"Is there such a thing?"

Everyone was shocked.

"Yes, I have already ordered that the previous officials be held accountable, but holding them accountable is secondary because this will highlight a problem!"

Zhao Jun spread his hands and said, "The government even finds scapegoats for those who pay them to do things. If the court orders them to solve a case like this and find the criminal, who knows how many innocent people will be implicated in order to complete the task."

"Too."

Everyone nodded.

Don't overestimate the integrity of ancient officials.

If they really can't find the criminal and their superiors force them to look for him, it is unlikely that they will confess under torture.

More likely, they would just find a scapegoat and lock him up, then forge confessions and fingerprints to prove the scapegoat's guilt.

Then the person suddenly "dies of a sudden illness" in prison, and there is no evidence at that time. The "murderer" confesses and then dies of a sudden illness. In this way, both the deceased and the murderer are gone, and the case is closed directly.

"This is the difficult part of the court, and it's another problem I listed."

Zhao Jun noted something on the paper and sighed, "With our current outdated criminal investigation methods, if we demand that every murder case be solved, it will inevitably lead to countless false and wrongful convictions. If we don't make that demand, then local officials will have no incentive to investigate. Furthermore, aside from these hard-to-solve bandit cases, ordinary homicides, roving robberies, and various petty thefts are all serious problems, posing a significant threat to public security nationwide."

A nationwide bandit incident or a problem of false charges and wrongful convictions were both difficult issues for the imperial court to deal with.

Wang Anshi pondered, "I think if there are two evils, it is better to choose the lesser one."

Zhao Jun became interested and asked, "Oh? What do you mean?"

Wang Anshi said: "Compared to the local officials who have no motivation to investigate cases and simply give up when they can't find any clues, resulting in frequent murders, it is better to force them to do it."

Zhao Jun frowned and asked, "What about false and wrongful convictions?"

"Even if there are frequent false cases, it's better than the government not working hard to track down the murderers, allowing them to go unpunished and commit crimes again and again, resulting in a surge in murders."

Wang Anshi showed a wry smile on his face.

"Well, I'll decide after I return to the Constitutional Council and discuss it with the other ministers."

Zhao Jun held his forehead, rubbed his temples, and circled a series of questions about wrongful convictions on the paper.

Mr. Luo later said that the more you study law, the more you will lose your humanity.

Isn’t it the same for those in power?

In the past, when I saw false cases and wrongful convictions online, I would be filled with indignation and angered at the officials for being so bad that innocent people were imprisoned or killed.

Now that I am in this position, I realize where the difficulty lies.

In this era of backward criminal investigation technology, encountering a case with no clues is simply a torment for investigators.

If their superiors demand that they solve the murder case, there will be only two outcomes.

First, the local county lieutenant and yamen runners worked hard to investigate the case, eventually finding clues and decisive evidence and bringing the murderer to justice.

What the second result is is self-evident.

However, if there are no mandatory requirements on the lower levels, local officials will have little motivation to investigate cases, and it is likely that many cases that could have been solved will become unsolved cases.

So this dilemma is clear from the perspective of the situation.

"I don't think you have any solutions to the problem of banditry and wrongful convictions. This is a long-standing problem that countless talented people throughout history have been unable to solve, and I don't expect you to do anything about it either."

Zhao Jun thought for a moment, then turned to another question and said, "Let's talk about local development. What have you discovered along the way?"

"Forehead"

Several people stared at each other.

Yang Cha asked cautiously, "What discovery did the Dean refer to?"

"The Zhiyuan talks about how local development and changes are taking place."

Wang Anshi was clever enough to reply, "Apart from Liyang, where Anli's army is located, which is doing quite well and has built many factories, the rest of the country is probably not very developed. At most, they've built a few brick factories."

"Um."

Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Liyang has also benefited from the canal. Since the canal from Bianliang to Huazhou was opened, economic and trade exchanges between Hebei and Bianliang have become increasingly frequent. Liyang is located north of the canal in Huazhou, and the two counties face each other across the river. The southernmost end of the Yongji Canal is in Liyang, connecting to the Beijing-Huazhou Canal. Naturally, many merchants gathered here. Local officials didn't need much guidance; the people gathered here on their own. The wealthy opened factories, and the poor became handicraft workers or laborers. Commerce and the economy naturally developed."

"It seems that, apart from Liyang, other places remain the same as they were before. Local officials are not actively looking for a solution."

Yang Gao frowned and asked, "What's wrong with these local governments? The imperial court has issued many orders to adapt to local conditions and require all regions to work hard to develop commerce. How come there aren't any officials in these counties who can get things done?"

"Minister Yang is wrong. I want to speak fairly on this point."

Su Huan complained, "The Minister has been in a high position for a long time, never serving in the local area. How can he understand the difficulties faced by local officials? His term is only three years. One year is spent familiarizing himself with the county, the second year is spent implementing policies. Policies are issued for only a year, and in the third year he has to prepare to leave. When the next official arrives, he might overturn the previous one's policies and make new arrangements. How can the local area develop with all this back and forth?"

"That's true, and to be honest, many local officials don't really understand how to develop."

Li Xiaoji also said, "Local officials in the past only had to deal with three major tasks: adjudicating cases, encouraging agriculture and sericulture, and collecting taxes in summer and autumn. As for issues related to local development, they were completely clueless."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!