GBP Chapter 69 Old Xu is truly ruthless!
Chapter 69 Old Xu is truly ruthless!
The lame man glanced at Xu Da, then at the loose silver in his hand, and couldn't help but blink: "Prime Minister Xu, this..."
Seeing the clumsy and silly look on Limpy Five's face, Xu Da's face darkened immediately. He snorted and said, "What is this? Leave the canned food here and take your money and get out of here."
"Also, when you get back, tell your county magistrate that the army will soon recover Henan. Tell him to prepare plenty of fried noodles. Although we can't send canned food to the army anymore, tell him to make more. I'll send someone to pick it up later."
Limpy Wu immediately realized what was going on.
The claims that canned food spoils easily when shaken, and that getting sick from eating it is a capital offense, are all just a mix of truth and falsehood. They are all things that Prime Minister Xu uses to fool people. He is simply worried that there will not be enough pork in Ningyang County, so he wants to take all the canned food for himself!
Just as Limpy Wu was secretly grumbling to himself, Xu Da glared at him and said, "What are you still standing here for? Take your money and get out!"
After Lame Wu left with the silver, Xu Da ordered his personal guards to summon several of his generals: "Here are fifty cans of cooked pork. Open them and you can eat. Each of you take a few back as a reward for your meritorious brothers."
Xu Da picked up the can he had just shaken, opened it, and had several generals gather around to look: "See that? It's full of big chunks of meat, and the broth inside is salted too. Take the meat out and eat it; this broth will make anything you cook taste delicious."
After showing off to a few generals, Xu Da had several bowls of fried noodles left by Limpy Wu prepared: "There's a bit of salt in this, and some Sichuan peppercorn powder too. It tastes pretty good. You can each take some back with you."
……
"They want canned food, but won't let it be sent to the army. Instead, they want it left in Ningyang County to wait for them to send someone to pick it up? Old Xu is really ruthless!"
After a moment's thought, Yang Shaofeng looked at the lame man and asked, "Will the army be able to recover Henan soon and prepare to continue north to attack Dadu?"
Limpy Wu was surprised by Yang Shaofeng's keen judgment of the war situation, but he showed no outward reaction. He simply bowed and replied honestly, "Your Excellency, Prime Minister Xu only said that Henan would be recovered soon, but he did not mention continuing to march north to attack Dadu."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and didn't press the matter further.
For Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, it didn't matter whether the canned food was sent to the army or whether Xu Da sent someone to pick it up, nor did it matter whether Xu Da was about to lead troops on a northern expedition. What mattered was being able to sell the canned food.
As long as the canned goods can be sold, I can take the opportunity to buy more pigs from Jiangnan, and at the same time, I can take this opportunity to set up a porcelain kiln in Ningyang County to fire ceramic jars.
These are all real benefits—there are opportunities for middlemen to make a profit when purchasing pigs from Jiangnan, and with the porcelain kiln, Ningyang County can take the opportunity to develop a ceramics industry and also fire some bricks and tiles.
As for fried noodles... compared to the benefits that canned pork can bring, fried noodles at most help Ningyang County consume some locusts, and there are no other benefits.
Magistrate Yang had already calculated that the cost of one pound of flour was about seven copper coins, and the cost of dried locusts was five copper coins per pound. One pound of fried noodles contained nine ounces of flour plus one ounce of locust powder, so the cost was less than seven copper coins. The price sold to Xu Da and Cha Yuchun was ten copper coins per pound. Adding the costs of salt, firewood, and transportation, the profit margin per pound of fried noodles was at most one copper coin.
Logically speaking, a food business like fried noodles should have at least a 50/50 profit margin. A profit of one cent per pound is pitifully small; it's laughable.
From the perspective of Magistrate Yang Shaofeng, profit is a concept that cannot be measured by the amount of profit in business.
Take fried noodles as an example. Although the profit of one coin is small, fried noodles cannot be conjured out of thin air. It requires someone to catch locusts, someone to dry the locusts, and women to fry them. In this series of processes, even if each woman can earn ten coins a day, it will amount to three hundred coins a month.
Although three hundred coins is not much, not even enough for a meal for those high-ranking officials, for the poor and small Ningyang County, three hundred coins is indeed an astronomical sum that is too much to know how to spend!
As long as people gradually accumulate more money, small economic entities such as steamed bun shops, chicken farms, and pig farms can be revitalized, and the overall finances of Ningyang County will gradually improve.
Of course, for Magistrate Yang, the incident of sending Limpy Wu to sell canned goods only to have Xu Da point out its shortcomings, such as difficulty in preservation after shaking, served as a reminder that time travelers are not omnipotent, and that everything they create is not necessarily the best. He should think twice before doing anything in the future and not make decisions on a whim.
Magistrate Yang lay on his recliner, pondering the gains and losses of Limpy Wu's trip to Xu Da and Chang Yuchun's army, while also considering what to do next for the entire Ningyang County.
During the time that Limpy Wu traveled between Xu Da's army and the city, the locusts in Ningyang County had been almost completely captured, and the artificial lake in the east of the city had been mostly dug. It would be completely completed in about ten more days.
The only regrettable thing is that we are currently in a drought period, and the Guanghe River and Dawen River are basically dry. Even if the artificial lake in the east of the city is completed, there is no way to draw water into it for the time being.
However, it doesn't matter. There is still water in Daming Lake in the west of the city, and there is also water in some deep wells in the county town and the eight communities outside the city. To say that this year's harvest is completely unaffected by the drought is pure nonsense, but most of the harvest can still be preserved.
With a good harvest, and with Emperor Zhu Chongba having already sent people to transport grain to Ningyang County, the people of Ningyang County have no problem surviving the entire dry season, or even surviving until the autumn harvest and the winter wheat harvest the following summer.
Unless it doesn't rain after autumn and doesn't snow in winter.
Just as Yang Shaofeng was idly wondering if it would stop raining in the fall, the county officials who were left behind at the county government office rushed over to the artificial lake in the east of the city.
“Your Honor, several local gentry have come from the city, demanding to see you. They…” the bailiff stammered, “They say they want Your Honor to return all their land to them, or they will go to the capital to beat the grievance drum and sue Your Honor.”
As soon as the constable finished speaking, Lame Five, who was sitting next to Magistrate Yang, became agitated: "Damn it, what kind of bullshit gentry are they? I'll chop them all up right now!"
Yang Shaofeng stopped the lame man, squinted his eyes and pondered for a moment before instructing the yamen runner: "Here's what you'll do. Go back and tell them to beat the grievance drum in the county yamen first. I'll go back and hold court to hear the case right away."
The lame man cried out urgently, "No, Your Excellency, something's not right!"
Yang Shaofeng asked in surprise, "What's wrong?"
Limpy Wu said, "County government office, today is June 17th, not the number three, six, or nine, and it is not the time to issue a complaint. Which of the more than two thousand people in our Ningyang County does not know this? Moreover, April to July is the busy farming season, and there is absolutely no reason to hold court to hear cases. These so-called gentry who suddenly appeared chose today to make trouble at the county government office. This is just taking advantage of the county magistrate's good temper!"
This has been the rule since ancient times.
Traditional Chinese culture held that the incidence of litigation was a measure of the purity and simplicity of a society's social customs. If the number of lawsuits increased in the area under the jurisdiction of an official, it was considered a sign that the official was not fulfilling his duties. Therefore, the most important task for officials was to "settle disputes."
The saying goes, "When a new official takes office, his first priority is to pacify the people, and the way to pacify the people is to first settle disputes." This led to some absurd regulations on settling disputes: the Tang Dynasty stipulated that people could only file lawsuits concerning household registration, marriage, and land during the five months from October to February of the following year, thus limiting the people from filing lawsuits as much as possible; the Song Dynasty further shortened this period to four months, allowing lawsuits to be filed only from October to January of the following year.
After Emperor Zhu Chongba established the Ming Dynasty, he greatly extended the period during which people were allowed to file lawsuits. However, considering the busy farming season, he also stipulated that "lawsuits should be suspended from the first day of the fourth month to the thirtieth day of the seventh month."
Even within the permitted period for citizens to file lawsuits, it's not something that can be done casually. There's a concept of "lawsuit days," meaning lawsuits are generally only allowed on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th of each month. The idea of people beating drums to appeal for justice, as depicted in movies and TV dramas, is pure nonsense.
Now these gentry who have appeared out of nowhere are coming to file a complaint on June 17th, a day that is neither a day for filing lawsuits on the 3rd, 6th, or 9th of the month, and is also a time when "lawsuits are settled during the busy farming season." It is somewhat of a test, so it is no wonder that Hu Bowu got angry.
However, Yang Shaofeng didn't care at all. Instead, he smiled and said, "Don't worry, Brother Limpy Fifth. I know they deliberately chose this time to make things difficult for me. But since they've made their move, I, as the county magistrate, should accept it. Otherwise, wouldn't it be too easy for them?"
After a moment's thought, Yang Shaofeng instructed Limpy Five, "Brother Limpy Five, please go and inform the heads of each village and hamlet, and have them each bring a few able-bodied men to the county government. Remember to tell them that I will take care of them and they will not lose their land."
"Furthermore, they are to be instructed to restrain the able-bodied men they brought with them. No one is allowed to speak out, and they are strictly forbidden from assaulting anyone in the county government office. Everything must be done according to my orders."
Limpy Wu reluctantly bowed and agreed, muttering under his breath as he walked towards the tree where his horse was tied: "The county magistrate has such a good temper. If you ask me, he should have beaten him half to death before throwing him out. And he still dares to complain! He'll complain to his mother's leg!"