Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 248 Emperor Zhu: Things Are Not Simple

Emperor Zhu held Empress Ma's hand with one hand and tapped the table twice with his other finger, saying, "I always feel that this scoundrel has a lot of good stuff he hasn't brought out yet, and I always feel that the salt field matter is not simple."

Empress Ma was slightly taken aback and asked, "Not simple?"

Emperor Zhu nodded and said, "On the surface, it seems like just turning Hongzhou into a salt field, but if you really calm down and take a closer look, you'll find that it involves many aspects and is far more complex than just a salt field."

"Let's put everything else aside and talk about the salt fields. Should we turn all the people of Hongzhou into salt producers? Or should we let them continue to be farmers and come to boil salt in their spare time?"

"Would the people be willing to become salt producers? If they were asked to boil salt in their spare time, could they meet the demand? And how would taxes be calculated?"

"These messy questions are just a jumbled mess to think about."

"Especially the issue of taxes, we're not comfortable letting others ask about it now."

Ever since Magistrate Yang mentioned in his memorial that cosmetics and grain were taxed at a rate of one-thirtieth, Emperor Zhu had a vague feeling that there was a problem with the Ming Dynasty's tax system.

Obviously, people won't die without cosmetics, but they are very likely to starve to death without food.

So, is it a bit unreasonable to keep the tax rates the same for both?

After a slight pause, Emperor Zhu continued, "Most importantly, we're thinking of letting Biao stay in Ningyang County for a while longer, so he can learn from that scoundrel. This is much better than having Wang Qiong relay the message."

Hearing Emperor Zhu say this, Empress Ma no longer objected. Instead, she nodded slightly and replied, "Then let the second and third princes go along as well, but..."

Empress Ma changed the subject and said, "Ningyang County is now so wealthy. As you just said, there is no other county in the entire Ming Dynasty as wealthy as Ningyang County."

"When Biao'er, the second brother, and the third brother return from Ningyang County, do you have any new plans? Do you want your good son-in-law to continue as the magistrate of Ningyang County? Or do you plan to upgrade Ningyang County to a prefecture? Or perhaps transfer him to another place to serve as an official?"

Emperor Zhu pondered for a moment, then shook his head helplessly and said, "We haven't decided yet."

When Emperor Zhu upgraded Ningyang County to be directly under the Central Secretariat, he intended to use Ningyang County as a testing ground, to try out any new policies and observe their effects. If they were successful, they would be rolled out nationwide; if they were unsuccessful, they would be abolished.

However, Emperor Zhu never expected that Ningyang County would undergo such a dramatic transformation in less than two years, and the lives of the people of Ningyang County would gradually become more prosperous. At this point, it would no longer be appropriate to use Ningyang County as an experimental field.

However, Emperor Zhu vaguely felt that it was not appropriate to upgrade Ningyang County to a prefecture, since the population of Ningyang County was what it was, and it would be meaningless to force it to be upgraded to a prefecture.

Even if some counties from the nearby Yanzhou Prefecture, Jining Prefecture, and Tai'an Prefecture were transferred to Ningyang, and Ningyang County were upgraded to a prefecture, it would only mean that Magistrate Yang would simply repeat the development path of Ningyang County. The significance of doing so would not be very great.

As for transferring Magistrate Yang to another prefecture, it will not only affect whether the successor magistrate can manage Ningyang County well, but also whether Ningyang County will be directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Secretariat in the future.

We can't just transfer Ningyang County to the jurisdiction of Yanzhou Prefecture again and demote the county magistrate to the seventh rank just because Magistrate Yang was transferred, can we?

Besides, if we transfer Magistrate Yang to another prefecture or county, does that mean he'll have to start all over again from there?

Which prefecture is suitable for Magistrate Yang right now?

Thinking about all these messy issues, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but sigh slightly and said, "Let's wait and see. At least for the time being, we don't plan to promote him."

……

While Emperor Zhu Chongba was racking his brains over the future arrangements for Magistrate Yang, Magistrate Yang was staring blankly in front of the brick kiln in Ningyang County.

Recliner, tea table, tea set, tea leaves.

These four items have almost become standard equipment for Magistrate Yang.

At first, it was just something Liu Miao Village did to prevent Magistrate Yang from working in the fields. Later, it gradually became an unspoken rule throughout Ningyang County. No matter where Magistrate Yang went, someone would arrange these four things so that he could lie down and do nothing in peace and not have any thoughts of working.

As for why this happened, it's because Magistrate Yang once pulled up wheat seedlings thinking they were weeds, and he once pulled up real sorghum thinking it was cogon grass.

Barnyard grass and wheat look almost identical, and there is even a saying among the people that stone grass is a fake sorghum. Even experienced old farmers can sometimes be mistaken, let alone someone like Magistrate Yang who has never farmed before. He can easily confuse them and thus accidentally damage the real wheat and sorghum.

Of course, if it were just a few wheat seedlings and sorghum that were destroyed, the people in each village and community could bear it even if they were heartbroken. After all, their land was allocated by the magistrate, so what did it matter if the magistrate accidentally damaged a few wheat and sorghum stalks?

What the people of Ningyang County found truly unacceptable was that Magistrate Yang Shaofeng was already exhausted from managing the affairs of the county government. If they were to make him work in the fields, wouldn't they be laughed at by people from other places?

Therefore, Magistrate Yang could lie on a recliner and do nothing, or sit in the fields and watch the people of Ningyang County work, as long as he could occasionally appear in the fields.

The same applies to brick kilns, cement kilns, and other similar locations.

Magistrate Yang could idly stroll around as much as he wanted, but he absolutely could not personally mix mud. At most, he could make a mold of bricks by hand, which would be considered an experience of life.

Left with no other choice, Magistrate Yang could only wander around the brick kiln a couple of times, occasionally asking Wang Laowai, who was following him, a few questions.

"Once these two new kilns are built, they can fire 60,000 bricks at a time, right?"

How many bricks are needed to build a courtyard?

"How many batches of bricks are used to make one batch of tiles?"

"Are there no molds for making tiles yet?"

"How many batches of bricks can be fired before the soil freezes completely?"

"If we're talking about firing ceramic pipes that are really thick and big, big enough for a person to stand inside, is it possible for Ningyang County to produce them?"

"..."

Faced with this series of questions from Magistrate Yang, Wang Laowai was in a real predicament.

The brick kiln I'm currently in is a converter kiln, and it's a large kiln. Each batch can fire 20,000 bricks. If two more of the same brick kilns are built, then each batch can fire 60,000 bricks.

But who dares to say how many bricks are needed to build a courtyard?

Shouldn't the size of the yard be determined first, and then the number of bricks and tiles to be used?