Chapter 1: This is the Great Tang

  Li Jing stood at the gate of the three-courtyard house, staring absent-mindedly at the village road that was not quite straight. The autumn wind rolled up the dry grass leaves by the roadside, swirling and dancing, bringing with it the dust on the dirt road.

  The wind blows by, and the clothes are gradually stained with dust, carrying a hint of coolness. The autumn is high and refreshing, the clouds are light and the wind is clear, and several birds flying south disappear into the sky, searching for their winter home. On the horizon, several clouds are dyed with crimson, falling straight to the bottom, bright and clear. In the village, the walls of the houses built on the mountain rocks have high-pitched roofs covered with sea grass, piled up like a stack, light brown with a hint of gray, revealing a deep and solemn temperament.

  At dusk, the village is dyed with colorful hues, like a watercolor painting. Standing in the twilight, it's as if I'm in a dream-like illusion.

  Li Yu shook off his cloak with a lining, and he seemed to be trapped in the golden sunset reflecting the swirling dust.

  This is a white hemp cloth round-necked straight skirt long gown, with a leather belt around the waist. Add to that the Luo silk hood on his head and the black leather six-union boots on his feet, this outfit is standard Tang Dynasty men's attire.

  The clothes on his body are Tang costumes, and the place in front of him is also the Great Tang!

  This is Wangli Village, Qingning Township, Wendeng County, Penglai City, Laizhou City, Shandong Province!

  Up until now, Li Jing still had some doubts about all this. However, he had already looked at the copper mirror in his home countless times, and although the mirror was not very clear, it still made him understand that the body he had now was not his original one. This was a strange body, over six feet tall, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, red lips and white teeth. The long hair tied up into a bun, as well as the faintly visible whiskers on his chin, showed off the robust physique and vigorous build of a young man from the Tang Dynasty who had just come of age.

  "This is indeed the Tang Dynasty!" Li Jing silently exclaimed in his heart, he had been in this world for a short time, but the twenty years of memories he received were unmistakable.

  Li Jiong was also perplexed by all these miracles at first, but after a night of contemplation, he came to understand that although he didn't know how he got here, it was already impossible for him to go back.

  Since you have come, make yourself at home.

  This is the great Tang Dynasty, a prosperous era that many people yearn for. As a Chinese person, being able to come to such an era, as a student of Guozijuan, after Li Xuan's confusion and panic, his heart was filled with more excitement and agitation.

  However, after sorting out the memories of his original body in his mind, he couldn't help but let out a sigh.

  He did come to the Tang Dynasty, but not in its heyday. It was neither the prosperous era of Emperor Taizong of Tang's reign, nor the Kaiyuan era that came later, nor even the Middle Revival of Emperor Xianzong of Tang. He didn't even make it to the small prosperity of the era of Emperor Xuānzōng of Tang.

  He arrived in the Tang Dynasty, but only caught the last bus of the Tang Dynasty.

  This is the Great Tang, the 14th year of Xiantong in the Great Tang. Xiantong was the era name of Emperor Yizong, who was the 17th emperor of the Tang Dynasty after Wu Zetian and his temple name was Li Yu. Since he already had a temple name, it means that Li Yu has passed away. In July this year, Li Yu passed away, and the newly enthroned Li Ye has changed his name to Li Xuan and officially became the 18th emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

  Li Jing, who was familiar with the history of the Tang Dynasty, naturally understood that Li Conghou was only 12 years old this year. He was another emperor supported by eunuchs in the late Tang Dynasty. This would also be the third-to-last emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty, and it was not far from the destruction of the Tang Dynasty by the Later Liang Dynasty.

  But all of this is too far away for Li Jiong, who is now just an ordinary villager in a small village on the coast of Dengzhou, Henan. At home, there is a 50-year-old widowed mother and two sisters-in-law who have also been widowed. Apart from his two deceased brothers, he has five sisters, but three of them have already married into nearby families. There are still two unmarried younger sisters at home, the fourth sister Yuanying is 16 years old this year, having passed the age of hairpinning, and the fifth sister Yuanting is also 14 years old, both of whom have reached marriageable age according to late Tang customs.

  Apart from them, there was a new servant girl named Yuanner in the house, who was one year older than Wu Mei and had just reached the age of hairpinning this year.

  Li Jiong's family consisted of a widowed mother, two childless sisters-in-law, two unmarried younger sisters, a maid named Yuanner, and Li Jiong himself. The household had seven people, but only one man remained, Li Jiong.

  Li Jing's father, Li Gang, was a minor official who served as the county recorder of Tuo County in eastern Zhejiang when he was seven years old. That year, the people of Yue Prefecture, led by Qiu Fu, rebelled and attacked Tuo County, killing Li Gang in the chaos.

  Big Brother Li Yan became the pillar of a family from then on, but four years ago, Pang Huan led the Guilin garrison to rebel and killed his way back to Xuzhou. Li Yan was recruited by the government as a civilian laborer to send grain to Xuzhou, and he never came back after going there. He died at the age of 22.

  Second Brother Li Yu is only one year older than Li Jing. Just the other day, Wang Tiejiang's family in the same village was preparing to build a thatched hut by the sea next year. Wang Tiejiang's son came to invite Li Jing and Li Yu brothers to go to the seaside to pick up seaweed. As it happened, they ran into a group of official salt workers chasing a group of private salt smugglers at the seaside. It is unknown whether they were really injured or those salt workers originally wanted to kill them to take credit. That day, four out of five young men from Wang Li Village who went together were killed. Li Jing was able to escape with his life only because his brother covered him and jumped into the sea.

  Li Yu and the three big guys just disappeared like that. Li Jing managed to escape with his life at the time, but after returning home, the knife wounds on his body flared up again, and he had a high fever that wouldn't subside. The doctor had already shaken his head and said there was no hope for him. Just when the whole family was preparing his coffin, Li Jing suddenly woke up. However, nobody knew that this awakened Li Jing was no longer the same person as before.

  Li Jing of the later generation was a student who was about to graduate from the six-year undergraduate and master's program at Guomin University. He was a refined and courteous student. However, Li Jing of this life, although he had a strong physique, actually started learning with his father Li Gang since childhood. After losing his father at the age of seven, he continued to study literature and writing with his mother, who also had high literary attainments.

  When his elder brother passed away that year, he had already received a letter of recommendation from the state and county, becoming a xianggong (a candidate for the imperial examination) and preparing to go to Beijing to take the exam. However, after his elder brother's death, Li Cong, who was only 16 years old at the time, chose to stay behind and handle his elder brother's funeral affairs, and from then on took on the burden of supporting the entire family together with his second elder brother.

  In recent years, he has been shouldering the burden of the entire family with his second brother, and at the same time, he began to learn martial arts. Although Li Congjing's father, Li Kuang, was a scholar-official, in the previous generations, the Li family had been small military officials of the Ziqingpinglu Army for many years. It wasn't until later that something happened and the whole family moved from Qingzhou to this coastal Shandong Peninsula.

  Unfortunately, disasters never come singly. Within a short span of over ten years, the Li family lost three successive masters of the house, and this blow was extremely heavy for the Li family.

  Now, Li Jing, who has just come of age, has become the pillar of this family with a complicated fate.

  The sun sets in the west, and wisps of smoke rise from Wang Li Village. Dogs bark and children cry, as villagers who went out to work begin to return one after another.

  "Sanlang, dinner is ready."

  The sound of footsteps came from the backyard, Li Jing turned around, and in front of him appeared a young girl wearing a gray skirt, with a thin body, slightly pale oval face, clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, long but not bad, only a pity that she was too weak, Li Jing knew at a glance that this was because the girl was still in her growth and development period, but nutrition could not keep up, and also had to work hard for a long time, which would lead to such a situation.

  Li Jing nodded and smiled at the girl. She was Yuanyu, nine years ago her whole family had floated from Xinluo to Dengzhou to seek refuge with relatives, but with eight children and parents, a total of ten people, they had no money and could not make ends meet. Later, her father sent three younger sisters, including Yuanyu, to other families as maids, which was also a way to survive. However, everyone's life was difficult, even if they didn't ask for money, ordinary people couldn't afford to raise them. Finally, Yuanyu's family knew that Li Jing's family was relatively wealthy and begged them to take in the child, Li's mother had a kind heart and couldn't bear such a pitiful situation, so she took Yuanyu in.

  Although nominally a servant girl of the Li family, Mrs. Li had always treated Yuanner like an adopted daughter, with food and clothing no different from those of her own daughters. However, the Li family's life was also difficult, especially this year, first with drought and then locust plague, every household was in dire straits, and it was already good that they could still have a meal to eat.

  "Let's go inside together." Li Jing said to the girl. The two returned to the house, with Li Jing in front and Wan'er always lagging behind by two steps, looking back at this slender girl, Li Jing also had a hundred flavors in his heart.

  This is also the Great Tang, where even a full meal can't be eaten in the Great Tang!

  PS: New book uploaded, looking forward to your support, click, recommend, collect, none of them can be missed! ~

  P.S. I previously wrote that he was seven feet tall, but since one chi in the Tang Dynasty is approximately equal to 30 centimeters, it seems a bit too high. Now I've changed it to six feet, and a height of 1.8 meters should still be considered normal.