Um?
Lu Jiawen and the six judges looked at Li He at the same time.
This answer was not completely unexpected, but Li He answered very directly, without any hesitation or emotion.
This can't help but make many people feel a chill down their spine.
Is it so cruel?
At this point in the lawsuit, no one cared about the character of Qin Biao and his mother. They just hoped that the royal court would find the tax commissioner guilty.
Because this really concerns their vital interests. How many of you here do not evade taxes?
Who would like to see a group of tax police rushing into their house, pointing bows and arrows at them? It’s scary just to think about it!
Even Su Zhe was stunned for a moment, and then asked again: "Let the tax police decide whether to kill him?"
Li He nodded: "When encountering danger, the tax police can make their own judgment."
...
...
Su Che asked curiously, "Aren't you worried that the tax police might abuse their power to harm others?"
Li He nodded expressionlessly and said, "Of course I am worried, so we repeatedly remind the tax police that enforcing the law impartially is the best weapon to protect ourselves. Anyone who abuses his power will bring about his own destruction.
At the same time, our tax commissioner has published articles in newspapers and magazines many times, telling the public to actively cooperate with the tax police and to file a lawsuit in the royal court if they have grievances, rather than to have any conflicts with the tax police.
Su Zhe asked, "Are a few words of advice from Li the steward enough?"
Li He shook his head and said, "I don't know, but we really can't do any better."
Su Zhe frowned, pondered for a moment, looked up at Lu Jia and asked, "I'm done asking questions."
Lu Jiawen nodded, then turned his head to look at Zhang Fei on the other side.
Zhang Fei smiled and shook his head.
After Li He left, Lu Jiawen asked Zhang Fei and Su Zhe if there were any other witnesses, but both of them said no.
This really surprised Su Che.
At the moment, Zhang Fei is not in an advantageous position, and based on previous lawsuits, summoning some unexpected witnesses is Zhang Fei's most powerful weapon.
But this time Zhang Fei only summoned the parties involved and did not summon any surprising witnesses.
Did I do something wrong just now? Su Che couldn't help but ponder inwardly.
Lu Jiawen did not expect that Zhang Fei did not summon witnesses this time.
But since neither side has witnesses, the next step is closing arguments.
Su Che was the first to stand up. "Regarding the sudden raid on the Qin family by the tax commissioner, this has never happened in our dynasty. Even if it is to search the homes of ordinary people, it must go through layers of approval. The tax commissioner did not apply for any permission, nor did he have any communication with the Qin family. He directly dispatched people and horses, carrying a large number of weapons, broke into the house, and frightened the innocent Qin mother into a serious illness.
Although the tax commissioner repeatedly stressed that Qin Biao had many bad deeds, so they needed to take this measure. It sounds reasonable, but the problem is that they can also take similar measures against any household, and their basis is only based on their investigation and their judgment.
If the royal court does not stop this behavior, who can guarantee that they will not use such methods on ordinary people? The key is that such methods are extremely easy to harm innocent people. Once someone dies, who will be responsible for it?
If the people knew that there was such a group of people who could break into their homes at any time, how could they sleep peacefully? Therefore, I hope that the Royal Court will sentence the tax commissioner for abusing his power and destroying people's homes."
After saying this, Su Che sat down.
Zhang Fei stood up and looked at Su Zhe standing opposite him. He smiled and said, "What Prosecutor Su said is just an old tune. I have heard it countless times. But the facts have already told us that this kind of speech is definitely not about caring about the people. Maybe it is just a habit, similar to a jingle."
A jingle? Su Che glanced at him with a hint of dissatisfaction.
Wang Anshi whispered, "Junshi, this kid is talking about you, right?"
Sima Guang ignored this guy and thought to himself, is this guy making fun of me?
Lu Jiawen was also a little confused and couldn't help asking, "Why do you say that?"
"The root of all this lies in the conscription law."
Zhang Fei explained: "Everyone knows why the court abolished the previous corvée law and replaced it with the recruitment law. Although many people opposed the recruitment law, no one supported the corvée law.
It is a consensus that the corvée law would bring heavy burdens to the people, especially the yamen corvées, who were also responsible for collecting taxes.
I don’t know if you still remember Geng Ming from Baima Township. I was the one who fought that lawsuit against him. He went to collect taxes and ended up with his family broken up. Such incidents are very common, so common that I don’t need to prepare any examples to illustrate this point.
However, there were also some yamen runners who were extremely cruel. They abused their power to break into people's homes and plunder their property in the name of collecting taxes. Such things were not uncommon.
The former Kaifeng County magistrate, Wang Hong, gave a very detailed explanation of this. Collecting taxes is not an easy task. If taxes cannot be collected, the country will be difficult to maintain.
Therefore, the court should condone such behavior.
At that time, many ministers supported Wang Hong and never mentioned the people. But what is puzzling is that now they are frantically opposing the actions of the tax commissioner. Is it just because those yamen runners only broke into the homes of ordinary people and were unable to collect taxes from them, while this time the tax commissioner raided the homes of large landlords? But whether it is this reason or not, it proves one thing that such remarks are not concerned about the safety of the people, otherwise, the corvée law would have been changed long ago. "
Wang Anshi nodded: "That's a good point!"
The faces of the dignitaries around him were all livid.
Li Kai, who came to watch the trial, whispered to Zeng Gong: "Zeng Zhifu, this kid is scary, isn't he?"
Zeng Gong was surprised and said, "What's so scary about that? Isn't what he said right?"
Um?
Li Kai looked at him with a question mark on his face, thinking, it seems that this new magistrate is not a good person!
Su Zhe looked at Zhang Fei in surprise, thinking, this kid is even more outspoken than my brother, why is he still safe and sound? Is it because my brother is too straightforward?
Thinking of Su Shi, he couldn't help but miss his brother.
Lu Jiawen just listened and did not interrupt Zhang Fei again.
Zhang Fei continued, "Now that the two prefectures' regulations have issued the law on conscription, the yamen conscripts who were previously responsible for collecting taxes have been changed to tax police, but has the situation in the countryside changed? Obviously not, there are still people who evade taxes.
The previous lawsuit has already explained everything on this point.
Then the tax police have only three choices. First, like Geng Ming, they go to the landlord's house to collect taxes, get insulted and bitten, pay for it themselves, and then leave the tax office and stay away.
Secondly, like those evil officials, they broke into people's homes and collected taxes. Anyway, the court seemed to have a high tolerance for such behavior and generally would not blame them.
Third, just like now, first verify, and after the evidence is conclusive, adopt different means according to different targets to arrest the tax evaders. After interrogation, they will be handed over to the procuratorate, and the procuratorate will file a lawsuit with the royal court. At the same time, you will also be subject to judicial supervision and sit here to accept interrogation by the royal court and the procuratorate.
The Tax Commissioner summarized past experience and chose the third option.
If the tax commissioners did not raid the Qin family, they would break into a hundred civilians' homes and seize their property, because taxes had to be collected no matter what.
The tax police dare to collect taxes from everyone legally, and everyone must pay taxes legally. This is the greatest protection for the people and the responsibility to the country. Therefore, I hereby implore the Royal Court to give the tax commissioner support and confidence so that they dare to challenge every tax evader, no matter who the other party is. I have finished. "
Lu Jiawen questioned the six judicial officials with his eyes, and when he saw that they had nothing to ask, he slammed the gavel and said, "Adjourn the court for now."
He stood up and went into the back room with the six judges.
Xu Zhiqian whispered, "Did you miss a part?"
Zhang Fei said: "No!"
Xu Zhiqian said: "But you haven't explained clearly whether the tax police's behavior is a potential abuse of power. Isn't this the key point of the debate?"
What Su Che emphasized was never this case, but the power of the tax commissioner, which, if not restricted, would be prone to abuse.
However, Zhang Fei emphasized the difference between the Commissioner of Taxation and the yamen runners, which can even be understood as choosing the lesser of two evils, avoiding the issue of whether the Commissioner of Taxation would abuse his power.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "This cannot be explained. The more details like this are explained, the more restrictions will be placed on the Taxation Commissioner. Therefore, the best way to deal with this is not to explain, because this is the power we are fighting for."
Xu Zhiqian nodded slightly and asked again: "But if you don't explain clearly, it will lack persuasiveness, and the judge may rule that you lose, which is not worth the loss, right?"
Zhang Fei chuckled and said, "They will definitely rule that I win."
Xu Zhiqian looked at Zhang Fei puzzledly.
Zhang Fei whispered: "Because this also concerns the power of the imperial court."
At this time, whispers were heard in the audience, but many people showed anticipation on their faces.
They also heard that Zhang Fei was deliberately avoiding the questions that Su Che was concerned about. It was obvious that he was guilty and did not dare to give a direct answer.
Wen Yanbo whispered to Fu Bi, "What does Lord Fu think the verdict will be?"
Fu Bi shook his head and said, "I am not an expert on litigation.
Very good at it, but I think Zhang San will not lose. "
Wen Yanbo was stunned at first, but then he understood and nodded: "Yes! If we lose, the tax commissioner will suffer a huge blow."
At the same time, Lu Jiawen was having a heated discussion with six judicial officials in the room.
"Although Zhang San's words make sense, they cannot cover up the shortcomings of the tax commissioner's approach. As long as they think they can take action, they can use any means. This is really terrible."
"Yes, we cannot make a judgment based on this case alone. As Prosecutor Su said, no one can guarantee that the tax commissioner will enforce the law impartially and without any mistakes. He may be even more cruel than those evil officials in the past."
"You have to think about the overall situation. If we rule that the tax commissioner abused his power, it will directly lead to the tax commissioner not daring to act rashly again, and the tax may not be collected, which may cause big problems."
"We should also look at the matter objectively. Given the Qin family's situation, it is understandable that the tax commissioner has taken such measures. Currently, there is no evidence to prove that the tax commissioner is abusing his power."
There happened to be three people on one side, each holding his own opinion.
Lu Jiawen suddenly asked: "Everyone seems to have overlooked one point."
The six judicial officials looked at Lu Jiawen at the same time.
Lu Jia asked, "It's our imperial court."
"Our royal court?"
"good!"
Lu Jiawen nodded and said, "Based on the current situation, although the Taxation Department belongs to the Ministry of Revenue, it is not under the supervision of the Ministry of Revenue. It seems that even the Vice Minister of State Affairs can do nothing about them. Only our Imperial Court can judge whether they have committed any wrongdoings."
As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of the six judges lit up.
Lu Jiawen added: "As for matters concerning taxation, they have never been handled by our imperial court. We cannot and dare not interfere. Just like Wang Hong's lawsuit before, if we cannot collect taxes, the country will be in big trouble."
The six judicial officers finally realized that this case not only involved the authority of the Tax Commissioner, but also their authority.
Then we need to re-examine it.
The Royal Court's support for the Commissioner of Taxation is actually support for the Royal Court, and the power of the Royal Court will be expanded.
In fact, Zhang Fei has just made it clear to the imperial court that the tax police will be supervised by the imperial court and the procuratorate, otherwise Li He would not be sitting here.
If the Commissioner of Taxation does not have this power, he must report to higher authorities, which will have nothing to do with the Imperial Court. If something goes wrong, it will be resolved internally by their superiors.
And their judicial officials are all professional officials. Generally speaking, no matter how they are promoted, they will stay here. Therefore, the greater the power of the royal court, the more they will benefit from it.
If the power of the imperial court could extend to taxation, then everyone would be afraid of the imperial court.
Allowing the Commissioner of Taxation to do this would allow the royal court to intervene in taxation.
If something goes wrong, only the Royal Court can decide whether the Tax Commissioner has committed any illegal acts.
Half an hour later.
Lu Jiawen and six judges came out of the room and returned to their seats.
The atmosphere in the courtyard suddenly became tense.
Unlike in the past, Zhang Fei did not have an absolute advantage this time.
No one knows how the verdict will be.
However, what they didn't know was that their nervous eyes made Lu Jiawen feel that his judgment was correct.
Lu Jiawen enjoyed all this. He glanced around and said, "After consultation between this court president and the six judges, we all believe that the tax commissioner did not commit any fault in this behavior."
As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar, and countless angry eyes were directed at Lu Jiawen.
This seemed to be within Lu Jiawen's expectations. He was not disturbed and continued, "From the testimonies of all parties, the plan of the tax commissioner was carefully planned and successfully prevented possible conflicts. This is also one of the reasons why the court promulgated the conscription law, using specialized talents to handle specialized affairs.
Therefore, we judge that the actions of the tax commissioner are in full compliance with the power granted to them by the court and the court's expectations of them. I am also very sorry for what happened to Qin's mother. I also advise the people to declare their income truthfully. If there is anything unclear, they should explain it to the tax commissioner in time to avoid misunderstandings and unnecessary losses.
In addition, the President also hopes that the Tax Commissioner can publish the Tax Commissioner's Code of Conduct to the public so that the public can better cooperate with the Tax Commissioner."
Before he finished speaking, someone snorted, "You Lu family's butts are not clean either."
The voice was not very loud, but Lu Gong heard it clearly. He turned around and saw Meng Gansheng standing up and walking out. He couldn't help but frowned and said, "If you are not convinced, just scold him. Why do you involve our Lu family in this?"
But he saw many officials standing up indignantly and glaring at him. Lu Gong realized that he was outnumbered and decided to give up.
Why did everyone vent their anger on the Lu family? Because the Lu family was also a very prominent family, prosperous for a long time, and had produced many prime ministers.
But Lu Jiawen is an exception. He doesn't care about these things.
Lu Jiawen also heard this faintly, and immediately became angry. If you say so, I will have to kneel down again when I get home. He grabbed the gavel and was ready to try whether the court police were as tough as the tax police. But after hesitating for a long time, he put down the gavel and said to Li He, "Li Siwu, I hope that your tax department will not be disturbed by this and can continue to work hard to arrest those who evade taxes."
"oh."
Li He nodded woodenly.
[Please do not transcode the reading (similar to Baidu) or the content will be lost]
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