Zhu Dilanum returned to the yamen and inquired with her colleagues first.

It turned out that the Grosvenor family seemed to be quite famous.

The Grosvenor family was originally more famous in England, and was one of the wealthiest nobles.

After Britain became a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, the family became even more famous.

Whether it is the Ming people, the British or the Indians, they all think that the Grosvenor family has something wrong with their brains.

Always wear what you think is the traditional costume of Tessie, and uphold what you think is the daily walking, sitting and lying posture of the Tessie aristocracy.

His family's estate in Alexandria Bay had been turned into a small, almost isolated kingdom.

Of course, only "almost", not actually, and here is still under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty.

This piece of land, located in the southwest of Mozhou, on the north-south border of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, was named the Ming Indian State in this world.

King Judi Manganese of India is the second son of Emperor Zhu Jingyuan of the Ming Dynasty and Queen Charlotte of the United States, and the half-brother of King Zhu Diyu of the United Kingdom.

The State of India also correspondingly set up the Indian Political Envoy, which accepted the comprehensive asset verification and registration instructed by the Ming court.

Since the original free people in India were basically British and Americans, the assets were registered in the United Kingdom or the United States.

Therefore, the Indian side mainly verifies and supervises to ensure that the data and status of their registration are basically accurate.

Make sure that everything in the local area does not violate the laws of Daming India.

Therefore, all the properties of the Grosvenor family, including diamond mining, textile and garment factories, as well as the family's estate, were specially inspected and verified by the Jinyi guard.

It was determined that the land and houses in the small town of Alexandria Bay, as well as the land of the vast desert wasteland that surrounded it, belonged to the Grosvenor family.

However, the only free people in the area were the Grosvenor family.

The rest of the population numbered at least 30,000 people, all of whom were slaves of the Grosvenor family.

A dozen years ago, there were a few other freedmen in the town, factory and estate managers hired by the Grosvenor family.

However, in the past ten years or so, these foreign managers have been fired or transferred away one after another.

Robert Grosvenor has been operating here for more than ten years, and has specially trained a group of literate slaves to manage other slaves.

In order to make these slaves more reliable, Grosvenor also gave a different treatment than ordinary slave labor.

They can have a certain amount of personal wealth, they can enjoy a high degree of freedom within the estate, and they can enjoy a certain level of living facilities.

They have become de facto middle managers, but they are still Grosvenor's slaves.

This is very rare in other parts of the Ming Dynasty, but it is quite common in India.

There are not many indigenous people in this part of India, and the main population is now slave workers who were sold from Tianzhu by the British.

After India joined the Ming system, even if it did comprehensive social reforms, it could not change the status quo.

However, there were not many slave owners who paid money to train slaves like Grosvenor.

Most slave owners hired freedmen to manage their factories.

A slave is simply working.

The Grosvenor family used all slaves in order to preserve their perceived Tessie traditions, and to protect themselves from the prevailing wave of enlightenment outside.

It just so happened that his place was almost isolated from the rest of the world, and he was able to carry out such a plan.

But Grosvenor did not rebel, and at the same time paid the full amount of taxes according to the regulations, and the Ming Jinyi and the army did not treat him badly.

In the past, people had come to the yamen to denounce and inquire.

After checking the law, the people of the penal institution found that what the Grosvenor family did did not seem to be illegal.

According to the laws of Ming India, how slave owners manage slaves is the slave owner's own business.

Moreover, Grosvenor was not too bad for these slaves, and there was no such thing as a master persecuting slaves for entertainment.

The master demanded that the slave live in the way he was accustomed to, which was also the basic right of the normal slave owner.

Therefore, the political envoy of the Ming Dynasty knew about the situation here, and only let Grosvenor toss it after registration and verification.

At the same time, the imperial court did not issue a regulation requiring the civilians of the vassal states to change the dress of the Ming Dynasty.

After other countries became vassals of the Ming Dynasty, commoners continued to wear their original clothing, as long as they were not transgressed within the legal framework of the Ming Dynasty, it could be considered legal.

So Grosvenor, what they did was indeed legal.

Grosvenor's family is registered in India and usually lives on their own estate.

They just come to the Western Cape regularly to purchase daily necessities and sell the products of their factories and mines.

The Grosvenor family itself is not under the jurisdiction of Jersey.

Another civil deputy said to Judy Lan:

"Don't hide it from Your Highness, we don't like this family, but what they are doing now is indeed not illegal.

"They do have some assets at home, and the cost of the slave factory is very low, and the things they sell are cheap.

"In addition to the outrageous habits of food, clothing, housing and transportation, there is nothing out of the ordinary.

"So the merchants in the market are willing to continue trading with them.

"If Your Highness is concerned about these matters, you can try to make suggestions to Your Majesty.

"Is it possible to make a rule that all aliens must change their clothes?"

Zhu Di Lan originally felt awkward about the Grosvenor family, but after listening to the introduction of her colleagues, she became hostile.

The so-called "independent small kingdom", places that the imperial court could not directly touch, made the royal educated Zhu Di Lan particularly sensitive.

In the eyes of ordinary people, Grosvenor was just running a group of slaves.

But in Judilan's view, it was a group of tens of thousands of "nationals" who only listened to Grosvenor.

Grosvenor is the little king there.

Zhu Dilanum vaguely understood that from Emperor Shizu to her father, they were all obsessed with the gradual abolition of slavery.

Because slavery is a legal subordinate personal dependency.

If all people are free people, then all free people are directly under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

Not so with slaves.

They were to be subordinate to the slave owners first, and the slave owners were subject to the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

The more immediate and detailed issue was the management and punishment of slaves by slave owners, which were to some extent not restricted by the imperial court.

In the laws of the imperial court, slaves were considered property and goods.

But they are indeed living people.

Slave owners had the legal right to lynch them.

The brocade guards of the imperial court can go to this kind of small kingdom to inspect, but it is impossible to stay there for a long time.

Over time, the slaves of these estates will only know their slave owners, but not the significance of the Ming court.

I don't know the meaning of the Ming Dynasty, and there is no fear when I resist.

Grosvenor is not the only such small kingdom, there are a large number of similar small kingdoms in India.

Grosvenor is just the most conspicuous one.

After thinking about it for a long time, Zhu Di really wrote a report to her father.

He explained his concern about the issue of slavery estates in India.

And put forward his own suggestions and ideas.

In these areas, the enforced abolition of slavery was carried out, or the four major industrial groups were bought out.

Zhu Jingyuan paid more attention to Zhu Dilan, and after receiving his report, he read it directly, but he was obviously stunned when he only looked at it:

"The Grosvenor family? Isn't that the Duke of Westminster? Is the richest man in Britain after Victoria? ”

"Now there is no Victoria, and the title of this family in England stays at the Earl of Grosvenor...... The stage of the boss is on. ”

"What's wrong with this family now? Let this kid write a report to illustrate? ”

Zhu Jingyuan continued to read Zhu Dilan's report, and subconsciously summarized what Grosvenor had created now.

There was the monarch, that is, Robert Grosvenor.

There is territory, that is, the land of the Grosvenor family in Alexandria Bay and the surrounding desert.

There were classes, members of the Grosvenor family, slave managers, slave laborers.

There were officials, that is, slave administrators trained by Grosvenor.

There are laws, that is, all kinds of rules in their homes.

Cultured, their dress, though not really a Tessie tradition, has become a tradition in the small kingdom of Grosvenor.

They even associate culture with dress and class, and even identity.

The ordinary laborers at the bottom wore black, the managers at the middle level wore white, and the Grosvenor family at the top wore red.

There is also a clear distinction between men and women in terms of style.

Of course, their sovereignty is incomplete, and the top-level laws must abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the Ming Dynasty's ability to actually manage the local area was very weak.

In the middle of the desert, there are only a few free men, and the rest are their slaves.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty may not be too lazy to take care of their family affairs.

If it was in Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, if they could operate like this for decades, there would even be a chance to form a small ethnic group and a country there.

What makes Judy Lanthanum uncomfortable, that is, their maverick attire, is actually the most dangerous thing out there.

Culture, they are creating and summarizing their own unique culture, and a common cultural identity is the foundation of the ethnic group and the nation.

It just so happens that the main body of their country is the Tianzhu people, and they originally did not have their own unified ethnic cognition.

Now Grosvenor is giving them a common ethnic identity.

The other slave factory owners of the "small kingdom", the slave owners who were the rulers, were all taking the initiative to learn from the Ming Dynasty.

They were also using alien freedmen to run their own slave factories.

Therefore, other small kingdoms have their own cultures and do not have the opportunity to gather their own independent common ethnic cognition.

So, what do you do?

In total, there are only a few tens of thousands of people in this small country that is taking shape.

Da Ming can easily exterminate it.

It can also be very easy to interrupt the process of continuing to shape their own common perceptions.

Judy Lanthan's suggestion is also reasonable.

Although the Ming Dynasty also naturally follows the basic legal logic of "the law does not apply retroactively".

However, this did not prevent Zhu Jingyuan from immediately drafting a law now, stipulating that the vassal states must also change the clothing and etiquette of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

Because "past" means something that has ended.

Otherwise, it can't be called a "thing of the past".

For example, the sale of slaves.

If the Archduke promulgated a law on the first day of the eighth month of the twenty-third year, it was stipulated that from now on no one could buy or sell slaves.

Then before this day, there will be no punishment for the sale and purchase of slaves.

Because the slave trade is an isolated thing, the key is something that has ended.

This is the direct logic that the law does not apply retroactively.

But many things are "continuous", such as slavery, such as contracts, such as customs.

If the new law provides that from the twenty-fourth year onwards of the Grand Duke, no one shall be allowed to own slaves again.

Before the first day of the first month of the fourth year of the Grand Duke, it was still not illegal for those who still owned slaves.

Of course, this is also the logic that the law does not apply retroactively.

But after twenty-four years of the Grand Duke, if they still owned slaves, they were breaking the law.

Because then owning slaves is not a thing of the past, but something that is happening now.

At the same time, if there is a penalty, it will be counted from the twenty-fourth year of the Grand Duke, and the previous past will not be counted.

This is also the logic that the law does not apply retroactively.

This law effectively required them to dismiss their slaves before the twenty-fourth year of the Grand Duke.

Some of the above clauses are not illegal at the time the contract is signed, but it does not mean that the new law has made the content of the contract illegal.

When the new law was introduced, the contract could no longer be enforced.

However, the contract clause is now illegal, and the parties to the contract before the implementation of the law cannot be prosecuted.

The law does not apply retroactively, which is a very uncomfortable modern saying, is replaced by the traditional narrative mode of the Ming Dynasty, which is "cannot be punished without teaching".

The rules are to be reminded and published before the punishment.

Matters before the reminder and announcement of the rules will not be investigated, and matters after the reminder and announcement will be strictly investigated.

In modern times, many political and cultural systems, in order to cut with the traditions of the past, have created many awkward narratives.

The fact that the law does not apply retroactively is a typical example.

If it is said that "you can't be punished without teaching", the vast majority of ordinary people can understand it in an instant.

And "the law does not apply retroactively" needs to be specially interpreted.

Zhu Jingyuan can now directly issue a decree to legislate, requiring the vassal states to have all their hair and change their clothes by the end of the year.

If they don't change their clothes next year, the court will be able to dispose of them in accordance with the protest decree.

But after Zhu Jingyuan thought about it, he didn't do it immediately.

If you force others to grow their hair and make it easy to wear, then there is no essential difference between it and the shaving and easy clothes that you knew in your previous life.

At the same time, I actually have another more harmonious way to deal with it.

For example, arrange a township mayor to bring a grassroots brocade guard team to these small kingdoms.

These people are the personnel of the Ming court, clothing, food, housing, transportation, walking, sitting and lying are all the official model of the Ming Dynasty.

Their position in the local area was above that of a slave-owning family like Grosvenor.

In the eyes of the local slaves, the Grosvenor family was also a subordinate of these people who wore the clothes of the Ming Dynasty, and even slaves like them.

Then these people will clearly recognize the existence of Da Ming and have a natural fear of it.

After all, their masters have to be respectful to these people.

What's more, he can take advantage of this incident to add some courage to Di Lan's salted fish.

It just so happens that this kid has basically mastered the criminal and prison affairs of Xiyang County.

There's even time to sneak out for a walk.

How can this be done?

So Zhu Jingyuan replied to Zhu Di Lan and said:

"Whether it is a direct ban or a forcible acquisition by the four major groups, it is too simple and crude.

"It's up to you to take care of it, and think carefully about a more secure and smooth plan.

"After considering the plan, report it to me to know, and I will ask the imperial court to arrange manpower to assist you in actually dealing with it."

(End of chapter)