Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 421: The End of the Family
"Are you very proud?"
Early in the morning, Lu Lingqi asked Bai Tu while getting dressed.
Last night the two of them settled the account of Xiahou Juan, but as everyone knows, the account settled at night cannot be written down.
"I've been very proud since the day we got married." Bai Tu, who has high emotional intelligence, said as he hugged Lu Lingqi from behind.
"Pah!" Lu Lingqi blushed and spat softly.
"Okay, stop holding on to your captain of the guard. His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu will have other things to do later, right?" Lu Lingqi reminded.
Bai Tu's face was filled with distress when he heard this...
When they were "settling accounts" at night, everything was fine - didn't His Royal Highness the King of Chu say that "women hold up half the sky, and in the prosperity and development of the State of Chu, the status of men and women is equally important"?
I won’t argue with you about the princess’s matter for now. Let’s resolve the recent petition submitted by Wang Lang as soon as possible!
It is indeed a headache, but even if this incident did not happen, Bai Tu would still have a headache in this regard. After all, this is the real business of the King of Chu.
What kind of spirit does Lu Lingqi have in mind by using extremely fast processing of government affairs as a condition?
No need to beautify it, it can be written directly into history books!
As for what Bai Tu is worried about...
In fact, generally speaking, it is not an isolated case, but something that the State of Chu must face now - why did Bai Tu focus on "resting and recuperation" in the early days of the founding of the country when the State of Chu was gaining momentum?
What needs to be cultivated the most is not actually the people's power. In addition to exchanging the dividends of initial industrialization, it is also necessary to eliminate the various hidden dangers brought about by initial industrialization!
For example, after the workshop group concentrates the population, it brings about the problem of greatly accelerated information exchange - not only reflected in the faster transmission of gossip about white maps, but also means that the people have more opportunities to be instigated.
Just like the "historical experience" of the Mongols and Yuan Dynasty, when the imperial court is generally hated by the people, no matter what happens, the people should not be concentrated there, otherwise even the construction of a river can lead to the creation of an army of rebels.
In fact, since the first time the phrase "Are kings, dukes, generals, and ministers of different species" was heard in China, there have been many such lessons. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang led garrison soldiers at the end of the Qin Dynasty, countless workers who built the Grand Canal revolted at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and Huang Chao in the Tang Dynasty also revolted with the people who were doing corvée labor...
In most uprisings, the initial gathering was often organized by the court itself.
For this reason, in the minds of a group of conservatives represented by Zhang Zhao, this is the "original sin" of the workshop. If Bai Tu had not strongly supported industrialization and had already seen results, this original sin alone would have been enough to delay industrialization indefinitely.
Of course, Chu still has an advantage in this regard, that is, the people are very accepting of the Chu court, but we must prevent it from happening...
Not only did Bai Tu understand what this meant, the Censorate and the Ministry of Rites also warned Bai Tu. Even though they didn't know how Meng Yuan died, they knew the importance of this aspect.
For this purpose, Bai Tu also specifically instructed the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Rites to pay close attention to information explosions and establish channels for communication and guidance.
Cao... It must be said that Xiahou Juan's return at this time really helped Bai Tu. It is better to watch more operas than to be instigated by some strange sects.
This is just one aspect, just a microcosm. The Ministry of Justice, which has been forging ahead, has recently encountered difficulties again... Saying "again" is not quite accurate, the Ministry of Justice has never stopped facing difficulties.
What Wang Lang reported to Bai Tu this time was exactly related to the "difficult problem" mentioned by Lu Lingqi before!
The "Chu Law" had already been implemented a long time ago. The new law placed more emphasis on the unity of husband and wife. The Ministry of Justice even took the lead and went directly to the local level to handle several cases involving "eating up the entire family" as typical cases.
Eating up the entire family is a bad custom in the old society. When a male child dies at a young age without an heir, his family members, brothers, and neighbors will divide up the family property. Those that are difficult to divide will be sold, and the money will be used to set up a buffet on the spot and eat until everything is gone.
In theory, if there is really no heir, this approach would be fine. However, in grassroots clan customs, heirs specifically refer to sons or grandsons, while wives and daughters are not included. They can only watch the family fall apart after the death of the person. In essence, this is the clan system maintaining its authority - in the clan system, it is emphasized that brothers with the same surname are closer than wives with different surnames.
Although the Ministry of Justice had encountered some obstacles before, most of the cases it handled before did not involve a wide range of people. At most, they were just a few brothers who committed crimes in defiance of the law, and they were all caught by the county criminal department and the county criminal court.
However, the day before yesterday, Bai Tu was in Wancheng and received Wang Lang's memorial...
There was a case that made him very embarrassed. It was about a clan in Jiyang County where a male heir died young. The clan members widely resisted the inheritance rights of women and followed the old custom. They used the property of the "descendantless" clan member as the clan's property, ignoring his widow and young son, and bribed the county officials when dealing with the property deeds.
In theory, this shouldn't be a problem. Should we handle it according to the law?
However, there are still some special cases. When Bai Tu was in Ji Yang, the local criminal officials would naturally not trouble the King of Chu with such a small matter, but reported it step by step. As a result, when it reached Wang Lang, Wang Lang was unsure and turned back to Bai Tu.
What's the special feature?
Firstly, the clan involved was large, but it was just “large” in the pure sense, without any extraordinary figures or family backgrounds; secondly, this was not the common sense of wiping out a whole family, it was not a family that was wiped out, but a branch, and note that the deceased had a young son…
Why do you say that there is only one that is perfect?
This branch has been a single-line inheritance for four generations, but the family foundation is very strong. In the clan, it is considered a small landlord with a relatively direct lineage, and owns dozens of hectares of land.
The young son left behind after his death was only five years old, and seemed a little mentally retarded. He could not speak fluently at the age of five, and had no close adult brothers or uncles. He was a perfect example of someone who was "easy to bully".
Therefore, the clan only left a hundred acres of land to his son, and the rest was used as clan property - that is, it was the public property of the entire clan. It was not a problem that could be solved by sending runners to visit a few households or by persuading them (physically).
If it had happened a year ago, the matter could have ended there. Clan self-discipline is justice, and if the case was reported to the county government, people would only despise this woman for being unruly and unfaithful.
But now that she has the support of the laws of the State of Chu, the widow has brought a lawsuit against her clan to the Jiyang County Criminal Division...
This also involves another "special" aspect of this case - compared with the previous typical cases, Ji Yang is in Nanyang County, Jingzhou, between Wancheng and Xinye.
Because the region was incorporated into Bai Tu's rule relatively late and had a relatively weak sense of identity with the Chu State, the people's ideas were more conservative.
This woman is quite knowledgeable to think of filing a lawsuit...
As for how to deal with it, Wang Lang was a little unsure. After all, Ji Yang was a newly incorporated land, and this time it involved an entire clan. If he acted too hastily, it might intensify the conflict; if he acted too slowly... it might affect the Ministry of Justice's determination to enforce the new law, as well as the people's confidence in the new law.
It is not even just about inheritance law, but also about the national policy of "women hold up half the sky".
Lu Lingqi had also seen this memorial before, but it was not something the captain of the guards should be concerned about, so she didn't pay much attention to it.
But after the incident with Xiahou Juan, Lu Lingqi took the opportunity to bring up this problem to Bai Tu, urging him to deal with it as soon as possible...
