Great Tang Idyll

The sun was hanging in the sky and it shone its light onto the ground to take away the remaining bit of spring cold while green grass accompanied the flowers to sway back and forth. Xiao'hong guided the big goose, Rong'rong, which was leading a group of ducks and geese, into the water to play or fight to eat a few small fishes. Every single time a flock of geese flew ahead, they would raise their heads and call out a couple of times.

The oval leaves of the pagoda tree rustled with the wind. String beans that were dangling from their branches looked like they were about to stretch out their bodies and unleash little white flowers.

All the little children on the Manor were outside cutting grass to feed the livestock. They gawked at the pagoda tree flowers that were about to blossom and were looking forward to picking the flowers to eat. The flowers were slightly sweet and had a special flavor. They could also bring the flowers home to make pagoda flower rice, or give it to the master household to make it into wine.

The taste was not as good as elm samara, but there were too many bugs on elm samaras. Too much pagoda flower cannot be eaten too. When playing together, the older child had to look after the younger one and look for fun places to play at. Under the lead of the older children, the young ones hollered, horsed around, and the sound of laughter spread to everywhere in the manor.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan, who had already eaten lunch and drank some bone soup, laid side by side on chairs placed in the middle of their small yard to bask in the sun. Under the light of the noon sun, the two chairs casted two short shadows onto the ground. Shi'liu went to spray water onto the fungus, leaving only the two of them to enjoy this leisurely time.

"Toads are coming out soon, right?" He squinted his eyes and laid down for a while. The blanket covering his belly button slipped down, and Wang Juan pulled the blanket back up. She closed her eyes while she asked.

Zhang Xiao'bao placed his arms on the back of his head, and shook his crossed leg while he made a plan.

"You're also raising fish in the paddy field; the toad eggs and tadpoles will be eaten by them." Wang Juan was a little worried.

"Hmm~! If they want to eat, then let them eat. There will just be fewer toads in the paddy fields, and more in the ponds. The toads that can survive in the paddy fields are either lucky or strong. If they survive past hibernation, then their next generation will be even more strong."

"I guess so. Let's raise a few dogs this year, preferably from the same litter. If there's a fight, they will fight together." Wang Juan thought about the dogs again.

Zhang Xiao'bao shuddered when he heard about raising dogs, and he disagreed, "I don't like dogs. They have to be taken care of too. If we put more energy onto them, then less energy can be used in other areas. Or you can raise them yourself. Next to the vegetable plots, there's a sandy piece of land--- you make a dog house over there. The leftover food from the courtyard can be fed to them."

"Don't you dare think of feeding my dogs ​​leftovers; there is salt and other seasonings in it. I want to choose the dogs myself. When they're still small, I'll feed them some milk and porridge. When they get bigger, I'll feed them grain, raw meat and vegetables. With so many chickens, I can feed them chicken bones. Later, I want to train them myself."

Wang Juan didn't really care whether Zhang Xiaobao was willing to raise the dogs with her or not. He has an independent personality and she can't force him. It was good enough to have a place for them to stay and be able to feed them.

Zhang Xiao'bao opened his eyes and turned to look at Wang Juan, "Are you going to raise a Chinese field dog as a police dog? Have you learned how to do this before?"

"I've seen this before and I have asked an animal caretaker; they said it's fine to use the same training method but it's also dependent on how experienced the trainer is. If it doesn't work out, then the dog is just a normal field dog, but if it works out then the dog is a police dog. When you're done handling the things on your manor, go help me find a good dog breed. Do you think you can get your hands on a Tibetan Mastiff? I can make do with just a few of that breed of dog."

The corner of Zhang Xiaobao's mouth moved. He didn't know how to organize his words. After a while, Wang Juan was still dreaming about it and he said, "Has anyone ever trained a Tibetan Mastiff into a police dog? Back then, when a group of Doberman was chasing me, I ended up...."

"What did you do to them?" Wang Juan stopped imagining at this moment, and turned her head to question him.

"They lost track of me. They wanted to chase me down, but I used some irritants on them so that they were unable to sniff my scent. What, you think I killed all of them? There were too many and I was empty-handed. They were also followed by people carrying guns. Am I that stupid?"

Zhang Xiao'bao felt that although Wang Juan cared a lot about dogs, she should not place them on such a high podium. After he saw that she breathed a sigh of relief, he continued to say, "I'll get someone to ask around to see if there are any houses that raises dogs that were crossbred with wolves. Then we can buy them. Tibetan Mastiffs are not suitable."

"Who told you that the Tibetan Mastiff can't be a police dog? Are you ignorant? You should look for wolf dogs, but you need to keep your eyes peeled for Tibetan mastiffs too. In particular, when winter comes, the Tibetan mastiff can still be used." Wang Juan curled her lips.

"Fine. We can even get carrots from Tibet, so getting dogs wouldn't be any harder, would it? When we do get them, don't you dare feed them my beef. Feed them pork. The piglets that the residents have caught will be big enough by then." Zhang Xiao'bao saw that Wang Juan was so serious, so he had to compromise.

"Not pork. If there's no beef, I'll feed them mutton. Cooperate with me during training. For example, if the dog is on a leash, and it's time to feed the dog, you can hit the dogs and not let them eat. Then, I will come and drive you away. This way, the dog will trust me a little bit more."

Wang Juan began to arrange things for Zhang Xiao'bao again. Zhang Xiao'bao blinked a few times, "The dog trusts you, but what about me?"

*

The commoners heard of the news a long time ago, and they all ran over to watch the excitement. Some of the people even waited in front of the administrative office. When the people came out from the administrative office, the spectators followed beside them and they wanted to see who was the fool that came from the Zhang Manor. They also tried to estimate the cost of the items on the carriage to see if it was actually worth 1500 taels of silver.

When Magistrate Cheng and his party arrived at the place, a crowd of people were there already. In order to show off himself, Magistrate Cheng planned to work under the watch of the people. The cloth, coins and silver were taken off of the carriage and counted. The result was that there were exactly 1500 taels of silver.

People were also sent to the opposite shore to take measurements, and they worked busily

for two hours. The opposite shore was measured to be 1200 mu1. A legal document was written and stamped, and it was given to Er'niu to bring back to the manor. After his master signs it and imprints his thumbprint, the land will belong to the Zhang manor. Then, there was no way to take the money back anymore.

The commoners were all there watching. If this money was used to buy fertile land, there will be people who think that Magistrate Cheng has put some of the money into his own pocket since the money was so little. However, everyone was thinking that the people on the Zhang Manor were crazy because they bought a barren mountain.

Er'niu did not care about what those people said. He took the document and immediately hurried back so that his master could sign it. Song Jing'gong, who had been accompanying the group the entire time, also began to getinto work. He started recruiting some people that were there to set up infrastructures on the area opposite to the river.

"Zi'jin, are you planning to grow things over there?" Magistrate Cheng saw that Song Jing'gong was working so quickly, so he felt a bit confused.

"My lord, how could it be possible to grow things in that place? I'm just following the manor's instructions to build houses here and repair the dock. The Manor gave me 1000 taels of silver to use this time. My lord, look, there's a lot of rocky soil on the mountain, so a lot of money can be saved when building docks and houses.

There's a severe drought right now and the Little Luo'shui River is completely dried out, so it's easier to begin construction now. We will get people to dig into the river bed to deepen and widen the river, and then the extra soil can be used on the levee. When the drought is over, and the rainy season comes, the river here will be wider and the water will be deeper. This will allow big boats to sail through.

Also, the manor will continue to pay money to dig a small manmade lake over there, and set up a rock garden and a pavilion. The water from the Little Luo'shui River can be connected to that place so that boats can travel between the lake and the river. Those who play in the mountains can go boating while listening to music. My lord, do you think this is possible? "

Song Jing'gong didn't hide the Manor's plan from the Magistrate and told him everything.

Magistrate Cheng listened to him. At the beginning, he still had a smile on his face, but when he heard more, his smile disappeared and it was replaced by shock and frustration. He was stunned and he remained motionless. Song Jing'gong had finished speaking, but Magistrate Cheng didn't say anything.

"My lord, there is one more thing I want to ask you for help." Song Jing'gong saw the county magistrate was still in a daze so he increased the volume of his voice.

"Ah? There's something else? What else? Could it be that you want to buy the land on this side of the river too? That can't be done. This field has to be used for growing grains. This area is only half a mu2 so it's impossible to build a wharf here."

Magistrate Cheng also had this idea just now, but when he thought about it, if that was done, then the crop field would be occupied too and people would report him for prioritizing business trade over agriculture, and destroying crop fields to build trade routes. This would be a serious crime. He assumed that Song Jing'gong also had the same plan in mind.

"Don't worry, my lord. The manor will certainly not do such things. It's just that I noticed that the bridge between the two sides of the river has fell into disrepair for a long time. I'm thinking about using some money to build a wider and sturdier bridge so that it's easy for pedestrians to cross." Song Jing'gong explained himself.

"Repair the bridge? Easy for pedestrians to cross? Could it be that you want to transport the items on the opposite side to this side? It would be more convenient if the bridge is repaired." Magistrate Cheng instantly understood what the key idea was. The wharf was on the other side, but the goods had to be transported to here. The Zhang Manor was really unwilling to lose out on any money-making opportunities

"My lord is wise." Song Jing'gong said with a smile.

Translator's Notes

1. 1200 mu is about 0.8 square kilometers

2. Half a mu is about 333 square meters