In early August, the Thor finally returned to Beihae Town after picking up another batch of refugees in Jeju Island.
The Manchu refugees brought back this time were still mainly from Henan, and most of them came from Kaifeng, Guide, Weihui, Huaiqing and other counties. After questioning, Zhao Xin learned that at the turn of spring and summer this year, the outbreak continued in Henan
A large-scale locust plague resulted in another summer grain harvest failure.
The refugees who were asked cried and explained to Zhao Xin: "Master, it was too dry last year and this year! When the locusts came, thousands of miles of grass and trees were eaten up, and even the hair of cattle and horses were eaten clean.
How can we survive?"
In this protracted and severe disaster, the victims in Henan Province could not bear the blow of hunger and sold their farmland one after another to make ends meet. During the lean period, many farmers eagerly sold their wheat fields that were about to mature at low prices in exchange for rice.
Food, gold and silver to relieve hunger and thirst.
Rich households from Taikou, Pingyao, Qixian and other places in Shanxi heard the news and came to use usury to lend money to the hungry people and annex land at low prices. They bought farmland in the disaster area at a low price of one-third of the normal price, or underestimated the other party.
The land value can be used as a mortgage loan; or the property of the disaster victims can be collected at a low value in the form of pawn.
Although Qianlong specifically issued an edict in May of this year, he strictly ordered local officials to investigate the behavior of Shanxi merchants and ordered the land sold at low prices to be recovered by the sellers at the original price.
But the problem is, the farmers are starving to death. They have already used the money from selling their land to buy high-priced grain. How can they still have the money to redeem it?
The population of Beihai Town is now increasing. According to the "sand mixing" plan previously formulated by Zhao Xin, Deng Fei has transported 8,000 Henan refugees to Pingyuan Town in Ezo to open up wasteland in July. In Beihai Town and
After the "highway" between Fuldan City and Fuldan City was opened, hundreds of refugee families will be led to Fuldan City every five days to develop the land on the south bank of Xingkai Lake.
However, due to the lack of agricultural machinery and equipment and skilled workers, the refugees can now only wield shovels and picks and reclaim swampland under the leadership of civil affairs clerks.
As the population increases, conflicts between old and new refugees also begin to emerge.
Specifically, the early refugees worked in allotments and workshops, and most of them have entered the ranks of middle peasants, or even rich peasants. These people have begun to dream of becoming masters, and even becoming landlords. And the new arrivals
Among the refugees, many tried to marry their daughters into the families of old refugees as concubines; some even offered to become domestic slaves.
Faced with this situation, it was difficult for Chen Qingsong to stop it, because Beihai Town currently does not have a complete legal system. As the saying goes, "anything can be done without prohibition by law." Not even the security police can intervene in the matter of taking concubines.
"You can do anything if the law does not prohibit it. In fact, you cannot violate it if the law does not allow it. Lao Chen, there is a huge gray area here; the only thing that can be constrained is morality. But what is morality today? It is the morality under the feudal system.
Taking concubines, becoming a master, and having domestic servants are all allowed by the laws of the Qing Dynasty, so of course you can't control them."
Regarding Chen Qingsong's troubles, Zhao Xin talked eloquently. He continued: "Look, today you can fight for the slaves, but tomorrow you will be killed for marrying your daughter as a concubine. Concubines have no social status.
, if you want to gain status, the only way out is to become a head wife. Our place is full of barren mountains and mountains, and no one can find her even if she buries her."
Chen Qingsong asked a little irritably: "Then what do you think we should do?"
"Legislative, legal popularization. You have been a leader, so you should know this better than me."
"I'm so busy all day long, how can I have time to host this!"
"Look for those eight old guys at the education entrance."
"They? Can they?"
"We'll find out if we try it. Let's hold a discussion first."
Two days later in the evening, Beihai Town's first "legislative preparatory meeting" was held in a classroom of the school. In addition to Zhao Xin and Chen Qingsong, eight teachers from the education department were present at the meeting. The military system sent Wu Siyu
, the medical system is Hong Tao; as for the workshop, the person sent was actually Rikichi’s wife Shino.
Zhao Liang's reply was: "I don't have time! I'm so busy with so many things that I don't have time to worry about this."
Well, Zhao Xin, as the convener of the meeting, spoke first.
"Everyone, before discussing legislation, we must first determine a principle. Law, what is the spirit of our Beihai Town law?"
As soon as Zhao Xin said this, several teachers who were about to talk endlessly were stunned. The spirit of the law?
"Mr. Zhao, can you elaborate?" Lao You, the head of the education department, asked.
Zhao Xin smiled and said: "The spirit of the law is the interest class it represents, and whether it is revolution or reform, it will all revolve around this theme. For example, take the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. The basic spirit of the Manchu and Qing laws is not the broad
The peasants and petty bourgeoisie were in order to maintain the order of feudal rule in the emperor's family and make up for its shortcomings; while the gains and losses of the common people mainly depended on the kindness of the emperor or officials. For example, if there were extenuating circumstances, the emperor would
The sentence would be changed, so the Manchu Qing Dynasty had a complementary relationship between the rule of man and the rule of law."
Chen Qingsong suddenly realized: "What you mean is that we must first determine which class the laws of Beihai Town represent. If this problem is not solved, concubines, domestic slaves, and even the formation of a new feudal class will inevitably happen.
.”
"Yes!" Zhao Xin nodded and said: "If we don't understand this issue clearly and are not sure, even if we drive Qianlong or Jiaqing from the throne of the emperor, this country will still be a feudal society. The Eight Banners are gone, but
The Han people and officials have been entrenched in the past few hundred years and have a rigid mindset. They regard science and technology as a strange skill and see openness as an indifference between Chinese and foreigners. They will continue to do so. No matter how strong they are in a short period of time, they will not be able to escape the cycle of chaos.
.”
Someone present suddenly asked: "Should human rights be protected? Will the method of torture be retained?"
Zhao Xin nodded and said: "Teacher Zhang, the most important human right at this stage is the right to survival. The presumption of innocence is not suitable. Europeans can do it, but we can't. Peasants in this era are oppressed, regardless of whether they are Manchus or Qing dynasties.
It’s the same for island countries. But these people often play clever tricks with the government, and are even very cunning. If we don’t have thunderous means, there will be too many loopholes that can be exploited."
Lao You nodded and said: "I agree with Zhao Xin's opinion." He did not expect that Zhao Xin would go straight to the core of the problem when he came up, instead of simply trying to formulate a legal provision.
Wu Siyu said: "Actually, the "Disciplinary Regulations" now implemented in the army are based on the regulations when we were soldiers. However, many problems have arisen now, and soldiers' moods fluctuate greatly. Nowadays, the salary of the army is generally very high, so there are many
The refugees all want to marry their daughters off to soldiers or officers as concubines. Now Wang Yuanfang and I can only find out and stop them. Some of the things we haven't discovered are already done, and we can't say anything more."
Zhao Xindao: "That's it. Anyone who keeps concubines in the army, no matter how high their position is, will be eliminated!"
This discussion lasted for two days, during which the teachers argued endlessly about what should reflect the spirit of democracy and the rule of law, and what should not be tortured to extract confessions. Some people even naively suggested whether the death penalty can be abolished.
The final word was made by mathematics teacher Yu Deli. He had been silent for the past day and a half, and finally saw that everyone could not reach a consensus, so he returned to his residence and rummaged around, and found a two-page ""
He put the "XX Border Region Legislative Principles" in front of everyone.
After reading it, Lao You high-fived and praised: "You Yu, why didn't you take out this good thing earlier!"
Yu Deli said calmly: "Private inventory, I just thought of it and took it out."
It is said that Yu Deli has a lot of inventory. After the meeting, at Zhao Xin's request, Yu Deli took Zhao Xin back to his residence and showed him his private collection. Zhao Xin was among a pile of old items
He was overjoyed to find a lot of old legal information among his documents.
"Teacher Yu, why do you like collecting these things?"
Yu Deli said: "It's not that I like it. A lot of the information here was left by my father during his lifetime. It would be a shame to sell it as scrap, so I kept it all."
"Then who is your father?"
"I used to be a teacher too."
"Oh!" Zhao Xinxin said this was really a big help.
"Teacher Yu, are you interested in serving as the leader of the legal drafting group? I'm not trying to win over you, don't get me wrong. When we set the banner before, I felt that you were full of knowledge and were not as simple as a math teacher.
"
Yu Deli looked at Zhao Xin playfully and said with a smile: "What's the matter with wooing? Everyone is a little ambitious, and so am I. Mr. Zhao, don't mind what I say."
Zhao Xin quickly said: "No, no."
Yu Deli continued: "But what surprises me most about you is that you can actually say something like the spirit of the Dharma. It really impresses me. I thought you just wanted to be a warlord and overthrow the Manchu warlords."
Zhao Xin also smiled and said, "What then?"
Yu Deli stared into Zhao Xin's eyes and said: "Then you become another Yuan Shikai." He frowned and continued: "Maybe that is not accurate, at least the force you have at hand is much more powerful than Yuan Shikai."
Zhao Xin put away his smile, looked at Yu Deli and said, "Teacher Yu, if one day I really become like that, what will you do?"
Yu Deli shrugged and said, "Since it's no longer interesting, let's go back. Plant flowers and walk the dog."
Zhao Xin nodded, stretched out his right hand, looked at Yu Deli and said: "I strive not to be a single man."
Yu Deli laughed and said, "Then I'll wait and see." Then he stretched out his hand and shook it with Zhao Xin.
Sure enough, after the discussion meeting the next morning, Yu Deli was appointed as the leader of the Beihai Town Laws and Regulations Drafting Group on the recommendation of Zhao Xin, and took charge of the drafting of legal provisions.
After Yu Deli took office, he first selected ten people from the school's older children over thirteen years old as assistants. After studying in the school in Beihai Town for two years, these ten children could already write neatly and arrange their work regularly.
The compositions can also be meaningful. Yu Deli thinks that this is enough. These children are mainly responsible for recording, copying, and preaching.
As for the deputy leader of the drafting group, he is another Chinese teacher, Teacher Zhou. This person’s name is Zhou Weiguo. He is nearly 50 years old. He was also an outstanding representative of “paid supplementary lessons” in the past. However, Fang Hua originally came to treat his wife’s illness.
Regarding medical expenses, Teacher Zhou felt that his salary was not enough.
Since arriving in the 18th century, Zhou Weiguo has been in a "yellow croaker" state, usually not conspicuous. But since he entered the drafting group, Zhou Weiguo suddenly burst out with great pride and began to express his opinions and suggestions incessantly.
It made Zhao Xin and others look at him with admiration.
For example, Zhou Weiguo proposed that the first regulation that Beihai Town needs to promulgate should involve the protection of property rights. The reason for this is to let all refugees know that as long as you abide by the laws of Beihai Town, your human rights and financial rights will be protected.
It is guaranteed; unlike under the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the magistrate who ruined the family, the governor who exterminated the family, and the police officers could come to the door at any time to extort money.
So five days later, the first formal legal regulations in Beihai Town were promulgated. As before, this regulation was first posted in the form of on the bulletin boards everywhere in Beihai Town and Fuldan City, and students from the school were sent to
Refugees read aloud.
"Beihai Town's Ordinance for the Protection of Human Rights and Property Rights was promulgated on September 26, 1786. This Ordinance is intended to protect the human rights and property rights of all people under the jurisdiction of Beihai Town from illegal infringement. It protects the private property rights of all people and their use in accordance with the law.
The right to freedom of income. Except for the public security police department that performs its duties in accordance with the law, no department may arrest, interrogate, or punish anyone. If interests are harmed, the right to accuse any person of illegal behavior in any way."
Zhu Dagui stood at the front of the crowd, listening to a young man explaining the contents of the notice to people like him. These farmers from the Qing Dynasty had long developed the habit of obeying what the government said.
After listening to the child named Xu Funan honestly reading, everyone looked at each other in shock.
"Mr. Xiao Xu, I want to ask, are these people the common people that the gentlemen often say?" Zhu Dagui, as the leader of the residents' group, often follows, so he is more courageous than others.
Xu Funan is 11 years old this year. He is 1.5 meters tall, has a crew cut, and is wearing Beihai Town’s summer labor insurance uniform. People who don’t know him might think he is a civil affairs clerk.
After listening to Zhu Dagui's question, he deliberately cleared his throat and explained: "The people are the people. All the people who live in Beihai Town, Fuldan City, including Kuye Island and Pingyuan Town, including you and me.
Everyone included is included in this list.”
At this time, another audience member said: "I've been listening for a long time. What do these powerful people want to say?"
Xu Funan thought to himself that I wasted a long time talking about Xingzi. He rolled his eyes and said: "This regulation is the law. It means that as long as there is no crime, all your property will be protected. No one can ask
You extort and rob your property!"
"What? Law?! Why write this law on white paper? It looks so depressing! The emperor issued the imperial edict, and it was all made of yellow silk."
"Yes, yes, you are using the wrong paper!"
Zhu Dagui was about to cry when he saw Xu Funan. He quickly turned around and scolded the people around him: "What are you talking about?"
The man who just mentioned the imperial edict said: "Why are I talking nonsense? A few years ago, I went to the county town to sell vegetables, and I saw that the imperial edict in the hands of the imperial envoy was yellow!"
The crowd of onlookers began to talk, but no one cared about the content of the clause. This made Xu Funan feel deeply traumatized and almost cried out of anger.
Like Xu Funan, other children who were responsible for preaching also encountered the same situation. There were even several newly arrived refugee families who took the hand of a child and said that they would betroth their daughter to him.
Looking at the dejected students with red eyes, Yu Deli smiled and said: "Children, do you think that reading the regulations once will make everyone understand? This is a long and difficult task!"
At this time, Xu Funan and others wiped their eyes and looked at Yu Deli intently as he continued to explain.
"To overthrow a decadent dynasty, we still have to do a lot. In addition to preaching, we also need to use radio, opera, and storytelling to break down the contents of the regulations so that everyone can understand them clearly, so that ordinary people will understand