Chapter 13: One able-bodied man is conscripted from every fifteen households

  Early in the morning, the big locust tree in front of the east wing house was filled with the chirping and laughter of magpies. Inside the east wing house, a pair of bright red candles on the table were still burning, and Li Xuan was lying in bed, not yet fully awake from his hangover.

  He drank a lot of wine last night, although the fruit wine was brewed with some mountain fruits and tasted sour and sweet when drinking, but the aftertaste was not small. After the guests left and returned to the house, he didn't even take off his clothes and fell asleep directly on the bed.

  Gu Niang didn't sleep all night, first helping Li Jing wash his face and hands before bed, then sitting at the head of the bed watching him while guarding the pair of wedding candles. There's a saying in the village that on the wedding night, the candles cannot be extinguished, or it will mean an inauspicious life ahead. Moreover, the two candles represent the newlywed couple, and if they burn out together, it's the best omen. If one candle goes out first, it means that the corresponding spouse will pass away first. Gu Niang stared at the candles all night, and whenever she saw one burning faster, she would get out of bed to trim the wick.

  They managed to stay lit until dawn, neither going out prematurely nor burning at different rates.

  Gui Niang looked at a pair of red candles and then turned back to look at Li Jing who was still asleep, with a happy expression.

  Suddenly, a few clanging sounds came from outside the courtyard.

  "Everyone in every household, gather under the village tree! Everyone in every household, gather under the village tree!"

  Li Jiong woke up with a start, his head still throbbing from the previous night's drinking. As he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Wang Guiniang wearing a pale green cheongsam dress. He then looked down at himself and found that he was only wearing his undergarments, while the bright red wedding attire from the previous night was neatly folded beside him.

  Li Jing suddenly felt a little embarrassed and didn't know what to call Gui Niang.

  Calling each other husband and wife seems too casual. Calling each other madam, sir, or young lady, young master also feels like something that can't be said out loud. The two of them looked at each other for a while, Li Jiong didn't speak up, and Gui Niang seemed to not plan on speaking first either.

  Li Jiong had no choice but to say, "It seems like Village Zheng is beating the gong to gather people. I'll go take a look at what's going on." After finishing speaking, he quickly got out of bed, hastily and randomly put on his clothes and hat, and rushed out the door.

  As soon as they went out, many villagers were seen sparsely heading towards the large pagoda tree in the village center. The pagoda tree in the village was the largest one in Wang Li Village, with a height of six or seven zhang, dense branches and leaves, and a shape like an umbrella. Whenever there was a disaster year, April and May were the time when the green and yellow crops did not meet. At that time, the pagoda flowers were in bloom, and the villagers relied on picking pagoda flowers, pagoda leaves, and wild vegetables to get through this difficult period.

  In Wang Li Village, this pagoda tree is the most loved by villagers. Over time, it has become the village's sacred tree. The sacred tree, like the temple, is very important, and everyone holds a prayer ceremony under the tree every year. In peacetime, when a family encounters a disaster or illness, they will also come to burn incense and paper under the sacred tree, and even hang cloth strips with symbols on the branches of the sacred tree.

  Under the village tree, it has also become the center of the whole village. Whenever there is something important, the whole village gathers under the tree to discuss it.

  Rushing to the bottom of the village tree, more than 100 people have gathered here. Wang Li Village is not big, but it's not small either. The whole Wang Li Village has 158 households, with a population of 1,130 people, and over 300 adults. There are also over 400 middle-aged men and women. Such a village, after the An Shi Rebellion, was considered a large village.

  Four families make a neighbourhood, five families make a security group, in a town they are called a ward, in the countryside they are called a village.

  In the 7th year of the Wude era of the Tang Dynasty, the household registration regulations stipulated that villages were formed in rural areas outside the city walls of prefectures and counties. In the early Tang period, within the city walls of prefectures and counties, the court divided the population into units of one hundred households as a "li" and five "li" as a "xiang". However, by this time, the li-xiang system had become lax, and the village-township system began to take shape. The common people lived in villages, no longer strictly following the system of one hundred households as a "li" and five "li" as a "xiang".

  Wang Li Village has 158 households with over 1,000 people, making it a large village. The village has two village heads who are responsible for guarding the village walls and gates, as well as taking turns to go to the county government office on duty. They also have to help the county government collect taxes, mobilize labor, and pass down policies from above.

  "Village headmaster, what's going on? You've called everyone out so early." Li Jiong saw that the two village heads were already present under the pagoda tree, and they had a clerk wearing a round-necked robe and a tall, burly man with a horizontal knife at his waist, who looked like a military officer.

  Wang Li village is a large village with a population of over 1,000. The entire village is surrounded by a nearly two-zhang high earth wall for defense. There are only two village gates on the east and west sides of the village wall, and there is also a special village protection team inside the village, with each household taking turns to stand guard. Moreover, since Wang Li village is composed of two surnames, Wang and Li, and has exceeded the scale of 100 households, Wang Li village has two village heads. One is the elderly Wang Lao Village Head, and the other is Li Shu Gen Village Head in his prime years.

  Wang Lao, the village head, had been in office for decades and was highly respected in the village. His family was also the largest landowner in the village, with thousands of acres of land, and it was said that they had fled from the capital city many years ago. The Wang family chose not to live in the city but instead built a house in Wangli Village, where they lived a secluded life. The old village head was fair and just in his dealings, and although he was the largest landowner in the village, he had never bullied or oppressed others, so he was always admired by the villagers. However, in recent years, the old village head had also grown old, and gradually handed over the major and minor affairs of the village to Li Shugen.

  Li Shugen was just over forty, and in his early years he had been a soldier in the province, said to be a team leader. After returning to the village, he also set up several hundred acres of land, now that the old village chief is no longer in charge, most of the big and small things in the village are handled by him.

  Li Shu-gen's body was as strong as an ox, with a loud voice like a bell, except for a scar above his left eyebrow. As soon as he saw Li Xiucai, he shouted in his characteristic loud voice: "Xiucai Lang, how did you get up so early? Good fellow, didn't you have a big fight last night after marrying your wife and concubine? Tell Uncle, are your legs soft?"

  Under the village tree, a group of old and young men suddenly burst out laughing. The Li family was also considered a big household in the village several years ago, and although the family has declined now, Li Xuan is after all one of the few literate people in the village. He had obtained the county's recommended book for the imperial examination and almost participated in the imperial examination. Such a scholar is still relatively respected. This time Li Xuan got into trouble, everyone heard about it, originally they were sighing but didn't expect him to come back alive after narrowly escaping death, everyone was happy for him. Li Shu Gen's joke was filled with concern.

  Li Jiong smiled: "Gēn Shū, what's going on? Why such a big fuss?"

  Li Shugen furrowed his brow and sighed, "It's not just this year that Henan and Shandong have had a severe drought, many places are already without food. It is said that the remnants of Xu Zhou's Pang Huan from several years ago have begun to take advantage of the situation to cause trouble again, bandits have risen up in all directions, and the imperial court has no choice but to order each region to strengthen its defenses, to prevent people like Kuang Fu and Pang Huan with ulterior motives from taking advantage of the situation. Our Song Jie commander in Ziqing has already sent a letter to each state and county in Ziqing, requiring every 15 households to provide one soldier, gathering them together for training in case they are needed."

  " Fifteen households recruit one adult male, what about those families without an adult male?" Li Jue asked. In the Tang Dynasty, a man became an adult at twenty years old, later changed to twenty-one years old, and then again changed to twenty-three years old. Li Jue was currently twenty years old, just coming of age. According to the population classification, he belonged to the middle-aged male category of eighteen to twenty-three years old, not yet an adult male.

  Li Shugen shook his head: "The top said, no matter what, the 15 households must draw a stick. If the household that drew the stick doesn't have an adult male, then they'll send a middle-aged man. If there's no middle-aged man either, then they'll have to hire someone to take their place. I think this time is different from previous years, looking at the style of the top, I estimate that those who are drafted will not be able to return for a long time."

  Gēn Shū was still talking, but Lǐ Jìng was stunned and fell into deep thought.

  P.S: The book has been signed, let everyone's recommendation votes come more fiercely!