Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 373: Eight Strategies for Establishing a Nation
"Sixth, clarify the criminal law. The Chu Law is clearly written, and all revisions are spread throughout the country. I started it myself. The eight crimes are irreparable. I abolish collective punishment, torture, and lynching. The counties have a criminal department and a criminal court. If the people of Chu have grievances, they cannot get redressed in the criminal court. If a county is held responsible, they cannot get redressed in the criminal department. If a county is held responsible, they cannot get redressed in the criminal department. If a county is held responsible, they cannot get redressed in the criminal department. The King of Chu will be punished!"
Liu Xie, who was far away in Chang'an, had become numb. It was indeed this one - the same as the eight strategies given to him at the beginning.
Abolishing collective punishment and torture has cleared up some of the chronic problems. Apart from restrictions on interrogation, which has caused some officials in the Ministry of Justice to secretly curse, no one else would object. After all... at a time like this, no one wants the whole family to be together.
However, abolishing private punishment would mean encroaching on the power of the clan, and it was also clearly written in the official bulletin that even if the master punished the servant, it was still within this restriction and the government had to handle it.
As for the long-standing "redemption", Bai Tu still did not have a one-size-fits-all approach. Just like the previous rules of the General's Mansion, redemption was restricted for several serious crimes, while some lighter crimes were put aside for the time being and dealt with slowly later.
In addition, Bai Tu also took this opportunity to clarify the significance of the existence of the Criminal Department and the Criminal Hall.
Previously, because the Six Ministries were nominally the staff of the General's Office, the Criminal Department and Criminal Court under them were naturally subordinate to the General's Office as well, and in theory were not local government offices.
However, from now on, the responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice and the Criminal Court are more clearly defined. On the one hand, it emphasizes the vertical management system based on the six ministries, and on the other hand, it also clarifies the rights and responsibilities - "The King of Chu was beaten" has already been said, and the prefects, county magistrates... can do whatever they want.
As a person who once shouted "Killing one man is like killing my father", it is still credible for him to say this at this time. At least his determination has been recognized by the people.
Wang Lang below was also increasingly encouraged - this was the umpteenth time that Bai Tu had publicly supported the reforms of the Ministry of Justice.
"Seventh, there are civilians but no slaves. Since the King of Chu, there has been no slavery in Chu. The Chu Law states that those who hire or sell their bodies are subject to a ten-year contract. Those who punish domestic servants privately are guilty of the same crime as those who break into a house and injure civilians!"
Although Liu Xie had expected this, he still felt a little embarrassed when he heard this.
After all, the Liu family was not wealthy now, and Liu Xie was sensible in this regard. After arriving in Chang'an, he suppressed the matters proposed by Dong Cheng, such as repairing the palace, and avoided them wherever possible.
Today he was praised by all the ministers. The number of eunuchs and palace maids in the palace is the smallest in history, even fewer than when Li Jue and Guo Si were in power!
However, now Bai Tu has actually abolished the eunuch and palace maid system...
However, the people who were most affected were the wealthy families with a large number of servants. They felt confused again. Although... after comparing the annotations in the palace bulletin, their minds calmed down a little, but they still began to feel uneasy.
From today on, Bai Tu will officially say "goodbye forever" to the remnants of slavery. Before, the General's Mansion simply did not recognize the legality of the indenture contract, but now it is an official announcement that in the State of Chu... there is no such thing as slaves, and everyone is a Chu citizen!
Families who still have slaves indentured to sell their bodies, please go to the local government to exchange the indentures for ten years within the specified time. Otherwise... it will no longer be just the escape of the slaves that has nothing to do with the government, but once discovered, they will be arrested by lynching.
Of course, although it went a step further than the previous abolition order from the General’s Office, it still left a loophole, that is, “servant”.
Conceptually, the Chu State separated "servants" and "slaves". All "slaves" had to be abolished, but "servants" could continue to exist. The difference was that "servants" were not considered hired and did not need to be paid, but the maximum limit was still ten years, which was equivalent to a buyout.
Similarly, lynching is prohibited and food and lodging must be guaranteed. Unless the master violates any rules, the difference from normal employment is that if the "servant" wants to terminate the contract, he must give the master compensation based on the buyout price, which means he needs to redeem himself. This is unlike an ordinary employment contract, which imposes more restrictions on the employer.
The most important thing is that in the new tax system, Bai Tu not only significantly reduced agricultural taxes, but also abolished the head tax, and only added industrial and commercial taxes.
The reason why the wealthy families had so many slaves was essentially that they were competing with the imperial court for people, and these people were not included in the imperial court's household registration list.
However, the head tax was abolished, which means... at this time, people could go to the government office, exchange their hidden people, that is, slaves, for a ten-year contract and be registered under orders, without having to pay any additional taxes.
Otherwise, those wealthy families with numerous servants might become jealous...
As for the loss of head tax, Bai Tu didn't care much about it. As long as he kept a close eye on the industrial and commercial taxes, it would be fine. These people entering the workshops would naturally generate industrial value and provide taxes.
Bai Tu really didn't believe that those families with tens of thousands of servants would still be content to have dozens of people take care of them for a meal and not let these servants enter the workshops when they see the labor costs rising day by day...
If he is really that bad-tempered, Bai Tu can also refuse his tax. Anyway, this old stubborn man who goes against the trend will not be able to maintain his dignity for long in the wave of industrialization.
In fact, there was enough room for "exploitation", but slavery had to be abolished in essence first, and there were great compromises in the details.
For example, in the Ministry of Industry, many people’s contracts are close to those of “servants” and they are not allowed to terminate the contract early, but their status and remuneration are higher.
If there are still people who cannot accept it, then Bai Tu can only consider "benevolent destruction".
"Eighth, all people are treated equally - the people of Chu, regardless of whether they are kings, nobles, widows, widowers, the elderly, the weak, men or women, the sick or disabled, scholars, farmers, merchants, or workers, are all treated equally in the above policies..."
With the previous preparation, this "treating them as equivalent" seems to be a natural thing.
That is, they were all "equivalent" in terms of schooling, imperial examinations, criminal law, etc., and even provided a theoretical basis for the previously controversial female official system, but... perhaps because people were numb to it? Instead, it did not cause too strong a response!
In short, at this time, ordinary people in Chu were already cheering. Even if some of them didn’t understand, you know the 15% tax, right?
As for the wealthy families...
The people of Yangzhou, who had already adapted to the General's Mansion model, were now preparing to seize a share of Jingzhou. Some of the wealthy families in Jingzhou began to react and were actively "preparing for war", while those who had not reacted were relieved to see the cancellation of the head tax.
Think about the thousands of acres of fertile land and countless slaves. Although their deeds have to be exchanged, it shouldn't be a big problem. At least it won't hurt so much that I have to fight hard.
Even if we abolish the system of collective punishment, we can't commit suicide!
The most important thing is that anyone with a little sentimental feeling can only be convinced by the dialogue diagram now.
Which one, didn’t Bai Tu start with himself and begin to restrict “King of Chu”?
At this time, there are by no means a minority of scholars who can fully trigger their own emotions and have no life-and-death disagreements with family interests. In fact, at this moment, there are more scholars who want to surrender to Bai Tu than those who hate him.
And even if they "hate", most of them don't "hate" to the point of risking their lives. At most, they will curse behind their backs, and they will still have to go to the government to exchange the deed tomorrow...
Whether it is an aristocratic family or a powerful clan, the core point of survival is to rely on the people to resist the imperial court.
It doesn't matter if the court hates me, but I can't lose the support of my fellow villagers. Now that Chu has won, I can only admit defeat...
After the eight strategies were announced, Bai Tu felt that the fortune of the Chu State was surging, and he himself was shrouded in golden light, as if a street lamp was placed on a high platform.
Finally, Bai Tu announced with all his might: " May God bless the people, and may the people bless our Great Chu - the Chu State is established!"
