After the Imperial Court announced that the case would be tried in public, the attention of the entire Hezhong Prefecture was once again focused on the Imperial Court.
On the surface, it seems that the public security, procuratorial and judicial departments are aggressive, but in fact they are not.
So far, the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs are in a completely passive situation.
Because according to common sense, this case should not have been brought to the imperial court. If there were no public security, procuratorate or court, Cai Yanqing could have solved it with just one word.
It can be seen that it is not the public security, procuratorate and courts that are making things difficult for the government, but the government that is making things difficult for the public security, procuratorate and courts.
But this was also within Zhang Fei's expectations.
The rise of a new force will inevitably lead to attacks from the old forces.
This is inevitable.
Because there is only so much power, the rise of new forces must come at the expense of old forces.
The old forces will try every means to cause trouble for you. The interests among them are complicated and they are strong in numbers. Even if you kill a group of my officials, the ones who replace them will still be our people.
...
...
Almost all of these officials belong to the old forces.
But you, the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, cannot afford to lose. Once you lose, you will be seriously damaged.
These officials are all shrewd people. They think that this lawsuit will only benefit them and will not cause any harm. Of course, it would be best if they can win.
But even if they lose, it will only make the already deficit-ridden finances worse.
The best weapon against the judiciary is finance.
For the imperial court, finance is definitely more important than justice.
So they are also fearless.
......
The weather is nice.
A heavy rain last night washed away the hot air on the surface of the earth, providing a better viewing experience for the next day.
Early in the morning, officials arrived at the imperial court one after another.
Although they expressed all kinds of dissatisfaction, they still had to come. Sixty to seventy percent of the country's financial resources were concentrated on military spending. You have to know that the national financial resources of the Song Dynasty were a very large number.
The interests of so many people are involved here. It can be said that it is closely related to every official in Hezhong Prefecture. In addition, with the support of the imperial court, can they feel at ease if they don't come in person?
In an instant, the entire imperial court was filled with complaints.
Officials complained to various “envoys” such as Wang Shao, Guo Kui, and Yuan Jiang, who all represented the imperial court.
You see, once the police, procuratorate and courts arrived, the entire Hezhong Prefecture became restless, making us officials feel constrained and afraid to work hard.
What this means is, what is the purpose of doing this?
It’s not for the national finances.
With the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs acting like this, who would dare to make money for the country?
Everyone knows about this kind of thing. Wang Hong is a typical example. The country is in urgent need of money, so whoever can make money is a good official.
On this side, they ask us to try every possible way to make money, while on the other side, they use the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs to make things difficult for us.
Aren't you kidding us?
Wang Shao, Guo Kui and others were very clear about this and expressed that they would explain their difficulties to the court.
Without money, everyone is doomed.
You still have to coax her a little.
In fact, these old foxes have already seen that the public security, procuratorate and courts have not yet completely torn their faces apart. They are suing the Transportation Bureau instead of the Transportation Envoy. The difference between these two words makes a world of difference.
Since you are suing a government office, the officials will not be involved no matter what.
This is definitely a consideration.
......
It was almost noon and the front of the gate was packed with people. The difference from the past was that this time, those standing in front were all tall and burly young men, instead of the aunties selling tea on the street, so the citizens could not squeeze in at all.
This lawsuit is closely related to the interests of the soldiers.
They hoped that Chen Guang could win the lawsuit because they had all been subjected to similar treatment to some extent and had been holding on to this resentment for a long time.
If officials don't feel any pressure and expose all these bad things, which leads to a mutiny, then the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs will be completely finished.
As in the past, Cai Jing, Cai Bian, Shangguan Jun, Ye Zuqia, as well as Su Che, Chen Qi and Wang Shen from the Procuratorate, came into the court one after another and began to organize the required documents.
However, this time the Royal Court added an extra seat behind the Procuratorate, and two young men went straight to that seat to organize their documents.
One of them is familiar to everyone, he is Li Min, the spy who helped the salt merchants to fight the lawsuit last time, and the other is Qiu Zhengwen.
However, this time no one was anxiously waiting for Zhang Fei, but rather their eyes were fixed on Su Che.
It has been proven that the Procuratorate forced the prosecution in this case. The Royal Court was hesitant before, which shows that the Procuratorate is not under the jurisdiction of the Royal Court.
"We have offended everyone this time."
Chen Qi felt as if he had a thorn in his back and muttered to himself.
Su Che said helplessly: "But we have already given them a chance. They want to use this case to deal with us. We have no choice."
As he said this, he glanced back at Qiu Zhengwen and Li Min, then tilted his head to look at the empty seats on the other side and said, "They still haven't hired an espionage writer."
Chen Qi said: "All the people present in court today are officials. How could they believe that little whisperer?"
"That's true."
Su Che nodded slightly.
Speaking of the facts, eloquence, talent, and understanding of law, how can those scribes compare with officials? The smartest people in the world are all officials. Those who cannot be officials are definitely not smart enough. It is impossible for officials to let scribes help them to fight lawsuits.
When they were almost ready, Zhang Fei and Xu Zhiqian arrived late.
Whether they like it or not, the simple and rough etiquette of the imperial court is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. This time, no one will make trouble for themselves. Now that the prestige of the imperial court has greatly increased, they stood up slightly and then sat down.
Bang!
Zhang Fei knocked the gavel, "Silence!"
The scene in front of the imperial court suddenly became quiet.
Zhang Fei looked around and said loudly: "Before the court opens, I would like to explain that the case being heard in the imperial court today is a joint lawsuit."
As he spoke, he extended his hand to Su Che and said, "The Procuratorate is suing the Transportation Bureau for defaulting on military pay. This is a criminal case. In addition, the plaintiff Chen Guang has also entrusted the Legal Aid Department to file a lawsuit against the Transportation Bureau for compensation."
Everyone was confused after hearing this.
What's the meaning?
Isn't this the same thing?
Even the officials were a little confused.
Zhang Fei further explained: "In the future, our imperial court will set up a civil imperial court and a criminal imperial court. The imperial court will issue a notice for the specific explanation. This court president will briefly explain it here.
The easiest thing to understand is that criminal cases will inevitably lead to punishment, such as theft, murder, corruption, and withholding of military pay. In such cases, once there is solid evidence, the court will inevitably impose punishment and the procuratorate will inevitably intervene.
Civil cases usually refer to disputes over interests between people, such as debts, inheritance, marriage, etc. Such cases do not involve criminal penalties.
Here, the presiding judge would like to make a special note. According to the previous rules, if someone borrows money and does not pay it back, the government will use the fine, which can be as high as sixty fines. However, this will not happen in the Imperial Court because it is a civil case and no punishment will be used. At the same time, in such cases, the procuratorate is usually only responsible for supervision and will not intervene or represent any party.
Withholding and delaying military pay is within the jurisdiction of the procuratorate, but the compensation lawsuit filed by the plaintiff Chen Guang is a debt dispute, which is a civil case and it is not convenient for the procuratorate to intervene. Therefore, the plaintiff Chen Guang can only entrust the Legal Aid Department to conduct the lawsuit.
After hearing these words, the people were all stunned. Is it so complicated?
However, many officials thought that the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems were really rigorous and that they sounded very reasonable.
However, they all believed that this was Sima Guang's credit.
Of course, some people think that this is just a trick and a waste of manpower and resources.
“Let me introduce the Legal Aid Department here.”
Zhang Fei said: "As the name suggests, the Legal Aid Department provides legal assistance to the people. This is because many people are illiterate and do not understand the law, so they often suffer losses in litigation. In order to seek fairness, the court decided to set up the Legal Aid Department. However, this is not an official office. There is no official in the Legal Aid Department. The clerks of the Legal Aid Department all join voluntarily. It is a good deed. They will help the people write petitions for free and do not charge any fees.
Of course, this court will consider the specific circumstances and assign the Legal Aid Department's ears to handle the lawsuit for the people, which is also free of charge. This time, the presiding judge took into account the complexity of Chen Guang's lawsuit, so he assigned the Director of the Legal Aid Department, Qiu Zhengwen, and his assistant Li Min to fight for him. "
Qiu Zhengwen and Li Min immediately stood up and bowed to everyone around them to make themselves known.
Zhang Fei had given instructions about this. As this was a joint lawsuit and involved the Legal Aid Department, it had to be publicized.
After hearing this, the people in front of the gate could not help but be overjoyed, and their previous worries disappeared completely.
It is complicated, but if you have professionals to help, then there is nothing to worry about.
Thoughtful!
That’s so thoughtful!
It is worthy of our beloved royal court.
You know, nowadays it costs dozens of cents to ask someone to write a lawsuit, not to mention helping people sue for free. This is really great.
Many officials present treated the situation coldly.
They all saw at a glance that the purpose of the Legal Aid Department was to encourage
Encourage everyone to file a lawsuit.
In the past, government officials tried to reduce litigation among the people as much as possible, because the officials were busy with all kinds of affairs during the day and at night, and they also had to travel, write lyrics and compose music. If they had to deal with lawsuits every day, they would be exhausted to death.
But that’s what the Royal Court does. If no one comes to sue, then what’s the point of the Royal Court’s existence? Of course they encourage it.
It is necessary to provide convenience for the people to file lawsuits.
After explaining all this, Zhang Fei banged the gavel and announced the official opening of the trial.
Su Che immediately requested that the plaintiff Chen Guang be summoned to court.
A man with a broken arm came to the court nervously, which immediately caused a sigh in front of the door. He fought for his country and became disabled. However, the first thing he did when he returned home was to go to court with the government to get his pension back.
It's just, ugh...!
Officials like Guo Kui, Wang Shao, and Yuan Jiang, who were eager to achieve great things, could not help but look worried.
With such a military and political system, how can we win the battle?
Under Su Che's instructions, Chen Guangcai sat in the plaintiff's seat, but he also felt very uncomfortable.
Su Zhe stood up and asked, "Chen Guang, where are you from?"
"Oh, I, I'm from Hedong County."
"Then how did you make a living before?"
"I was a farmer before. About four years ago, my hometown encountered a flood and almost no crops were harvested. My family had no surplus food, so I could only sell some land to make ends meet. But I couldn't pay taxes. It happened to be the fourth year of Zhiping, and the government was recruiting soldiers, saying that those who signed up would be exempt from taxes. I thought, this is better than borrowing usury, so I joined the army."
It was another fourth year of Zhiping.
Zhong Yan and his men knew clearly that this must be related to the battle in Suizhou.
The war was about to break out, and Hezhong Prefecture must recruit new soldiers just in case.
Su Che asked again: "Where did you serve in the army afterwards?"
Chen Guang replied: "After that, I went to Fuzhou with a few fellow villagers to guard it."
Su Che asked, "Is it going well?"
Chen Guang shook his head and said, "At the beginning of the second year of Xining, an enemy army came to attack. During the battle, I...my arm was chopped off by the enemy, and I almost lost my life."
As he spoke, he looked extremely lonely.
Su Che asked again: "What happened next?"
Chen Guang said: "After that, I stayed in Fuzhou to recuperate for more than half a year. I finally survived and returned to Hezhong Prefecture at the end of last year."
Su Che asked, "Did the military camp in Fuzhou tell you how to live after you return?"
Chen Guang nodded and said, "The Yuhou of our military camp gave me an official document and asked me to go to Hezhong Prefecture to collect the pension with this document."
Su Che asked: "Could you please explain how much the pension is and which government office to go to to collect it?"
Chen Guang said: "The Fuzhou military camp will transfer me back to Hezhong Prefecture first, and then I will hand over the official documents to the military camp, and the military camp will give me a pension. He also said that according to the regulations, I can get about 30 strings of money. In addition, he also said that we have made great contributions in repelling the enemy, so we should be able to get some rewards. These are all stated in the official documents."
Su Che asked: "Did you do as it says?"
Chen Guang nodded.
"Have you received any pension?"
"No."
Chen Guang shook his head and said, "It has been submitted for more than half a year, but there is no news at all."
Su Che asked, "What did the military camp say?"
Chen Guang said: "The Yuhou in charge of this matter said that the current financial situation is difficult and the military supply department cannot allocate too much money for the time being. He asked me to go home and wait for a while, and said that this is all normal."
Su Che said: "If it is normal, why are you here to complain?"
Chen Guang suddenly became excited. "I have no choice. When I joined the army, the military camp said that my salary would be split in half, and my wife would be given 30 liters of rice, 15 kilograms of pickles, 250 coins, and a set of clothes for each season every month.
But after I came back, I found out that they only gave my wife a piece of rag and ten pounds of moldy pickles every month, and thirty cents during festivals. As for clothes, they only gave her one piece every year.
But those rags can't pay back the money, which is not enough for my wife and children to survive. My wife had to sell the few acres of land left in the family in exchange for the money to survive, and she also borrowed a lot of money. Now the creditors are forcing me to sell my wife and children. I am desperate and I am here to complain."
As he spoke the last part, tears welled up in his eyes, but perhaps because there were too many people around him, he forced himself not to let them fall.
Su Che asked, "Before you file a complaint, can you go to the military camp and ask again?"
“Yes.”
Chen Guang choked up and said, "But...but they still thought I was too long-winded. They said that when the money was allocated, they would let me go to collect it. Then they drove me out and told me not to come to the barracks unless necessary. I am no longer a soldier."
Almost all the soldiers watching the trial in front of the door moved their lips, and all kinds of dirty words flowed between their lips, but no one uttered a word.
Asking the government for money is like a life-threatening situation, and everyone feels the same way. However, as they are still in the army, they can only be angry but not speak out.
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