When it comes to capital, some people may think that it is a bad thing.

We cannot simply think so. Capital can undoubtedly promote social development and greatly improve productivity levels.

If he wants to develop the territory under his jurisdiction, Irving must rely on the power of capital.

But capital cannot be allowed to expand wantonly. After all, capital is greedy and will blindly pursue profit maximization.

Therefore, Owen must find ways to control capital, protect the rights and interests of workers, and never allow capital to override the government.

It is really difficult to take advantage of the benefits of capital while trying to avoid being held hostage by capital.

Irving will have to read the books provided by Winster to better understand what capitalism is.

I heard that the world over in Winster has achieved the goal of common prosperity, and their past successful experiences are naturally worthy of Owen's learning and reference.

Closer to home, the new system cannot be implemented all at once, and it will take time to adjust slowly.

After the nobles adapted to the new work of the city hall, Owen prepared to hold an enlarged meeting in Border Guard Town, requiring the nobles from Dongsheng Fortress and Laifeng Port to come and participate.

At that time, the new law will be officially promulgated and its contents will be explained to them.

The time is set in the last days of late winter.

As for the content of the new law, Irving had already started imagining it as early as when Yiguan was banned this summer, and it is almost completed now.

Starting from next spring, all territories under Owen's jurisdiction must strictly implement this new set of laws.

After saying this, Irving announced that he would promote a new law in Dongsheng Fortress - the Abolition of Slavery Law.

"Effective immediately, Dongsheng Fortress prohibits any form of slave trading activities and severely cracks down on slave traders."

"What?!"

"Finally we have to take action on the slave trade."

"You can no longer buy serfs in the future? Doesn't that mean you have to spend money to hire people to work? How much does it cost?"

As soon as these words came out, they immediately aroused a lot of reaction from the nobles. They whispered to each other in private and discussed in low voices.

A few nobles had already expected that Owen would take action against slavery.

Starting from the previous announcement of a ban on forced prostitution of women, and then the issuance of new laws step by step, gradually restricting the slave trade, the true intention was revealed bit by bit.

Now that the time has come, and there is no opposition force in Dongsheng Fortress that can hinder Owen, he is determined to ban human trafficking and completely abolish slavery.

Those nobles who were prepared to hand over their land in exchange for money reacted most violently to this decree. They originally planned to drive all their serfs into factories to work for themselves.

This idea is so ridiculous!

Serfs working in the fields have little motivation for production. How can they be expected to work hard for their masters in factories? Production efficiency must be extremely low.

Forget it, I don't blame those nobles.

After all, they were tempted by the huge benefits before deciding to hand over the territory. Their minds have obviously not changed yet, and they are still stuck in the past thinking mode.

I always feel that the people are ignorant and lazy and will not work honestly without encouragement. They are completely hopeless waste.

But Owen knew very well that as long as the right guidance is given, the people have unimaginable power.

"Margrave Aisen, wouldn't it be inappropriate to ban the slave trade?" a nobleman said cautiously.

"No! Slavery must be abolished. It is an obstacle on the road to industrialization."

Owen was too lazy to explain too much to the nobles present. It was unrealistic to change their minds all at once. The best way was to prove it with facts.

When those nobles tasted some sweetness, they would definitely change their original ideas and support the abolition of slavery.

As a result, Owen took a tough stance to promote the implementation of the abolition of slavery.

All slave markets must be completely closed, and once anyone is found secretly carrying out human trafficking activities, severe punishment must be imposed.

In this way, there will be no new slaves in the territory under Owen's jurisdiction.

As for the serfs who had been sold, Owen did not directly give them the status of freemen, but provided them with multiple ways to be promoted to freemen.

This is not empty talk, but there are specific standards. As long as the serfs complete the corresponding task indicators, the whole family can get rid of their slave status.

This was done to reduce the losses of the nobles and reduce their dissatisfaction with the abolition of slavery.

Just as punishment was mentioned, Owen brought up the next topic, which is the issue of fighting crime.

In the early stage, the People's Army will perform this task instead. Dongsheng Fortress must form a police force as soon as possible to take over the security tasks within the fortress.

In fact, Bianzhu Town has also begun to recruit police officers from outside and select suitable people from the applicants for training.

We can't always let the People's Army defend against foreign enemies while also taking care of street patrols.

From now on, the People's Army only needs to focus on dealing with external enemies and safeguarding the security of its territory, while maintaining order internally will be left to the newly established police force.

Fighting crime is to create a good business environment.

Just think about it, if crime is rampant in a place, can businessmen do business well? If there is no way to live and work in peace and contentment, will civilians dare to consume with peace of mind? If the goods produced in the factory cannot be sold, can they still make money?

Since it is related to their own interests, the nobles are highly concerned about this and have expressed their willingness to actively cooperate and severely crack down on various criminal activities.

Of course, Owen also knows that most civilians commit crimes because they are forced by life, otherwise they would not be able to survive.

To this end, he plans to set up multiple infrastructure projects in Dongsheng Fortress and recruit a large number of manpower from outside.

As long as you are willing to work hard, you can get a good salary and fill your stomach with no problem.

The infrastructure in the entire eastern region is very weak. There will be many job opportunities like this for a long time to come.

Real criminals will naturally be severely punished.

All in all, the speed of cracking down on crime must be fast and the intensity must be ruthless, so that people feel that the cost of crime is too high, and it is better to work down-to-earth and make money.

After everything that needed to be said was said, Owen turned to look at Kuros.

"That's all we have to talk about. You should be clear about what to do next, right?"

"yes."

Kuros quickly stood up, stroked his chest and saluted.

"I will announce everything I talked about today in the form of an announcement as soon as possible, and will also send people to read it to illiterate civilians and answer their questions."

"very good."

Hearing this, Owen nodded with satisfaction. It seemed that Kuros was already familiar with the operation mode of the new city hall.

Then, he turned around and glanced around at the nobles present, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
Chapter completed!