The issue of prisoner placement that Lao Zhu kicked over made the secret fighting in Jurong County Government disappear without a trace.
At least, that's how it looks on the surface.
There is no way, the placement of prisoners is not a trivial matter. It is not only the Yingtian Mansion that is eyeing Jurong, but also the Imperial Household Department and Zhongshu Province, because these prisoners are currently in the military camp and are related to the Governor's Mansion.
With so many people watching, Jurong won't be able to get anything done, the county magistrate will be in trouble, and no one else will feel better. What's more, Jurong is close to Jinling, and there is trouble in the placement of prisoners. If something happens, it can't be hidden even if it wants to.
For the common interests, Gu Zhengchen took the lead, and Liu Boqin, Zhao Doubei, Chen Zhong and others fully cooperated. It can be said that "work together and work together as one."
In the afternoon of that day, Li He and others from the workshop came up with a plan for recruiting corvees and reported it to Gu Zhengchen.
Gu Zhengchen looked through the documents, frowned and said, "1,600 people are to be recruited, so many?"
Li He said seriously: "Your Majesty, there are 1,600 people in the county, 400 people in each direction, each responsible for building 100 houses. It will be completed in 20 days, which is already considered a small number."
Gu Zhengchen frowned: "We don't need bricks and tiles or mud walls to install the house. It doesn't need to be too big. It just needs to be strong and strong enough not to blow over in the wind or leak when it rains. How many people are needed?"
Li He nodded helplessly: "Even if it is a thatched house, it still needs to be cut down and laid a foundation. Time is tight, so we can only use manpower to make it happen."
Gu Zhengchen picked up his pen, crossed out the words "1,600 people", added a few more strokes, and handed the document to Li He: "According to this standard, the corvee will be recruited."
Li He took it uneasily, glanced at it, and was stunned: "Eight hundred people? The county magistrate can't do this. Eight hundred people can't finish it no matter what."
Gu Zhengchen waved his hand: "You are responsible for recruiting corvees. You must be young and strong."
Li He was a little anxious and persuaded: "Your Majesty, this can't be completed. Even if it takes a month, eight hundred people can't complete it. When the time comes, the court will blame..."
Gu Zhengchen looked at Li He and said seriously: "Please cooperate with Gelijia. In the future, I will see 800 people coming to the county government office. Just do your best."
Li He looked at Gu Zhengchen uneasily, bowed and left the second hall, turned around and found the county magistrate Liu Boqin.
After Liu Boqin heard this, he was shocked: "He actually cut off half of the 1,600 people with one knife. When he thinks this is buying vegetables on the street, can he still bargain?"
Li He wiped his cold sweat: "Liu Xiancheng, the new magistrate is a young man. Although he is courageous and resolute in his work, he also lacks experience and is inexperienced in the world. He doesn't know that house construction is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and there are all the corvee labors. The people are unwilling to work hard and are lazy all day long. If they don't wave the whip, let alone twenty days, they won't be able to do it even for half a year! If this continues, it will be impossible to properly arrange the prisoners."
Liu Boqin touched the back of his head and couldn't figure out what Gu Zhengchen was doing.
The county government has always called for corvees when encountering problems, and has always preferred more than less, for fear that there will not be enough manpower and things will not be done well. For example, in the second year of Hongwu's reign, Jurong dredged rivers and repaired water conservancy, and the county government conscripted nearly 5,000 people into corvee service.
It is the right of the government to recruit people to serve in corvee service, and it is the obligation of the people to serve in corvee service. The more corvee service is conscripted, the faster and better things will be done, and the more outstanding the political achievements will be. Gu Zhengchen can't see this clearly.
Is there anyone who despises the large number of people serving as corvees and deliberately reduces them?
What's more, this matter is about the placement of prisoners assigned by the imperial court. People's power is recruited openly and time is tight. If you make a mistake at this time, it is not a moth flying into the flame. You will not even say a word if you want to die!
"If he can't do this, the officials will mark him down for incompetence during the evaluation. When the time comes..."
Liu Boqin's eyes turned cold.
Li He was a little nervous: "Liu County Cheng, this matter involves too many things. If something goes wrong, it will be difficult for us to protect ourselves."
Liu Boqin paced and pondered, clenched his fists, and said sternly: "He is the county magistrate, and we will do as he says. If something goes wrong, we will blame him entirely! In this way, his official career will end here." "
Li He looked deeply at Liu Boqin and said nothing more.
These officials just like to fight openly and secretly. As a small official, they can only do what they are told.
Second hall.
Gu Zhengchen drank tea and spread out a blank memorial on the table.
Before taking up his post in Jurong, Zhu Dalang gave him many instructions and instructions, and he must write him documents and tell him about Jurong's affairs.
It is not an option to leave Dalang alone all the time. If this guy gets better physically after doing sit-ups and is not killed by the cold, he will be the future Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Laosi can only serve as a gatekeeper for him. People.
You have to have a good relationship.
Lao Zhu plans to place prisoners in Jurong. It just so happens that he can ask Zhu Dalang for help in this matter and see if Lao Zhu can agree.
Tatar prisoners, one thousand two hundred and thirty-six.
In Gu Zhengchen's opinion, this number is still a bit small. Putting aside the Tatar label, this is the demographic dividend.
What is the most important thing about local governance?
population!
With a large population, a lot of land reclamation, and a lot of tax revenue, naturally, the political performance will be better.
For Jurong, if there is not enough population, how can we talk about development?
Otherwise, take more prisoners?
But will these captives cause disputes and national conflicts...
However, Lao Zhu was not afraid. He also appointed many Yuan Ting officials and guards around him. As a small county magistrate, he was afraid that this or that would not be appropriate.
Besides, this group of prisoners had been living in the Jinling military camp for a while. It is hard to say whether they were dragged by Mu Ying and others to carry out a "prisoner of war camp sports meeting", but they must have received special care.
There was also the issue of corvee service.
The corvee system in the early Ming Dynasty implemented the system of "assigning households to serve as errands". All government servants were basically borne by private households.
This was the sixth year of Hongwu, and there were two main types of corvee:
Li Jia is a regular servant, and miscellaneous is a miscellaneous servant.
The equalization of corvee labor was a matter of the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty and had not yet come out.
Lijia is composed according to the number of households.
One hundred and ten households make up one mile.
Within a li, the ten households that receive the most grain are the li chiefs, and the other 100 households are called the shijia. Each jia has ten households, and the jia has a head.
Li Jia's official duties include three main tasks:
Collecting taxes and grain: Li Jia is responsible for collecting the two taxes, and Li Jia will pay for the insufficient taxes.
Handle tribute materials: For example, if you need to pay tribute to good tea, but you don’t have it here, it doesn’t matter. You can pay for it and buy it elsewhere for tribute.
Supporting the public affairs of the court: annual gifts for officials, giving to passing officials, building a chastity memorial arch, etc. Li Jia needs to pay for these...
The miscellaneous servant is a bit versatile:
Chopping wood and gathering firewood,
Build rivers, build roads, build warehouses,
Standing guard delivering couriers and working as a groom,
Writing, patrolling, guarding, pulling rope trackers...
Gu Zhengchen recruited corvees for the purpose of building houses, which was classified as miscellaneous labor.
Eight hundred people built four hundred thatched houses in twenty days.
This is not an easy task, but Gu Zhengchen believes that it is feasible, but it just needs some operation.
After writing the document to Zhu Dalang, Gu Zhengchen depressedly wrote a second document. This document was for the Zhongshu Province, telling the court that I had taken over the job of placing prisoners and promised to do a good job.
The county magistrate has the right to write memorials and issue documents directly to the court without going through the prefecture level, and there is no cross-level communication.
After Gu Zhengchen wrote the two documents and sealed them, he called Liu Boqin: "Send them to the Jinling Chayan Division, the sooner the better."
Chayan Department, the predecessor of General Affairs Department.
Liu Boqin pinched it and felt that there were two documents. He looked at Gu Zhengchen with some doubts and said: "Your Majesty, please send documents to the court, one for each document."
Gu Zhengchen nodded slightly: "I know these things, just send someone to deliver the documents. What, you want to see the content?"
Liu Boqin's face changed slightly, and he said quickly: "I don't dare, so I'll send someone to deliver it."
Gu Zhengchen didn't say much, and he wasn't worried about Liu Boqin reading the official document.
There is fire paint on the document bag, and there is a seal on the fire paint. Once you open it, it will leave traces.
Anyone who peeks into official documents or destroys them will be punished by beheading. There are strict procedures for who hands the documents through. Once it is discovered that official documents have been leaked, the government will investigate them. If they cannot be found out, all the people involved in the process will be punished.
Gu Zhengchen continued to look through the case files.
Except for Sun Niang's case, judging from the files, there are not many flaws in the other cases.
But after reading all the files, Gu Zhengchen became a little confused. He picked out three files and placed them on one side. These files were all related to a man named Guo Jie, and the reason for the arrest of the three prisoners was a fight.
"A fight, a one-on-one fight, and you have to find a special person?"
Gu Zhengchen was a little confused. How bad did this guy named Guo Jie need to be that he was beaten three times by three people at different times?
What is even more surprising is that every time Guo Jie was beaten, two fingers were broken.
According to the law, if two fingers are broken, the person who did it will be guilty of a serious crime and will be punished with sixty rods and one year in prison.
The Jurong County government did not have the authority to impose a prison sentence and needed to report it to Yingtian Mansion. However, Yingtian Mansion failed to approve the case and the case was shelved.
Gu Zhengchen looked through the files carefully and found that the three prisoners were all from the same place. Coincidentally, they were from Zhishui, Yifeng Township.
What's more coincidental is that the beaten Guo Jie was from Hezhuang, Xiaoyi Township, and came from the same place as Guo Liang.
Guo Liang and Sun Niang.
Guo Jie and Sun Cai, Wang Daxiu and Wang Erniu.
Four cases, four times, two spaces.
"This matter is really interesting."
Gu Zhengchen looked at the file with a smile on his lips.
If there were no similarities or tricks behind this, Gu Zhengchen would never believe it.
Especially for this guy Guo Jie, every time he was beaten, two fingers would be broken off. This was not a fucking beating, it was a medical miracle. There were fights, and some people were going after a finger, or even two fingers.
Gu Zhengchen called Sun Shiba and explained: "Now the imperial court has to resettle prisoners, and I can't leave in a short time. You go to Hezhuang, Xiaoyi Township, Zhishui, Yifeng Township, and visit Guo Liang, Guo Jie, Regarding people like Sun Niang, especially investigate Guo Jie."
"Yes, sir."
Sun Shiba agreed.
Gu Zhengchen glanced outside the door and whispered: "Pretend to be a merchant, don't let anyone follow you, you should be fine with this, right?"
Sun Shiba assured solemnly: "Don't worry, it's no problem."
Gu Zhengchen looked at Sun Shiba who was leaving, stretched his arms, looked darkly, and murmured: "The local snake is very strong, but there are two real dragons standing behind me..."
