amaotonovel Chapter 21 Is there any official in the world as good as me?
Chapter 21 Is there any official in the world as good as me?
Given condition 1: The biggest problem in Widow Village is the lack of men, which prevents them from deep plowing and makes it difficult to have a good harvest in the autumn.
Given condition two: The dozen or so wounded soldiers left in Ningyang County by Chang Yuchun, led by Lame Wu, were all bachelors who didn't have to worry about anything, and because of their injuries, it wasn't easy for them to find wives.
So here's the problem: based on the principle that two negatives make a positive, if Limpy Five and his group visit Widow's Village more often, they might find each other interested. Furthermore, considering the psychology of women's best friends introducing potential partners, some of the young widows in Widow's Village, once they have someone they like, will inevitably want to introduce other young widows they're close to to him.
Then, the problem of no men in Widow Village was solved, as was the problem of bachelors like Limpy Wu finding it difficult to find wives. Even Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate of Ningyang County, no longer had to worry about Widow Village all the time. It was a win-win-win situation.
The key is that the young widows will thank Yang Shaofeng, and Limpy Wu and the others will also thank Yang Shaofeng. In the end, it's like everyone else wins once, while Yang Shaofeng wins three times. It's like Qin Shi Huang touching an electric wire, winning until he's numb!
Of course, even if they could sell Limpy Five and the others, it would only solve most of the problems. A small part of the problems would remain unresolved, and it was precisely this small part of the problems that was the most troublesome.
First of all, there were only a dozen or so men, while there were more than twenty young widows in Widow Village. According to the aesthetic standards of Lame Wu and the ordinary young men in Ningyang County, they would only be interested in the few strong women with broad shoulders and thick waists who could carry hoes and work, and would never be interested in the dozen or so young widows with slender waists.
In their extremely simple aesthetic view, the necessary condition for getting a wife is that she can bear children, and the sufficient condition is that she can work. Whether she is pretty or not is not important.
This inevitably means that some slender young widows will remain unmarried. How to enable these young widows to survive is the real headache for Yang Shaofeng.
Just as Zhang Wangshi said, even if Magistrate Yang Shaofeng allocated land to these young widows, they might not be able to hold onto it, and sooner or later it would all be seized by others.
Secondly, Yang Shaofeng cannot solve the employment problem of more than a dozen young widows in a short period of time.
Although raising chickens, pigs, and horses all require manpower, the number of chicks and piglets is too small to require more than a dozen people. Moreover, Yang Shaofeng had already found manpower long ago, and it's impossible to just replace them now.
What should we get them to do?
Yang Shaofeng pondered for a while, then turned to look at Limpy Five and asked, "Brother Limpy Five, what do you think those women in the widow's village can do?"
Limping Wu said, "The stronger ones can cut grass, bundle grass, and turn the soil. They are not necessarily any worse than the men. It is the weak ones who can only do sewing or knitting."
Yang Shaofeng glanced at the lame man and said, "Of course I know all that. What I'm asking is, is there anything in Ningyang County that they can do?"
Lame Wu immediately shook his head and replied, "Then I don't know."
Yang Shaofeng was greatly troubled.
The woman was thin and frail.
In the prosperous areas of Jiangnan, even a slender woman wouldn't have trouble finding work, since the textile industry in Jiangnan was relatively developed and many workshops needed female workers.
But Shandong wouldn't work, and Ningyang County would be even worse; there simply weren't enough workshops that needed female workers.
Small-scale handicrafts?
The small handicrafts that followed, such as making bracelets, braiding ropes, and jewelry boxes, were based on people's pursuit of a higher standard of living after their living conditions improved. In the first year of the Hongwu reign, when even food was a problem, these small handicrafts had no fertile ground to survive.
In the future, in the future, if this were in the future, I wouldn't have such a headache!
How wonderful life will be in the future! Just sit down in the club, and those sensible girls will come up to you, not only whispering "good brother" but also offering to light your lamp with a lighter...
lighter!
The Ming Dynasty did not have lighters, but it did have tinderboxes!
Besides, what's so difficult about making a lighter? Electronic gas lighters are hard to make, but kerosene lighters with flint are incredibly simple—it's just a flint, a small piece of flint, a piece of cotton, an outer casing, a thick cotton thread as a match cord, and then you fill it with kerosene, and that's it!
The key question is, who in the entire Ming Dynasty would dare say they didn't need this thing?
After all, tinderboxes have a limited lifespan and are quite troublesome to make, making them unaffordable for ordinary people.
Once the flint lighter is invented, it will be a complete game-changer for the traditional tinderbox!
We'll sell it to Chang Yuchun first, then through Chang Yuchun to Zhu Yuanzhang, and then sell it all over the Ming Dynasty!
The more Yang Shaofeng thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. He even wanted to praise himself a few times—I, Yang, not only want to solve the life-long marriage problems of the young widows in the widow village, but also want to find them a job that can earn money. Is there any official in the world as good as me?
After secretly praising himself a few times, Yang Shaofeng smiled and asked Limpy Fifth Brother, "Fifth Brother, the ancients said to settle down and start a family. You're not getting any younger, so why aren't you thinking about settling down and starting a family yet?"
Limpy Wu was slightly taken aback, but in the end he could only sigh helplessly and said, "Your Excellency, it's not that I, Limpy Wu, don't want to get married, but as you know, we are all rough men who risked our lives on the battlefield. We spend any money we have on wine, and none of us can save any. In addition, we are all crippled, so no decent family would be willing to marry their daughter to us."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "So what did you think of the women you saw in Widow Village today? Were there any that you, Brother Limpy Fifth, liked?"
After Yang Shaofeng said that, Bo Wu suddenly felt like he had been enlightened. Although the young widows in the widow village were not virgins, we rough men were just happy to have a wife, a hot meal when we got home, someone to care for us, and someone to talk to. We didn't dare to ask for more.
"Oh dear!" Lame Five slapped his forehead, exclaiming with regret, "I was so focused on how to get in and scout the enemy's position that I forgot to check which pretty girl was the best-looking. What a waste! What a waste!"
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Limpy Five and said, "After they've all finished recognizing their relatives by tomorrow, they should move to the county town the day after tomorrow. Then they need to reclaim their land. You, Limpy Five, are familiar with all these things. Why don't you bring the brothers along?"