To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck - Chapter 583

Chapter 583: Chapter 274: Xu Guokun’s Sea

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Nowadays, in the Great Chu Country, excluding the newly established Qianzhong County, there are three other provinces with seventeen prefectures, with a population of over 5.7 million people. Every year, some people inevitably violate the criminal law and are punished accordingly.

Even with the Great Chu currently on the rise, domestic resources are distributed relatively evenly, people live prosperous lives, local education is abundant, and this is still unavoidable.

According to the data reported by the Punishment Department in recent years, in the Great Chu’s three provinces and seventeen prefectures, there are approximately 20,000 to 30,000 people convicted of crimes each year, ranging from minor to serious offences. The exact number varies within that range.

The ratio of criminals to the total population is about one in two or three hundred.

Well…

This is actually quite an impressive figure.

After all, many of these crimes are minor offenses, not all of which are serious. Minor offenses are similar to those Lu Yuan experienced in his previous life, such as people getting drunk and fighting, drunk driving, or stealing a few hundred or thousand yuan. Some offenses don’t even warrant punishment.

In today’s Great Chu, punishments would include fines issued by the government office, forced labor for a few days or half a month, or a dozen or so lashes. These would not be considered severe punishments.

Out of all the criminals, only one or two thousand people per year truly receive heavy sentences. The ratio compared to the total population is about one in three or four thousand, which is by no means a significant number.

The number of criminals doesn’t even approach the number of natural deaths each year!

Given that the crime rate in this chaotic era is so low, one could say that law and order are well maintained in the Great Chu.

From this perspective, one can also see that under Lu Yuan’s leadership, the Great Chu is developing positively in all aspects during its nascent period.

This is one of the reasons he dares to mobilize forces against the Southwest Yi tribes, initiating such a large-scale campaign.

“Currently, there are 20,000 to 30,000 criminals in the Great Chu each year. If we exile all of them, regardless of the severity of their crimes, then we can add 20,000 to 30,000 people to Qianzhong County each year.

If we ease the conditions and allow family members of the criminals to be exiled as well, the number of people could increase by a few thousand more, reaching around 30,000 people per year.

According to the current situation of the Military Department and the Household Department recruiting county soldiers and immigrants for Qianzhong County, about 10,000 people should be recruited within a year.

This would make the total number of immigrants for Qianzhong County exceed 40,000 a year.

Four thousand people per year; in ten years, that’s 400,000 people.

If we also take into account the Yi women and children allocated to these immigrants, that would mean 400,000 households.

It would take us ten years to assimilate 400,000 Yi households.

In ten years, the Great Chu will have an additional one million assimilated Yi people in Qianzhong County. In twenty years, once the new generation comes of age, these assimilated Yi people will become true Chu people.

By then, Qianzhong County’s consolidation will be complete.”

Lu Yuan was making these calculations in his mind.

Considering the reputation and stability of the country, he couldn’t forcibly relocate people who were unwilling to move to Qianzhong County, as this could incite public resentment.

It would risk destabilizing the hard-won stability in the area and cause further unrest.

But if the people being relocated are criminals, including minor offenders who haven’t committed any major offences, there is no problem.

While it may seem that using exile as a punishment for minor offences is too severe, causing suspicion of misuse of punishment…

But what era is this?

This is a chaotic period, after all.

Isn’t it only natural to use tougher measures in chaotic times?

Moreover, exiling the criminals from the countryside also indirectly maintains the local security, relieving the villagers of certain security threats.

This is beneficial to everyone.

Even if the villagers think the government’s punishment is too harsh, they won’t say anything openly; they might even support and praise the government.

This would win over the people’s hearts.

In this way, with the government having policies, powerful enforcement from the grassroots government and military garrisons in the middle and popular support at the bottom, the only opposition would come from the criminals and their families—but no one would care about their opinions.

With these conditions in place, implementing a policy of exiling criminals would not be difficult.

“Moreover, there are martial arts forces from the original Zhou people who migrated from the north, as well as some local Jianghu forces in our country that have trouble distinguishing allegiance from the eastern Ning Country.

These people have recently caused quite a few disturbances, even riots, openly violating imperial edicts.

I didn’t deal with them before because I didn’t want to stir up local turmoil and cause a fire in our backyard.

But now, since Xiaoqing has reached the Inborn realm, and there is enough power within the country to protect it, there is no need to tolerate these troublemakers. It’s time to eliminate them all at once.

We should suppress and arrest all these Jianghu rebels, which should amount to over ten thousand people, all with martial abilities.

Exiling them to the Southwest Yi tribes would help the local Chu people hone their martial prowess, allowing these martial artists to confront the Yi tribesmen that occasionally revolt. We could even utilize their strength to guard the region.

We don’t even have to worry about these Jianghu martial artists colluding with the Yi people, because enemies of the eastern Yang people with deep-rooted hatreds would never trust the eastern Yang people or those Jianghu people with the same origin from the Three Emperors’ Miao tribe.

The only thing to consider is how to prevent these Jianghu martial artists from escaping.

Well, relocating their families as well could be a good solution. Their loved ones would effectively serve as hostages.”