However, the government's counterattack, especially preventing Li Min from suing, also made Duan Chaobei and other salt merchants and banknote merchants feel uneasy.

Because as a matter of common sense, since both parties have already fallen out, will the government still abide by the imperial court's decision?

This shows that what they trust is not the law, but power.

So they immediately found Li Min.

In fact, Li Min's heart was also beating fast, but he still pretended to be calm and comforted everyone.

"Please rest assured, I have consulted Judge Zhang before, and he said that since the government has not raised any questions about my official documents before, I am now a part of this case. Without absolutely legitimate reasons, I cannot be easily separated from this case."

Duan Chaobei and others were confused by this speech.

So Li Min explained: "In short, I can fight this lawsuit to the end."

Duan Chaobei said: "But the government is investigating Brother Li, and it is obvious that they are unwilling to obey the judgment of the imperial court. So...what if the government is not satisfied?"

Li Min hesitated a little. After all, he was not sure that the government would obey. Judging from the current situation, it was not as if they would accept the punishment. He only said, "Although they are the government, they still have to abide by the law. I don't think they will disobey the law easily."

...

...

Just then, a man walked in and whispered something in Li Min's ear.

Li Min was delighted when he heard this, and immediately said to Duan Chaobei and the others, "The Imperial Court just sent a letter. Under the urging of the Imperial Court, Yuan Xueshi and the others will come to the Imperial Court tomorrow to discuss the details of how to make compensation."

Duan Chaobei and others couldn't help but be overjoyed.

Li Min asked again: "Will you go with me tomorrow, or should I first listen to the government's compensation plan and then discuss it with you?"

Duan Chaobei and the others looked at each other in bewilderment.

Soon, they said that Li Min would go on their behalf.

They want to sit on the throne, so how dare they negotiate conditions? Although their actions this time are supported by many officials, it does not mean that they really dare to confront those officials head-on.

Especially in the current situation.

......

Huayin County is where Tongguan is located, and it is just southwest of Hezhong Prefecture. The two places are only a hundred miles apart. If you ride a fast horse, you can get there within one day.

In fact, as early as two months ago, that person had secretly rushed to Huayin County.

Because this is a military stronghold with very strong military power, and at the same time it does not belong to Hezhong Prefecture but to Jingzhao Prefecture (Chang'an). By hiding in it, Zhong Yan can secretly inquire about the situation in Hezhong Prefecture and arrive at it at any time.

"Father, Uncle Qin sent a secret letter."

A tall, handsome young man entered the room and handed a secret letter to the burly middle-aged man with a leopard head and eagle eyes sitting on the chair.

The middle-aged man was Zhong Yan, and the young man was his eldest son Zhong Pu.

After receiving the secret letter, Zhong Yan immediately opened it and started reading. Gradually, the worry on his face became more and more intense.

Zhong Pu couldn't help but worry: "Father, what did the letter say?"

Zhong Yan sighed and said, "Now the government office and the Salt Bureau have completely torn their relations with the imperial court. It seems we have to go there quickly."

Zhong Pu was surprised and said, "Since those civil officials and the imperial court have already started fighting, it is a good thing for father!"

Zhong Yan sighed, "Your uncle Qin said that there are many people in the army who are dissatisfied with the imperial court. They are just forbearing for my sake, but the situation is no longer easy to control."

As he said this, he handed the letter in his hand to Zhong Pu.

After reading this, Zhong Pu's face was full of confusion. "This emperor is not pleasing either side, so which side will he lean towards?"

"I, as a father, can't tell! But judging from the whole thing, I think it will still be biased towards the other party. Otherwise, there is no need to re-examine this case."

Zhong Yan shook his head and sighed, "I would rather face 100,000 enemy troops on the battlefield than face a civil official in the hall."

Because all those who requested a retrial of this case were officials who supported Lu Shen, this would definitely be disadvantageous to him in terms of the unspoken rules in the officialdom.

Military generals are very afraid of this, because these are the expertise of civil servants, and there is no way they can defeat the enemy.

Zhong Yan was very pessimistic about this, but he was a little confused by the public security, procuratorate and courts. Therefore, he came to Huayin County early just to see what the public security, procuratorate and courts meant.

But after watching for a long time, I still couldn't figure out which side the public security, procuratorate and courts were leaning towards.

Even to the point of being neutral and offending both sides.

Qin Zhongshou quickly sent a letter asking him to go to Hezhong Prefecture. At present, the military was suppressing the situation and there was no direct conflict with the imperial court. Instead, the civil officials began to fight with the imperial court.

He never imagined that he was just a supporting role, the protagonist was Zhang Fei, and the purpose was not a struggle between civil and military officials, but reform.

Zhong Pu asked, "What is Dad going to do?"

“This has to go.”

Zhong Yan asked again: "Where is Prefect Lu now?"

Zhong Pu said: "Prefect Lu fell ill on his way out of Shu, which delayed him for some time. So, he should have arrived in Jingzhao Prefecture by now."

It turned out that Lu Shen was not afraid of the police, procuratorate and courts. He was an upright official and had integrity. A man of integrity has nothing to fear. He was risking his life to get on the road, but the result was counterproductive and he fell ill from exhaustion.

Zhong Yan said, "Go and get ready. We will set off tomorrow. We must arrive at Hezhong Prefecture before Magistrate Lu, lest anyone think we are guilty."

"yes."

......

This morning, Cai Yanqing, Wei Yingfang, Yuan Jiang and He Chunlin came to the imperial court and proposed a compensation plan from the government.

Compared to the past, the atmosphere today is a little chilly even in the superficial greetings.

"I hope we didn't keep Zhang Ting waiting for too long."

Yuan Jiang said with a wry smile.

Zhang Fei said: "In fact, we in the imperial court are not trying to rush you. We know how difficult the salt administration is, so we just hope that you can give us an accurate date."

Li Min, who was caught in the middle, saw that they looked unhappy and uneasy. She dared not say anything and just sat there quietly, feeling very uncomfortable.

Yuan Jiang said: "In the past few days, I have carefully examined the previous issuance and price of salt notes. It was about three years ago that the government gradually exchanged salt notes for less than 200 kilograms of salt.

We, the Salt Administration, are willing to take responsibility for the salt notes issued during this period and provide compensation."

Zhang Fei frowned and said, "But the salt notes do not stipulate that the other party must exchange for salt within a limited time."

Yuan Jiang said: "But it is precisely because of the speculation of the banknote merchants that the salt pond has a lot of salt stored up, so it is necessary to issue salt notes to sell the unsalable salt. The merchants also have a certain responsibility, and the government cannot be blamed entirely."

Zhang Fei nodded and turned to look at Li Min.

I'm sitting in the middle, so I can't always speak for you!

Li Min mustered up his courage and said, "Mr. Yuan is wrong. This is an oversight by the government when it formulated the rules. The merchants cannot be blamed. It is not illegal for merchants to speculate on salt notes. Why should they be held responsible?"

He Chunlin angrily shouted: "You businessmen are hoarding goods and seeking huge profits, yet you still have the nerve to shirk your responsibilities."

Li Min said: "I am not shirking my responsibility. I am just discussing the matter at hand. Even if the merchant's behavior is immoral, the imperial court is about laws, not morality."

Yuan Jiang suddenly looked at Zhang Fei and said, "I remember when Judge Zhang was teaching at the Imperial College, he also said that morality can be used as a reason to get away with a crime. Salt concerns the lives of the people, but the banknote merchants ignored the people and only sought profits, forcing the government to over-issue salt notes to sell the salt in the salt pond to meet the needs of the people. If they don't have to bear any responsibility at all, it would be unreasonable."

Zhang Fei hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "They do have to bear part of the responsibility, but the government has not issued a decree to prohibit this behavior or fill these loopholes, and they did spend real money to buy the salt notes, so the government cannot use this as an excuse to deny the legitimacy of the salt notes. Maybe the merchants holding the salt notes have moral flaws, but we cannot judge the salt notes as illegal just because of some of their behaviors. Maybe the people holding the salt notes today are not those banknote merchants who hoarded the goods, and our imperial court cannot judge this."

Yuan Jiang and Cai Yanqing exchanged glances and continued, "Just now I said that the amount of salt exchanged for salt notes has been gradually decreasing since three years ago. So, all the salt notes issued before will be counted this year. The government will also start counting from the first year of Xining and compensate over three years."

"Three years?"

Li Min was surprised.

Cai Yanqing ignored him and said to Zhang Fei: "Judge Zhang, the finances of Hezhong Prefecture are very tight at present, and we don't know how much salt notes there are outside. According to our calculations, it will take at least three years to pay it back. Otherwise, it will affect the operation of the government and the military expenditure in the northwest."

Zhang Fei thought for a while, then asked, "I don't know how to spread it over three years."

Yuan Jiang said: "We will convert all the salt notes with a face value of 200 kilograms into government debts. As I said just now, starting from the first year of Xining, the salt notes issued this year and those issued before will be counted as the first year. This year we will compensate for the interest of the first two years, and next year we will pay the interest of the third year and the principal, and the same will be applied for the subsequent ones."

Li Min immediately asked, "Isn't next year the fourth year?"

Yuan Jiang said: "How can we calculate the interest in the first year?

It is sold. Most salt merchants, after getting salt notes from the border, should go to the salt pond to exchange for salt in the second year. According to this calculation, the interest should be calculated at the end of the second year of Xining. The end of next year is the third year. "

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "That makes sense."

Li Min asked again: "How is the interest calculated?"

Yuan Jiang said: "Based on the principal of the salt note, one salt note is worth 4,800 coins, and the annual interest is 6% of the total, which is 288 coins."

Li Min questioned: "Excuse me, this salt note is salt, why don't you calculate the interest based on salt?"

If we calculate based on 200 jin of salt, the annual interest would be 12 jin of salt. Based on the price of 40 wen, it would be 480 wen, which is about 200 wen less.

He Chunlin said: "If it's calculated in money, the government can compensate you directly, but if it's calculated in salt, you can go to the designated salt pond to collect it yourself. You should know that the salt in the salt pond is unstable. If the designated salt pond is a little off and you don't go to collect it, then we can only blame you, not the government."

For salt ponds that are a little out of the way, the road expenses alone may not be enough. Li Min thought, these officials are really amazing, they are more astute in calculating accounts than businessmen.

He can't say that the interest is determined by the selling price. How can the interest on the 4,800 coins given to you by the government be calculated based on the seller's price?

Zhang Fei looked at Li Min.

Li Min said: "I still need to discuss this with my employer."

Zhang Fei nodded, "Then you go first."

"yes."

After Li Min left, Zhang Fei suddenly asked Cai Yanqing, "Prefect Cai, when will you allocate the funds for the reconstruction of my office?"

After these words were spoken, the four people looked at Zhang Fei in surprise.

Zhang Fei said: "Isn't this an excessive request? Or do you think I can live in a house of the same standard as the official family?"

Cai Yanqing hesitated for a moment, and Wei Yingfang immediately said, "I'm really sorry. We didn't think it through at the time, and the court didn't explain this. The reconstruction of the imperial court was also decided by Chief Judge Zhang himself, and he didn't inform our government in advance, so our government didn't plan for this expenditure."

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Is your government's financial expenditure so planned? This is just how much money it is."

Wei Yingfang laughed and said, "Our Hezhong Prefecture's finances also have to bear the military expenses in the northwest. How can we do this without a more detailed plan? In addition, Yuan Xueshi has already discussed with us that since we have to compensate those salt merchants, the salt profits paid to our government office this year may be less. We are also in a difficult situation."

Zhang Fei asked, "So the salary of this court president is no longer included in the government's planned expenditure?"

Wei Yingfang said: "Of course it is true, but we did not expect that the police station and the procuratorate would recruit so many people and give them such high salaries. Therefore, our government office has to carefully consider whether to allocate the money to the procuratorate, the police station, or your imperial court first."

At this time, Cai Jing entered the room and said, "Report to the chief judge, General Zhong has arrived."

Good fellow, you are finally here. Zhang Fei's eyes turned and he ordered: "Let General Zhong stay here for a few days. The imperial court is in financial difficulty at the moment and is temporarily unable to hold a trial for this case."

.