This idiom obviously refers to the cowshed or pigsty of the farmer's family, that is, the livestock raised by the farmer. However, nine of the ten columns are empty, indicating that the proportion of farmers raising livestock is very low. Of course, raising livestock is also for livestock. What is said here is that there is no surplus food for raising livestock. So farmers don't keep livestock, resulting in nine out of ten columns being empty.
In fact, this sentence does not mean that there are ten empty columns, but that farmers' grain production has been reduced, farmers have not enough to eat, and they are unable to raise livestock. The cold weather will affect the harvest of crops, so it is impossible to harvest, and farmers have no time to care about raising livestock, preferring to leave the fence at home empty.
No.9 introduction
We use cold to describe winter, especially in the twelfth month, which means that the temperature is the lowest and the feeling is the coldest in a year. Count September 19 to September 9 * * 8 1 day, which is what we often call nine winters.
Jiujiuge said, 1929 did not shoot, walked on the ice in 3949, watched willows along the river in 5969, opened the river in 79, and plowed cattle everywhere in 89 years. This is the weather change for 99 days. Nine days is the coldest time of the year, so it really begins in winter. According to the 24 solar terms, the real winter cold starts from the winter solstice.