The table was filled with wine and food, and a fire pole was fired outside. Brother Seng invited everyone to sit down.

The lively banquet begins,
The three slaves of Brother Seng's family were all rewarded with several large meaty bones today.

Wu Huaiyu sat at the table, and everyone took turns to propose a toast.
Although this house is a simple stilt-style building with a thatched roof and bamboo fence walls, piglets, chickens and ducks are raised on the elevated floor.
But everyone is very energetic and has light in their eyes.

This brand-new Shouchulang Village is very popular and full of vitality.

(End of this chapter)