Tang

Biodata

Power Progression

Household Head’s Cultivation

Tang Wen’s advancement is tied to household recruitment: newly signed servants supply the “popularity” or human energy used by his Great Landlord Space 3 8 18 33.

Household Military Expansion

Background / History

More than a century before Tang Wen’s succession, Tang Ze earned major military honors and received the title of Count of Liangzhou in Linghai Province, together with a fief of ten thousand mu. The family’s standing declined over successive generations; by Tang Shixian’s time, its title had fallen to second-class baron 1.

Tang Shixian lost the family fortune in a business trap, became bedridden, and died. His widow, Liu Qingmei, sold the last ancestral residence to repay their debts. While preparing to move, she discovered the deed to Su Mei Island—the family’s only remaining property. Tang Guodong relinquished his claim to the title, allowing his younger brother Tang Wen to inherit as a third-class baron 1.

The journey from Liangzhou covered more than a thousand li. Bandits stole the household’s valuables and killed three guards. On arrival, the family found its island residence burned and looted, while refugees and other occupants had seized the farmland. An attempt to collect rent nearly killed the original Tang Wen; he subsequently died during a failed cultivation breakthrough, after which Tang Wen from Earth possessed his body 1.

The new Tang Wen rebuilt the household through interworld trade, refugee recruitment, and imported equipment. Its population reached roughly nine hundred by the allocation of new homes. Later recruitment, including prisoners’ relatives and other newcomers, added more than five hundred people 35 42.

Organization and Members

Tang Family

• Tang Ze — Ancestor whose military achievements established the family’s noble standing 1.
• Tang Shixian — Tang Wen’s deceased father; his business losses precipitated the household’s collapse 1.
• Liu Qingmei — Tang Wen’s mother; settled the family’s debts and moved the remaining household to Su Mei Island 1.
• Tang Wen — Household head, island lord, and principal organizer of its reconstruction 1 12 44.
• Tang Guodong — Tang Wen’s older brother; studies under Master Qiu Bai at Black Deer Academy in the capital and ceded the hereditary title to Tang Wen 1.
• Tang Yiyi — Tang Wen’s older sister; married into a family in Jiangzhou, the provincial capital 1.
• Tang Hao — Tang Wen’s younger brother; studies literature and martial arts at Ridge-Sea Academy in preparation for the military jinshi examinations 1.
• Tang Mei — Tang Wen’s nine-year-old younger sister; accompanies him and their mother to the island 1.

Household Personnel

• Chief steward vacancy: Tang Wen explicitly identifies the need for a loyal steward to manage money and provisions. He considers Zhan Dongwen capable of individual projects but unsuitable for overall administration 13.

Membership and Household Rules

Recruitment and Benefits

• Bonded service: Ordinary recruits are initially offered fifteen taels of silver for their contracts and a monthly allowance of half a tael, with food, clothing, lodging, and necessities supplied by the household 3.
• Skill-based compensation: Strength and martial ability affect purchase prices and allowances. Zhan Zhao is offered thirty taels, two taels monthly, and two Foundation-Nourishing Pills; Zhao Du reports receiving three taels monthly as guard chief 18 33.
• Family admission: Recruits may bring spouses, children, and elderly relatives. Children are exempted from work, while elderly members may perform lighter tasks 8.
• Temporary labor: Tang Wen also hires people unwilling to sell themselves. Better conditions for bonded servants eventually persuade many temporary workers to join 8 12.
• Housing and marriage: Members receive new homes. Tang Wen offers to arrange weddings and betrothal gifts, and welcomes spouses recruited from outside the household 35.
• Education: Household members are promised free tuition and basic writing supplies. Tang Wen later prepares illustrated Seal-Script Textbooks and plans literacy and technical classes 33 44.
• Bereavement support: After two servants are killed, their widows are each offered one hundred taels, transport off the island, and ten dou of rice if they choose to leave 9.

Loyalty and Restrictions

Tang Wen initially returns the indentures of servants who wish to leave and gives them travel money. His later treatment of Gu Hanyan is markedly different: he refuses her proposed redemption and declares her a lifelong slave. She maintains that her service agreement forbids him from dishonoring her 1 25 26.

After uncovering pirate collaborators, Tang Wen expels Li Yu and Zhang Sheng, hands Liu Dang over to the authorities, and threatens execution of the entire family of anyone committing similar betrayal. Important personnel are also ordered to conceal his supply-transfer ability and explain imported cargo as shipments arriving by sea 20 44.

Territory and Assets

• Su Mei Island: The family’s inherited island lies three or four li offshore and is connected to the mainland by an ancestral stone bridge. It measures approximately fifty or sixty li in both length and breadth 1 2.
• Former island administration: An ancestor entrusted the island to Jiang Chang, the family’s third steward, and a group of workers. The family later neglected it for decades 5.
• Fortified settlement: The first three fragile huts are replaced by six tents, then a larger organized camp. By Yang Yun’s report, it contains more than one hundred tents and a wire perimeter over four meters high and roughly six or seven hundred meters long 2 12 26.
• Residential compound: Imported prefabricated houses replace tent accommodation, with Zhan Dongwen and Ge Ziyun overseeing allocations 34 35.
• Crouching Dragon Lake: Created by an ancestral dam that pirates destroyed. Tang Wen commissions hydraulic plans and begins rebuilding it with reinforced concrete, alongside stepped reservoirs for household water 7 8 16 23.
• Silver mine: Pirates secretly exploit the family’s mine on the far side of the island, using guarded workers and concealed smelting facilities 47.
• Thousand-Leaf Workshop: Tang Wen negotiates its purchase for 300,000 taels by assuming unpaid artisan wages. The property later becomes a target of Six Fan Gate pressure 31 39 42.

Military Capabilities and Equipment

Training and Cultivation

• Guards train with sabers, swords, bows, and crossbows, with Qiao Xiao responsible for instruction 12 15.
• Special-operations facilities include barbed-wire obstacles, flaming hoops, and rock climbing 16 50.
• Tang Wen supplies cultivation pills, but distribution is unequal: Li Quan and Zhang Kui receive substantially more than ordinary guards because of cost and trust considerations 18.
• Tang Wen’s Popularity Eye supports internal security. Before acquiring it permanently, he can only occasionally see servants’ human auras; during the first nighttime attack, these distinguish household members from intruders 9 18 19.

Weapons and Protective Equipment

• Refined-steel blades: Imported sabers and swords outperform ordinary Chu weapons. Tang Jun’s Xiuchun Saber cuts apart Wei Guang’s saber during a demonstration 5 8 50.
• Compact crossbows: Palm-sized models feature telescopic sights and rapid successive fire. Later demonstrations show accurate shooting at distant targets by Tang Jun, Zhan Zhao, and Li Liao 13 49.
• Bulletproof vests: Lightweight fiber vests resist ordinary blades. Tang Jun also survives a short-firearm shot during testing, though impacts can still knock him backward 50.
• Bulletproof helmets: Imported special-forces helmets protect the head during a firearm demonstration; hands and legs remain exposed 50.
• Supporting equipment: Shields, radios, binoculars, drones, and guard-training supplies support defense and reconnaissance 12 20 47 49.
• Issue priority: Tang Wen promises full equipment sets first to seventh- and eighth-rank recruits, with ninth- and tenth-rank personnel to be equipped gradually 50.

Commerce and Development

• Interworld trade: Tang Wen sells Chu pills and cultivation techniques in the Great Eastern Republic, then brings back silver, food, weapons, medicine, and construction supplies 6 8 12.
• Novelty sales: Mirrors, lipstick, and perfume sold through Li Chun’er become popular in Yanling Commandery. Li Dawang and Shen Xihe also purchase imported goods 16 31 41.
• Modern commercial arm: Tang Wen’s Yunhai business is reorganized as the Tang Su Mei Group, with Hengjiang Trading Company as a subsidiary and Zhao Jiang managing operations 33 34.
• Technical development: Workers learn to operate excavators, road rollers, crushers, cranes, and hoists. These machines support road building, quarrying, and dam construction 16 44.
• Agricultural plans: Tang Wen intends to reclaim farmland and privately considers medicinal herbs as a profitable island crop 29.
• Tax obligations: Zhang Hongjiang halves the current grain levy to 2,000 dan but sets the following year’s levy at 8,000 dan 29.

Major Conflicts and External Relations

• Pirates — Burn the ancestral island buildings, damage the dam, infiltrate the household, and steal silver ore. After exposing collaborators, the Tang household kills seventy-two pirates in a prepared trap without losing a man 7 22 26 47.
• Gu family group — Initially challenges Tang Wen’s claim and authority, then enters bonded service in exchange for medical treatment. Tang Wen acknowledges that accepting them also means assuming the danger posed by their enemies 13 15.
• Yang Yun — Official ally who reports the household’s anti-pirate victory, explains military-merit promotions, supplies recruits, and recommends Li Liao 22 41 48.
• Zhang Hongjiang — Negotiates Tang Wen’s payment of 170,000 taels for advancement to third-rank earl, sets island taxes, and agrees to intercede over Qiao Xiao’s imprisonment 29.
• Kang Qingfeng and the Six Fan Gate — Use Qiao Xiao’s imprisonment and beatings to pressure Tang Wen into surrendering the Thousand-Leaf Workshop. Tang Wen refuses and seeks information that could undermine Kang 39 40 42.
• Li Liao and his companions — Potential recruits recommended by Yang Yun. They resist the requirement to sell themselves, but agree to a ten-day visit and are impressed by the household’s weapons and armor. Tang Wen offers Li Liao ten taels daily to supervise training during that period 48 49 50.