Traveling across the heavens starting from the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 58 Betrothal gift to Changle
Today's almanac.

It’s time to start construction.

Early in the morning.

Wu Dayong, dressed in short work clothes, brought the craftsmen from Lao Wu Ji's shop to Li Huaian's house to report and prepare for the groundbreaking today.

"Okay, everyone should be more conscious in the host's house. Don't run around and disturb the women in the house. The stewards in the shop remember to take good care of their craftsmen. Everyone is working on the Liulic Pavilion for the boss. Come here, don’t be embarrassed.”

"Did you hear everything?"

Wu Dayong knew that there were many female relatives in the Dong family, and he was afraid that his craftsmen would do something wrong and offend the female relatives, so he gave a warning in advance before starting the work.

"Don't worry, shopkeeper."

"We all know the rules."

"."

A group of craftsmen stood together holding their own food, saying yes again and again.

Wu Dayong nodded with satisfaction to his craftsmen. He also knew in his heart that all the craftsmen here were veterans who had worked in many noble houses, so they naturally understood the rules of wealthy houses.

Especially this time when I was working for Li Huaian, a boss who was half a master, no one dared not understand the rules.

"I'm starting work for my boss today. Show me your ability to eat. Don't lose it in front of my boss."

"Good luck getting started."

"Good luck getting started."

"Good luck, boss."

Li Huaian sat on an armchair, looking at the craftsmen in front of him who were congratulating him, and told Li Ruoqiu on the side: "Ruoqiu, let someone share the reward for starting work with these people."

"Okay, Langjun."

Li Ruoqiu signaled to her maid Taohua, took out the copper coins she had prepared and distributed them.

The reward money for starting work has been distributed.

Li Huaian glanced at Wu Dayong while the craftsmen were "thanking the owner's family appreciation" and asked him to lead the craftsmen to start work in the house.

Wu Dayong understood what Li Huaian meant and did not waste any time. He led the people away and gradually started construction on Li Huaian's house according to the pre-planned construction process.

Demolish some useless buildings and add some useful ones.

Soon.

Li Huaian's mansion is about to have a new member. In addition to preparing for the winter, the entire mansion also needs to be re-planned. At least seven small courtyards must be planned separately in the inner house of the mansion to accommodate the seven people with different surnames and seven looks. Daughter.

Otherwise, Li Huaian's current mansion would really be a bit unbearable.

to this end.

Li Huaian spent more than half of the market price, about 5000 silver coins, to buy eight houses from the left and right sides of the mansion, further expanding the entire mansion. Not only did it have two more courtyards on the left and right, but the inner courtyard was is further expanded.

Li Mansion has also expanded from more than 3000 square meters to more than 1 square meters, almost one-thirtieth of the area of ​​Xinghuafang. This operation has a bit of a land annexation in it.

Fortunately.

After the meeting at Hui Wen Guan, Liuli Pavilion was back in his hands the next day. Li Ruoqiu and the maid Taohua also took over the Liuli Pavilion again under his instruction, along with the original female clerks in the mansion.

otherwise.

Li Huaian was really struggling to make ends meet by expanding his mansion like this.

As for the previous manager of Liuli Pavilion, Zhang Shiren and Zhang Langjun.

As Li Huaian and Qi Wang of the Five Surnames reached an agreement and became in-laws, they were abandoned by the Cui family of Qinghe. What will happen in the end, there is a high probability that it will not have a good outcome.

The best result is to keep some of your money and return to your hometown to live a stable life.

after all.

Abandoned by the Cui family in Qinghe.

It also means being rejected by the entire Five Surnames and Qiwang.

Other aristocratic families are even less likely to show an accepting attitude towards Zhang Shiren, a merchant. They are all afraid that if they make a mistake, they will arouse the hatred of the Five Surnames and Seven Hopes. Other aristocratic families and nobles will not offend the Five Surnames and Sevenths for a lowly merchant. see.

Can't commit.

The benefits would not allow these aristocratic families and nobles to take this risk.

Li Huaian never cared about Zhang Shiren's role as a passer-by, let alone wasted time to pay attention to it. Under the feudal social structure in ancient times, such a passer-by role did not need to be thought about, and he knew that once he was taken over by the Cui family in Qinghe, Abandoned by such top aristocratic families, they will eventually disappear without a trace.

"This house is getting bigger and bigger."

Li Huaian sat on a chair and looked at the entire courtyard, thinking that his house in the Tang Dynasty had expanded twice, from one house to a mansion consisting of thirteen houses.

"It seems that we need to tidy up the house in the spring next year."

"Will Mr. Lang renovate the mansion next year?"

Li Ruoqiu asked.

"Well, our mansion is made up of thirteen courtyards. It looks a bit messy, and many courtyards have repeated functions."

"We'll make do with it this winter, and when spring comes, let Old Wu lead the people to rebuild the entire mansion."

Li Huaian nodded, and he really wanted to rebuild the house.

This is not only a problem of yard clutter, but there are also many reasons why yards need to replace building materials.

During the Tang Dynasty, materials were not very abundant, and many walls of the entire house were either made of stone or mud bricks.

The proportion of green bricks used is less than half.

As for the reason, it is because Tang Dynasty green bricks are generally scarce building materials, and the materials and firing of green bricks are also very complicated.

If Li Huaian wants to rebuild his mansion next year, he will need to solve this problem.

Fortunately, this problem is very simple for Li Huaian. It is nothing more than replacing the blue bricks that are difficult to make and difficult to bake in the Tang Dynasty with red bricks that will only appear in later generations.

Maybe, this red brick can be exchanged for something with Li Shimin.

Another reason is that as the area of ​​the inner courtyard increases, the study courtyard belonging to Li Huaian is already located in the front courtyard.

Therefore, Li Huaian needs to re-plan the courtyard and change the study courtyard.

"My boss is going to rebuild this house in the spring?"

"Then the boss must only turn to me, Old Wu. I am not bragging to my boss. When it comes to building a house in Chang'an City, my craftsmen and I are the most powerful people in Chang'an City. No one dares to say anything. No word."

Wu Dayong, who had finished arranging the work of his craftsmen, had just returned to Li Huaian's yard when he heard the end of the conversation in the yard and quickly answered.

"of course."

Li Huaian saw Wu Dayong coming to the yard, pointed to the empty chair next to him, and said with a smile.

"You, old Wutou, are a master craftsman who built the palace. If I rebuild the palace, I won't need anyone, and I can spare you, a master craftsman from the Ministry of Industry, without using it."

Wu Dayong sat down next to Li Huaian and picked up a piece of pastry made in Li Huaian's house.

"That's good." "However, if the owner renovates the mansion next year, he must start making preparations now. The green bricks in Chang'an City have been in very short supply in recent years. The green bricks are often freshly fired and still warm. These bricks were taken away."

"If the owner doesn't make preparations now, it will be difficult to buy the green bricks next year when they are used."

"I estimated the entire owner's house. If it is completely rebuilt, depending on the owner's plan, the dismantled green bricks and throwing away the damaged ones may not be enough. We will need to buy [-] to [-]% more green bricks. Can."

Regarding Wu Dayong's opinion, Li Huaian waved his hand directly.

"No, I will have my own way when the time comes. When the blue bricks are no longer needed, I will think of other ways to replace them."

Wu Dayong heard the words and said no more. He already knew how powerful he was, half master and half boss. Since his boss said there was a way to replace Qingzhuan, there must be one. He wouldn't be needed anymore. Give advice.

Especially based on his experience as the shopkeeper of Lao Wu Ji's shop, the other methods mentioned by the boss might be able to give craftsmen like them an extra job.

Why not?
Now that I have this time to question my boss’s abilities, it’s better to eat more pastries from my boss’s house.

So he took a piece of soft pastry from the table next to him, put it in his mouth and took a bite, feeling the faint sweetness in the pastry and enjoying it very much.

Even Li Ruoqiu and the maid Taohua on the side did not raise any objections.

"A father-in-law came to Langjun's palace, the same father-in-law who came with the saint yesterday."

A maid in charge of the front yard of the mansion came to Tao Hua and whispered a few words. After hearing this, Tao Hua asked the maid to step aside, turned around and told Li Huaian the news she had just heard.

"My father-in-law who came yesterday?"

Li Huaian was a little confused. Li Shimin had just come yesterday. What was he doing here again today?
"Let's go and have a look."

Done.

Li Huaian stood up and walked towards the front yard.

"Okay, Langjun."

Li Ruoqiu also followed.

The maidservant Peach Blossom was not even left behind.

Only Wu Dayong stayed in the yard and had no intention of following him to take a look. He concentrated on the pastries in front of him. After a while, when he was almost done eating, he wanted to check how the craftsmen were doing.

As for the father-in-law coming from the front yard, it was not something he was qualified to participate in.

Yesterday, if he hadn't been afraid that his boss wouldn't recognize the saint, he wouldn't have followed him to greet him. Instead, he would have hid aside and continued eating, or treated him as a servant and greeted him.

In any case, this is the owner's mansion. As a great craftsman, he is also an outsider. It is not easy for him to participate in the affairs of the mansion every time, which makes him have no sense of boundaries.

As long as it was not something Li Huaian ordered or something Li Huaian didn't know about, under normal circumstances, Wu Dayong stood aside as a bystander, never interfering, and just did his job.

This is also a truth that Wu Da spent half his life working as a master craftsman in the Ministry of Industry to understand.

"Father-in-law, I didn't have time to give my father-in-law a gift yesterday. It just so happened that the ground was started in the mansion today. The craftsmen who came to work in the mansion will get a piece of auspicious money to start the work."

"If you don't mind it, father-in-law, I will also receive a piece of lucky money for starting work, just to cheer you up."

talking.

Li Huaian held one of Zhang Anan's hands and secretly handed over a five-tael gold cake in his hand.

The eunuchs around Li Shimin, the eunuchs who can follow Li Shimin out of the palace, must be the eunuchs around Li Shimin, who are Li Shimin's confidants.

This kind of eunuch would definitely look down on him if he was given less. The five taels of gold cakes were just right. The weight didn't seem heavy, but it was enough to weigh down the hand.

Zhang Anan didn't want to accept it, but when he felt the texture of the gold cake in his hand, he secretly weighed the weight of the gold cake in his hand. He glanced at Li Huaian in surprise, who pretended that nothing happened, and his face immediately revealed With a smile on her face, as bright as a chrysanthemum, she couldn't help but hold Li Huaian's hand, and the friction was like seeing a relative.

Li Huaian was so frightened that he quickly pulled his hand away without leaving a trace and took a few steps back.

"My father-in-law came to the house today. I wonder if he has something to give you?"

Li Huaian secretly rubbed his hands behind his back, reflecting on whether he had been too enthusiastic just now.

"Good thing, what Li Langjun told the saint yesterday, the saint agreed. Let me come to Li Langjun's house to inform Langjun, and ask him what he can give to marry the saint's eldest princess."

Zhang Anan didn't pay attention to Li Huaian's little actions. For the sake of Jinbing, it didn't matter if they were disliked by others. In the palace, eunuchs like them were often disliked by the nobles in the palace, and being beaten was common.

"I'll go, does Li agree?"

Li Huaian was stunned and almost called out Li Shimin's name in front of Zhang Ananda, but luckily he stopped in time.

"The saint agreed."

Zhang Anan didn't care about Li Huaian's obvious sin of gaffe. He had seen everything yesterday and knew that the man named Li Huaian in front of him was not a very disciplined being.

In order to save worry, it’s better not to care too much about some rules and just pretend that you didn’t hear or see them.

"Okay, then father-in-law, please come with me."

When Li Huaian saw that Li Shimin actually agreed to marry Princess Changle to him, what were he waiting for? He took Zhang Anan directly towards a courtyard.

Zhang Anan didn't say much and followed Li Huaian. He was also curious about what could be found in this world that could make the saint agree to marry the eldest princess.

"Then, father-in-law, the things in this jar are what I gave to the saint."

Li Huaian stood in front of the last water tank with potatoes. At this time, these potatoes were completely mature. A few days ago, he dug up the potatoes in the third water tank and made sure that the potatoes in the water tank were completely mature.

"Um, is Li Langjun joking?"

Zhang Ananda looked at the water tank in front of him with a somewhat ugly face. In addition to soil, there were two plants in the water tank that were so withered and decayed that it was hard to tell what they were.

Trade this thing with a saint for a princess?

It’s better to change to the eldest princess.

"of course."

Li Huaian nodded, and at the same time reached out to take an envelope sealed with fire paint from Li Ruoqiu's hand, and handed it to Zhang Anan.

"I know what father-in-law means. Everything is in this sealed envelope. Father-in-law only needs to bring this water tank and the secret message to the saint."

"After the saint sees the contents of the secret letter, if he thinks it is possible, he will naturally agree to marry the eldest princess to me. If he thinks it is not possible, just pretend that I said nothing."

"By the way, this thing needs to be protected halfway. The thing in this water tank is the only one in the entire Tang Dynasty. It will not be easy to find it again."

"Although it is just transporting within Chang'an City, nothing will necessarily happen, but if something goes wrong, it will be a loss for the Saint and the Tang Dynasty."

Zhang Ananda looked at the water tank, at the secret letter handed over by Li Huaian, and then at Li Huaian himself who looked serious. He always felt that this matter was a bit ridiculous.

But here comes.

If you don't take things back, if the saint knows about it, he will definitely blame you.

"Never mind."

Zhang Ananda received Li Huaian's secret letter with a look of embarrassment on his face.

"Seeing as how big a deal you talk about this thing, fortunately I brought my entourage with me when I left the palace. I took the water jar and the secret message with me. I personally escorted them on the way back to the palace and brought them to the saint personally. Check."

"I hope the things in this are really what you said. Otherwise, if you provoke the wrath of the saint, you will bear a huge responsibility. This is not a small crime."

Done.

Zhang Ananda ordered people to go outside the palace and call his followers to move the water tank away, load it on a carriage, and prepare to transport it back to the palace so that the saint could judge whether the contents of the water tank were worth it.

(End of this chapter)