Chapter Seventy-Seven: Taking in the Tenant Farmers

Zheng the Village Head stepped outside to call for the others. His fellow soldiers were waiting in the courtyard.

Wei Renshi did not leave either. After Zheng had gone, he stepped forward, raised his hand in greeting to the leader, Master Shi, and said, “You must all be Uncle Zheng’s comrades-in-arms.”

Master Shi nodded. “Brothers who have faced life and death together. Of our squad, only these few of us remain.”

Wei Renshi understood what he meant.

In the Tang army, each prefecture had a Commandant at the helm, assisted by two Deputy Commandants, overseeing four to six companies. Each company had two to three hundred men, led by a Captain. Each company was divided into two battalions of a hundred men each, under a Battalion Chief. Each battalion was further split into two squads of fifty, each led by a Squad Leader. Finally, each squad was divided into five teams of ten, with a Team Leader in charge.

It seemed Master Shi was the Team Leader of this group. For five of them to have survived and left the army together spoke to his ability as a leader.

Wei Renshi continued, “If I’m not mistaken, you all came to seek out Uncle Zheng because disaster struck your homes, and you could no longer get by, isn’t that so?”

Master Shi and the others said nothing, turning away in shame.

“You’re all good men, only fallen on hard times—there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” said Wei Renshi. “But Uncle Zheng lives alone and only manages thanks to support from a brother who trades afar. I imagine you don’t want to rely on him for everything, do you?”

“Of course not. We’re able-bodied—we can’t expect Big Head to keep us,” Master Shi replied, shaking his head. “We came to seek him out so we could work alongside him.”

“I may be missing a foot, but my hands are strong,” another chimed in. “If Big Head has work for us, we can see it done.”

Wei Renshi nodded. “That’s what I thought. You’re all upright men—you wouldn’t have come here unless you had no other choice.”

Master Shi looked Wei Renshi up and down. “Young lord, you seem to care a lot about Big Head. Don’t worry, we’re all clean—never got up to any trouble. When we returned from the army, we each received a plot of land and got by well enough. But when disaster struck, we couldn’t pay the arbitrary taxes imposed by the local officials, and we had to sell our land. Without land, we could only work as hired hands, but the taxes were so heavy that even our employers had to squeeze us. After a year’s labor, we barely had grain to eat, and still couldn’t pay what was owed. We had no choice but to flee.”

“All of you?” Wei Renshi asked in surprise.

He knew that the Tang Dynasty was in decline, with chaos everywhere. Still, this was the end of the Zhenyuan era, close to the Yuanhe period, when history records a revival. He had expected things to be better—but reality was darker than he’d thought.

“Corrupt officials rule the day!” one of the men gritted out. “Sooner or later, these greedy officials will bring disaster to us all!”

“Dog Two! Watch your mouth!” Master Shi hastily rebuked him.

The man realized his mistake and fell silent.

Wei Renshi wanted to hire them as estate workers, but he couldn’t rely on their words alone. He’d have to ask Zheng the Village Head about their character first.

So he said no more, took his leave, and returned home.

The next day dawned bright and clear, just as he predicted. Having received word in advance, the families of Changgu were ready.

The villagers had grown to trust Wei Renshi completely. He said there would be sunshine today, so they had prepared the night before and, before dawn, had already spread their wheat out on the threshing ground, waiting for the sun.

After sunning, the wheat would separate from the chaff more easily, making threshing simpler.

Luckily, the late summer sun was fierce as a tiger. By midday, the stalks were dry, and in the afternoon, the village was alive with the sounds of threshing.

Wei Renshi’s family labored at their own threshing too.

Although Wei Renshi had helped the village so much that their land was now tended by others for them, and the harvesters were villagers assigned to help, everyone still threshed their own grain first. The matriarch refused to idle while waiting for others to help.

But the flail was heavy. After only seven or eight swings, Wei Renshi’s arm was trembling, and he couldn’t lift it anymore.

The matriarch, too, was sweating as she swung the flail, gritting her teeth and persevering—a far cry from her usual dignified demeanor.

Wei Renshi shook his head and went to find Zheng the Village Head.

“Uncle Zheng, where are your comrades? Since they have no land here, why don’t I hire them to help with my threshing?” Wei Renshi asked when he found him.

“What’s the rush? I’ll head over soon,” Zheng replied with a laugh. “Tell your mother to rest and not to worry about these things. I’ll see that your family’s grain is properly gathered and delivered.”

“What about their character?” Wei Renshi suddenly asked.

Zheng was taken aback. “Why do you ask, young lord?”

“My family needs workers, and they need a living,” Wei Renshi said. “I saw that Master Shi has a young child with him—looks a lot like him, but the age gap is too great; he must be his grandson. The boy is still growing, can’t stand hardship. Isn’t this mutual need?”

“You mean to—” Zheng seemed to guess Wei Renshi’s intention.

Wei Renshi nodded. “I want to take them on as estate workers. Once I rebuild my household, perhaps they can serve as my guards. But I need to know their character.”

Zheng laughed, then sighed. “They’re all men of skill. If they weren’t decent, they wouldn’t have fallen to such straits.”

“Good! I trust you, Uncle Zheng,” Wei Renshi said. “Please help persuade them. For now, my family’s land isn’t much—I can’t give them fields to farm. But once I acquire and reclaim those wastelands, I’ll divide fields among them. Until then, they can work for me, and I’ll pay them wages. Once they have land, I’ll take only a fifth of the harvest, and whenever I need help, I’ll pay extra as usual. You know how I pay—never unfairly.”

“Thank you for helping me,” Zheng sighed. “I’ll vouch for them—these men can be relied upon. Treat them well, and they’ll give you their lives.”

“Then please help persuade them,” Wei Renshi said earnestly.

“They’ve just been driven to desperation, that’s all,” Zheng replied, shaking his head. “They’ll agree.”