amaotonovel Chapter 43: Slap Once, Then Give a Sweet Treat
Chapter 43: Slap Once, Then Give a Sweet Treat
Give both grace and power.
A balance between leniency and severity.
As a county magistrate, one cannot simply resort to harsh laws and punishments, nor can one simply show leniency and appeasement.
The former can easily lead to excessive oppression of the people, resulting in a situation where officials force the people to rebel, while the latter can easily make the people lazy, leading to a situation where "a little kindness is appreciated, but excessive kindness breeds resentment."
Ever since he was forcibly conscripted by the heartless and ruthless Chang Yuchun and forced to become the magistrate of Ningyang County, Yang Shaofeng has always treated the people of Ningyang County with kindness and leniency.
For example, land was distributed to the people, allowing each resident of Ningyang County to claim seventeen mu of land.
For example, the cattle and horses sent by Chang Yuchun and Xu Da were distributed to the people so that they could save some effort when farming and improve their farming efficiency.
The advantage of this approach is that it allows one to quickly integrate with the people, who will genuinely respect Yang Shaofeng as the county magistrate. When Magistrate Yang Shaofeng wants to dig an artificial lake, the people will respond enthusiastically, and the digging progress can be guaranteed even without supervision.
However, the downside of this appeasement and leniency is also obvious: there is a possibility that someone might rig gambling on the matches.
To solve this problem, we cannot simply show leniency and appeasement; we must use "strict laws and severe punishments" to demonstrate the "majesty" of a county magistrate.
The young man who placed the buns and bet on whether he could eat fifteen buns was punished directly with whipping. This was a way of demonstrating power and letting the people know that things like gambling and betting were absolutely forbidden.
Yang Shaofeng's approach had a very noticeable effect.
Early the next morning, the heads of the eight communities and sixteen villages arrived at the county government hall.
Seeing that the village heads and wardens were much more serious and respectful than before, Yang Shaofeng went straight to the point and said, "As I said before, Minister Xu and Chang Pingzhang will send a batch of cattle and horses to our Ningyang County."
"After this batch of cattle and horses arrives, I do not intend to distribute them directly to the various communities and villages. Instead, I will first allocate them to the artificial lake area so that the able-bodied men can expedite the digging of the artificial lake."
"Once the artificial lake near Liumiao Village is completed, another similar artificial lake will be dug in Heshan, and then one each will be dug in the east and south of the city to store water."
"Besides that, the wheat planted last winter is almost ready for harvest. You, as commune leaders and village chiefs, must lead the people of each commune and village to harvest the wheat and then arrange the next round of planting."
"Let me make this clear in advance: those able-bodied men who are digging the artificial lakes will not be able to be transferred back to harvest wheat until all four artificial lakes have been dug. I don't care what difficulties you each village or neighborhood may have; you should find your own solutions."
As Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, all the community leaders and elders present were stunned.
Magistrate Yang Shaofeng planned to excavate four artificial lakes in Ningyang County. The village heads and elders were already mentally prepared for this, since the artificial lake near Liumiao Village was not very large and had limited water storage capacity. It could barely cope with minor droughts like this year when there was occasional rain, but in a severe drought year, the artificial lake in Liumiao Village alone would not be enough to solve the problem of water supply and irrigation for all the people in Ningyang County.
Moreover, the artificial lake in Liumiao Village is not just a matter of size. Its proximity to Liumiao Village makes it inconvenient for villages in places like Heshan, Chengdong, and Chengnan to fetch water, which is also a significant issue.
Therefore, building more artificial lakes around Ningyang County is the best solution at present. This will not only increase the water storage capacity, but also make it convenient for people in all directions of Ningyang County to draw water for irrigation.
However, to the surprise of all the village heads and elders, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng would directly propose that the able-bodied men continue digging the artificial lake instead of letting them go back to harvest the wheat.
To put it bluntly, whether it's spring plowing or wheat harvesting, these able-bodied young men are the absolute main force. If these able-bodied young men cannot be transferred back, the people in each community and village will have to let the elderly, weak, women and children harvest the wheat, which will slow down the harvesting speed.
The village heads and hamlets were trying to persuade Yang Shaofeng, the county magistrate, but Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "I ask you, how many acres of wheat do you each have to harvest?"
Before the village heads and elders could answer, Yang Shaofeng pointed to Liu Sanshier, the village head of Liumiao Village, and said, "Your Liumiao Village has thirty-five households and forty mu of land planted with wheat."
Yang Shaofeng then pointed to the head of Xihe Village: "Your Xihe Village has forty-six households, but only eighty mu of land is used to grow wheat."
As Yang Shaofeng called out names one by one, reporting the number of households in each of the eight communities and sixteen villages of Ningyang County, as well as the amount of land planted with wheat, the community leaders and village chiefs were immediately taken aback.
The village is divided into eight communities and sixteen neighborhoods. The number of households and land in each community and neighborhood is not the same. Most communities and neighborhoods have both whole and odd numbers of households and land. If they hadn't made preparations in advance, the community leaders and neighborhood chiefs probably wouldn't have been able to give such a readily available number of data as Magistrate Yang Shaofeng.
Yang Shaofeng then pointed at Liu Sanshier: "Your village has forty mu of wheat. Assuming that a strong young man can harvest one mu of land per day, your village needs forty strong young men. Now tell me, how many strong young men does your village have?"
Liu Thirty-Two was dumbfounded.
Liu Miao Village has only 35 households, with a total population of 90 people including men, women, children, and the elderly, of whom only 50 are able-bodied.
On the surface, it seems that the number of able-bodied men in Liumiao Village is greater than the number of acres of wheat that Liumiao Village needs to harvest. However, the number of able-bodied men that Yang Shaofeng, the county magistrate, can draw from Liumiao Village is only ten. The remaining number of able-bodied men is just enough to allow Liumiao Village to harvest forty acres of wheat in one day.
Besides, in Liu Miao Village and other villages, the wheat that was planted before was not carefully managed because of the chaos when the Ming army launched its northern expedition and the Yuan government fled. The harvest task was not as heavy as that of the carefully managed wheat fields.
So, the county magistrate had already calculated the number of able-bodied men needed for the wheat harvest before he mobilized them to dig the artificial lake.
Liu Sanshier and the other community leaders and elders were completely stunned, and didn't even know how to express their inner thoughts.
respect?
畏？
Or perhaps it's a combination of both?
Seeing the stunned expressions on the faces of the commune leaders, Yang Shaofeng simply waved his hand and said, "After you all go back, organize the wheat harvesting."
"In addition, I will tell the people of your villages and hamlets to prepare for raising chickens. The chicken farms in the county have already hatched a batch of chicks. After I select them, the rest will be distributed to the people of your villages and hamlets."
This is what they call giving a slap followed by a sweet treat.
Simply reporting the data from each community and village and letting them complete the task of harvesting wheat themselves is like giving them a light slap in the face.
Distributing the chicks hatched from the chicken farm to the people of each community and village was like giving them a not-so-sweet treat after a light slap in the face.
Because the number of chicks hatched from the chicken farm is limited, it is impossible to allocate one to every household. So how to distribute these chicks among the communities and neighborhoods has become a problem that the community leaders and neighborhood chiefs have to face.