Today's update is the second part, don't forget to read the previous chapter first.

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  Lin tied them up and walked into the cell, still as gloomy as yesterday. The prisoners all sat in the corners of the cell with their heads hung low. The air was murky, probably because the squad leader knew Lin's preferences, the stench in the cell was slightly lighter than yesterday, and it seemed to have been roughly cleaned up.

  The prison guard brought over a wooden bucket of rice with rotten rice removed and fish soup with added oil and salt. The prisoners, who had not tasted greasy food for years, smelled the aroma and, like starving tigers, rushed to the gate, their eyes shining with longing.

  "Master Lin has taken pity on you all, and today he has established new rules. From now on, rotten rice will no longer be served, and each bucket of soup will have an additional spoonful of oil and half a spoonful of salt added to it. The fish in the soup was even caught by Master Lin himself, who braved the cold waters of the river. After dinner, you will all be allowed to go to the courtyard for some fresh air before being moved to a clean cellblock with an additional straw mat each to keep warm. You should be grateful and obedient, and serve out your sentences quietly. Anyone who dares to cause trouble or attempt to escape will be severely punished without exception..."

  The prisoners in this prison asked for very little every day, and any improvement was considered a luxury. Who would have thought that the new warden would establish such good rules as soon as he arrived? Zhou Shide reminded them to be grateful, and immediately several people knelt down at the gate of the cell, shouting: "Thank you, sir..." In the closed prison, emotions spread very quickly. A few people knelt down to thank the warden, and in the blink of an eye, all the cells were filled with people kneeling down. Even if some prisoners didn't want to kneel down, they would be forced to do so by peer pressure.

  "Serve the meal..." Lin Xie waved his hand and ordered the prison guards to serve meals to the prisoners.

  All the prisoners in this prison are indeed "guilty of crimes", but in the Great Viet dynasty, there is a saying that one can redeem their sentence with money. However, the vast majority of prisoners held here are poor people who cannot afford to pay for redemption. Last night, he flipped through the register and found that among these prisoners, there were thieves, robbers, adulterers, troublemakers, and those who spoke out against the government. But more than half of the prisoners were actually bankrupt farmers who were sent here for failing to pay rent and were unable to pay for redemption. There are also people like Qian Xiao Wu, who borrowed money at high interest rates and couldn't repay it, so they were brought in by their creditors to serve time.

  These prisoners were another matter, as soon as they saw the good food and fish soup, they drooled to death, the whole prison room was filled with the sound of swallowing saliva, the sound was so loud that it scared Lin Xie.

  Lin Xie and the other guards stood in the corridor in the middle of the prison, while the prisoners were arranged in an orderly manner. After one meal was over, the usual hard-to-swallow prison rations seemed far from enough today, and they gulped them down hastily, their stomachs still growling with hunger as they gazed greedily at the wooden buckets of soup and rice on the corridor, wishing they could have another bowl.

  At this point, the prison guard took away the empty wooden bucket, and the prisoners only knew that this meal was over, and they looked forward to the next one.

  Lin Tie finally spoke up and said, "This fish meat is delicious, I caught it myself when I went down to the river today. The water in the river is a bit cold at this time..." As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd of prisoners kneeling in front of the prison gate grew even denser. He waved his hand, not allowing the prisoners to make any noise, and said loudly, "If you want to have fish meat for every meal, there must be someone among you who is willing to catch fish in this cold weather for everyone! I want you to recommend ten people, first, they must not be afraid of the cold river water, second, they must not cause trouble or try to escape. Especially the second point, you all need to remember that if one person tries to escape while catching fish, we will never mention catching fish again, and the new rules will be abolished. Recommending people to catch fish is a matter of everyone's vital interests, so don't recommend any sly or cunning individuals..."

  "I, I, grown-ups, from a young age, have been fishing for a living, and are not afraid of the cold river water..."

  "I'm not afraid of cold water, neither are adults nor children..."

  Lin Xie said he wanted to recommend a prisoner, but all the prisoners were eager to recommend themselves.

  Whoever has been locked up in a small cell for years, if they have the chance to go out and take a breath of fresh air, who would care about the cold river water? Besides, catching fish is just an extra dish.

  "Bang, bang, bang!" The head of the guard room hit the iron door with his baton, making the prisoners quiet down. "You've all heard Mr. Lin's words many times before, but you still don't listen, be honest for once!"

  "First, open the prison gate and let all the prisoners out into the courtyard. The selection will take place in the courtyard. Ask them to elect twenty people, and we will then carefully select ten reliable ones from among them," Lin ordered Long Sun-geng, Zhou Shi-de and the other squad leaders. "The Yiziming Prison, you must hurry up and prepare..."

  Zhang Sun Gong watched as the prison guards led the prisoners to the courtyard to get some fresh air, according to the old rules, prisoners were only allowed to go to the courtyard on the 5th, 15th and 25th of each month. However, at this time, no one would come to remind Lin Fu of these old rules. Moreover, Lin Fu had explicitly stated in the morning by the river that he would implement his new rules, as long as they did not affect the interests of the prison guards, why would they dare to offend their new superior? As for the losses that would be caused by the new rules, it was also a headache for the new superior.

  Chang Sun-geng had nothing else to do, so he followed Lin into the courtyard and stared at the hands of the prisoners who were competing in fishing. This was also a preventive measure against the prison gang leaders colluding with each other, as being able to leave their cells for some fresh air was a rare opportunity for those who had been imprisoned for years, and could be considered a great privilege. Sometimes people would rather do hard labor than spend years locked up in cramped cells.

  Zhou Shide then went to take charge of the arrangements for the Yizihao prison, in fact, there were five prisons inside and outside, with more than 200 guards and prisoners, and it was easy to change cells, but such a simple thing had never been thought of before, and the Xiahao prison had been used for nearly ten years, with extremely poor sanitation, full of moldy smells, and prisoners were also prone to illness.

  The prisoners were excited about the election, and the scene in the yard was chaotic. Fortunately, there were many guards on hand to maintain order. Lin Xiao stood in the courtyard, watching, but no one dared to cause trouble or stir up dissent at this time. After nearly two hours of commotion, twenty people had been elected from this side, and Zhou Shide's side, the second watchtower, was also ready. The process of switching cells for all prisoners began.

  Lin Jie let the head of the class select twenty people to be locked in two cells, and also sent two prison guards to live with them, to prevent these people from colluding before the final selection was confirmed.

  The west wing of the prison began to serve dinner, Lin Xie let Zhang Sun-geng take out the name list of these twenty people, and took Zhang Sun-geng, Zhou Shi-de and five wardens to the front yard of the prison hall to discuss the selection of fishermen.

  Chang Sun-geng, Zhou Shi-de and others felt that releasing prisoners to fish by the river was risky, but they also thought Lin Xuan's method of selecting people was very cautious. Moreover, since Lin Xuan had taken them into consideration for discussion, they felt valued and thought that even if only ten people were released, it would be easy to control, so they might as well give it a try. They were also very enthusiastic about helping Lin Xuan select people, considering various aspects such as the crimes for which they were imprisoned and their behavior after imprisonment.

  The next day, Lin Xie still went to the riverbank to catch fish in person. Chang Sun-geng and Zhou Shi-de didn't have the face to follow him again, but they were eager to join forces with Lin Xie. As Confucian scholars, they couldn't withstand the icy cold water of the river. After standing in the water for a moment, they really couldn't bear it, so they went ashore to help Lin Xie carry the basket and hold his boots. The prison guards wanted to come and assist, but Lin Xie stopped them: "Your duty is to guard the entire prison, catching fish has nothing to do with you..." He only allowed two strong and healthy squad leaders to help him catch fish in the shallow water.

  Zhang Sun Geng felt that this new superior was fundamentally different from the former prison warden, and in his heart he regretted that Lin Xie did not have the determination to thoroughly rectify the prison affairs.

  After catching the fish, Lin Xie called out the twenty prisoners who had been nominated according to the name list and had a talk with them in the front hall. Finally, he selected ten people from among them who were guilty of resisting rent and escaping debt, had served their sentence, had behaved well in prison, and were still physically strong.

  In the afternoon, Lin Xian would have the jailer bring all ten prisoners to the front hall where he handled his official duties.

  The harsh winter has not yet passed, and these prisoners are all wearing thin prison clothes. In the forest, they try to make a show of themselves, but years of imprisonment have also made them timid, fearing that they will be punished for breaking the rules. Their subtle movements and facial expressions make them look clumsy and flustered.

  Lin Xie sat behind the desk, silently looking at these ten people for a while before speaking: "Most of you still have three to five months left on your sentences. I trust you now, and I hope you won't disappoint me. First, you must understand that anyone who dares to escape will be shot dead by the guards... If you help me catch fish with all your heart, I won't treat you unfairly. It's cold outside, so later, I'll give each of you another set of warm clothes. Before and after going into the water to catch fish every day, there will also be ginger soup and sugar water to drink to keep out the cold. If your body really can't withstand the cold water, you must tell me honestly, don't try to tough it out. There are other tasks in the prison that I can arrange for you to do. Additionally, when you go into the water to catch fish, I'll give each of you five copper coins as wages every day. When you're released from prison, I'll pay you all at once. If you hear about anyone in the prison who wants to cause trouble, you can also come and tell me. I won't bother with past events; from now on, if anything happens, you must tell me. In this prison, I am the king, and there's nothing that I can't handle. Have you all understood?"

  Chang Sun-geng, Zhou Shi-de and others on the side secretly listened with a shock in their hearts. Lin Xie had never believed these guards from the beginning. The selection of these ten people was openly to catch fish, but also to capture fish, however, there was also the intention to control prisoners with prisoners. In short, these ten selected prisoners had greater privileges than ordinary prison guards. Later on, they wanted to suppress some things in the prison and deceive this new superior, fearing it would be more difficult than before. They couldn't even come up with an opposing opinion.

  "Listen...listen...I understand." The prisoners replied in a timid and disordered manner, not expecting that besides fishing, there were so many benefits. A daily wage of five copper coins was indeed meager if they were working outside, but they were in prison, how could they dare to ask for more? Moreover, they didn't have to worry about food, drink, or clothing, and their lives were much better than before they entered the prison.

  This good thing came too suddenly, and these prisoners were both surprised and hesitant.

  "Speak louder, did you hear clearly?" Lin Xuan asked again in a loud voice.

  "I understand..." The ten prisoners' voices were slightly louder, but still laced with fear and panic.

  Lin tied waved his hand and ordered Zhang Sun Gong to follow the head, "Add a padded jacket for each of them, prepare a clean and spacious room in the prison cell, add one more straw mat, and double the food and soup. From now on, when fishing, I will be present to supervise personally, and 20 archers will be drawn to guard the scene!"