In mid-March, the emperor finally returned to the city of Beijing, and the people of the capital suddenly felt settled. Although Chongzhen has only been on the throne for more than five years, the people of the capital regard this young emperor as the god of the sea. They blindly felt that as long as the emperor was still sitting on the Jinluan Palace, then the country would be very stable, and there was no problem that could not be solved.

And for Chongzhen, from the moment he entered the capital, his daily affairs became busy. Although the cabinet has shared more than ninety percent of the affairs for him, there are still many political decisions that he needs to make the final decision.

However, after Chongzhen returned to the palace, he did not meet with the cabinet ministers and members of the State Affairs Committee for the first time, but invited Cui Chengxiu and Sun Zhizhi to question.

In the Xiyuan Elite House, Zhu Youzhen walked back and forth in the living room, and said excitedly to the two: "... I have always believed that the law is a tool to maintain rule, but there is a difference between criminal law and civil law. The former maintains our rule by isolating the offender from contact with the general public; The latter, on the other hand, maintains the people's trust in the state and the current society by maintaining the orientation of social values and social mores.

Law cannot be independent of politics, but it is different from politics because it upholds the very essence of political existence, not politics itself. Therefore, we must have the legislative power to the law, but we must maintain respect for the law. In the same way, the judicial officer who holds the law must know what he is defending, and not use the law to satisfy his own selfish desires.

If you have heard all of the above, there is no need to spread it. What I want to say next is that there is now a dispute in the capital over the case of the Jia family handled by the Criminal Department, and I think there is nothing to argue about. The original intention of formulating the Civil Code is to determine and protect the social values of our country: to protect the good people and fight the bad people.

Now those Qingliu gentry shouting that they want to uphold the code of ethics and protect the famous religion are just for their own selfishness, ignoring the happiness and safety of the public, and it is not worth refuting at all.

In this world, only good people will respect morality, and bad people will only use moral ideas to benefit themselves. The so-called gentlemen who keep putting famous religions on their lips, but wantonly trample on the right of others to pursue happiness, are just a group of hypocrites.

If a society does not defend the right of good people to enjoy a happy life, it tries to explain the evil deeds of the wicked in every possible way and exonerate the wicked. Then this society is inferior, ignorant and barbaric, and it is a society that will be eliminated. I will not tolerate it, and the laws of the Ming Dynasty have become playthings in the hands of these hypocrites. ”

Zhu Youzhen stopped when he said this, turned to look at Sun Zhiqi on the side and said: "The Daming Times will find some people to write a few articles to refute the clamor of those Qingliu according to what I just said, so as to correct the world's hearing and hearing, is there a problem?" ”

Sun Zhiqi straightened his waist slightly, and replied in a loud voice: "Back to Your Majesty, there is no problem." The minister has also been indignant at the remarks of those pedantic people these days, but the minister's insight is not as good as that of His Majesty, so he has not been able to think of how to refute these hypocrites.

Zhu Youzhen nodded at Sun Zhiqi, and then turned to Cui Chengxiu and said: "Land reform is the fundamental way to solve many problems in this dynasty, I want to hear now, what has the Land Reform Committee done during this time, and what kind of trouble has it encountered?" ”

While the emperor was talking to Cui Chengxiu, Sun Zhiqi slowly withdrew from the meeting room and went to handle the task assigned to him by the emperor.

“… After the implementation of the agrarian reform, there are now three main economic models in the villages, the first is the cooperative of yeoman farmers, that is, the so-called commune, in addition to paying 20 percent of the national tax, the commune retains 10 percent of the water conservancy and farmland fund, and the rest is distributed to the members.

The second type is the cooperatives formed by redeeming land, which in addition to paying the above 40% of the expenses, they also have to levy an additional 10% of the redemption fee to the state treasury.

The third type is an agricultural company formed by merchants and landlords with land and capital as shares, and peasants as labor as shares. After paying taxes and deducting costs, the remaining proceeds are split in a five:5 split.

Although the burden on the peasants has not been much lightened compared with the past, through the payment of taxes by the communes and companies and the procurement of agricultural materials, the exploitation of officials and merchants has been reduced, and the actual income of the peasants has nearly doubled compared with the past, together with the promotion of improved varieties and the construction of water conservancy facilities..."

Cui Chengxiu obviously sank down to do things, otherwise his report would not be so smooth, Zhu Youzhen commented in his heart. From this report, it can be heard that the reason why the landlords and gentry were dissatisfied was that the imperial court had just carried out a water conservancy renovation project in Hebei, and the peasant associations were beginning to gradually promote improved varieties and optimized farming techniques, but the imperial court kicked them out of the scope of profit.

To the greatest displeasure of these landlords and gentry, most of the land they now handed over was obviously going to be converted into high-quality irrigated land, but the price they now received was only that of the middle field or the lower field. Even some of the public forests and land that they had seized were now taken back by the imperial court almost without compensation.

This kind of land reform was applauded by the majority of the landlords, except for those peasants who had been allocated land. It was only the case that many of the landlords and gentry received compensation from the cotton textile industry or other grain processing industries, so there were no large-scale revolts.

However, for the landlords and gentry in the Hebei region near Shandong and Henan, they were too far away from the capital and their concepts were relatively conservative, so they did not benefit from the imperial court's policy of encouraging industry and commerce, and their resentment was naturally greater, and it is not surprising that they united with the landlords and gentry in Shandong to resist the land reform policy.

After listening to Cui Chengxiu's report, Zhu Youzhen thought for a long time and said: "Since things have become like this, I feel that the current land reform committee not only cannot retreat, but must further complete the land reform plan in Hebei thoroughly.

In addition, since the people of Shandong have been involved in the controversy over the land reform policy, they will simply expand the land reform plan to the whole province of Shandong this year. Only a strong determination on the part of the Agrarian Reform Commission will be able to force the centrists to accept the imperial court's reform policies, leaving us with a handful of recalcitrant conservatives.

There is now a large amount of land to be cultivated in Fuso, Borneo, Cambodia and the Malay Peninsula, and for those who are centrists, the Land Reform Commission can issue land reclamation certificates at a ratio of 1:1.5 or 1:2, allowing them to go to the local area to apply for land reclamation without charging land rent for 30 years.

For those conservatives who are resolutely opposed, they are forced to exchange a 1:1 ratio of land for all their land in the country, and designate them to go to a fixed area to receive land, and they are not allowed to return for 15 years...

In my opinion, this canal case and the anti-land reform national policy bill can be implemented in accordance with this policy, as long as there is no human life case, as long as they are willing to admit their guilt, they will be exiled overseas for education..."

Cui Chengxiu was a little worried at this time, if he didn't die, he would have trouble, after all, it was his idea to put the rebellious hat on the heads of those Shandong gentry. If these people were just exiled and came back, they would have to settle accounts with him or his family.

Therefore, after a little hesitation, Cui Chengxiu said to the emperor with some concern: "Your Majesty is kind to these gentry, and the ministers naturally have no objections.

It's just that these local gentry are all local clans, such as the one who took the lead in buying land in Hebei to oppose the land reform policy was the son of Wang Xiangchun. Wang Xiangchun was born in the Xincheng Wang family, and the four brothers all sat on one side, and the ministers exiled Wang Xiangchun's family here, and it was difficult to ensure that his brothers, friends, and disciples would not cry out for him.

If this case is not a crime of rebellion, the fault committed by this son implicates Lao Tzu and the clansmen, I am afraid it is a little unreasonable. ”

Zhu Youzhen glanced at Cui Chengxiu, and after being silent for a moment, he continued: "First deal with it according to this line of thought, as for someone who wants to stir up trouble and entangle the party to overturn the case, then deal with it separately as a case of rebellion that attempts to influence the government." ”

Cui Chengxiu's face finally relaxed, and he bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Excellency..."

On Jingjiang Island, thousands of miles south of the capital, Zhu Hengshu, the newly canonized prince of Jingjiang, was busy visiting the island's territory and preparing how to settle the future life of the Jingjiang Palace.

This island, which was renamed Jingjiang Island, is actually the largest island off the coast of Cambodia, about 100 miles long from north to south, about 50 miles long from east to west, high in the northeast and low in the west and south, the island has not been developed much, most places are covered by forests, only a few fishing villages and ports in the northwest and southeast, and the population is about thousands.

After spending half a year on the island, Zhu realized that this place was not as desolate and barren as it seemed. The island is not only home to a large number of coconut trees, but also to patches of precious mahogany. The island is surrounded by abundant fish resources, and there are not only large white sand beaches in the west and south, but also a large number of pearl oysters in the shallow waters of these areas, and the quality of pearls produced is not weaker than that of Hepu pearls.

Although the climate here is not as clear as Guilin, it is cooler in summer and at night, and except for the rainy season in October, the other 11 months are sunny dry seasons. Because of the sea breeze, the dry season is not hot.

While studying the local geography and climate, Zhu Hengshu rejected the requests of Zhu Luhu, the king of Jingjiang, and Zhu Hengjia, the deposed son, and first imitated the idea of building a new palace on the island for everyone to live in, following the Jingjiang palace in Guilin. He used all his money to relocate the poor from Guangxi, build a reservoir on the island, and repair the wharves and fishing boats.

Although his approach made Zhu Hengjia and others extremely dissatisfied, he won the support of many clan members, after all, the construction of the palace can only benefit a few people. What's more, after being relocated overseas by the imperial court, many clans have understood that in the future, they can only rely on the income of the territory to eat, and don't expect the imperial court to give them any more subsidies.

In such a remote country, are the overseas natives who cannot even speak the language willing to be driven into their enslavement? Most of the clansmen's brains are still normal, and if they annoy the local natives in such a place, others will hack them to death, as long as they cross the sea and flee to the mainland, there will be nothing to do. Realizing this, most of the clans became more law-abiding than they had been in Guilin.