met free Chapter 149 This official has the utmost respect for Your Majesty
Chapter 149 This official has the utmost respect for Your Majesty
Ningyang County is not large, but the City God Temple in Ningyang County is quite large. On the left and right sides of the temple gate are couplets. The first line is "If you turn back, you will find the shore." The second line is "Why come here to realize your past mistakes?" There is no horizontal scroll, only the three large characters "City God Temple" on the horizontal plaque.
Magistrate Yang Shaofeng suddenly turned his head and asked, "Fimp Fifth Brother, you said that our Ningyang County was clearly able to withstand the drought and locust plague on its own, but I went to the imperial court to plead poverty and ask for relief grain. Isn't that considered deceiving yourself?"
Limpy Wu was slightly taken aback, but immediately shook his head and replied, "Of course it doesn't count. The county magistrate didn't put a single grain of rice into his own pocket, so it's not only not considered deceitful, but it's also clear evidence of the county magistrate's benevolence towards the people. Even if His Majesty knew, he would only praise the county magistrate."
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement, then led the lame man eastward, avoiding the City God Temple.
There was nothing he could do; Magistrate Yang was somewhat guilty. Asking for relief grain from Old Zhu was nothing. Not to mention standing in front of the City God Temple, even in front of the Yama King's palace, Magistrate Yang would dare to stand tall, after all, he hadn't embezzled a single grain of grain or a single penny.
However, Magistrate Yang felt quite guilty about treating Old Zhu like a beast of burden. After all, Old Zhu had sent two adopted daughters to Ningyang County to meet him, and they might become his father-in-law in the future. Yet, he was trying every means to treat his father-in-law like a beast of burden...
After walking east for a while, Limpy Wu suddenly pointed to a pond and said, "Your Excellency, I've heard people say that only the frogs on the east bank of this pond croak loudly, while those on the west bank just puff out their bellies and don't croak at all."
Yang Shaofeng immediately became very curious and asked, "What's the explanation for this?"
Limpy Wu chuckled and said, "I heard that His Majesty once came to our Ningyang County to beg for food. He slept in the City God Temple at night. The frogs were croaking too loudly, so His Majesty scolded them and told them to croak on the east side, not on the west side. From then on, the frogs on the west side only puffed up their bellies and stopped croaking."
Yang Shaofeng was stunned by what Limpy Five said.
No, are the people of Ningyang County really this wild? The Ming army only recovered Ningyang at the beginning of the year, and it's only been a little over nine months. And you've already made up stories about Zhu Yuanzhang?
And you, Limpy Five, so casually and directly said that Old Zhu used to beg for food. Does Old Zhu even know that?
Did Zhu De actually visit Ningyang back then?
After pondering this in his mind for a moment, Magistrate Yang suddenly turned to the lame man and asked, "If the common people use such things to slander His Majesty, what if His Majesty finds out..."
Limpy Wu chuckled and said, "This is nothing. In Jiangnan, there are even stories about how our Emperor herded cattle for a landlord when he was a child, and how he led Prime Minister Xu and Chang Yuchun to steal cattle to eat."
The story of stealing cattle is probably true. When Yang Da was a child, he heard his elders tell a story that Zhu Chongba was herding cattle for a landlord. Then, he, along with Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, ate the landlord's cattle. After eating them, they told the landlord that the cattle had turned into a mountain. When the landlord came to inspect, the mountain had turned into the shape of a reclining ox, which is the Reclining Ox Mountain in the west of Ningyang County.
As for how Old Zhu, a man from Fengyang, ended up begging in Ningyang County and herding cattle for a landlord in Ningyang County, nobody cares.
But then, on a sudden thought, Magistrate Yang burst into laughter twice and said, "Well, I just remembered a story—it is said that His Majesty came to Ningyang County incognito..."
Limping Wu's heart skipped a beat, but then he heard Magistrate Yang continue, "His Majesty had been traveling all day and was exhausted and hungry. After entering the city, he smelled a strange fragrance and followed the scent. Finally, he found a roast chicken in a shop in Ningyang County. He found it to be incredibly fragrant and tender, with the meat melting in his mouth and even the bones being soft. He never forgot it from then on, and even after returning to the capital, he often had it delivered to the capital by express courier. This is the famous roast chicken of our Ningyang County."
As Magistrate Yang finished speaking, Lame Wu went completely numb.
The lame man tentatively said, "Your Excellency, it's fine for the common people to gossip about His Majesty, but if you gossip about His Majesty, and His Majesty finds out about it, then..."
Magistrate Yang glared at the lame man, "I only heard it from the common people, how is it that I am slandering His Majesty?"
At this point, Magistrate Yang bowed towards the capital again, saying, "You should know that I have the utmost respect for His Majesty. In my heart, His Majesty is a supreme emperor who surpasses even the Tang and Song emperors. How could I possibly speak ill of His Majesty?"
Limpy Wu chuckled and agreed repeatedly, but in his heart he had a million complaints he wanted to vent.
Do you respect those in positions of power?
You don't respect His Majesty at all. You said you would chop off His Majesty's hands in front of him. You made up your own story on the spot because you weren't satisfied with the stories told by the people. Which official in the world respects His Majesty more than you?
Just as Limpy Wu was secretly grumbling to himself, Magistrate Yang lost interest in continuing his stroll and instead turned and headed towards the county government office.
The common people are already using Zhu Chongba to make fun of the frogs in the pond east of the City God Temple, but I'm not allowed to use old Zhu to make fun of the braised chicken in Ningyang County.
That's braised chicken! It's first marinated to infuse flavor, then slowly fried over low heat until cooked through to achieve a tender, meaty texture that falls off the bone. Finally, it's braised with spices. Who wouldn't be mesmerized by its aroma?
If you can confuse them with the aroma, then the money in their pockets will end up in the hands of the braised chicken shop.
A braised chicken shop always needs to buy chickens, and it just so happens that there is a chicken farm in Ningyang County, and some people also raise chickens at home, so wouldn't that be a good way to sell them?
Once a braised chicken shop starts making money, you can immediately open branches, then two become four, four become eight, eight become sixteen, and when you have hundreds of shops, you can start thinking about going public... oops, I mean, you can make even more money!
Wait a minute, besides chickens, farms and households also raise ducks... How about we make up a dish of pickled radish and old duck soup? Or maybe we can just make up a dish of Peking duck?
How do you make that lousy pickled radish stuff again?
As he walked toward the farm, Yang Da, the county magistrate, was lost in thought. His ideas quickly veered from Ningyang County's braised chicken to Ningyang roast duck, Ningyang old duck soup, plus Ningyang braised pork and Ningyang braised chicken.
Hmm, it seems like we could also make Ningyang donkey meat sandwiches, Ningyang fried chicken, and Ningyang Eight Bowls.
But isn't it a bit unfair to Lao Zhu to portray him like that spendthrift Qian Long?
After all, he is likely to be my father-in-law in the future. If he leads the way in spreading rumors and slandering his father-in-law, won't he be struck by lightning?
We can't exactly carry a lightning rod with us all the time, can we?
Then, Magistrate Yang secretly regretted that the scale of the farm was too small and the risks of raising chickens were too great, so he dared not go all out to engage in large-scale farming.