Although the whole thing was planned by Zhao Xu and Zhang Fei, they were actually not sure about the final verdict.
Because this is a classic proposition in the legal community: bad laws are illegal and bad laws are also laws.
The dispute has lasted for hundreds of years throughout the world.
The natural law school insists that "bad laws are illegal", while the analytical law school insists that "bad laws are also laws".
When Zhang Fei was in college, he also participated in a debate competition on this topic.
Even ordinary people often argue. Although they may not know what "bad laws are illegal" and "bad laws are also laws" mean, they will express different opinions on a certain case, and their opinions are often divided into two categories: bad laws are illegal and bad laws are also laws.
The same is true now. The case was originally one-sided, with almost everyone supporting a heavy sentence for Zhao Wenzhen.
But now the opinions have become divided. One group supports sentencing Zhao Wenzhen for selling illegal salt, while the other group supports that Zhao Wenzhen was selling medicine, not selling illegal salt.
Whether it is a street teahouse or a large restaurant, everyone is debating this issue.
Often at moments like this, it depends on the judge's thoughts.
...
...
Zeng Gong also actively sent people to investigate the whole incident.
Kaifeng Prefecture.
"Your Highness, after our investigations over the past few days, we have roughly figured out the whole story."
"What's going on?"
Zeng Gong hurriedly asked Huang Gui.
Huang Gui said: "The whole thing started with the Jiezhou Salt Law. Did Prefect Zeng know that during the Qingli period, Fan Xiang was in charge of the Northwest Salt Administration?"
Zeng Gong nodded and said, "How could I not know? In the past, military supplies were exchanged for salt notes, grain, cloth, etc., but it was difficult to fairly value the actual goods, so Fan Xiang changed it to merchants buying salt notes from the state armies along the border with cash, and then going to the salt pond to exchange for salt. The state armies then used the cash paid by the salt merchants to buy military supplies."
Huang Gui said: "The overall salt production is very stable, about 350,000 seats per year. When Fan Xiang was in charge of the local salt administration, the salt notes never exceeded this number. However, since Fan Xiang's death, due to the northwest border troubles, the annual salt notes have reached 430,000 seats.
This led to a gradual decrease in the price of salt notes, and some salt merchants who resold salt notes went to the Jiezhou Salt Pond to exchange salt. However, since the Jiezhou Salt Pond could not produce much, the local salt officials came up with a solution. They knew that salt households had the habit of hiding private salt, so they sent people to clear out those salt households. This directly led to conflicts between local salt households and salt officials, which in turn reduced the amount of salt in Jiezhou that year. "
Zeng Gong sighed: "In order to make profits from salt, the government has always bought salt from salt farmers at very low prices, so salt farmers have to hide private salt to make a living."
"Yes."
Huang Gui nodded and continued, “But this indirectly led to the fact that the salt merchants in Xuzhou did not get enough salt that year. The salt price in Xuzhou once rose to 75 coins per catty. The salt merchants could only sell good salt at a high price to the rich. As for the countryside, they mixed inferior salt with soil residue, and the price per catty was no less than 50 coins. The farmers in the countryside were unwilling to buy it and could not afford it.
This caused the salt merchants to increase their travel expenses in vain, so they stopped going. This indeed led to a situation in many places in Xuzhou at that time where no one was selling salt for half a year, and many people fell ill and died as a result.
After that, various private salt merchants entered Xuzhou, and Wang Hongjin was just one of them. However, since the official salt was restored last year, the legal salt merchants wanted to drive out the private salt merchants. However, since private salt only cost 20 coins, and the official salt had to be sold for at least 45 coins, they could not drive them out at all. So some people suspected that it was the local salt merchants who provided evidence to the tax commissioner. "
Zeng Gong nodded and asked, "Has the procuratorate found any evidence that Wang Hongjin was smuggling salt to other places?"
Huang Gui shook his head and said, "No. And Wang Hongjin insisted that his salt came from a private salt dealer in Qingzhou named Li Yuan, but he has not been found yet. He has only been engaged in private salt trading for one or two years, mainly from the year before last to last year, which happened to be the period when Xuzhou was short of salt. Although the procuratorate believes that Wang Hongjin has been selling private salt for more than one or two years, and that the previous salt profit accounts were simply destroyed by him, the procuratorate is only suspicious and has not found any evidence."
Li Kai snorted, "There are only a few people in the Procuratorate. Their evidence all comes from the Taxation Department. The real powerful one is actually the Taxation Department."
Zeng Gong nodded and looked at Zeng Gong again.
Huang Gui said: "The procuratorate has also negotiated with the tax commissioner, but the tax commissioner said that they have done their best and have no more evidence."
Zeng Gong nodded and said, "I understand."
Huang Gui added, "There is one more thing. Xie Huacun, who testified in court before, and the other people who provided evidence have already entrusted the Bian Jing Law Firm to file a lawsuit with the Imperial Court, hoping to get his family's land back."
Zeng Gong asked: "Has the imperial court made a ruling?"
“Not yet.”
Huang Gui shook his head and said, "But Judge Lu sent someone to find me and said that the other party has solid evidence and after the trial, the Royal Court will most likely return the land to Xie Huacun and others."
"This Erbi really has some tricks!"
Zeng Gong sighed and asked Huang Gui again: "Mr. Huang, go to the procuratorate again and ask them if they have found any new evidence?"
Huang Gui said: "In fact, I have already asked, but as Li Tongpan said, the means of investigation of the procuratorate are very limited. They said that it is difficult to find more evidence."
Due to the current limitations of technology, verification is actually very difficult. It took the Tax Commissioner a whole year to obtain the evidence.
They really didn't have much previous evidence, and it was difficult to find.
If the Taxation Commissioner did not provide new evidence, the Procuratorate could only watch helplessly. This also made the Procuratorate realize that it should set up its own investigation department and could not rely entirely on the Taxation Commissioner, after all, they were not affiliated with him.
Three days later.
Zeng Gong summoned Zhang Fei and Su Che to Kaifeng Prefecture.
"After this judge's trial, I have decided to sentence Wang Hongjin to false reporting of property and tax evasion. Since there is no direct evidence to prove that Zhao Wenzheng knew about it, and the property was not in his name, I will not pursue related charges against him. As for the occupation of government land, since the evidence provided by the procuratorate is controversial, and the Imperial Court is currently hearing a related case, I have decided to transfer this case to the Imperial Court for trial together. As for the charge of selling private salt?"
Zeng Gong suddenly glanced at Zhang Fei. "After investigating the whole story, I determined that Wang Hongjin was not selling illegal salt, but drugs, and I will not hold him responsible."
Zhang Fei immediately cupped his hands and said, "Prefect Zeng is truly a man of great judgment."
Su Che was greatly disappointed and said in dissatisfaction: "If the prefect Zeng makes such a ruling, it will have a very bad impact. Those who sell illegal salt will also use this as an excuse to escape punishment."
Zeng Gong said: "If you cannot buy a grain of salt within half a year, then salt is a life-saving medicine for you. As for the adverse effects, I think there is no worse effect than not being able to buy salt. It is the court that should reflect on this, not the private salt dealers."
Su Che remained silent, but his dissatisfaction was evident on the paper.
Zeng Gong then said to Zhang Fei: "I will sentence Wang Hongjin to 100 strokes of the cane, seven years in prison, exile to Qiongzhou, and confiscate all the property involved in his tax evasion."
In fact, that’s all, because Wang Hongjin has never paid taxes.
Zhang Fei immediately said, "Prefect Zeng, according to the laws of our dynasty, the most that can be done is to confiscate one-third of the property involved in tax evasion. This is also how Qin Biao and his men were sentenced before."
Su Che immediately glared at Zhang Fei.
Are you still not satisfied?
Zhang Fei also noticed his eyes, but ignored it. What do you know? This is called professionalism.
Zeng Gong said: "Don't we have to calculate interest? For more than ten years, Wang Hongjin has not paid a penny of tax. Even if all his property is confiscated, it is not enough to pay back. If there is evidence that Zhao Wenzheng was involved, it may be more than this."
Zhang Fei argued: "But there is no sufficient evidence to prove that Wang Hongjin has not paid a penny of tax for more than ten years."
Zeng Gong smiled and said, "So I only calculated three years."
Zhang Fei wondered, "Is three years enough?"
“That’s enough!”
Zeng Gong said: "You should know that the 70 hectares of land do not belong to him, but the grain from the 70 hectares of land belongs to him, so the tax should be calculated, but when the penalty is imposed, these lands are not included. You cannot use other people's land as your own fine."
Zhang Fei muttered quietly, "Prefect Zeng's algorithm is really unique."
Zeng Gong glanced at him sideways, "What did you say?"
"No, nothing."
Zhang Fei said: "I still maintain my original opinion. Prefect Zeng is really a wise judge. I admire him. I admire him."
Zeng Gong looked at Su Che again.
Su Che hesitated for a while, but finally nodded. Although he was not satisfied with the verdict, he believed that the procuratorate also had an unshirkable responsibility and they had to pay the price for it.
After the agreement, Zeng Gong let them leave.
"Prefect, I'm afraid that this verdict will make everyone dissatisfied." Huang Gui said in a low voice.
Zeng Gong nodded and said, "That's right."
As they walked out the door, Su Che suddenly looked at Zhang Fei, "Aren't you afraid of ruining your reputation?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "You officials are not afraid, so why should I be afraid? This case has become so serious. If we trace the source, the responsibility lies with the government. I can only be regarded as icing on the cake at most. Therefore, it is not my turn to be infamous for eternity."
Su Che looked at him and asked, "Aren't you also an official now?"
Zhang Fei blinked and coughed: "Well, I just failed to stay clean. Besides, if we at Erbi also want to pursue justice, then what is the point of your procuratorate?"
Su Zhe was so angry that his teeth itched. He snorted, "You won't be so lucky next time."
Zhang Fei chuckled and said, "I'll still make money if I lose, just a little less."
".!"
Zeng Gong did not ask for instructions from his superiors, but gave the verdict directly.
As soon as this judgment came out.
As Huang Gui said, no one is satisfied.
Officials in the court believed that Zeng Gong was shielding Zhao Wenzhen. The verdict seemed to have nothing to do with Zhao Wenzhen from beginning to end, especially the crime of smuggling salt, which was really punished by Zhang Fei. This kind of misconduct can actually happen today.
If this is not a cover-up, it would be really unjust.
Immediately, many officials submitted memorials to impeach Zeng Gong.
But Zhao Wenzhen was also not satisfied and was so angry that he fell ill in bed.
"It's over. It's over. All my land is gone. That damn Zeng Zigu didn't leave me anything. After more than ten years, all my efforts are in vain! No, I have to give Zhang San 20,000 strings of cash. Ah, wuwuwu!"
Zhao Wenzhen lay on the bed, sobbing with his hands covering his forehead.
Wang Qing's face was also filled with grief. His son was basically finished, but he still comforted him: "Master, just think of it as getting rid of the disaster. This man was finally saved."
Zhao Wenzheng sat up in shock and said, "That's right, I'm fine after all, and I can get this land back in the future."
Wang Qing nodded and said, "Master, you are right."
"But. But, this is hundreds of thousands of strings of cash! Woo woo woo..."
Zhao Wenzheng fell to the ground like a child, slapping the wooden board and crying loudly, "If I had known this would happen, I should have paid the exemption tax. It was only two or three hundred strings of cash at most. Ah, wuwuwu!"
(End of this chapter)
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