Compared with the case of matricide, Zhang Fei appeared more relaxed today and directly allowed the prosecution to make a statement.
But since the case was so simple and there was really nothing to say, Su Che had no desire to express himself and immediately asked to summon Ma Xiaoyi to the court to testify.
I saw Ma Xiaoyi wearing a brand new police uniform today, and he came to the court excitedly.
Qin Yijie, who was watching from the sidelines, really believed that Ma Xiaoyi had not lied to them. He really wanted to go to court. This kind of excitement and joy could not be faked.
Zhang Fei glanced at this guy and sighed in his heart, those auxiliary police officers haven't been uniformed yet, but this guy is still getting a new one. Isn't he afraid of being beaten?
Su Che asked, "Captain Ma, please tell us what happened on the morning of the 12th of this month."
"yes."
Ma Xiaoyi nodded vigorously, and then said: "That morning, I was having breakfast with auxiliary police officers Xu Kunpeng and Huo Hong in Yongjifang, North City. Halfway through the meal, someone suddenly came to complain that someone was selling illegal salt."
As soon as these words were spoken, a burst of discussion broke out outside the court.
I could faintly hear a lot of swear words.
...
...
Obviously, they were unhappy with the person who reported the news, and the people also liked the cheap and good private salt.
Instead, the court was very quiet, and he just glanced at others.
Who arranged this?
It's obvious this is a conspiracy.
"quiet!"
Zhang Fei knocked the gavel, and when the court was quiet, he said to Ma Xiaoyi, "Captain Ma, you can continue."
"Why!"
Ma Xiaoyi nodded and continued, "So we followed that man to an alley on the next street and saw someone selling salt."
Zhang Fei asked: "How did Chief Inspector Ma determine that the man was selling salt?"
Ma Xiaoyi said: "Because someone was counting money for the salt dealer and preparing to leave with salt, so we approached to ask. In the end, the salt dealer asked us if we were here to buy salt."
"Ha ha.!"
A few sporadic laughs were immediately heard outside the yard.
When they laughed, Ma Xiaoyi became even more excited and started laughing too.
“Ahem!”
Zhang Fei gave a warning look.
Ma Xiaoyi shut up immediately.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Next."
Ma Xiaoyi said: "I asked the salt merchant, 'How much is a pound?' He said, 'Twenty cents.' I asked him again, 'Why do you sell salt so cheaply?' He said his salt was smuggled. So I arrested him."
There was even more laughter outside the yard.
This is really hopeless!
The officials who were listening shook their heads.
This can no longer be said to be catching the person red-handed, it is simply confession. In this situation, you, Zhang San, have to make such a grand event, if you don't like to show off, then you want to exaggerate the case.
Zhang Fei asked, "Is the salt dealer you arrested present?"
Ma Xiaoyi was stunned at first, then he looked around and pointed at the opposite side and said, "That's him."
Everyone turned their heads to look, and saw a man standing in the prisoner's seat. His face was full of wrinkles, and his back was bent like a little old man. No one knew that Huang Tong was only four or five years older than Su Che, and was only about thirty-four or thirty-five.
Just now everyone's attention was focused on Ma Xiaoyi and they did not notice that the suspect had been brought into the court.
"Um."
Zhang Fei nodded, then turned his head to look at the middle-aged man and said, "Huang Tong."
"Xiaomin is here."
Huang Tong shivered and nodded, not daring to look directly at Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei asked, "Is what Chief Inspector Ma said just now true?"
Huang Tong glanced at Ma Xiaoyi fearfully, then secretly glanced at Zhang Fei and nodded.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Do you know that selling private salt is illegal? And according to the evidence provided by the police, the amount of private salt you sold has reached 12 kilograms, which is enough to sentence you to death?"
Huang Tong lowered his head and remained silent.
But at this moment, a cry was heard: "We have no other choice. If we don't sell some salt, the old and the young in our family will starve to death. Please spare his life! I beg you, I beg you!"
Huang Tong turned his head suddenly, only to see a woman coming forward, kneeling on the ground and crying loudly.
"lady!"
Huang Tong choked up and immediately burst into tears.
Zhang Fei knocked the gavel several times, but the woman still knelt on the ground and refused to get up. She even kowtowed to Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei quickly signaled to the court police to take the woman away.
"Don't hurt my wife."
Huang Tong suddenly raised his head and shouted towards Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei said, "Don't worry, your wife won't be harmed. It's just that she is emotionally unstable right now. If she stays here, it will affect the trial. The police will take her to a small hut nearby to rest and let her calm down first."
Huang Tong was relieved when he saw the court guards gently helping his wife down. He also saw that the court president had a gentle tone, which was different from other officials, and the fear on his face was also less. Thinking that if he was executed, his family would probably have a hard time surviving. Since he was going to die anyway, he decided to go for it. His expression suddenly became excited, "I don't want to sell private salt, but I have no choice. If I don't sell some salt, my family won't be able to survive."
He also felt aggrieved. Which salt merchant didn't sell some private salt? Otherwise, he wouldn't dare to be so bold as to tell others directly that he was selling private salt.
"Yeah?"
Zhang Fei asked, "But as far as I know, as long as you salt households pay 120,000 catties of salt every year, you can get 45 strings of cash as salt capital. Although this amount is not much, it should not be a problem to support a family."
This time there was no need to knock the hammer, and the courtyard inside and outside was completely silent.
Huang Tong was still stunned for a moment with the last bit of rationality left, but he quickly said, "That would have to be 45 strings of cash. I only got 8 strings of cash this year, and if I go to prepare some salt-making tools, there won't be much left."
"Eight strings of cash?"
Zhang Fei looked down at the document and said, "According to the court's laws, the cost of the salt will be paid to you in two installments. The first installment will be 18 strings of cash. After you pay the full amount of salt, you will receive another 27 strings of cash."
Huang Tong said, "But every year when we pay for salt, if it gets damp or damaged, it's all our responsibility, so we have to deduct money, and the price of salt is 40 coins. If things go wrong, we won't get a penny of the salt cost, and we will owe the government money. We only got 8 coins this year because we owed 20 coins last year. Last year, we deducted 10 coins, and this year we deducted another 10 coins, and at the end of the year we will have to deduct another 10 coins."
After hearing these words, the people outside the court were immediately outraged.
"This is outrageous. The government collects less than a penny per pound of salt, but they deduct 40 cents per pound. Isn't this just robbing people?"
"No wonder they would rather become bandits than be salt farmers."
"Why don't you let people buy some private salt? Isn't this going to drive people to death?"
In fact, these people knew the situation very well, but they just didn't dare to speak out. Now that there are so many people, as long as someone starts a commotion, they will immediately start making a commotion.
The officials sitting in the courtyard all had grim faces.
Got fooled!
This kid is obviously trying to mess with us!
"Silence! Silence!"
Zhang Fei knocked the gavel a few times, but seeing that it didn't work, he immediately shouted, "If anyone dares to make a noise again, I will punish him for contempt of the imperial court."
After such intimidation, the crowd in front of the door gradually quieted down.
Zhang Fei glanced at the confession on the table and said, "According to your confession, the salt you sold was all earned through extra production. Is that correct?"
Huang Tong nodded.
Zhang Fei asked again: "You just said that the reason you couldn't get the full amount of salt capital was because the salt got damp or was lost during the payment process, so why don't you make up for it with the extra salt you got? The price of the private salt you sold was only 20 coins, but if you make up for it, you will get 40 coins of salt capital."
Huang Tong said: "This cannot be repaired. The salt used will get damp and lose value. If you calculate it this way, it may be the same as not repairing it at all."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "You can also sell it to the government. This is not illegal and you can make a profit."
Huang Tong said: "If I take out this salt, the government will ask me to make up for the loss. In the end, I may not get even a penny and still owe the government money."
Zhang Fei frowned and said, "Is what you said true?"
Huang Tong said: "Every word I said is true."
Zhang Fei nodded, then turned back to look at Xu Zhiqian, "Who is in charge of collecting the salt?"
Xu Zhiqian whispered, "Bailiff Li Yongji."
Zhang Fei then said to Cai Jing, "Send the summons to Li Yongji, the custodian."
Cai Jing immediately stood up and said in a loud voice: "Call the bailiff Li Yongji to the court."
Before he finished speaking, he heard a stomping sound.
It was none other than Li Yongji, he just looked annoyed, as if he had won the lottery.
In this case, whoever goes to court first will be unlucky.
Because no one knows Zhang Fei's approach.
Arriving in the courtroom, Li Yongji bowed and said, "Bailiff Li Yongji greets Judge Zhang."
He is just a minor official, and Zhang Fei is N levels higher than him.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Li Yasi, please take a seat."
"Thank you!"
Li Yongji sat down tremblingly, feeling really uncomfortable.
Zhang Fei asked, "Did Li Yashi hear what Huang Tong said just now?"
Li Yongji nodded.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Is this true?"
Li Yongji said awkwardly: "I am not sure either. There are so many salt households, I can't remember them all."
These questions were not asked when I was recording my statement.
The more I look at it, the more it looks like a trap.
Zhang Fei did not force him, but just asked: "The government bought salt at a price of less than one cent, but calculated the loss at a price of forty cents. Is this true?"
Li Yongji hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.
This kind of thing, once asked, there is no way to hide it, after all, it is not a secret.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Why is this?"
Li Yongji was also an experienced man, and he immediately said, "Because the salt was not given to us, we have to hand it over to the court in full, and the court has to sell it to the salt merchants. The money cannot be reduced by a penny, and we, the warehouse manager, have no choice."
Just give it to the court. If they don’t make up for it, we have to make up for it. Are we stupid?
Zhang Fei nodded and asked, "Does the court have any regulations on the conversion price of loss?"
Li Yongji shook his head and said, "I don't know. We'll do whatever the higher-ups say."
Zhang Fei asked: "I wonder how you calculated this loss?"
Li Yongji said: "Due to the shortage of manpower, it is difficult to count the specific loss, so we can only calculate it on average, that is, one bag is counted as one kilogram of loss."
One bag weighs three hundred kilograms, and a large bag weighs two hundred kilograms.
Zhang Fei asked: "Is this a regulation of the imperial court?"
Li Yongji shook his head and said, "I don't know, it's decided by the higher-ups anyway."
He always pushed the questions outside of his job scope to his superiors and would not answer such questions if possible.
Zhang Fei nodded and asked, "Li Yashi should be familiar with the process of handing over the salt."
Li Yongji nodded. This was his job and he couldn't say he didn't know.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Okay! Could you please ask Li Yasi to demonstrate to us the process of salt households handing over salt?"
Li Yongji was stunned for a moment and said, "Excuse me, why do you do this?"
Zhang Fei explained: "I just want to know for sure whether what Huang Tong said is true. But there is no need for Li Yashi to do it himself. My people will demonstrate, and Li Yashi only needs to point out their mistakes."
Li Yongji wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded.
Zhang Fei nodded to the court guard beside him.
A long table was set up, on which were placed some tools specially used by the government to store salt.
Zhang Fei asked: "Li Yasi, are these the same tools as yours?"
Li Yongji glanced at it and nodded.
"That's good!"
Zhang Fei nodded. "If there is anything wrong, please point it out immediately, Li Yashi. After all, this is a matter of life and death, and we cannot be careless."
Li Yongji nodded and said, "I understand."
After receiving Zhang Fei's instructions, an old man came up carrying a bag of salt and poured the salt into a special container.
After it was filled, the man behind the table scraped the salt with a piece of wood to make it level with the mouth of the container, and the scraped salt fell onto a piece of cloth.
Then pour the salt in the container into a special wooden frame.
After the demonstration, Zhang Fei asked, "Li Yasi, is there any problem with their demonstration?"
Li Yongji shook his head, "No problem."
Not only is there no problem, the details are so detailed, especially the scraping, which must have been practiced.
Zhang Fei asked: "Is the salt on this cloth considered as loss?"
Li Yongji was already sweating profusely, and nodded, "Yes, yes."
Zhang Fei took a look and nodded, "That's a lot."
Shangguan Jun muttered: "Maybe it's still too little."
He couldn't help it, so how could the people watching the trial help themselves? They started to curse and mutter, saying that this was more than just a loss, it was too much of a loss.
This really means that even if there is no loss, we still have to create losses.
For a total of 120,000 jin, 400 jin would be wasted, and after a discount of 40 wen, that would be 16 strings of cash, or one third of the cost of the salt.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Should the damp salt be counted as loss, or is it calculated separately?"
Li Yongji said: "Everyone's situation is different. Wet salt is calculated separately."
Zhang Fei asked again: "How do you judge moisture?"
Li Yongji was very unhappy with the question and said, "Look with your eyes and touch with your hands. There is no other way."
Zhang Fei continued to ask: "Is there anyone supervising?"
Li Yongji nodded and said, "Yes."
He Chunlin shivered immediately. Am I the next one?
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Thank you, Li Yashi, for coming to court to testify."
(End of this chapter)
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