Great Tang Idyll

Magistrate Cheng frowned when he heard the prefecture servant's words. He turned to look at Song Jing'gong, who was also puzzled, and asked the servant, "Do you know why those two people are here?"

"I don't know, the two of them didn't specify. However, it must be an important matter since they have set out yesterday to rush over here."

"Hmm" Magistrate Cheng nodded slightly but did not say anything else and he led Song Jing'gong into the prefecture.

Song Jing'gong didn't say much but he could guess why the Junior Officer was here with the Village Elder. The reason was probably just the same as what the Young Master explained to him when he requested Song Jing'gong to pay the Magistrate a visit. Ge Ying'xi wasn't able to get any answers after a few inquiries so he reported to his superior about the affairs of the Zhang and Wang Farms.

The two of them did not have official ranks so they were equal in power to the village chief. They did nothing more other than coordinate a few things around the village. It was such a pity though. The Young Master had thought of this a long time ago, and made arrangements in advance so they didn't have to worry about others scheming behind the scenes.

Magistrate Cheng had only slept for less than four hours, but he didn't feel tired at all right now. He was still immersed in the excitement of being praised by his people. He asked Song Jing'gong to go to the guest room to rest, and he came into the hall by himself.

The Junior Officer and Village Elder have drank three rounds of tea already while sitting here; when they saw that the Magistrate has arrived, they immediately stood up to greet him. The two of them also did not get a full night's rest but at this moment, they were just as energetic as the Magistrate.

"It turns out to be Junior Officier Qi and Elder Feng that has arrived. I wonder what led you to search for me this early in the morning, could it be that some major issue has arisen?" Magistrate Cheng was quite polite to them, but especially towards this elder from the Feng household since he used to work in the administrative office. After he retired from working as the magistrate's assistant, his position in the village was still high so people gave the Elder position to him and treated him with respect.

Junior Officer Qi and Elder Feng looked at each other, and it was Junior Officer Qi that finally spoke first, "Magistrate, the two of us have a major issue to report to you."

"Oh? No rush, the two of you haven't eaten anything yet, correct? Wait for appetizers to be served, and you can continue telling me after you have eaten. I also have not eaten, and have been busy until now so my belly is empty."

Magistrate Cheng saw that the two men seemed to have a hint of joy on their faces and were not impatient anymore. He ordered his servants to serve appetizers and he sat together with them to eat.

Junior Officer Qi and Elder Feng were indeed hungry; especially Elder Feng, who was old and had travelled through the night so he was in dire need of food and rest.

The three of them drank tea and ate without talking. Junior Officer Qi was relatively younger. He ate while he wondered how he should tell the magistrate about the good news. This will allow him to achiev a major accomplishment.

As he ate, he thought about what happened last night. The village chief of the Ge Farm, Ge Ying'xi, told him about the spring tillage affair at the Zhang and Wang Farms. He didn't believe it at the beginning, so he brought people with light torches to investigate the place. Only then did he realize that they had already begun the second stage of ploughing.

This was a remarkable achievement since other farms have not even finished the first round of ploughing yet. There are not many people at the Zhang and Wang Farms, so it must be that the ploughing procedure itself was fast. Only a few watchmen remained in the field at night, but even after a few inquiries, they didn't get any answers. If it weren't for Ge Ying'xi disclosing that the plough they used was different, he would have been deceived by the watchmen at the Zhang and Wang Farms.

They had such good ploughs but they didn't share them with anyone else, and they didn't report to him or other superiors. If it was some other affairs, then he would have let it go, but there was no way to convince himself to let this matter go since it involved speeding up the ploughing process. Given the circumstances, what must be done was to push the matter forward.

After running through the ideas in his mind, Junior Officer Qi occasionally took a few sips of tea and paused to look at the Magistrate and Elder Feng. Thinking about how his prestige will grow later on made his tea taste better than usual.

Elder Feng also tried to suppress the excitement in his heart while he ate. Last night, Ge Ying'xi and Junior Officer Qi went together to go find him. He also followed them to take a look. Even when he announced his name to the people, they didn't call out the person in charge and instead, told them to wait until the next morning.

He has worked as a magistrate assistant for two candidacies, so he knew for a fact that being able to significantly increase the ploughing speed was beneficial to the entirety of the Great Tang. From the looks of it, the Zhang and Wang farms do not want to bring out their special ploughs, but he absolutely had to report this to his superiors.

The eating session lasted for 30 minutes before ending. Magistrate Cheng took another sip of tea and asked, "Do Junior Officer Qi and Elder Feng Lao feel that their stomach is less uncomfortable now?"

The two of them agreed. This time, it was also Junior Officer Qi who started talking first, "My lord, I have arrived here to report an important matter, this matter will benefit the country and the people."

"Oh? What matters can benefit the country and the people, hurry up and tell." At this time, Magistrate Cheng made an anxious look. Just now, he had even asked them to eat food with him but he was really not anxious. Benefit the country and the people? What kind of news will be more important than the new plough he has just created?

Junior Officer Qi coughed softly and tried to tone down his excitement. He spoke, "My lord, I discovered a place that has been able to plough the land several times faster than other places. I've heard people say that place used a plough that was different from ploughs found elsewhere.

Over the night, Elder Feng and I went to investigate. When we arrived there, that was indeed the case. Other places weren't even finished with their first round of ploughing, yet that place was already starting their second round. When we went to see it, the second round of ploughing was almost complete. The fertilizer was incorporated into the soil and then it was stomped flat. When the autumn harvest comes, it will definitely be more bountiful.

Elder Feng and I wanted to meet the person in charge of the farm, but who would have thought, after we asked several times, no one came out. They insisted that we had to wait into the next morning before we could talk to them. Elder Feng feared that the long nights would result in more dreams*. What if after waiting, they refused to admit that they had new ploughs? That's why we rushed over here during the night."

Magistrate Cheng listened to him speak, and at first, he thought that that place had a different new item, but after listening for a while, he finally understood. It turns out it was about the curved plough. This was not new news to him anymore. In his mind, he thought, you two haven't even seen the curved plough, yet you two rushed over to find me. When I personally gifted the new plough to another person, I wasn't even as impatient as you two.

"Hmm, so it turned out to be this matter. I see." Magistrate Cheng was waiting for Junior Officer Qi to finish speaking. He nodded carelessly, picked up his tea cup and started drinking again.

"My lord, you should quickly send someone to check it out, and find the people in charge of the two farms and ask them to hand the item over ."

Seeing that the Magistrate Cheng did not look happy, Junior Officer Qi became anxious. He urged him with his words. When he finished speaking, he was a little worried that the Magistrate would put blame on him. He sat there anxiously not knowing what to do.

Seeing this, Elder Feng also spoke, "My lord, what Junior Officer Qi has said is indeed correct. What if the people over there don't want to hand over the new plough and decide to secretly destroy it, then it will truly be a great loss of our era."

"Alright. Since Elder Feng have also said so, then I will ensure that Elder Feng and Junior Officer Qi will be at ease." Magistrate Cheng called over asubordinatefrom the prefecture. He whispered a few words into his ear, then thesubordinateturned around and left.

Magistrate Cheng continued to accompany the two people drinking tea. Junior Officer Qi and Elder Feng both thought that the Magistrate had sent people to the two farms, so they felt more relieved now.

After about 15 minutes, the subordinate who had just left, returned back to the hall while lugging a set of ploughs behind him.

"Junior Officer Qi and Elder Feng, have a look. Was it this kind of plough? This plough is different from the normal straight plough since its thill is curved." Magistrate Cheng took another sip of tea and said to the two with a smile, "This plough was just retrieved from Zhou Xi'hu."

Junior Officer Qi and Elder Feng never saw what the ploughs used in Zhang and Wang farms looked like. They have only heard the housekeeper of the Ge Farm say that the thill of the new plough is different from the old one. Now that they have seen it and heard the Magistrate's words, they were stunned.

The two of them also knew that no matter how fast the horse rushed from the county seat to the village, it would not be possible to make a round trip in such a short time. It was evident that the Magistrate had one here already.

"My lord, where have you acquired this plough from?" Junior Officer Qi spoke again.

"From a family in the county. I now understand why Junior Officer Qi and Elder Feng have come here. You can rest assured. Today at dawn, I will order people to post a notice in the county to let the people that are partaking in the spring tillage to buy it from there. This morning I came back from the outside because I went to attest the validity of the new plough."

Magistrate Cheng made an unpredictable and mysterious face, and spoke with a smile to both Junior Officer Qi and Elder Feng.

"This, this..." Junior Officer Cheng was about to say something, but he didn't know where to start.

"My lord, since you already knew about, why didn't you let more people craft the plough during the beginning of the spring tillage?" Elder Feng also participated in asking questions.

"It's not because I didn't want to, but I couldn't. When the new plough first came out, it was still unclear whether it was good to use or not. I needed to find someone to test it out. The Zhang and Wang farm also had the same thought. Now that I have seen it, it's indeed quite effective." While speaking, the Magistrate glanced at thesubordinate.

Thissubordinatefollowed the Magistrate to that farm for the verification last night so he understood the Magistrate's intention. He quickly added, "Junior Officer and Elder Feng might not know yet, but this new plough is called the curved plough. It was my lord's hard work; he then found a few farmers from the Zhang farm to help craft it. It took them a lot of work and effort.

After the Zhang and Wang farms used the new ploughs, my lord ignored his own tiredness---on one side, he instructed people to craft more and on the other side, he personally went to a nearby farm to verify its effectiveness. For the past few days, my lord didn't even think of eating and drinking, and has grown thin quite a bit."

Thesubordinatebegan to wipe his tears as he spoke, and it really seemed that he felt sorry for the Magistrate.

Junior Qi and Elder Feng were befuddled after listening to his words. They looked at Magistrate Cheng and didn't notice that he was any thinner. Originally, they thought they would get some praise and rewards, but not only did the Magistrate already knew about it, but the new plough was a creation under the hands of the Magistrate. Junior Officer Qi did not have any doubts, but Elder Feng, who was once a magistrate assistant, knew the inner workings.

It seems that the Zhang and Wang family found Magistrate Cheng first. No wonder they didn't care that Junior Officer Qi and I went over to their farm. The most important thing was that they had taken this aspect into consideration already. They caused the Junior Officer and me to rush here over the night for nothing. In the end, we got nothing in return.

"So it was my lord that has produced the new plough. I have nothing else to say. My lord is a good official; you're always thinking for the people. My lord needs to rest more, you mustn't fall ill from over exertion. The people of the county cannot lose an official that is as good as my lord."

Elder Feng couldn't find anything else to say besides that. Once he finished speaking, he intended to get up and leave.

Magistrate Cheng quickly said, "Junior Officer Qi and Elder Feng, there's no need to leave in such a hurry. Have a rest and then accompany me to the place that sells the new ploughs."

Translator's note:

"long nights would result in more dreams" 夜长梦多

The idiom describes that when the length of time is extended, the situation might undergo unfavorable changes.