amaotonovel Chapter 40 Don't brag, don't exaggerate; no one will believe you if you brag.
Chapter 40 Don't brag, don't exaggerate; no one will believe you if you brag.
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Lame Wu with the kind of look one might give someone with intellectual disabilities: "The cows dying of old age are not the same as me slaughtering them and eating their meat."
Of course they are not the same thing.
If a cow dies of old age and is then eaten, no one can find fault with it, let alone claim it violates any imperial laws.
If the ox is slaughtered and eaten before it dies, and some censor is bored and wants to cause trouble, the fact that the ox was slaughtered and eaten will become a handle against it.
Never underestimate the censors and officials who spoke out during the Ming Dynasty, especially those during the Hongwu era.
Although these people did not have much power, Emperor Zhu Chongba implemented the policy of "reporting matters based on hearsay" at the beginning of his reign and also established a strict performance evaluation system for the censors.
The so-called "reporting based on hearsay" means that one can submit a memorial to impeach someone based on mere rumors, without regard to actual evidence, and it doesn't matter if the impeachment is wrong.
The performance evaluation system was even more problematic. Emperor Zhu Chongba would judge whether a censor was conscientious and responsible based on the number of impeachments they made, whether they had solid evidence, and whether they were successful. This also affected the censors' income.
Compared to Yang Shaofeng, the county magistrate who didn't need to worry about performance evaluations, the censors and officials in the Hongwu era were truly miserable beasts of burden.
Slaughtering oxen is the perfect target for the impoverished cattle and horses – officials slaughtering oxen will have a negative impact on the people and affect farming. To put it more seriously, it is undermining the foundation of the Ming Dynasty and must be impeached to the death!
As for why Xu Da specifically requested Yang Shaofeng to slaughter two oxen...
According to Yang Shaofeng's speculation, it's possible that Xu Da genuinely didn't care about the two oxen, or it's possible that Xu Da had already prepared to tarnish his own reputation, and Yang Shaofeng was merely a tool chosen by Xu Da to tarnish it.
Of course, in either case, Xu Da had the ability to protect Yang Shaofeng. Even if he wanted to tarnish his own reputation, when Yang Shaofeng was being impeached by the censors, Xu Da would take the blame for Yang Shaofeng's slaughter of the oxen himself, so Yang Shaofeng wouldn't have to worry about getting into trouble.
However, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng did not want to be a tool used by Xu Da to tarnish his own reputation.
Just as Limpy Wu was slightly stunned, pondering the difference between "letting the oxen die of old age before eating them" and "slaughtering and eating them directly," Yang Shaofeng pointed to the artificial lake next to him.
Yang Shaofeng said with a smile, "Fimp Fifth Brother, remember this: the depth in the center of the lake must be no less than three zhang (approximately 13 meters), the depth along the lake shore must be about seven chi (approximately 1.5 meters), and the deepest part of the lake must also be three chi (approximately 1.5 meters)."
"Once this lake is dug, we'll have to figure out how to fill it with water. Whether we can survive this drought depends entirely on this lake."
After thinking for a moment, Yang Shaofeng added, "Once the water level is almost full, Brother Limpy Fifth will arrange for more people to catch some fish and release them into the artificial lake."
Cattle and horses can have endless offspring, so there's no reason why the fish in this lake can't have endless offspring.
Basically, they just catch fish and throw them in. They throw in a batch this year and another batch next year. Sooner or later, this artificial lake will form a self-sustaining cycle.
At that time, the people of Ningyang County will no longer need to go through the trouble of going to the Guanghe River or Dawen River to fish if they want to eat fish. They can just take a rod and fish in the artificial lake.
Or should we charge them another fishing fee?
After pondering for a while, Yang Shaofeng continued, "Also, just this one artificial lake is a bit lacking. We should dig a few more in other places as well."
Limpy Wu chuckled and said, "If it were before I went to the army of Minister Xu and Minister Chang, this request from the county magistrate would have really given me a headache. But with the cattle and horses that Minister Xu and Minister Chang promised to send this time, I have no worries at all."
Yang Shaofeng laughed as well: "If it weren't for Prime Minister Xu and Chang Pingzhang, I wouldn't have mentioned these things to Brother Limpy Fifth."
Xu Da and Chang Yuchun didn't promise to send many cattle and horses this time, maybe only a few dozen at most. But if those few dozen cattle and horses were used to dig the artificial lake and remove the soil from it, the able-bodied men could save some of their strength.
The same principle applies to storing water from the Guanghe River and the Dawen River into artificial lakes—when there aren't enough oxen and horses, it might be too late to dig canals, and water can only be transported by manpower. However, when there are enough oxen and horses available, digging canals is much more efficient than transporting water by manpower.
If the canal digging is done quickly enough, we might be able to spare some young and strong men to dig new artificial lakes ahead of schedule.
If two or three more artificial lakes of this size can be dug out before the end of May, Magistrate Yang will no longer have to worry about the so-called severe drought.
Let it be dry, anyway, this county magistrate has an artificial lake filled with water. Even if it doesn't rain, the people can still fetch water from the lake for irrigation!
……
Xu Da and Chang Yuchun sent cattle, horses, and fat pigs much faster than Yang Shaofeng had imagined.
Just a few days after Limpy Wu returned, Xu Da and Chang Yuchun sent forty oxen, twenty draft horses, and sixty large fat pigs.
More importantly, among the twenty draft horses, there were two uncastrated stallions, and among the sixty large fat pigs, there were also two uncastrated boars.
This gave Yang Shaofeng a glimpse of hope that cattle, horses, and fat pigs would have "endless generations of offspring."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled, his eyes shining as he looked at the cattle, horses, and fat pigs, praising them repeatedly: "It has to be Prime Minister Xu, it has to be Chancellor Chang, who is quick to address the people's urgent needs and thinks what the people think. This matter has been handled with utmost integrity!"
Limpy Wu glanced at Yang Shaofeng, the county magistrate, and thought to himself, "Are Prime Minister Xu and Chang Pingzhang concerned about the people's urgent needs? They are clearly concerned about what you, the county magistrate, are concerned about, and they are thinking what you, the county magistrate, are thinking!"
After muttering a few complaints to himself, Lame Five chuckled and said, "Your Excellency, should I go find some men to slaughter a big, fat pig first?"
Yang Shaofeng laughed and said, "Find them! Find them quickly! Today, this magistrate is going to give the able-bodied men of Ningyang County an extra meal!"
Limpy Wu immediately clasped his hands in agreement, and then went outside the city to call a few able-bodied men back to the city. He even specially called a man who had slaughtered pigs before.
Several strong young men first used ropes to tie up a large, squealing pig, then carried the tied-up pig onto a chopping board that had been prepared beforehand.
The man who had once slaughtered pigs sharpened his butcher knife and, amidst the desperate cries of the fat pig, plunged it in. Bright red pig blood gushed out and flowed into a large basin on the ground.
A strong young man sprinkled salt into the basin while quickly stirring the pig's blood with a stick. At the same time, he explained to Yang Shaofeng, "Sir, this pig's blood is a good thing. After we sprinkle some chopped green onions on it and steam it, it will be a dish."
After draining the pig's blood, the man who had slaughtered the pig cut a gash in the pig's hind hoof with a knife. He then inserted a long iron rod through the wound, passing it over the pig's abdomen, side, and back, stirring it vigorously several times before taking a deep breath and beginning to blow air into the gash.
Yang Shaofeng asked curiously, "What are you doing?"
Limpy Wu chuckled and said, "Master, he's just bragging about a pig so it'll be easier to shave and skin it later. There's an old saying that you can brag about a pig but not a cow. Nobody believes you when you brag about a cow. It means that you can brag about a pig, but nobody can brag about a cow."
As the man slaughtering the pig took deep breaths and blew air into the wound on the pig's hoof, the pig skin gradually swelled up.
After the pig's skin had swelled up, the man who slaughtered the pig tied up the wounds on the pig's hooves and began to beat the pig all over with a wooden stick. The purpose of doing this was not to separate the pig's skin from its flesh, since no one could actually blow a pig to the point of separating its skin from its flesh.
The reason for the constant pounding is to distribute the air blown in earlier more evenly throughout the pig's body, making it easier to scrape off the pig hair.