I still remember how exciting it was when the lawsuit ended, and countless people were in tears.

Zhang Fei became a hero in the hearts of the people.

However, it has only been a few days.

The situation immediately took a big turn. What was once exciting turned into complaints, and tears in the eyes turned into wails everywhere.

It's just so dramatic.

It can be seen how difficult this reform is. You have to know that this is only preliminary work, and it is only limited to the capital area, but it still caused some unexpected problems.

If we go one step further, it would be unimaginable!

And this time, Zhang Fei cannot stay out of it. If they intend to use this incident to overturn Wang Hong's case, if they succeed, he may be sent to Qiongzhou to surf.

Xu Zun also believed that this might be the other party's revenge.

There are already signs of this happening.

...

...

Many officials in the court began to use this as an excuse to exonerate Wang Hong. When Wang Hong was there, there was no trouble and the tax collection work was very smooth and peaceful. Now that Wang Hong is gone, the result is public resentment.

It can be seen that Wang Hong’s approach makes sense.

You, the emperor, love to make trouble.

Look.

Something must have happened.

Wang Anshi’s words made sense and he was concerned about the country and the people, but what was the result?

Paper talk.

Whimsical.

Returning taxes to the people without increasing them will ensure that the country has ample financial resources?

This is such a huge joke.

Now, even without any additional taxes, the people are already complaining bitterly. What will happen if taxes are increased?

Wang Anshi's slogan was wildly ridiculed by many ministers.

Establish regulations offices in the two prefectures.

"Teacher, look, these are the leases I sent someone to find."

Lu Huiqing took out a few leases and handed them to Wang Anshi, "According to my research, in fact, most of the white leases have the tax evenly distributed in the rent, with the landlord and tenant each getting half.

Another part was borne entirely by the tenant farmers, that is, the tenant farmers also paid taxes, but all the taxes went to the landlords. As for the situation that Lin Dan mentioned, it is not uncommon for the landlord to give all the unpaid taxes to the tenant farmers, but it is very rare. "

"That's outrageous."

Wang Anshi slammed several contracts on the table.

Lu Huiqing added: "Master, you really shouldn't have given in on the summer tax issue. You can't give in on this kind of thing."

Wang Anshi glanced at him and sighed, "To be honest, I regretted it afterwards, but Wen Yanbo repeatedly emphasized that the court was not well prepared, which was also true. That's why I wanted to give in. I thought it might be too late to collect the summer tax."

Lu Huiqing said, "But now they are making a big fuss about what our mentor said, which has caused more public resentment. If the court gives in after they make a fuss, will they not continue to make a fuss? Besides, this is not the majority, but some people are making trouble and deliberately bluffing. I think the court does not need to pay any attention to it. If the tenants want to complain, they should complain about the high rent, not the taxes imposed by the court."

This guy is even more cruel than Wang Anshi.

Those who want to achieve great things should not be too concerned with trivial matters.

Wang Anshi nodded and said, "This is my mistake. I will report it to the emperor later. We still have to act according to the plan and cannot exempt the summer tax."

He also didn't want to add to the burden of the tenant farmers, but things had come to this point and he couldn't back down. He had to be strong, otherwise, everything would be over.

In fact, this has been the case throughout history.

Reformers always act very strong in the initial stages. This has nothing to do with good or evil; it is purely a political act.

You have to do this!

As he spoke, Wang Anshi picked up the contracts again, took a quick look at them, and said, "Go find Zhang San and ask him."

Lu Huiqing was stunned. "Looking for Zhang San? I'm afraid Zhang San can't help with this matter."

Wang Anshi thought thoughtfully, "Since the problem lies in the lease contract, let's see if Zhang San can fight for those tenants and get justice."

Lu Huiqing's eyes lit up.

yes!

If the contract can be proven invalid through litigation, then the problem will be solved.

"Yes! I'll go find Zhang San now."

Lu Huiqing immediately rushed to the Bian Jing Law Firm, but found nothing. Manager Fan told him that Zhang Fei did not come to the Bian Jing Law Firm at all.

Lu Huiqing immediately rushed to Zhang's house.

It turned out that Zhang Fei had gone out early in the morning and had not returned yet.

The other party linked this matter with the Wang Hong case, which was equivalent to forcing Zhang Fei to form a united front with Wang Anshi.

Zhang Fei is not a person who likes to be passive, whether in prison or in court.

He and Xu Zhiqian rushed to Baima Township early this morning to seek Geng Ming's help.

In this matter, Geng Ming and they are in the same boat.

If Wang Hong comes back, Geng Ming will definitely be dead.

In fact, everyone knows that Geng Ming is just a chess piece used by Zhang Fei to deal with Wang Hong, and that case is by no means a coincidence.

Geng Ming, who had just reunited with his wife and children, was also very nervous when he learned about this. He immediately helped Zhang Fei find two tenant contracts.

"There are many types of land lease contracts, but these two are the main ones. If the tenant farmer has a good relationship with the landlord, they will state in the land deed that the landlord will collect corresponding taxes and grain from the tenant farmer every year with tax notes.

Secondly, if the landlord and the tenant farmer were not very familiar with each other, they would use the method of a large and small deed to privately sign a contract, stating that if the court wanted to levy taxes on the land, the tenant farmer would bear the responsibility.

"It seems that when it comes to tax evasion, no matter what era, people's wisdom can be pushed to the limit!"

Zhang Fei nodded with a wry smile.

The big and small deeds are yin-yang contracts. After all, it is tax evasion, so it cannot be written too clearly on the lease. The two parties will sign another one privately, specifying who should bear the responsibility if the court wants to levy taxes on the land.

The division of responsibilities is very clear.

But if the two parties are familiar with each other, there will be a code word in the contract, and the tenant farmer will pay a certain percentage of tax to the landlord based on the tax bills presented by the landlord.

You have to pay taxes to get tax notes, and when the landlord cannot produce the tax notes, the tenant farmers naturally do not have to bear this part of the tax.

But there is also a risk here, that is, the landlord forges the tax bills, or obtains the real tax bills through other means, and the tenant farmer will have to bear the loss. The two parties lack trust in each other and generally will not sign such a contract.

Xu Zhiqian asked anxiously: "Zhang San, can we file this lawsuit?"

The first thing they thought of was whether they could help the tenant farmers exempt from this tax through litigation.

Zhang Fei hesitated for a moment, and suddenly asked Geng Ming: "Why don't the two tenant farmers come here to consult in person?"

Geng Ming said awkwardly, "They are afraid of offending the landlords."

Then he added: "Unless the benefactor can ensure that they have no worries."

Zhang Fei tilted his head to look at Xu Zhiqian and sighed helplessly: "This is where the problem lies."

Xu Zhiqian asked: "Can't you guarantee that they have no worries?"

"If it were just two tenant farmers, it would be a small matter, but the problem is that this is not a matter for two tenant farmers."

Zhang Fei shook his head and sighed, "Even if I help them exempt this part of the tax, I can't control whether the landlord will take back the land. Nowadays, there are many people and few lands. The landlords don't worry about not being able to rent out the land. Instead, the tenants are afraid of losing their food."

Xu Zhiqian asked: "What should we do then?"

Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "We can only rely on Grand Secretary Wang."

This is not a question of right and wrong, but a question of means of production. The means of production are in the hands of the landlords. Do the tenant farmers dare to sue the landlords?

The lawsuit was won.

yes.

You don't have to pay taxes anymore.

But I lost my job too!

Die even more miserably.

In fact, the means of production have always been the root of the contradiction.

It is difficult to resolve the issue of means of production through litigation.

We can only rely on the court.

After fruitless discussion, Zhang Fei and Xu Zhiqian left Geng's courtyard, said goodbye to Geng Ming, and left in a carriage.

Seeing Xu Zhiqian's low mood, Zhang Fei said, "Don't be disappointed. There should still be a lot of room for maneuver. After all, Grand Secretary Wang will not let their evil plan succeed."

Xu Zhiqian nodded slightly.

Suddenly, someone on the side of the road said, "Mr. Qin, please give me some more time. My son was just born and is not even a month old yet. My wife has no milk to feed him, so we have to hire a wet nurse. If we pay taxes with this money, my son might starve to death!"

"Stop for a moment."

After hearing this, Xu Zhiqian immediately instructed Long Wu, then lifted the car curtain and looked outside. She saw a young man begging a middle-aged man with a big belly.

The middle-aged man sighed, "It's useless to beg me here. It's not our boss who wants the money from you. The court ordered us to collect it. We have no choice. We didn't ask for a penny more. The tax amount was set by the court. There's still some time before the tax is paid. You should think of a solution as soon as possible."

The young man cried, "However, with only a few days left, where can I get the money? The autumn harvest has not yet been harvested."

The middle-aged man said, "You can borrow some from wherever you want."

After hearing this, the young man choked up and remained silent.

He knew what it meant to borrow money at high interest rates.

But if you don’t borrow it.!

After seeing this, the middle-aged man said no more and said, "I have to go somewhere else, so I'll take my leave now."

As soon as he left, he heard a baby crying in the house.

The young man seemed not to have heard anything and stood blankly in front of the door, looking confused and helpless.

Xu Zhiqian frowned slightly and suddenly called out, "Qingmei."

"Sister Qian'er, is there something wrong?"

"How much money did we bring out?"

"It seems there are thirty or forty coins."

"Ms. Xu, do you want money? I have about a hundred dollars here." Li Si said hurriedly.

Xu Zhiqian said: "Give all the money to that young man."

"Why!"

After Li Si got off the carriage with the money.

Xu Zhiqian instructed Long Wu again, "Let's go first."

The carriage slowly moved forward.

Zhang Fei comforted him, "This is just an individual case. According to the two tenant contracts, even if the tax is paid, it will not cause them to die."

Xu Zhiqian shook her head and said, "This is not an isolated case. Every family has its own problems. Most tenant farmers count every penny they spend."

As she spoke, she glanced at Zhang Fei again, and seeing that he was looking at her with concern, she said, "Don't worry, I'm fine. I've seen too many things like this, and I'll help as many as I can."

The reason why the father and daughter supported Wang Anshi's reform was because they had so much they could do nothing about and could only hope that the imperial court would reform.

Zhang Fei nodded.

(End of this chapter)