The crowd watching in front of the courtyard gate had no sense of justice in their hearts before, they just placed their bets, and many of them hoped that Zhang Fei would lose the lawsuit.
But when they heard what happened to Li Dacai, anger appeared on everyone's face again.
This man is not a plant or a tree, how can he be heartless?
But they were all angry but dared not speak. They were all holding back their anger and opened their eyes wide in anger, but no one knew who they were staring at.
Fu Bi and Han Qi looked at each other and sighed deeply.
Under normal circumstances, would those tenant farmers dare to say this?
Don’t worry about your life!
Someone must have taught them to say that.
This is also one of the key reasons why those ministers advised the emperor not to solve the problem through judicial means but instead through government decrees.
As long as it is about taxation, the court will always be held responsible in the end.
...
...
The big landlords, literati, officials and the imperial court are one and the same, with no distinction between you and me.
This is not an individual behavior, but a widespread problem. Many minor officials collected more money with the tacit approval of the court. Why did they do that? Because the court could not pay them too much money.
Isn't suing them the same as suing yourself?
Then everyone will take off their underwear and see who has the most shit on their butt.
It must be the court.
The root of all evil.
And who is the boss of the court?
Among them, only Sima Guang and Wang Anshi remained calm, because they both knew that Zhang Fei was very clear about this issue.
Because Zhang Fei has repeatedly mentioned that the lawsuit against the tenant farmers is very difficult to win, because the tenant farmers and the landlords are on the same side, not in opposition. They will definitely support the landlords because this is related to their survival.
This is the situation now. These tenant farmers directly put all the blame on the court, and even the white deed was their request.
In fact, as long as the tenant farmers point their fingers at the landlords, it is almost a sure win, but this is impossible unless you guarantee to give them land to farm.
After Li Dacai's sobbing gradually stopped, Zhang Fei continued to ask: "You just said that you once paid three times the tax? You even sold your daughter because of it."
Li Dacai nodded repeatedly.
Zhang Fei asked, "Have you ever thought about suing the authorities?"
Li Dacai sobbed and said, "Isn't it just that the officials want to collect more taxes from us? If I go to sue them, I'm afraid it will be even worse."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "That's just what you think, but it's not true. You can go to the Bian Jing Law Firm and fight for your rights through litigation. It just so happens that the Bian Jing Law Firm is about to launch a new taxable transaction."
"I object."
Li Lei stood up immediately.
If you want to sue, just sue. It's really shameless of you to advertise here.
Almost everyone present looked at Zhang Fei with contempt.
Even Xu Zhiqian whispered: "You are going too far."
You can suggest litigation, there is no need to mention the Bian Jing Law Firm.
Zhang Fei looked disdainful and said, "What do you know? The plot has entered a critical moment and we must put an advertisement. Otherwise, when will we put it?"
Lu Gong slammed the gavel and said with a frown, "Zhang San, try not to mention anything that has nothing to do with this case."
Zhang Fei remained calm and said seriously, "Prefect Lu, I am definitely not promoting my business. I have a reason for asking this question."
Lu Gong glared at him and said, "Then don't mention the firm."
Who are you fooling here? Even if you have a purpose, as long as you mention the Bian Jing Law Firm, the purpose is definitely not simple.
"yes."
Zhang Fei nodded awkwardly, coughed, and continued to ask Li Dacai: "Li Dacai, do you know why you paid more taxes?"
Li Dacai shook his head and said, "I don't know. They come back with a reason each time. How would I know?"
Zhang Fei said: "As far as I know, many tax collectors are yamen servants, not officials who go to collect taxes personally. They all have tasks. If a piece of land does not pay taxes, then someone will definitely pay more taxes.
White-deed land is tax-free, so the tax on this land is transferred to the red-deed land. Now you are farming white-deed land, which can avoid the court's tax, but this part of the tax has not disappeared, but has been transferred to your past self."
"I object."
Li Lei stood up again.
Zhang Fei immediately said to Lu Gong: "I just want to explain that when people encounter unfair treatment, they must appeal to the court as soon as possible, and should not swallow their anger, nor should they help the tyrants to commit atrocities and let more people experience the same suffering as them.
That is why I mentioned the Bian Jing Law Firm just now, because the Bian Jing Law Firm has extensive experience in litigating cases for the poor. "
Li Guozhong whispered, "You can also mention our bookstore."
Li Lei was slightly stunned, and quickly asked: "Really? Then what are you doing now? We, the Li Family Bookstore, are defending the tenant farmers."
When Fei Ming heard this, he felt unhappy and whispered, "It's not just your Li's Bookstore, it's also my Fei family."
Li Guozhong pretended not to hear.
Zhang Fei said disdainfully: "You are defending the landlords, but my Bian Jing Law Firm is concerned about the people."
Bang!
Lu Gong slammed the gavel and said, "Come here! Drag these two away and give them ten big blows each."
Angry!
A big bucket of feces has been thrown at the imperial court, and you are acting as messengers of justice here. Do you think that I, the prefect, am a fake?
How could this be possible?
"good!"
"Such unruly people should be punished severely."
"beat!"
The officials who had looked indifferent just now, when they heard that Zhang Fei was going to be beaten with a stick, all of them became excited and suddenly started cheering.
When Zhang Fei heard about the punishment, he immediately became intimidated and said, "Please spare my life, magistrate. I won't dare to do it again. I know I was wrong."
Li Lei on the other side also quickly begged for mercy.
Lu Gong glared at them and said, "I will give you one more chance. If you do it again, don't blame me for being merciless."
"Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. I have finished my questions."
Zhang Fei quickly sat down, picked up the teacup, and drank a sip of tea to calm his nerves.
Xu Zhiqian said: "What nonsense are you talking about."
Zhang Fei said, "Didn't you hear? The root cause is the heavy taxes imposed by the court. If we don't stop this, we won't be able to stop this phenomenon. I'm just telling them that this is a solution to the problem, but I don't dare to guarantee other bookstores, not just our Bian Jing Law Firm."
Xu Zhiqian was speechless.
That's true.
Lu Gongzhu looked at Li Lei again.
"I'm fine."
Li Lei shook his head with lingering fear.
But he was not frightened, and he had no intention of asking these tenant farmers any questions.
Because they had already discussed it, the tenant farmers put all the responsibility on the court, so this issue naturally fell to Zhang Fei.
Aren’t you representing the imperial court?
All right! Every question I ask you to ask will be detrimental to the court.
The landlords and tenants who came up next all used the same trick.
Baiqie, they play the card of not punishing the masses, not only the landlords like Baiqie, but the people also like Baiqie.
The tenant farmers complained, saying that we were all exploited by the imperial court, but the means of exploitation were different and endless.
After two hours of interrogation, the court was almost becoming the defendant.
As an official, Lu Gongzhe's face turned red during the interrogation. He was extremely embarrassed and it was really a torture.
Before I knew it, it was noon.
Lu Gong also quickly ended today's interrogation.
This was something many people had not expected. Zhang Fei's lawsuits were always exciting, dazzling, and full of suspense. Today's process was both boring and embarrassing.
"What are you doing?"
Wang Anshi rushed directly into the shed and questioned Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei whispered, "I didn't expect them to be so shameless. They dare to say anything and blame everything on the court."
Wang Anshi said, "I have thought of it, but you haven't."
Zhang Fei said: "I thought they would do this, but I didn't expect that they would be so unscrupulous. Aren't they the ones who did all those rotten things?"
Wang Anshi said, "No matter what, you can't keep targeting the tenants. Many people will surely file a petition with the government to stop this trial."
As he spoke, he glanced at Han Qi and Fu Bi.
I saw many officials surrounding Han Qi and Fu Bi, whispering something.
It goes without saying that they were asking Han Qi and Fu Bi to report to the emperor and stop the trial.
If the trial continues in this way, even if there is no public resentment, it will be revealed.
"I understand. I'll find another way." Zhang Fei added, "But this is not my fault."
Wang Anshi sighed, "Let's win first, then we'll talk."
Zhang Fei nodded.
Sima Guang, who was standing behind, looked at Wang Anshi and Zhang Fei thoughtfully, thinking, this doesn't seem like they are pretending. Could it be that they really know that the evidence has been tampered with, so they plan to break through from the tenant farmers?
"Second brother, you have to write the lyrics quickly."
Su Che stood up and said to Su Shi.
Su Shi was stunned: "What did you say?"
Su Che said, "We are about to pay the rent."
Having said that, he left.
".!"
Although he was not in an advantageous position on the field, Zhang Fei still received warm cheers from everyone as usual when he walked out of the courtyard.
Because most people bet on Zhang Fei to lose.
Regarding today's results, they just want to say - beautifully played, wonderful!
Zhang Fei didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and got on the carriage in a hurry.
Inside the carriage, two pairs of resentful eyes stared at him.
It was Ma Xiaoyi and Cao Dongdong.
"you.."
"Zhang San, you have caused us so much trouble this time."
"Third brother, what were you playing just now? It was so boring."
".!"
Zhang Fei said: "Didn't I ask you to adjust the multiple?"
Cao Dongdong said depressedly: "It would be fine if it wasn't adjusted. Now that it's adjusted, more people are buying it."
"What?"
Zhang Fei was startled, and then said, "Maybe the multiples are not adjusted correctly? How about we adjust it again? I will adjust it to 21, and they will adjust it to 1."
Cao Dongdong panicked when he heard this, "Zhang San, you can't really not win, right?"
Zhang Fei sighed, "It's not certain yet. This is only the first day. I have a trick up my sleeve. But we are the banker. This is a business. Business requires risk avoidance. You guys should make adjustments quickly."
Cao Dongdong was not stupid either, and said anxiously: "Under the current situation, there may be many people buying Eryi."
Zhang Fei said: "Everyone knows our relationship. If you lower the price too much, they will think you have some inside information. Knowing that I will definitely lose, more people will buy. If the price is close, it will be difficult for them to figure it out. Hurry up and go."
"You really killed me this time."
Cao Dongdong stamped his feet in a hurry and pulled Ma Xiaoyi out of the carriage.
After they left, Xu Zhiqian looked at Zhang Fei in confusion, "What are you sitting on?"
Zhang Fei said awkwardly: "To earn some extra money to support the family."
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