I remember that when he first went to court, Tang Zhongwen was full of confidence, but his momentum was slightly weaker than Yuan Jiang.
This is not surprising.
Although officials of the Ministry of Finance such as Tang Zhongwen were not as powerful as the prime ministers and generals, most of the power was controlled in their hands.
If you need funding, you have to ask him.
And Tang Zhongwen was not stupid. He had also analyzed the accounts that the procuratorate was going to submit, and basically every word in them revealed a strong flavor of deficit.
The finances of the Council of Foreign Ministers are also in a precarious situation.
Having said that, this is also the reality. The main reason is that the central government’s finances are not good, and they hope that Hezhong Prefecture will pay for the military expenses in the northwest.
The closing statement that Tang Zhongwen prepared was to ask the procuratorate to help us ask for a little more money from the central government.
But dreams are full, but reality is very skinny.
At this moment, Tang Zhongwen was sitting on a chair with a deathly pale face, looking like he knew nothing no matter what was asked.
...
...
Self-numbing!
Su Zhe was not Zhang Fei. Seeing Tang Zhongwen in this state, he did not ask any more questions. "I have finished asking."
Chen Qi whispered, "I'm afraid our future will be much more difficult than the Imperial Court."
Su Che didn't even need to look to notice the resentful gazes coming from all directions. This really kicked everyone's rice bowl. He said helplessly: "We have tried our best."
It has to be said that this battle indeed demonstrated the power of the procuratorate and made those officials suddenly realize that, relatively speaking, the procuratorate was even more of a poisonous snake.
The Royal Court was not offensive, and they could only say that the Royal Court was biased in its final judgment, but no one found fault with the process.
Really can't fault it.
But the Procuratorate is different. It is extremely offensive and will look for your weaknesses to attack, while the Royal Court will most likely not do that.
But in Xu Zhiqian's opinion, Su Zhe was still too lenient. She curled her lips and whispered, "It seems that Mr. Su still has some room for maneuver."
She was very dissatisfied with this. She asked to this extent, why not clarify the issue of military expenditure? People fought for the country and their arms were broken, but you can't even afford a mere thirty or forty strings of cash. Yet you spent more than a thousand strings of cash to support an imperial censor.
This is really chilling.
It would be better to clarify this issue directly, which can save money for the country and give soldiers the treatment they deserve.
Her position has always been clear: she will always stand on the side of the disadvantaged, and this cannot be changed. This is why her career as a lawyer was very short.
Zhang Fei looked back at him and said with a smile: "If you ask more, it will be another case."
Then he looked at Qiu Zhengwen again, "Is there any problem with the Legal Aid Department?"
Qiu Zhengwen just shook his head and said, "No."
".!"
The soldiers watching the trial were all furious. What kind of Legal Aid Department is this? It might be better to call it the "No Department". The department will only say "no" and say something else.
Tang Zhongwen suddenly became deflated and collapsed on the chair. When he stood up, he almost fell down. Fortunately, the court guard at the side supported him. He walked out of the court panting, not as calm and composed as before.
Zhang Fei looked at Su Zhe again, "Does the Procuratorate have any other witnesses?"
Su Che shook his head and said, "We have no witnesses."
The officials nearby breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
It is a foregone conclusion that the military pay was deliberately withheld, and it would be redundant to ask further.
Zhang Fei looked at Qiu Zhengwen again and asked, "Does the Legal Aid Department have anything to say?"
Qiu Zhengwen then stood up and said, "We are mainly targeting the Transportation Department for deliberately withholding Chen Guang's military expenses. According to the contract between Chen Guang and the military camp.
The military camp had to spend 30 liters of rice, 15 catties of pickled vegetables, 250 coins, and a set of clothes for each season every month. According to the price of rice from the first year of Xining to the second year of Xining, each liter of rice cost about 10 coins, 30 liters of rice, that is, 300 coins. The price of pickled vegetables at that time was about 10 coins per catty, and 15 catties was 150 coins.
The total value of the four sets of clothes, according to the appraisal we asked a specialized broker to do, is about 1,200 coins, which is about 100 coins per month. Together with some miscellaneous subsidies, the government should pay Chen Guang's wife 1,350 coins per month.
But as Chen Guang said before, the court only gave Chen Guang's wife a piece of cloth, ten kilograms of pickles, and a set of clothes every month."
At this point, he lowered his head and carefully looked at the copy. These were all data, and he did not dare to drag it out, so he said: "According to the court system, the government can use cloth, money and grain to pay for the soldiers' families.
Although the court did not specify the specific conversion standard in this regulation, we found the specific conversion standard in the regulations of the court on collecting taxes and distributing salaries to officials. According to this conversion system, the conversion is based on the quality of the goods.
The officials immediately opened their eyes wide and looked at Qiu Zhengwen.
Since it is not clearly written, the government has the final say. How can you calculate it according to other conversion regulations? Do you understand the rules?
Zhang Fei directly asked them about their doubts and asked, "Can this be confused?"
Qiu Zhengwen said: "The military expenses of generals and soldiers all come from the military treasury and are all subject to the military pay system. There is no clear distinction in the court, so they should be calculated according to the same standard."
Xu Zhiqian handed over a copy at the right time.
After reading it, Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Yes, there are indeed clear conversion regulations in the military pay system, which divides high-quality cloth, low-quality cloth, high-quality rice, and low-quality rice. Since they are under the same system and there is no additional explanation, the conversion should be at the same standard. You can continue."
Those officials have a hard time speaking out, but they really dare not argue about the different standards because this involves a tax conversion. If they argue about this conversion issue, they might end up shooting themselves in the foot!
The conversion of soldiers is an expenditure, and the court recognizes this expenditure. Even if you pay it in full, it will not affect your political achievements.
The conversion of tax collection is fiscal revenue.
Fiscal expenditure may not necessarily affect political performance, but fiscal revenue will definitely affect political performance. If the revenue decreases, the political performance can be described as a mess.
They can only admit it.
"yes."
Qiu Zhengwen nodded and picked up a wooden tray. "This is the cloth that Chen Guang's wife gets every month. Manager Tang also admitted just now that the military supply warehouse issued a batch of such cloth as military pay.
We found four cloth brokers and five cloth shops to inquire and investigate, and the results they determined were almost the same. Among these cloths, the cheapest one was worth only 70 coins, and the most expensive one was worth 100 coins. We calculated that the average piece of cloth was worth 85 coins. Add to that the ten catties of pickles every month, although they were about to moldy, but we still calculated it at ten coins, that is, 100 coins, as well as the clothes and the subsidies received during festivals. Then the actual monthly income of Chen Guang's wife was about 230 coins, which was only about one-fifth of the agreed amount.
We have relevant evidence for this, including the account books of rice sold by rice shops, bargaining between brokers and cloth shops for these cloths, etc.
Li Min immediately stood up and handed a thick stack of documents to Cai Jing.
The soldiers who were watching the trial were gritting their teeth. They had also suffered from exploitation, but they could not figure out how much they had lost. Now when they heard that it was only one-fifth, it was really outrageous to both humans and gods. It was a bit too cruel.
On the other hand, I have a new look at the Legal Aid Department. It turns out that this Legal Aid Department is not "non-existent" and its investigations are so detailed.
In the past, disputes like this were just a matter of a word, and there was no need to use the rice shop’s rice sales accounts as evidence.
Many officials could not help but be amazed.
Is this the process that the Royal Court emphasizes?
It really is true that what you say is what you do!
Cai Jing was very sensible. He distributed the documents he received to Cai Bian and others instead of handing them to Zhang Fei.
How can a teacher be asked to do such rough work? The teacher can just sit there and drink tea.
Zhang Fei was really drinking tea. He put down the cup and said to Qiu Zhengwen, "Go on."
Qiu Zhengwen continued, "It is obvious that the remuneration given by the government to Chen Guang's wife is far lower than what the government and Chen Guang agreed upon. And Chief Prosecutor Su just mentioned that the military treasury allocated funds to the Legation House, which is not an isolated case.
According to our investigation, last year the military treasury allocated at least 50,000 strings of cash and 6,500 dan of grain to the Council of Legation, distributed over the twelve months of the year. This shows that the military treasury's warehouses never only contained cloth, but also a considerable amount of money and grain that were not planned.
This is enough to show that the military supply treasury was deliberately selling inferior goods as good ones, because according to the court's regulations, this kind of cloth was of the lowest quality, but the government converted it at the usual price, which was the price of high-quality cloth. It can be seen that the government used a conversion method to withhold military pay.
Moreover, this case is extremely special, because Chen Guang went to war with the army and was left with only his wife and children at home. He had no security and could only rely on this remuneration to barely make a living.
This guarantee was the key to the contract. The original intention of the court to establish this rule was to allow the soldiers to fight the enemy and make meritorious contributions on the front line. If the government could not ensure the livelihood of Chen Guang's wife and children, Chen Guang would never agree to go to war with the army.
However, as everyone knows, two hundred and thirty coins are totally insufficient to support the livelihood of Chen Guang's wife and children, and Chen Guang was not around at the time. Chen Guang's wife and children had no choice but to sell their land and borrow money to make ends meet.
During this period, Chen Guang's wife borrowed a total of 16 strings of money from fellow villagers. Now, including the principal and interest, it has reached 82 strings of money. "
There was an uproar in the audience.
It will only be two years at most, and that’s already an interest rate of almost 200%.
But Zhang Fei was very calm and did not raise any objection to the interest.
Qiu Zhengwen continued, "But all this was caused by the court's withholding of military pay. Therefore, the court should bear all these debts, as well as repay the six acres of land sold by Chen Guang's wife and the interest she has paid during this period, and at the same time, pay 30 strings of cash in pensions and part of the bounty. That's all I have to say."
Zhang Fei looked at Su Zhe again.
Su Che stood up and said, “I don’t have much to say, because based on the current evidence and the confession of Manager Tang, it is enough to prove that the Transportation Department deliberately delayed paying military expenses.
Because after Chen Guang submitted his application for pension to the Military Funds Department, the Military Funds Department made three to five expenditures to the Council of Foreign Affairs, and the official documents from the Council of Foreign Affairs requesting funds from the Military Funds Department were all submitted after the pension list.
According to what Yuan Xue Shi, the Transport Commissioner, said, the funds received by each government office each year are allocated based on the funds of previous years. The finances of the Council of Ministers and the Military Supply Treasury are relatively independent. The finances of the Military Supply Treasury are used to pay military expenses, so Chen Guang's pension should also be included in it.
However, the reason why the military treasury withheld the pension for Chen Guang was that they had to wait for the imperial court to allocate funds, and at the same time, they allocated the money and grain in the warehouse to the diplomatic corps, which was obviously a deliberate delay in paying the pension. "
He just explained it calmly, but the hearts of all the officials present were in their throats.
Aren't you implying that the Military Treasury diverted military funds to the Council of Ministers for public food and drink, and then requested more military funds from the court in the name of pensions?
Officials throughout the Hezhong Prefecture began to become anxious.
You are really wrongly accusing people. Military expenditure is really tight, and the diplomatic corps is just a little icing on the cake.
If we cut military spending, we will be throwing away the big picture.
Zhang Fei suddenly glanced at Yuan Jiang who was sitting in the VIP seat, "Master Yuan, do you have anything to say?"
Yuan Jiang opened his mouth excitedly, and then fell silent.
He can't say that our eating and drinking at public expense is just icing on the cake of tight military spending.
That's really an admission of guilt.
Try to pretend you didn’t understand.
Wow! This acting is really superb. Zhang Fei secretly praised it.
At this time, Cai Jing handed the reviewed and organized evidence to Zhang Fei and said, "There is no problem with these evidences."
Zhang Fei nodded, not bothering to read it, and directly knocked the gavel and said: "After the trial by this court, the Transportation Bureau is found guilty of defaulting on and withholding Chen Guang's military pay. The Transportation Bureau will assume all debts that Chen Guang's wife borrowed to make a living during Chen Guang's garrison in Fuzhou, and compensate her for the six acres of land she sold during this period, as well as the relevant interest she has paid during this period. At the same time, within this month, it must pay a pension of 30 strings of cash to Chen Guang. As for rewards, this is a consideration of the military camp, and this court will not pay attention to it for the time being."
(End of this chapter)
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