Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1225: Chapter 409: Two Prefecture Predicaments, Longyou Model, Golden Order Prison Warden, Lin Kai’s Reminder (Part 4)

"What do you mean by taking the blame? It’s obviously the Cai Qiu people who did it!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Upon hearing the last of Xu Ning’s words, everyone nodded repeatedly, faces full of smiles.

Even Xia Chuan, sitting at the top, showed a clear expression of intrigue on his face.

Indeed, whether it was the Cai Qiu people or not, making them bear the blame now is truly fitting.

Expose the Cai Qiu Feudal Town and their ambitious schemes thoroughly, and incite the Eight Towns’ wariness towards Outer Realm forces, aligning with Xia Hong’s plan for the Longyou model, using the pretext of a united front against foreign enemies to forge an alliance among the Nine Towns...

"Even if we indeed want to falsely accuse Cai Qiu, we must first investigate the deaths of the Three Towns Chamber of Commerce thoroughly. Others may be careless, but we cannot be. The Lord declared in front of so many people from the Eight Towns that the matter must be thoroughly investigated. If we falsely accuse first, only for someone to overturn the case later, wouldn’t that ruin the Lord’s authority? How can Great Xia gain trust from others in the future?"

Li Tiancheng’s voice, though elderly, was exceptionally resolute. After his words were finished, everyone present slightly stiffened, and then fell into contemplation.

Xia Chuan immediately came to his senses, the intrigue on his face vanished instantly. Looking at Li Tiancheng, he expressed gratitude: "Thank you, Old Li, for the reminder. I almost made a mistake."

He was not against falsely accusing them, but against doing so without first getting to the truth. The difference between these approaches is substantial.

Clarifying the truth before framing is evidently wiser than indiscriminately framing. The former half-ensures an ironclad case, while the latter easily leads to problems. Should anyone overturn the case in the future, the damage to the Lord’s reputation and Great Xia’s dignity would be a major issue, worse than simply damaging matters.

"Old Li’s words of statecraft, Yuwen Dao admires!"

"Indeed, we must ascertain the truth first. The Lord’s authority is of great importance."

"Old Li has a far-reaching vision, Xu Ning admires."

...

The others also reacted and nodded in agreement.

Amid the praise from everyone, Li Tiancheng naturally remained composed, merely gesturing with his hand, and bowed towards Xia Chuan saying: "Minister, I have brought the only Golden Order Prison Warden of my department..."

After speaking, Li Tiancheng turned directly to motion behind him, immediately prompting someone at the back to step forward.

"Subordinate pays respects to Minister, respects to all lords!"

The newcomer was nearly forty years old, wearing a black and red summer clothes, with a black circular crown half a meter wide, and a golden token hanging at the waist. The side facing Xia Chuan bore the inscription of "Prison Warden" in large characters.

"Hou Ming, already 25 segments of strength, impressive!"

Xia Chuan’s eyes brightened upon seeing the man in black.

He had some impression of Hou Ming. When Great Xia first began expanding into Longyou and fought the first battle at the Beehive, the opponent was Hou Ming. Back then, Hou Ming possessed Late-stage Cold Resistance Cultivation with 8 segments of strength. Now, he had reached 25 segments, clearly showing impressive progress over the years.

Hou Ming’s expression revealed a slight surprise, evidently not expecting Xia Chuan to call out his name immediately.

Xia Chuan could tell what he was thinking from his expression, and smiled: "Your reputation is not small! I’ve heard of you many times from Old Li, saying that in the Prison Department, you solve significant cases repeatedly, and all unsolved cases you can unravel upon handling. Is that true?"

Upon hearing this, Hou Ming was about to humbly respond.

But before he could speak, others chimed in first.

"I’ve heard too, among over two hundred Prison Wardens under Old Li, currently, only Hou Ming has been promoted to the Golden Order level, rare indeed!"

"Previously, I heard at Long Mountain that wherever thorny murder cases arise, calling Hou Ming is sure to solve them, it’s almost miraculous."

"Visited the Prison Department and learned that you’ve solved over 300 murder cases, nearly double that of the second rank."

......

Though the Prison Department was established relatively recently, due to Xia Hong’s special attention, its weight within the Eight Departments is considerable.

Li Tiancheng had divided the Prison Department into three major sections:

The first section is the Heavenly Prison within Xia City, dedicated to confining criminals and serving rest time;

The second suite is directly supervised by central headquarters with chiefs at each major post, precisely responsible for enforcing Xia Law at their posts;

The third suite specifically investigates and handles cases by Prison Wardens, classified into Iron Order, Silver Order, and Golden Order levels. As of now, Iron Order Prison Wardens work under the control of chiefs at major posts; after promotion to Silver Order, they qualify to become a Chief of Punishment. Currently, the Chiefs of major posts in Great Xia are mostly Silver Order-level Prison Wardens;

Above that is the Golden Order level, currently with only Hou Ming present.

Li Tiancheng set the promote criteria for Prison Wardens with extraordinary rigor. Besides high case resolution requirements, he also imposed upper limits on case overturning rates for each level - Golden Order capped at one percent, Silver Order at three percent, Iron Order at five percent. Exceeding these limits automatically demotes Golden and Silver Orders, while Iron Order tokens are recovered, and start over from Prison Envoy.

This renders the Golden Order Prison Warden exceptionally prestigious.

Hou Ming was promoted early this year, which alarmed many, so not only Xia Chuan, but most high-level figures present knew him.

"Lords are too generous; Hou Ming merely handled a few more cases at camp. Valiant lords fighting for Great Xia, expanding territories - that is true skill!"