Back in the castle hall, Roland sat back in the main seat and looked down at the people under the hall.
In memory, the fourth prince only exercised the right to a trial when he first came to Border Town. Later, he fell out with the nobles, and his life was not going well, so he left everything in his hands to Barov and never asked again.
After seeing everyone present, Roland announced the start of the trial.
First, all parties stated the reasons, and then he asked the questions. With Nightingale's secret assistance, he didn't need to judge who was deliberately lying, who was not sincere, and he didn't need a heart as meticulous as a schoolboy of death, making it easy and simple to determine the responsibility.
The truth of the matter was soon revealed.
Keya Harves was unwilling to be deprived of his knighthood, and at the same time was tired of the tedious paperwork at the city hall, and all his grievances came from the fugitives. Taking advantage of the opportunity to distribute wheat porridge, he deliberately charged the fugitives and provoked the relationship between the two sides, saying that it was precisely because the serfs did not turn over all the grain that the wheat stock was insufficient and could not be distributed free of charge.
The fact that Keya had been charging for porridge for days in a row was exacerbated by the fact that most of the refugees, fearing reprisals from officials, kept silent because he wore a striking city hall uniform. It wasn't until today that a fugitive named Vader stood up to protest the other party's actions and caused a commotion that all this was exposed.
Roland breathed a sigh of relief when he understood the situation.
An organization should be full of vigor and vigor in the rising stage. Although it is inevitable that corruption and rigidity will appear after it stabilizes, it should also happen after the unity of Graycastle. If such problems arise in the early stages, the organization is not destined to get very far.
Now it seems that fortunately, it is just the personal behavior of Keya Harveys, and it does not involve more officials of the city hall. And the matter is limited to extorting money, not the food reselling and private sales of the serfs that he is most worried about.
Of course, he is also responsible for this pot. At the time, the city hall was in desperate need of manpower, and he gave all the surrendering knights to Barov without any screening and training, just a warning. It turns out that not everyone can accept the job without complaint and suffer the huge psychological gap from knight to commoner.
Roland called Barov to his side and asked in a low voice, "How would a lord usually deal with this situation?"
"His Royal Highness, there are two cases," the latter replied respectfully, "if the perpetrator is a noble, he can go without any punishment after turning in a few golden dragons, while the crimes against the nobles of civilians can be big or small, ranging from beheading to whipping. There are punishments."
"But Koya is no longer a nobleman," the prince shrugged. "I deprived him of his title."
"Yes, Your Highness. In this case, the disposal is entirely up to the lord's mood."
"There is no set number?"
Barov shook his head.
He frowned, it all depends on his mood, and the inner meaning is that it doesn't matter how he manipulates the commoners. In the eyes of the nobles, they are not people who need to be treated with respect.
"Apart from beheading, breaking feet, whipping, and pulling nails, are there any ordinary punishments? For example, imprisonment."
"Prison?" Barov was stunned. "You mean simply locked up? What kind of punishment is that? Prisons are only places where prisoners are temporarily held, and sooner or later they will be pulled out for trial. If you keep locked up, you have to provide them Their food, I am afraid that in the eyes of some people, this is already a kind of reward."
Well, it seems that the common term of imprisonment in later generations is useless here. After thinking for a while, Roland decided to follow the rules of Greycastle. He stood up and glanced across the hall, "I will pronounce the sentence now."
"Coya Harveys, due to his dereliction of duty and extortion of fugitives, will be abolished from all his positions in the city hall from now on, he will be assigned to work in the mine for ten years, and he will be fined three times the extortion income."
"Wade, sentenced to ten lashes for attacking city hall personnel first."
"The rest of the fugitives and serfs involved in the fight will be fined two silver wolves or five lashes."
"Wheat porridge will continue to be distributed free of charge, and all the money that was extorted before will be returned." He looked at the director of the city hall, "It is up to you to implement the above ruling and announce the result to the people in the temporary housing area."
"As ordered, Your Highness." Barov bowed.
Back in the office, Roland leaned back on the chair and stretched, and then felt a hand on his shoulders, gently rubbing it.
He closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment of leisure.
This incident made Roland realize that with the continuous increase in the number of citizens and the rapid expansion of the powers of the city hall, the issue of internal supervision may have come to a point where it must be faced.
But he does not want to set up an agency similar to the procuratorate, and he is even less willing to pursue the independence of the public prosecutor's law in this era. The former requires a large number of literate people not to speak, and it is easy to become a regime of mutual attacks and push committees, which hinders the implementation and development of policies. The latter even weakened the power of the lord in disguise. Like the formulation, interpretation and judgment of laws, these powers are better held in their own hands.
He needs a simple and effective system that does not require too many people to oversee the organization.
Roland held the hand on his shoulder.
Nightingale lifted the fog, took the prince's hand and sat back on the table, tilted her head and asked, "What's wrong?"
Her long, slender legs dangled around the table, her high-top moccasins and tight leather pants forming a perfect curve.
Roland coughed twice, "I plan to set up a new department to supervise City Hall and arrest other individuals or groups that may endanger the stability of the Western Region. This department is only responsible to me and is completely independent of City Hall and the First Army," he said word for word, "I temporarily named it the Western Frontier Security Agency, and I want you to be the director."
"Me?" She blinked.
"That's right, only you can easily tell the truth from the fake. Any tricks to deceive are meaningless in front of you," Roland nodded. "How about it? If you want, I can provide you with afternoon tea with ice cream alone in winter. ,and also… "
Nightingale squeezed his hand gently, "Even if you don't say this, I will promise you as long as it is what you want to do."
"..." Roland suddenly felt a little embarrassed.
She smiled and didn't let the silence continue, "But what should I do?"
"Well, the supervision part is very simple," the prince adjusted his mood. "I will set up a reporting box at the gate of the castle area. You just need to check the reporting letter inside."
To solve this problem with the least cost, it is undoubtedly to mobilize the masses to supervise, and let the city hall supervise itself, just like the spy who infiltrated Border Town was caught in the evil moon last year.
This method in later generations is not easy to use because, whether it is the object of the report or the whistleblower itself, it takes a lot of energy to verify. And these shortcomings do not exist in the face of Nightingale's ability, and it is easy to verify the information. Just ask in person to report accurate words and reward them, and false accusations and false reports will be punished. Implementing these two points, the reporting system will definitely be extremely efficient.
"As for maintaining the stability of the Western Territory and eliminating threats and hidden dangers, it is more like an internal intelligence system. I will slowly expand the manpower to you until your vision can expand to the entire Western Territory.".
(.)
...