Chapter 251: The Magpie Has a Nest, the Dove Occupies It

Ever since Shang Yang's reforms, matching the military merit ranks, Qin has enforced a system of "clarifying noble and base, ranking titles and grades, each allotting land and housing according to rank, and servants and clothing according to household rank," called the "Allotted Land and Housing" system — that is, according to different titles, one occupies different amounts of land, houses, and slaves.

Among these, Heifu, as a seventh-rank "Grand Master," may occupy nine qing of fields and nine residences.

One residence is thirty paces square; one Qin pace is about 1.3 meters, so nine residences amount to over ten thousand square meters of homestead land, nearly thirty Qin mu, far exceeding the common household's "five-mu residence."

A house this large, if built from scratch, would take at least half a year to a year; fortunately, what Anlu County has had no shortage of lately are empty houses.

The Yun clan had been established in Anlu for several hundred years, with manors and houses everywhere; after Yun Man fell, all these immovable properties were confiscated to the public treasury — the main residence within the county seat was requisitioned by the authorities, while a manor on the outskirts of town happened to fit Heifu's specifications exactly.

And so, their family took over the magpie's nest and moved in...

This manor stood amid a stretch of rich, fertile fields on the eastern outskirts of the county seat; from afar one could see its imposing yellow-and-black silhouette, the yellow being the walls, the black the roof tiles.

"These fields are the ones to be transferred to our family."

Zhong was already past thirty, had grown a long beard, and wore the official robes of a Field Adjutant; though his manner was still as genial as ever, his speech and bearing already carried a touch of officialdom.

He rode in the same carriage as Heifu and said this as they passed these vast paddy fields; the rice in the fields had only just set ears, still over a month from harvest.

Legally, Zhong and Heifu had already divided their household, but as long as taxes were paid in two shares, whether the two brothers lived together or not would not be closely scrutinized.

These fields before them had likewise originally belonged to the Yun clan; according to the Allotted Land and Housing system, Heifu could own nine hundred mu of fields, Zhong three hundred mu, and if one added the Chevalier rank Jing obtained by Heifu helping him "contribute grain to purchase a title," one hundred mu — then the three brothers together would have as much as thirteen qing, solidly large landowners.

"However, this year's harvest from the land still goes to the authorities, entering the county granary; only from the first month of next year will it formally be assigned to our family."

By the same reasoning, their family's fields at Sunset Village could still be used until next year; besides rice and millet, Heifu had also planted a hundred mu of sugarcane there that had not yet been harvested!

But Heifu no longer cared much, because during this half year away in Jiangling City, he had not been idle in asking people to search for planted sugarcane in the various palaces, gardens, and hunting parks of the former Chu royal clan. Effort did not fail the determined; he had actually found several mu of relatively sweet sugarcane — worthy of having been specially used for the Chu king's kitchen to press juice, a superior variety to what his own family grew.

Heifu planned that next year, he would ask someone to help transplant it over and plant this cash crop on a large scale near home, then have that son of his aunt's family who knew how to make malt sugar set up a brown sugar workshop nearby — this might become their family's main source of income going forward...

As the family estate grew larger and larger, the places where money was needed also multiplied; relying solely on official salary and reward money would not do.

Turning off the official road and following a path beside the fields that could accommodate a single cart for half a li, they arrived before the manor. This was a three-courtyard compound; in Heifu's eyes, compared to the residences of the Commandery Governor or Commandery Commandant, what did it count for? Even the Zhang residence in Yangwu County in Wei was twice this size, all right!

But in the eyes of his mother, sister-in-law, and nephew and niece, who rarely left Sunset Village, it was already a "luxury mansion"!

Heifu had toured it once before and now led his family through the watchtower-style outer gate; the first thing that met their eyes was a four-story watchtower, its top a lookout pavilion projecting on all four sides, with a drum installed inside the pavilion, presumably for sounding the night watches and raising alarms.

"This is for guarding against bandits."

He smiled and said, "But I imagine, within a hundred li around, there is probably no bandit who would dare to trespass on the County Commandant's residence."

Further ahead was the second gate, which also had two opposing three-story corner towers, from which one could both keep distant watch and shoot arrows or operate crossbows.

Looking at these structures, Heifu could not help but chuckle grimly; Yun Man had indeed built his clan manor like a fortress — fortunately that day Li Xian had devised a plan to lure and capture him, or else the authorities would have suffered many casualties storming the various manors.

Passing through the second gate, they reached a longitudinal main courtyard; directly ahead was a south-facing open hall. Once everyone entered, they found windows open on all four sides, the interior completely empty and very bright and airy.

"This is the place for receiving guests or holding banquets; the bronze lamp stands, sitting couches, side tables, and the like that were placed here were all confiscated by the authorities — we'll have to order a batch custom-made from the workshops..."

Heifu's mother, leading her grandson and granddaughter by the hand, walked through the hall; they walked very carefully, afraid of scuffing the smooth floor, and reached out to touch the massive pillars painted with fine red lacquer that held up the lofty roof, and then even unconsciously wiped them with their sleeves, as if afraid of dirtying them.

The mother could not help but sigh, "A house this large and this high — not only have I never lived in one, I've never even set foot inside one..."

Heifu could not suppress a smile and laughed, "Mother, from now on you shall live here permanently, and when I hold a grand banquet for guests, I shall also ask you to sit in the very center of the hall as the honored elder!"

The mother hastily waved her hands, still somewhat timid and shrinking, simply unable to believe that this place was truly to become her "home." Her second son had risen meteorically in recent years, far exceeding the speed they could accept; now she only felt this was an illusory dream that could shatter at any moment.

Covered corridors were built on the east and west sides of the main hall, and behind the hall was the rear courtyard — first a spacious open courtyard planted with trees, furnished with pavilions and terraces, and dug with a small pond.

"There are fish inside!"

Heifu's nephew and niece ran delightedly to the pond's edge, watching the swimming fish and turtles inside, finding it immensely entertaining. This was a garden for leisurely enjoyment; separated from the garden by a wall were several small residential courtyards — these were the master's living quarters. Essentially everyone could be assigned a small courtyard, and quite a few still remained empty...

Besides the front and rear courtyards where the master feasted and lived, there were also many auxiliary buildings on both sides and at the rear of the compound, such as the kitchen, granary tower, and well built on the east side; that granary tower was very tall and spacious, enough to store a thousand dan of grain!

And on the west side were mulberry groves, an orchard, and vegetable plots. There were nearly a hundred mulberry trees; one could imagine raising silkworms and reeling silk in the spring, fully achieving self-sufficiency. The orchard also had several dozen trees — pears, jujubes, plums, and other fruit trees common in Nan Commandery, which would ripen in another month or so...

Heifu called his nephew and niece over and told them the story of "swallowing a jujube whole"; the two children burst into uproarious laughter after hearing it, and then Heifu asked them if they liked this new home.

"We like it!"

The answer was naturally affirmative; this residence alone was far more interesting than the rural hamlet they had lived in before, not to mention that Heifu assured them that after coming here, they could stay far away from dirty, tiring chores like gathering dung.

The two children were very happy, unaware that Heifu had already arranged a tutor to begin their basic literacy; their carefree days of play were numbered...

On the other side, Heifu's mother and sister-in-law stood at the far end of the orchard, looking at the neatly laid-out vegetable plots with their irrigation ditches and discussing in low voices; only at this moment did their sense of being strangers wandering through someone else's house vanish, and they began to ponder what to plant here.

"The seventh month is just the right time to plant winter mallow." The mother crouched down, touched the moist, fertile soil, and smiled.

After a whole summer, the humus had steamed and fermented in the earth; the newly turned soil showed a rich, dark black and gave off the pleasant fragrance of good earth.

Besides winter mallow, they would plant scallions and chives, cover them with loose soil, then thickly blanket them with melon vines and straw; the young scallions and chives that grew before and after winter would be indescribably fragrant. Then they would take the bag of radish seeds brought from their home in Sunset Village, scatter them on the ground, tread them firm, apply fertilizer diligently, and after a few rains, the radishes would sprout two seed leaves; by late autumn, her three sons and her grandson and granddaughter would have green-skinned, red-hearted, juicy and sweet radishes to eat...

Thinking thus, they could hardly wait to loosen the soil and sow seeds here, to fill the empty land around the house with lush green vegetables, to make the chicken coops and pigsties bustling and lively — this was an instinct that rural women simply could not suppress.

Heifu was somewhat helpless: "Mother suffered too much in the past; after coming here, she should just enjoy life. Whatever you want to eat, you can buy directly from the county market; sister-in-law need not rise early and toil late hulling rice either — just let the servants do it."

Zhong smiled and said, "Heifu, just let Mother fuss as she pleases; if not, they will instead feel ill at ease."

Heifu had no choice but to let the two children play in the orchard and let his mother and sister-in-law continue discussing planting vegetables and raising chickens and pigs, while he and Zhong walked toward the rear of the manor.

Behind the rear courtyard, in the area connected to the kitchen and granary, there were also some low buildings; besides the stables and cattle pen, there were also some dim earthen rooms, all now empty — these were where the manor's slaves lived.

"I know Heifu dislikes using bondservants."

Zhong, having worked as a minor clerk these past few years, had broadened his experience; when visiting the residences of the County Field Overseer and Granary Overseer, he had also quietly observed their household management methods and kept them in mind, so he said, "But this manor is too large; our family alone cannot look after it all. Daily cleaning, tending the cattle and horses, sericulture, hulling rice — without twenty or thirty people, it truly won't work. In my opinion, we still need to buy a dozen or so bondservants from the slave market to be sufficient."

What Zhong said made sense; Heifu nodded. Knowing his elder brother, mother, and sister-in-law's temperaments, they would certainly treat those bondservants well; after observing them for a few years, they could restore personal freedom to those who performed well, and then let those who wished to stay stay and those who wished to leave leave — that would count as saving them too.

Besides purchased bondservants, according to the Allotted Land and Housing system, Heifu could also have nine "retainers" assigned by the authorities — that is, nine servants — which would at least fill this large compound.

Zhong added, "Besides bondservants, there are also a few people who wish to come work at this manor..."

Heifu frowned; although Qin did not encourage keeping retainers and scholars, local magnates — such as the Widow Qing family in Ba Commandery, the Yun and Li clans in Anlu — often had people come to attach themselves. Higher-level dependents were called "guests," scholars or warriors of some ability who helped guard your home and manage the estate. Lower-level ones were called "bonded followers," which essentially meant servants.

In Nan Commandery it was still moderate, but in the newly conquered Wei territories and places like Yan and Zhao, even in Ba and Shu, the houses of the powerful stretched in blocks of hundreds, rich fields covered the countryside, slaves numbered in the thousands, and bonded followers were counted in the tens of thousands — it was entirely commonplace.

Heifu was relatively cautious, knowing that the King of Qin and the authorities disliked such things, so he shook his head and said, "For now, I do not wish to take in guests or bonded followers..."

"They are neither guests nor bonded followers."

Seeing that Heifu had misunderstood, Zhong hurriedly said, "They are merely some old acquaintances of yours, hoping you might hire them and give them a chance to repay your kindness..."

"Repay kindness?"

Heifu was somewhat bewildered; seeing his expression, Zhong laughed and said, "My younger brother, you don't even remember the kindnesses you yourself have bestowed! Come, follow me to the stables and you'll understand."

As they spoke, they had already reached the cattle and horse stables behind the courtyard. Here, an old man with graying hair was directing Heifu's former subordinates, who had come to help with the move, to carry the items from the oxcarts and wagons inside, and then lead the cattle and horses into the stables one by one.

Seeing the Heifu brothers approach, the old man hurried over and bowed with clasped hands: "This humble one greets the County Lieutenant! Many thanks for saving my daughter back then!"

Heifu took a look — it really was an acquaintance!

It was none other than the father of the woman "Yuan," whom he had rescued in Blind Mountain back when he was a Village Head — Ju!

PS: Two more chapters tonight.

(End of chapter)