Xiong Xiasheng was very good at handling emergencies. He told the people gathered outside the government office that they had not received any official documents about the whereabouts of the master. The master was not in the government office at the moment. He went to Suzhou to see the prefect. There should be news when he comes back in a few days, and he will inform everyone as soon as possible.
Then Xiong Dianshi changed the subject and scolded the citizens with a dark face for being too impulsive. If they gathered blindly like this, they might get instigated by bad people and cause trouble. If the inspector reported it, the master would be dismissed and investigated, and everyone would have no place to cry.
He Wenwei also patted his chest and guaranteed that the good situation in Kunshan would never be affected. If a corrupt official really came, he would lead everyone to drive him away!
These words played a decisive role. The people applauded loudly and said that since the Second Master was so responsible, they could not cause trouble to the county. They should go back and wait for news. Then they dispersed one after another.
Behind the screen wall, seeing that the storm had finally subsided, Bai Shouli wiped his sweat and couldn't help but admire: "Master He is really ruthless. If you say such words, you will be a dog in the future... You will not be able to be an official anymore."
"What's so good about being a dog official?" Mr. Zhao glanced at him and said, "Isn't what I gave you enough?"
"That's right, sir." Bai Shouli said awkwardly, "In our Kunshan County, being a good official earns more than being a corrupt official. Who wants to be a bad official?"
"If you can think this way, then I feel relieved." Master Zhao smiled with relief.
"Thank you for the compliment, Master..." Bai Shouli almost choked to death, thinking to himself, is he so unbearable in Master Zhao's heart?
~~
That night, He Wenwei and the other two actively called a meeting of the elders of the county's villages and told them the truth.
Young Master Zhao... Oh no, Second Master Zhao ruled Kunming for three years. His most crucial move was to use the repair of dikes to control insects, which gave new life to the Lijia elder system, which was in name only.
The so-called Lijia Laoren system is a grassroots organizational system established by Emperor Taizu on the basis of the previous dynasty. Simply put, every 110 households are organized into a Li, and the 10 households with the most male and female employees serve as Lizhang, taking turns to serve in the army every ten years. The remaining 100 households are called Jiashou, or Jiazhang.
Every year, a village head is appointed, leading 10 servants assigned by the government, and is responsible for managing the affairs of the village.
In addition, each village also has a village elder. Each village nominates one to ten respected elders over fifty years old to be responsible for education, agricultural persuasion, supervision, and trial of minor civil cases.
The village head, the head of the group, and the elders were the key players in the Ming Dynasty’s grassroots governance.
However, after two hundred years, with the annexation of land, the self-cultivating farmers being reduced to tenants, or even completely leaving the land to make a living, this system has long been in name only... The village head can no longer find the head of the village, the head of the village can no longer find the villagers, and the village elders no longer exist.
Zhao Hao took the opportunity of distributing disaster relief supplies and organizing dike repair work to rebuild this grassroots organization system. He improved it to one Jia for every ten households, one Li for every ten Jias, and one Bao for every ten Lis. He no longer forced the appointment of Lichang and Jiachang, but let those who were willing to take the position recommend themselves, and the villagers voted to make the choice. The selected person would serve for three years, and then be re-elected after three years.
Because at that time, these village heads and headmen were in charge of the distribution of disaster relief supplies and the allocation of dike repair tasks, and their power was quite considerable, so many people with ulterior motives enthusiastically signed up to run for election.
Moreover, since the year before last, the county has started to pay the village heads and the headmen a salary of one tael of silver per month, and there are bonuses at the end of the year based on the evaluation results. It is said that at the end of last year, the village heads and headmen who ranked top in the evaluation received hundreds of taels of silver in bonuses. There is no other way, because the county is really too rich, what should Mr. Zhao do if he can't spend it all?
There will always be brave men when there is a big reward. Naturally, the village heads and the heads of the village and the village committees are very motivated and do not want the village and the village committees they are responsible for to fall behind in the rankings.
As for the chief of the village, the county government directly appointed a clerk to serve concurrently. According to the unified deployment of the county, the chiefs led and coordinated the work of each village to prevent the excessive expansion of the power of the gentry.
In addition, he ordered each Jia to nominate an elder of high moral character and esteem, and each Bao to form a group of 100 people, who were responsible for supervising the Bao head, the Li head and the Jia head, and for adjudicating daily civil litigation within the Li and Jia.
This is not an innovation, but an ancestral rule set by Emperor Taizu, "All disputes over marriage, land, and other minor matters among the people should not be reported to the government without authorization, but must be handled by the elders of the village. If not, the person who reported the case will be beaten with 60 sticks first, and then sent back to the elders of the village for judgment."
Mr. Zhao simply expanded and refined this rule. He stipulated that the lawsuit of the Lijia should be presided over by the head of the village, and more than 20 Lijia elders who had no vested interests should be selected from the group of 100 people. After listening to the prosecution and defense of both parties in the lawsuit, the minority should obey the majority to make a judgment. However, both parties in the lawsuit could raise objections to the prosecution and defense results of the group of 100 people to the county government.
Although the elderly in Lijia do not have a fixed salary, they receive generous gifts during the three festivals and two birthday celebrations. They also wear special badges and are respected wherever they go, which greatly satisfies the vanity of the elderly, so they are also very serious and responsible.
With the help of Xu Wei and Wu Cheng'en, Master Zhao established a vibrant grassroots government by reforming the old "Lijia Elder System", perfectly filling the gap of "imperial power not extending below the county level". All the decrees issued in the name of Master Zhao were implemented in every village and household without being left as empty words.
Kunshan County can achieve "small changes every six months and big changes in three years", which is absolutely inseparable from the unique strong grassroots control of Scorpion Shit.
But it cannot be said that Mr. Zhao solved the eternal problem of "imperial power does not extend below the county level" because the grassroots reform of Kunshan County is difficult to replicate.
First, the clan power in the Suzhou and Songjiang areas is relatively weak, unlike the stubborn ones in Fujian, Guangdong, southern Zhejiang, and Huizhou. The relationship between the gentry and the peasants in the south of the Yangtze River is mainly that of landlords and tenants, which does not have the strong cohesion of clan relations, so it is easier to break up and reorganize.
Secondly, it would take a county magistrate like Mr. Zhao, who had done a great favor to Kunshan County, to promote this matter, so that those "troublemakers" in Wuzhong would obey his orders. In fact, Mr. Zhao was able to complete the arduous task of reconstructing the Lijia organization by taking advantage of the objective need to fight floods and repair dikes.
Furthermore, the county must be extremely rich. There is only rice in this world, but no reason to cook it. Maybe when fighting floods and preventing schistosomiasis, the village chiefs can still volunteer to do work out of their enthusiasm for benefiting their hometown. But in the long run, how can there be so many life-and-death matters? If you keep getting free stuff, no one can persist.
However, with the example of Kunshan County, this year, Taicang Prefecture, Changshu County, Shanghai County, Huating County and several other neighboring Zhou counties will also follow suit and reconstruct the Lijia Elders System. Mr. Zhao is cautiously optimistic about this and will not interfere. He is only the son of the magistrate of Kunshan County, not the son of the magistrates of neighboring counties. How can he point fingers at the power structure of other counties?
Crossing the line is annoying...
~~
Back to the point, when the village heads and the elders in the village heard that the rumors were true and that their elderly parents had been confirmed to be transferred, they were immediately furious.
They are the ones who have direct interests with Mr. Zhao! They have just started to enjoy the taste of work and are thinking about how to be re-elected for another term, so why is Mr. Zhao leaving now?
"Does the Hundred-Man Group still count?"
"Does the village chief still pay his salary?"
"Will the year-end bonus be wasted?!"
The hall was immediately in an uproar, with people in panic and questions everywhere.
Until Bai Shouli announced that He Xiancheng would take over as the county magistrate; He Wenwei swore to heaven that he would never change the previous emperor... oh no, he would never change the law of Master Zhao. Whether it was the election and treatment of the hundred-man group or the elders of the village, nothing would change. Even if there was to be a change, it would only be for the better! Everyone gradually calmed down.
"Sure enough, loyalty in this world all stems from self-interest..." Mr. Zhao, who was hiding behind the scenes, couldn't help but think of what his son had said. It was really to the point. Thorough and excellent!
Then, He Wenwei and the other two persuaded the people earnestly, and made the village heads and the headmen reluctantly accept the bleak fact that "the He family replaced the Zhao family". They also ordered them to go back and appease the people in their own villages and told the people not to take any radical actions.
In short, there must be no chaos. Whoever has chaos in the Lijia will be expelled, and there will be no mercy!
After the slap, He Wenwei gave another sweet treat and said that maintaining stability during the team handover was the overriding priority, and as long as they could get through it smoothly, this year's year-end bonus would double!
"This old stingy man has no experience at first glance..." Song Erye curled his lips in disapproval. One thing is one thing, special things should be handled specially, money should be sent in time, and money should be given generously to achieve the best results!
If it were him, he would never let these people go back empty-handed...
~~
But no matter what, Kunshan County's strong grassroots control played a role this time. With the soft and hard persuasion of the village heads and the elderly, the people in the county finally stabilized their emotions and reluctantly accepted the fact that their elderly parents were about to pass away.
So it is inevitable that there will be a cloud of sadness and sorrow. The deep sadness of parting lingers in the county town. Citizens can't help but burst into tears when they mention their elderly parents. Some of them are so sentimental that they can't even bear to see the word "departure" because they miss them.
In a blink of an eye, it was the first day of April, the day when the government office issued notices, and it was also the last time that Mr. Zhao sat on the stage in Kunshan County... Oh no, sat in the court.
That day he was dressed neatly and came to the lobby early and sat down. Looking at the familiar bricks and tiles in front of him, he felt a lot of emotions in his heart.
Time flies so fast. Three years have passed in a blink of an eye. I have transformed from a knowledgeable nerd who was played around by the pawnshop owner into a county magistrate who is respected by all and is fair and selfless. The experiences in life are really unpredictable.
He was so busy sighing that he didn't even notice when the first pair of plaintiff and defendant were brought to court.
"Ahem." Mr. Wu, who was standing behind him, had to remind him.
"Oh, ask about the case." Mr. Zhao came back to his senses and said to the plaintiff kneeling in the hall: "Who is kneeling in the hall, and what is the grievance you are complaining about?"