After He Chunlin went down, almost everyone thought that they had asked enough questions, because He Chunlin did not refute the facts, so the evidence was conclusive and a verdict could be made directly.
Bang!
Zhang Fei suddenly knocked the gavel, "Call Mr. Fu Wenxian."
Everyone present was startled, and they all turned their heads to look at an old man sitting in the front with white hair and beard, and looking energetic.
The old man came to the court and was about to bow to Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei quickly extended his hand and said, "No need to be polite, old sir. Please take a seat."
"Thank you!"
Fu Wenxian sat down.
Su Che asked awkwardly, "Who is this old man?"
Chen Qi shook his head.
...
...
It was not an accident, because when Zhang Fei was acting as an informant, he liked to summon some unexpected witnesses.
Zhang Fei asked with a smile: "Excuse me, how old is the old gentleman this year?"
Fu Wenxian cupped his hands and said, "I am already in my seventies."
Zhang Fei was surprised and said, "But the old man still looks very energetic, which really makes us ashamed."
Fu Wenxian chuckled and said, "At his age, Judge Zhang is already the chief judge of Hezhong Prefecture. I should be ashamed of myself."
"Thank you! Thank you!"
......
When the guests around saw the two of them flattering each other, they all broke out in cold sweats.
Hey!
This is a trial. What are you doing? Are you greeting each other?
It's too indecent.
Zhang Fei coughed lightly and said, "Thank you very much for coming to court to testify today. Could you please introduce your resume first?"
Fu Wenxian nodded and said, "I am from Hedong County, not a Jinshi. When I was young, I served in the government office and was appointed as a bailiff in the county government. Later, I moved around in various counties in Hezhong Prefecture. About thirty years ago, the government promoted me to be the chief clerk of Jiezhou. Later, I served as the county lieutenant of Hedong County, and later as the magistrate of Hezhong Prefecture."
After hearing his resume, I knew he was not from an ordinary background, otherwise, it would be impossible for a yamen servant to directly serve as a bailiff. Moreover, it was very difficult for an official to be promoted, and one had to have a background.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Then the old gentleman must be very familiar with the changes in Hezhong Prefecture over the past few decades."
Fu Wenxian nodded and said, "It's relatively clear."
Zhang Fei lowered his head to glance at the document and asked, "Old sir, do you still remember in which year you served as the Tongpan of Hezhong Prefecture?"
Fu Wenxian thought for a moment and said, "It should be the first year of Jiayou."
Zhang Fei asked: "What was the situation of Hezhong Prefecture at that time? Especially in terms of finance."
Fu Wenxian stroked his beard, sighed, and shook his head, saying, "The finances of Hezhong Prefecture were really terrible at that time."
Zhang Fei asked: "Why?"
Fu Wenxian said: "Because before Jiayou, there were continuous wars in the northwest, and the salt administration in Jiezhou was extremely corrupt, private salt was rampant, and thousands of people were forced to serve. Alas..."
Having said this, he sighed heavily, it was really too painful to look back.
Zhang Fei asked again: "How did the court respond afterwards?"
Fu Wenxian said in high spirits: "After the war with Xixia ended, the court immediately sent people to rectify the salt administration, but the effect was not good. It was not until Fan Tixing came here to preside over the salt law that the predicament of Hezhong Prefecture was completely reversed."
"Fan Xiang?"
"Yes."
Zhang Fei asked: "Fan Tixing's salt law is the salt note mentioned just now, that is, merchants take money to the border states to exchange for salt notes, and then take the salt notes back to Jiezhou to exchange for salt, and finally sell it to various places."
Fu Wenxian nodded.
Zhang Fei asked: "Old sir, can you tell me specifically how much profit the court has made from the salt law?"
Fu Wenxian said: "At that time, I was the magistrate of Hezhong Prefecture, so I knew it relatively well. After Fan Tixing took charge of the salt law, the salt administration went from loss to profit of more than 4 million guan, and at the same time saved the court more than 8 million guan in expenditure. In total, the court made a profit of more than 10 million guan."
Why did the imperial court always hope that Hezhong Prefecture could solve the military expenses in the northwest as much as possible? It was because when they were fighting with Li Yuanhao of Western Xia, the salt administration of Hezhong Prefecture was corrupt and could not provide more support. The central government had to allocate money, and the loss was very shocking.
At the same time, the savings of 8 million strings of cash also included the labor of the people. At that time, it was all the labor of the people who transported military rations. These people were on the road every day and could not farm or pay taxes. The local finances of Shaanxi collapsed directly.
Wang Anshi is a staunch supporter of Fan Xiang. This is financial management!
But what's funny is that this was exactly the reason why Sima Guang opposed Wang Anshi. The salt administration was so corrupt before because of the official monopoly system, which involved official production, official sales, and official transportation. The result was a mess, with the people living in dire straits and the court not seeing a penny.
Zhang Fei was shocked: "So many?"
Fu Wenxian chuckled and said, "If it weren't for this, how could this law continue to this day? You should know that the salt law used to change every three years. Not to mention the common people, even officials like us often don't know which law to follow."
Zhang Fei asked: "According to your opinion, will the over-issuance of salt notes undermine the salt law set by Fan Tixing?"
“Absolutely.”
Fu Wenxian said: "When Fan Tixing was in office, he repeatedly warned that the salt notes must not be over-issued. Fan Tixing even adopted the Changping method to balance the price of salt notes and stop them from hoarding and speculating."
Zhang Fei asked: "Old sir, do you think there is a new law that can replace the old law?"
"No."
Fu Wenxian shook his head, "Anyway, I didn't find it."
Zhang Fei continued to ask: "Based on your experience, if Fan Tixing's salt law is undermined, will the interests of the country be harmed?"
Fu Wenxian nodded and said, "I will definitely do that."
Zhang Fei asked, "Why is Mr. Fu so confident?"
Fu Wenxian said: "Because after Fan Tixing was transferred, his successor overturned Fan Tixing's salt law for a time, and the financial situation immediately returned to the previous state. He was forced to return to Fan Tixing's salt law, and it has never been changed since then."
"I see!"
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Thank you, old man, for testifying in court."
"It should be. It should be."
A royal policeman came forward, but Fu Wenxian waved his hand, then stood up, bowed slightly, and went downstairs.
Everyone looked at Fu Wenxian, confusion on their faces. What did this have to do with this case?
Xu Zhiqian quietly came to Zhang Fei's side and put a document on him.
"Thank you!" Zhang Fei nodded, stared at the document for a while, suddenly knocked the gavel, raised his head and said loudly: "Call Wei Yingfang, the Tongpan of Hezhong Prefecture."
Wei Yingfang was not surprised because Zhang Fei had sent someone to inform him before that he might be asked to testify in court. After all, he was the Tongpan of Hezhong Prefecture, which involved financial and criminal powers. He immediately stood up and came to the court.
"Please take a seat, Judge Wei."
"Thank you very much."
After Wei Yingfang sat down, Zhang Fei said, "I'm very sorry. Since Mr. Fu was unable to provide the current financial situation of Hezhong Prefecture, I can only trouble Judge Wei to do it."
Wei Yingfang nodded and said, "Please don't be polite, Judge Zhang. This is also part of our job."
"Thank you for your understanding."
Zhang Fei asked, "I wonder when did Wei Tongpan come to Hezhong Prefecture to serve as Tongpan?"
Wei Yingfang said: "The first year of Xining."
Zhang Fei said: "At that time, Xue Fayunshi was still serving as the salt envoy here."
"right."
"What was the finance of Hezhong Prefecture like at that time?"
“Very good.”
Wei Yingfang nodded and said truthfully: "The government's finances are increasing year by year, and the labor and taxes of the people have been greatly reduced."
Zhang Fei asked: "But I wonder what magic method Xue Fayun used?"
Wei Yingfang said, "In fact, Xue Fayunshi has always firmly supported Fan Tixing's salt law, but he combined the salt policy with the horse policy. Just as He Yanjian said just now, he saved more than 100,000 strings of cash in horse-raising fees, and at the same time exempted thousands of people from the hard labor. During Xue Fayunshi's tenure, Hezhong Prefecture made a profit of more than one million strings of cash."
Zhang Fei asked: "Can I assume that Xue Fa's method is just to transfer the more than 100,000 strings of cash in horse-raising expenses and the labor of thousands of people to the salt merchants?"
Wei Yingfang thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps there is some reason, but it is mainly because of the increase in military expenditures in the northwest that the government has increased the issuance of salt notes every year."
Zhang Fei said, "Mr. Fu just said that overissuing salt notes will definitely undermine the Salt Law. I wonder if Judge Wei agrees?"
Wei Yingfang hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "I agree."
Zhang Fei asked, "I wonder what evidence Judge Wei has?"
Wei Yingfang said: "In the past two years, the amount of salt notes sold by the imperial court has been decreasing, and the number of merchants willing to go to the border states to buy salt notes has also decreased."
Zhang Fei asked, "Does Judge Wei think this will affect the national finances?"
Wei Yingfang nodded.
“Is it a big impact?”
“It’s pretty big.”
Wei Yingfang said: "If the merchants don't go, the court can only send military rations and military expenses, which will inevitably increase the labor of the people and increase losses."
Zhang Fei asked: "Does the court have any countermeasures at present?"
Wei Yingfang shook his head and said, "As far as I know, no."
"Thank you, Judge Wei."
After Wei Yingfang left, Zhang Fei did not call any more witnesses, but said: "If the plaintiff has no other demands, you can make your closing statement."
“We have no other demands.”
Li Min stood up and said, "Because the facts and evidence have been
It was proven that the government violated the contract without reason and did not give a reasonable explanation afterwards. Instead, it kept delaying and used the means of issuing small banknotes to force several of my clients to bear the losses caused by the government's breach of contract.
Since my clients have invested all their capital in the salt notes in the past few years and are unwilling to bear the losses, they have not made any money in these years and have been living off their savings. If the court fulfills the contract, based on calculations from previous years, my clients will be able to make a total profit of about 10,000 strings of cash in the next two years.
Therefore, I implore Judge Zhang to rule in our favor, and the government to exchange the salt notes in my client's hands with the amount of salt stipulated in the contract, and to compensate my clients with 20% of the total value of the salt notes. "
The officials around looked at Li Min as if he were a fool.
What is he talking about?
Blame the government?
Floating!
This ear pen is really floating!
Will he live beyond tomorrow?
If Su Che said so, it would be normal. The procuratorate has the power of supervision, and he is just here to criticize the government.
But the problem is that Li Min is just an earpiece, how can he say that?
However, Yuan Jiang and Su Zhe, who had witnessed Zhang Fei fighting a lawsuit, did not feel surprised at all. In comparison, this was really too gentle.
Not a single word of sarcasm.
Zhang Fei knocked the gavel and said, "The court is adjourned for now."
Then he stood up and went into the back hall with Xu Zhiqian, Cai Bian and others.
Some old men quickly stood up and stretched their shins. They really regarded the lawsuit as a kind of entertainment and were extremely fascinated by it. As a result, they found that their backs and waists were sore.
Yuan Jiang also stood up, but frowned and looked at Wei Yingfang, "What Judge Wei just said is really inappropriate!"
Wei Yingfang was stunned for a moment, and quickly asked, "What do you mean, Master Yuan?"
Cai Yanqing suddenly said: "It seems that he will most likely order compensation."
As soon as these words were spoken, officials from the surrounding area immediately gathered around.
Cai Yanqing explained: "Mr. Fu's confession and Judge Wei's confession have fully demonstrated that if we want to continue to maintain the existing salt law, we cannot over-issue salt notes. Otherwise, the national finances will suffer greater losses. The solution is naturally to compensate those salt merchants."
Yuan Jiang said: "What Magistrate Cai said is right. In the current situation, even if he orders the government to pay compensation, what can you do?"
The surrounding officials suddenly realized what was going on.
I finally understood why Zhang Fei summoned Fu Wenxian to testify in court.
They previously thought that this was very difficult to judge. If Zhang Fei dared to order the government to pay compensation, then if there was a financial problem, your imperial court would be responsible. But now their testimonies have proved that if the government is not ordered to pay compensation, the problem may be even bigger.
How can I go about causing trouble with the imperial court?
Wei Yingfang was immediately annoyed and cursed inwardly, this stinky boy is really hard to guard against! He defended himself again: "Mr. Fu said so before. If I didn't say that, how could I say that?"
If he realized this, he might change his story, but he would not dare to change the facts. These things are all verifiable by evidence, and everyone knows that salt notes are not selling well now.
The reason is that the salt notes depreciated too much.
He Chunlin looked anxiously and asked, "What should we do?"
Cai Yanqing looked directly at Yuan Jiang.
Yuan Jiang frowned, "Let's wait and see."
However, the officials' worries were seen by the salt merchants, who were very excited. To them, the process was actually not important, because it was definitely a breach of contract by the government. The key lay in how the imperial court would judge and whether the government would enforce it.
The expressions of the officials are more important than the process.
......
After a long while, Zhang Fei and others walked out from the back hall. As usual, everyone was standing and looking forward to it.
Zhang Fei knocked the gavel and suddenly saw that everyone around him was silent. He couldn't help but smile and said loudly: "According to the judgment of this case by the presiding judge, it is determined that the government breached the contract first. It must exchange the amount of salt agreed in the contract for the corresponding salt notes. At the same time, the government must compensate the plaintiff's losses with an annual interest of 6%."
There was an uproar immediately.
Duan Chaobei and other salt merchants all opened their eyes wide and looked at Zhang Fei in disbelief.
The verdict is out!
They actually awarded compensation.
Although it is not the 20% they requested, but if the compensation is 6% per year for three years, it will be 18%, which is close to 20%.
In fact, the key is not the amount. Even if it is 0.1 percent, it is unprecedented.
Because in the past judicial systems, the government was in an absolutely dominant position, and it was extremely rare for them to compensate you in full. And you even gave me interest. Are you dreaming?
But the royal court actually ordered compensation.
"Silence! Silence!"
Zhang Fei knocked the gavel hard a few times, and when everyone around him quieted down, he continued, "But considering that these salt notes have been accumulated for two or three years, and the current financial constraints of Hezhong Prefecture, it may be difficult to come up with so much salt at once.
The finances of a prefecture are related to the people of the prefecture, and also involve the supply of border troops. In order to avoid this case bringing burden to the people, this court president allows the government to delay compensation, but a detailed compensation plan must be put forward as soon as possible, and the consent of the salt merchants must be obtained. "
After these words were spoken, the salt merchants were stunned again. Shouldn’t they compensate immediately?
This has to be delayed again!
If you keep delaying, it will be gone!
Wei Yingfang and the others were also a little depressed. They were expecting Zhang Fei to make compensation immediately. It has come to this, why are you still trying to delay the battle? Can't you be more resolute?
"also!"
Zhang Fei said: "In the future, the government must announce the amount of salt notes issued and must not conceal anything about it..."
"I object!"
Su Che immediately stood up and said, "The imperial court has no right to interfere in the salt administration. On what basis does Judge Zhang demand that the government must announce the amount of salt notes issued?"
He Chunlin was puzzled: "Are the Procuratorate and the Imperial Court on the same side?"
Su Che attempted to refute Zhang Fei's judgment several times.
Yuan Jiang whispered, "According to the system, the Procuratorate is mainly responsible for supervising the trials of the Imperial Court. Therefore, the rank of the Chief Prosecutor is the same as that of the Court President, and there is no difference between them."
Zhang Fei also explained: "The imperial court did not interfere with the salt administration, and never thought of interfering with the salt administration, but the imperial court must safeguard the legitimate interests of the people, because the salt notes are sold to the people by the government, and the people naturally have the right to know about the salt notes. The confessions and evidence just now can prove that the number of salt notes issued will directly affect the people's willingness to buy salt notes.
In addition, the government's actions are suspected of violating the laws of our ancestors. The Attorney General believes that the current decision to issue salt notes complies with the governing principle of preventing crimes and controlling them. "
The people couldn't help but cry for joy when they heard this. We must protect our interests. Are you serious?
But Su Che was stunned.
What the hell?
The law of our ancestors?
Chen Qi and Wang Shen were also dumbfounded.
Zhang Fei waited for a while before continuing, "None of the officials' testimonies just now provided a solution. Apparently, they did not consider the consequences of overissuing salt notes. On the surface, this is contrary to the laws of our ancestors. This court president also hopes that the procuratorate can provide some supervision in this regard."
Su Che was immediately delighted. It seemed that he and I had the same idea. He nodded and said, "Our procuratorate will investigate this matter."
He originally wanted to investigate the matter, but Zhang Fei gave him an ancestral method, which made it even more legitimate.
Officials such as Wei Yingfang, He Chunlin, Cao Yi, and Qin Zhongshou could not help but sweat profusely.
Everyone was stunned by the way this hat was put on!
Cai Yanqing looked puzzled and asked, "Master Yuan, can the imperial court still judge whether it violates the laws of our ancestors?"
No government has ever ruled that any case violated the ancestral laws, because without this law, the ancestral laws were merely a reason to restrict the emperor.
How could ordinary officials afford this hat?
Yuan Jiang said, "Prefect Cai, you may not know that the first page of the new edition of the Song Dynasty Criminal Code contains the laws of our ancestors, which are written to prevent crimes and to regulate crimes. It was written by the emperor himself."
In the past, ancestral laws were not written regulations, but after that lawsuit, Zhao Xu personally wrote the ancestral laws into the "Song Xing Tong" because Zhao Xu believed that if they were not written, and you were using various ancestral systems to restrict me every day, this was not fair, so I would just write it directly into the "Song Xing Tong" and everyone would be bound by it.
And there is a debate to be had.
I have a big ear pen, I am afraid of no one.
Zhang Fei looked around and said, "If either party disagrees with this verdict, they can present relevant evidence and appeal. Today's trial ends here, and we are adjourning."
.
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