jdhmnovel Chapter 104: Do they have a grudge against the Duke Yansheng's Mansion?
Chapter 104: Do they have a grudge against the Duke Yansheng's Mansion?
After July, once the sorghum and beans have all been harvested, the farm work in the fields gradually decreases.
However, less farm work does not mean that people can be idle. After all, after harvesting the crops, the land needs to be plowed, leveled, and then manure needs to be spread.
From the Autumn Equinox to the period between Cold Dew and Frost's Descent, people begin sowing winter wheat.
The period between applying manure and sowing seeds is a rare time when people can relax a bit, but this relaxation is only relative, because they also need to use this time to prepare for land reclamation after the first frost.
As for Magistrate Yang Shaofeng...
Strictly speaking, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng was actually in a much worse situation than the common people. After all, no one gave the people holidays, but no one stipulated that they had to go to work either. As long as they weren't afraid of starving to death due to a lack of harvest, they could take holidays however they wanted.
However, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng had to work every day and only had three days off a year: one day off for New Year's Day, one day off for the Winter Solstice, and one day off for the birthday of Emperor Zhu Chongba.
Apart from these three days of holiday, the Ming Dynasty's "Collected Statutes" stipulated that one day of absence from work would result in twenty strokes of the cane, and a cumulative absence of twenty days would result in a hundred strokes of the cane.
In contrast, the punishment for absenteeism during the Tang Dynasty, as recorded in the Tang Huiyao and Tang Code, was much lighter. The Tang Huiyao recorded that absenteeism would result in the deduction of one quarter's salary, which was later changed to the deduction of one month's salary. For each instance of being late, 25 coins would be deducted from the wage standard per string of cash.
In the Tang Code, being absent from work for 35 days would result in a one-year sentence. Officials in important military towns and border regions would be punished with an additional sentence if they were absent from work for 35 days.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty's regulations on absenteeism were one thing, but whether county magistrates like Yang Shaofeng would be punished for absenteeism was another.
After all, whether the county magistrates were absent from work depended on whether the county's assistant officials were all present, and also on whether the clerks who recorded attendance would record it truthfully.
In a poor county like Ningyang County, which had neither assistant officials nor minor clerks, the task of recording attendance had to be done by the county magistrate, Yang Shaofeng, himself.
So here's the question: when no imperial censors come to inspect, and there's no other supervision, who would truthfully record their absences?
In any case, Yang Shaofeng never recorded his absences.
According to the attendance records of Ningyang County, since taking office, Magistrate Yang has been on duty almost every day, and diligently inspects the villages and encourages farmers to engage in agriculture.
In reality, Magistrate Yang was a bit grumpy in the morning, so he would sleep until he was no longer grumpy before getting up. After breakfast, he would take a stroll around the eight communities and sixteen neighborhoods. After returning to the county office for lunch, he would take a nap. In the afternoon, he would read books or go for a walk in the chicken and pig farms before waiting for it to get dark and go to sleep.
Compared to the officials in the capital, I can sleep until I naturally wake up every day, without having to get up early to prepare for court. I can't even spend all my monthly salary. Although I haven't completely achieved freedom in eating chicken and pork, I have at least achieved freedom in eating eggs and duck eggs.
Especially after writing that memorial to Old Zhu, which was full of complaints about "lack of manpower and money," Magistrate Yang completely fell into a state of inactivity, counting down the days until the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Magistrate Yang was very satisfied with his current life. He even thought that he might cause some trouble for Old Zhu after a while, so that Old Zhu would not suddenly have a lapse in judgment and send him to the capital to become an official.
Well, we can't go too far. After all, Jin'er and Yu'er haven't married into the family yet, so it's not good to offend the father-in-law too much before that.
Just as Yang Shaofeng was leaning back in his recliner, his mind wandering to all sorts of random thoughts, Limpy Five suddenly rushed in from outside the courtyard and quickly came to Yang Shaofeng's side, saying, "Your Excellency, someone from Qufu has come and requests to see you."
Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback and asked, "Who?"
The lame man said, "Your Excellency, it is people from the Duke Yansheng's Mansion in Qufu who request an audience with you."
Yang Shaofeng was even more confused now.
The Duke Yansheng's Mansion?
The Duke Yansheng's Mansion, known in the martial arts world as "seventy-six generations of servants and twenty-five dynasties' traitors."
No, you, the Duke of Yansheng, should just stay in Qufu and be your "Duke" and behave yourselves as serfs and traitors. Why are you coming to see me when you have nothing better to do?
If this gets involved with the Duke of Yansheng's mansion, wouldn't I also get into trouble and leave behind a bad reputation for all eternity?
Yang Shaofeng frowned slightly and asked, "Did they say what they came here for?"
Limpy Wu said, "They said they came to mediate between the county magistrate and Magistrate Zhao of Wenshang."
Upon hearing what Limpy Wu said, Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but curl his lip and snort coldly, "Tell him to go back to where he came from. I have no interest in meeting anyone from the Duke of Yansheng's mansion. We're not familiar with them."
After a slight hesitation, Limpy Five advised, "Your Excellency, that is, after all, the Duke Yansheng's residence. If we don't see him, what will happen to the Duke Yansheng..."
Magistrate Yang sneered, "What's so special about the Duke Yansheng? I ask you, does this messenger have any official documents from the Duke Yansheng? Does he have any official credentials from the imperial court?"
Limpy Wu shook his head slightly, "Reporting to the county magistrate, the messenger said that he was entrusted by the magistrate of Qufu, so there was no official document or verification document."
Magistrate Yang sneered again and said, "So that was done in private?"
"Since it's a private matter, I'll just ignore him. What can he do? Does he think Kong Xixue will bite my bird?"
"He's acting on behalf of the Qufu magistrate? He's nothing but a dog of the Kong family. What kind of person is he to be worthy of being an official like me?"
After cursing the magistrate of Qufu, Yang Shaofeng continued cursing the Duke Yansheng: "And what kind of good bird is that Duke Yansheng, Kong Xixue?"
"His ancestor was the Duke Yansheng of the Song Dynasty, his father was the Duke Yansheng of the Yuan Dynasty, and now he is the Duke Yansheng of the Ming Dynasty. Tsk tsk, so only his family can produce a sage?"
Seeing that Magistrate Yang's insults were getting increasingly vulgar, Lame Five couldn't help but shrink back and whisper, "Your Excellency, please watch your words. After all, that's the Duke of Yansheng's residence..."
Yang Shaofeng sneered again and said, "I'm not afraid of his grandma's legs! I respect Confucius, not some Duke Yansheng. Tell that person from the Duke Yansheng's mansion to get out of here right now, and tell him to get as far away as possible."
To Limpy Wu's surprise, Magistrate Yang, who was usually known for his good temper, showed no respect for the Duke of Yansheng's mansion and kept grumbling incessantly.
After spitting out a "Pah!", Yang Shaofeng continued, "By the way, go tell the messenger that if he feels that I am not giving face to the magistrate of Qufu or the Duke of Yansheng, then let Kong Xixue go to His Majesty to impeach me. Anyone who doesn't dare to impeach me is a coward."
Limpy Wu was completely dumbfounded.
No, what exactly is going on?
Does the county magistrate have a grudge against the Duke Yansheng's family?