"Hey! Have you heard about it? The Jinshi Gang in the southwest of the county was taken advantage of by the county officials yesterday afternoon~!"
"What? Did Jin Wanbiao catch him?"
"Caught! Caught! It is said that all fifty-eight members of the Jinshi Gang have been arrested and taken to the county jail!"
"Great! Great! The people of the Jinshi Gang have done all kinds of bad things, and Jin Wanbiao is even more cruel by nature. I don't know how many merchants have been blackmailed by him! They should all be put in jail long ago!"
"Didn't you want to arrest Jin Wanbiao before you became County Magistrate? Isn't there no evidence?"
"What's wrong? Is there evidence this time?"
"Hey! It's different this time! This time the leader is not Captain Sun from the county government, but a personal guard from the Hou Mansion. Even if I lend him ten pieces of courage from Jin Wanbiao, I don't dare to say anything more!"
"Hey! It seems that the Marquis can't stand these bullies anymore!"
"Isn't that true? And I heard that the Canghai Gang in the north of the city was also wiped out yesterday afternoon! Although their gang leader Tsunami Tian is not as hateful as Jin Wanbiao, he also collected a lot of protection fees from merchants!"
"It's far more than that! In addition to these two big gangs, many gangsters in the city were all arrested and put into jail yesterday afternoon. I have a nephew who works in the government office. I heard from him that the cells in the county government office are now overcrowded. The person responsible for trying these prisoners Hu Dianshi, it is said that he didn’t sleep a wink all night last night!”
"Oh! Such an exaggeration! It seems that the Marquis really took action! Otherwise, no one would be able to use such thunderous means to wipe out all the gangsters in Lantian County!"
"No wonder the Sifang City Gate in Lantian County was suddenly closed yesterday afternoon! It turns out that the Marquis wants to completely eliminate these cancers in the city! Now that there are no such gangsters, I feel that the security in the city is much better!"
"And have you noticed that there are more teams of yamen patrolling the streets in the market today? I don't know if they are just patrolling in the past few days, or they will patrol like this in the future. If it is the latter, then there will no longer be patrols in the market. There will be gangsters extorting protection fees from merchants!”
"Haha! What did I say yesterday? The Commerce Department established by the county government is definitely a good thing for us businessmen! Although we pay more business taxes than before, there are no bullies like Jin Wanbiao and Tsunami Tian to extort protection fees. , the money saved is enough to pay the commercial tax! What’s more, our merchants in Lantian County, in addition to getting priority supply from the Yanhuang Chamber of Commerce, their children can also go to school in the county. Overall, it is definitely a good thing. !”
"That's right! If you do business in other states and counties, you will also be blackmailed by bullies like Jin Wanbiao. The monthly expenses added up may not be less than the expenses of opening a shop in Lantian County! So! Ah, I support the Commerce Department of this county government from the bottom of my heart! I am angry at Mr. Hou for having wiped out the bullies in the city and made us merchants angry. I, Jin Fugui, will support Mr. Hou no matter what. ~!"
"Yes, yes, yes~! We must support Mr. Hou~!"
The second day.
The people of Lantian County who got up early couldn't help but gather in small groups and talk together. The focus of the topic was naturally the Lantian County Skynet operation yesterday!
Merchants who were previously dissatisfied with the Department of Commerce and the new commercial tax law have now changed their attitudes and started talking about the benefits of the Department of Commerce!
"Go and check it out! The county government has posted a new notice!"
As luck would have it, at this moment, someone ran over and shouted.
"New notice? It must be related to those bullies Jin Wanbiao! Let's go and take a look!"
I don't know who shouted, and immediately, merchants and people walked quickly in the direction of the county government in small groups!
In front of the notice board at the gate of the county government office, twenty or thirty people had gathered around. A scholar read while reading: "Members of the Jinshi Gang and the Canghai Gang have been extorting money from merchants and merchants in the city in recent months. They demanded protection money and were guilty of assault, arson and other crimes. After trial by the county government, the criminals confessed to the crimes they committed. The county magistrate decided to distribute these human traffickers to the mines and serve three years in prison! The leaders of the two major gangs were directly exiled. Qiongzhou!
From now on, if anyone dares to blackmail merchants, the county government will severely punish them! In order to maintain public order in the city, government officials will patrol the city every day. At the same time, patrols will be strengthened in the city to ensure that merchants have a good business environment and that people have a stable living environment! "
A closer look at the relevant laws of the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty reveals that the maximum period of punishment in these two dynasties generally did not exceed three years. In other words, prisoners would only be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of less than three years, and even most prisoners would only be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of less than three years. will be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than two years. The laws of the Tang and Song dynasties set three years as the upper limit of the sentence, and divided it into five levels of criminal law from one to three years.
The main reason why there are no longer fixed-term sentences is because the population in ancient times would not be as large as in modern times, and human resources would not be as valuable as in modern society. In this era, everyone is a very precious labor force, used to develop production and farming and weaving operations. Once prisoners are detained extensively and for a long time, it will have a great impact on the production and operation of the entire society.
Moreover, fixed-term imprisonment in this era cannot only lock prisoners in prison. In addition to being detained, these prisoners must also complete compulsory and high-intensity labor. This approach is roughly similar to the fixed-term imprisonment plus reform through labor implemented in modern society!
Therefore, the county government's punishment for the gangsters arrested yesterday was still very severe!
"Great! Great! From now on, no one in the market will dare to charge protection fees!"
"Master Hou really considers me and other merchants! This Commercial Department is well built!"
"Yes, that's right! From now on, I can do business with peace of mind and down-to-earth! Although I have to pay too much business tax, I am willing to pay it!"
"No! I also have to buy a shop in Lantian County. Who has a shop that they want to resell? The price is negotiable!"
After seeing this notice at the gate of the county government office, the people and merchants finally saw the county government's determination to improve public security in Lantian County. The merchants were all relieved and even more excited!
"Hey? Isn't that Boss Cao from Chang'an City? Why did he bring so many cars? What's in those cars?"
"Don't you know if you go and ask? Boss Cao is still very easy to talk to!"
While everyone was talking about it, they saw a convoy coming on the road west of the county government office. The leader was none other than Cao Wendong, the largest cloth merchant in Chang'an City! Seeing Cao Wendong coming to Lantian County with so many carriages, the people at the county government office couldn't help but talk about it.
Naturally, some bold and meddling people came forward and asked, "Boss Cao, what are you going to do with this massive army?"
Cao Wendong did not put on airs, he said with a smile: "Cao heard yesterday that Lantian County has established a commerce department, which treats merchants, common people, and craftsmen equally, and the children of merchants can also attend county schools. This makes Cao very excited! Because with the Commerce Department, we businessmen will no longer suffer from the glare and bullying! So after thinking about it, I planned to completely move my family to Lantian County. Anyway, there are several shops of Cao in this city, so we can take advantage of it. Let the dog enter the county school!"
When Yanhuang Academy was not established last year, Cao Wendong approached Li Zexuan several times, wanting the latter to establish a chamber of commerce and help businessmen improve their social status. At that time, Li Zexuan rejected his request due to personal reasons. Later, Li Zexuan established his own Although Cao Wendong also joined the Yanhuang Chamber of Commerce, the status of merchants in society has not changed!
In any place, businessmen are low-level untouchables, despised existences!
Now Li Zexuan plans to establish a Department of Commerce in Lantian County to protect the social status and interests of businessmen, and to clarify that the status and class of businessmen are the same as ordinary people. After receiving the news, Cao Wendong was very happy, and then quickly packed up After finishing packing, my family moved directly to Lantian County!
After all, it can be said that Lantian County is the only piece of pure land for the merchants of the Tang Dynasty, and it may also be the last piece of pure land! Only here can businessmen get fair and equitable social treatment and social status, and can get admission opportunities to county schools. In Cao Wendong's view, these two are good "things that cannot be exchanged for money." "ah!
"What? Boss Cao? Are you moving to Lantian County~?"
After listening to Cao Wendong's words, the merchants couldn't help but exclaimed one by one.
Cao Wendong smiled faintly and said: "What? Doesn't it look like it? I have already bought a mansion in Lantian County, right in Yong'anfang. By then, I can become the Marquis's close neighbor!"
"But Boss Cao, what should you do in the cloth workshop in Chang'an City?"
At this time someone asked again.
Cao Wendonghun said nonchalantly: "Then let's treat it as a branch store. From now on, the Cao family's store in Lantian County will be the main store!"
When everyone heard this, they immediately looked at each other, and they naturally attributed Cao Wendong to the "rich and willful" type of person! After all, although the urban commercial scale of Lantian County is many times larger than before, compared with Chang'an City, Lantian County is still far behind! Now Cao Wendong is willing to use the store in Chang'an City as a branch and move his family to Lantian County. He is really rich and willful!
………………………………
"Now that most of the gangsters in the city have been captured, the Commerce Department has officially begun to perform the tasks it should perform. However, we must always pay attention to the public security environment in the city to prevent evil forces like Jin Wanbiao from resurrecting. After all, this is not easy. Lantian County, which is governed in a stable manner, will be really difficult to govern once chaos breaks out again!"
At the back office of Lantian County, Li Zexuan said to the officials in the county office.
Yesterday, Liu Feng was asked to take the lead in helping the county government arrest people. It was indeed Li Zexuan's instruction. Although he failed to arrest all the ruffians in the city, most of the rogues he captured could at least serve as a deterrent. The effect is to make those who have slipped through the net no longer dare to cause trouble in the city!
Of course, the reason why he chose this time to rectify the public security in Lantian County was not only to establish prestige for the Secretary of Commerce and let more merchants trust the Secretary of Commerce, but Li Zexuan also had a small selfish motive, that is, his family has all moved away. Arriving at the Hou Mansion in Yong'anfang, everyone including Lan'er and Han Yuxi moved here in the past two days! Li Zexuan doesn't want those ruffians in the city to affect his family!
Although people in the Hou Mansion usually have followers or guards when they go out, who can guarantee that they will have guards with them every time they go out? How bad would it be if you encountered some blind scoundrels when you didn't have any guards?
Therefore, instead of defending day and night, it is better to directly eliminate all the main evil forces in the city. In this way, those little scumbags that have slipped through the net will be quiet for a long, long time and will have no chance to continue to do evil! !
"Your Majesty, please remember the Marquis's teachings!"
Magistrate He bowed his hands towards Li Zexuan and responded.
Li Zexuan nodded and asked: "How is the construction progress of the county's water canals? How is the installation progress of the water tankers?"
It was almost mid-May. Looking at the weather getting hotter day by day, Li Zexuan said in his heart that there was no rush. That was impossible!
Magistrate He raised his hands with some excitement and replied: "Master Hou, with the joint efforts of the people in the county, the construction of cement ditches in our county is basically coming to an end. As for the placement of water trucks at key nodes, it has also been completed." There are less than five water tankers left that have not been installed yet! It is expected that the reservoir will be able to open the gate to release water and test whether our canals and water tankers can operate normally by the day after tomorrow at the latest!"
"So fast?"
Li Zexuan raised his eyebrows, very surprised.
Counting the days, it has only been ten days! The cement ditches in one county are almost finished? The progress of this project makes countless modern people feel ashamed!
Magistrate He said with a smile:
"Master Marquis, you don't know something. After the people of Lantian County learned that you had built a waterwheel that could automatically carry water, they immediately became enthusiastic about building canals. Men, women, old and young, regardless of age, all They all joined the team of building canals.
Even if they don't get paid, those people are still willing to help build the canal! In addition, some Zhuangzi even adopted a working mechanism of two shifts during the day and night in order to rush the work. It is precisely because the farmers in each Zhuangzi worked hard to rush the work that the project progress is so rapid today! "
The current situation is thanks to the news in Datang Daily a few days ago, which completely inspired all the people to be enthusiastic about building water canals! Compared with the number of people who reported to the county government before, the number of people who are repairing canals now is three times as many as before!
Such enthusiasm and such accumulated strength to choose.
Li Zexuan smiled with satisfaction and said: "Okay! Very good! Once the canal is built, send someone to notify me immediately! Time waits for no one, our county must start diverting water to irrigate the fields as soon as possible!"
"I obey the order~!"
Hu Dianshi, Sun Baotou, Mengxian Cheng, Wangxianwei, Zhang Zhushu and others all saluted and responded.
………………………
First update!
Thanks to Hans for the fifty thousand reward (April 26)
(End of chapter)
