Chapter 68: The Gourmet

Chapter 68: The Gourmet

Chapter 68: The Gourmet

The man gradually walked in, and Shao Xun also got off his horse.
"Greetings, sir." The group bowed in unison.

The owner of the manor, servants, guests and followers can be addressed as "Master" or "Master".

But Shao Xun was young, so he could also be called "Langjun".

If he is old, he can also be called "gong".

If he is a high-ranking official or a famous person, he is called "Ming Gong".

"No need to be so polite." Shao Xun held his hands together and spoke gently.

"I'm Pei Jin, currently the chief accountant of the Shao Mansion. Sir, please follow me to meet the benefactors of the manor." The leader took two steps closer and said respectfully.

"Okay." Shao Xun didn't pretend. He threw the whip to Chen Yougen who came over, stepped forward, and asked casually, "How many guests are there in the mansion?"

"Let me tell you, my lord. The Shao Mansion has one accountant, one accountant, two servants, four regular servants, six guests, eight servants, and twelve maids." Pei Jin said.

Shao Xun's face changed and he said, "Can I support so many people?"

"Don't worry, my dear." Pei Jin said, "The farm has two water mills, 13 hectares of farmland, and more than 30 farmhands. The output is enough to cover the expenses."

"Where did the farmhand come from?" Shao Xun asked.

Thirteen hectares of land is equivalent to one thousand three hundred acres, which is really not a small number. Is the Huangfu family so cruel?

He recently read and learned that after Zhou Chu died in battle, the court "posthumously awarded him the title of General of Pingxi, gave him a million yuan, a burial plot of one hectare, fifty mu of land in the capital as a house, and five hectares of land near the royal family."

It was only seven years since Zhou Chu was executed. In just seven years, Huangfu Shang, who had served as the confidant of Sima Jiong, the King of Qi, and Sima Yi, the King of Changsha, had acquired more land than Zhou Chu. Was it because of his high status, or was it because the social atmosphere was corrupt, and officials no longer paid attention to their manners and accelerated the pace of annexation?
Maybe a bit of both.

More than a thousand acres of land, and it’s in the suburbs of Luoyang. I couldn’t even dare to think about it before.

"My lord, your reputation is growing in the capital, and there are many farmhands willing to serve you," Pei Jin said.

His tone was matter of course, as if this was a matter of course.

The troubled times have arrived. Not to mention the troops passing through the border, the deteriorating public security situation and the rampant bandits pose a serious threat to the common people.

It is natural for people to live together for self-protection.

Shao Xun was well-known in the capital. He was rewarded with a manor, and after some publicity, there were still some people willing to join him - it was a social norm to give up the ancestral land, flee with the whole family, and rely on the manor to become a manor servant. The ancestral land they gave up would naturally be taken away by others.

"Shao Jun, you have to get used to it." Mi Huang smiled and said, "If you are really worried, I will send a letter to bring your family from Donghai and ask them to help manage the manor. You can just focus on training the troops."

Pei Jin lowered his head.

Shao Xun thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll ask my eldest nephew and third brother to come over and learn from Pei Dianji how to manage the farm."

The eldest nephew is the son of his deceased eldest brother. His name is Shao Shen and he is thirteen years old this year.

My third brother is Shao Fan, and he is sixteen this year.

It would indeed be more reassuring to let his family come over, but he would not change Pei Jin's position for the time being. This had nothing to do with anything else, it was just a matter of human relations.

"Let's go into the garden." Shao Xun looked up at the relatively new walls and gatehouse and said.

The entire mansion covers an area of ​​about 30 to 40 acres, and there are only a few dozen people in it. It is empty and in a mess.

Shao Xun's attention was mainly focused on the overall structure of the manor.

First, there are several buildings in front and back, with dozens of rooms in total, for the owner and servants to live in. In the northeast corner, there is a tall building with three floors, which is considered the commanding height of the entire manor.

There is a large forest on the left side of the house. According to Pei Jin, there are probably thousands of trees with many species and many birds.

There is a small natural lake behind the woods, with streams flowing in and out of it, and it seems to have been artificially diverted to circle the estate.

There is still a forest on the right side of the building, but it was transplanted artificially.

Shao Xun looked carefully and found fruit trees including jujube, peach, plum, apricot, pear, persimmon, chestnut, and rambutan, totaling more than a thousand trees.

A wooden house was also built in front of the forest to serve as a stable, woodshed, warehouse and other facilities.

Behind the house is a large bamboo forest and an artificially maintained garden. There are also two small ponds, one in the east and one in the west, planted with lotus flowers.

According to Pei Jin, there are carp, crucian carp, eel and other fish in the water, which sometimes jump out of the water, which is quite interesting.

There were some other unit areas as well, and Shao Xun took a quick look at them for a while, which really broadened his horizons.

Huangfu Shang is not actually a high-ranking official...

But the manor he built is of such a large scale, and it is located in the vicinity of Luoyang where land resources are relatively tight. One can't help but wonder: what is the situation in other states now?
"During the Han Dynasty, Zhong Changtong once said, 'You should live in a place with good farmland and a large house, with mountains behind and rivers beside, ditches and ponds all around, bamboo and trees everywhere, fields and gardens in front, and orchards behind. Boats and carriages can replace the difficulties of walking, and servants can rest their bodies. You can feed your parents with delicious food, and your wife and children don't have to work hard.'" Mi Huang followed him around, then looked at Shao Xun with complicated eyes and said, "Young man, now that you have an official position and a manor, you are no longer an ordinary person. My family--"

Having said this, Mi Huang stopped.

He originally wanted to say "I have a daughter at home", but then he thought better of it.

Concubine Pei arranged a marriage for her eldest son Mi Zhi. The girl was from the Zhuge clan of Langya. She was dignified, virtuous, well-educated and well-mannered. Marrying into the Mi family was considered a downgrade. Mi Huang was very grateful. When he thanked her, he mentioned that Shao Xun was already seventeen years old and planned to marry his daughter to him. Concubine Pei did not seem very happy, so Mi Huang did not mention it again.

He was a smart man and felt that Concubine Pei must have other arrangements and this was not a matter he could interfere with.

When I saw this manor today, I had some little thoughts again, but in the end I didn’t dare to say it out.

"Although my family's manor covers a large area, it is not as good as the mansion in Luoyang where every inch of land is worth a lot of money." Seeing Shao Xun looking at him puzzledly, Mi Huang laughed and said.

The manor is where the noble families depend on for survival.

If Zhong Changtong of the Eastern Han Dynasty proposed the standard model for the layout of aristocratic manors, he also said a passage that pointed out the essence of a manor: "Living freely in the world, looking down on the world. Not being honored by the time, and keeping the life span forever. In this way, you can soar into the sky and go beyond the universe. How can you envy those who enter the emperor's door!"

In short, if you own a manor, you own the world. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the manors of the noble families "had servants as an army, closed doors as markets, cattle and sheep covering the plains, and fields and ponds covering thousands of miles."

The manors controlled by the aristocratic families are completely self-contained. All kinds of daily necessities and means of production can be traded internally, forming a market, just like a small city.

The residences where the sons of the noble families lived were comparable to the Shanglin Garden and Taiji Palace: "The gardens are like Shanglin, and the residences are like Taiji."

Even the local tyrants, not to mention the aristocratic families, were also very powerful: "The tyrants had hundreds of houses connected together, fertile fields all over the fields, thousands of slaves and servants, and tens of thousands of expatriates."

The above is before the Western Jin Dynasty.

After the wars of the Three Kingdoms period, the Western Jin Dynasty enjoyed decades of peace, and the aristocratic families became more and more powerful, reaching their peak in the middle of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Xie Xuan's manor "is on the right side of the Yangtze River, on the left side of the mountains, Pingling is well-built, Chenghu is a mirror in the distance... A road is built in the lake, and it goes out to Qushan in the east. The road is very straight..."

Kong Lingfu of the Southern Song Dynasty had a manor that was "33 li in circumference, covering 265 hectares of land and water, including two mountains and nine orchards."

With such capital, when they band together, they can indeed resist the imperial power, and changing the emperor will not be a problem.

Compared with them, Shao Xun's new manor is simply not worth mentioning.

After all, it is Luoyang. Even the famous Jingu Garden cannot compare with the aristocratic families from other places in terms of land area and population.

"My dear..." Seeing that Shao Xun and Mi Huang stopped talking, Pei Jin continued to introduce: "Outside the river is the farmland of the village, which is usually planted with millet, wheat and beans. This year, we recruited farmhands a little late, so we didn't have time to plant millet, so we only planted some beans and grains. After the harvest, we can make bean porridge, which Shi Chong often used to entertain guests."

"We have cattle and sheep in the farm. If you want to eat milk cakes, you can come anytime. If you want to eat marrow cakes, it's best to wait until next year. There are still not enough livestock."

Milk cakes are made from cow's milk or goat's milk and flour, and are eaten by more people.

There are much fewer marrow cakes because they are made from the bone marrow of animals such as cattle and sheep, honey and flour, and are generally food for the nobility.

"If you want to drink, I'll brew more this year, and you can taste it anytime."

"Thousands of fruit trees bear abundant fruits. Sir, you have worked hard in training the troops. I will select fresh fruits regularly and send them to the army for your entertainment."

Pei Jin introduced a lot in one breath, showing his familiarity with the manor and his capable management skills.

Most manor owners would be delighted to hear this.

"How much surplus does the manor have every year?" Shao Xun suddenly interrupted him and asked.

"This is the first year, but I don't know." Pei Jin answered honestly.

"It should be able to support more people, right?" Shao Xun asked again.

"A few dozen people is still possible." Pei Jin was a little confused. What was the young master going to do?
During the Wei Dynasty, there were manor owners who had "more than a thousand guests" who would often form an army to attack and rob merchants and travelers.

There was actually a similar situation in our dynasty as well. Shi Chong liked to take his followers out to rob, and gradually they became the most famous wealthy family in the Jin Dynasty.

Could it be that --- My dear, you also want to...

"Luoyang has been through war for a long time, and the people are displaced." Shao Xun said, "Find a way to recruit some children and teenagers, preferably between ten and fifteen years old, and bring them to live in the manor. Just find the people, and I will send someone to arrange for these children. The limit is 100 people, that's it, as soon as possible!"

Pei Jin was stunned at first, then he said: "Young Master, it is not impossible for the manor to grit its teeth and raise a hundred children, but there will be no surplus, and it may even be a deficit. Young Master is only seventeen years old, and he will have to start a family in the future. If he cannot accumulate wealth quickly, I am afraid that in the future..."

"That's enough. Just do as I say." Shao Xun raised his voice and said, "It's a question of how long the manor in Luoyang can last. If you are brave enough, organize the farmhands to occupy more wasteland. Most of them will be unattended. I settled in Pan Garden in the east of the city a year ago. After I withdrew, I heard that it is still empty. In the chaos of war, the people of Luoyang don't have much time to farm. You don't need to worry too much, just do as I say."

"Yes." Pei Jin agreed reluctantly, but he was also a little panicked. The current situation seemed to be a bit like what the young man said.

Mi Huang watched from the side without interrupting.

Keeping guests and training soldiers were what every aristocratic family did. As the situation continued to deteriorate, they even accelerated the process. The fighting power of the soldiers and farmhands became stronger day by day, as if they were preparing for war.

What Shao Xun did was not fundamentally different from what they did, and seemed to have gone a step further - through this military reorganization, Mi Huang once again confirmed that Shao Xun was training officers.

It’s nothing, actually. Everyone is doing it.

Some did it in the imperial guards, some did it in their own estates, and some trained private individuals in the states and counties.

To put it bluntly, everyone didn't have much confidence in the Jin Dynasty, and they just subconsciously wanted to do something. And what they did seemed to be constantly digging at the roots of the Jin Dynasty and accelerating its decline.

Shao Xun had a clear mind and very specific goals, and he used almost every penny of his capital to the fullest.

As soon as he was rewarded with a manor, he immediately used the surplus output to support young men, teach them civil and martial arts, and cultivate personal followers.

He always seemed determined and knew what he was going to do.

Considering his age, Mi Huang was a little scared and even excited.

The three words "Liu Xuande" slowly floated through his mind.

This person is a past that the Mi family does not want to mention.

After failing once, the Mi family luckily still exists and even develops.

But what happens if it fails this time?
Shao Xun's background cannot be compared with that of Lord Xuande.

Although Lord Xuande might not even have enough food to eat when he was poor and destitute, he was a relative of the Han royal family after all. Once this identity was recognized by others, it would be quite appealing. After all, people would unconsciously think of Emperor Guangwu who revived the Han Dynasty.

Wait a little longer, Mi Huang took a deep breath.

The princess is smart, wise, and far-sighted. She puts aside emotional factors when considering issues, which is what Mi Huang admires most.

The princess and Shao Xun were not related, so she could evaluate his abilities and future without any emotion. If the princess was optimistic about him, then it was not impossible for Mi Shi to make more efforts and invest more.

Ok, deal!
(End of this chapter)