Reform is not easy, and institutional reform is even more difficult, because it involves the interests of many people. In this era, it also affects the concept of the intellectual class.

The Confucianism and Law have been a long battle, and the result is a great victory for Confucianism - at least Confucian scholars think so. Even those who passed on the family through laws and regulations like Zhong Yao and Gao Rou also think they are Confucian scholars and will never regard themselves as legalists. It has become a consensus to govern prisons in the Spring and Autumn Period. How to interpret legal provisions depends on what purpose the law enforcers have.

People who act according to the law are called legal officials and are not valued by the world. The famous scholars of this era prefer to despise the laws and regulations, only asking whether they should be killed or not, not whether they can be killed. That is why Li Ying killed Zhang Shuo and Cen Xu killed Zhang Fan.

Of course, Zhang Shuo and Zhang Fan should be killed, but ignoring the law is obviously not the way to govern the country. Sun Ce told Zhong Yao that the law must be reformed, which is the foundation of governing the country, but how to change it must be considered repeatedly and cannot be overwhelmed. He did not make specific requirements, but there are several principles:

First, you cannot be too strict. If you are too strict, you will easily become a tool for officials to hurt the people, and officials will force the people to rebel.

The second is to clarify. What kind of things cannot be done, and what consequences will be caused by the people. The people should understand them so that they will not cause confusion, nor will they have too much room for operation. The purpose of legislation is to regulate the behavior of the people and reduce crimes, rather than enforcing the law for the sake of law enforcement.

Third, there must be a defense. If you are guilty or not, you cannot just listen to the officials' remarks.

Zhong Yao had no objection to the first two points, but the last point was unclear, so Sun Strate explained slightly.

Before meeting Zhong Yao, he also had some understanding of the relevant systems and discussed them with Zhang Hong, Yu Fan, Gao Rou, Yi Ji and others. In terms of the system alone, the laws of the Qin and Han Dynasties were very cautious, especially cases involving murders, which usually had to be reviewed by superior departments, and the murders were even approved by the emperor himself. However, the case trial was completed independently by officials, and there was no room for defense for the parties involved. Whether there would be unjust cases and wrong cases, and whether there would be inaccurate punishments depends on the officials' character.

But things like character are often unreliable. Local people are all locals and prefects. It is impossible for county magistrates to separate from the assistance of local officials to conduct independent trials. Whether or not someone is in the prefect's office or county temple becomes the key to being guilty or not. It is common for officials to use their power to fight against dissidents.

Sun Ce hopes to establish a defense system so that the other party can also have the opportunity to speak out, so as to curb the ill-fighting of private fraud in law enforcement and use it for private use by public instruments.

After hearing this, Zhong Yao frowned. "King, if you do this, I'm afraid that there are too many officials and the court cannot afford to support you."

"What the government said is very much." Sun Ce stroked his forehead and had a headache. If he manages it carefully, the number of officials will increase and the related expenditure will increase sharply. Not to mention anything else, after he separated the civil affairs, military and supervision powers of counties, there was originally only one prefect in one county and only one county magistrate in one county. Now there are more county magistrates, county magistrates, county magistrates, and county magistrates, and the salary expenses have also doubled. If he detailed the law enforcement according to his ideas, it is estimated that the salary expenses will be increased by at least 30%.

In ancient times, the official system was sometimes forced to be large and transformed. First, technology could not be realized, and second, fiscal expenditures could not be afforded.

"So I can only choose the most important thing to do first. I wonder if Mr. Zhong has heard of a 28-year theory?"

Zhong Yao bowed to show his respect. "I am stupid and have never heard of it. I dare to ask the king for advice."

"In the world, 80% of the troubles come from 20% of the reasons, and 20% of the troubles come from 80% of the reasons. We must find out the 20% of the reasons, first solve 80% of the troubles, and then slowly solve the rest. Don't expect everything to be in control. If this is the case, then you can only simplify things extremely, such as the people can only farm and fight, not the rest. If you really want to do that, you will become a tyrant, and Mr. Zhong will be called a tiger and accused of being accomplice."

Zhong Yao had been a veteran and suddenly understood what Sun Ce meant. He laughed so hard that he admired himself. "What the king said was very true, and it was in line with the way of governing the country. The great way was simple and easy. If it was simple, it could be known, and if it was easy, it could be done. It was feasible to use two to eight. In fact, whether it was official or the people, it was less than 10% of the real crime. If you handle this, you can be at peace in the world."

Sun Ce laughed, leaned over, patted Zhong Yao's back of his hand. "Your words are in line with your own will. King Wu of Zhou had ten riots, destroyed Shang and established Zhou, and opened up an eight hundred years of foundation. If there were ten ministers in the Great Wu, you could lie down and rule the world, and spread the country for thousands of years."

Zhong Yao was excited and uneasy, feeling heavy on his shoulders. He bowed and bowed again. "I am so frightened by Your Majesty's wrong love."

Sun Ce talked with Zhong Yao for most of the day, and kept Zhong Yao for lunch, and only sent Zhong Yao out of the palace in the evening. He originally planned to send Zhong Yao to the gate of the palace, but Zhong Yao refused again and again. He knew the truth that the wood was beautiful in the forest and the wind would destroy it. The more Sun Ce respected him, the more pressure he was under. I wonder how many pairs of eyes looked at him.

As Zhong Yao expected, he was surrounded by a group of people as soon as he left the Taichu Palace. The news that he was treated as a courtesy of the King of Wu when he entered the palace in the early morning had spread throughout most of Jianye City. Not only did the Ruying people be happy, but even the old ministers of the previous dynasty who were forced to idle were a little moved. Since Zhong Yao was able to be valued by the King of Wu, they also had a chance. In terms of official experience, there were many people with more people than Zhong Yao. However, his attitude was not correct and he did not put his position right, so he fell into the eyes of King of Wu.

Zhong Yao politely declined countless banquets and came straight to Xun Yu.

After listening to Zhong Yao's retelling, Xun Yu pondered for a long time. He also felt that this matter was very tricky and involved too wide. Whenever a new dynasty was established, he would inevitably change the laws and regulations. The new dynasty could not use the old laws. This was an example. As for the Great Wu, things were much more complicated. Sun Ce had implemented the new policy for more than ten years and changed a lot of things. At that time, no systematic laws and regulations were formed. Now that the new dynasty was established, it was naturally necessary to organize them.

This workload is quite large. Even if it is based on the 28 theory mentioned by Sun Ce, focusing on the big and letting go of the small, it is a big project.

Xun Yu thought about it repeatedly and suggested that Zhong Yao and Guo Jia be together. No one can surpass Guo Jia in terms of grasping the minds of the King of Wu. In addition, Zhong Yao can also ask the State Council for assistance. Huang Gongyan’s old ministers have both experience and time, so they should be able to help. Even if they do nothing, with these old ministers holding on to them, the pressure on public opinion will be much less.

Zhong Yao agreed deeply. He immediately said that Sun Ce intended to ask him to teach Sun Quan.

Xun Yu looked at Zhong Yao for a while and suddenly laughed. "Yuan Chang, this is an opportunity, maybe it can help Xu Zijiang get out of trouble."

"Xu Zijiang?"

"Yes, the King of Wu has always had some prejudice against this second brother, but he was forced to be the queen mother and had to worry about it. The queen mother pity her son, which is normal, but she is a woman after all, and she has limited knowledge. If Xu Zi makes any suggestions, she will not refuse to listen."

Zhong Yao suddenly realized, pointed at Xun Yu and laughed loudly.

——

It is not easy for others to find Guo Jia, but it is not difficult for Zhong Yao to visit him. Seeing that Zhong Yao came to visit, Mrs. Zhong set up a feast and sent Guo Yi to the Military Information Office to find Guo Jia.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Mrs. Zhong and Zhong Yao had a few words. She also heard the news that Zhong Yao was treated with the courtesy of the King of Wu, and she was both happy for Zhong Yao and worried about Zhong Yao. As Guo Jia's wife, Yuan Heng and Yuan Quan's best friend, she knew much more about the King of Wu than ordinary ministers.

"Brother, at least 10% of the 20% of the ones that King Wu said will fall on the officials, maybe more."

Zhong Yao was worried about this matter. Seeing that Mrs. Zhong had an idea, he naturally did not miss the opportunity to ask for advice. "What do you say?"

Mrs. Zhong smiled and said, "Everyone said that the king likes Mencius, but I don't know where the king likes Mencius. In my opinion, it can be roughly summed up in two sentences: one is 'Born in distress and die in happiness', and the other is 'The people are the most important, the country is the next, and the king is the least.' Do you see what he does? If you change the laws and regulations, you will have no big mistakes."

Zhong Yao thought about it and nodded repeatedly. He was familiar with the new policy of the Wu Kingdom, but he was not as thorough as Mrs. Zhong. If you think about it carefully, these two sentences are crucial. Sun Ce's seizure of land for aristocratic families was not to be hostile to aristocratic families, but to ensure that the people have the foundation for survival. The people live and work in peace and contentment, and the world will be safe. Even if there are unjust ministers, they will not cause any storm. The people have no worries about food and clothing, so who is willing to rebel?

Similarly, for aristocratic families, losing their land does not mean that their wealth is gone, but they cannot sleep on the industry. In addition to being an official and paying a salary, they also have many ways to make money, but these ways to make money require them to work hard, whether they open workshops or do business, there are competition. They are not as stable as land. If they don’t spend time, they will not only fail to make money, but may lose money.

This forced them to continuously improve their technology and improve their technology. In recent years, industry and commerce have developed rapidly. In addition to policy support, competition among aristocratic families is also an important role to be ignored. The most typical example is the carriage, which is so fast that it is updated and iterated. Zhong Yao had already had a deep understanding of the process of Chang'an. Later, he sat in Xiangyang and visited the Nanyang Workshop up close. He knew the importance of the carriage workshop on technology. The enrollment scale of Nanyang Wood School is getting bigger and bigger every year, and the supply is still in short supply.

This is true for horse-drawn carriages and ships. Whether it is warships, merchant ships, or civilian ships, the technology has improved more than the previous decades or hundreds of years. Nanyang Wood College even set up a branch specifically for this purpose to study ship manufacturing technology.

Since protecting the people is the first priority, the King of Wu is very clear about the meaning of reforming the law. Reforming the law is to fundamentally protect the people from exploitation and invasion of officials. Therefore, strengthening the management of officials has become the top priority of the new law, which is what Mrs. Zhong said, at least 10% of these 20% will fall on the management of officials.

"Little sister, you have made great progress in recent years. In my opinion, it is not inferior to Xun Wenruo."

"Xun Wenruo?" Mrs. Zhong smiled slightly and said, "He is now devoted to studying and staying in Hou Zhang Liang, so he is almost going to go to the mountain to fast."
Chapter completed!