Xuanqing Guard-Chapter 42: Redress
Perhaps it was due to his former experience as a police officer—even though Shen Hao had lived in this world for nearly ten years, he still retained many subconscious habits.
For example, Shen Hao harbored a natural empathy for the ordinary people at the bottom, and their concerns were always easier for him to keep close to his heart.
So much so that after the Li Family’s treason case had been settled and concluded, everyone in the Garrison was either nervously pondering whether they ought to proactively admit fault or quietly cover their tracks, or else gloating while hurriedly finding connections to secure a position in the now-open "Jia Flag."
Yet few paused to consider how the innocent victims caught in wrongful convictions and false cases should be dealt with once the case was over.
The legal codes of the Jingjiu Dynasty did indeed address the issue of injustice, but they were equally vague in detail, containing only a single, sweeping statement: "Each case may be compensated accordingly based on circumstances."
What circumstances? How much compensation? And how should compensation be given?
Not a word was said, leaving the "relevant" Government Office to weigh and handle things on its own discretion.
One cannot help but say that, for the victims in these wrongful cases, this legal clause is hardly friendly—almost as if their misfortune is their own fault.
Earlier, Tang Qingyuan had spoken of "following protocol."
Shen Hao had specifically visited the Records Room to check, and found that the most recent case of redress within Li City’s jurisdiction was seventy-eight years ago: an arson case, in which an innocent person was wrongfully killed; after the truth was uncovered, the victim’s family received one hundred taels of silver as compensation.
No mistake, just one hundred taels, for a human life.
Don’t agree? Even if you object, there’s nowhere to complain; you can only blame your own bad luck.
Emerging from the Records Room, Shen Hao was full of indignation towards that case from seventy-eight years ago, with no intention of handling things according to the precedent above.
Only one hundred taels of silver for a wronged soul?
What does one hundred taels mean? It’s just about what a typical family of three would spend in one year—just that? Utterly callous and inoperative, as far as Shen Hao was concerned.
Back in the Public Office, Shen Hao swiftly listed compensation procedures, blending his own ideas with the current wrongful cases—itemizing each case one by one.
"For those wrongfully killed, whose families still include living people, compensation shall be paid according to the standard of one thousand taels of silver coins per life."
"Those with no means of livelihood may apply to the Government Office for household land registration, processed at the highest standard."
"Anyone designated as a slave but still alive shall have their slave status immediately revoked and be restored as a commoner, and receive five hundred to one thousand taels of silver coins as compensation based on the circumstances."
"A notice of redress shall be sent to the Government Office in the ancestral domicile of all exonerated innocents, so they can announce it locally on their behalf."
Orders issued one after another from Shen Hao’s hand; he was still tasked with directing the Li Family treason case, so these commands went unchallenged. Though the compensation seemed astonishingly high, it was not excessive at its core. Silver coins were never in short supply in the Xuanqing Guard, and as for household land, that was for the Local Government Office to worry about.
The orders were finally presented to Tang Qingyuan, who merely remarked, "So you have a kind heart," and approved them. On the same day, thanks to Shen Hao’s urging, the redress orders were delivered throughout every city in the Li City Xuanqing Guard’s jurisdiction in just half a day.
How many wrongful convictions did the Jia Flag rack up over the years?
These past days, Shen Hao led a team to review them all; during Li Bing’s tenure as Chief of the Jia Flag, there were thirty-five cases of wrongful conviction and error, with over one hundred deaths and several hundred broken households.
...
Li City, brokerage.
This was the first place to receive the redress order from the Xuanqing Guard.
After reading the order, the Chief Steward at the brokerage felt deeply troubled. The order clearly listed a long roster of names—all the Lin Family kin implicated in the wrongful case of "Yunyang Smuggling of Forbidden Materials."
Back then, these Lin Family kin numbered more than twenty, young and old. Now, after some were sold and some died, only three remained in the brokerage. Two had some Cultivation and were Martial Slaves, so their value was high and they sold more slowly; the third was a beauty, requiring longer training, not yet at the point of being sold.
These three slaves had cost the brokerage considerable investment; originally they hoped for big profits, but now it was all just wishful thinking.
You could say the trio were lucky.
Additionally, the brokerage had to submit a detailed report to the Xuanqing Guard: which Lin Family kin sold at the brokerage had died, which were still alive, who had purchased those already sold, and so on—if even one detail didn’t match, the brokerage would be held responsible.
Especially since now, in this tense period in Li City, the Xuanqing Guard’s Yanji Saber still dripped blood, unsheathed—who dared to make trouble now?
"Follow the instructions on this order and handle it quickly, that’s all."
The Steward sighed; he had no temper left for the Xuanqing Guard, and could only resign himself to bad luck.
The message swiftly reached the last three Lin Family members held at the brokerage, like rain after a long drought; the three, once utterly despairing, were instantly stunned, the thrill of rebirth shifting from unreal to real, and their tears ran endlessly.
"Count yourselves lucky. The Xuanqing Guard officer got you exonerated, and is offering compensation. How much exactly, you’ll have to claim yourself at the Xuanqing Guard. Here, this is the identity slip from the brokerage; you’ll need this and another slip from the Xuanqing Guard to re-register at the Government Office, both are essential—don’t lose them..."
In a haze, they took the slip and left the brokerage. Looking back, it felt as if they’d crossed into another life.
The two men and one woman were cousins; the two men, both Qi Refining Second Layer, were sons of the Lin Family’s third branch. The girl was Lin Xin’Er, the sole survivor of the Lin Family’s main branch—the one whose case had triggered the entire affair.
The three exchanged glances, faces streaked with tears and filled with grief.
They may have had the luck to see the day of redress, but many family members had already turned to bones. Justice had finally arrived, but its lateness was paid in blood and tears.
An hour later, the three emerged from the Xuanqing Guard Station, then went to the Government Office to re-register as commoners, each holding three thousand taels in compensation.
They could have opted for household land at the Government Office, but none of them knew how to farm, so they all took the silver instead.
With that money, even if they were mediocre, the three could live in relative comfort.
"I asked them—all our elders were buried at the mass grave on Ten-Mile Slope outside the city, all there, it seems."
"I’ll purchase offerings, and together we’ll tell our elders that someone finally avenged our family’s wrongs."
"Let’s go together."
The three bought wine, meat, incense, candle, and ghost money, rented a carriage, left the city, and found the mass grave.
There were no gravestones at the mass grave, only pits of all sizes, old and new, the scene bleak and chilling; even to pay respects, they had to kneel below the hill, facing kin buried in unknown pits.
Coming down from the hill, Lin Xin’Er suddenly said, "I won’t return to Yunyang for now—I want to stay. Unless I see Zhang Kui and those thieves die a wretched death with my own eyes, my heart will find no peace."
