The next day, Kangxi summoned his sons and gave them instructions. Then he called his confidants and gave them instructions as well. Only then did he leave the main force with Youqing, his secret guards, and four palace maids and nannies.
The main force numbered about two thousand people. They separated from the main force and, with less than twenty people, pretended to be merchants moving their families, and began to head south of the Yangtze River via another route.
It would have been easier to travel to Jiangnan by water, but Kangxi decided to take the land route because he wanted to see more of the true face of the Qing Dynasty.
At the same time, Emperor Kangxi also revised the law, stipulating that anyone who reported a heinous criminal could be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver. He then created a set of regulations for heinous criminals and sent them throughout the country, requiring people in all regions to know about this matter.
While a hundred taels of silver might not change the social standing of ordinary people, it could certainly lift them out of poverty. With such financial gain, kinship ties became less important.
As the news spread, local government offices received a number of reports. After investigation, some were found to be true and some were found to be false. This gave the local government offices something to do, but it was all a good thing.
Because along with this decree, Emperor Kangxi also issued a day for "rewarding meritorious service," which greatly influenced the ranking of officials in which areas handled more and better cases.
In addition, to prevent some officials from engaging in fraud and framing innocent people for the sake of merit, he also ordered that official boxes be allowed. These boxes were directly managed by people sent from the capital, and the person in charge was directly under the command of Kangxi. Moreover, the person in this position was changed every year, and the replacements were all from powerful and influential families in the capital.
These people weren't short of money; what they lacked was the opportunity to appear before the emperor. Kangxi gave them that opportunity, as long as they could hold their own. At the same time, he sent people to monitor them, since everyone had relatives or friends.
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