Xu Zhiqian felt a little uncomfortable about this lawsuit. After all, what she had always longed for was to stand up for the poor, because they were the ones who needed help, rather than suing for these rich people. The rich already had the best of both worlds, and if she helped them, the poor would not be able to survive.
But Xu Zun did not blame Zhang Fei at all. It was not that he was protecting his own son, but because he and Zhang Fei had the same character. He also liked to find various charges to help criminals get away with it. So in the eyes of others, he just liked to show off his academic knowledge.
On the contrary, Zhang Fei carried forward his ideas, so not only did he not blame him at all, but he was very appreciative.
Similarly, Zhang Fei also admired Xu Zun's decision very much and he must live in this house for a certain period of time before leaving.
That landlord is so despicable. I made his house prosperous, but he wouldn't even give me an extension for a month. It's so despicable.
The father-in-law and son-in-law were chatting when Sima Guang suddenly came. He was still wearing his official uniform and had obviously just finished a court meeting.
"Xu Sishi, congratulations on finding a son-in-law."
Sima Guang ignored Zhang Fei and bowed to Xu Zun to congratulate him.
Xu Zun was also an actor, and he immediately said, "Master Sima, please don't say that. What's the good son-in-law? I think it's a misfortune for the family. I cursed until my mouth was dry. Oh, this really makes me angry. Master Sima recommended him to the Imperial College, and he finally accumulated a little reputation. Now, it's all ruined overnight. It's really a waste of Junshi's painstaking cultivation. What a sin!"
When he said this, he stamped his feet fiercely, expressing his pity for the boy's lack of resistance.
...
...
Zhang Fei and Xu Zhiqian were both shocked by Xu Zun’s acting skills. If they were not the people involved, they would have believed that this was true.
"Why!"
Sima Guang raised his hand and said with a smile, "Xu Sishi, there is no need to be angry. Your son-in-law won the case fairly without using any despicable tricks. Why should he blame you? Could it be that Xu Sishi also has doubts about the ruling of the prefect Zeng?"
When Zhang Fei heard this, he couldn't help but look at Sima Guang nervously, wondering, what is this old man up to?
“No, no, no!”
Xu Zun said hurriedly, "I absolutely support the ruling of the prefect Zeng, but... this guy called a horse a zebra in court, which is really infuriating."
Sima Guang waved his hand and said, "Xu Sishi is wrong. Your son-in-law's words may sound like calling a horse a zebra, but in fact, every word he said is reasonable and to the point. At the court meeting just now, almost all the ministers supported the decision of the prefect Zeng."
Xu Zun was surprised and asked, "Really?"
Sima Guang nodded and said, "Even Prefect Zeng has high praise for your son-in-law!"
Xu Zun quickly said to Zhang Fei, "Zhang San, why don't you thank Sima Xueshi quickly?"
"yes!"
Zhang Fei was completely immersed in Xu Zun's acting. He was slightly startled and quickly bowed and said, "Thank you, Mr. Sima, for your support for me."
After saying this, he himself felt a little weird.
It has nothing to do with him.
Sima Guang immediately said, "No need to thank me, you are right after all. Otherwise, even if I supported you, Prefect Zeng would not have made such a judgment."
Zhang Fei suddenly felt uneasy.
This doesn't sound like what Sima Guang would say. Even if he really agreed with it, he would put it as an admonition first.
Xu Zun also frowned secretly, seeing that Sima Guang seemed to have something to say to Zhang Fei, so he said: "Master Sima, please stop praising this kid, otherwise he will definitely become proud and complacent. It just so happens that I just came back and have to go home to change clothes, so I'll trouble Master Sima to help me teach this kid a lesson."
"I am sorry for interrupting you." Sima Guang bowed and said, "Brother Xu Si, please do as you wish."
"Excuse me!"
As he said that, Xu Zun called Xu Zhiqian out.
After Xu Zun left, Sima Guang looked at Zhang Fei with a smile, his eyes full of admiration.
Zhang Fei suddenly felt something was wrong and said hurriedly, "Master Sima, why don't you just teach me a lesson? I'm scared when you look at me like that."
Sima Guang stroked his beard and laughed, "Why should I teach you a lesson? You did the right thing this time. If you trace the root of the problem, the cause of this case is the bad government of the court, not Governor Zhao. Even if Governor Zhao is punished, such incidents will not decrease. This is only a temporary solution, not a permanent one. Now, you have exposed this bad government in the name of selling medicine, and the court has to pay attention to this matter. Everyone thinks you are doing it for money, but I know you are doing it for the country. Eh? Why are you sweating so much?"
Shit! You're praising me like that, how can I not sweat? Zhang Fei wiped the sweat off his forehead and swallowed, "Master Sima, what exactly do you want me to do? Just tell me."
Sima Guang's eyes flashed with guilt, "Why do you say that?"
Zhang Fei said awkwardly: "Master Sima, this is not the first time I have won. Master Sima always warned me to be modest and not arrogant, but today..."
"How can you think like that? I always stick to the facts. When you first took on this lawsuit, you made a promise to me. Now that you've fulfilled your promise, shouldn't it be my duty to praise you?"
"In other words, Scholar Sima only came to praise me and there is nothing else?"
".!"
Sima Guang coughed and said, "It's not enough to just praise with your mouth, you need to reward me."
It sounds like a punishment to me! Zhang Fei asked cautiously, "What's the reward?"
"I'll let you sit first."
"I'll just stand."
How could Zhang Fei sit still?
Sima Guang did not force him, saying: "It is said that we should help people to the end, and send Buddha to the west. Now you have made the court pay attention to the shortcomings of the salt law, but how to solve it?"
Zhang Fei hurriedly said: "This has nothing to do with me. This is not my place, so I should not interfere!"
Sima Guang said hurriedly: "That makes sense!"
"ah?"
"I know that if you are not in the position, you should not meddle in the affairs of others. Therefore, I will let you take the position first, and then I can meddle in the affairs of others."
"Sitting in his seat?"
"good."
Sima Guang suddenly glanced outside the room, and then whispered, "Didn't we agree before that we would send you to the local area?"
Zhang Fei nodded.
Sima Guang said: "So I plan to send you to the northwest..."
"etc!"
Zhang Fei said, "Northwest? Didn't we agree that we could choose between Dengzhou and Yangzhou?"
"But it's not settled yet."
"No?"
"Of course not. We just said we were going to a local place, but I couldn't decide where exactly. How could I possibly guarantee you that?"
"Well."
Zhang Fei thought about it. Didn’t he make a promise?
Sima Guang glanced at him, coughed, and said, "Although there are salt ponds in various parts of our country, salt management is the core of salt administration, and salt profits are the key to our dynasty's finances. If we want to eliminate the malpractices of salt administration, we must first govern the northwest."
"no."
Zhang Fei immediately said, "Sima Xueshi, please don't think I'm ignorant. The key to the salt trade is mainly because of Xixia on the border. And the reason why they agreed to let me go to Dengzhou or Yangzhou is because Mr. Fan and Mr. Su have already gone to the local public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. Otherwise, it would be useless for me to go alone. I have never been an official and have no experience.
Compared with Dengzhou and Yangzhou, the Northwest region not only involves salt administration, but also military administration, diplomacy, etc. I am simply unable to handle these affairs. "
This really scared him. He really had no experience in being an official, and he had to adapt step by step. He had previously arranged to let Fan Chunren and Su Shi recruit soldiers and horses first, and then he would go over and reap the benefits. But even so, he was still unsure.
The local area is a den of dragons and tigers!
This directly raises the difficulty to hell, it's almost life-threatening!
Today, the importance of the Northwest region to the Northern Song Dynasty is no less than that of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, because the conflicts during this period are mainly concentrated in Western Xia. The situation there is extremely complicated, and it can be said that one move can affect the entire body.
Sima Guang sighed, "Of course I know that, but if I don't let you go, Wang Jiefu might get there first. Today in the court, Wang Jiefu proposed an even more terrible idea. I must stop him. For now, the only way to stop him is to immediately set up a local police station, procuratorate, and court."
Zhang Fei asked: "What's the idea?"
Sima Guang said: "Officially sold."
"Official sales?" Zhang Fei was stunned. This idea was not very rare!
Sima Guang told Zhang Fei what Wang Anshi said in court, and said: "In this way, the prices of goods are all determined by the government. But why did the salt merchants riot in the first place? Wasn't it because the government forced the salt merchants to buy the salt at the lowest price and then sell it to the salt merchants at a high price?
Therefore, the price of official salt remained high, but the salt households fled every year. Wang Jiefu wanted to make money for the country, so he would only make things worse. According to Wang Jiefu's idea, the goods that the people needed for daily life should be bought and sold in this way. The government controlled everything. How could this not be a bad thing? "
Zhang Fei was also very familiar with this. This was the concept of the market exchange method, but it was very different from what Sima Guang said. It might be that Wang Anshi only mentioned it by borrowing the salt administration, but Sima Guang knew Wang Anshi too well, and he had grasped the core concept in just a few words, that is, government-owned, government-operated and government-sold.
However, the complete form of market trading also includes the function of liquidation, which is to purchase unsaleable materials and provide loans to merchants.
But facts have proved that this method can only be used under high-risk situations, using coercive measures, or the government paying money to subsidize prices to meet the basic needs of the people. It is an extraordinary time and an extraordinary measure.
Moreover, in theory, this method will lose money. Managing nationwide transactions, no matter how big or small, will cost a lot. In addition, purchasing unsaleable goods means helping merchants bear the risks. If you still want to make a profit, the whole concept will inevitably become distorted.
Among all the reforms of Wang Anshi, the most controversial one was the Qingmiao Law, but the Shiyi Law was actually the one that Zhang Fei personally disagreed with the most, because it was impossible to achieve this step due to the current management costs.
The key point that Wang Anshi could not control was that the government only earned this much.
But Zhang Fei had known about the market exchange method for a long time. He was very rational and said, "Master Sima, although I don't support this either, it has nothing to do with my going to the northwest. We should still send some officials with outstanding abilities and rich experience."
"Do I need to tell you that?" Sima Guang sighed, "But no matter which officials I send, they will have to obey the decrees of the two government regulations. This is useless. Only by building a sound public security, procuratorial and judicial system in the local area and improving the local salt law can we prevent Wang Jiefu from promoting this law under the pretext of salt administration.
The more corrupt the salt administration is, the more reason Wang Jiefu has to do this. And in this case of the conscription law, you did a very good job, making Wang Jiefu just watch from the sidelines. I believe you can still do well in the northwest."
Zhang Fei said with a sad face: "Sima Xueshi, I was able to succeed this time because of your support, not because of how powerful I am. But in the northwest, no one supports me. Instead, I have to face the military, local gentry, salt officials, salt merchants, and even Xixia, and other forces. I have no experience in dealing with these things."
Sima Guang glanced at him and asked, "Do you really think you can't handle it?"
"Really, I'm not being modest, I swear." Zhang Fei wished he could dig out his heart.
Sima Guang was entangled and said, "But there is no better candidate than you."
He was not going to send people to govern, as that would be meaningless and they would have to obey government orders. He was going to build up the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems. In this case, he also discovered that the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems could be completely unaffected by the two government regulations and could operate independently.
The officials were so anxious that they were jumping up and down, but they were powerless to intervene and could only resort to confrontation.
Zhang Fei said: "But you can't rush to seek medical treatment!"
He had already mustered up a lot of courage to go to Yangzhou and Dengzhou, but if he went directly to the northwest, what difference would that make him commit suicide?
The key border military forces are all over there, so the tax commissioner and the police station are nothing.
Sima Guang glanced at Zhang Fei, hesitated for a while, and said: "I just mentioned this matter briefly, there is no need to rush, you should think about it carefully, and I will go back and think about it again."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Yes, I understand."
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