Speaking objectively, this was something Zhang Fei had not expected.
He believed that after the salt smuggling case, the other party should at least calm down and be ready to come again. This reckless rush was just asking for death in front of the imperial court.
He also planned to use this gap to build up the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems, and then wait for Zhong Yan and others to arrive, gain a firm foothold and then slowly expand the judicial system.
Who would have thought that just a few days later, the other party would start to attack again.
This really is endless!
Little do they know that this has nothing to do with those officials. Businessmen are also very shrewd. Once they see that your royal court is building up a persona, they must quickly get the money back. If they miss this opportunity, they may lose the store.
"Xiaochun, why are you in such a hurry to take me away? Isn't there something exciting to watch? There are ponies watching over the police station, what are you worried about?"
Cao Dongdong asked Fu Shichun in confusion.
Fu Shichun said, "What kind of excitement is this? This is clearly trouble. Fortunately, this trouble has nothing to do with our police station. Why are you joining in the fun?"
Cao Dongdong said dissatisfiedly: "You are such a coward. If our police station wants to establish its authority, we must not be afraid of trouble. Look at the tax commissioner, everyone is afraid of him, isn't it because he dares to arrest people?"
...
...
"The tax bureau is there to collect money for the imperial court. It's totally different from our police department. How can we compare them?"
Fu Shichun looked at him unhappily, "If our police station wants to gain a foothold in the local area, we can't get too close to the Imperial Court. Now they will be more cautious about us. If they regard us and the Imperial Court as being in the same camp, they may do everything they can to deal with us. We are not the Imperial Court. We are the Royal Police. We have to carry out dangerous missions, but with so few people, we are not enough. Don't forget that we were assassinated on the way here."
Cao Dongdong hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I don't intend to be a follower of the imperial court, but I can't be afraid of this or that. So what is the purpose of my coming here?"
Fu Shichun sighed, "Why don't you understand? I'm not asking you to be cautious. I just want you to act independently and do things within your own authority, and not get involved in their fights. What does that have to do with us?"
Cao Dongdong thought about it and warned: "But you must not tell Xiao Ma about this, otherwise, that kid will definitely scold me for being disloyal."
Fu Shichun rolled his eyes and sighed inwardly, why would I associate with these two idiots? I should have called Fan Da over at that time. I really couldn't take care of it all by myself!
His family also has business here, and he knows that the matter of salt money involves too many interests and is not so easy to handle.
......
On the other side, Zhang Fei and Su Zhe came to the lobby to discuss.
"Judge Zhang, can our procuratorate participate in a case like this?"
Su Che asked first.
In fact, he is also a fledgling, and the powers of the procuratorate are limited. He can only ask Zhang Fei for advice on this aspect.
Zhang Fei hesitated for a moment and said, "The procuratorate must be involved."
"Yeah?"
Su Che was surprised.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "The main responsibility of the Procuratorate is supervision, including supervision of the police station and the imperial court. For any case that endangers the interests of the country and the monarch, the Procuratorate must exercise its supervisory power. How can it just sit there and watch?
As for whether to be the prosecutor, it depends on the specific case. If the case is caused by corrupt officials and the interests of many people are involved, the procuratorate can of course intervene directly. If sufficient evidence is found, a lawsuit can be filed.
But if this is caused by the court's policy, and there is no illegal behavior, the procuratorate is better off exercising its supervisory power, especially supervising the trials of our imperial court."
Su Che frowned and said, "The salt administration is a mess. Of course, there is corruption and bribery, but the real reason why the salt notes cannot be exchanged for salt of equivalent value is definitely due to the court's policies, and has little to do with corruption."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Nowadays, most people regard the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs as one, and think that we have too much power and lack checks and balances. This is obviously wrong. The public security, procuratorial and judicial organs supervise each other. We can use this case to let them know that the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs have their own powers and supervise each other."
Su Zhe nodded. He also thought that it would not be a good idea for the procuratorate to sue the imperial court on behalf of the merchants. Otherwise, given his personality, he would not have come to ask Zhang Fei for his opinion. He then asked, "How do you plan to deal with this?"
Zhang Fei sighed and said, "Even if we put aside all the corruption, this is also a contract dispute case. As long as the businessman files a lawsuit, the imperial court will naturally not sit idly by. But I haven't figured out how to review it yet, so I need to think about it."
Seeing Zhang Fei's doubtful expression, Su Zhe did not ask any more questions. After all, the procuratorate had no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the imperial court. He said, "Then I'll ask those businessmen to sue the imperial court?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "It would be best to find a tea and tea servant and an ear writer to write the petition."
Su Zhe smiled and nodded: "I will mention it to them. If there is nothing else, Su will take his leave first."
After seeing Su Zhe off, Zhang Fei returned to the hall. Xu Zhiqian and the Four Little Golden Warriors all looked at him.
Zhang Fei sat down and asked, "Does anyone know what the salt notes are?"
Xu Zhiqian immediately said: "Before Jiayou, the Northwest Salt Administration had always adopted the official monopoly system, with the government controlling everything. However, due to corruption, abuse of people's power, the prevalence of private salt, and financial decline, the people in the Northwest were living in poverty, so the court implemented the entry system.
Merchants would transport the materials needed by the border troops in exchange for salt permits, and then use the salt permits to exchange for salt in salt-producing areas. However, due to corruption and collusion between officials and merchants, merchants often exchanged cheap goods for a large number of salt permits, thereby making huge profits, causing heavy losses to the country.
Later, Fan Xiang reformed the salt law. Merchants went directly to the border to pay money. It was stipulated that one salt note was exchanged for 4,800 coins, which could be exchanged for 200 kilograms of salt. The army used the money to purchase the necessary supplies. In this way, the treasury earned a profit of millions of strings of coins, which has continued to this day.
Later, Xue Xiang took charge of the salt administration. Firstly, the war with the Western Xia on the border was tense at the time, which led to an increase in military expenditures. Secondly, he adopted the salt-horse system, using the salt profits to exchange for horses, and issued salt notes with smaller denominations, so that the annual issuance of salt notes continued to increase, from 1.66 million strings of salt notes during Fan Xiang's time to 2.3 million strings of salt notes today. "
The four little golden warriors looked at Xu Zhiqian at the same time.
Do you know it so clearly?
Little did people know that Xu Zhiqian was Zhang Fei's hard drive. Before coming, Sima Guang gave all the salt administration information to Zhang Fei, but Zhang Fei was too lazy to read it, so it was Xu Zhiqian who was reading it all. And because she had a lawsuit with Zhang Fei before, she also developed this super memory.
Zhang Fei was not surprised by this, otherwise, he would not have chosen Xu Zhiqian as his chief accountant. He asked, "Who has the power to issue banknotes?"
Xu Zhiqian said: "Generally, it is in the hands of the salt envoys, and the salt envoys are sent by the court, so it is also in the hands of the court. The court has always hoped to use the finances of Shaanxi Road as much as possible to support the Northwest Army. This kind of over-issuance must have been tacitly approved by the court."
Ye Zuqia said, "Teacher, the over-issuance of salt notes was caused by Deputy Envoy Xue, who was promoted because of it and is now serving as the Shipping Envoy. If we rule in favor of the merchants, there will be ministers in the court who will impeach Deputy Envoy Xue, which will affect Scholar Wang's reforms."
Xue Xiang rose to power by relying on this incident. If the court was found in breach of contract, it would be a slap in the face of the emperor and Wang Anshi!
Shangguan Jun said: "But they have already filed a lawsuit. If our imperial court ignores it, it will affect the authority of our imperial court."
Ye Zuqia added, "But Xu Zhubu also said just now that the court hopes to use the finances of Shaanxi Road to support the Northwest Army as much as possible. If we decide that the merchants win the case, we will have to reduce the issuance of salt notes. What about military expenses? If there is a problem in the northwest, we will have to bear the primary responsibility."
Shangguan Jun couldn't help but frown and remain silent.
That's the problem.
This is not because the imperial court was stingy, but if the central government's finances were to be used to subsidize the Northwest Army's military expenses, the losses would be huge, which is not cost-effective. The government's finances are not rich and cannot afford it.
This is also the reason why the salt law was always changing. The imperial court repeatedly sent capable officials, and their purpose was the same, which was to get the military expenses settled.
The excessive issuance of salt notes was directly linked to the military expenditure of the Northwest Army. If there was no war in the Northwest, the pressure on the salt administration would be much smaller and merchants would have more room for activities. However, if wars broke out frequently in the Northwest, the court would strengthen control and take away the merchants' profits.
Speaking objectively, Xue Xiang actually did a very good job. Although he issued salt notes indiscriminately, he also reduced the burden on the people. He used the profits from the salt to exchange for horses, converted the previous pastures into arable land, and then rented them to the people, promoting the economic development of Shaanxi Road. The finances in other areas were all rising, but there are gains and losses. Salt notes were issued a little more.
He also issued small-denomination salt notes. On the one hand, he wanted to default on his debts, but on the other hand, he hoped to see the emergence of specialized note dealers and thus monetize the salt notes.
In general, the overall financial situation is improving, which means that the businessmen are being exploited.
But if the businessman wins the case, what will happen to the original expenditure?
This is different from the Huang Tong private salt case. The squeeze on salt households was only about 20,000 to 30,000 strings of cash, which did not affect the overall situation. But the salt money was millions of strings of cash, which would really hurt the situation!
Zhang Fei also scratched his head in distress and muttered to himself: "It came a little too fast!"
He felt really uncomfortable when the other party did this.
Because everything has to be done gradually, and the legal system has to be implemented step by step. If you start with this, you're directly operating on the heart. Who can bear it?
He wanted to rectify the salt administration, but not immediately.
Cai Jing saw Zhang Fei in a dilemma, so he said: "Teacher, according to the law, the interests of the country and the monarch should be put first.
A businessman can't cause any trouble."
Zhang Fei tilted his head and looked at him.
Cai Jing hurriedly said, "Didn't the teacher say before that we don't settle old accounts? These were left by Deputy Envoy Xue. It's not right to make up for them now, and we can't do anything about it. In my opinion, why don't we discuss it with the salt commissioner and be more cautious in the future and not over-issue salt notes. In this way, those merchants will not think that we are doing nothing."
In his opinion, there is only so much money. If he wants more money, he has to cut it. Cutting the merchants is the most appropriate thing to do. What can they do?
Zhang Fei just nodded slightly and said, "This is also a solution. But I still need to think about it, and there is no rush. Let's wait until they formally sue."
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