The officials observing the trial did not express much dissatisfaction or anger towards Lu Gongzhu's decision.

Everyone knew that as long as the trial began, Zhang Fei would definitely find a way to bring the issue of the tenant farmers into the trial as well.

Li Guozhong and the others were also very clear about it and had made adequate preparations, but Zhang Fei brought up this matter right away, which was something they had not expected.

After Li Lei sat down, Fei Ming leaned over and whispered, "Strange! Why is he talking about tenant farmers right away?"

Li Lei nodded, also with a confused look on his face: "Uncle Fei is right. According to our previous prediction, he should first prove that the land outside the white deed was tax evaded, and after determining that part of the crime, he can use this as an excuse to bring up the issue of tax evasion on the white deed. This is more reasonable."

Li Guozhong frowned and thought for a while, "Maybe he found out about the water leak in Gouyuan, so he did the opposite."

Fei Ming nodded and said, "That makes sense. That must be the case. This will be very beneficial to us."

Li Guozhong smiled and nodded.

Fan Chunren frowned and asked, "Is this his response strategy?"

Qian Yi shook his head: "But this is not a good idea. It is well known that the tenant farmers have not paid taxes. The government has also investigated and found that they are indeed unable to afford it. If the tenant farmers come to court to complain, it will be disadvantageous to Zhang San and his men."

...

...

Fan Chunren nodded slightly, but looked confused.

The tenant farmers could not pay the taxes, which was of course illegal from a judicial perspective, but the law is not independent of human feelings. If the tenant farmers were really unable to afford it, you couldn't just kill them all.

The key point is that the land does not belong to him, and it is impossible for him to sell the land to pay taxes, so in the end he can only sell his children.

Therefore, Fan Chunren and Li Guozhong had the same prediction, believing that Zhang Fei would not bring up this matter first, but would use the tax-evaded land other than the white deed as a breakthrough point.

Then the only reason why Zhang Fei did not do this is that it is possible that Zhang Fei knew that the evidence was problematic and made a temporary decision to fight the lawsuit mainly on behalf of the tenant farmers.

As the defendant, Du Shaojing couldn't help but look at Li Guozhong and others.

Li Guozhong nodded.

Du Shaojing nodded and said, "You are right."

Zhang Fei asked again: "Does the official know that the white deed is not a legal contract and will not be recognized by the court? Using the white deed to evade taxes is an illegal act."

Du Shaojing nodded and said, "I know."

Zhang Fei said: "That man knowingly committed the crime."

Du Shaojing looked embarrassed. "Many of the lands were sold by the sellers who signed the deeds, and some were instigated by the agents. It was not me who asked them to do so. Besides, everyone does this."

Of course, they are prepared for this. If you say it is a white contract, I will not hold everyone responsible according to the law.

Zhang Fei asked: "As far as I know, the buyer is usually responsible for the deed tax, so why does the seller require a white deed to be signed?"

When Li Guozhong heard this, his face lit up with joy.

Du Shaojing glanced at Zhang Fei and asked, "Have you ever sold land?"

Zhang Fei shook his head: "My parents didn't give me this opportunity."

Du Shaojing sneered: "Although the law stipulates that the deed tax is borne by the buyer, under normal circumstances, the seller also has to pay, and the official has to pay as well. All in all, the seller can only get 60% to 70% at most, so the seller is not very willing."

After hearing this, Zhang Fei was slightly stunned and couldn't help but look at Xu Zhiqian, who gently shook her head. He turned around and looked at Qiu Zhengwen.

The latter nodded and whispered, "That's the case."

Fei Ming saw Zhang Fei's strange expression and immediately leaned forward and whispered, "Brother Li, it seems that guy doesn't really understand the market here!"

Li Guozhong said cautiously: "Don't jump to conclusions yet, let's wait and see."

Fan Chunren, Zhang Fei's old rival, was relatively calm at this time. He knew that Zhang Fei was good at asking questions that seemed to be beneficial to the opponent, and then breaking them with one blow.

"I'm done asking questions."

Zhang Fei sat down directly.

Lu Gong was stunned. Is that the end?

That's not like your style!

Zhang Fei sat down and looked at Xu Zhiqian with a puzzled look at first.

Xu Zhiqian said: "There is really no copywriting on this."

Zhang Fei turned around again, looked at Wang Anshi, and spread his hands, as if to say, why didn't you provide me with this information?

Wang Anshi also had an innocent look on his face and glared at Zhang Fei, "Don't you know about this?"

Zhang Fei snorted in annoyance and turned away.

Sima Guang saw it all and said, "Stop pretending. I know you guys are doing this on purpose."

Wang Anshi ignored him and turned around to ask Lu Huiqing: "Didn't you tell him this?"

Lu Huiqing said: "Master only asked me to collect the details of those tenant farmers, and did not ask me to tell him these things. Besides, everyone knows about this kind of thing!"

Wang Anshi said, "What do you mean everyone knows? If you didn't sell the land, who would go out of their way to inquire about such things? You know that if you don't write it down on paper, the brat won't understand."

Lu Huiqing was speechless after being scolded.

Sima Guang didn't think it was fake, and thought, how could they make such a simple mistake? No, Zhang San, that brat, wouldn't make such a mistake. He pays the most attention to details. It must have been Wang Jiefu, the rough guy, who missed it.

He also knew that the information about these people must have been provided by Wang Anshi, and Zhang Fei would not be able to find much.

Li Lei on the opposite side didn't think so much. Zhang Fei sat down so quickly. No matter what, it was a great gift for him. It was simply a dream start. He immediately stood up and asked Du Shaojing: "Mr. Du, since you have already paid the deed tax, why don't you pay the summer tax at the same time? If I were you, I would either pay all or none of it. After all, not paying taxes is illegal."

Du Shaojing replied: "Because I rented these 40 hectares of land to tenant farmers, and the lease agreement clearly states that the taxes are borne by the tenant farmers."

Li Lei asked again: "According to the laws of our dynasty, if the contract stipulates that the tax is borne by the tenant, then the owner must first go to the tenant to collect the payment. If the collection is unsuccessful within half a month, then report it to the government, and the government will collect the payment on your behalf. Has Mr. Du ever gone to collect the payment?"

Du Shaojing nodded: "I have told them."

Li Lei asked again: "Have those tenants agreed to pay taxes?"

Du Shaojing shook his head. "They said they don't have enough food to pay the summer tax."

Li Lei asked: "Can there be a gap of half a month between these two periods?"

Du Shaojing nodded.

Li Lei continued to ask: "Did Mr. Du tell the government immediately?"

Du Shaojing said: "No. It was only later when the imperial court sent someone to ask me that I told them."

Li Lei asked: "Why?"

Du Shaojing sighed: "Because their lives are indeed difficult, I don't have the heart to force them."

Xu Zhiqian curled her lips and whispered, "How could he say such heartless words? If he really sympathizes with those tenants, why doesn't he pay the taxes for them?"

Zhang Fei said: "Okay, I'll ask him later."

Xu Zhiqian pursed her lips and smiled: "Okay!"

Qiu Zhengwen on the side was dumbfounded. Are you guys so casual about filing lawsuits?

Just then, Li Lei finished his question. Zhang Fei immediately stood up and said, "Mr. Du, you said just now that you didn't inform the court in time because you didn't want to force those tenants and felt that their lives were difficult. Can I understand that you were kind-hearted and sympathized with those tenants?"

Du Shaojing thought about it carefully, nodded and said, "You can say that."

Zhang Fei asked again: "Can we say that the official also hopes that the court can exempt them from summer taxes?"

Du Shaojing was a little worried, wondering if there was a trap here, and couldn't help but look at Li Guozhong and others.

Li Guozhong nodded slightly.

Du Shaojing then replied: "If the court is willing to exempt them from taxes, I will certainly support it."

Zhang Fei asked: "Then do you know that if this happens, the court will lose a lot of tax revenue?"

Du Shaojing said: "The taxes collected from these few tenants should not affect the court."

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Have you ever thought about paying this tax for these tenant farmers?"

Du Shaojing said: "Of course I have thought about it, but I am afraid that if I do this, my tenants will default on their taxes and I will have to help them pay."

Zhang Fei asked, "Have you ever thought that if the imperial court exempts the tenants from taxes, everyone will deliberately not pay taxes in the future?"

Du Shaojing immediately said: "The imperial court is different. The imperial court often exempts some people from taxes."

Zhang Fei asked, "So you have never helped those tenants who were in financial difficulty to pay taxes?"

"Me." Du Shaojing hesitated.

"I'm done asking questions."

Zhang Fei sat down and whispered to Xu Zhiqian, "You know the answer."

Xu Zhiqian snorted, "Even if you don't ask, I know it."

"Wow, you are such a heartless person."

Zhang Fei looked at Xu Zhiqian with contempt, then turned back to the stunned Qiu Zhengwen and said, "Don't be stunned, pour me a cup of tea."

"Oh well."

Qiu Zhengwen quickly poured Zhang Fei a cup of tea and asked cautiously, "Third brother, what's the mystery behind your question?"

Zhang Fei took a sip of tea and said, "This lawsuit will take many days, so I'll just ask a few questions. Clear your throat first. I've been feeling hot lately and have been coughing up phlegm. Cough, cough."

".?"

Qiu Zhengwen was speechless for a while.

Are you going to sing?

Li Lei stood up again and said to Lu Gong, "Your Excellency, I have here the lease contracts between Mr. Du and 112 tenants, which are sufficient to prove that the taxes on these 40 hectares of land are all borne by the tenants."

Lu Gong said, "Present it."

These more than one hundred tenancy contracts were quickly distributed to more than a dozen judges and clerks. In those days, contracts were basically just a piece of paper.

The entire review was completed in less than an incense stick of time.

Afterwards, Huang Gui reported to Lu Gong that according to the tenant contract, all the costs were borne by the tenant farmers.

Zhang Fei immediately stood up and expressed to Lu Gongzhe that he hoped to summon the three tenant farmers Li Dacai, Tian Chun and Chen Fang to the classroom.

Lu Gong immediately summoned these three people to the classroom.

After a while, three old men in short brown clothes came into the hall. Seeing so many officials sitting in front of them, they were so scared that their legs were shaking and they didn't know how to salute.

Li Kai shouted at them, and they woke up as if from their dream, and bowed to each other in a disorderly manner.

Lu Gong did not blame them and asked them to sit under the big tree. The three of them came under the big tree, but no one dared to sit down. They all stood obediently.

Lu Gongzhe did not force it and gave Zhang Fei a look, indicating that he could ask questions.

Zhang Fei first asked, "Are you three Du Shaojing's tenants?"

The three of them nodded woodenly.

Zhang Fei asked again, "Then I wonder how long you three have been tenants under Du Shaojing's household?"

Li Dacai replied: "Five years."

Tian Chun replied: "Three years."

Chen Fang replied: "Six years."

Zhang Fei asked: "Did you pay any taxes during this period?"

The three of them looked at each other and shook their heads.

Zhang Fei asked: "Nothing?"

Li Dacai whispered, "No."

Zhang Fei asked, "When you signed the lease, did you know that you were the one who would bear the taxes?"

The three of them nodded again.

Zhang Fei asked: "Then why don't you pay taxes?"

Li Dacai replied: "Because those fields are under white deeds, no tax is required."

Zhang Fei asked: "In other words, before you signed the contract, you knew that those fields were tax-free?"

The three of them nodded at the same time.

Zhang Fei asked again: "Then why is it written in the contract that the taxes should be borne by you?"

Li Dacai said: "Mr. Du said that if the government finds out, we will have to pay taxes, so this should be clearly stated in the contract."

"Really?" Zhang Fei asked, "Did Mr. Du explain this to you in advance?"

The three of them nodded at the same time.

Zhang Fei asked again: "Did you all agree?"

The three of them nodded at the same time.

Zhang Fei said, "I have seen your lease. Although the rent is less than most red leases, if you take taxes into account, you actually paid too much, especially your lease of Li Dacai. According to the market conditions, you paid almost 80% of the taxes to Mr. Du. You know this."

Li Dacai nodded and said, "I know, I did this voluntarily."

Zhang Fei asked curiously: "Why?"

Li Dacai said, "Because there were many people competing for the 50 mu of land at that time, I paid a higher rent, so the official rented it to me."

Zhang Fei asked, "In fact, even with the taxes, the land you rented with the red deed is less than this. And now you have not only paid 80% of the taxes, but you may also face the risk of paying taxes. Has the official mentioned this to you?"

Li Dacai replied: "My family rented the land with red deed before, but I ended up selling my daughter. I swear I will never rent the land with red deed again."

As he spoke, his tone became excited and his eyes became a little red.

Zhang Fei was slightly stunned: "Why?"

Li Dacai said: "Do you think those people will collect the same amount of taxes as the court stipulates? I have paid three times the tax before, which left me with no money to pay the rent. I dare not borrow money, so I can only sell my daughter to pay the rent."

At this point, he suddenly burst into tears, wiping his tears and sobbing, "Do you think I'm stupid and can't do math? I do know how to do math, so I don't dare to rent the red-deed land, because you don't know how much tax the government will ask for this time. Even if the rent for the white-deed land is high, we are willing to rent it, at least the master won't ask us for more money."

Zhang Fei frowned, first glanced at Li Guozhong and the others, then looked around at the officials, as if asking, are they all shameless to answer like this?

Those officials all looked indifferent.

Don't you want to fight?

Come on!

Hurt each other!

See who can afford it.