Faced with the criticism from the Hall of Rites and many aristocratic families, and with their intentions already exposed, the Hall of Criminal Justice discussed with Fang Yun and decided to go all out and promulgate a new law in Jing State.
That is the Law of Inheritance.
If the previous head of the family has other children and the successor head of the family is not an only son or daughter, the family wealth he or she receives shall not exceed 80%.
Except for the successor head of the family, all other sons have equal inheritance rights. The son with the highest wealth should not inherit more than three times the wealth of the son with the lowest wealth. The son who has married should include the betrothal gift in the calculation. If it is too much, it will not be returned, but if it is too little, it will be supplemented.
Daughters also have inheritance rights and can get houses, shops or money. The total amount of inheritance of a daughter cannot be less than that of the youngest son except the successor to the head of the family. The dowry of a woman who has married out must be included in the calculation. If it is too much, it will not be refunded, but if it is too little, it will be supplemented.
However, valuable cultural relics, sacred objects, relics, etc. are not included in the distribution and are managed by the successor head of the family. The other children have no right to inherit.
Each head of a family can make a specific distribution will through notarization by the government, but it must comply with the minimum legal requirements. Otherwise, if the children are dissatisfied with the distribution, the government can redistribute it.
In addition to the main items, there are other details and explanations. Like the previous decrees, this law is in two copies, one in official text and one in simplified vernacular Chinese.
Once this law was promulgated, it immediately caused an uproar and became the focus of heated discussions in various countries. People quickly concluded that this was a replica of the "Enfeoffment Order" of the Han Dynasty.
During the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Han issued the "Enfeoffment Order" in order to weaken the power of the kings.
Before the "Enfeoffment Edict", the power and fiefs of the kings of the Han Dynasty could only be inherited by the eldest son. After the "Enfeoffment Edict", the remaining sons of the kings could be granted titles and fiefs. This led to the gradual reduction of the fiefs and wealth of the kings' descendants, and they were unable to influence the imperial power.
Someone on the discussion board clamored that this "Law of Inheritance" was simply a dagger revealed at the end of the plan, and it was the first blow to be struck at the major families of the human race.
However, more than half of the families did not react too strongly, because the successor family head could get 80% of the wealth, and the rest of the children could only get 20%, which was completely affordable. Some family heads even breathed a sigh of relief, as this gave them an excuse to give their favorite sons more wealth.
A few days later, the Crackdown Office announced that the crackdown would be escalated again.
Previously, the crackdown was only aimed at serious cases, followed by bandits and gangsters, and later private executions. In the fourth phase, it was announced that a severe crackdown would be launched against local tyrants and evil gentry who were harming the people.
During this phase of the crackdown, the Criminal Court began to mobilize the people extensively and posted notices everywhere.
The notice first explained the importance of severe crackdowns, elaborated on the disasters and harms that the local tyrants and evil gentry brought to the people and Jingguo, and then encouraged the people to supervise and report the local tyrants and evil gentry who violated the law and committed crimes in various places. Once verified, they would be rewarded immediately.
The most important reward is sharing money and land.
This time, the crackdown directly bypassed Jingguo's Ministry of Justice and local agencies and was completely taken over by the Criminal Court, with cooperation from local state and government armies. The scale of the crackdown was far greater than any previous stage.
As soon as the fourth phase of severe crackdown began, all families in Jing State, big and small, felt like they had lost their parents.
The ideas of Jing Kingdom or the entire Shengyuan Continent are very backward, conservative but pragmatic. All rich and powerful families will try their best to increase their farmland. Therefore, the phenomenon of land annexation in various parts of the human race is very serious, and any larger family will have a large amount of farmland.
Wherever there is land, there are all kinds of tenants and long-term and short-term laborers. In order to establish the prestige of the landlord class, more than 90% of the families have done illegal things openly or secretly.
Some of the illegal family heads were not vicious people. They even often helped their subordinates, provided porridge and food, and had a good reputation in the local area. However, in order to maximize the interests of their own families, they would involuntarily do some illegal things.
For example, they would ask the steward to purchase land, but they knew very well what means the steward used and what disgusting things he had done, but they pretended not to know and did not think they had made any mistakes.
They believed that they had a natural right to dominate the lower classes, and that as long as they did not commit arson or murder, forcing women of good families into prostitution was not a big deal.
Can it be called beating if I hit my son
If the nobles want to buy land and the small families refuse to sell, does that mean they are planning a rebellion
They treat their family, subordinates and business partners well, but they will never treat ordinary people with whom they have conflicts of interest well.
Behind their gentle smiles, there is cold blood flowing.
Therefore, what many tenant farmers and farmhands like to do most is to spread the word about how good their masters are. They think that their masters are really good, but they don’t know that it is because they don’t have any land, let alone the land that their masters want.
It's the same if you replace the field with anything else.
The master is good because the slave does not have what the master wants.
When the power of the Criminal Court and the military began to spread across the country, letters flew to the capital and even to the Holy Academy like snowflakes.
All families that had connections with high-ranking officials, aristocratic families, or great Confucian scholars began to try their best to evade punishment and plead for leniency.
Because it was not the Ministry of Justice that investigated the case, but the Palace of Justice.
As long as the evidence is conclusive and the Criminal Court pronounces the verdict, even a Half-Saint cannot cancel the crime, the most he can do is reduce the sentence.
Therefore, these people have to smooth over their connections and try to escape punishment or find a scapegoat before the Criminal Court convicts their family.
The Punishment Hall is also composed of people.
As long as people are doing things, there will be solutions.
In just one day, Fang Yun received more than 140 related letters.
Some are childhood friends, some are neighbors, some are former colleagues, some are party members, some are high-ranking officials in the capital, some are great scholars from various countries, and some are from saintly families...
The contents of these letters were highly consistent, all of which were asking Fang Yun to show leniency to a certain family.
Some letters even explicitly stated that the family accepted the punishment but hoped not to be wiped out.
After receiving the letter, Fang Yun summoned all the people in the Zuo Xiang Pavilion into the side hall.
These people looked at Fang Yun, and there were similar emotions hidden in their eyes.
Fang Yun glanced at everyone, patted the left prime minister's seal, and said, "I have received 143 letters of begging for mercy. How many have you received? Tell me about it."
The officials present secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Since Fang Yun had said it clearly, the situation would not be too serious.
Dong Yueqian confessed honestly: "There were a total of 19 clear letters, and 7 indirect letters."
Everyone rolled their eyes at Dong Yueqian. Fang Yun wasn't really asking them to count, so there was no need to proactively explain it in such detail.
"Well, Li Zhixiao, what about you?" Fang Yun asked.
Li Zhixiao smiled bitterly and said, "A little more than Dong Yueqian."
Fang Yun nodded and said, "What are you going to do? Xu Changgeng, tell me."
Xu Changgeng immediately said with a playful smile: "We know that you, the Prime Minister, will not embarrass me, so I only picked one or two letters to pass on. As for the other letters, I really can't help. We can only trouble you once or twice, not too much, don't you think?"
Others secretly thought that Xu Changgeng was indeed smart.
Fang Yun stared at Xu Changgeng until Xu Changgeng's hair was all over his body, then he said: "You have to pay a price for everything you do. Have you thought about this price?"