Chapter 403 Beggars’ Baojia System
After more than a month of misery, it finally rains again!
Not only were the farmers who depended on the weather for their livelihood overjoyed, but even the officials in Shuntian Prefecture seemed happier than usual.
However, Sun Shaozong felt a little listless when he arrived at the yamen because he had been busy with Ruan Rong until late at night.
Fortunately, he had already dealt with most of the official business yesterday, and there was nothing important now, so Sun Shaozong simply set up a reclining chair under the corridor, listening to the sound of rain while closing his eyes to rest.
He was wavering between sleep and wakefulness when he heard someone hurriedly coming to the corridor on the water. The person walked around him, then went back into the hall to talk to Sun Chengye.
Soon, the man hurried away on the water again.
"how."
After sending the man away, Sun Chengye also came to the corridor. Just as he was about to call out, he heard Sun Shaozong lazily ask, "Han Fuyin sent someone here. Is it for some important official business, or is there another meeting?"
It turned out that he had already squinted his eyes and saw who the person was, but he was just too lazy to pay attention to the other person.
Sun Chengye said hurriedly, "It's still about 'checking slavery'. Now the merchants in the city have been roughly screened, and the next step is the officials' family - so the prefect hopes to summarize the lessons learned, discuss the merits and demerits, and see if there is anything that can be improved."
After all, they are still afraid that the people below will not know the seriousness of the situation and offend some dignitaries who should not be offended.
But this is just right. After this round of investigation, Sun Shaozong did sum up some experiences and lessons, and he planned to discuss them internally first and then report them to the court.
So he stood up and stretched, then told Sun Chengye to take out his straw raincoat, and then walked towards the inner hall.
Who knew that the inner hall was empty, only a small clerk was standing behind the door.
Seeing Sun Shaozong coming in from outside, the clerk bowed and said, "Please let the governor know that because the Minister Jia felt that this room was too hot and stuffy and wasted this good rain, he decided to hold the meeting in the pavilion in the backyard."
Tsk~
This is really casual tight.
Sun Shaozong had no choice but to turn back.
He bumped into Wei Ruolan on the way, and took him to the backyard.
The two of them didn't have much to say on the way. When they saw the pavilion approaching, Wei Ruolan suddenly asked, "Sun Zhizhong, is there any progress on the 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei' matter you mentioned the other day?"
This sudden question really stumped Sun Shaozong.
Even if Prince Zhongshun did not explain, Sun Shaozong would not be stupid enough to reveal the news to Wei Ruolan.
But Wei Ruolan was the second-in-command in the Criminal Law Department. If she was just being perfunctory, he would only need to do a quick comparison when he got back to find the flaws.
After a slight hesitation, Sun Shaozong said in a casual manner with difficulty: "I did find some clues, but..."
As he spoke, he deliberately glanced at Wei Ruolan, and hesitantly said, "It's just that we haven't found out everything yet, or maybe I'm just worrying too much."
"Really?"
Hearing Sun Shaozong's answer, Wei Ruolan's lips curled up slightly, revealing a smile that was not sure whether it was playful or contemptuous, and said: "It's really a pity."
pity?
Does this guy hope to confront Prince Beijing head-on so as to gain some advantage, or does he have other ideas?
Sun Shaozong was guessing in his mind, but he was cautious after all, so he didn't ask anything. He and Wei Ruolan went to the pavilion with their own thoughts.
Seeing the two of them arrive, Jia Yucun laughed and said, "It is said that it is better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. It just so happens that Sun Zhizhong and Wei Tongpan have arrived just as the green plum wine is ready."
Green plum wine?
This intellectual person likes to be a little bourgeois.
Sun Shaozong and Wei Ruolan took off their straw raincoats, greeted everyone, and then took their seats respectively. As it was a hexagonal pavilion, the three hall officials and three magistrates each occupied a corner, which was quite harmonious.
Only Chen Zhichuang's treatment was worse, and he could not be treated on the same level as his superiors. He could only move a small stool and sit near the copper stove, under the pretext of boiling wine for everyone, but in fact he was as hot as his grandson.
After they each received a cup of hot plum wine and pretended to drink a round (it was actually too hot to drink), Han Anbang got to the point.
"My Lords."
Then he said in a clear voice: "After these days of cooperation from the whole government, the situation of slavery among merchants in the city has been roughly investigated."
"But what's coming next is the real highlight, so this government has specially called everyone together to discuss the gains and losses before, to see if there is anything that can be learned and what needs to be improved."
Sun Shaozong held a cup of green plum wine and leaned against the fence with a contented look. After Han An finished speaking, he immediately said, "In fact, we were able to complete the investigation of merchants ahead of schedule this time, thanks to the diligence and hard work of Wei Tongpan."
Wei Ruolan was about to say something modest when he praised her, but Sun Shaozong suddenly changed the subject and said, "But first there was the 'Shenxian Powder' case, and then there was the slavery investigation. Judge Wei is really too tired, and it's really not appropriate for him to continue to toil and toil."
Wei Ruolan's face suddenly sank, and she was about to refute the words of abandoning the donkey after it has done its work, but Han Anbang, Jia Yucun, Fu Shi, Zhao Liben and others nodded in agreement, saying that Wei Ruolan should be allowed to rest and recuperate.
In this way, it was inevitable that Wei Ruolan would retreat behind the scenes. It was useless to argue any further. He was just so angry that veins on his forehead were throbbing, but he really couldn't understand why he suddenly became the target of public criticism!
In fact, during these days, the swift and efficient work of Wei and Qiu certainly attracted attention, but their unscrupulous style of doing things made everyone even more nervous.
Now that the investigation is about to reach officials at all levels, it is time to remain calm. How dare everyone let them do what they want?
Sun Shaozong had seen through this point and took the initiative to mention the matter, causing Wei Ruolan to suffer a small loss.
However, after Sun Shaozong's first proposal was passed almost unanimously, he took out a few thin papers from his sleeve pocket, shook them open and said, "In addition, after these days of investigation, I found that 30% of the slaves who were abducted were kidnapped by beggars or criminals dressed as beggars."
"In view of this, I have done a simple statistical analysis of the various crimes committed by beggars in the city over the years. I found that the proportion has been increasing year by year, and the probability of gangs committing crimes is far higher of ordinary people."
"Therefore, I am going to submit a petition to the court to try out the beggar baojia system in Shuntian Prefecture."
"Beggars' militia system?"
Han Anbang frowned upon hearing this and questioned, "Let's not talk about the fact that this matter has nothing to do with the slavery inspection. Just because beggars have no fixed place to live, I'm afraid it's not convenient to implement the baojia system, right?"
The so-called baojia system is actually a system of collective responsibility, whereby the government organizes the common people into baojia groups of varying numbers. Once someone among them is found guilty, the entire baojia group will be implicated.
Therefore, in order to avoid being implicated by the same baojia members, the people would spontaneously supervise each other.
However, that is something that can only be done among neighbors, and a highly mobile group like beggars does not seem to be suitable for such an operation.
"Your Excellency the Prefect doesn't know."
Sun Shaozong shook his head and said, "There are still many beggars wandering around the city now, but most of them beg in a certain area, and there are even beggar leaders who exploit other beggars."
"These people are lazy and hate work, and now they have formed a gang. If they are not brought under the jurisdiction of the government as soon as possible, they will inevitably cause trouble in the long run."
"Therefore, I hope that the beggars who beg on fixed streets can be organized into baojia groups, and the government can appoint baozhang and jiazhang, and then divide them into respective areas. If there are beggars causing trouble in the area, regardless of whether it is the baojia's fault or not, they will be punished together."
This is equivalent to sharing part of the government's responsibilities with the beggars. If it were ordinary citizens, this would be too harsh.
But beggars these days are discriminated against by the government and the public - since it can reduce the government's responsibilities and does not require any expenses, who would care whether the beggars are wronged or not?
Therefore, everyone asked some details, such as: whether the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled should be given certain amnesty and preferential treatment, or how to identify the bad guys who pretend to beggars to cause trouble, etc.
Seeing that Sun Shaozong answered fluently and had obviously considered it for a long time, everyone expressed their support.
Jia Yucun also took the opportunity to suggest: "In this case, why don't we co-sign our names on Sun Zhizhong's memorial to attract the attention of the court."
As he spoke, he bowed to Sun Shaozong again and said with a half-seriously half-sincerity smile: "If, because of your idea, those beggars can no longer endure it and start to support themselves, I would be disrespectful to refuse this merit of enlightenment."
The words "my dear brother" and "my dear brother" made Han Anbang's face darken a little. Sun Shaozong couldn't help but wonder, could it be that Han Anbang still didn't know that he was about to be demoted to another place?
