GBP Chapter 141 Do you think I'm an encyclopedia?
Chapter 141 Do you think I'm an encyclopedia?
Upon hearing Prefect Wu Zude say that this time they were in big trouble, Yang Shaofeng nodded in sympathy.
This time, the trouble is indeed quite significant.
In fact, according to Magistrate Yang's true intentions, the case of accepting levirate marriages was simply to give Zhu Yuanzhang some amusement so that he could focus his energy on abolishing barbarian customs.
After all, Ningyang County had been upgraded to be directly under the Central Secretariat and was personally managed by Emperor Zhu. If we didn't give Emperor Zhu some amusement, what if he kept an eye on Ningyang County every day?
However, this time the trouble was a bit too big, so big that even Wu Zude, the prefect of Yanzhou, couldn't handle it.
No one knows how many levirate marriages still exist in the world, and even fewer know how many of these levirate marriages have hidden motives like those of Chen Da and Chen Er.
Let the magistrates and prefects in various places investigate?
Damn it, I, Yang, am just the magistrate of Ningyang County. If you ask me, Yang, to investigate, then it's not like I, Yang, am finding myself too idle and creating a bunch of troublesome things for myself, eagerly serving as a beast of burden for Old Zhu.
Besides, even if I, Yang, were willing to investigate, it would be easy to investigate cases involving surrogate marriages, but it would be much more difficult to investigate how many other cases have hidden secrets behind them.
Even if all other levirate marriages are fine, what about those levirate marriages that have already gone through the process?
If we ignore it, will it encourage others to follow suit?
If we're going to intervene, does that mean the government has to step in and force people to divorce?
In short, it's a dilemma: to manage it or not to ignore it.
After a long silence, Prefect Wu Zude sighed again and said, "I will write another memorial requesting the abolition of barbarian customs, asking Your Majesty to abolish many barbarian customs and restore the orthodox customs of the Central Plains. As for the problems left over from the Yuan Dynasty, let the officials in the court consider them."
Magistrate Yang sighed and said, "That's all we can do."
There was no way around it; Magistrate Yang was the first to submit a memorial requesting the complete abolition of barbarian customs, and Prefect Wu was the first to expose the hidden story behind the levirate marriage case. Both of them were bound to be resented by others.
Magistrate Yang wasn't afraid of this. As the saying goes, "If you have too many lice, you won't itch; if you have too many debts, you won't worry." Magistrate Yang dared to offend even Old Zhu, so naturally he didn't care about offending some minor officials, scholars, or local gentry.
However, since this implicated Prefect Wu Zude, Magistrate Yang felt somewhat guilty.
If Prefect Wu is transferred or even dismissed, will the new Prefect of Yanzhou be as easy to get along with as Prefect Wu?
Although Ningyang County has been upgraded to be directly under the Central Secretariat, the sixth-rank magistrate of Ningyang County does not need to pay attention to a fourth-rank prefect. However, Ningyang County and Yanzhou Prefecture are too close to each other, and the two sides need to deal with each other quite a bit. Having a sensible and capable prefect is better than having a clueless one.
……
Magistrate Yang returned to Ningyang County with little enthusiasm. He first summoned Liu Sanshier and the other village and neighborhood leaders to the county office and gave them a good scolding. Then he assigned them a lot of manual labor to prevent these scoundrels from causing any more trouble.
"First of all, it's about reclaiming wasteland. Anyway, you all have plenty of cattle and horses right now," Magistrate Yang said to Liu Sanshier and the other village heads, suppressing his awkwardness. "Before the land freezes completely, reclaim as much wasteland as you can. After you've reclaimed the wasteland, come to the county office to register the land deeds with me."
"The second thing is that you should prepare feed in advance for the pigs, chickens, ducks and other poultry and livestock that you raise in your communities and villages. Apart from keeping some beans for seed and for eating, take the rest that can be pressed for oil and store the soybean cake."
"As for the oil that is pressed out, if you can't eat it, bring it to the county government office. I will find a way to sell it for you, even if it's cheaper. You can use the soybean cake to feed poultry and livestock like chickens, ducks, and pigs, so you won't lose out."
"The third thing is about the lighter workshop and the livestock farm in the county. After winter comes, the young women and wives of each household can go to work in the lighter workshop and try to earn as much money as possible before the New Year."
"Your respective communities and villages should take turns sending people to the livestock farms to work. If you dare to let the livestock in the farms get thin, you can expect how I will deal with you."
"Also, after winter sets in, there's not much farm work to do in the fields, and construction sites like roadworks and brick kilns will gradually come to a halt, so the people in your communities will gradually have more free time."
"When you get back, remember to tell the people that those who need to rest should rest properly and not to stay idle or wander around. After all, every family still has a lot of land to cultivate after the spring, and the brick kilns and road construction sites in the county also need to resume work. No one should think about taking it easy."
"If I catch any scoundrel who dares to gamble, I will have him whipped with salt water until he dies."
"Have you written everything down?"
Upon receiving Magistrate Yang's instructions, Liu Sanshier and the other village heads and elders hurriedly bowed and said, "Yes, we have all remembered."
Yang Shaofeng then waved his hand and said, "If you've remembered this, then get lost. I won't feed you here."
After Liu Sanshier and the other village heads and elders left, Wang Qiong, who had been lingering in Ningyang County, gave Magistrate Yang a thumbs up: "Brother Yang, I don't know much about the officials in other places, but you, Brother Yang, are definitely a parent official who truly cares about the people. I admire you, I admire you."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "Don't praise me too much, or I'll get cocky."
After exchanging a few polite words, Yang Shaofeng continued, "Actually, we have to thank the Tartars for all of this—the Tartar court is incompetent, allowing those gentry to oppress the people to death. Now that I'm treating them a little better, they think I'm much better than the Tartar officials."
Wang Qiong was completely speechless.
No, although I am not very smart, at least not as smart as you, Magistrate Yang, do I look like a fool to you? Or do you think I am no better than the officials in other places, and that I can believe whatever you say?
After silently complaining for a while, Wang Qiong simply cupped his hands in greeting to Magistrate Yang and brought the topic back to money: "Yesterday, Brother Yang said that if the court wants to issue money, it needs a corresponding anchor. In your opinion, what would be a better anchor for our Great Ming Dynasty?"
"If we could reclaim the gold and silver mines of our Great Ming Dynasty, wouldn't it be better to use gold and silver as currency directly?"
"Brother Yang, do you know where there are still copper mines in our Great Ming Dynasty?"
"..."
Faced with Wang Qiong's barrage of questions, Magistrate Yang nearly fainted from anger.
Do you think I'm an encyclopedia?
However, it seems there are quite a few copper mines in Myanmar.
That's not quite right. It should be said that some Burmese people lived on several copper and gemstone mines in the Ming Dynasty.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Shaofeng slowly replied, "The best anchor should be decided by His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince. However, in my opinion, gold would be a better choice. As for using gold and silver directly... May I ask, Brother Wang, are you aware that a large number of Song Dynasty copper coins flowed out of the country during the Song Dynasty? And many paper money also flowed out."
Wang Qiong nodded and replied, "Of course I know that. After all, the surrounding small foreign countries can't produce any decent coins. If our Great Ming hadn't yet issued copper coins, they would probably already be trying to get our copper coins back."
Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "Since Brother Wang knows this, it makes things much easier—if they use gold and silver as currency directly, they can simply take the gold and silver back and use it, right? If they use paper money, they can only exchange real gold and silver for a bunch of paper money."
"If one day they displease His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince, as long as the court declares the old paper money invalid, all the paper money of our Great Ming and other foreign countries will be replaced with new paper money, except for theirs... or we can simply invalidate all the paper money of all foreign countries..."
Wang Qiong opened her eyes wide once again.
Targeting a small country specifically can throw it into complete chaos.
As for all the small countries besides the Ming Dynasty... no matter how many small countries there are, they can't withstand it. After all, money recognized by the Ming Dynasty is real money, and money not recognized by the Ming Dynasty is just worthless paper!
Thinking of this, Wang Qiong could no longer sit still. He cupped his hands to Yang Shaofeng and said, "Brother Yang, I will return to the capital immediately and tell His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince about this paper money."