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Zheng Jixin said: "They are allowed to exploit and rob the people, but we are not allowed to do the same?" He smiled, "I don't even have to follow the Commercial Code and Civil Code that we formulated - I just use the laws promulgated by the Ming Dynasty government. It’s enough to cure them. [Read full text]"
Ji Xin mentioned that the two grand classics actually haven't left a single character in them yet, and they are still being compiled. Or rather, it’s being adapted.
"really?"
"Of course, at least legally, the Ming Dynasty does not allow usury and exploitation. Not only in the Ming Dynasty laws, but also locally, the government has repeatedly issued bans. There are materials in the stalls, but no big business has ever taken it seriously. . This is one; secondly, these large households have owed a lot of food over the years. Is it illegal according to the Ming Dynasty law? It adds up to a big number. What is there to talk about in this article? "Fives are paid by grain, grain is rented out, ?" Ji Xin said confidently, "If necessary, I will settle the score with them first."
After the discussion, the list of "quasi-migrant workers" who had been registered by Liu Xiang's caretaker was hung in front of the Taoist temple. It was publicized for 24 hours. Anyone who had any objection to someone's debt must immediately bring evidence to the temporary court to lodge a complaint. Objections will not be accepted after the deadline.
As for those who cannot prove that the tenants have debts, they cannot be prevented from leaving. The tenancy system of the Ming Dynasty generally no longer has the nature of personal dependence. Although at the legal level, peasant tenants are still lower than landowners, but tenants have personal freedom. They can go as they please, and the landowner has no right to detain them.
By nightfall, nearly 30% of the recruited refugees were found to have debt problems. All kinds of debt materials were piled up on the table. Ji Xinxiōng was so confident that he asked the financial staff sent by Delong, the retained county office clerk and the court staff to work together to sort out the materials, collect the plaintiff's various evidence into files, and then number them one by one. , when the time comes, call someone to come in and clean up.
Ji Xin had materials in his hand obtained from the county office: this was the list and amount of taxes owed during the clearing of land and taking over the county government office. Some large households had owed grain taxes for many years, and some had never paid at all. The numbers add up to a very large number. If we want to be serious, there is no problem in setting up a big prison. It's just that the time-travelers are not yet on a stable footing, so they don't plan to make any ugly appearance for the time being. When the time comes, we will naturally deal with them severely.
The plaintiff and defendant were gathered in a side hall of a Taoist temple in the temporary court to carry out debt settlement work. The temporary court was full of people, but none of them dared to speak: the infantrymen's bayonets were flashing, and the government servants borrowed from the county government were all holding fire sticks and leather whips. The entire temporary court was majestic.
The creditors and debtors who were called in first confirmed the authenticity and amount of the debt in front of Ji Xin. During the cleanup process, a large number of forged and altered contracts and IOUs were found. Some of them had smeared numbers, some were simply fake, and some had no fingerprints at all, so they used a piece of paper that they had daubed by themselves as evidence.
If the evidence is proven to be forged, the IOU will be canceled and confiscated.
The plaintiff was immediately dragged into the hall and the first one was marked with forty. One fake deed was marked with forty, two with sixty, three with ninety... and so on. The seconded government officials had long wanted to show their faces in front of the Australian chief ministers. They were all in high spirits and did not let go of any water. Rain and blood flowed down the hall, and feces and urine flowed down the hall. He even killed one directly. All the plaintiffs were so frightened that they demanded to withdraw the lawsuit and never ask for any more debts.
"How is this possible? It's natural to repay debts and repay debts. I beat the evildoers and they are all good people. Why should I be afraid?" Ji Xin also felt that it was enough. "Anyone who forges a deed, as long as he knows he has repented." , come out immediately and surrender, forget the past,”
Immediately, a group of people came out to surrender. The feeling of being on the Forty Board was not a pleasant feeling. Ji Xin immediately presented the forged documents of these people and canceled them as evidence. Then he ordered a group of people to write their defenses and fine them ten shi of grain for each forged document.
Any valid deed will be settled according to the above figures and interest. The court will not recognize the "debt" that is just a waste of money and interest. The court will not recognize it. At most, it will be settled according to Delong's regulations: the maximum annual interest shall not exceed 25%. . The principal and interest were converted into grain circulation coupons and distributed by Delong. In order to ensure that creditors were willing to accept the circulation coupons, Ji Xin announced a policy on the spot: the circulation coupons could be used to offset the grain tax and other miscellaneous taxes payable in the summer and autumn taxes. In this way, even if the big households think that the circulation certificates have no circulation value, ensuring that they can pay public grain is equivalent to guaranteeing the national credit.
Delong's repayment was not gratuitous. In fact, it was equivalent to the acquisition of debt: these debtors borrowed from Delong with their own labor, that is, their future wages, as collateral.
During the liquidation process, some tenant farmers were in debt to larger households. When they heard that they were going to work in Lingao and had to borrow money from the "government" first, they were so frightened that they immediately changed their minds. In response to this situation, Yang Yun worked hard and could not save a few people. After all, in this era, borrowing money from the government is a fear rooted in the subconscious. Liu Xiang didn't care about this, anyway, the more he kept, the better it would be for him.
The cleanup process started slowly but then moved quickly. Ji Xin saw that there were no more difficult things down there, just some cleaning procedures, so he handed over the work to several naturalized cadres under him and came out to get some fresh air.
Liu Xiang stepped forward and said, "What a great job! You opened the way with a stick, followed by carrots."
Ji Xin didn't say anything, just smiled. A common wry smile appeared on his face.
"To be honest, this approach is very bad. It's just a stop-gap measure."
"What's so bad?" Liu Xiang was puzzled. "This big business blatantly forged documents and exploited us for huge profits. If we don't deal with it severely, they probably want to continue to do whatever they want. This is the land of fish and meat."
Ji Xin nodded: "What you say is true, but what I do is just talking about human life. To put it bluntly, it is no different from what Han Fuju and Han Qingtian did. From the perspective of building a legal society, it is extremely inappropriate." He sighed and added He added, "Actually, their sins are not worthy of death."
Although Liu Xiang felt that what he said was reasonable, he still felt a little bored. He couldn't help but criticize in his heart: "The weakness of the petty bourgeoisie has struck again."
"Don't think too much. Hasn't China's situation been like this for thousands of years?" He said, "I'm not biased towards the poor. Poor people don't necessarily mean good people. There are ruthless people everywhere. But look at what's going on now. The situation is that the rich and big households really have no bottom line at all when doing things. They just write a piece of paper and ask someone to draw a pledge to exploit the tenants. If we don't kill their arrogance severely, we can stand up like this. Can they survive? Even if there are people who have committed crimes that are not worthy of death, which temple does not have ghosts who have died?" He became excited as he spoke and pointed at the refugees in the Taoist temple, "Look at these refugees, they have suffered disasters. With no food to eat, who is not their tenant? If we hadn't forced them to collect donations, we wouldn't have given out a grain of rice for relief, waiting for them to fend for themselves. We wanted to take the people away, but they remembered that no one was farming. It won’t work, if I had known what I would have done!”
"So I said we can only abide by power. But in the long run, this approach is not advisable." Ji Xin did not argue. He suddenly said, "Liu Xiang, you are the county magistrate now, and you may become the provincial governor in the future." Senior local officials like this must not have the urge to be like the sky, because China's affairs will not be successful by relying on a few skyscrapers."
Liu Xiang said nothing. He understood that Ji Xin was still advocating "ruling the country according to law" in the final analysis. He did not object to this, but it seemed a bit too early to talk about it now. He suddenly realized that what he just said seemed to be consistent with the Governor's thoughts. It seemed that he was indeed a revolutionary deep down in his heart.
While thinking about it, I suddenly saw Yang Yun and his people distributing rations to the refugees: the rations were changed to seafood porridge - a traditional nutritious meal in the quarantine camp.
"Hey, the food is good!" Liu Xiang looked at the food of the victims and said hello to Yang Yun.
"Haha, if you don't take good care of yourself, how can you send them away? Whether it's by sea or by land, it takes a lot of energy." Yang Yun pointed to the crowd: "There are also some children who are thin, ouch! If they don't supplement their nutrition, they will die before reaching Lingao. ”
"It took a lot of effort to get thousands of people, don't you think it's a bit of a loss..." Liu Xiang asked Yang Yun tentatively.
"This is called removing the fire under the cauldron. People are on the one hand, and revolutionizing the lives of landlords is the other." Yang Yun did not hide it, "You should have read the documents, right?"
"Of course, of course," Liu Xiang said, "but I have concerns - is this too aggressive?"
While Liu Xiang was inspecting, he chatted with Yang Yun, and inquired about what was going on in Lingao, especially on 88s. Far away from the core area, many things can only be guessed based on the words of official business. This kind of information asymmetry makes Liu Xiang feel very bad.
"Hey, I didn't expect that you used to call yourself a revolutionary leftist, but now you have become a rightist?" Yang Yun said with a smile, "Things are not absolute. What the Governor wants: nothing more than enough food, manpower and strong grassroots control."
This is like saying nothing, Liu Xiang thought, this is simply the basic policy of the Senate. He had no choice but to say: "Actually, Qiongshan's population is far from surplus. It can be absorbed on the spot..." He decided to talk to Yang Yun about his idea first.
"I never thought you were also targeting these laborers." Yang Yun heard Liu Xiang talk about his plan to apply to transfer some of his industries to Qiongshan. "However, this time, the governor is not just targeting these tenant farmers. There is also the surplus grain from the landlord’s house.”
"I'm afraid there are still landlords from the Yuliang family." Liu Xiang joked seemingly unintentionally. ! .
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