Chapter Eighty-Three: Judicial Independence

"Why didn't Shouli go to work at the mine today and instead came to Zhangye County?" Zhang Shouxin, who was buying a newspaper, suddenly spotted a familiar figure and quickly greeted him with a smile.

The figure paused when his name was called, turned around, and saw that it was his elder brother, Zhang Shouxin. Zhang Shouli immediately stopped in his tracks and replied, "The mine is closed today. I came here to buy some fine fabric to make a new dress for our little sister."

Due to Li Wenyuan's implementation of compulsory education in his own jurisdiction, along with the promotion of accelerated literacy classes for adults, the number of illiterate people in the four counties had gradually dwindled. At this opportune moment, Li Wenyuan introduced the newspaper, an innovative medium perfectly suited to enlighten the masses. To facilitate this, he hired additional woodblock craftsmen and developed movable type printing technology. The work of hand-copying books became obsolete; after all, handwritten texts varied by individual, making some characters hard to recognize. Movable type printing, with its standardized fonts, made books and newspapers much easier to read and was unanimously welcomed and loved by the public.

Apart from publishing government policies and decrees, the newspapers often featured essays and opinions by renowned scholars, as well as daily commodity prices from various regions for public reference. The advent of newspapers enabled citizens to understand government policies not just through official notices but directly from the printed news, avoiding distortions caused by rumors. Supported by Li Wenyuan, the price of a newspaper was kept within everyone's reach. Thus, many people would buy a newspaper after work, whether heading home or to a nearby restaurant or tavern, enjoying a meal while reading. Gradually, under Li Wenyuan's subtle influence, public awareness began to awaken.

Upon hearing that Zhang Shouli intended to buy fine fabric for their little sister's new dress, Zhang Shouxin felt nostalgic for the sister he hadn't seen in so long and went with Shouli to the fabric shop. The two brothers' family had never been well-off, owning only a few meager acres and relying on the whims of nature. After their father passed away, they sold their only sister into a child-bride arrangement with the county's butcher, Guo, to afford a simple coffin for their father. Later, when Li Wenyuan became chief administrator in the Western Region, he explicitly banned child-bride practices and had Fengli Bank provide funds to redeem those already sold. The Zhang brothers returned the money to Guo the butcher.

However, Guo accepted the money but repeatedly refused to release their sister. The brothers, left with no other choice, appealed to the local authorities, who sent a group of bailiffs to Guo's home and finally managed to redeem their little sister, albeit with difficulty. Since she was still school-aged, she stayed with Zhang Shouli, who worked at the saltpeter mine, living in Lehuan County within Zhangye.

After buying fabric, Shouli, having just received his wages, invited his elder brother Shouxin to return home together and take their little sister to the county tavern for a small gathering. Shouxin, having sold some grain in town and now flush with cash, happily agreed. As they returned to Shouli's residence, laughing and chatting, they suddenly saw a group of burly men forcibly dragging their little sister out of the house. The girl, seeing her two brothers return, cried out for help.

Shouli quickly shoved the fabric into Shouxin's arms and said, "This is bad! Guo the butcher must have sent people to snatch our sister again. Brother, hurry to the county office and report it. I'll hold them off." Without waiting for a reply, he rolled up his sleeves and charged at the men abducting their sister.

A quarter of an hour later, a group of bailiffs, led by Shouxin, finally rescued the battered Shouli and their abducted little sister from the thugs.

Li Wenyuan slammed the dossier detailing the incident onto the table and said to Gao Shengdao, "Well, well! What a scoundrel. To dare abduct a girl in broad daylight and injure others! The government has already issued a proclamation strictly forbidding any form of child-bride arrangements. What's more, the Zhang brothers had already redeemed their sister by returning double the bride price to Guo the butcher, and yet he still dared to do this! This is the perfect opportunity you've been waiting for to formally promulgate our newly revised Western Region Code. Take this chance. Don't worry about anyone's feelings—I have your back. This must serve as a warning to others. The people under our governance must know that anyone who breaks the law will surely be punished. Even if the emperor himself came, he couldn't save him. Besides issuing our new Western Region Code, let's use this incident to formally separate judicial powers from local government offices. From now on, the county offices will retain only administrative functions. Judicial authority will become independent. Each county will establish a Judicial Bureau, managed by the Judicial Office of the county's governing prefecture, and above each Judicial Office, a Judicial Department will oversee them all, reporting directly to me.

If the public disagrees with the Judicial Bureau's verdict, they can appeal to the Judicial Office for further review and judgment. If they still object to the Judicial Office's decision, they may bypass it and appeal directly to the Judicial Department. Moreover, whenever the Judicial Bureau, Judicial Office, or Judicial Department makes a ruling, the public must be allowed to observe. Absolutely no secret trials behind closed doors."

"Have you heard? Our Chief Administrator is about to promulgate a new code for the entire Western Region. From now on, when we have lawsuits, we won't have to go to the county office anymore. We just go to the Judicial Bureau set up in our county."

In the bustling streets of Lehuan, at the heart of this case, such conversations were common.

"What’s a Judicial Bureau? Lawsuits have always been handled at the county office. Who told you that nonsense?" Another citizen laughed.

"I'm not repeating anyone's nonsense. Look, it's clearly written in the newspaper. Lawsuits will be handled at the Judicial Bureau, as the Chief Administrator himself said. It’s all here: from now on, lawsuits go directly to the local Judicial Bureau. The county office will only handle… um, what's called administrative matters." The citizen handed his newspaper to the doubter, inviting him to see for himself.

The other took the newspaper and checked it over and over. The content was as concise as possible, and even though he'd only attended a crash literacy class, he found he could read every word. Seeing that the paper indeed said what the other had claimed, he handed it back and remarked, "Guo the butcher is in real trouble this time."