Chapter 560: The Future Landlord

However, they did not understand that whether every student's grades were good or not was recorded clearly in some people's notebooks; a mediocre student suddenly testing into an Advanced School with a high score was naturally a captain under surveillance.

What's more, there is no wall that doesn't let the wind through; even after a year, evidence would eventually be found by someone.

The people at the Ministry of Education had not recorded how many test papers they had printed at the time, and the loss of three test papers did not make them suspicious at all.

Just as they were still sleeping very comfortably, waiting for the rooster's crow to wake them up, accompanying the rooster's crow was the sound of the Ministry of Justice kicking down the door.

The three of them were finally only simply wearing undergarments to cover their shame, and then they were pushed into the Ministry of Justice's interrogation room; under the Ministry of Justice's strict interrogation, they had to admit their crimes.

As the first corruption case in Huaxia, although only Renwang accepted benefits and the other two were voluntary, they still violated the law, belonging to the use of professional convenience to provide help for others' advancement; because Renwang accepted bribes, the sentence would be heavier, and the other two would be a little better off.

The few people who entered school through improper channels were immediately ordered to drop out, and they were forbidden from entering any government agency to work; all they could do was go learn a craft or go farm.

In addition, they also belonged to the beneficiary side and had to accept punishment first; given that no substantial damage was caused to Huaxia, they were punished with food supplies, received a whipping, and their parents served hard labor.

You and the three were dismissed from public office, fined, and after receiving a whipping, were sentenced to be Slaves; their family members were forbidden from participating in any civil service examinations and were not allowed to hold office in any department; their children could continue to study and take exams, and attending an Advanced School was fine, but after graduation, they still could not enter government work, and the restrictions would only be lifted after three generations.

These three, as a typical example, were rapidly disseminated and studied in Huaxia City and Lema City, letting all public officials understand that corruption is absolutely not allowed; this was still a relatively light crime, and if serious harm were caused to Huaxia, Huaxia still retained the item of collective punishment, and having the whole family beheaded would not be excessive.

This corruption case caused a huge uproar in Huaxia; at the same time, those affected also included Xiong and these few people. Although they did not use their professional convenience to provide help for their relatives and friends, they did indeed use their status and their relationship with Baifeng to seek benefits for their descendants; for a time, these people also received an impact.

Xiong and Yishang felt very uneasy in their hearts and specifically found Baifeng, hoping that he would also punish them to stabilize people's hearts, but Baifeng comforted them: "You have nothing to panic about; this can be considered your privilege, and besides, that was all approved by me. If you want to talk about corruption, it seems I am the one who is corrupt, but has it caused a bad influence on Huaxia? No, right? It can still be considered a good promotion."

"Besides, the benefits I give are what you call benefits; what they stole is a crime."

Yishang and Xiong felt slightly settled in their hearts, but the uneasiness in the depths of their hearts was still there. However, Shaoyin and Qinyang had been married for so long, and Qinyang's belly was already big; what could be done now? If they were really punished, the two children as beneficiaries would also be affected; Shaoyin had just finished serving his sentence and left the Pasture.

Baifeng did not comfort them too much; in this, there is still a method of balance. Suppressing the illegal Noble is to win over the commoners, letting the commoners feel that their interests have not been infringed upon, and providing benefits to people like Xiong is to win over the future Noble class, letting them know that leaning toward the Royal Family can gain more benefits.

The point lies in a degree; even if you are a middle-class person, as long as you get Baifeng's approval, then Baifeng is willing to give him some benefits, but even if you are the highest official of a department, if you do not follow Baifeng's heart, then he has enough means to make you fall.

All Xiong and Yishang could do was hide, not stand out, and not show any movement; as time went on, everyone would naturally forget.

Now the weather is getting warmer and warmer; there is no need to wear such thick clothes, and one will not feel too cold. The Dahe has thawed, and the waterwheel base and a stretch of Cement riverbank built during the low-water season are now going to play their role.

The Artisans installed the last bit of the waterwheel's structure, and then the slowly flowing river water pushed the waterwheel to turn, proving the success of their work. Now the Blacksmiths can save more effort again, everyone can spend less time grinding flour, and Huaxia's water usage has become convenient again.

The Ministry of Works has already used Lime to outline the foundations of the houses to be built on the farmland outside the city; they want to finish this basic work before the spring plowing and then quickly pull materials back and forth.

Once the spring plowing and spring sowing are over, those farmers will be able to help them build houses.

What made Baifeng somewhat surprised was that a few moderately wealthy families in Huaxia also chose to move to the town to live, but they did not give up their houses and land in Huaxia City; after all, this was also their inherent property, and it was impossible to abandon it directly.

The reason they chose to go outside the city was that many of the newly reclaimed lands were reclaimed by the tenant farmers they hired; in name, they belonged to them, and if they didn't go, there would be no one to take care of the farmland, and everything would be left to the hired tenant farmers to mess with.

Plus, they had too many children themselves; living in the city was a bit too crowded, but leaving some in the city and moving some to New Town could not only relieve the family's pressure but also better take care of their property.

In the future, they would also rarely do the farming themselves; as long as there were tenant farmers, they would hire them; after all, with hundreds of acres of land, how could their family finish planting it.

In Baifeng's view, these few families had great vision; Xiong and the others didn't look at the wasteland outside the city at the beginning, they already had enough farmland in the city, and they had their own stable income, so there was no need to go outside to reclaim it. Baifeng did not give them a hint; after all, for a Noble, their power cannot be too vast.

They didn't grasp the opportunity at the beginning, and it would be much more difficult to want to share this piece of the pie later.

And in the three newly built towns, the five middle-class families were the prototype of the Landlord, the future Landlord class; Xiong and the others would become pure officialdom and the Noble class. Later, when they reacted and went to acquire farmland, they could only do so in much farther places.

And this could also be considered to secretly accord with the policy of the Order of Favor that Baifeng left for Yulong in the future; no matter how vast the family, the Legitimate Son stays in Huaxia City, and the other clansmen go to farther places to guard their wealth; generation after generation of division, and Baifeng then bestowing some farmland in different locations, could divide a vast family into a pile of loose sand.