allonlinenovel Chapter 36 Is this a task that a human can accomplish?
Chapter 36 Is this a task that a human can accomplish?
In Yang Shaofeng's view, what truly motivated these three hundred young men to work so hard was not his own personal charisma, but the ever-present threat of drought.
The reason he was able to command these three hundred able-bodied men so smoothly was entirely because he had timely suggested digging an artificial lake to save the harvest when they could only passively wait for the drought to come. The cattle and horses sent by Xu Da and Chang Yuchun gave them hope that they could dig an artificial lake.
These two conditions combined are the real reason why these young and strong men work so hard.
However, in Li Wu's opinion, Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, was simply belittling himself—if he had proposed digging an artificial lake, these young men probably wouldn't have even given him a second glance.
Ultimately, it was because the county magistrate's image as a kind and compassionate official who always considered the people's needs that the people were willing to be driven by him.
However, Limpy Wu did not argue with Magistrate Yang Shaofeng about these matters anymore. Instead, he turned his attention to the young and strong men who were working hard.
Among the team responsible for weeding, the faster ones had already cut the weeds within a distance of about ten feet in front of them.
The team responsible for clearing the weeds quickly followed, bundled the weeds together, and carried them to the edge of the field.
At the edge of the field, the team responsible for clearing the weeds loaded them directly onto a cart, and in no time a cart was full.
A yamen runner gave a signal, and soon a strong young man put a rein and a collar on the ox and drove the oxcart to transport the wild grass to the county town.
Once they arrived in the county town, several strong women would sort the weeds and then chop them up with a cleaver. The tender ones would be used to feed chickens, ducks, and pigs, while the rest would be used to feed cattle, horses, mules, and other large livestock.
The leftovers would be temporarily stored in warehouses or cellars. When fresh grass ran out in the fall, these pre-stored wild grasses would serve as fodder for cattle, horses, mules, and other large livestock to get through the winter.
You, Magistrate Yang, have the audacity to say you don't know how to command when you can arrange all these messy things so well?
Yang Shaofeng was unaware that Limpy Wu was secretly grumbling to himself. He simply stood at the edge of the field watching the group of young men weeding, bundling, clearing, and turning the soil.
This busy scene inexplicably reminded Yang Shaofeng of the name of one of his cousins.
Battle.
The scale of these three hundred people is certainly not comparable to the nationwide reservoir construction campaign of later generations, but for the people of Ningyang County, isn't this also a great battle against nature?
"We will definitely win."
Yang Shaofeng clenched his fist and said in a low voice, "We will definitely be able to dig this lake and fill it with water before the drought, and we will definitely be able to save this year's harvest."
Limping Wu glanced at Yang Shaofeng and added, "We will definitely win. With the county magistrate personally overseeing things and these able-bodied young men working so hard, we will definitely be able to dig the lake and store the water before the drought!"
……
In Ningyang County, the young widows of Widow Village were practically going crazy.
Listen to the county magistrate's demands: three hundred bowls of soup each morning, noon, and evening, and three thousand steamed buns each time.
Is this a requirement that a human being can fulfill?
Three thousand steamed buns! Not to mention how much time it would take to make three thousand steamed buns, just the amount of flour, oil, wild vegetables, eggs, salt, and firewood needed to steam them is a terrifying number!
Even the most unassuming egg drop soup, if you add up 300 bowls of soup, you'd need at least 20 or 30 eggs, right?
To make egg drop soup taste better, do you need to add half a pound of sesame oil?
Also, how many people would it take to wrap three thousand buns?
How many pots and steamers would it take to steam all of them?
With the limited manpower in Widow Village, let alone providing 3,000 buns and 300 bowls of soup for each meal, even if the number were reduced by half, it would still be an impossible task!
In near despair, Zhang Wangshi went to the heads of the sixteen villages in the county and made a straightforward request: "These buns and soup that the magistrate instructed us to prepare are for the able-bodied men who are digging the reservoir."
“We women alone certainly can’t finish this task; each of your villages must send a few women to help.”
"If you don't send anyone, then let all the able-bodied men in your village go hungry!"
"And wild vegetables! The master has provided noodles, eggs, and oil. You can't go without wild vegetables in your villages."
After harassing the sixteen village chiefs, Zhang Wangshi went directly outside the city to find Lame Wu.
"Fifth Master, I won't even mention how tiring this job is. Just tell me that according to the Master's requirements, this meal will require at least three hundred catties of flour plus a hundred or so eggs. The amount of flour, eggs, and oil that the county has left won't last until tomorrow."
After hearing Zhang Wangshi's tearful account, Lame Wu was dumbfounded.
Three hundred catties of flour?
A hundred or so eggs?
A meal?
My goodness! If you calculate it like that, then 1,000 catties of flour plus 300 eggs a day, and you do that for a month... wouldn't that be 30,000 catties of flour and 10,000 eggs?
The more he calculated, the more alarmed he became. Limpy Wu simply ran to find Yang Shaofeng and cried to him in despair, "Your Excellency, we don't have enough flour and eggs in our county!"
"Even if we can buy flour from the people, or from other counties and Yanzhou Prefecture, we really can't get eggs. Three hundred eggs a day? Not to mention Ningyang County, even Yanzhou Prefecture might not be able to get that many in a day!"
Yang Shaofeng was also dumbfounded.
Although I knew long ago that eggs were relatively rare in ancient times and could not be eaten as freely as in later times, who would have thought that there would be such a shortage of eggs at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty?
After hesitating for a moment, Yang Shaofeng directly asked Lame Wu to lead the way to Zhang Wangshi.
"If all else fails, replace the soup with porridge, or with wild vegetable soup."
"I will send someone to Yanzhou Prefecture and other counties to see if we can gather some eggs."
"The same applies to things like noodles and oil."
“But the quantity of steamed buns and soup must not be less,” Yang Shaofeng pointed to the young and strong men who were busy in the distance: “It is better to have leftovers than to let them work on an empty stomach.”
After Zhang Wangshi turned and left, Yang Shaofeng turned his gaze to Limpy Five: "Brother Limpy Five, this matter still needs to be handled by you."
The lame man nodded resignedly and replied, "Don't worry, Your Excellency, I will make a trip to Yanzhou Prefecture right away and do everything I can to bring back the noodles, oil, and eggs."
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement, a smile playing on his lips: "Actually, it's not just Yanzhou Prefecture—if more lighters are produced, you can arrange for someone to deliver them to Minister Xu. But this time, we don't want money, we want pigs, and big, fat pigs at that."