Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 184 Yang Shaofeng: That depends on whether that old man is sensible or not.

Having just celebrated the Lantern Festival, the people of Ningyang County have already begun preparing for spring plowing in February.

Generally speaking, spring plowing is scheduled a few days after the end of the nine-day period of winter, which is the time when people often say "after the ninth nine-day period plus one more nine-day period, oxen are everywhere in the fields" and "on the second day of the second lunar month, the dragon raises its head, and everyone, big or small, uses oxen for plowing."

There's a folk saying: "If you don't go out on the fourth day of the second lunar month, you'll end up with nothing." This means that if you don't work, eat, or exert yourself on the fourth day of the second lunar month, you won't have a good harvest for the whole year.

The term "not going to work" refers to failing to start spring plowing by the fourth day of the second lunar month, which would delay the planting season and affect the harvest. "Not eating" means not eating nutritious meals during the spring plowing period, as this would leave one without the strength to plow deeply, resulting in poor work efficiency and also delaying the harvest. "Not exerting effort" specifically refers to going to work but not putting in effort, being lazy and shirking responsibility during spring plowing, which would also result in a poor harvest.

In addition, the fourth day of the second lunar month is also the Spring Planting Festival. In some places, people worship Erlang Shen on this day. Usually, they worship Erlang Shen in the morning, have a good meal at noon, and then go to the fields in the afternoon to start spring planting.

From the Lantern Festival to the fourth day of the second lunar month, there are about ten days in between. This period is reserved for people to prepare farm tools and seeds for spring plowing.

Magistrate Yang felt that his chance for revenge had finally come—these unruly people ran to pay their respects to him on New Year's Eve, not only making him shed tears, but also swindling him out of the Hongwu Tongbao coins he hadn't even had time to warm up. If he didn't treat them like cattle and horses, wouldn't that be too easy on them?

Then, on the third day of the second lunar month, Magistrate Yang directly sent people to notify the heads of each community and village, asking them to come to the county government for a meeting.

"The mulberry seedlings that His Majesty bestowed last year should be able to grow some mulberry leaves this year."

"Remember to tell the people to take good care of the mulberry trees. Before the end of the month, I will send someone to Jiangnan to buy some silkworm paper."

Magistrate Yang went straight to the point and ordered, "Once the mulberry leaves have grown sufficiently, every household should start raising silkworms."

"Furthermore, apart from knowing that silkworms can be raised in March, I know absolutely nothing about how to care for mulberry trees or how to raise silkworms. You can figure it out yourselves; I won't interfere. I only have one request for you: this year, the people of Ningyang County must have enough new clothes to wear."

"Furthermore, last year, because the Ming Dynasty had just recovered Shandong, our Ningyang County suffered from drought and locust plagues. Therefore, His Majesty exempted our Ningyang County from taxes and labor service for three years."

"But there's no sign of a severe drought this year. The winter snowfall was plentiful, and just by looking at the growth of the wheat seedlings in the fields, you can tell that this year's harvest will definitely be good."

"When you get back, tell the people to take advantage of the fact that the imperial court is not collecting taxes from our Ningyang County, and to cultivate the land properly. Even if they produce an extra pound of grain, it will all go into their own pockets."

"Once the imperial court starts collecting taxes, we won't be able to take advantage of this anymore."

As Magistrate Yang finished speaking, Zhang Liuqi, Liu Sanshier, and the other village heads and elders chuckled.

To say that they were taking advantage of the county government was a bit embarrassing for everyone, because in the eyes of the people of Ningyang County, Magistrate Yang was the county government itself, and taking advantage of the county government was the same as taking advantage of the magistrate, so they would feel a little guilty.

But taking advantage of the imperial court is a different story. Everyone wished that Emperor Zhu would exempt them from taxes for another ten or eight years, and preferably never collect taxes again.

Yang Shaofeng glanced at Zhang Liuqi, Liu Sanshier, and the others, and he knew what they were thinking.

However, Magistrate Yang did not take it seriously.

After all, all the local gentry and gentry in the entire Ming Dynasty were trying to take advantage of the imperial court in various ways, so why couldn't the people of Ningyang County take advantage of it?

Just thinking about taking advantage of the imperial court caused Magistrate Yang's thoughts to wander off again.

Zhu Chongba, that old fool, will soon be fooled into thinking he's a complete idiot. He will issue an edict exempting scholars of the xiucai degree and above from corvée labor and taxes. Then, scholars in the Ming Dynasty will start working hard to pass the imperial examinations. After that, he will come up with a series of tricks such as land donations, and finally successfully bring down the Ming Dynasty.

Well, that depends on whether that old Deng is sensible or not. If he marries Jin'er and Yu'er over sooner, I'll expose this mess to him. If he doesn't let me get married sooner, then I'll train more scholars and successful candidates in Ningyang County, and then we'll see how much of a headache that old Deng will have.

After a moment of random thoughts, Magistrate Yang then instructed Zhang Liuqi, Liu Sanshier, and others: "Besides spring plowing, other things like irrigation canals cannot be stopped. Even if there is no major drought this year, we must make full preparations for the possibility of a major drought in the future."

"And then there are the children from each village and neighborhood. They won't get a break during spring plowing. Anyway, with the oxen and horses bestowed by His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince, no family is short of the strength of one or two children."

"Let them stay in the school and study diligently with their teachers. When the imperial examinations are held, maybe a few of them will become scholars."

"By the way, forget about the villages inside the city, but remember that each community outside the city should dig two pits at the entrance of the village. You need to plant some reeds, rushes, lotus roots and the like in these two pits. First, they can store water to prevent drought. Second, they can add another kind of vegetable to your plate. Also, these things can be used to make paper in the future."

Magistrate Yang no longer wanted to use toilet paper or clods of dirt to solve his anal problems. Not only could it cause a bloody mess if he wasn't careful, but it also wasn't very clean.

Therefore, this year, no matter what, we must get that master papermaker Zhu Liuqi to produce some decent toilet paper first. We can slowly study the rest, such as paper for printing books and Xuan paper.

After arranging the spring plowing and other miscellaneous matters, Magistrate Yang added, "Also, when you go back, tell the people that they are not allowed to wander around or play, and they are not allowed to close gambling or competitions. If I catch anyone wandering around or playing, I will give them ten lashes. If they dare to close gambling or competitions, they will be given at least twenty lashes. As long as they are not beaten to death, I will beat them to death without any mercy. Do you all understand?"

Upon hearing what Magistrate Yang said, Zhang Liuqi, Liu Sanshier, and the others immediately remembered the unlucky fellow who had been beaten up last year.

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines and bowed in unison, saying, "Yes, we will obey your orders, Master."

Yang Shaofeng then waved his hand, indicating that the group of commune leaders and village chiefs could leave: "Go back to what you were doing, I won't provide meals here."

Then, Yang Shaofeng once again fell into a state of boredom and loneliness.

It wasn't until Limpy Wu returned to Ningyang County from Shanxi that Magistrate Yang's lazy and indolent life came to an end.