GBP Chapter 108 Don't misunderstand, I'm not targeting anyone.
Chapter 108 Don't misunderstand, I'm not targeting anyone.
Zhu Biao frowned slightly and said, "Ningyang County... is ultimately a small county. If Uncle Xu and Uncle Chang were to send a large number of prisoners to Ningyang County, not to mention whether Ningyang County has enough prisons to house so many people, the number of civilians would be far less than that of prisoners of war."
“Magistrate Yang may have a way to get these prisoners to work obediently, but even if there is a chance, I cannot gamble with Ningyang County.”
After a slight hesitation, Zhu Biao continued, "The only solution now is to first send the relatives of those gentry to Ningyang County, and then recruit people from Shanxi and Jiangnan after the Northern Expedition ends, and relocate them to Henan, Hebei, Shandong and other places."
Emperor Zhu Chongba grunted in agreement, then suddenly sighed heavily: "These damned Tartars have ruined the north like this, what a tragedy!"
After a long sigh, Emperor Zhu Chongba felt increasingly troubled. After thinking for a while, he simply took Zhu Biao and went directly to the Kunning Palace where Empress Ma was.
……
Just as Zhu Biao was worried about the issue of prisoners of war for Magistrate Yang and decided not to transfer prisoners of war to Ningyang County for the time being, Yang Shaofeng was lying on a recliner in the backyard of the county government office, pretending to be asleep, and constantly reviewing the development of Ningyang County in the past six months.
In terms of population, apart from the two hundred-plus soldiers sent over by Chang Yuchun and Xu Da, the population of Ningyang County did not increase at all.
However, apart from the number of people, the development in other aspects is quite remarkable.
First, there's the issue of land.
Since Yang Shaofeng was conscripted by Chang Yuchun and began serving as the magistrate of Ningyang County, the arable land in Ningyang County has increased dramatically from the initial 5,000 mu to more than 40,000 mu, and a large amount of wasteland has been reclaimed.
The most direct impact of the surge in arable land is stability. Although the yield per unit area is relatively low, when a person has 15 mu of land plus 2 mu of vegetable garden, the grain he can harvest can ensure that he or even his family of three will not starve to death.
Secondly, there are the two lakes and two canals that have been completely completed, plus the two lakes and two canals that are still under excavation.
The Daming Lake and Taizi Canal in the west of the city have been completed, as have the Guangming Lake and Mingguang Canal in the east. The artificial lake and water diversion canal in the south of the city are nearing completion, and it is estimated that the artificial lake and water diversion canal in the east of the city will be completely completed before the beginning of winter.
In this way, Ningyang County has initially acquired the ability to combat drought and flood, and the harvest of the land is now somewhat guaranteed.
Then, the aquaculture and animal husbandry industries also developed to a certain extent.
The chickens and ducks that Old Zhu and Little Zhu bestowed upon them, as well as those that Chang Yuchun and Xu Da collected, have basically been distributed to the people of each community and village. Now, only a dozen or so larger roosters and hens, and a hundred or so carefully selected chicks remain in the breeding farm.
The larger chickens were specially kept by Yang Shaofeng so that the hens could lay eggs, or if one day a rooster had a bad day, Magistrate Yang could let them experience the dangers of the world, such as braising, stir-frying, or poaching.
The chicks are selected based on their egg production or growth rate. Once these chicks grow up, they will be further selected for breeding.
Then there are pig farms.
The pig farms these days are really pitiful. In such a large pig farm, there are only two boars that have not been castrated, about thirty old sows that have not been castrated, and the rest are just a dozen or so piglets that have just been born.
The larger pigs were either sent to steamed bun shops or canneries, and the nearly two hundred piglets that had been gathered over half a year were all distributed to the people of the sixteen neighborhoods in the city to raise.
This can be considered as fulfilling the promise made by Old Zhu and Young Zhu to reward the people of Ningyang. However, due to the actions of Magistrate Yang, the original fifty-odd households in Ningyang County could each receive more than 100 catties of meat, but now they might not even receive half a catty.
Of course, Magistrate Yang, as the "big boss" in the eyes of the common people, would not do something like plucking feathers from a passing goose and leaving the goose for the feathers to fly away. Instead, Magistrate Yang distributed the money from selling the pig to the people.
The situation at the livestock farm is simpler.
Only a dozen or so draft horses and a dozen or so mules belonged to the county government in the livestock farm. The remaining cattle, horses, and donkeys had already been distributed to various communities and neighborhoods, so Magistrate Yang didn't need to worry about them at all.
Similarly, the lighter workshop was also bringing in a steady stream of income for Ningyang County, and Magistrate Yang's own pockets were getting fuller day by day.
Besides this, what made Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, happiest was that there was no longer just one steamed bun shop in Ningyang County, but several more.
For example, there's an extra cloth shop, an extra rice shop, an extra oil shop, and even an extra cosmetics shop.
In addition, peddlers began to appear in the streets and alleys of Ningyang County. These peddlers shook rattles and carried loads of goods on their shoulders, which were filled with needles, thread and all sorts of odds and ends. The people living in the neighborhoods could hear their hawking from time to time, which brought a bit more vitality to Ningyang County.
Compared to the residents living in the city's inner quarters, the residents living in the villages outside the city were far less convenient. They might only hear the peddler's cries a few times a month, and if they wanted to buy something, they had to walk into the city to find the peddler.
However, no matter what, the lives of the people in Ningyang County are gradually improving. Compared with when Yang Shaofeng first took office as the magistrate of Ningyang, it is no exaggeration to say that they are worlds apart.
Once the seal is about to be sealed at the end of the year, Magistrate Yang can organize all this messy data and send it to the capital along with the household registration books, homestead books, and farmland books of Ningyang County.
This will also let the officials of the Ming Dynasty see what a qualified, excellent, and outstanding servant should look like.
Magistrate Yang even wanted to say to all the officials of the Ming Dynasty: I only need to turn on the lazy mode to make you all lose. Of course, don't misunderstand, I'm not targeting anyone in particular, but all of you in office are trash!
Shaking his head slightly, Magistrate Yang forcibly banished the image of the laughing, hands-on-hips figure from his mind, and then began to plan what to do next.
The immediate issue was to get the people to take away all the chicken, duck, and pig manure that had been composting for months and use it to fertilize the land. Otherwise, once the west wind blew, Magistrate Yang could faintly smell a stench even in the county office.
The second is autumn sowing.
As farming activities such as tilling, ridging, and raking gradually come to an end, it's almost time to start sowing winter wheat.