Promotion Letter for the Chief Executive

Everyone knows that some things exist, but because they will not be put on the table, they all tacitly pretend not to know.

But once it is exposed, it will be different.

"Great Chu Law" stipulates that slaves and maidservants can be traded, but murderers must pay with their lives.Therefore, if domestic servants make mistakes, they can only be handed over to the government, and they cannot be tortured in private, let alone murder.

Of course, in practice, no big family would expose such a thing, let alone the government.You must know that things that can involve human life are mostly hidden in the backyard, and family ugliness cannot be exposed, so how can others know?

Besides, this also involves the decency of the big family.Even in villages in the countryside, there are clan ancestral halls to solve internal problems, and the government is rarely used, let alone aristocratic families.They often have their own family rules and family laws, and deal with anything that happens according to their own rules.

If a servant who made a mistake was killed, the most he could say was that he died suddenly, and no one would come to investigate. ——Even as long as the family rules are strict, people outside will never know that there is one less person in the family.

In fact, this is also a kind of contempt and destruction of the law. Although everyone knows that there are such unspoken rules, no one dares to bring it out.

In particular, Zheng Wenyuan is still a prime minister, he can participate in the formulation of the court's laws and regulations, and he knows better what kind of crime murder will be.

He quickly knelt down and said, "I am terrified. I don't know where your majesty heard such rumors? Although Zhuo Jing is violent, he will not ignore the laws of the country. I hope your majesty will learn from you! Your majesty is right. The common people are naturally His Majesty's subjects, and His Majesty's grace is only natural. It's my servant who is confused."

If he showed weakness, others would naturally not stand up again.

Who knows if the emperor has his own "criminal evidence" in his hands?Besides, even if the three giants didn't object, what's the use even if you open your mouth?So although this matter seemed to be a temporary idea, it was passed in the court very smoothly in the end.

The next step is to hand it over to the following departments to formulate detailed and specific plans and rules, and implement them.

Fortunately, even though Zhao Can said "by a slip of the tongue" before that he wanted to revoke his cheap status, when it came time to formulate the rules, he didn't want to ask for it.

It's not that Zhao Can doesn't want to do it all at once, it's just that the prohibition of human trafficking is already sensitive enough. If he proposes to abolish slavery, it will directly poke at the sensitive points of those gentry classes.After all, nowadays in Dachu, most of the people from better-off families call slaves and servants.Especially these officials standing in the main hall, there are many slaves in their homes.Some of them were even official slaves who were fined and confiscated into officials.

What will happen to these people if their slave status is revoked in the future?Is it a slave or a free agent?If it is a slave, then this new rule is not worthy of the name.If it is a free body, it seems inappropriate to let the master's family lose so many slaves.After all, he was bought with real money.

Besides, these people have no other means of earning a living. If they no longer serve the master, what should they do?And the big family has no slaves, how should the family affairs be distributed?Powerful and powerful people are used to living a good life, and it is impossible for pampered ladies and ladies to do things by themselves.

There is another possibility that has to be considered.What if these servants themselves are unwilling to be free?

It's not impossible.In fact, in ancient times, due to the existence of various corvees and exorbitant taxes, many ordinary people could not live on, so they would take the initiative to serve as slaves in the homes of the gentry.In this way, they become the private property of others, and the properties under their names are naturally collected, so they don't have to pay any taxes, and they only need to be responsible to the owner.

This is still the experience of ordinary people at the bottom.If it is among the aristocratic families, the situation is even more serious.As the saying goes, the seventh-rank officials in front of the prime minister's door, the master is decent, and the servants are also honorable. Even if they go out and talk about which family they belong to, they will be envied by others.

Furthermore, in the family, even the life of the servants will not be too bad.The girls who serve the girls are nicknamed the vice-misses, and they are raised more expensively than the girls from ordinary wealthy families.

They are used to such a good life, and they are used to being sheltered by their masters. Even if the imperial court wants to give them back their freedom, they may not be happy.

People don't want to, so they can't force it, right?

But even now, there are many problems that only cancel the human trafficking.

Human Yazi was originally a legal existence, and they violated the law after they were banned, but the court always wanted to find a way out for them, otherwise, if they continued to do such things secretly, then this policy would be useless.

In addition, there are always some unsold people in Renyazi's hands, and the whereabouts of these people has to be considered and arranged by the government.

Then there are places like brothel Jiaofang, girls from good families will naturally not come here, and most of them are sold because they can't survive.Human trafficking is prohibited, will this brothel also be closed?After all, if they want to continue to drive, they will inevitably need to replenish their manpower, so they can only use extraordinary means to buy and sell or directly rob.

But if such places are not allowed to continue to operate, how will these personnel be arranged?Their identities are even more embarrassing than those who were born as slaves, and it is impossible for them to naturally blend in with ordinary people.

All of these are problems to be solved.Even more than that, many problems can only be discovered after specific implementation.

However, Zhao Can still set the general tone for them.

This is mainly because the people below have tossed and tossed for a long time, and what they finally come up with is completely different from what he imagined.Not only is it a waste of time, it's not easy to get them to change their minds.Simply set the frame first, and they only need to fill it with things.

All people have the government to resettle them and find a way out for them.With the backing of the government, firstly, these people dare not resist, and secondly, they have a little hope, which is easier to deal with.

Soon after the specific plan was formulated, the imperial court announced it to the outside world.

As soon as the news came out, it naturally caused a lot of discussion.However, this time Ping An did not let the public opinion ferment by itself, but had people publish various articles in newspapers, analyzing and explaining this policy, in order to let the people understand the benefits of this matter to themselves, and thus agree and support such a policy .

The effect is really not bad.For ordinary people, they have no need for human trading. Unless life is really difficult, they will sell their children and daughters in exchange for the little things that leaked from the fingers of wealthy people.

That's all, after all, he sold himself on his own initiative.What's more, there are a group of people who are not engaged in business, and specialize in stealing those children in the busy market and selling them for profit.It would be fine if they were sold to families without children, but in fact, more people were either sold to kilns with good looks, or were sent to rich families as slaves.

This kind of business without capital is not uncommon in low-end businesses.

Naturally, these human traffickers are also under the attack of the court this time. For ordinary people, it will be much safer if the court comes forward.

As for the real people who might be affected by this policy, it was the big families who bought and sold slaves.However, Zhao Can also gave a solution, replacing slavery with the employment system.

Because the palace had already started to adopt this model a few years ago, it could be regarded as having a ready-made reference.

As for the specific implementation, those industries that buy and sell people will be transformed into employment markets.Those who have not been sold in their hands will be restored to their freedom, and the master will sign a contract with them and hire them to serve them.After the term expires, you can leave freely.

As for if this is the case, you have to guard against peddling dog meat, saying that it is employment, but what you are doing is still a business.

After all, this is not impossible, because for rich families, they are more used to ordering those servants. Even if they buy someone from outside, they have to sign a death contract and cannot redeem themselves.It would be very reluctant for them to use hired servants.

Anyway, although it is a contract with a limited number of years, if it is signed for 50 or 60 years at once, what is the difference from a death contract?Besides, with one more contract, the servant is not his own servant?It's just a formality.

In order to prevent this from happening, Zhao Can proposed a supplementary regulation, which was to cancel slavery.

However, this policy is different from human trafficking.

After all, such things as buying and selling people are harmful to the peace after all. Originally, these people often have to find a good name for themselves when they do this kind of thing.For example, life at home is better than outside, and it can be regarded as saving them from the fire pit. It seems that with this kind of statement, my actions are really doing good deeds.

Therefore, even if the imperial court banned the trading of human beings, even if they were not happy, they couldn't openly say: "I'm happy to buy and sell servants, and I can rest assured that I can hold their lives in my hands."

After all, saying this will not only offend the public, but also completely tear off the hypocrisy.For wealthy families who care about face, they are naturally unwilling.

Therefore, the policy of prohibiting human trafficking was implemented fairly smoothly.

But if you want to cancel slavery, it's different.

In the current Great Chu, power and wealth are all concentrated in the hands of the gentry.Not to mention slaves, even civilians would not pay attention to them.The servants were originally their private property. This was a thought that had been formed for a long time. Now that these private properties were to become independent individuals and no longer under their control, how could these gentry agree?

After all, although there are people who are willing to attach themselves to the powerful, but to be honest, the nobles are not doing charity, and they are even more unceremonious when exploiting the common people.Under such circumstances, if there is an opportunity to leave them, those servants will definitely not refuse, and they will lose a large amount of property for nothing.

As long as these people unite to resist the government's policies and refuse to hand over their private property, it is impossible for the court to send people to rob it?

Of course, the most important thing is that these officials in the court are themselves members of the powerful gentry class, and harming the interests of these people is harming their own interests.The gentry class stood behind them and supported them, not for this result.

Therefore, as soon as this policy was proposed, it was opposed by courtiers.However, this kind of opposition is different from before. It is not a positive opposition, but a passive resistance.That is - you say yours, but I won't do it.

The ministers no longer had the guts to confront Zhao Can head-on, so naturally they would not continue this unnecessary struggle.Of course, this is not to say that they gave up completely, on the contrary, they intend to transfer the battlefield to a place other than the imperial court.

This can also be regarded as a major disadvantage of Zhao Can, because his people and spirit are limited, so in the court, he can still keep an eye on the affairs in the capital, but outside the capital, he can only rely on the help of the ministers He understands.

But what if these ministers have united?

Although they are not as powerful as Zhao Can, they have a large number of people and a wide range.Policies like this need to be promoted layer by layer, and require very high execution capabilities, and it is bound to need someone to do it, which is what they are best at.

Perfunctory, procrastination, relaxation of requirements and even provoking conflicts... As long as a small trick is used, no matter how good the policy is, it will be almost impossible to implement it.

Even the current matter does not require them to guide at all. As long as this news is announced, it will inevitably cause a wave of turmoil.

So soon, there was a joke in the capital that made Pingan and Zhao Can dumbfounded.

It is said that dozens of domestic servants from rich and noble families organized together and went to the capital government to ask the court to revoke such a policy, because they did not need this policy at all.It is an honor for them to serve the host family.

Even Zhao Can couldn't understand this development.

But if you think about it carefully, you can understand. I don't know if these people really think so, but the masters behind them must think so.The reason why they are asked to come forward is probably to put pressure on the court.

After all, people don't need it, so it would be unflattering for the court to do this kind of thing again.

However, all of this is actually still within the expectations of Ping An.Not everyone is willing to seek innovation and change, and maintaining the status quo is what most people expect to see.Even if they are in a state of inequality.

But in Ping An's words, that's all they can do, and the next step they can take depends entirely on the respective fortunes of the servants and their own wishes.If they have no intention of saving themselves at all, and even think that they are slaves, then no one can help them.

This policy was originally designed to help those who want to be free.

What's more, when the imperial court promulgated new policies, none of them were carried out according to the wishes of others, and it was even more impossible for them to say no, and this policy would disappear.

Besides, according to Ping An's thinking, even if it is formalism, it must first have such a form.

Yes and no, the difference is huge.Now these servants are naturally willing to stay in the master's house, because their vision is so wide, and they have been used to this kind of life for many years.But their children may not be the same.

In the future, the life of ordinary people will only get better and better, there will be no so many exorbitant taxes, and even no corvee.The original problem of living and living has disappeared, and seeing that others can live well without being slaves, who would want to be controlled by others for the rest of their lives?

Of course, no matter where and when, there is actually no shortage of people who are willing to cling to the nobles, save themselves decades of hard work, and take shortcuts.Ping An and Zhao Can couldn't help those people.

All they can do is to give everyone the opportunity to choose freely.

Whether they choose to stay or choose to leave, this is their right.

In the next period of time, when the courtiers resisted passively and were unwilling to formulate specific rules, there was also a big battle in the newspapers.

In addition to official newspapers, there are also various tabloid newspapers among the people, which are actually managed by these gentry.If they want to say something, they can naturally speak in the newspapers.This method is more refined than going directly to the yamen in the past, and it has also won the support of these people.

So they specifically contradicted the official newspaper, saying how good this policy is, and analyzing its irrationality here, insisting on the court to give an explanation.

But in fact, many things cannot be discussed on the table.The more decent people are, the more they must maintain the surface peace.Even when there was no such saying in the past, some families who advertised charity would also promise that the servants could redeem themselves after they made contributions.It can be seen that freedom is not valued by everyone.

That being the case, it is impossible to directly say that this policy is wrong or not.

So in fact, what they can really say is that the court cannot take away their private property.After all, the previous Great Chu law stipulated that these people belonged to them, and it was legal when they bought them. Now it is unreasonable to ask them to lose a large amount of property with a single sentence.

They thought they had grasped the loophole and could threaten the court to cancel such a policy, but they didn't expect that this situation was what Zhao Can wanted to see.

After all these people jumped out, it would be better to get rid of them all together than to make trouble when they popped up endlessly.

Moreover, Zhao Can's solution to the problem they raised is also very simple. Since the servants are all valuable, it is enough to require them to sign an employment contract for a certain number of years to offset this part of their worth.Just like some slaves now will hand over their worth and silver to redeem themselves when their masters show mercy.

If you really disagree, then these servants still retain slave status, but there will be no slave status in the future. If you need new servants, you can only sign a contract to hire civilians.

He had already retreated a step, and the other party naturally couldn't continue to be aggressive.Seeing that it was impossible to cancel this policy, I had no choice but to agree.Anyway, in the actual implementation process, there are still many things that can be manipulated, so maybe everything should be done according to Zhao Can's intentions!

It's not that Zhao Can doesn't know this, but even the superficial harmony is very important to him.At least it shows that the policy has been implemented.Since it is a policy approved by the court and approved by everyone, there will naturally be an opportunity to investigate it openly in the future.At that time, the illegalities and loopholes found out will be punished and made up for, and they will naturally be gradually brought back on the right track.

All this seems easy, but it took a total of more than a year from the beginning of planning to the actual implementation.And it's just a show, and the execution is greatly reduced.It can be seen how difficult it is to implement the policy once the interests of the gentry class are involved.

However, for Zhao Can and Pingan, this is already a very good start.They had expected fierce resistance.

Probably it was because Zhao Can took care of Wu Xuzhi, and the remaining prestige was still there, so they didn't dare to make any moves yet, right?

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhao Can issued another seemingly inconspicuous supplementary regulation, that is, household registration.Since the slave registration was to be cancelled, the household registration of many people would naturally have to be re-registered.

Those who have obtained the household registration of good citizens have to register and amend it, and those who have been retained and become slaves of the nobles must also register again.Only in this way can they ensure that there will not be more people in their family without knowing it.

Of course, this is only a superficial reason.In fact, Zhao Can and Pingan wanted to use this opportunity to carry out a preliminary census.

If this work is carried out with great fanfare, it will definitely be opposed by many people.After all, it is still very common to conceal the population privately.But it's different if it's done through other things.Most people don't realize that there is something wrong with this matter, and the work is done without anyone noticing, and will not encounter any opposition and resistance.

Even some gentry who are eager to keep their servants will take the initiative to cooperate with this work, maybe even some people who were originally concealed will be added to it.

Of course, it is not absolutely that no one sees the clue.But Zhao Can is sure that at this time, the deal is done, and they should not take the initiative to speak out.

After all, even if you say it, it will be of no use. Instead, you will offend Zhao Can, and the loss outweighs the gain.

Although the success of this matter was inconspicuous, for Zhao Can and Pingan, they had torn a small breakthrough in the huge and deeply rooted ruling class.Although it doesn't seem to be very useful in front of you, it is actually not the case.

The embankment of a thousand miles collapsed in the ant nest.What they have to do is to create as many loopholes as possible before the big tree discovers this.