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

Chapter 109 You treat me like a beast of burden, I'll treat you like a vengeful spirit.

Standing on the edge of the field in Liumiao Village, watching the villagers drive their oxen and seed drills to sow wheat, Yang Shaofeng felt an urge to take off his boots and socks and run around the field a couple of times.

No matter what Magistrate Yang said, the people of Liumiao Village blocked him and refused to allow him to go to the fields in person.

The villagers of Liumiao Village had a simple thought: the land was full of soil and manure. If an old man stepped in manure while working in the fields, how would the people of Liumiao Village explain it to the other villagers in the seven communities and sixteen neighborhoods? Would the people of Liumiao Village be able to go out in the future?

I'm afraid that as soon as I step out the door, I'll be criticized and gossiped about behind my back!

Therefore, it is permissible for the master to stand by the fields and give instructions even if he doesn't understand them, but he must absolutely never be allowed to work in the fields himself.

Then, Magistrate Yang could only stay in the fields of Liumiao Village, watching helplessly as the villagers directed the oxen to sow the seeds.

Magistrate Yang had a good habit: he would never give orders on things he didn't understand.

Since I've never farmed before and don't know how to cultivate the land, I'll let the people do it themselves, and I'll learn as I go, learning as much as I can.

Unfortunately, after several attempts to learn how to grow mushrooms were stopped each time, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng had no choice but to give up. Instead, he had Limpy Five summon Liu Thirty-Two, the head of Liu Temple Village, and asked, "How long will it take to prepare the materials for growing mushrooms?"

Liu Thirty-Two said, "Don't worry, sir. I've already had people prepare sawdust. In another ten or twenty days, everything will be ready, and then we can start planting mushrooms."

Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback and asked, "So long? It's just a little bit of sawdust, and it's taken more than ten or twenty days?"

Liu Sanshier, hunched over, chuckled and was about to admit his mistake and accept the scolding when Yang Shaofeng suddenly sensed something was wrong and asked, "How did you get the sawdust prepared? Did you saw wood?"

Liu Thirty-Two immediately shook his head in denial: "How could that be? Although I am a bit stupid, I know that it is impossible to collect a large amount of sawdust by just sawing wood."

At this point, Liu Thirty-Two said with a rather proud tone, "So, not only did they have people sawing wood, but they also had people plane wood chips, and then had people grind the wood chips into sawdust."

Upon hearing what Liu Sanshier said, Yang Shaofeng was completely stunned.

Pointing in the direction of the Da Wen River, Yang Shaofeng said, "Didn't you ever think of having someone connect the plane to the waterwheel, so that when the waterwheel turns, it can directly drive the plane to plan the wood shavings?"

As if struck by lightning, Liu Thirty-Two was completely stunned.

plane?

Waterwheel?

According to the older generation, waterwheels used to be used not only for drawing water for irrigation, but also for connecting to watermills to grind grains.

Although I had never actually seen it, since I had heard about it, why didn't I think of having someone connect the waterwheel to the planer?

While cursing himself for being stupid, Liu Thirty-Two said with annoyance, "Don't worry, sir, I'll find someone to try it out later."

Yang Shaofeng glanced at the villagers busy working in the fields and couldn't help but sigh. He said, "Forget it. The villagers of Liu Miao Village are already very busy with farming. If we add the waterwheel business to that, even if you were split in two, it wouldn't be enough."

"Alright then, you keep an eye on the seed drill for me. As for the waterwheel, I'll personally take a look at it later."

At this point, Yang Shaofeng patted Liu Sanshier on the shoulder again: "Remember, keeping a close eye on the sowing of wheat is the most important thing. Whether the people of Liumiao Village can eat white flour buns to their heart's content next year, and whether they can eat three meals a day, depends on whether you can keep a close eye on the sowing."

After Liu Sanshier nodded heavily in agreement, Yang Shaofeng instructed Limpy Wu, "Let's go back to the county government office first. I'll trouble Limpy Wu to go and call those carpenters to the county government office."

……

"Here is a platform. The wood is placed on the platform, and several planes are set up separately under the platform. They are connected to a crankshaft and a waterwheel. The water flow drives the waterwheel, which in turn drives the crankshaft. The crankshaft drags the planes across the wood."

As Yang Shaofeng spoke, he gestured casually with his hands. Finally, he said to the carpenters, "Of course, what I'm saying is just my own opinion. In reality, I have no idea how to make this thing. In the end, it will still depend on you."

The carpenters were also exhausted from listening.

I understand, or at least I roughly understood.

Moreover, what the county magistrate wanted was not difficult to obtain.

However, the biggest problem for Ningyang County now is where to get so many planes?

Yes, we are all carpenters, so we must have planes in our hands, but who has a second plane?

If we use all the planes we have to install on the waterwheel the master wants, will we still be able to do carpentry work in the future?

As for remaking or buying new ones...

Sorry, but the Tartars packed up all the blacksmiths and took them with them before they fled. You can't find a single blacksmith in Ningyang County, or even in the entire Yanzhou Prefecture!

After listening to the carpenters' words, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng was completely stunned. He had been wondering why no one in Ningyang County knew how to do blacksmithing, and now he finally got the answer.

After a long silence, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng sighed and said, "Forget it, let's put this matter aside for now. You can continue to carve wood shavings. I will find a way to solve the blacksmith's and iron's problems."

After waving for the carpenters to go back and continue manually planing the wood, Magistrate Yang once again went into his study and began to think about how to get two blacksmiths to Ningyang County.

Of course, if he simply wanted to hire two blacksmiths, Magistrate Yang wouldn't have needed to go to such lengths. After all, he had some connections with the Chang brothers, Chang Mao and Chang Sheng, and also with Wang Qiong, the Imperial Palace Attendant. Hiring two blacksmiths wouldn't have been too difficult for Magistrate Yang.

Magistrate Yang was thinking that he might take advantage of this opportunity to set up an iron smelting workshop. In later years, Hebei was able to make a great splash, and it is said that the underreported output of a certain city could even make it onto the world's list. There is no reason why Ningyang County in Shandong could not even set up a small iron smelting workshop.

Having made up his mind, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng decided to make Old Zhu the victim once again—you, Old Zhu, treat me, Yang, like a beast of burden, and I, Yang, treat you as a victim, that's perfectly reasonable, isn't it?

Magistrate Yang spread out his memorial and began writing it for Emperor Zhu.

"Yang Jin, the magistrate of Ningyang County, Yanzhou Prefecture, reports that Ningyang is short of iron and wishes to build an iron smelting workshop. The reasons are as follows... We await your imperial decree and respectfully submit this report."

"On the 28th day of the seventh month of the first year of Hongwu, Yang Shaofeng, a minister of Ningyang County Government."

Before the ink had even dried, Lame Five rushed to the study door, cupped his hands in greeting to Magistrate Yang, and said, "Your Excellency, Magistrate Zhao of Wenshang County has arrived again, but..."

Seeing that Limpy Five hesitated, Yang Shaofeng frowned and asked, "But what?"

Limpy Wu said, "It seems that Magistrate Zhao is no longer the magistrate he used to be? Anyway, the official robes he is wearing this time are quite different from the ones he wore last time."