Chapter 646: Blocking the Road to Redress
Chapter 646: Blocking the Road to Redress
Xiao Xia had just gotten off the boat after returning from an inspection in Jiangyang County when a dozen people suddenly rushed over from the civilian dock. Each of them was wearing mourning clothes and kneeling on the ground desperately shouting, "Your Highness Prince Jin, we are wronged! We are wronged!"
Although this group of people complaining about their wrongs were still dozens of steps away from Xiao Xia, they still frightened Xiao Xia's personal soldiers into breaking out in cold sweats. A few dozen steps of distance was nothing for a military crossbow, right?
Thirty personal soldiers raised their shields to protect King Jin Xiao Xia, while the other personal soldiers rushed forward to surround the dozen or so people who were blocking their way.
"Don't hurt them!"
Xiao Xia shouted orders loudly. If they were assassins, they would have taken action long ago. They were obviously not assassins.
The guards escorted Xiao Xia to board the carriage urgently. At this time, an old man shouted in anger: "Your Highness is the parent of the people in Jiangnan. Now the innocent people in Jiangnan are being persecuted by the tyrants. Their families are broken up and their wives and children are separated. How can Your Highness remain indifferent?"
The word "powerful" made Xiao Xia's heart move. Xiao Xia glanced at him and ordered, "Take them all to my office!"
The carriage sped away, and several personal soldiers stepped forward and said to the group of people complaining: "Come with us! His Highness will listen to your complaints. Don't be so reckless in the future. I almost thought you were assassins."
The group of people who were complaining were surprised and happy. The old man who was in the lead said with tears in his eyes: "We were also forced into a corner. We won't be reckless in the future!"
The soldiers led a group of men and women who were complaining to the Prince of Jin's office.
After the Jiangnan Dao General Administration Office moved to Jiangdu, only the four institutions of the Prince of Jin's Mansion were left in Jingkou. Of course, Xiao Xia would also move to Jiangdu, but his palace had not been completed yet and was currently in the final stages. Once the construction was completed, he would also return to Jiangdu. In the end, only the school and the research institute were left in Jingkou.
Xiao Xia returned to his official room to rest for a while, then ordered, "Call the leader of the group!"
Soon, the leading elder was brought in. He knelt down and bowed deeply, saying, "I, Chen Gui, pay my respects to Your Highness!"
"Where do you come from?"
"I am from Pingyuan County, Pingyuan County, Hebei Province. I was resettled in Jing County, Xuancheng County two years ago."
Xiao Xia finally responded, "Are you resettling refugees?"
"Exactly!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "If you have a grievance, why don't you go to the local government to file a complaint, but come to Jingkou to block the road to file a complaint?"
"Your Highness, if it would be useful to file a complaint in the local county, if it would be useful to file a complaint in the prefecture, we wouldn't have to travel hundreds of miles to Jingkou to file a complaint."
The old man took out a roll of jute paper from his bosom and presented it to the emperor, saying, "This is a petition written for us by a kind-hearted county official. Please have a look, Your Highness!"
The attendant next to him took the complaint and handed it to Xiao Xia, who put it aside.
"I'll look at the complaint later. You tell me first! What's the problem?"
"It was the local bully who took away other people's good land and wives."
Xiao Xia nodded and said, "The regulations I have set for each place are that they can rent government land for five years, and then they can reclaim it and keep it for themselves. The upper limit for each adult is 30 mu. The property rights of the part exceeding the limit will belong to the government, but the reclaimers will be allowed to continue renting and cultivating it."
"Yes, we all know that our family of twelve rented fifty acres of government land, which is not a problem, and then we reclaimed another 120 acres ourselves, which is well within the limit of thirty acres per adult."
"Wait a minute!"
Xiao Xia interrupted him and asked, "You have a family of twelve, don't you have a separate family?"
"I fled here with my three sons, daughter, and son-in-law. My three sons are all adults, but the government did not ask us to separate. We were bullied on the way and we wanted to live together as a big family."
Xiao Xia frowned. He had clearly requested the refugees to separate in the form of the Jin King's Order. Why didn't the Jing County government enforce his regulations?
"Go on!"
The old man continued, "When my family was reclaiming wasteland, the county sent someone to take a look and recognized that the 120 acres was wasteland. We planted 120 acres of wheat last winter and were about to harvest. Suddenly, the powerful Wang family in the village jumped out and said that the wasteland we reclaimed belonged to them and even produced the land deed. If they had stood up to stop us when we were reclaiming the wasteland, we would have let it go, but the government has already recognized it. We have been planting grain for two years and the wasteland has become fertile land. This year, the wheat is about to be harvested, but they stood up and said that it was their land and drove us away." Xiao Xia said lightly, "This practice is indeed very unfair. According to the regulations, he should compensate you. At least this season's grain belongs to you."
“Your Highness, if it was just a land issue, we would have put up with it. I negotiated with the other party, and they finally agreed to give us this season’s grain on the condition that my daughter-in-law would go to his house to work as a maid for three months. We had no choice but to agree, as three months was not a long time.
As a result, my daughter-in-law was raped by them on the night she went to work as a maid. Later, I learned that they had raped countless decent women with this bullying method. My daughter-in-law escaped and was caught by them again. My youngest son was so angry that he went to them to reason with them, but they let their mastiffs bite him to death."
At this point, the old man covered his face and burst into tears.
Xiao Xia asked gloomily, "Then what did the county government say?"
"We went to the county government to file a complaint. The government said my son was killed by the guard dog, but because he broke into the house first, they ordered the Wang family to pay us ten strings of cash for the funeral."
"What does the county say about your daughter-in-law?"
"The county said that the maid agreement we signed included a sleeping companion clause. It was voluntary and had nothing to do with the Wang family!"
At this point, the old man kowtowed in anger, blood flowing from his forehead, and he said in grief and anger: "Your Highness, he bullied us because we can't read!"
“Why did you sign the agreement if you can’t read?”
"It was the village headman who drafted the agreement and read it to us. He didn't mention sleeping with the bully! How could we possibly agree to it if we had to sleep with the bully after being a maid for three months?"
"Have you been to the county government?"
"We went, but the prince refused to accept our petition, saying that we had crossed the line and asked us to go back to the county office to file a complaint. Your Highness, we really have no other choice."
Xiao Xia said slowly: "I understand. I will send someone to investigate this case. If it is true, the perpetrator will be severely punished!"
The old man burst into tears, "Your Highness, please make the decision for us common people!"
Xiao Xia asked his men to take them down and temporarily live in the refugee camp and reassign them a place to live.
Xiao Xia immediately sent someone to find Zhang Yunqiu. Zhang Yunqiu had already moved to Jiangdu County on the other side of the river. An hour later, Zhang Yunqiu finally arrived.
Xiao Xia handed him the complaint and said, "Today, some refugees who were resettled stopped by the road and complained that they were persecuted by the local authorities, their families were torn apart, and their wives and children were separated. I heard the victims' accounts and found them to be very unfortunate. However, I discovered many details in this case.
First of all, the local authorities did not follow my orders to separate the refugees, and a family of twelve still lives together. This is a problem with the authorities.
Secondly, the agreement is too casual. If one party is illiterate, it is easy to be harmed. Last year, there was an incident where someone was cheated by an agreement when buying a house. There is a loophole here, and more people will exploit this loophole in the future.
Thirdly, abolishing the circuit criminal inspection system is inappropriate, as it will lead to collusion between officials and gentry and the persecution of ordinary people. The people have no place to redress their grievances, and once these grievances accumulate too much, they will rebel.
Fourth, there are loopholes in our refugee resettlement clauses. How can we determine the title deed for wasteland and who can determine it? Refugees have worked hard to open up wasteland and cultivate the land. When the crops are ready to be harvested, someone comes out and claims that the land belongs to him. How can we solve this situation?
I also believe that this is not just one or two cases, it must be very common, but most people put up with it, just like this family. If it weren't for their daughter-in-law being taken away and their son being beaten to death, they would have accepted it. The Ministry of Justice will immediately send someone to review the case. If they find that the officials have problems, the Supervisory Yuan will step in!"
Xiao Xia would not completely believe the old man's one-sided words and directly conclude that there was something wrong with the government. He would follow the rules and investigate the case first and then the person.
Zhang Yunqiu took the complaint and said, "I will first arrange for someone to investigate the case and get it thoroughly investigated, then discuss other matters with Your Highness."
"Let's investigate the case first! After that, we can discuss together and see how to solve the refugee loophole problem."
(End of this chapter)