GBP Chapter 2 Working for others is risky; becoming an official requires caution.
Chapter 2 Working for others is risky; becoming an official requires caution.
Working for Emperor Zhu Chongba was not a good thing.
The salary wasn't high, and there were a lot of rules. If one day you couldn't resist reaching out to steal some money, you might be made into a scarecrow and hung in the county government hall to dry in the wind, euphemistically called "skinning and stuffing with straw," as a warning to future generations.
Of course, whether or not he would be hung up in the county office by Emperor Zhu Chongba to dry in the wind was a matter for the future; how to do a good job as the acting county magistrate was the immediate issue.
After all, Chang Yuchun, that dark-skinned guy, wasn't exactly a saint either.
To save his own life and avoid being hung in the main hall to dry, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng had no choice but to consult the Ningyang County Annals and begin to learn about the situation in Ningyang County.
Ningyang County is not a large county, not even a medium-sized county; it is just a small county that is divided into eight communities.
The so-called "she" was a system established by Kublai Khan, the Yuan Dynasty emperor. Based on natural villages, every fifty households were organized into a she. Those with more than one hundred households formed a separate she, while those with fewer than fifty households were combined with nearby villages to form a she. Those that were too far away and sparsely populated to be combined formed their own she.
Ningyang County is divided into eight communities. Even if each community is fully staffed, the entire Ningyang County would only have eight hundred households. Even if we calculate based on ten people per household, Ningyang County would only have eight thousand people.
From a later perspective, it would be unbelievable for a county to have a population of less than 10,000. However, for the first year of the Hongwu reign, it was perfectly normal for a county to have a population of less than 10,000.
Having experienced hundreds of anti-Yuan uprisings of varying sizes and countless famines caused by natural disasters and man-made calamities, the total population of all 103 counties in Shandong was only a little over one million. Even if we take the round number of two million, the average population per county would be only about 19,000.
It goes without saying that a small county like Ningyang, which has no special economic or military value in terms of geographical location and only has eight communities under its jurisdiction, has a population of around eight thousand, which is already considered quite large.
What troubled Yang Shaofeng was that the eight thousand people in Ningyang County were not concentrated in the county seat, but rather some were concentrated in the county seat and others were scattered in eight villages outside the county seat.
Yang Shaofeng was forced into the position of acting magistrate of Ningyang County by Chang Yuchun, a man of dark complexion. His most important task was to encourage agriculture and sericulture, or in other words, to quickly organize the resumption of production and minimize the trouble for the imperial court.
The problem is that encouraging farming and sericulture can't rely on Yang Shaofeng alone, right?
Because Xu Da led his troops on a northern expedition, the original magistrate of Ningyang County fled, along with his assistants such as the county clerk, registrar, and clerk. Even the county's yamen runners scattered like birds and beasts. If it weren't for Chang Yuchun, that dark-skinned man, having some conscience and leaving a few wounded soldiers who were no longer fit to continue fighting to Yang Shaofeng before leaving, Yang Shaofeng would probably have been left with only a bare-handed magistrate.
"I've seen conscription before, but this is the first time I've ever heard of a conscript being made a county magistrate."
Faced with Yang Shaofeng's complaints, Limpy Wu, who had been handed over to Yang Shaofeng by Chang Yuchun, chuckled and thought to himself, "This is nothing. What's so special about forcibly conscripting a scholar like you into office? Have you ever seen those peasants who only know how to farm being forcibly conscripted into office?"
Seeing that Limpy Five was laughing strangely, Yang Shaofeng asked, "What are you laughing at, Limpy Five?"
The lame man's smile faltered slightly. He lightly slapped himself across the face and said with a forced smile, "It was my rudeness. Please forgive me, Your Excellency."
Yang Shaofeng shook his head slightly, but his heart felt as if something was blocking it, and he couldn't feel at ease.
Just because I asked a casual question, this crippled man who was wounded on the battlefield has to apologize with a smile?
Yang Shaofeng sighed and said, "Fifty Fifth Brother, you are a hero who fought on the battlefield. If you hadn't been appointed by Chang Pingzhang as the acting magistrate of Ningyang County, I would just be a weak scholar who can't lift a finger or carry anything. Why do you have to be so careful, Fifth Brother?"
Seeing Yang Shaofeng's sincerity, Limpy Wu felt a warmth in his heart, but still smiled obsequiously: "Your Excellency, what are you saying? You are the God of Literature descended from heaven, while I am an illiterate man. You are the lord of the county, and I am but a yamen runner. We must still respect the proper order of rank."
Yang Shaofeng opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything. He just sighed again and said, "I'll trouble you, Fifth Brother, to accompany me for a stroll around the county town."
Limpy Wu readily agreed. After Yang Shaofeng changed out of his official robes, he followed Yang Shaofeng out of the county government office and began to stroll around Ningyang County.
Dilapidated, dirty, and poor.
This is the most accurate depiction of Ningyang County.
At first, Yang Shaofeng thought that Ningyang County was simply a county government office that was dilapidated. After all, there is a rule in officialdom that officials do not repair their government offices, and whether a county government office is dilapidated or not cannot truly reflect the actual situation of a county.
However, after Yang Shaofeng took the lame Wu on a tour of Ningyang County, he discovered that the dilapidated county government office was actually the most impressive and respectable building in the entire county.
Limpy Wu looked up at the sun, which was already beginning to set in the west, and leaned close to Yang Shaofeng and whispered, "Your Excellency, it's already noon. Why don't we find a place to eat first?"
Looking at the dilapidated street in front of him, so run-down that there wasn't even a beggar, Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but smile bitterly and asked, "Do you see any place to eat here?"
Limpy Wu was rendered speechless by the question, and Yang Shaofeng was secretly displeased.
In a county town, after walking several streets, I couldn't find a single restaurant to eat at. Is this even possible?
Do you expect me, Magistrate Yang, to personally cook for you?
Seeing the ever-changing expression on Yang Shaofeng's face, Limpy Wu pondered for a moment and then said in a low voice, "Your Excellency, why don't we go back to the county office first? I'll go and inquire around the area to see which woman is a good cook and invite her to work as a cook in the county office."
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement and said, "Alright."
In fact, the Ningyang County government was not just short of a cook. Apart from the dozen or so yamen runners led by Lame Wu, all the other positions were vacant, including assistant officials such as the county magistrate, registrar, and clerk, as well as clerks in various departments, constables, and militia.
It could even be said that the entire Ningyang County is now just an empty shell, sparsely populated and completely neglected.
That's why restaurants and eateries on the street don't dare to open for business, and ordinary people don't dare to wander around on the streets.
After all, it was a critical moment of dynastic change. The defeated Yuan army had just retreated, and who knew what kind of state the newly arrived Ming army would be in?
After a moment's thought, Yang Shaofeng added, "After lunch, Fifth Brother, you should take some men and go again to summon the heads of each commune to the county government. In addition, you should also inquire whether there are any local worthies or gentry in each commune."
But as soon as Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, Lame Wu shook his head and said, "Your Excellency, there are no local worthies or gentry left in any of the villages in Ningyang County. They all ran away when the army arrived."
Curious, Yang Shaofeng asked, "Did they all run away?"
Limpy Wu spat angrily and said, "They all ran away—Your Excellency, think about it, back in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, they implemented a tax farming system. Once those local gentry and gentry gained power, wouldn't they have been ruthlessly plundering people?"
"Later, when the army launched its northern expedition, those wealthy and powerful local gentry, fearing being purged, naturally fled to the Mongol Yuan dynasty to escape. The rest were either beaten to death by the villagers or went into hiding, not daring to show their faces for a while."
As if afraid that Yang Shaofeng would not believe him, Lame Wu continued, "I followed Chang Pingzhang on the Northern Expedition, and this was basically the case the whole way."
Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback, then remembered that this was the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties.
This is utterly outrageous!
There isn't even a local gentry or elder; how am I, Yang, supposed to persuade farmers to start farming?