Wang Qi's eyes flew wide open. When the yamen runners came up to seize him, he shouted, "Wait! What information did I falsify...?"
But no one listened to him. A yamen runner casually stuffed a wad of cloth into his mouth and dragged him away.
Only then did Wang Qi panic. His face filled with terror as he looked toward County Magistrate He and the people around him.
County Magistrate He raised the courtroom block again, about to adjourn first, when Xue Shao rose and stopped him. "County Magistrate He, this official sees that the common people know very little of the law. Since everyone is here, why not explain the relevant laws to them? Consider it legal education."
County Magistrate He froze. "Legal education?"
After sweeping him with a cool gaze, Xue Shao said, "Education and moral instruction are also a county magistrate's duty. In order to educate the people on the law, the Grand Ancestor High Emperor specifically had The Great Proclamation compiled and distributed throughout the realm."
County Magistrate He flushed. He had focused entirely on economic development. As for education and moral instruction, most of his energy had gone into the examinations for the county's Xiucai scholars, Juren scholars, and Jinshi scholars. He had paid almost no attention to examinations and instruction below the Xiucai level.
After all, the standard for measuring educational achievements was how many Xiucai scholars and Juren scholars a county produced in each term, and whether anyone passed as a Jinshi scholar...
Who would bother educating those below them?
Oh, the Grand Ancestor High Emperor would.
That emperor born from the grass roots had wanted every one of his subjects to be literate, every one of them to be versed in the law. They could protect themselves and strike at corrupt officials,