Chapter 155: Soft Cloud Mountain Manor
Two hours later, Yi Yun took Jiang Xiaorou, Zhou Xiaoke and the other followers to his land under the Jin Long Wei’s guidance.
With the Divine Capital as a city, it was under the Duke of the Jing state, and it was his own territory. As for the other nobles’ territory, they were outside the city.
Yi Yun’s land was about a hundred miles away from the Divine Capital, which was an extremely good location.
Upon reaching the land, the people of the Lian tribal clan were amazed.
Yi Yun’s land was not some barren land. There was even a house within his land.
To be specific, it was a manor.
Although the courtyard, being a mile in circumference, didn’t sound big, it looked spectacular. The houses were close together in a row, and there were pavilions, rockeries and ponds. It resembled the gardens of Jiangnan.
Such a large manor could hold a few thousand people.
Yi Yun knew that in the mortal kingdom palaces, they were a few miles in radius. They could hold thousands of houses and even ten thousand houses. Eunuchs had to ride a horse just to light up the rooms.
“Although a Kingdom Knight was the lowest of all nobles, in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, it is still extremely good!” Yi Yun sighed. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s territory was so vast that it was difficult to measure. So for the normal nobles, they were all given land, but the nobility rank was not hereditary in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Wealth could be inherited but not the title.
Without the title, one did not have the land. If the next generation was useless, they would have to quickly give up the land.
Hence, the sons of the nobility would often work hard on cultivation. They actually were more stressed than normal people.
After all, after being used to a pampered and decent life, to not be able to maintain it was not only a loss of material goods, but a psychological pain of humiliation.
The main entrance to the manor could allow four to five wagons to travel side by side. There was a red lacquer door and it had ingots, the size of a fist, on it.
There were two large stone lions by the door and beside the stone lions, there was a flying fish stone sculpture.
Yi Yun led the people into the manor.
There were lines of red brick walls and glazed tiles. The manor was surrounded by thick century-old trees. There were many pavilions, magnificent buildings and a wide practice ground. There was also a emerald green pond…
These images were too much for the eye to feast on.
The Lian tribal clan people were all stunned. They had never heard of such a manor, let alone seen one.
In the Cloud Wilderness, they all lived in cottages and the walls were made of mud.
The best ones built their houses out of stone, which was a great luxury.
And Yi Yun’s manor was built with fine cement bricks through an arduous process. The resulting bricks were strong and even smooth to the touch.
The wood used to make the house was good aged pine. As for materials like ‘snow fir’ and ‘golden lines nanmu’, Yi Yun’s rank was still insufficient. It was not that he could not afford it, but his rank was not high enough.
The Lian tribal clan did not know the costs of the houses. If they knew, their jaws would have dropped off.
This was the world of warriors. The materials used by mortals to build houses may sound precious, but compared to the treasures used by the warriors, it was nothing.
Either of Yi Yun’s two weapons, the Tai Cang Bow and the Thousand Army Saber was worth more than the entire manor!
At that instant, the people who were unacquainted with the world grew excited from everything that was new around them.
They wanted to touch and to look, but they were afraid they would break something.
“So big, so pretty!” Seeing the scenery, Zhou Xiaoke was full of joy. She could no longer resist the crystal clear pond. She rolled up her trousers, took off her shoes and jumped into the pond to play. Her pair of tiny feet gleamed, which dazzled others.
She chased after the butterflies in the garden, and played with the Koi in the ponds. She had a great time playing by herself.
The other Lian tribal clan’s children were envious seeing Zhou Xiaoke play like this. Yi Yun had brought many children during this migration as the children were most innocent.
They had simple minds. It was easy for them to become loyal. Actually, Yi Yun did not care about loyalty; all he wanted was for them to not have wicked hearts that harmed people.
On the road to the central plains, these children had been exhorted by their parents that, upon arriving in Yi Yun’s house, the boys were to become manservants, and the girls to become servant girls. They had to understand the rules and not do anything they wished like they did in the tribe.
According to the rules of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, they had entered the Kingdom Knight’s territory. Their title was “seeking refuge from the master”. Besides Yi Yun and his sister, Jiang Xiaorou, all of them, including Zhou Xiaoke were slaves.
So now, they were all reserved, and did not dare to enjoy playing like Zhou Xiaoke.
But, having chosen these people specially, he did not treat them as slaves.
Before leaving the Cloud Wilderness, Yi Yun had did a character test on everyone he took away. Those that had questionable characters, plundering by cajolery and coercion, or bullies were left behind in the vast wilderness. They were given some meat and left to run their own course.
This was to prevent the bad people from mixing in.
Some people were innately bad. They wouldn’t show gratitude just because they were taken out of the vast wilderness. When Yi Yun was around, they would be servile, but once Yi Yun left, it was hard to tell.
Yi Yun was joining the Jin Long Wei and was destined to train and fight in wars. It would be normal for him not to be at home for several years.
If there were wicked people within his home, then they could betray him, erode the benefits of the manor and create all sorts of trouble. They could even do something to Zhou Xiaoke and Jiang Xiaorou. It was something Yi Yun did not wish to think about.
Hence, Yi Yun did not bring more than a hundred people from the Lian tribal clan out of the vast wilderness.
Yi Yun said, “In the future, just treat this manor as the Lian tribal clan. This is our new village. It’s just a prettier village.”
“Go ahead and play, there are no restrictions.” Yi Yun said casually. The children were initially scared, but Yi Yun smiled and chose a few children he was familiar with and let them lead the other children to play.
Initially, they were all timid, but slowly they opened up and played happily.
They chased each other across corridors, played hide and seek in the rockery and splashed water in the ponds…
The water droplets that splashed up in the air were like pearls in the Sun…
To the children of the vast wilderness, everything related to this manor was fresh. It made them excited and fond of it.
Seeing the children’s innocent smiles, even the adults had big smiles of satisfaction. Yi Yun was pleased too. He was glad he had brought happiness to these good, honest people.
“In the future, this manor shall be called the Soft Clouds (Rou Yun) Mountain Manor!”
Jiang Xiaorou was shocked when she heard Yi Yun said it as she turned to face Yi Yun.
Facing the setting Sun, Jiang Xiaorou’s face suffused a reddish glow, “Soft Clouds Mountain Manor… sounds very good…”
Of course she knew that Soft Cloud Mountain Manor were parts of her and Yi Yun’s name combined together.
In the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, there were clouds and mountain. The clouds were soft and the mountains were green. It was an artistic concept that gave limitless fanciful thoughts.
…
The manor, in addition to the houses, had several thousands of acres of fertile fields. Not only did these fields grow crops, they also grew mulberry and tea leaves.
Beside the fertile fields, there was a large river. Its water entered the fish ponds, and the water could be used for irrigation and fish farming.
Not far off, there were beast pens and horse stables. They could be used to feed the owner’s mount and also raise livestock and poultry.
Without any exaggeration, with some salt and metal, this manor could be cut off from the external world and still continue on. All the necessities of life were self-sufficient.
Yi Yun let Jiang Xiaorou preside over the distribution of the land. Based on the size of the population, each person were given about a dozen acres. A hundred people was probably the optimum number of people that could live in Yi Yun’s land.
The people Yi Yun had brought from the Lian tribal clan were now tenants of Yi Yun.
Initially, Yi Yun wanted to take a few percentage of their harvests, but Yi Yun was not going to be limited to this area. Neither did he want to pursue the food that these people survived on. As such, he decided not to take a cut, and all the crop production belonged to the tenants themselves.
Because of this, the Lian tribal clan people were extremely indebted to Yi Yun. Where could someone find such a landlord?
Back in the Lian tribal clan, a large portion of the fruits of their labor were given up. Every month, they would receive only a tiny amount of food from the Lian tribal clan’s headquarters.
And back then, the land belonged to the tribe as a whole. But now in the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, it was all Yi Yun’s. Yi Yun had given them fields rent-free and provided them with clothing and shelter. Such a master made them willing to die for him.
When the lands were distributed, the people’s mood was indescribable.
They had never seen such broad and fertile land in the vast wilderness. Some old farmers who have been farming for their entire lives burst into tears as they knelt down to kiss the ground. To farmers, the land was life. They had deep feelings for the land that ordinary people could not understand. To have land and food to eat, it was the greatest gift.
As Yi Yun’s sister, Jiang Xiaorou was the mistress of the manor.
The large fields, with a hundred people had to be managed properly. Who was to rear fish and who was to man the fields were planned. The finances had to be put into order and the family rules had to be complete.
Yi Yun had to cultivate and had no time for it. Hence, this responsibility fell on Jiang Xiaorou.
Jiang Xiaorou had wisdom that was completely inconsistent with her age. Yi Yun got a few housekeepers from the city to teach Jiang Xiaorou for a few days, and before long, Jiang Xiaorou had already managed to put the manor in good order.
This made Yi Yun rejoice. He had came to this alternate world and gained a sister who cared and took care of him, helping him share the burden.
After Yi Yun settled his house matters, he returned to the Divine Capital and entered the Jin Long Wei camp.
Yi Yun was not someone who would stay in his house, he had to carry on his military career…
