Regarding the increase in death penalties, Gu Hang was somewhat hesitant.
He even thought he was being a bit too merciful.
But he truly didn’t want to sign more death warrants just to increase the raw materials for servile skulls and servomechanisms.
He didn’t think it was an appropriate way to go about things.
However, upon reflection, he considered it not a big deal.
So, he proposed his thoughts to Lambert.
“On one hand, we need to improve the mortality rate of penal labor.” said Gu Hang, “I know we can’t invest a lot of resources in improving the living conditions of the prisoners. They are criminals, sent to serve, not to enjoy themselves. Every resource of the Alliance is valuable now, and improving the humane treatment of the criminals is not a priority yet.”
“However, you need to address the corruption of the prison guards and labor overseers. The problem of withholding prisoner entitlements and deliberately mistreating them should be clearly eradicated. That’s different from improving the treatment of penal laborers.”
“I agree to substantially reduce the number of ten-year servitudes. Let’s be clear about one thing, if someone truly commits heinous crimes, deserving death, then we issue the death penalty and the disposal of the body is a separate matter.
But if we don’t wish for their death and hope they can reintegrate into society after serving and being reformed, then we should try to sentence them to five years or less as much as possible, rather than aggressively pushing them towards death.”
Lambert nodded as he listened.
That could work out well.
In the future, the number of ten-year servitudes is expected to drop to a fifth of what it used to be; half of the serious offenders would be directly sentenced to death to become servile skulls or servomechanisms, and for the lesser crimes, just hand down lighter sentences to give them a chance at life.
Otherwise, with the penal laborers dying from overwork every day, he would face a lot of criticism; on the other hand, the servomechanism and skull workshops would lack enough materials and also grumble at him.
After discussing the prisoner situation, they returned to the main topic of anti-corruption.
The large number of officials being dismounted actually demonstrates that the Alliance’s integrity efforts are not up to snuff.
There are indeed historical remnants of original rulers who, after transforming in situ, found their bad habits hard to shun, but the decay of government is always a big issue to be vigilant about.
However, there is also good news. The number of Alliance officials who graduated from Loyal Heir Academy is increasing. And among those involved in Lambert’s anti-corruption campaign, those with experiences from Loyal Heir Academy have a much lower probability of having issues compared to transformed officials.
The large number of positions cleared out through the anti-corruption campaign, once taken over by these newcomers, could relatively alleviate the corruption issues.
Of course, on this premise, another problem might need consideration: political stability.
Keeping the bunch from the original ruling class was initially for smooth transition of power. Plus, these individuals were indeed the most capable found at that time, best fitting and understanding the local circumstances, hence they were chosen.
Now, with the sudden replacement by public servants cultivated by the Alliance itself, some turmoil is inevitable.
On the one hand, those with hidden agendas might cause trouble, as those dismounted officials might have considerable influence in their hometowns; on the other hand, these officials dispatched from the Alliance’s central government must perform exceptionally well and quickly manage the local situations to smoothly take over the governance.
Still, overall, although no shortage of minor chaos has arisen, major incidents have not occurred.
After all, the Alliance’s policies are generally good, just having a steady job ensures a stable life, which is a fundamental tone that ensures no major disruptions can arise anywhere.
Why? Who would want to return to those days of uncertainty and not being treated like a human instead of living stable lives?
Most people are not foolish.
And for that small number of people with ulterior motives, there’s no need to worry.
The Alliance has knives.
It has armies to stabilize the situation; an Integrity Commission to conduct secret investigations; and if need be, the Demon Hunters might just knock on the door.
Enjoy new chapters from empire
They can’t incite serious chaos, so let them make their petty moves in the shadows. Think of it as practice for the newly appointed officials.
After finishing the discussion on anti-corruption, Lambert brought up a third matter.
It was something related to intelligence.
“Previously, when the ‘Demon Hunter’ organization was just established, we split the team into two. One team headed south to investigate the corruption case in Beiqing Valley Province, and the other was dispatched to the west, to collect intelligence on Blackbird Heavy Industries in the far west of the continent.”
“The team heading west has great difficulty in maintaining contact with our headquarters here. Over the past year, communication has been sporadic, often losing contact, which is quite worrying. However, thankfully, after some time they always manage to re-establish contact and send back some intelligence.”
“To date, by piecing together this intelligence, plus some leftover documents from the Old Alliance, records of some elders, and narratives from traveling merchants, we have roughly pieced together what the far west of the continent is like.”
“From the Central Province, westward, lies the West Desert Region. That’s where it’s truly vast and sparsely populated. The expansive desert alone is as big as the three provinces of the central and three provinces of the eastern combined; scattered oases sustain a limited population. However, that area was also an important food production site on Rage Owl Star in the past.
The oases alone couldn’t produce so much food; it was mainly due to the plantation factories left behind from the pre-war era beneath these oases.”
“With only five million inhabitants in the entire West Desert Region, naturally, there’s a large amount of food that can be produced.”
“However, the only thing the West Desert Region can produce is food; it lacks other commodities on a significant scale and has no industrial capabilities, relying solely on food trading to acquire other necessities. Their main customer is Blackbird Heavy Industries, and only a few oases near the east trade with us.”
“Beyond the West Desert Region further west, lies the controlled territory of Blackbird Heavy Industries. That area is about half the size of the West Desert Region, roughly the size of the three eastern provinces, and the natural environment is very similar, with pre-war urban agglomerations now nothing but ruins.”
“Blackbird Heavy Industries is stationed there. Fifteen million people work for them, mostly engaged in low-end industries, from mining in the ruins, primary processing of raw materials, to concentrating on the few arable lands to provide food… And on the west coast, there is Blackbird City, the core industrial area of Blackbird Heavy Industries, with seven million people gathered there.”
“Blackbird City should be their hub of heavy industrial output, but its control is very strict. Our people have tried to enter several times and failed, those who went in never came out, nor did they send back any information. This massive city, like a black box, reveals nothing.”
“They continue to attempt infiltration, hoping to obtain more core intelligence as soon as possible.”