dognovel Chapter 55 The shrew almost ruined me!
Chapter 55 The shrew almost ruined me!
Wang Qiong wasn't too concerned about being beaten up.
Compared to the trivial matter of being beaten up, something else was more concerning to Wang Qiong.
After a moment's thought, Wang Qiong cupped his hands to the lame man and the group of young men, and said loudly, "Gentlemen, I was misled by what others said and spoke rudely to Magistrate Yang without verifying the facts. Please forgive me."
Seeing that the expressions on the faces of the lame man and the young men had eased slightly, Wang Qiong bowed to the lame man once again and said, "Excuse me, brother, where is your county magistrate now? I have something to discuss with him."
Limpy Wu snorted and said, "My magistrate is currently leading people to build waterwheels on the Da Wen River. If you, Wang Sheren, need to see my magistrate on official business, I will inform him that my magistrate is waiting for you at the county office. If it is a private matter, I would like to ask you, Wang Sheren, to condescend to come with me to the Da Wen River."
Wang Qiong nodded: "Then I'll trouble you to lead the way, brother."
Limpy Wu looked Wang Qiong up and down again, first instructing the young men to continue their work, then coldly snorted at Wang Qiong: "Come with me."
After saying this, Lame Wu went to a tree by the roadside to untie the horse's harness, mounted the horse, and signaled Wang Qiong to follow.
After the two traveled north for a while, Wang Qiong suddenly asked, "May I ask, brother, in that village called Shawo to the south, is there an old woman in the village who has a grudge against your county magistrate?"
Limpy Wu turned his head and glanced at Wang Qiong, a look of sudden realization on his face: "You listened to that old woman's nonsense and thought that my county magistrate was a cruel and heartless official?"
Wang Qiong chuckled, which was taken as tacit agreement with Limpy Five's statement.
Limping Wu chuckled and said, "The entire Shawo Village has thirteen households, which, together with Gengzhuang not far away, form one community. The old woman you mentioned has the husband's surname as Geng and her maiden surname as Jin. Everyone calls her Geng Jinshi."
"Chen Gengshi's family consists of four people: her son Geng Da, her daughter-in-law Li, and a grandson who does not yet have an official title and is simply called Geng Shitou."
"Her son, Geng Da, is slick and idle, and her daughter-in-law, Li, is frail and not very bright. As a result, her son was often scolded by the commune leader, and her daughter-in-law, Li, was unable to get a job in the lighter workshop."
"That's why Geng Jinshi often complained about the county magistrate in private, but my magistrate was magnanimous and pitied her as an old woman, so he never held it against her."
Limping Five pointed at Wang Qiong's scholar's robe: "This time, they probably thought you were an outsider scholar and wanted to use your mouth to ruin my county magistrate's reputation. If you hadn't gone to the artificial lake to spout nonsense and got beaten up, I'm afraid my county magistrate's reputation would have been ruined by that old woman."
Wang Qiong's face turned ashamed, and she kept muttering, "You shrew! You almost ruined my life, and you almost ruined a good official's life!"
……
When Limpy Wu led Wang Qiong to the Dawen River, Magistrate Yang Shaofeng was leading a group of carpenters to build a waterwheel.
The so-called waterwheel, also known as the skywheel, is a frame more than three zhang (about 10 meters) high erected in the river. An axle is installed in the middle of the frame, supporting twenty-four wooden spokes. Each spoke has a scraper and a bucket at the top. The scraper scrapes water, and the bucket fills it with water. When the river water rushes in, the spokes are slowly rotated by the inertia of the water. The buckets are filled with water and lifted up one by one. When they reach the top, the buckets will naturally tilt and pour out the water.
The principle of a waterwheel is very simple. It is recorded in the "Outer Chapters of Zhuangzi: Heaven and Earth": "Carve wood to make a mechanism, with the back heavy and the front light, and draw water as if it were being drawn up, as if pouring hot water."
That is, a horizontal beam is supported on a wooden frame, with a bucket for drawing water hanging at one end and a heavy object hanging at the other end, like a lever, which can save the effort of drawing water. It can be said to be the precursor to the invention of the waterwheel.
During the reign of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Bi Lan invented a "tumbler," which already had basic components such as wheels, axles, and grooves. Another account states that Ma Jun of the Wei Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period also manufactured a "tumbler."
During the Tang and Song dynasties, significant advancements in wheel and axle applications enabled the use of water power, leading to the development of the "waterwheel." Combined with a water tank and connecting pipes, it allowed for the high-speed transport of water from low to high elevations, resulting in greater efficiency and saving valuable manpower.
The waterwheel that Yang Shaofeng and the people built was a waterwheel that could deliver water at low temperatures and high volumes.
According to Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate of Liumiao Village, the artificial lake in Liumiao Village will be completed today, and the waterwheel on the Dawen River will also be installed today. The only thing left is to dig a ditch from the Dawen River to Liumiao Village.
However, while waterwheels are easy to build, ditches are difficult to dig.
Assuming the ditch is one meter wide at both ends, four feet deep, and thirty-five li long, the total earthwork volume would be approximately 21,000 cubic meters. If we calculate based on 300 able-bodied men, each digging two cubic meters of earth per day, it would take about thirty-five days to complete the entire ditch.
For the people of Ningyang County now, let alone thirty-five days, they may not even be able to wait fifteen days. After the Grain in Ear solar term, beans need to be planted, and after planting beans, a lot of water is needed. Unfortunately, the heavens are not sending rain, and the water volume of the Dawen River is constantly decreasing. It is estimated that in another ten days to half a month, the Dawen River may dry up!
Therefore, there is only one path facing Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate: to mobilize all able-bodied men and livestock in Ningyang County, without affecting the bean planting as much as possible, and even to directly transfer 1,000 people from the county's 2,300-plus population, and even mobilize all the strong women to work as men, to dig the ditch from the Dawen River to Liumiao Village. This way, the construction period can be shortened to about seven days.
To shorten the construction period further, the only option is to reduce the depth of the ditch from four feet to three feet. We also need to treat everyone like animals, shorten everyone's rest time, and dig and clear the soil at night by torchlight. Only in this way can the construction period be shortened to about five days.
When Limpy Wu brought Wang Qiong to Magistrate Yang Shaofeng, Magistrate Yang was secretly calculating the amount of earthwork, the number of able-bodied men, and the construction period.
Upon seeing Wang Qiong, who was dressed in a scholar's robe but had a bruised and swollen face, Yang Shaofeng's already displeased mood instantly worsened. He glared at the lame man and asked, "What happened?"
Damn it, why did they have to hit a scholar of all people?
Didn't you know that scholars in the Ming Dynasty were the most dangerous people to mess with?
Shi Nai'an, the author of Gouru, wrote that when his friend Wu Da refused to give him cash, Wu Da refused to pay him. So Shi Nai'an wrote that a dignified county magistrate was a short, ugly man and a refined lady was a notorious wicked woman, causing the couple to be infamous for thousands of years. Now these scoundrels have beaten a scholar into such a sorry state. Am I, Magistrate Yang, even worse off than Wu Da?
Just as Yang Shaofeng was cursing inwardly, Wang Qiong bowed to him first and said, "I am Wang Qiong, a clerk in the Imperial Household Department. I have come on His Highness the Crown Prince's orders to deliver some rewards to Magistrate Yang."