As a lawyer, Zhang Fei still has his own set of principles.
For the same thing, if he thinks that you have no ill intentions and just did it unintentionally, or even that your intention is for his own good, he may be angry even if he suffers a great loss, but he will not care too much.
But if he thinks you did this with malicious intent, no matter how small the matter is, he will definitely remember it, and then retaliate in kind, and you won't tolerate such a small loss.
Zhang Fei's plan before coming to Hezhong Prefecture was to take the initiative first. A new official has three things to do when taking office, and he cannot miss any one of them. It's just that this plan cannot keep up with the changes, but it also doesn't mean that he will be intimidated by the other party right from the start.
That's not his style.
The key point is that he came here with the mission of rectifying the salt administration. Since the other party is using this matter to test him, he might as well take advantage of it and use this opportunity to find out the bottom line.
Procuratorate.
"What does this mean?"
Chen Qi pointed at the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone on the table, his mouth almost twisted with anger, "Is it because you are mocking our indictment for being too simple?"
The literati were absolutely professionals at playing this kind of satirical game. They had already reacted before Cai Jing even opened his mouth.
...
...
Cai Jing was a smooth person, and he quickly said, "Don't misunderstand, Prosecutor Chen. We have absolutely no such intention. We just happened to have some leftovers, so we sent them to your procuratorate."
Chen Qi asked again: "Then what's the matter with this indictment?"
Cai Jing said embarrassedly: "After reviewing the evidence, our imperial court found that it is not enough to meet the standards for opening a trial."
Su Che suddenly asked: "Isn't this enough?"
Cai Jing nodded and said, "Because there is a lack of a crucial piece of evidence, that is, whether the salt is private salt or not."
Su Zhe and Chen Qi looked at each other, both confused.
Chen Qi even picked up the indictment to see if Su Che had picked it up by mistake. After a while, he shook the indictment and asked Cai Jing, "This still doesn't prove that Huang Tong was selling illegal salt."
"It cannot be proven completely."
Cai Kyoto felt a little lacking in confidence.
Su Che asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Cai Jing said, "Because it is not clear where the salt came from, whether it was obtained from Huang Tong's extra production, or whether someone else commissioned Huang Tong to sell it; and whether it was approved by the government. According to the salt policy, as long as the government allows it to be sold, it is legal."
Chen Qi was so angry that he was fuming. "If not, why would Huang Tong admit it?"
Cai Jing said: "Just because Huang Tong admitted it doesn't mean it's his. We should investigate further."
Su Zhe asked: "Does your imperial court intend to expand this case?"
Chen Qi was stunned and looked at Cai Jing suspiciously.
Cai Jing hurriedly said, "We have absolutely no such intention. We just think that this evidence is indeed insufficient. There are only 12 kilograms of salt and Huang Tong's confession. At least there should be the confessions of the relevant salt officials, clerks, and other salt households to make this evidence more complete."
After Su Che examined Cai Jing, he nodded and said, "We understand. This was our negligence. We will investigate it thoroughly."
"Forgive me! Forgive me!"
Cai Jing stood up and bowed repeatedly, saying, "If there is nothing else, I will take my leave first."
"Um."
After Cai Jing left, Chen Qi immediately said, "Chief Prosecutor, they clearly want to escalate this case, but we don't have the strength to do so."
Su Che pondered for a while, picked up the complaint and read it for a while, and said, "In fact, the imperial court's request is not nitpicking. At present, the salt administration of Hezhong Prefecture is not government-owned and government-collected, but privately-owned and government-collected and sold by merchants. Those who sell salt are all merchants, and it is not necessarily private salt, so we have to confirm it."
Chen Qi said depressedly: "Going to the Imperial Court just to confirm it, isn't this just wasting people's time?"
Su Zhe said, "The more thorough this lawsuit is, the better. You go to the police station in person, and then Superintendent Cao will send someone to ask questions."
Police station.
"What?"
Cao Dongdong opened his eyes wide and asked, "Insufficient evidence?"
Ma Xiaoyi and Fu Shichun also looked at Chen Qi in shock.
There's not enough evidence!
Is it funny?
Chen Qi said with a fake smile: "This is not our fault, it was requested by the imperial court."
As he spoke, he handed over a document and said, "The Imperial Court needs evidence in these areas."
Cao Dongdong shook his head.
Fu Shichun glared at him first, then stood up, took it with both hands, and looked at it carefully.
After a while, Fu Shichun nodded to Cao Dongdong.
Cao Dongdong said: "Okay, we will send someone to investigate."
"Thank you very much."
Chen Qi bowed and left.
As soon as he left, Cao Dongdong immediately asked, "What did you say?"
Fu Shichun said: "These are some unimportant questions, but the targets are all salt officials and salt clerks. This is good, let them get to know our royal police."
Cao Dongdong asked: "Don't they know our Royal Police yet?"
Fu Shichun sighed, "Don't you understand this? In the past, the prefect gave orders, so he could control these officials. But now that politics and law are separated, if you, the police chief, give orders, will they cooperate? We have to try to know!"
Cao Dongdong blinked and immediately said, "Go ask some more officials."
If you look for more, you will find that there are really many of them.
The most bloated bureaucracy in the Northern Song Dynasty was in the finance sector, especially in the areas of salt, tea, wine, iron, and horses. Otherwise, how could these taxes be collected?
The police station immediately dispatched 32 Royal Police officers who could read and write to interrogate him.
Huang Tong was a salt householder from the salt pond in the southeast of Hedong County. The official who held real power on the front line was the supervisor, a dispatched official who held real power. The one in charge of salt was called the Salt Supervisor.
Although the Salt Inspector of Hezhong Prefecture did not hold a high position, his power could not be underestimated.
“Royal Police Officer Ou Jun has met with He Yanjian.”
"What's up?"
He Chunlin looked at Ou Jun with a little uneasiness.
Ou Jun hurriedly said, "I am here under orders to investigate Huang Tong's case of selling illegal salt."
After hearing this, He Chunlin stood up suddenly and said, "How can this be justified? This case has nothing to do with me. Don't try to slander me."
“No, no, no!”
Ou Jun hurriedly explained: "He Yanjian misunderstood. We are just here to ask as usual, is Huang Tong a salt household in Hezhong Prefecture? Can he sell salt to outsiders? Why doesn't the government buy the salt in his hands? Where does his salt come from?"
He Chunlin said excitedly: "Of course he can't sell salt to outsiders. Salt farmers can only sell salt to the government. This is the rule. Why doesn't the government buy their salt? Of course they hide it and don't sell it. As for where their salt comes from, how would I know? Go ask him. Do you think I have too much free time?"
“Yes, yes, yes!”
Ou Jun listened and took notes with a short pen.
He Chunlin asked: "What are you writing?"
Ou Jun hurriedly said: "What He Yanjian said just now is all supporting evidence for this case. We must record it."
It was already written when he spoke, and then he handed it to He Chunlin, "He Yanjian, please take a look and see if there are any omissions. If there are no omissions, please sign your name."
This was He Chunlin's first time dealing with the Royal Police. This was not the case before. He felt a little dizzy. He looked at it blankly. He was really angry because Ou Jun wrote "You think this official is too idle" in it. He immediately scolded, "You idiot, why did you write the last sentence?"
On second thought, these questions are not a big deal, don't let them think they are guilty of something, "Okay, okay, I will answer you properly, rewrite it, rewrite it."
"yes."
Salt Warehouse Department.
"What? You want to check the accounts?"
Bailiff Li Yongji looked at the royal policeman Zhou Jia in front of him in astonishment.
Who are you?
The salt account cannot be allowed to be seen by anyone.
Just you, a little Royal Policeman.
Zhou Jia hurriedly explained, "Don't blame me, Li Yashi. The reason I want to check the relevant accounts is to confirm that the government regularly purchases the salt produced by the salt households."
Is there any need to confirm this? Li Yongji found it incredible, and fearing that there was a trap, he asked cautiously, "Why? Didn't Huang Tong already confess his guilt?"
Zhou Jia said: "But we have to find out whether his confession is true. If the government refuses to accept their abundant salt, it will also affect the imperial court's judgment."
Li Yongji immediately said, "How is this possible? If they hand over the salt, we will definitely accept it. How can we refuse it?"
Zhou Jia apologized and said, "Please ask Li Yasi to let us check the relevant accounts of the extra salt produced by the government's salt collectors this year."
Li Yongji asked: "Do you have this power?"
Zhou Jia said: "I am just following orders. This is an order from the imperial court."
To be honest, he didn't even know if he had the power.
Li Yongji hesitated for a moment and said, "Wait a moment, I'll look for it."
"yes."
The sudden move of the royal police almost searched all the local salt officials in Hezhong Prefecture. This was definitely a big move that shocked the entire officialdom of Hezhong Prefecture.
What is this for?
Why are they coming towards us? Is this a conspiracy?
How can I sleep like this?
Salt officials of all ranks immediately rushed to the government office to look for Wei Yingfang.
"President Wei, what are they trying to do? Huang Tong has already confessed, why are they coming to us to ask questions?"
"I have lived for so long, and I have never seen a case investigated this way. It is absurd to ask me to prove that the smuggled salt is smuggled salt."
"Stop talking for now."
Wei Yingfang was also confused after hearing this. "What questions did they ask you?"
He Chunlin said: "There is no problem. Look at me, I was confused by the Royal Police. Those questions are not so bad. They are somewhat related to this case, but they are just a little bit related."
I also talked about those issues in general.
"It's almost the same here. They said they wanted to check the accounts before, but I was scared. In the end, they just wanted to see if our warehouse had purchased salt from the salt farmers. That's all."
"My case is even more outrageous. They want to check whether Huang Tong has the ability to produce more salt. I don't know how to answer."
You and I were talking at the same time, making Wei Yingfang even more confused. These questions were really irrelevant, and there was much ado about nothing. He couldn't help but look at Cao Yi.
Cao Yi asked: "Didn't they ask anything else?"
"No!"
Everyone understood what he meant and shook their heads to indicate that it was unnecessary talk, as they themselves had not said a word.
Cao Yi asked, "Could it be that they want to shock the enemy by making a show of force?"
Wei Yingfang laughed, "You want to scare us? That's really too much of a contempt for us."
Because the questions were so simple, the police station finished asking all the questions in just a few days, and then handed the evidence to the procuratorate, which immediately wrote an indictment.
Royal Court.
"This is more like an indictment!"
Zhang Fei took the thick stack of indictments and weighed them. It was heavy and reassuring.
"As long as Judge Zhang is satisfied."
Su Zhe laughed and asked, "I wonder why Judge Zhang did this?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "They want to win big with a small investment, so I will give them a lion fighting a rabbit."
"A lion fights a rabbit?"
Su Zhe frowned and said, "We are still on a stable footing!"
Before he could finish, Zhang Fei said, "Mr. Su, please rest assured. This is limited to this case and will never be expanded."
This was not the first time Su Che had dealt with Zhang Fei. He knew that this man was always meticulous in his work and would not be too radical, so he stopped asking questions and stood up to say goodbye.
There is nothing the procuratorate can say about this case. It all depends on how the royal court decides.
"What are you going to do?"
After Su Zhe left, Xu Zhiqian came forward and asked.
Zhang Fei handed her the indictment and said with a smile, "List the witnesses listed above, and then order people to issue subpoenas to each of them one by one, asking them to appear in court to testify in three days."
(End of this chapter)
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