Chapter 1183 - 1185 Sentence Reduction Through Labor_1

Ye Zi’an thought for a moment and then put away the letter, saying, "Ask the messenger about the situation in the capital tomorrow, and then we’ll make plans."

"Okay, I got it." Remembering that Ye Zi’an had recently been preparing to repair dikes and dredge canals, she asked, "Where do you plan to start with the canal digging and river widening?"

Yang Chuxia rarely asked about these things, so her sudden interest made Ye Zi’an take another look at her.

"We’ll start by widening the river, then repair the embankments, and finally, depending on the silver at hand, we’ll decide on the canal digging."

"What are your thoughts on labor?"

When Ye Zi’an heard her ask this, he was struck with a thought and smiled, "Wife, do you have any ideas? If so, feel free to speak up."

"Didn’t we visit Linshan Temple before?"

"Mhm?"

Seeing that his cup was empty, Yang Chuxia refilled it with tea and continued, "When we left the city, I saw many beggars outside, old ones as well as those around ten years old, and there are quite a few in the county town too. They wander around the city doing nothing, begging. Sometimes, they can’t even get a single meal for the whole day if they fail to beg anything. I was thinking, since you’ll need labor for the river work anyway, why not employ these people? Provide them with three meals a day; I reckon they’d be willing even without a wage. Of course, it’s better to give them some pay so they can save up a bit and perhaps do other things in the future. They can’t be beggars their whole lives."

Ye Zi’an fell silent for a moment upon hearing this.

"What’s wrong? Won’t it work?" Seeing him not responding, Yang Chuxia thought her suggestion might be bad and added, "It was just a thought. If it’s not good, pretend I didn’t say anything."

"It’s not that it won’t work," Ye Zi’an said. "I was originally thinking of selecting some inmates with lesser crimes from the prison to work. Hmmph, those people spend their days in prison without doing anything, and the governmental office still has to provide them with food and drink. That’s not serving time; it’s more like enjoying themselves. I plan to cut their sentences by having them work."

"Oh, that’s a good idea!" She gave Yang Chuxia a little surprise. Yang Chuxia thought to herself that in her past life, prisoners had to work and could get sentence reductions for good behavior.

Although in ancient times, there was also labor for criminals, it was at fixed locations, and each year some condemned prisoners would be sent to places like the imperial gold or silver mines, but there was no such thing as sentence reduction.

And those imprisoned in local or governmental offices would especially not be sent to those places, particularly those with lesser crimes.

Now, Ye Zi’an’s plan significantly reduced the cost of water conservancy repairs and at the same time cut the expenses of prison maintenance.

"However, death row inmates can’t go, to avoid escape risks. This way, I fear there won’t be enough labor, so my wife’s suggestion has indeed provided me with additional manpower. With this, once the materials arrive, we can officially begin," Ye Zi’an smiled, "My wife truly is my wise helper. At first, I thought I might need to select some more from the populace. But doing so, the wages would be much higher. If we use beggars, just providing them with food and shelter and lowering the wage a bit, they wouldn’t complain."

"Look at you, it turns out the idea is feasible, and you had me thinking it wasn’t with your serious act," Yang Chuxia said with feigned annoyance and gave him a twist.

But Ye Zi’an took the opportunity to catch her hand, "Wife, are you trying to seduce me? Don’t blame me later for not knowing my own strength."

"Nonsense! When have I ever seduced you?" Yang Chuxia pushed him, only to be embraced even more tightly.