jdhmnovel Chapter 81 This corrupt official dared to speak so arrogantly in front of me!
Chapter 81 This corrupt official dared to speak so arrogantly in front of me!
Sometimes, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng really wanted to curse, and even wished he could quickly create a super cool and awesome Skynet, or Little Moss, or any kind of artificial intelligence, and then have digital life form do his bidding.
However, Magistrate Yang didn't understand code or have a computer, so he couldn't create such amazing artificial intelligence. Therefore, he could only honestly work as a beast of burden.
For example, he had to worry about the spring planting, summer management, autumn harvest, and winter reclamation of more than 2,000 people in Ningyang County, and he had to plan the development of Ningyang County for the next year or even the next three years. Any one of these tasks would give Magistrate Yang a headache that would make him want to die.
Right now, Magistrate Yang's main concerns are the summer harvest, which is about to end, and the upcoming autumn harvest.
Summer management refers to the management of the land after spring plowing and sowing, including thinning seedlings, weeding, raking, and irrigating crops such as sorghum.
Thinning refers to selecting strong seedlings of crops and removing some weak seedlings to ensure that the seedlings have enough growing space and nutrients, thereby saving soil moisture and nutrients and ultimately increasing crop yield.
The term "hoeing" is relatively easy to understand. It refers to using a hoe to remove the weeds growing in the ground, leaving nutrients and water for the seedlings of the crops. Its purpose is similar to thinning seedlings.
"Hugging the earth" does not refer to sleeping with one's arms around the land; in fact, no one can sleep with their arms around the land.
Turning the soil with a rake is a farming tool that requires a high level of experience and keen eyesight. Even seasoned farmers who have been cultivating the land for many years must be careful when turning the soil, ensuring that the soil is turned properly while avoiding damage to the crops.
As for irrigation and autumn harvest, there's not much to explain. The former is watering the crops to ensure they don't die of drought, while the latter is harvesting the crops and then threshing or drying them. People rely on the little bit of grain from the fields to survive all year round.
Of course, farming is an extremely complex undertaking. The so-called summer management is not just about thinning seedlings, weeding, tilling the land, and watering. There is also the concept of summer sowing, which involves sowing crops such as millet around mid-May.
The situation in Ningyang County is quite unique. The wheat planted last winter was harvested long ago before the Grain in Ear solar term, and the soybeans were also planted long ago. As for other crops, there is only some sorghum planted by the people in the fields, nothing else.
Magistrate Yang once again went to the fields of Liumiao Village in the west of the city.
There's no way around it. Although Ningyang County only has eight communities and sixteen villages, the eight communities outside the city are scattered in all directions, and there are more than a dozen villages of all sizes. The larger villages have thirty or forty households, while the smaller ones may only have a dozen or so households. The closest village to the county seat is Liumiao Village, which belongs to Fangguo Community, followed by Xihe Village and Shawo Village, which belong to Dongzhang Community.
Magistrate Yang dismounted, went to the field, looked at the bean pods, squeezed them, and turned to Liu Thirty-Two who had rushed over, saying, "Judging from these bean pods, this year's harvest shouldn't be too bad?"
Liu Thirty-Two chuckled and replied, "Thanks to the great master, although it was dry when the beans were forming pods, thanks to the water stored in Daming Lake, the pods are still quite plump, and this year's harvest should be pretty good."
Magistrate Yang nodded, then stood up and walked to the sorghum seedlings not far away. Looking at the heavy sorghum ears, a rare smile appeared on Magistrate Yang's face. "Is it almost time to harvest the sorghum?"
Liu Thirty-Two said, "It'll be soon. In about ten more days, it will be ready. By the time the sorghum is harvested, the beans will be almost ripe."
Magistrate Yang hummed in agreement, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "After the soybeans are harvested, shouldn't we plant wheat?"
Paying close attention to the crop growth in Ningyang County and adjusting the farming arrangements of the people in Ningyang County according to the changes in crop growth was also one of the responsibilities of Magistrate Yang.
Fortunately, although Magistrate Yang Shaofeng did not know how to farm, the people of Ningyang County did not expect him to know how to farm. So Magistrate Yang only needed to visit the fields of each village and listen to the stories of the old farmers before making a decision.
Liu Thirty-Two said, "Reporting to Your Excellency, after the soybeans are harvested, it will take about half a month to a month to turn the soil. After the soil is turned and leveled, we can then sow the wheat."
Although "耧地" and "娄地" are homophones, they have different meanings. "耧地" refers to using a farming tool called a "耧" to dig furrows and sow seeds. Because digging involves the depth of sowing, it is necessary for someone or livestock to lead the way while someone else supports it from behind.
After the seed drill was finished, the next step was the tedious work of weeding, thinning seedlings, raking the soil, and watering. However, the intensity of these farm chores was no longer as heavy as during the summer, and they were slightly easier.
Magistrate Yang grunted again, and his original plan to seize the able-bodied men from each village and neighborhood to be used as cattle and horses during the soybean harvest was thus thwarted.
After a brief moment of regret, Magistrate Yang rallied his spirits again—once the wheat was planted, the seedlings thinned, and the land cleared, he could still conscript them to serve as his servants. His motto was that if he, the magistrate, was not comfortable, no one else could be comfortable either.
After some deliberation, Magistrate Yang instructed Liu Thirty-Two: "After autumn, quickly excavate the remaining two artificial lakes. Once the lakes are excavated, we can reclaim wasteland and build roads."
Liu Thirty-Two was slightly taken aback and asked, "Road repair? Which road does the master want repaired?"
Magistrate Yang curled his lip in disdain: "What else needs repairing? Then tell me, which roads don't need repairing?"
"Look at this broken road from the county town to your Liu Miao village, it's full of potholes. It's a little better when it's dry, but if it's cloudy for a long time, can anyone even walk on this broken road?"
"And the road from the county town to Yanzhou Prefecture isn't much better than the road in your Liu Temple. Without a good road, how am I supposed to transport the eggs from my chicken farm and the canned goods from my cannery to sell for money?"
"If I don't make money, how can you possibly make any? Are you satisfied with just having enough to eat?"
In fact, deep down, Magistrate Yang even hoped that the Master Ma who resembled Zhu Chongba was actually Zhu Chongba himself—"I have said three times that we are short of money and manpower, and you, Old Zhu, have not shown any sign of support?"
Look at how poor my Ningyang County is! We want to build roads but we have no money or manpower. We want to set up a school to train cattle and horses but we have no money or manpower either. It's truly a damn mess!
Emperor Zhu Chongba certainly wouldn't remain completely silent.
Upon returning to Jining Prefecture, Emperor Zhu Chongba immediately went to Chang Yuchun's army camp and had Liu Hongchang and others brought to the central command tent.
"That Magistrate Yang is truly no good," Emperor Zhu Chongba said as soon as he saw Liu Hongchang and other local gentry. "We were worried that you had wronged him, so we made a special trip to Ningyang County. But who would have thought that this corrupt official would speak so arrogantly in front of me, the Emperor of the Great Ming!"