"Silence! Silence!"

Lu Gong then banged the gavel several times.

There is no way, the discussions outside the courtyard are too loud.

Why don't you ask clearly?

This is such a weird thing. If you don’t give an answer, how can we sleep?

It was actually Zhang Fei who asked to continue the trial, not Lu Gong. Otherwise, the discussions would probably have blew the roof off the Kaifeng Prefecture.

The discussions outside the door continued.

Lu Gongzhu was also angry, and slammed the gavel again, "If you don't keep quiet, I will try the case behind closed doors."

The outside of the courtyard immediately became quiet.

“Hoo-hoo.”

...

...

Shen Huaixiao, who was sitting in the shade, was wiping his sweat and breathing heavily.

The situation just now was extremely dangerous for them.

If the beating is carried out, and Lu Gong takes the opportunity to investigate the matter strictly, and with the assistance of Zhang San, who can guarantee that Zhou Cai will be able to hold on and give a flawless answer without exposing them all?

Although the matter is certainly not over yet, it seems that there is at least room for maneuver and operation, after all, it has not been tried in court.

Wen Yanbo saw their embarrassment and whispered to Fu Bi and Han Qi, "I didn't expect them to lose so badly this time."

I also have some sympathy for this little emperor.

Fu Bi stroked his beard and said, "These tricks of theirs won't work in court!"

Han Qi nodded and said, "During the Qingli period, they also used similar tactics, which always caught us off guard and made us unable to defend ourselves. But in the court, it is two parties facing each other, and everyone knows what is the key, so it is easier to guard against it."

Wen Yanbo nodded thoughtfully.

In a political struggle, you can never predict what moves the other side will make. A small person, a painting, or a rain can change everything.

Everyone is trying every possible means.

The defending side is very passive, and the reforming side is usually the defending side, and they are inherently at a disadvantage.

But this is not the case in the court. Both sides know what the key evidence is, and everyone relies on strength. When it comes to arguing on this point, the emperor has a natural advantage.

Of course, they thought that meanness was exclusive to them, but they didn't expect that the emperor would also play this way.

"Brother Li, what should we do? Or just forget it."

Fei Ming is now extremely panicked. If he is involved in this, he might lose his head. It is not a question of winning or losing the lawsuit.

Li Guozhong frowned and said calmly: "Why are you panicking? We were hired to sue. They provided the evidence and it has nothing to do with us."

As he said that, he patted Li Lei, who was sweating profusely, and said, "Cheer up. The more you act like this, the more people will think that we are guilty. Now we have only one way to go. If we try our best to protect them, we may be able to turn a disaster into a blessing. If we stop here, and neither side reaches the shore, we will die even more miserably."

Fei Ming and others nodded.

Li Lei tilted his head and looked at Li Guozhong, "But we can't fight anymore."

Li Guozhong said: "We will do our best."

Li Lei took two deep breaths, then nodded, and the others immediately resumed the discussion.

They had not expected this variable, so they had to discuss countermeasures again.

...While whispering, Du Shaojing walked up to the hall with his uncontrollable legs. He was no longer as arrogant and domineering as he was yesterday, and he could not even speak clearly.

"Meet the little one!"

"never mind!"

Lu Gong waved his hand and pointed to the dock.

Just walking these few steps, Du Shaojing felt like he was being rushed to the execution ground.

I walked under the tree with difficulty and sat down, but I felt very uncomfortable.

Zhang Fei stood up, looked at Du Shaojing, and said with a smile: "Mr. Don't panic, answer every question calmly to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings."

Du Shaojing nodded woodenly.

"I object."

Li Lei suddenly stood up and said, "The other party's words contain hidden threats."

Zhang Fei hurriedly said, "I take back what I just said."

Du Shaojing looked at Li Lei suddenly, and suddenly remembered, yes, I also have an ear pen to protect me.

I couldn't help but feel a little relieved.

Zhang Fei looked at the document he had prepared long ago, and asked Du Shaojing again: "Mr. Du, yesterday we mentioned that of the 120 hectares of land under your name, 40 hectares are white-deeded land, and of the remaining 80 hectares, we have checked so far and found that only 13 hectares of land have paid taxes. The remaining 67 hectares have no tax payment records. I wonder how you can explain this?"

Du Shaojing glanced at Zhang Fei guiltily, then looked at Li Guozhong and the others, only to see that Li Guozhong and the others all lowered their heads.

Don't look to us for help on this matter, handle it on your own.

Du Shaojing shook his head like a rattle, "I won't explain."

"No explanation?"

Zhang Fei asked.

Du Shaojing said: "I admit that I did not pay taxes."

Lu Gongzhe quietly flipped through the account book from five years ago, which contained Du Shaojing's tax payment records.

But Du Shaojing was not stupid. No matter how serious the crime of tax evasion was, it was not as serious as the crime of secretly tampering with government accounts.

He could only admit it.

Moreover, if he didn't produce the tax bills, no one could use the account books to sue him. After all, the account books were written by the officials, not them.

Zhang Fei asked: "According to my investigation, most of these lands are red-deed lands, and the government has records of them. I wonder how the official managed to escape the government's collection."

Du Shaojing said: "Like everyone else, they hide their land or use women households or monks to evade taxes."

Just like everyone else, the law does not hold everyone responsible.

Zhang Fei glanced at the other side and saw that the other party was making some movements, so he said: "I have finished asking questions."

So he sat down.

Qiu Zhengwen, who was sitting in the back, was stunned and whispered, "Third brother, why don't you take advantage of the victory and pursue?"

Zhang Fei said seriously: "This is teaching, deliberately showing you a wrong example, you must remember, you must take advantage of his weakness to kill him, and never be soft-hearted."

Qiu Zhengwen said "oh".

Xu Zhiqian pursed her lips and smiled, then rolled her eyes at Zhang Fei, telling lies as if they were true.

Li Lei stood up and asked Du Shaojing, "Mr. Du, how many tenants do you have?"

Du Shaojing looked at Li Lei, as if asking, do you want me to tell the truth or make it up?

Li Guozhong on the side nodded anxiously, "You are still making up stories. You must be tired of living."

Du Shaojing said, "More than 400 households." ... "So many?" Li Lei asked again, "Did Mr. Du give them very low rent?"

High or low?

Du Shaojing looked at Li Lei, seeking an answer.

Li Guozhong hid from Lu Gong above and told Du Shaojing to tell the truth with his mouth.

Lu Gong couldn't see it, but Sima Guang, Su Shi and others on the opposite side saw it clearly and couldn't help laughing.

So difficult!

Zhang Fei also covered his mouth and laughed, then turned back, "They are also demonstrating the wrong example. In the future, when you are in court, you should be more accurate and don't just go down one path until you die. Once this path is blocked, you will end up like them now."

Qiu Zhenghua and the others kept their mouths shut and nodded continuously.

Du Shaojing shook his head and said, "Not low."

Li Lei asked again: "Since the rent is not low, why are there so many people willing to become tenants of the clerk? Will they be like Li Dacai and his people?"

Zhang Fei immediately turned around and said to Qiu Zhengwen and the others, "We must oppose it at this time. His question is suggestive and persuasive."

Qiu Zhengwen was surprised and asked, "Why don't you object, Third Brother?"

Zhang Fei glared at him angrily, "You are stupid, how can I teach you if I object?"

"?"

Qiu Zhenghua was puzzled. If you object, I will remember it. But if you tell me, I may not remember it. Is this another example of wrong teaching?

While they were still whispering, Du Shaojing suddenly came to his senses and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, many people are only willing to cultivate the land that does not pay taxes. If you ask them to pay taxes, they would rather not come."

"Why?"

Li Lei asked.

Du Shaojing said: "Because the court has miscellaneous taxes, such as transfer, change, and loss, these three taxes are not fixed, many people hide their household registration, sell their land and run away. If I don't find a way to evade taxes, I won't be able to recruit tenants to help me farm the land."

Many honest and upright officials became angry when they heard this. What was the reason?

However, many of the people outside the door nodded frequently.

In order to fight the war, the imperial court required the people to deliver their taxes to designated places themselves, which were often hundreds of miles away. What was even more outrageous was that they had to pay taxes in the meantime.

But Tokyo is too far from the front line, so you don’t have to go there.

The conversion is to convert grain into silk, and convert silk into grain. This conversion requires a lot of payment.

The losses include food eaten by rats, loss of transported grain, etc., which are also included.

The key is that there is no fixed number for these three items. If you are lucky, you will pay less. What if you are unlucky?

Three times is actually considered a small number. After this combo, the number is often five or six times.

Of course, the people are willing to pay high rent rather than taxes.

Indeed, land that was not taxed was intended to be more attractive to tenants.

Li Lei added: "I heard that the official often donates money to charity, distributes food to refugees, and donates to the government to build water conservancy projects."

Duchau

Jing's mind began to clear up, and he returned to the rhythm of yesterday. He immediately answered: "I did evade taxes to attract tenants, but I felt guilty, so I often donated some money and grain to the people and the government."

Li Lei turned to Lu Gong and said, "I have finished asking questions."

Zhang Fei stood up and said, "Your Excellency the Prefect, I have a very important witness here. I hope the Prefect can summon this witness to testify in court."... Lu Gong said, "Summon him."

After a while, a man in his twenties walked into the hall.

"God damn."

Du Shaojing stood up suddenly, "Why are you here?"

Lu Gong frowned and warned, "Du Shaojing, don't be so presumptuous."

Du Shaojing said hurriedly: "You don't know, the prefect, he is my servant, he can't just come to court and sue me."

Lu Gong frowned slightly.

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Mr. Du, that happened a few days ago. I have already paid to redeem him."

Du Shaojing immediately said: "Impossible, how could I not know."

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Mr. Du has so many servants. It's a small matter, so why does he need to come forward in person? Mr. Zhuang in your family can make the decision. Mr. Du should know this better than me."

Xu Zhiqian handed over a contract at the right time. Zhang Fei took it and raised it, "This is Goudan's contract of redemption. Please have a look at it, prefect."

"Present."

After Lu Gong looked at it, he ignored Du Shaojing and asked Goudan to sit in the witness stand.

Du Shaojing sat down. After just relaxing for a while, he suddenly started sweating profusely again.

The man named Goudan bowed to Lu Gongzhe and then went to the witness stand.

Zhang Fei stood up and asked, "Goudan, is this your real name?"

The man shook his head and said, "My original name is Zhu Erjiu, and the name Goudan was given to me by Du Shaojing."

Zhang Fei asked: "How did you get to know Du Shaojing?"

Zhu Erjiu said: "I was originally a third-class household in Dudian Village, Kaifeng County. Because of my service in the imperial court, I owed the government a lot of money, and in the end I had to sell my land to pay off my debts."

When they heard that the military service had gone bankrupt, Han Qi, Fu Bi and others all sighed in silence.

Zhu Erjiu also said, "After that, my brother and I had nowhere else to go, so we had to rent 20 mu of land from Du Shaojing to cultivate."

Zhang Fei asked: "How much is the rent?"

Zhu Erjiu said: "Each of us will get half of the produce from the land, but I will bear all the taxes."

Zhang Fei nodded and asked, "What happens next?"

Zhu Erjiu suddenly glared at Du Shaojing fiercely, "I never thought that Du Shaojing would take into account all the taxes levied by the government, such as changes, transfers, losses, etc., and no more, no less. With this calculation, we can't pay the taxes at all. We can only borrow money from him. This loan!"

He wiped away his tears and said, "But I could never pay it back. The interest and taxes kept increasing. I couldn't pay it back even if I worked the land for several lifetimes. In the end, he took my sister away to pay off the debt, and I could only become his tenant slave."

I don't know if it was because they heard too much yesterday, which caused the people watching the trial to become numb, and there wasn't much noise outside the door.

"You are slandering me."

Du Shaojing stood up and pointed at Zhu Erjiu angrily.

As soon as he shouted, the people watching the trial immediately gave him countless angry looks.

If looks could kill.

Zhang Fei smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Du, don't forget that your family has more than just one tenant slave, but hundreds of them. Do you want to call them all up to testify?"

Du Shaojing's lips trembled, but he didn't dare to say a word.

Zhang Fei then said to Lu Gongzhe: "According to my investigation, Mr. Du's family has at least 120 tenants. They were all Mr. Du's tenants before. Due to illness or natural disasters, they were forced to borrow high-interest loans from Mr. Du with an interest rate of about ten times."... At this point, Xu Zhiqian handed a stack of loan deeds to Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei took it and raised his hand, "I have more than ten high-interest loan contracts signed by Mr. Du."

Immediately, a clerk came and took away all the loan deeds.

Zhang Fei said: "Such high interest, plus rent and taxes, it is impossible to pay it back. The interest is compounded, resulting in them owing Mr. Du countless money. Not to mention a lifetime, even ten lifetimes cannot pay it back. They can only work like cattle and horses to cultivate the land for Mr. Du. However, not an inch of these lands has ever paid taxes to the court.

It can be seen that Du Yuanwai's tax evasion has nothing to do with the tenants, it is purely his personal behavior. As for the accusations made by Li Dacai and other tenants against the court yesterday, it is pure rumor and slander, nonsense. Everything they have now is given by the court, and the suffering they have suffered is all caused by Du Yuanwai and others. "

Before he could finish his words, a deafening booing sounded at the door, directly interrupting Zhang Fei's spell.

Even Lu Gong's gavel couldn't calm him down.

You say Du Shaojing is a bad guy, and we all agree.

Well said.

But just because he is evil doesn’t mean the court is good.

They are birds of a feather.

This is such a shameless thing to say.

It is hated by both humans and gods.

Of course, the one who was embarrassed was not Zhang Fei, but the officials sitting inside.

Wen Yanbo and others looked at Zhang Fei very depressedly, "Stop flattering me. The more you flatter me, the more embarrassing it will be."

Isn’t the imperial court shameful enough?

The key point is that Sima Guang and Han Qi all know that the court is so embarrassed, isn't it you, Zhang Fei, who did it on purpose? Yesterday's lawsuit was completely unnecessary.

Now they are looking for us here again, they are just making fun of us!

Zhang Fei, whose spellcasting was interrupted, couldn't continue. After all, he didn't have a microphone. He turned his head to look at Xu Zhiqian, and saw that the woman had her face covered with her hands, buried in her writings. He said unhappily, "Hey, beauty! We are the imperial court's representatives, please be more professional. How can I continue my speech if you are like this?"

Xu Zhiqian leaned back in her chair and said depressedly, "But what you said is so disgusting. I can't listen to it anymore."

Zhang Fei said: "Give me a quarter of an hour, and you won't feel that way anymore."

Xu Zhiqian rolled her eyes, "That's impossible."

Nancy Beiqing reminds you: Remember to collect it after reading it

[Please do not transcode the reading (similar to Baidu) or the content will be lost]

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