dognovel Chapter 5 I have a bold idea
Chapter 5 I have a bold idea
“See? East-west roads are called roads, and north-south roads are called streets. The area between a road and a street is called a neighborhood. In a neighborhood, a respected elder is chosen, or the people themselves can elect a trustworthy person to serve as the neighborhood head.”
Yang Shaofeng pointed to the houses opposite the county government office and said to Limpy Five, "This matter must be done quickly. Brother Limpy Five, you can call a few more brothers and get this done by tomorrow. Get those village chiefs to see me as soon as possible."
After Limpy Wu bowed in agreement, Yang Shaofeng led him westward into the city.
"This street is a bit wider, and all the houses along the street can be used to open shops. When there are more shops in the county, people's lives will be more convenient, and the county can collect more taxes."
"This open space is suitable for setting up a market, but there aren't many people in the county town, and the rural people don't have much to sell. I don't know if it can be sustained."
As Yang Shaofeng walked and looked around, he also mentally planned out the area in the west of the city.
"This place is good. When the county government has more money in the future, we can set up a community school here and train a few useful people. We can't just be the only one working like a beast of burden."
"With such a large county town, the population will continue to grow, and environmental sanitation will become a problem. We should make plans as soon as possible."
"With more people, all sorts of messy and trivial things will happen, and we'll have to arrange for people to patrol."
"The Mongol Yuan dynasty will eventually collapse, and I've never heard of it ever coming back to life, so there's no need to consider it militarily."
"Agriculture, animal husbandry, breeding, small workshops, small industries, let's see what we can do."
"Anyway, we must first make the people rich. Otherwise, not only will my time travel be in vain, but even if I were to enjoy life, I would not be at peace with myself."
But as he was thinking, Yang Shaofeng's thoughts began to wander.
"This is a good place. It's close to the county government office and would be suitable for setting up a clubhouse like No. 10 Downing Street, so that I can enjoy life."
"The Zhu family's officials are really not human beings. Fortunately, that heartless Chang Heitan still has some conscience and gave me some silver."
"Once Old Zhu is gone, I will be completely free."
"If all else fails, I'll just work hard and save up some capital, borrow some chickens from the Zhu family, and lay the egg to become the emperor of America?"
"We need to be careful about that; we absolutely cannot let anyone find out."
"Let's pretend this never happened. I am just a scholar who is devoted to the Ming Dynasty."
"..."
As he was thinking, Yang Shaofeng had already led the lame man on a tour of the entire county town, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the west gate of Ningyang County.
The two soldiers, no longer fit for the battlefield and left behind in Ningyang County by Chang Yuchun, immediately bowed and greeted Yang Shaofeng upon seeing him: "Greetings, County Magistrate!"
Yang Shaofeng nodded and said with a smile, "No need for formalities. You two brothers have been guarding the city gate for several days now. How many people come and go through this gate?"
The two soldiers looked at each other and then shook their heads together.
One of the soldiers spoke up: "For two whole days, only two village chiefs from the west of the city went to the county government office. Apart from them, no one else came in or out."
Although the soldiers' answer was expected, Yang Shaofeng still couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed when he heard it with his own ears.
Like the other three city gates, no one passed through the West Gate, which meant that no one in the city went out, and no one outside the city came in.
To put it bluntly, the people still didn't quite trust the government. They were afraid of being oppressed by the government under the Ming Dynasty, and even more afraid that the Yuan army might launch a surprise attack one day.
This problem cannot be solved in a day or two, nor can it be solved by posting a few notices to reassure the public and having the community leaders go back and say a few words.
With a slight sigh, Yang Shaofeng walked directly towards the city gate.
As the famous decadent writer Mr. Ling Fei once said, people cannot imagine things they have never seen.
At the very least, Yang Shaofeng couldn't imagine what the future held.
A crooked dirt road, less than two meters wide at its widest point, stretched into the distance from the city gate. Weeds grew on both sides of the road, and occasionally stray dogs and cats would dart by. In the distance, not a single house could be seen.
This is Shandong, the Shandong that is famous for bandits and gave birth to the heroes of Liangshan.
Yang Shaofeng remained silent with a dark expression. After a long while, he finally sighed and led the lame man back.
Seeing that Yang Shaofeng was not in high spirits, Limpy Wu said in a low voice, "Your Excellency, in fact, apart from the Jiangnan area, all other places are like this. Ningyang County is already extremely lucky to have such a good official who loves the people like you."
Yang Shaofeng sighed softly and cursed bitterly, "Those barbarian dogs have committed such a terrible sin!"
After finishing his rant, Yang Shaofeng walked forward with his head down. Only when he reached the entrance of the county government office did he once again remind Limpy Five: "Brother Limpy Five, don't forget what I just said. Make sure it's done by tomorrow night."
……
Limpy Wu is very efficient at getting things done.
Or perhaps it's because there are so few people in Ningyang County that Limpy Wu's efficiency in getting things done seems so high.
The very next morning, Limpy Wu led his men on a tour of the entire Ningyang County, demanding that each village elect a respected or trustworthy village head. Just after lunchtime, these village heads gathered at the county government office.
There were more village chiefs than community leaders, totaling sixteen in total.
As per Yang Shaofeng's instructions, the village chiefs claimed their respective village locations on a makeshift "city map" drawn by Yang Shaofeng that was barely better than what an elementary school student could write. Yang Shaofeng then casually pointed to a village chief and said, "Brother Limpy Fifth should have already told me what I wanted to ask, right? Now, starting with you, report the number of households, the number of people, the number of widows, widowers, orphans, women, children, and elderly people over seventy years old in your village."
The village head, whose name was called by Yang Shaofeng, bowed slightly and replied with a fawning smile: "Replying to Your Excellency, my village has twelve households with a total of sixty people, including fifteen women and seventeen children. There are no widows, widowers, or orphans, one elderly person over seventy years old, and the rest are young and strong."
Thirty-four were elderly, women, and children, and twenty-six were young and strong, which was not bad.
As Yang Shaofeng thought about it, he pointed to the next village head: "Now it's your turn to speak."
The second village head, whose name was called, replied with a smile, "In response to your question, sir, my village has ten households with a total of thirty-three people, including ten women and three children. There are no widows, widowers, or orphans, no elderly people over seventy years old, and the rest are young and strong."
After the heads of the sixteen villages had all reported their numbers, Yang Shaofeng realized that the total number of households and people in the entire Ningyang County was even less than that of the eight communities outside the city.
There are 192 households and 768 people, with the elderly, children, women and children making up nearly half, and only a little over 400 able-bodied people.
This is an entire county!
Not from the same village!
Yang Shaofeng sighed heavily, then looked at the sixteen village chiefs and said, “I am already aware of the situation in each of your villages. Now that the dynasty has just been established and everything is in need of rebuilding, and it is also the time for the army to launch a northern expedition, I am afraid that the court will not be able to attend to our Ningyang County for the time being.”
"After you return, you must tell the people of your village that they must be diligent and not lazy, that they must live in harmony with their neighbors, that they must be filial to their parents, that they must not wander around causing trouble, and that they must not engage in gambling or other illegal activities. As village leaders, you should set an example for the people of your village."
"After some time, I will personally go to each village to inspect. If there are any frivolous activities, I will not punish them, but I will make trouble for you. Do you all understand?"
The same rhetoric had almost the same effect.
The sixteen village chiefs bowed in unison and replied, "Yes, we have all remembered."
Yang Shaofeng nodded, but a bold idea suddenly popped into his mind.
Anyway, there's a lot of wasteland outside the city, it's just lying around doing nothing anyway, so why not...