The Silent Reforms of Eldridge Chapter 7

The second thing is to request a report on the results of the investigation into grain mold in the Ningyuan Department grain depot.

Previously, I went to the provincial capital to work with Vernon Wang, the prefect of Taiyuan, to calculate the deficit case of Xilun, the former co-prefect of Ningyuan Department. In addition to those who had been found to be involved in the impeachment, according to the current magistrate Chikri Norbu, there were also more than 3,000 shi of grain. Already moldy and spoiled. I think the amount of compensation requested by my former colleague Xilun was large enough, and I am afraid it is not appropriate to use this as an excuse to continue my participation. In this case, I was thinking, can I raise silver taels from other ways to make up for it? I plan to use the 250 taels of office expenses that the department gives to the prefect's Yamen every year and buy grain year by year to make up for it. This money was nominally given to the magistrate's office for office expenses, but in fact it was given to me for personal expenses.

What are bad rules? The rule of the Qing Dynasty officialdom was that subordinates must pay filial piety to their superiors on a regular basis, and local officials must pay filial piety to Beijing officials on a regular basis. In summer, you have to give money to cool down, which is called Bing Jing; in winter, you have to give money to keep a fire, which is called charcoal King; when you enter the door, you need to give door-to-door respect; when you say goodbye, you need to say farewell; "three festivals and two birthdays" [1] give festival tributes. All these filial piety are collectively called bad rules. Because it is illegal, we call it "ugly"; although it is illegal, you must give it away, this is the "rule". As for giving more and giving less, the market conditions vary from place to place, and the prices also vary.

I have verbally asked the Chief Envoy for instructions on this matter. Later, I passed by Daicheng and told Yanping Dao Zhang Jingfan about this idea. He deeply agreed with this, and also expressed that he would use the two hundred and fifty taels of money given to him by Ningyuan Hall every year to buy grain to make up for it. If these two sums of money are brought to the Road Department and the user buys grain at the price specified by the Department to replenish the warehouse, the shortfall can be made up in five years. The area outside Guan is sparsely populated, and food is always cheap. You can buy it at the local price to make up for it. In this way, not only can Canggu be settled, but there is no need to continue to participate in Xilun.

The third task was jointly notified by the Yamen of the Fansi (Government Envoy) and the Yamen of Nasi (Inspector), requiring all subordinate prefectures and counties to set up security teams to escort passing business travelers and formulate regulations for arresting thieves.

After receiving the order from the Constitution on October 30, I ordered Ningyuan Hall, Shuozhou, and all counties to set up additional dens to patrol and arrest criminals.

As far as I know, in Zhili, Shandong, and Henan, local officials have posted notices all over the market town hotels, strictly ordering hotels in market towns to wait until dawn before letting single travelers stay - those with large numbers of people, horses, vehicles, or groups of people. Except for tourists traveling in a group, the latter were escorted with weapons by patrolling soldiers and police officers from the den. These people are all temporarily appointed by the province, and there is no need to set up permanent supervisors. If there are no cases of robbery along the road in the area of   responsibility throughout the winter, the vassal yamen will ask the governor to appoint him to act as an agent for state and county duties as a reward. Therefore, for many years, the road has been very quiet, and the bandits who blocked the road have disappeared.

Now, if Shanxi also follows suit, the effect will be very good. As for densely populated areas in the city, we can also follow the past practice. Ten families have one chief of police, who takes turns on duty at night. Once a thief is discovered, he calls out loudly, and all ten families respond. It is not very hard to stay on duty for three nights per month for each family, and it does not cost much to send people to ten families in turns. In this way, the momentum is communicated with each other, and when the bang is sounded, the crowd responds. No matter it is the people in the village or the people in the city, they can take precautions, and those young people will not be able to harm either party.

The government's purpose of arresting theft is to bring peace to the people, so funds must be raised in advance to carry out the work. Since I took over, I have cleared out the old backlog of cases one by one. When investigating theft case files in various states and counties, it was found that there were many reported thefts, but very few thieves were caught. In fact, it is not that state and county officials in various places have not sent arresters everywhere to catch criminals, nor have they not regularly checked the progress and held them accountable. However, the catchers would rather suffer punishment than go out to chase the thieves. The reason is that they cannot catch the thieves because they have no funds for the mission.

According to regulations, there are eight catchers in each county, and each person is paid forty taels per year - and some are often deducted and paid in copper coins instead. This results in the lowest wages among all the catchers. Young and strong young men are unwilling to work as trappers, so the old, weak, sick and disabled can only fill the ranks. And there are many uses for a catcher - he can't catch thieves on an empty stomach, right? If you want to solve a case or catch a thief, you can't just do it alone, right? To escort a prisoner or to transport a accuser, there are always travel expenses, right? If these police officers lose money, they will definitely find a place to blackmail it back. Some people even ignore their own lives for money, and they change from catching thieves to feeding thieves to enrich themselves. From this point of view, it is probably a light punishment to accept the mission but suppress it, and would rather be punished than catch the thief!

So, I made a charter and agreed with the states and counties that the magistrates of wealthy counties would donate thirty taels of silver every month, and the magistrates of poor counties would donate fifteen taels of silver every month, half of which would be used to fund the arrest of thieves, and the other half would be retained to escort prisoners. cost of. If there are funds for anti-theft, the arrester can use it to hire informants; if there are funds for escorting prisoners, then there is no need to find someone to replace them when traveling to and from the provincial capital. We must ensure that if there is a case, it must be solved, and no one can escape. Those who catch many thieves will be rewarded well; those who are slack in their work will be severely punished.

The key to apprehending thieves is to uncover the den of thieves. Once a den of thieves is uncovered, a group of thieves will have nowhere to hide. The fight against bandits must start with catching thieves. Once a thief is caught, he will not develop into a big thief - there is no big thief who did not evolve from a thief, and there is no thief who does not have a den of thieves.

The Shuoping Mansion under my rule is close to the outside of the Great Wall, with a vast territory and sparse population. Thieves from other places often come here to commit crimes. If they are wanted here, they will flee to that place. Because it is easy to hide their whereabouts, they dare to use this trick. I ordered all states and counties, and sent letters to neighboring prefectures and counties, requesting coordinated actions, regardless of region, when encountering relevant cases, in addition to official letters, use confidential letters to communicate. All states and counties must respond when called, so that thieves can take advantage of them. . In addition, we must still adhere to the Baojia and Sitting system to reduce theft from the source. In addition, we must develop production and increase people's income to nourish people's morale.

My report was delivered to the Governor through the two bureaus. After Governor Shen Qixian read it, he said with great appreciation: "Looking at Magistrate Zhang's submission, the reasoning is clear, the language is clear, and it is feasible---It seems that Magistrate Zhang He's not a white-faced scholar who doesn't understand world affairs." Governor Shen immediately ordered to inform the whole province and implement it accordingly.