Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 480 It’s almost time

Because he was worried that He Changqi might not be able to handle things well because he "had never seen the world", Fang Chongyong personally led the team to the largest manor outside Heyin County.

It belongs to the Fanyang Lu family and is quite famous locally.

The manors in the Tang Dynasty were a land organization and management model that only large landowners could have, rather than a land ownership system.

It is not like during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, when a manor was a fortress and difficult for foreign enemies to break through.

But it is not a simple model of landlords collecting rent, it includes a series of rules for organization and operation. Moreover, the relationship between the people working in the manor and the landlords is very complicated, and there are even retired veterans who are only responsible for security.

Not just a tenant.

Simply put, a manor is a small society in the larger society of the Tang Dynasty. Before the war, the aristocratic families used it as a milk cow to produce wealth; after the war broke out, the human resources in the manor could easily form a team with strong organizational capabilities under the leadership of the aristocratic families, and use the manor as a foundation for self-protection.

After all, the situation where others hoard food while I sharpen my gun only exists in my imagination. And in many cases, the rich also hold knives in their hands.

Of course, some children of big families have their own abilities deteriorated, and they have swords but cannot lift them, so they cannot blame others.

When they arrived to investigate near Lu's Manor, the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army soldiers behind Fang Chongyong were stunned by the scale of the manor.

The core of the Lu’s Manor is a temple called Xingguo Temple.

The manor was built on three sides of the temple except for the main gate, next to the canal and backed by a mountain with lush trees. It was a good location for defense. There was a temple near the manor, and probably also fruit and seafood from the river.

These things were transported westward by water and easily flowed into the market in Luoyang to obtain money.

If there were no war, it would be convenient for people in the manor to buy food through the canal.

Judging from the terrain, the manor should not be mainly engaged in growing crops, but rather a diversified business, and the orchard on the mountain is quite large.

Fang Chongyong observed the terrain near the manor and came to a conclusion: this is a Feng Shui treasure land for the aristocratic family Lu to make money!
I have to say, they have a very sharp vision.

Fang Chongyong began to understand why Yuan Jie and his men were unable to take over this manor. Just by looking at the arrow tower at the entrance, he knew that the people there had been prepared for this.

In such a large manor, the people in it are not necessarily all tenants. Some are even outsiders who have "jointly invested" in the estate, and there are all kinds of people.

Naturally, there is no shortage of people to look after the house.

After the Hebei rebels captured the county seat of Heyin County, they did not do anything to the Lu family's manor. Fang Chongyong probably knew why.

Because the “people” that the government refers to are these people!

No matter who is in power, they have to cooperate with them in order to quickly control the local area.

"General Jie, should we go and get something from them and leave, or should we force our way here?"

He Changqi asked in a low voice, feeling a little nervous.

"Go ahead and negotiate with the Lu family and ask for some food and fodder. See how much they are willing to give."

Fang Chongyong ignored He Changqi and gave an instruction to Che Guangqian.

After hearing this, Che Guangqian frowned slightly and advised:
"General Jie, why don't we just go to their house and explain our purpose, reveal our identities, and then take whatever we can get. I don't think they would dare to refuse. If we are so polite, they will think we are nothing special and are taking advantage of us."

Che Guangqian understands what those aristocratic families are better than He Changqi!
In the eyes of those aristocratic families, whoever comes must be won over. As long as they can deal with the upper echelons of the government, what trouble can a few soldiers cause!
Those people haven't realized that times have changed!
"Salute first, then soldiers."

Fang Zhongyong uttered four words.

"Order!"

Che Guangqian took the order and left.

Taking advantage of his absence, Fang Zhongyong teased He Changqi, "Guess how much food and fodder Che Guangqian can get?"

"It will take at least a few thousand stones, right?"

He Changqi said shamelessly.

Fang Zhongyong shook his head and sneered, without responding.

They only brought a few dozen people this time, and they were a little scared if they broke into the manor by force. So they hid in the woods not far from the manor and waited for Che Guangqian to return.

After a while, Che Guangqian came back with a very strange expression on her face and a wooden box in her arms. She looked a little bit amused.

"How's it going?"

Fang Chongyong asked curiously.

"This family, whose ancestral home is the Fanyang Lu family, has moved to Anyefang, Luoyang. Those who are here are all from other families who manage the manor.

Then, I didn’t get a single grain of rice, but those people gave me this.”

Che Guangqian opened the wooden box in her arms and put it on the ground. A thick stack of Luoyang Jiaozi lay quietly inside!
Yes, it is slightly different from Hexi Jiaozi. It is also the Luoyang Jiaozi that cannot be eaten, worn, or even used to wipe buttocks.

Except for the slight differences in details, everything else was almost identical to the Hexi Jiaozi. Everyone looked at each other with mixed feelings.

Fang Chongyong, who "invented" Jiaozi and pioneered paper money, saw that the people from Lu's Manor were holding a thick stack of Jiaozi to deal with him and the Silver Spear Xiaojie Army.

Honestly speaking, his mood right now was quite subtle. He felt helpless and stunned as if someone was making fun of him right in the face.

"They, what does this mean?"

Fang Zhongyong asked, suppressing his inner anger.

"What's the point? Let's use the Jiaozi to buy food. Get out of here as far as you can."

He Changqi curled his lips and said with disdain.

"That's true, so I am a little confused."

Che Guangqian didn't know what to say. She had to admit that the person in charge of Lu's manor was really a bit darkly humorous.

If they knew what the word meant.

As far as Fang Chongyong knew, now that the war had broken out, Jiaozi had become like waste paper, and even gold, silver and copper coins were occasionally rejected. Only usable things like silk and grain were still circulated unimpeded.

The people of the Lu family gave Che Guangqian a large stack of unusable Jiaozi coins. It felt like someone giving a highway robber a ticket for yesterday's movie show.

That’s all, it’s better not to give it!
"Did you say we are the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army?"

Fang Chongyong asked in a deep voice.

"I did, but the man said he had never heard of it. They only knew about the Xuanwu Army and the Konghe Army. They also said that when the war broke out, many new names appeared. Now a governor can just recruit a few hundred soldiers and create a new one.

The implication is that we are just retired solidarity soldiers, a mob that has been temporarily assembled and is begging for food from them."

Che Guangqian explained helplessly.

In fact, this is not surprising, because when coming to Lu's Manor, Fang Zhongyong specifically asked everyone to take off their armor to avoid attracting too much attention in Heyin County.

The people in Lu's Manor looked down on others. When they saw that the Tang army officer didn't even have armor, they naturally labeled Che Guangqian as a "no-name brand".

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly, and he had almost figured out the "market situation" here.

At this moment, Yuan Jie, who had been watching the show silently, asked in confusion: "General Jie, now Jiaozi is like waste paper, what's the use of these?"

He still didn't quite understand the situation.

"Tonight there are thieves who are going to attack the Lu's Manor. We are ready to rescue them. These Jiaozi are their reward to us."

Fang Zhongyong said slowly to Yuan Jie.

Thief? Where did the thief come from?
Yuan Jie was still in a daze for a while. Suddenly, he saw a murderous look on the face of the burly He Changqi, and he immediately understood what he meant!

Damn it, who are the thieves? Of course it’s Fang Chongyong and the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army under his command!

Otherwise, who else could be the thief!

"General Jie, isn't this a bit inappropriate? Although the people of the Lu family are indeed..."

Yuan Jie didn't know what to say.

Fang Zhongyong was leading the imperial guards! They were paid by the emperor!

How could you do such a thing as robbery?

Although Yuan Jie also had ill intentions towards the people in Lu's Manor, the most he did was to "borrow" some food, fodder and supplies from them so that they could return to Lu County safely.

"Brother Cishan, times have changed, haven't you noticed?"

Fang Zhongyong patted Yuan Jie's shoulder meaningfully and said.

……

That night, on the corner tower of Lu's Manor in Heyin County, a young man in white clothes, with a feather fan and a scarf, was reading a copy of "Collected Works of Wang Youcheng" under the light of a torch.

"It's a dark and windy night, and my thoughts are in a mess. I look at the starry sky, and my heart is filled with endless worries."

He suddenly felt inspired to compose a poem impromptu.

However, although the young man was thinking about the mountains and snow-capped mountains like Wang Youcheng, what he recited was only on the same level as Jiang Dayou.

To put it simply, it's too vulgar!
His name is Lu Mai, and his uncle is Cui Youfu, the Shaoyin of Henan, who works in Luoyang!
His grandfather, his father, his uncle, his uncle, and so on, were all officials.

He will be an official in the future, and his descendants will all be officials. Even if they cannot be officials, they will never work in the fields.

Lu Mai knew that there was war going on now. The four kings in Hebei had set up their own court, and the crown prince seemed to be at odds with the saint, but he did not think that all this chaos had anything to do with him.

No matter how chaotic the world is, someone needs to govern it.

"Reading Wang Youcheng's poems is like learning how to socialize in official circles.

It's really vulgar, vulgar!"

Lu Mai was disdainful of commenting, but at the same time he felt helpless.

The rule of the officialdom is that without poetry and prose, one cannot be successful. Without literary talent, one cannot be successful as an official anywhere. Many of Wang Wei's poems are about the greetings and farewells between officials, which are very meaningful for reference on how to be an official in the future.

Lu Mai was confident that he had both talent and moral character, except for his literary talent.

Suddenly, a servant who was on duty not far in front of him was pierced through the neck by an arrow shot from the darkness!

The man fell to the ground, holding his neck, before he could even shout. The arrows in the quiver at his waist scattered all over the ground!
Lu Mai hadn't figured out what was going on when he suddenly encountered an accident. He heard a sharp scream coming from the direction of the manor gate downstairs!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

This shout broke the tranquility of the night sky and completely woke Lu Mai up from his wild thoughts!
"Something happened! Something happened! What happened?"

Lu Mai talked to himself, feeling anxious like an ant on hot pan.

As soon as he stepped onto the stairs of the corner building, he suddenly felt as if he was being stared at by a wild beast, and his hair all over his body began to stand on end. His intuition told him that if he went downstairs, he would face huge and unpredictable risks!

Lu Mai pretended to be calm and sat back in his original seat.

Then, he heard the indescribable teeth-grinding sound when the manor gate opened!
What followed was the sound of swords stabbing into flesh, the clatter of fists and kicks, and curses and howls mixed with crying.

It was a mess, and it was terrifying! Even if you didn't go down the corner tower, you could guess what was going on down there!
"Hey, there's still a fish that slipped through the net!"

A long time later, a young general wearing the Tang army's Ming Guang armor but with a black scarf covering his face walked up to the corner tower, followed by several burly soldiers.

Each of them was wearing heavy armor and carrying a sword on his waist, and they looked like they were not someone to be trifled with.

They covered their faces with black scarves as if trying to hide their ears and steal a bell, but they refused to even change into the Tang army uniforms, as if they were afraid that others would not know they were Tang army members!
"This guy is playing the role of a young Zhuge Liang. Take him away without using any force."

The leading officer pointed at Lu Mai and gave his orders. He squatted down to check if the unlucky guy with an arrow in his neck was dead. While looking through the body, he kept muttering some nonsense like "accurate archery skills".

Lu Mai, escorted by two Tang army soldiers who were pretending to be bandits but did not even bother to put on a show, came to a large open space in the manor.

As far as he knew, this place was usually used to pile hay. If there was any important event to be announced in the manor, it would also be announced here.

At this moment, there were not many bodies on the ground, only a few scattered. Most people survived, and hundreds of them were gathered in an open space, as if someone was going to give them a lecture.

"Who is the person in charge of Zhuangzi?"

The young general who had just teased Lu Mai asked in a hoarse voice.

"I am Lu Dun, the old man who manages this manor. The official in my family is Lu Qi, the Minister of the Honglu Temple. The elder brother of the mistress of the family is Cui Youfu. I don't know who in the manor has offended the military commanders..."

An old man in a brocade robe walked out from the crowd, and his words were full of hidden thorns.

It’s both Lu Qi and Cui Youfu. In short, he is implying that he has “someone above him”!
You soldiers, stop messing around!

"The buff is stacked there!"

The young officer frowned when he heard it, and drew his sword to chop at Luton's neck!
In just a moment, a deep red blood mark was left on Luton's neck, and the blood splattered all over the officer!
He kicked Luton's body aside and shouted to the crowd, "Whoever is in charge of the village, please stand up and don't force me to kill people."

No one was willing to stand up, and Luton's fate had already said it all. In this situation, anyone who stood up would most likely die.

"Then let's start killing people now, until someone is willing to stand up. Let's start with... well, with you."

The young officer pointed at a burly man who looked like a member of the manor's "security team" and said.

"Stop! I'm the one in charge. What do you want to know?"

Lu Mai, who had been silent in the crowd, stood up.

Unexpectedly, the young officer impatiently scolded: "Go play somewhere else, little brat."

The soldiers around him laughed and pushed Lu Mai aside to watch the show.

"Time is running out. I'll start killing people when I count to three."

"three!"

"two!"

"one!"

Just after counting to one, five or six people were pushed out by the crowd. It was obvious that it was difficult to offend the public anger, and the weakness of human nature was perfectly grasped by the young officer.

"The first question is, how much of the rent do the tenants in the farm collect and how much do they pay to the government?"

The young officer asked in a deep voice.

"When you give more to the government, you pay 10%, and when you give less, you pay half.

Tenants pay 50% to 60% of their income, but it is often not collected in full, usually only 70% to 80% is collected.”

One of them said cautiously.

Hearing this, many tenants on the open space were surprised! Because the taxes paid by the manor to the government were far less than they imagined!
Lu Mai also had an expression of disbelief on his face.

Because he found out that their family... was really fucking cruel!
(End of this chapter)