"call."
Is it finally over?
Li Yongji couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Just a few questions made him feel like he had survived a disaster. When he stood up, he found that his butt was already wet.
He had been in the officialdom of Hezhong Prefecture for many years and had seen all kinds of intrigues and conspiracies, but this was the first time he had experienced this feeling.
He didn't feel that Zhang Fei was targeting him or trying to convict him, but he felt very uneasy in his heart, and even felt embarrassed in front of others. Every question made him feel embarrassed, and his mind was blank.
When I returned to my seat and sat down, my heart slowly calmed down.
He glanced around secretly, but saw that many officials had sullen faces and were silent.
It is a hot summer day, but I feel a chill sitting here.
Even Cai Yanqing looked a little nervous. In front of so many people, is it really okay for you to say this?
You are trying to strip the imperial court of its underwear!
...
...
I am also filled with worries about this.
Only Zhang Fei remained calm, as if he had only asked a few insignificant questions and drank half a cup of tea before allowing Cai Jing to call the next witness to the court.
He Chunlin was right, it was him.
When he came to the court, his legs were trembling slightly. Li Yongji was in the middle of a game, so he naturally felt a little confused. He could see it clearly from the side that this kid didn't play by the rules. He asked all kinds of embarrassing questions and it was impossible to guess what questions he would ask.
Chunchun is a young and inexperienced official. This kind of official is the most terrifying in the officialdom.
But if you really say he is a fool, he doesn't seem to be targeting anyone. He just makes you feel embarrassed to talk about it, but doesn't make you feel your life is threatened.
"He Yanjian, please take a seat."
Zhang Fei smiled and gestured with his hand.
"Thank you very much."
He Chunlin bowed slightly and sat down.
Zhang Fei flipped through the case and asked with a smile, "According to my understanding, He Yanjian is in charge of the salt affairs of Xue Nu Chi, so he should be very familiar with it."
He Chunlin hesitated for a while before nodding helplessly.
He is in charge of the affairs and there is no way to push the blame to the higher-ups.
Zhang Fei asked: "This case involves salt, which was obtained from Huang Tong's extra production. In other words, in addition to the 120,000 kilograms of salt handed over to the court, this is the extra salt. Is this behavior allowed by the court?"
He Chunlin nodded and said, "Yes."
Zhang Fei asked: "Then who should this part of the salt belong to?"
He Chunlin thought carefully before answering, "Of course it belongs to the salt households, but they must sell it to the court."
"It must be sold to the court."
Zhang Fei asked with interest: "If it is sold to someone other than the imperial court, what does that count as?"
He Chunlin said: "Then it counts as smuggling salt."
Zhang Fei asked, "Is there a rule that the imperial court must also purchase the extra salt produced by salt households?"
He Chunlin paused for a moment and said, "The court stipulates that the extra salt produced by salt households must be sold to the court. There is no explicit provision that the court must purchase it, but we have never refused."
As soon as these words were spoken, many people outside the courtyard sneered.
He Chunlin didn't even dare to look over there and pretended not to know.
Since the people only expressed their dissatisfaction with their eyes and lips, Zhang Fei did not knock the gavel and continued to ask: "But I don't know how your salt supervisor purchases salt from salt households. Is there a set date and price, and then purchases it all at once? Or do you let salt households come to sell their salt actively, and we buy as many as they sell, and the price is negotiable."
After this series of questions, He Chunlin began to sweat.
Many of the officials sitting on the side were also twisting their bodies and swaying their collars.
It’s so hot!
He Chunlin thought for a long time and said, "Well, it's like this. Generally speaking, because each household produces different amounts of salt and the dates are also different, the government cannot purchase them uniformly. Generally, salt households come to sell them, and the price is not fixed."
"Yeah?"
Zhang Fei said: "But according to the evidence provided by the procuratorate, the salt supervision will only collect salt from salt households during a certain period of time, and the date is uncertain."
He Chunlin hesitated and said, "Yes, because the salt inspector also has to look at the situation of the warehouse. If the warehouse is full, then naturally we can't collect it. For example, if there is no money in the account, we can't collect it either."
Zhang Fei said: "So when to collect is up to you to decide based on the situation in the warehouse. There is no clear rule."
"Yes."
He Chunlin nodded.
Zhang Fei asked: "Salt Supervisor He should know a lot about salt."
He Chunlin nodded.
Zhang Fei said: "Salt needs to be well preserved, and from what I understand, salt farmers are not able to preserve large quantities of salt. Once the government sets the date for purchasing salt in winter or next spring, the salt in the hands of salt farmers will get damp, moldy, and evaporate. Who should bear this loss?"
When the people heard this question, they were very excited and looked at He Chunlin with wide eyes.
It turned out that the government often withheld the salt and refused to collect it, and the salt farmers were unable to preserve it. They could only watch the salt get damp and moldy, and when the government came to collect it again, they would make all kinds of things difficult for them.
Eventually, the salt households were forced to have no choice but to give all their salt to please the officials.
He Chunlin hesitated for a moment and said, "The salt farmers will bear the responsibility."
Zhang Fei asked: "Has this happened before?"
He Chunlin nodded slightly.
Zhang Fei asked: "In this case, can salt farmers sell salt that is about to spoil?"
"cannot!"
He Chunlin closed his eyes, feeling as if he was trying to cover up his ears and steal a bell.
The people watching the trial already had ferocious expressions on their faces and were gritting their teeth.
The officials were as embarrassed as they could be.
This kind of thing is not a secret, and the salt households are not mute, but the people only talk about it in private and will not bring it up in public.
It would be redundant to speak it out.
How to do things in the future.
Is this guy a fool?
Zhang Fei seemed very devoted to his question and said, "Just now we were talking about the price of salt purchased by the imperial court. Salt Supervisor He said it was not certain whether the price was different for each household or different every year."
He Chunlin thought for a while before he said uncertainly, "Maybe the price is different every year?"
We should choose the lesser of two evils. We cannot have a different price for each household, as that would be a serious problem.
Zhang Fei asked: "So what was the price last year?"
He Chunlin lowered his head and said vaguely: "It's less than a penny."
He was too embarrassed to say anything, and those officials were so embarrassed that they just wanted to get up and leave.
Chen Qi whispered, "Attorney General, what does the Royal Court want to do?"
Su Zhe was stunned. "I don't know either, but... these questions are good."
Zhang Fei asked again: "What is the highest price that the Salt Supervisor knows?"
He Chunlin thought for a while and said, "Almost."
"Less than a penny?"
"Um."
"Who sets the price, or is it determined by the government and the salt farmers?"
"Of course it was decided by the government."
"Can the imperial court give clear regulations, or is it up to you, the Salt Supervisor, to decide?"
"The imperial court has no clear regulations. It is usually decided by our salt inspectors, or by higher authorities."
“I wonder what you base your pricing on?”
".?"
Do you still need to ask this? Of course, it is based on the principle that the less the better, it would be best if it were given away for free, or even owed to us. He Chunlin was confused by the question, but he was also a veteran of the battlefield, so he said: "It is determined based on the needs of the border troops."
Come come come!
I won’t hide it anymore. If you ask, you can catch them all if you have the guts.
When Qin Zhongshou and other generals heard this, they began to worry, thinking that they would not be allowed to testify in court.
Zhang Fei, however, was like a curious baby, and asked, "That is to say, if the demand from the border troops is high, the purchase price will be low. If there is no war on the border, the price of salt will be high?"
He Chunlin nodded and said, "That's right."
Zhang Fei said: "But He Yanjian just said that the purchase price is almost the same, less than a penny."
".!"
He Chunlin was stunned immediately.
Su Zhe pursed his lips, trying his best not to laugh out loud.
Cao Dongdong said excitedly, "Uncle Qin, this is Zhang San's specialty. Be careful when answering his questions."
Qin Zhongshou and the others were in no mood to talk about these things as they could only hear their own heartbeats.
After a while, He Chunlin explained, "That's because the border finances have been short of money recently, so the budget is set very low."
Zhang Fei asked again: "According to the observations of He Yanjian, how much more salt can salt farmers produce each year?"
He Chunlin said: "It can be as little as a few hundred kilograms, or as much as a few thousand kilograms."
Zhang Fei nodded, flipped open another document and looked at it, saying, "According to the government records, there are about 500 salt households in Hezhong Prefecture. If each household produces an extra 1,000 kilograms of salt per year, 500 households would produce 500,000 kilograms of salt. Not counting the price the government sells to merchants, and at a price of 40 coins, that would be 20,000 strings of cash. Is there any mistake in my calculation?"
The people watching the trial were confused. What did this mean?
He Chunlin heard the hidden meaning and looked at Zhang Fei with despair.
You won't even leave us a pair of underwear?
Zhang Fei asked: "Did I calculate wrongly?"
He Chunlin shook his head and said, "No."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "It can be seen that the financial deficit of the Northwest Border is indeed huge. Even the 20,000 strings of cash must be carefully calculated. It is really not easy to be a salt official!"
The people suddenly realized what was going on and praised him secretly in their hearts.
You made it sound so serious, as it concerns the war in the northwest, but even if we calculate it at the highest price, it would only be 20,000 strings of cash.
He Chunlin sneered, "Judge Zhang, if you have something to say, just say it directly. Why do you have to be so veiled?"
He is different from Li Yongji. He was sent by the central government and is a very powerful official who can say some tough words.
"I just understand the difficulties of He Yanjian. I don't mean anything else."
Zhang Fei smiled apologetically and added, "Thank you very much, He Yanjian, for coming to court to testify."
"snort!"
He Chunlin stood up and left angrily.
"Summon the lieutenant of Hedong County to the court."
"The message was sent to Liu Daxing, the county lieutenant of Hedong County."
I saw a middle-aged man with a burly figure, a beard and wearing a scholar's robe sitting at the end come up to the courtyard.
At first glance, it is clear that he is a man of both civil and military talents.
The county lieutenant is equivalent to the chief of the public security bureau. When the police come here, the county lieutenant is also one of the main victims.
After asking Liu Daxing to sit down, Zhang Fei asked, "The reason why I summoned County Magistrate Liu to the court is mainly because I want to ask a question."
As he spoke, he looked down at the copy, then raised his head and asked, "Lieutenant Liu should have heard what Chief Inspector Ma said just now."
Liu Daxing nodded.
Zhang Fei asked, "Based on Huang Tong's reaction at the time, I did not feel that he was doing something illegal that would be punishable by death. This made me very confused. Does County Magistrate Liu know the reason?"
Liu Daxing shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Zhang Fei couldn't help but smile awkwardly, and then asked, "Then I wonder if there were many cases of illegal salt trafficking in Hezhong Prefecture before?"
The files of Hezhong Prefecture had been sent to him before, so he should be very clear about it. Liu Daxing thought for a while and said, "No, not too much."
Zhang Fei asked, "Liu County Magistrate, do you mean that there aren't too many cases of smuggling salt?"
Liu Daxing remained silent.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Isn't County Lieutenant Liu clear?"
Liu Daxing said: "Not really."
Zhang Fei asked, "But according to the investigation of the procuratorate, it is very common for salt households to sell illegal salt in Hezhong Prefecture. Huang Tong's confession also said that he has been selling it all along, but this is the first time he has been caught."
"This cough cough!"
Liu Daxing suddenly felt a blockage in his throat.
Zhang Fei asked considerately, "Would you like to pour a cup of tea for County Officer Liu?"
"No, no need!"
Liu Daxing's forehead was covered with sweat, and he answered again: "Maybe."
Zhang Fei asked, "Are there many cases involving the trafficking of illegal salt?"
Liu Daxing wiped the sweat from his forehead and stammered, "No, not a lot."
Zhang Fei asked, "Is it because it is difficult to catch these salt dealers who sell illegal salt?"
Liu Daxing, like Li Yongji and He Chunlin, could not hold back and said directly: "That's not the case, but we also know that those salt households are in a difficult situation, so as long as the number is not large, we will turn a blind eye."
Lie down!
You ask.
Zhang Fei asked, "So County Magistrate Liu also agrees with Huang Tong's words. If they don't sell salt privately, it will be difficult for their family to survive."
Liu Daxing nodded.
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, "Thank you for your help."
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