GBP Chapter 83 1. A family must be neat and tidy
Chapter 83 1. A family must be neat and tidy
Damn it!
When Yang Shaofeng was dragged to the county government gate by the lame man, and saw the group of prisoners being escorted to Ningyang County by soldiers in the name of Right Chancellor Xu Da, Magistrate Yang was completely bewildered.
No, can someone explain to me what it means to be exiled to Ningyang County as a slave?
This is Ningyang County in Shandong, not Ningguta in Harbin!
And that guy who claims to be surnamed Ma, but is actually very likely surnamed Zhu, is now impersonating Xu Da to stuff so many male prisoners under my command. Moreover, all of these male prisoners are relatives and friends of Liu Hongchang and Master Geng. Have you ever considered my thoughts?
Even if you send over a few female prisoners, I can still set up a club and enjoy myself!
While secretly cursing, Magistrate Yang handed over the duties to the soldiers in charge of escorting the prisoners, and then instructed Lame Wu: "Have someone throw these prisoners into the dungeon, and leave the disciplinary rod for now."
After the handover was completed and the county yamen runners took all the criminals away, Yang Shaofeng led Lame Wu to the south gate of the county town to study the official road leading from Ningyang County to Yanzhou Prefecture.
"One step, two steps, three steps," Magistrate Yang walked back and forth on the official road several times, starting to think about what kind of road should be built next.
In Magistrate Yang's plan, this road in the south of the city was not only the official road leading to Yanzhou Prefecture, but also a convenient road for the people of the two communities in the south of the city to enter and leave the county town. The old method of simply clearing the weeds on both sides of the road and leveling it was definitely not acceptable.
If judged by the standards of road construction in later generations, the so-called road construction in the Yuan Dynasty was at most a village road standard, but Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, was thinking of a national highway standard.
However, raising the standards for road construction comes with huge costs, including labor costs, animal power costs, material costs, and time costs.
Ningyang County has no shortage of animal power.
Ningyang County has no shortage of time.
With sufficient animal power and time, and with two hundred male prisoners sent over by Xu Da, the manpower was enough to barely begin road construction.
The only major problem was the cost of materials, or rather, what kind of materials to choose for road construction became the most troublesome issue for Magistrate Yang Shaofeng.
They chose to pave the road with asphalt, but the Ming Dynasty did not have asphalt.
They chose to pave the road with cement, but the Ming Dynasty didn't have any cement.
As for the stone slab road... that lousy thing first has to deal with how to cut the stones into slabs. After the road is laid, there is the problem of maintenance. If any slab is cracked by the sun or damaged by the frost, even if only a corner is damaged, you have to find a way to replace it with a complete slab. The later costs are too high, so Magistrate Yang removed it from the road construction material options early on.
The only remaining option is a well-maintained dirt road, like the Qin Straight Road.
However, while dirt roads like the Qin Straight Road have advantages such as being easy to maintain or even maintenance-free, being flat, and not having to worry about freezing or sun exposure, they also have a whole host of other problems.
For example, the fertile soil used to build straight roads must first be steamed and then stir-fried or burned until charred. Before paving the road, salt, alkali and lime and other substances must be added and mixed evenly. After the road is paved, huge rollers are used to roll it back and forth to achieve the effect of "not a blade of grass growing".
Even if you treat the two hundred or so male prisoners that Xu Da assigned to you like animals, how many meters of road can they pave in a day?
Not to mention that steaming, frying, or burning soil requires a lot of firewood, which will increase the cost of firewood and may even lead to disputes between road construction sites and residents over firewood.
After frowning and pondering for a long time, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng suddenly stopped and turned to look at Limpy Fifth Brother: "Fifth Brother, do you think there are any other good ways to build roads besides using fertile soil?"
Limpy Wu was completely dumbfounded.
No, I, Li Wu, used to be a lowly soldier who wielded a knife and killed people. You, Magistrate Yang, are the well-read scholar. And yet you ask me what method is best for repairing roads?
Shaking his head dumbly, Lame Wu honestly replied, "Your Excellency, I do not know."
Yang Shaofeng sighed slightly, looked at the so-called official road that was less than ten feet wide, and then at the farmland on both sides. After thinking for a while, he instructed Lame Wu: "Have someone get more lime. If the county doesn't have enough, find a way to buy some from Yanzhou Prefecture."
"Once the lime arrives, we will widen the existing official road to both sides. This is the official road connecting Ningyang County to Yanzhou Prefecture, and it must be widened."
"I just thought about it, and this road should be at least ten zhang wide. We'll build a median strip in the middle. Those heading south to Yanzhou Prefecture should go on the right, and those heading from Yanzhou Prefecture to Ningyang should go on the left."
“A narrow path, about ten feet wide, was set up on each side of the main road. During the autumn harvest season, people could dry their grain on the path without affecting the traffic on the main road.”
"It just so happens that there are men from Liu Hongchang and Master Geng's families who can do the hard labor. We can organize them into a construction and maintenance team. Anyway, they have enjoyed the benefits of following Liu Hongchang and Master Geng, so it is only right that they suffer together now that it is time for them to suffer."
"A family should always be together."
"..."
Limpy Wu thought to himself that it was impossible for all of them to be a complete family again, at least in this lifetime. The men were sent to be slaves, and the women were sent to the brothel. In turn, the people in charge, such as Liu Hongchang and Master Geng, would have to go to the execution ground.
After silently complaining to himself, Limpy Five bowed to Yang Shaofeng and said, "Your Excellency, if we want to widen this road to ten zhang, I'm afraid the prisoners that Prime Minister Xu has sent here are not up to the task."
Magistrate Yang glanced at the lame man with exasperation: "If ten zhang isn't enough, how about we build it to five zhang first? If five zhang isn't enough, how about we build it to one zhang first?"
"The important thing now is to mark out the land on both sides first, so that when the population grows up and takes over the land, there won't be any space for me to widen the road. Do you understand?"
Damn it, ten zhang wide is about thirty meters, which looks terrifying. It makes you feel that there was no need to build such a wide road during the Ming Dynasty. But what about an eight-lane road in both directions? Is it still wide?
It does seem quite wide, but don't forget that the roads in the Ming Dynasty were not just roads. People might also be drying grain on the roads. After some of them were used up, it's hard to say whether there would be six lanes left out of the eight lanes.
Moreover, Magistrate Yang wanted to develop Ningyang County into a hub county for the prefectures of Yanzhou, Jinan, Jining, and Tai'an. How could the road be narrow?
But Limpy Five still didn't quite understand. "Master, is it really necessary to build such a wide road? Our Ningyang County is small and poor, with only a handful of carriages and horses passing through each day. Why build such a wide road..."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "Since I am in Ningyang County, Ningyang County will no longer be a small, poor, and run-down county. Putting aside everything else, just look at our Ningyang County's canned goods, salted duck eggs, and chickens from the chicken farm. These things will eventually need to be sold, right?"
"There are also the four artificial lakes we dug. These four lakes will be used to raise fish. If there are too many fish, we can try to make them into canned fish and sell them."
“There are many ways to make money. Opportunities to make money are everywhere now. If we don’t take the initiative, it will be too late if we wait until later. We might just be able to watch others make money while we can only watch helplessly.”
"At the very least, the road to Ningyang County is easier to travel, and merchants from nearby areas will be more willing to do business in Ningyang County, which will ultimately bring some benefits to the people."
After a slight pause, Yang Shaofeng added, "Taking advantage of His Majesty's three-year exemption from corvée labor and taxes for Ningyang County, I have a good reason to gather the people to repair the road and give them money. If the people have money, I will have less to worry about, won't I?"