Chapter 1315: Year-End Assembly (Part 12)

Of course, besides these illegal acts that can be exempted from punishment, there are some crimes that are completely unforgivable, such as robbery, theft, and arson.

In an era like this, if one were to talk about a sense of shame or guilt, it would be pure nonsense; for a group of people who have just escaped from the struggle for basic food and clothing, or even from the line of death, where would they get such things?

Robbery is easier to deal with; after all, everyone is equally fierce, and since they can all eat their fill, there is nothing that gives them a reason to feel they must rob. Such situations rarely occur, and once they do, they must be dealt with swiftly and severely, regardless of how long you have been in Huaxia.

If a person can commit a crime like robbery as soon as they arrive in Huaxia, it shows that their fundamental nature is bad. Even with education, it would take many years, so it is better to use thunderous means first to dispose of these people, pass the verdict notice to those around them, and let them serve as a negative example to deter others.

Theft, however, is difficult to eradicate; after all, who doesn't hope that their own household has more things? So if they see someone else's door wide open and no one around, they will think about going in to steal something.

Moreover, if they steal small amounts of grain and the like, it is very difficult for the owner to discover it, unless they steal too much at once. If they are discovered by the owner and the case is reported, it is still very difficult for the Ministry of Public Security to solve such small and difficult cases in this era.

Without many methods and without surveillance, even a small theft case is very difficult; conversely, cases like murder are very easy to solve because the murderer has no ideas and will not have much brainpower to handle the scene, leaving traces that are too obvious and can be found immediately.

The development plan for next year proposed by the Ministry of Public Security itself is to expand the scope of jurisdiction; from cities to towns, there must be subordinate units to carry out management, like institutions similar to police stations.

Furthermore, after just hearing Baifeng's emphasis on the arrangements for Lema City, the Ministry of Public Security also temporarily added a clause: in the villages of Lema City, personnel must also be sent to station there, with at least two people per village to handle cases, process household registrations, and other such situations.

Baifeng naturally expressed his affirmation of their plan.

The remaining time was used for other scattered departments to report; departments like the Ministry of Rites had almost no content to report, so they just gave a simple account to demonstrate their sense of presence.

Subsequently, the first day of the assembly ended there. Baifeng ordered the cafeteria to prepare a grand meal sufficient for the attendees to eat and had it brought up for them to dine together, and they were all good, substantial dishes that the attendees might not necessarily be able to eat again after returning.

Although many people came to the assembly, in reality, it was not their turn to speak; they were just there to watch, and those officials with higher positions were also just sitting there listening.

However, listening to tomorrow's arrangements, it seems that there might be an opportunity for these industry representatives to speak and make proposals.

Before attending the assembly, they were asked to prepare in advance regarding some opinions and thoughts on their current industry; if there were any problems, they could raise them in public, and they could even speak to the King face-to-face. As long as it was reasonable, the King could solve it for them immediately.

Such a good thing naturally made those selected industry representatives very excited and thrilled; they felt they had many difficulties, and it would be best if the King could solve them.

But because they lacked experience, the people from the Secretariat would check their opinion drafts in advance. As it turned out, it was fortunate they checked, because these representatives did not seem to understand their own status and duties. The problems they wrote were their own personal problems, such as their house at home being too small or not having enough meat to eat, which had absolutely nothing to do with the industries they belonged to.

The people from the Secretariat could only helplessly continue to explain: "You are industry representatives; you are meant to speak for the entire group of people in your industry. As teachers or workers, if you encounter trouble at work, feel the system is bad, or if there are other issues that everyone agrees are problems, only then can you bring them up."

"Your own house being small is not something related to the industry. If you write like this again, your status and qualifications will be cancelled. This year was a bit rushed, so people were chosen based on your abilities."

"Next year, you will be required to hold internal elections. If you fail to play a good role this year, you will definitely not be re-elected next year. By then, you won't even have the chance to see the King. Do you understand?"

"Do you know what to do now?"

At that time, those representatives who were spoken to quickly understood, and thus rewrote their opinion drafts. However, most people still wrote from a self-centered perspective and did not consider what the masses thought; only a few people went to ask their colleagues what opinions everyone had. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that they wanted to show off that they had been selected and had the qualification to have a dialogue with the King.

This year there was also a special group, which was the landlords. There are not many landlords in Huaxia, so they all came to the assembly and sat in relatively front positions. This was something they had never dared to imagine before; how could their status allow them to sit so far forward? But they were actually allowed to go up.

In their view, this was already an honor. They had no position and no Nobility, yet they could attend such an assembly; most of them could not even understand the documents, and they could recognize very few characters on a single page of paper.

The Secretariat naturally also gave them a heads-up in advance. First, they were to think for themselves whether the current land policy was good and if there was anything that needed to be changed. As the great landlords of Huaxia, their feelings were certainly deeper, deeper than most Nobles.

Furthermore, they were told that this time there would be an opportunity for them to participate in the construction of Huaxia, and it was possible for them to obtain a position to work for Huaxia—that is, to become an official—without needing to take an exam. If they did well, it was still possible to be granted Nobility.

For these landlords who only farmed and had nowhere to store their excess grain at home, this was the greatest good news in the world, so they were very much looking forward to this assembly. However, as for how to obtain a position, the people from the Secretariat would not say; no matter how they asked, they just wouldn't say.