jdhmnovel Chapter 590 That bastard's heart is completely black!
Chapter 590 That bastard's heart is completely black!
All the anger, whether it was from Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, and Lan Yu who had suffered greatly these past few days, or from Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen who had been inexplicably slandered, could only be suppressed with immense resentment.
Otherwise, what else can be done?
The one who almost had to kneel on the washboard just accepted his bad luck.
If we go looking for trouble with Yang the Madman now, let alone whether we can explain it to the Empress, even if the Empress doesn't pursue it, there are still Princess Funing and Princess Fuyang, whom the Empress personally trained.
More importantly, Yang Dianfeng's memorial has reverted to its old, awful form.
I recognize all the characters.
I can understand the meaning of all the words.
However, when these words and phrases are strung together, they become quite unfamiliar.
The concepts of maritime distribution centers and tributary trade centers are easy to understand. The key question is: how exactly do these so-called centers operate, and what benefits do they bring to the Ming Dynasty?
The four words "culture, education, and health" are easy to understand. The key question is, what exactly does "simultaneous development" mean?
And this guy who's almost out of poverty—where does he get the nerve to call the ten counties under Dengzhou "impoverished counties"?
The meaning of village and community-based clinics is easy to understand, but when you associate it with the number 153, it makes you question the meaning of life.
One hundred and fifty-three doctors?
So, your Dengzhou Prefecture trained 153 doctors in just one year, during the fourth year of the Hongwu reign?
And the last sentence about setting up community schools and clinics in all villages and communities is even more outrageous.
So, you, Dengzhou Prefecture, want every village and community to have a school, and at the same time, a pharmacy where patients can be treated?
No.
When did teachers and doctors become mass-produced?
Emperor Zhu waved Yang Shaofeng's "Work Report of the Fourth Year of Hongwu".
"Have you seen them all?"
"In just one year, the entire Dengzhou Prefecture has changed completely."
"Don't even mention you guys who can't understand it. Even we, who have been in Dengzhou Prefecture for several months, are still completely confused."
Emperor Zhu casually turned to a page.
"In the third year of Hongwu (1370), the arable land area in Dengzhou Prefecture was about 500,000 mu. In the fourth year of Hongwu (1370), 200,000 mu of new land was reclaimed in Dengzhou Prefecture. This represents a year-on-year increase of 40%."
"In addition, approximately 200,000 mu of new orchard land has been reclaimed."
Emperor Zhu closed the report and said in a deep voice, "We know something about the land for fruit trees."
"There is indeed not much arable land in Dengzhou Prefecture. It is far inferior to that in Jiangnan, let alone Yanzhou."
"But this bastard took a different approach and actually created a plot of land for fruit trees."
All the civil and military officials felt a strong, almost irresistible urge to roll their eyes.
Dengzhou Prefecture cannot be viewed through the lens of normal people.
How many people are there in Dengzhou?
In the third year of the Hongwu reign, Dengzhou Prefecture had a population of less than 50,000 and arable land of only about 500,000 mu.
Even after many people migrated to Dengzhou Prefecture, the total population of Dengzhou did not exceed 100,000.
If you remove the elderly, weak, women and children from the population of 100,000, the actual number of able-bodied men is probably only 30,000 to 40,000.
Given Yang Dianfeng's consistent habits, a large portion of these 30,000 to 40,000 people would likely be reassigned to road construction and workshops, leaving only about 20,000 to actually cultivate the land.
More than 20,000 people reclaimed 200,000 mu of wasteland, averaging 10 mu per person.
Is this normal?
This is not normal!
Under normal circumstances, if a strong laborer can cultivate one acre of wasteland in a year, he is considered diligent and capable, and people from all around will give him a thumbs up and praise him for being hardworking and willing to put in the effort.
In Dengzhou Prefecture, he was doing quite well; he practically reclaimed ten acres of wasteland all by himself!
Even this doesn't include the so-called orchard land.
If it weren't for the fact that Yang the Madman wouldn't boast about such things, and that the Censorate was watching, who would believe such an outrageous figure?
Minister of Works Xue Xiang frowned and pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised his head and looked at Emperor Zhu, asking, "Your Majesty, have any new agricultural tools appeared in Dengzhou?"
Minister of Revenue Yang Siyi nodded in agreement: "That's right, if we don't have new agricultural tools that can quickly clear land,..."
Emperor Zhu said with a dark face, "What new farm tools are there?!"
"That bastard is all about swindling people."
Do you know how many cattle Dengzhou Prefecture has right now?
"Dengzhou Prefecture now has more than 50,000 households, but more than 30,000 cattle, which means that on average, less than two households can share one cow."
This part of the data also cannot be written in the document.
After all, the origins of these cattle are somewhat questionable.
Some of these items were obtained by Zhu Biao from Li Wenzhong, some were resold from the grasslands by Bangzi acting as middlemen, and some were simply sold privately by Bangzi and the monkeys.
As for where the cows in the hands of the Koreans and monkeys came from?
Who cares where they came from?
Whether they were found on the road or rescued at sea, even if they were snatched from monkeys and Koreans, it has nothing to do with Dengzhou Prefecture.
Emperor Zhu let out a long sigh of relief, exhaling the pent-up frustration that had been building up in his chest all day.
"Dengzhou Prefecture is now not short of cattle, horses, or sheep."
"What do you think that bastard did with the thirty million strings of cash he kept?"
“He used part of it to set up various workshops, and part of it to buy cattle and horses from Korea and Annam.”
Emperor Zhu suddenly clicked his tongue and added, "Why don't you guess how much he spent on a cow?"
Thinking about the cattle and sheep trade he witnessed in Dengzhou Prefecture, and then about the prices that some scoundrel paid for cattle, horses, and sheep, Emperor Zhu felt a headache coming on.
Li Shanchang stroked his beard and smiled, saying, "It will probably cost around fifteen taels?"
The other civil and military officials also nodded in agreement, believing that Li Shanchang's guess of the price was very reasonable.
After all, the price of a cow in the common people's market during the Ming Dynasty was around ten strings of cash.
Yang the Madman bought cattle in Dengzhou Prefecture, and he even bought them from Korea and Annam. The price of the cattle plus the transportation cost must have been around fifteen strings of cash per head.
However, spending fifteen strings of cash to buy a cow is not a bad deal.
After all, the Koreans don't have many cattle in that desolate place. The only way they could resell cattle to the Ming Dynasty is by acting as middlemen and buying them from the grasslands.
Fewer cattle on the grasslands mean Hu Yuan's strength has been weakened, a figure that is easy to calculate.
As for the claim that Hu Yuan could make money by selling cattle and then use sticks to buy things from the border market?
It doesn't matter at all.
Everyone knows that the border market is a black-hearted den of iniquity, where broken cups made from a few grains of sand can be sold for thousands of strings of cash. Even if Hu Yuan sold a hundred cows, he might not be able to afford a so-called "royal tea set".
However, Emperor Zhu shook his head and sighed, "Fifteen strings of cash? Fifteen strings of cash? He could buy you two! That bastard's heart is black to the core!"
People shouldn't be that kind of heartless, at the very least.
In the Ming Dynasty, a cow would sell for ten strings of cash, but this scoundrel only asked for eight strings. He even offered to transport it alive, refusing to accept any sick or dead cows.
No wonder that scoundrel didn't write these things down in his memorial.
As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen couldn't help but exchange a glance, while even Chang Yuchun and Lan Yu, who were good at making money without any initial investment, were completely dumbfounded.
Li Shanchang tentatively asked, "You're not joking about taking a higher position, are you?"
"Fifteen strings of cash for two cows? Those Koreans aren't stupid, do you think they'd agree to that?"