jdhmnovel Chapter 127 Zhu Chong 8: Are you treating us like cattle and horses?
Chapter 127 Zhu Chong 8: Are you treating us like cattle and horses?
After Erhu left with the letter, Yang Shaofeng tightened his clothes.
The wind is picking up; I wonder how many people will be wiped out in this storm.
But it doesn't matter. Anyway, it was these bastards who started the storm. We can't blame Magistrate Yang. After all, Magistrate Yang is handsome and kind-hearted, and is a well-known honest young man in the surrounding area.
Of course, Zhu Chongba, the emperor far away in the capital, did not think that Magistrate Yang was kind-hearted.
Especially after Emperor Zhu read the letter that Erhu brought back with the utmost urgency, the word "kind-hearted" was completely severed from the name of Magistrate Yang, while the names Wenhe and Zhongde began to shine brightly.
"Tsk, tsk."
Emperor Zhu handed the letter to Empress Ma and said with a smile, "Look at this Magistrate Yang of our county."
"At the time, we just wanted to go on a killing spree and slaughter a bunch of people, but look at our Magistrate Yang, he was actually aiming to dig up those people's ancestral graves."
The letter that Magistrate Yang sent back with Erhu was very simple, and its main point was just this:
First, they stirred up trouble by having people spread rumors that Chen Da died at the hands of Chen Er, and that Chen Er killed Chen Da so that he could take his sister-in-law for himself.
Secondly, to address the root cause, a declaration pavilion was erected between each township and community, and people were sent to the pavilion to gather the people and explain from beginning to end the story of Chen Er's attempt to forcibly marry his widowed sister-in-law.
Thirdly, the issue was elevated in importance. The imperial court issued a gazette and sent people to the Shenming Pavilion to give lectures. Local officials were also required to give lectures to the people, explaining to them what it meant to be a great and virtuous person, and what it meant to be like an elder sister-in-law to one's mother. All the officials and gentry who supported Chen Er were portrayed as pseudo-Yuan loyalists who had betrayed their ancestors and violated human ethics.
The final move is the most crucial—have someone secretly spread the word that the Duke Yansheng's residence is in Qufu, which is under the jurisdiction of Yanzhou Prefecture. Now that Yanzhou Prefecture has produced such a despicable person as Chen Er, how has the Duke Yansheng's residence acted? Do you live up to Confucius's teachings on the distinction between the Chinese and the barbarians? Do you live up to Confucius's educational principles? How can you still have the face to be the Duke Yansheng?
Empress Ma only read two pages of Yang Shaofeng's letter before she couldn't help but sigh, "This is going to be quite a show—the Duke of Yansheng's mansion, the rural gentry, and the court officials, these forces are probably going to fight to the death."
However, Emperor Zhu Chongba chuckled and pointed to the letter in Empress Ma's hand, saying, "Take a look at the last two pages."
Following Emperor Zhu's instructions, Empress Ma turned directly to the last two pages of the letter, but after reading them, she couldn't help but frown and ask, "Do you think this is feasible?"
Emperor Zhu Chongba nodded and said, "I think this is feasible."
At this point, Emperor Zhu Chongba simply stood up and slowly paced back and forth, saying, "These scoundrels only dare to fool the people because they are literate. If what Yang Shaofeng said is true, within fifty years, these scoundrels will no longer be able to fool anyone. Even if they do, it will be at least a thousand times, ten thousand times more difficult than it is now. However..."
At this point, even Emperor Zhu Chongba hesitated. Empress Ma then spoke the rest of the sentence for him: "However, this matter may be successful in Ningyang County, but it may not be successful in other places. After all, it would cost too much and take too long, wouldn't it?"
Emperor Zhu Chongba grunted in agreement, and after a long while, he let out a long sigh and said, "Sister, we were mistaken, and you were mistaken too."
“We were just thinking that if we followed the method in the last two pages of his letter, it might take decades to see any initial results.”
"But we just thought about it, and Ningyang County went from being an extremely poor county to having people with surplus grain and money in their hands in just about half a year."
“Even if other methods cannot be imitated, surely this land distribution can be imitated? If the people have land, they will have grain, and with grain, they will have peace of mind.”
“Raising chickens, ducks, pigs, and livestock is not something that can be easily imitated, and the situation varies from county to county. But we can do it one county at a time, with each household raising two chickens or two ducks. Surely that's achievable?”
"In this sense, it's just that the people of Ningyang County can become rich in a year, while the people of other places may need two years, or even ten or thirty years, to become rich. But they will all become rich eventually, and won't be as poor as they are now."
“Most importantly, with Ningyang County as our foundation and a model for all counties in the country, even if only one or two officials are willing to follow Yang Shaofeng’s example, his plan can be implemented much faster.”
As he was talking, Emperor Zhu Chongba suddenly chuckled and said, "We just realized that this scoundrel isn't a good person either. He wrote such a long and eloquent piece, but in the end, it's us, Biao'er, and all the civil and military officials who have to do the work. He's treating us like cattle and horses."
Empress Ma was slightly taken aback and asked, "You were just praising her, why does it suddenly seem like she's not a good person anymore?"
Emperor Zhu Chongba spat angrily and pointed at the letter in Empress Ma's hand, saying, "Look at his last few demands!"
"The Hongwu Zhengyun, the Illustrated Explanation of Characters, the Hongwu Dictionary, the Hongwu Calculation Symbols, the Hongwu Calculation Classic—this bastard only gave us a few book titles and a few ideas, but he expects us, Biao'er, and all the civil and military officials to figure out the rest. Isn't he treating us like cattle and horses?"
Empress Ma glanced at the titles of several books on the last page, along with the annotations below them, and finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"That's quite interesting," Empress Ma said with a smile. "You think you can treat him like a beast of burden, but he turns around and treats you like a beast of burden. The relationship between you two, ruler and subject, is truly... truly... like two beasts bound together?"
Emperor Zhu Chongba's face immediately darkened, and he said angrily, "I was just saying that. After all, it's not like I'm being asked to do the work. Even if he wants to find people to be his slaves, in the end it will be Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen."
But Emperor Zhu couldn't fool himself after all. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Finally, he couldn't bear it any longer and snorted coldly, "No, where did this bastard learn all these underhanded tricks? Damn it, he's not satisfied with harming others, he even dares to harm me, the emperor? Does he really think we can't bear to kill him?"
Empress Ma rolled her eyes and retorted angrily to Emperor Zhu without any politeness: "Go ahead and chop him up! You wrote a letter to him under the identity of Ma Baoguo, and he replied to you, teaching you how to solve the problem. Then you complained that he treated you like a beast of burden, so you wanted to chop him up?"