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

Chapter 37 Only Fat Pigs, No Money

What do young and strong men who do manual labor lack most?

It's lacking in oil and water!

Normally, farming and clearing land were fine, but apart from helping the young widows in the widow village to weed and clear land, the able-bodied men mainly weeded and cleared land for their own families. They could rest whenever they felt tired, and Magistrate Yang Shaofeng was not responsible for their meals.

But digging an artificial lake is different.

Although this artificial lake was not intended for Magistrate Yang Shaofeng to fish in, and all the people of Ningyang County would benefit from its construction, the project was initiated by Magistrate Yang Shaofeng, and its essence was similar to corvée labor. Therefore, Magistrate Yang was obligated to be responsible for the food of these able-bodied men.

What troubled Yang Shaofeng was that no matter how delicious the wild vegetable filling was made by the young widows, they could not change the fact that the filling was wild vegetables and not very oily.

This can't really be blamed on Magistrate Yang Shaofeng. After all, the village heads and wardens searched the entire Ningyang County and only managed to find two piglets for Yang Shaofeng. There were no fat, strong pigs at all, and they couldn't even find a single sheep.

Without lamb and pork, there's naturally no oil or fat to speak of.

Without enough oil and fat, even eating ten or eight steamed buns in one meal might not be enough, and you'll feel hungry very quickly.

As for large livestock such as cattle, horses, and mules, those things are more precious than people in the eyes of ordinary people. Unless they are really starving to death, people would rather starve than let those large livestock go hungry, let alone slaughter them for meat.

That's why Yang Shaofeng offered to provide fat pigs for free, hoping that Xu Da and Chang Yuchun could help him get a few. He didn't expect them to have meat every meal, just enough so that these young men could occasionally have some meat and some oil.

……

"Is he acting like an official or a servant to the people?"

After hearing Magistrate Yang Shaofeng's demand that he only wanted fat pigs and not money, even Xu Da couldn't help but complain.

"Giving land to the people, and then trying to make them earn money, and then trying to make sure the able-bodied men can eat some meat—is this the kind of thing an official would do?"

Xu Da couldn't understand it no matter how hard he tried: "No, what the hell is he after? You say he's trying to win people's hearts, but Magistrate Yang keeps saying he's speaking well of the imperial court. You say he's gone mad from reading too much, but with so many scholars in the world, why can't there be a few more fools like him?"

Faced with Xu Da's crazy complaints, Limpy Five chuckled and said, "The county magistrate isn't actually stupid from reading too much. After all, he had so many chickens gathered for him and even planned how to eat them after they grew up."

Xu Da glanced at Limpy Wu: "Did he give him money? Damn it, I hate officials like him the most. I feel guilty even when I'm in front of him."

Limpy Wu didn't dare to reply, he just chuckled awkwardly.

Xu Da snorted and said, "Alright, we've agreed to the fat pigs he wants. We'll have someone send him a few more pigs and a couple more cows later. When you get back, remember to tell him that the cows we're giving him this time aren't for him to distribute to the people for plowing, but for him to slaughter and eat."

After a long silence, Xu Da spoke again: "Also, the higher-ups sent word that the court has decided that any oxen captured in the north will be distributed to the people of the north as much as possible."

“We are the Prime Minister of the Imperial Court. We can’t just keep coming to Ningyang County. We might not be able to give him any more cattle in the future.”

The lame man raised his head and looked at Xu Da, asking, "Is it related to the county magistrate?"

Xu Da nodded: "The things that Magistrate Yang did in Ningyang County are known not only to me, but also to those in higher positions and the imperial court."

"His actions will indeed win the hearts of the people and help them resume production as soon as possible."

"If all the officials in other parts of Shandong were like him, Shandong might become the rear base of our Northern Expeditionary Army after we recover Henan."

Seeing the worry on Limpy Wu's face, Xu Da chuckled and said, "But you don't need to worry. The court won't be collecting taxes in Shandong for the time being. Besides, with me and that black-faced Chang Yuchun around, no one in the court can target your county magistrate."

Limpy Wu was relieved and chuckled, saying, "Yes, I have remembered all of Minister Xu's instructions. I will relay them to the county magistrate in detail later."

Xu Da nodded and continued, "The fat pig your magistrate wants, I will prepare it for him today, and have it sent to Ningyang first thing tomorrow morning."

The lame man glanced gratefully at Xu Da, then cupped his hands in thanks and said, "Yes, on behalf of the county magistrate, I thank you, Prime Minister Xu!"

Xu Da snorted coldly: "Get lost. Go and have a go to Chang Yuchun's place and see if that charcoal-headed guy can get a few more pigs for your magistrate."

Limpy Wu bowed again, saying, "Yes, I will go to Chang Pingzhang's place right away."

Chang Yuchun's army and Xu Da's army were not too far apart. After galloping for two or three hours, Lame Wu caught up with Chang Yuchun's army.

Chang Yuchun was different from Xu Da. As the prime minister, Xu Da had to consider more than just fighting, and he couldn't just consider Shandong.

But for Chang Yuchun, the most important thing now is to get enough lighters from Yang Shaofeng; the rest of the miscellaneous poultry like chickens, ducks, pigs, and geese are not so important.

"Want a pig? Give it to him!"

"Forget about eggs and all that stuff. I've already promised to give him the pig. If I give him eggs too, what will my warhorses eat?"

"But don't worry, I'll immediately send people to Jiangnan to scavenge chickens, ducks, pigs, geese and the like for him. In the end, your magistrate won't be shortchanged."

Only then did Limpy Five feel relieved.

If we can get pigs, that will be good. With pigs, I can give the county magistrate an explanation when I go back, and the magistrate won't have to worry about how to provide the able-bodied men with oil and fat.

Relieved, Limpy Wu bowed to Chang Yuchun and said, "Prime Minister, I still need to go to Yanzhou Prefecture to collect some more flour, soybean oil, and eggs, so I'll take my leave now."

Chang Yuchun grunted and had someone bring over a silver ingot: "Tell your magistrate that I haven't even seen this lighter yet, but I've already promised to get him a few big fat pigs and give him another ten taels of silver as a deposit. Next time you deliver lighters, make sure to send them to my army first."

The lame man was very curious. He took the silver ingot that Chang Yuchun threw to him and put it away. Then he asked with a fawning smile, "Pingzhang, is there anything special about this lighter?"