In early August, the Thor finally returned to Beihae Town after picking up another batch of refugees in Jeju Island.
The Manchu and Qing refugees brought back this time were still mainly from Henan, and most of them came from Kaifeng, Guide, Weihui, Huaiqing and other counties. After questioning, Zhao Xin learned that at the turn of spring and summer this year, a large-scale locust plague continued to break out in Henan, causing the summer grain harvest to fail again.
The refugees who were asked cried and explained to Zhao Xin: "Master, it was too dry last year and this year! When the locusts came, thousands of miles of grass and trees were eaten up, and even the hair of cattle and horses were eaten clean. This How can we survive?"
In this protracted and severe disaster, the victims in Henan were unable to bear the blow of hunger and sold their farmland one after another to make ends meet. During the lean years, many farmers eagerly sold their wheat fields that were about to mature at low prices in exchange for rice, gold and silver to relieve their hunger.
Rich households from Taikou, Pingyao, Qixian and other places in Shanxi heard the news and came to use usury to lend money to the hungry people and annex land at low prices. They bought farmland in disaster areas at a low price that was one-third of the normal price, or undervalued the value of the other party's land for mortgage loans; or used pawns to collect the property of the victims at a low value.
Although Qianlong specifically issued an order in May of this month, he strictly ordered the local government to investigate the behavior of Shanxi merchants and ordered the land sold at low prices to be recovered by the seller at the original price.
But the problem is that the farmers are starving to death. They have already used the money from selling their land to buy high-priced grain. How can they still have money to redeem it?
The population of Beihai Town is now increasing. According to the "sand-mixing" plan previously formulated by Zhao Xin, Deng Fei had already transported 8,000 Henan refugees to open up wasteland in Pingyuan Town, Ezo, in July. After the "highway" between Beihai Town and Fuldan City was opened, the civil affairs department would lead hundreds of refugee families to Fuldan City every five days to develop land on the south bank of Xingkai Lake.
However, due to the lack of agricultural machinery and equipment and skilled workers, the refugees arriving on the south bank of Xingkai Lake can only wield shovels and picks and reclaim swampland under the leadership of civil affairs clerks.
As the population increases, conflicts between old and new refugees also begin to emerge.
Specifically, the early refugees worked in allotments and workshops, and most of them have become middle peasants or even rich peasants. These people have begun to dream of being superior to others, and even becoming landlords. Among the newly arrived refugees, many tried to marry their daughters into the families of older refugees as concubines; some even offered to become domestic slaves.
Faced with this situation, it is difficult for Chen Qingsong to stop it because Beihai Town currently does not have a complete legal system. As the saying goes, "You can do whatever is not prohibited by law." Not even the security police can intervene in the matter of taking a concubine.
"You can do anything if the law does not prohibit it. In fact, you cannot violate it if the law does not allow it. Lao Chen, there is a huge gray area here; the only thing that can be restrained is morality. But what is morality today? It is the morality under the feudal system. Taking concubines, becoming a master, and having domestic servants are all allowed by feudal ethics, and of course you can't control them."
Regarding Chen Qingsong's troubles, Zhao Xin talked eloquently, and he continued: "Look, today you can fight for the slaves, but tomorrow you will be killed for marrying your daughter as a concubine. Concubines have no social status. , if you want to gain status, the only way out is to become a legal wife. Our place is full of barren mountains and mountains, and no one can find her even if she buries her."
Chen Qingsong asked a little irritably: "Then what do you think we should do?"
"Legislation and law popularization. You have been a leader, so you should know this better than me."
"I'm so busy all day long, how can I have time to host this!"
"Look for those eight old guys at the education entrance."
"Them? Can they?"
"We'll find out if we try it. Let's hold a discussion first."
Two nights later, Beihai Town's first legislative preparatory meeting was held in a classroom of the school. In addition to Zhao Xin and Chen Qingsong, there were eight teachers from the education department present at the meeting. Wu Siyu was sent from the military system, and Hong Tao was sent from the medical system. As for the workshop, Li Ji's wife Shino was sent.
Zhao Liang's reply was: "I don't have time! I'm so busy with so many things that I don't have time to worry about this."
Well, Zhao Xin, as the convener of the meeting, spoke first.
"Everyone, before discussing legislation, we must first determine a principle. Law, what is the spirit of our Beihai Town law?"
As soon as Zhao Xin said this, the eight teachers in the education department who were going to talk endlessly were stunned. The spirit of the law?
"Mr. Zhao, can you elaborate?" Lao You, the head of the education department, asked.
Zhao Xin smiled and said: "The spirit of the law is the interest class it represents, and whether it is revolution or reform, it will all revolve around this theme. Take the Manchu and Qing Dynasties for example. The basic spirit of the Manchu and Qing laws does not lie in the broad The peasants and petty bourgeois classes were trying to maintain the order of feudal rule in the emperor's family and make up for its shortcomings; while the gains and losses of the common people mainly depended on the kindness of the emperor or officials. For example, if there were extenuating circumstances, the emperor would The sentence will be changed, so the Manchu Qing Dynasty has a complementary relationship between the rule of man and the rule of law."
Chen Qingsong suddenly realized: "What you mean is that we must first determine who the laws of Beihai Town represent. If this problem is not solved, concubines, domestic slaves, and even the formation of a new feudal class will inevitably happen."
"Yes!" Zhao Xin nodded and said: "If we don't understand this issue clearly and are not sure, even if we oust Qianlong or Jiaqing from the throne of the emperor, this country will still be a feudal society. The Eight Banners are gone, but The Han people and officials have been entrenched in the past few hundred years and have a rigid mindset. They regard science and technology as a strange skill and see openness as an indifference between Chinese and foreigners. This will continue. No matter how strong they are in a short period of time, they cannot escape the "circle of chaos" .”
Someone present suddenly asked: "Should human rights be protected? Will the method of torture be retained?"
Zhao Xin nodded and said: "Teacher Zhang, the most important human right at this stage is the right to survival, and the presumption of innocence is not suitable. Westerners believe in the spirit of contract, so they talk about the balance between humanity and rationality, and even want to abolish the death penalty. We can't. Peasants in this era are oppressed, no matter whether it's the Qing Dynasty or the island country. But these people often play clever tricks with the government, and are even very cunning. If we don't have thunderous means, then there are only a few loopholes that can be exploited. Too much."
Lao You nodded and said: "I agree with Zhao Xin's opinion." He did not expect that Zhao Xin would go straight to the core of the problem when he came up, instead of simply trying to formulate a legal provision.
Wu Siyu said: "Actually, the "Disciplinary Regulations" currently implemented in the army are based on those we formulated when we were soldiers. However, many problems have arisen now, and soldiers' moods fluctuate greatly. Nowadays, the salary of the army is generally very high, so there are many refugees. Both of us want to marry our daughters off to soldiers or officers as concubines. Now Wang Yuanfang and I can only find out and stop them. Some of them that haven't been discovered are already done, and we can't say anything more."
Zhao Xindao: "That's it. Anyone who keeps concubines in the army, no matter how high their position is, will be eliminated!"
This discussion lasted for two full days, during which the teachers argued endlessly. It should embody the spirit of democracy and the rule of law, and it should respect human rights. Some people even naively ask whether the death penalty can be abolished.
The final word was made by mathematics teacher Yu Deli. This man had been silent for the past day and a half. Finally, seeing that everyone could not reach a unified opinion, he returned to his residence and rummaged around. He found a two-page "Constitutional Principles of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region" in front of him. In front of everyone.
After reading it, Lao You high-fived and praised: "You Yu, why didn't you take out this good thing earlier!"
Yu Deli said calmly: "Private inventory, I just thought of it and took it out."
Zhao Xin looked through it carefully and said: "The political organization part still needs to be revised. I have no objection to the rest."
Chen Qingsong said: "I don't think the problem is big. Directly reorganize the civil affairs office clerks in various places and establish administrative agencies at the township level. As for the congress, I think elections will start next year. Before that, let's get a feel for it. Look at what’s going on down there.”
After everyone circulated it, they all expressed no objection. Finally, Lao You proposed a show of hands vote, which was unanimously approved by everyone present. The basic spirit of Beihai Town's laws has finally been determined, and other subsequent laws and regulations will have evidence to follow. Everyone decided to start discussing the establishment of a legal drafting group tomorrow.
By the way, Yu Deli has quite a lot of inventory. After the meeting, at Zhao Xin's request, Yu Deli took Zhao Xin back to his residence and showed him his private collection. Among a pile of old documents, Zhao Xin also found a vertical version of the "Compilation of Laws and Regulations of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region", which made him overjoyed.
"Teacher Yu, why do you like collecting these things?"
Yu Deli said: "It's not that I like it. A lot of the information here was left by my father during his lifetime. It would be a shame to sell it as scrap, so I kept it all."
"Then who is your father?"
"A teacher from a school in the liberated areas used to teach politics."
"Oh!" Zhao Xin suddenly realized, no wonder there are so many cultural and historical materials in Yu Deli from the Anti-Japanese War to the founding of the People's Republic of China. This is really a big help!
"Teacher Yu, are you interested in serving as the leader of the legal drafting team? I'm not trying to win over you, don't get me wrong. When you talked about the national flag before, I felt that you were full of knowledge and you were not as simple as a math teacher."
Yu Deli looked at Zhao Xin playfully, smiled and said: "What's wrong with wooing? Everyone is a little ambitious, and so am I. A new regime comes from scratch. I don't want to be just a witness, but I hope to be able to Become a participant and rule maker. Mr. Zhao, don’t mind what I say.”
Zhao Xin quickly said: "No, no."
Yu Deli continued: "But what surprises me the most is that you can actually say something like the spirit of the law. It really makes me sit up and take notice. I originally thought you just wanted to be a warlord and overthrow the Manchu warlords."
Zhao Xin also smiled and said, "Then what?"
Yu Deli stared into Zhao Xin's eyes and said: "Then you become another Yuan Shikai." He frowned and continued: "Maybe that is not accurate, at least the force you have at hand is much more powerful than Yuan Shikai."
Zhao Xin put away his smile, looked at Yu Deli and said, "Teacher Yu, if one day I really become like that, what will you do?"
Yu Deli shrugged and said: "Since it's no longer interesting, let's go back. Plant flowers and walk the dog."
Zhao Xin nodded, stretched out his right hand, looked at Yu Deli and said, "I strive not to be a single man."
Yu Deli laughed and said, "Then I'll wait and see." Then he stretched out his hand and shook it with Zhao Xin.
Sure enough, after the discussion the next morning, Yu Deli was appointed as the leader of the Beihai Town Laws and Regulations Drafting Group and presided over the drafting of legal provisions.
After Yu Deli took office, he first selected ten people from the school's older children over thirteen years old as assistants. After these ten children studied in the school in Beihai Town for two years, they can already write well and correctly, and the compositions they usually assign can also be meaningful. Yu Deli felt that this was enough. These children were mainly responsible for recording and copying.
As for the deputy leader of the drafting group, he is another teacher Zhou, who teaches Chinese. This person's name is Zhou Weiguo, he is nearly fifty years old, and he was also an outstanding representative of "paid make-up lessons" before. However, Fang Hua originally paid for the medical expenses for his wife's treatment, but Teacher Zhou felt that the salary was not enough.
Since arriving in the 18th century, Zhou Weiguo has been in a "yellow croaker" state, usually inconspicuous. But since he entered the drafting group, Zhou Weiguo suddenly burst into passion and began to express his opinions nonstop. Many of his suggestions impressed Zhao Xin and others.
For example, Zhou Weiguo proposed that the first regulation that Beihai Town needs to promulgate should involve the protection of property rights. The reason for doing this is to let all the refugees know that as long as you abide by the laws of Beihai Town, your human rights and financial rights will be protected; rather than under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the magistrate was ruined and the government was destroyed. Yin, the guards can come to blackmail you at any time.
So five days later, Beihai Town's first formal legal regulations were promulgated. As before, this regulation was first posted in the form of big-character posters on bulletin boards throughout Beihai Town and Fuldan City, and students from schools were sent to read aloud to the refugees.
"Beihai Town Regulations on the Protection of Human Rights and Financial Rights were promulgated on the 10th day of the eighth lunar month in 1786. Article 1. The purpose of this regulation is to protect the human rights and financial rights of all people under the jurisdiction of Beihai Town from illegal infringement... Article 3 protects the private property rights of all people and their freedom to use and profit in accordance with the law (including land, houses, creditor's rights and all assets)...Article 7, in addition to judicial and police agencies performing their duties in accordance with the law , no agency, force, or organization may arrest, interrogate, or punish anyone, except for current crimes. If the interests of the people are harmed, they have the right to accuse any public official of illegal behavior in any way..."
Zhu Dagui stood at the front of the crowd, listening to a young man explaining the contents of the notice to people like him. These farmers from the Qing Dynasty have long developed the habit of obeying what the government says. They all listened to the child named Xu Funan and looked at each other in confusion.
"Mr. Xiao Xu, I want to ask, what do people mean?" As the leader of the residents' group, Zhu Dagui often interacts with civil affairs clerks, so he is more courageous than usual.
Xu Funan is 11 years old this year. He is 1.5 meters tall, has a crew cut, and is wearing Beihai Town’s summer labor insurance uniform. Those who don’t know him might think he is a civil affairs clerk.
After listening to Zhu Dagui's question, he deliberately cleared his throat and explained: "The people are the people. All the people who live in Beihai Town, Fuldan City, including Kuye Island and Pingyuan Town, including you and me. Everyone included is included in this.”
At this time, another audience member said: "I've been listening for a long time. What do these people with power and that power want to say?"
Xu Funan thought to himself that I wasted a long time talking about Xingzi. He rolled his eyes and said: "This regulation is the law. It means that as long as there is no crime, all your property will be protected. No one can ask for it." You extort and rob your property!”
"What? Law?! Why do you write this law on white paper? It looks so depressing! The emperor issued the imperial edict, and it was all made of yellow silk."
"Yes, yes, you are using the wrong paper!"
Zhu Dagui was about to cry when he saw Xu Funan. He quickly turned around and scolded the people around him: "What are you talking about?"
The person who just mentioned the imperial edict said: "Why are I talking nonsense? A few years ago, I went to the county town to sell vegetables, and I saw that the imperial edict in the hands of the imperial envoy was yellow!"
The crowd of onlookers began to talk, but no one cared about the content of the clause. This made Xu Funan feel deeply traumatized and almost cried out of anger.
Like Xu Funan, other children responsible for preaching also encountered the same situation. There were even several newly arrived refugee families who held the hand of a child and said that they would betroth their daughter to him.
Looking at the dejected students with red eyes, Yu Deli smiled and said: "Children, do you think that reading the regulations once will make everyone understand? This is a long and difficult task!"
At this time, Xu Funan and others wiped their eyes and looked at Yu Deli intently as he continued to explain.
"To smash the old world and build a new world, we still have to do a lot. In addition to preaching, we also need to use radio, opera, and storytelling to break up the contents of the regulations and make them clear and understandable. , so that the people will truly support us!"
