As the logistics base of the Northwest Army, Hezhong Prefecture has a very strong military atmosphere.
The issue of soldiers asking the procuratorate for military pay has long been a hot topic and the topic remains hot.
In the evening, the neighbors who were tired after a day's work did not go back to their houses to rest early, but gathered in groups of three or five, talking about asking for military funds.
"This is a big deal, but can I get the money back?"
"Why not? If Chen Guang is about to be arrested, others will surely get it too, as long as there is evidence."
"Chen Guang is just one person, and now there are tens of thousands of people asking for it. Can they really get it?"
"That's right! The imperial court can't afford so much money."
As they were chatting, they suddenly heard someone shouting, "Liu Laoqi."
"exist!"
A tall, thin, middle-aged man immediately ran to his door and saw two Royal Police officers standing there.
...
...
"I say, Liu Laoqi, with just this little time, you should at least run over and have a chat."
One of the Royal Police officers frowned and said unhappily.
Liu Laoqi quickly smiled and said, "Oh! Don't we trust the Royal Police for such a small matter?"
"You are quite good at talking."
The Royal Police officer handed him the household registration and said, "Keep your household registration. Remember, your current house number is 357. Recognize these symbols."
“Hey hey hey!”
Liu Laoqi nodded and asked with a gossipy look on his face, "By the way! Do you two policemen know about the soldiers asking for military pay?"
The royal police officer smiled and said, "If your family has a grievance, you can tell us, but if it has nothing to do with you, then don't ask any more questions. Goodbye."
Hedong County, Gui Township.
Under a large shed, I saw three or five Royal Police officers sitting inside drinking tea and chatting.
"Yanei, we won't make any mistakes on such a small matter. You don't have to come in person."
Ou Jun said to Cao Dongdong with great distress.
Cao Dongdong glanced at him unhappily: "You have been with me for such a long time, and you still can't tell that I am just bored and came out to get some fresh air."
Ou Jun was stunned for a moment, then nodded.
As they were chatting, they suddenly heard a clear voice, "Excuse me, are you guys from the Royal Police?"
Cao Dongdong immediately turned his head to look and saw that it was a young woman. He immediately held down Ou Jun who was about to stand up and said, "I'll do it!"
He immediately stood up and stepped forward, saying in a deep voice, "Young lady, I am Royal Police Superintendent Cao Dongdong. Look, the Emperor!"
As he spoke, he showed off the word "Emperor" on his shoulder. At present, it is very rare to see people wearing uniforms embroidered with the word "Emperor" in the entire Hezhong Prefecture.
The young woman knelt down and saluted, saying, "Greetings from Cen!"
"Why!"
Cao Dongdong immediately stretched out his hands to help Cen, but the moment he touched her, she was startled. Cao Dongdong quickly retracted his hands, "Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to do that, but you don't have to bow."
Cen's cheeks flushed, she nodded and said softly, "No, I was rude."
"It's okay! It's okay!"
Cao Dongdong asked again: "By the way, what do you want?"
Cen said, "I want to seek justice for my husband. I heard from the villagers that I can come here to ask the Royal Police to write a petition."
"Husband?"
Cao Dongdong's eyes turned and asked, "Why doesn't your husband come by himself?"
Cen choked up and said, "My husband... He has died in battle."
Cao Dongdong's eyes flashed with joy, and he hurriedly said, "Young lady, please sit here. If you have any grievances, you can tell this police chief, and this police chief will definitely help you get justice."
He courteously invited Cen to sit on the chair, and suddenly kicked Ou Jun, "What are you all standing there for? Why don't you pour the tea?"
"Pour. Pour tea? Oh, yes, yes."
The cakes and tea were served immediately.
Then Ou Jun took the other two royal policemen out of the tent so as not to interfere with the important matters of the yamen.
“Master!”
Ou Jun couldn't help but sigh: "Yanei is indeed an expert in this area, he is really as good as a god!"
"Brother Jun, what do you say?"
"Don't you understand? The young master came here today not to get some fresh air, but to visit the widow."
"Yes! We are here to seek justice for the soldiers who were put on leave. We are sure to meet the widow."
"High! It's really high!"
"You two haven't gotten married yet, so ask Yanei for advice."
“Hey hey hey!”
It was already evening, but the Procuratorate was still crowded with people.
"That's all for today. Our procuratorate is about to close. If you still want to appeal, please come back tomorrow."
As Wang Shen was shouting, the Royal Police who were maintaining order pushed the crowd outside.
"It's still early. Let me hand over the evidence first. I've been waiting for a whole day."
"It's still early? It's almost dark."
"I brought a candle."
A man took out a candle.
Wang Shen almost swore. He took a deep breath and shouted, "My dear warriors, don't worry. Our procuratorate will definitely count the cases before we appeal together. It doesn't make much difference if you come early or late. You can come when you are free. There is no need to squeeze in line here. Don't delay your work."
Having said that, Wang Shen also knew that they would still come in a large number tomorrow, because the military camp was completely indulgent and would definitely approve the leave for this matter.
After finally clearing the area, it was getting dark. When Su Che came to the front yard, he saw the prosecutors lying on the table, snoring.
"Have you all eaten yet?"
"not yet!"
Wang Shen shook his head and said, "We just chased them away and they immediately fell asleep on their stomachs."
"Everyone has worked hard these past few days." Su Zhe said, "Wake them up, let them eat quickly, and go home to rest."
"Why!"
After giving the order, Su Che went to the back hall, where he saw Chen Qi and more than 20 prosecutors who were still in their internship reviewing the evidence recorded today.
Seeing Su Che coming, Chen Qi immediately stood up and walked over.
"How many copies are there?" Su Che asked.
"More than 1,800 copies."
As he spoke, Chen Qi could not help but complain, "The most abominable thing is the police station. Instead of allocating personnel to help us, they went to surrounding counties to help those soldiers who were released to file complaints. Isn't this intentionally torturing our procuratorate?"
Su Che smiled slightly: "It's not to torture us, but for their own benefit."
Chen Qi sighed, "I have thought of this. Our procuratorate bears all the responsibilities and works hard every day from dawn to dusk. It is absurd that the police station just stands by and makes a fortune. "
"The police station is good, it's good for all of us, and we don't need to record everyone's situation."
Su Che smiled and nodded, and then said, "Well, you sort out the ones with solid evidence and involving relatively large amounts of money."
"I see!"
Chen Qi nodded.
Compared to the back-breaking work in the Procuratorate, working day and night, 998 hours a day, the Royal Court and the Police Station are much easier.
Today, Ma Xiaoyi and Fu Shichun came to the imperial court to drink.
Zhang Fei came into the house and saw Ma Xiaoyi and Fu Shichun sitting at the table and starting to eat. Ma Xiaoyi, in particular, was gnawing on a lamb elbow with his mouth full of oil.
Fu Shichun was as elegant and calm as ever, even though Ma Xiaoyi was his only bad friend here.
"Huh? Why didn't Yanei come?"
"He recently met a young widow and went to show his affection to her." Fu Shichun said with a smile.
Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, then sat down and said, "No way! We asked you to go to the village to help those soldiers file a complaint, not to go to the widow."
Ma Xiaoyi held a piece of meat in his mouth, shook his head, and said incoherently: "We didn't go, only my brother went to look for it."
".!"
Zhang Fei was speechless for a while.
Fu Shichun said: "In fact, the more unruly Yanei behaves, the less others will be afraid of us. He can't help with this matter anyway, so why not use him to confuse everyone."
Zhang Fei nodded slightly and said, "But you have to watch him carefully, don't let him fall into someone else's trap."
Fu Shichun said: "This is why you forced me to come."
“Ahem!”
Zhang Fei asked seriously, "How is the development of your police station?"
Ma Xiaoyi wiped his mouth and said, "Third brother, this Hezhong Prefecture is not as difficult as I imagined. Don't say it's smooth. The branches in the surrounding villages have been built. It's much easier than when I was in the capital. When I led the team out, I was always criticized by those gentry for everything I did. It was very frustrating."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Then let's work harder and quickly spread the scene. We should do our best to serve those villagers and make them get used to looking for the Royal Police. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Ma Xiaoyi nodded and said, "Oh! I understand."
Fu Shichun laughed and said, "Zhang San, aren't we being a bit unfair? We let the procuratorate do all the dirty, tiring and offensive work, while we take the opportunity to grow stronger."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Now that things have come to this, we should take as much as we can! Come on! Let's drink to the future of the police station."
“Go, go, go!”
Ma Xiaoyi was having a greasy meal, so he immediately raised his glass and drank it all.
So far, there is no doubt that the police station is definitely the biggest winner.
It's really making a fortune in silence.
Making crazy money!
Not only did he popularize house numbers and re-survey the household registration of the people in the city, but he also took the initiative to go to the villages in the name of helping those soldiers who had been released to help them seek redress for their crimes.
This time the branch office was opened.
Under normal circumstances, if the police station went to the countryside, the gentry and landlords would definitely obstruct it, so it is actually the most difficult for this police station to grow.
Because imperial power does not extend below the county level, the emperor cannot give this power.
But this time, since everyone was working together to set up the procuratorate, the police station's actions were tantamount to adding fuel to the fire in disguise. Everyone was very tolerant of this, and some gentry even encouraged their fellow villagers to go to the Royal Police.
Of course, all of this was arranged by Zhang Fei and had been planned long ago.
Since the game is so big, the risks must be high and the benefits must be huge!
Of course, the procuratorate will not wait until the military pay situation of all soldiers is found out. It will probably take one or two years to figure it out. Never underestimate the number of soldiers in the Song Dynasty.
Moreover, currency only accounts for a small part of the military expenditure, most of it is food, cloth, tea and salt. The accounts are also very complicated and difficult to calculate.
Today, Cai Yanqing, Yuan Jiang, Wei Yingfang, Tang Zhongwen, Qin Zhongshou and others were invited to the Procuratorate.
"I wonder what instructions Chief Prosecutor Su has for us to come here?"
Tang Zhongwen asked in a sarcastic tone.
Su Che opened the door a crack, looked at the huge crowd outside, and said, "You all saw it."
Qin Zhongshou immediately said, "This is not our fault. They came here on their own initiative. If we try to dissuade them, I'm afraid your procuratorate will sue us for favoritism and perverting the law."
Su Che nodded and smiled, "Of course they are allowed to come here. But according to the evidence we have investigated in the past few days, there are a lot of deductions and arrears of military funds in the barracks. Don't you know about this?"
Qin Zhongshou was stunned for a moment, and suddenly felt that there was something wrong with what Su Che said, and immediately said: "This has nothing to do with us."
Tang Zhongwen suddenly realized what was happening and stood up excitedly, "Chief Prosecutor Su, don't try to wrongly accuse me."
Previously, the Procuratorate sued the Transportation Bureau, so they had nothing to fear. When Su Che asked this just now, they didn't react for a while, and suddenly they thought, they would not turn their guns around and go directly at this person.
Yuan Jiang was more magnanimous and waved his hand, saying, "All of you, please be patient. Chief Prosecutor Su is an honest official. How could he easily slander others? There is so much military pay, and you can't be greedy even if you are asked to be greedy! Sit down, sit down!"
Tang Zhongwen suddenly thought, yes! If you go after people, you might implicate 90% of the officials in Hezhong Prefecture.
He immediately sat down confidently.
Su Che smiled and said, "Our procuratorate mainly looks at evidence, and that's the problem. Facts have proven that there is indeed a large-scale arrears and withholding of military pay. You should all be aware of this!"
Cai Yanqing opened his mouth and glanced at Yuan Jiang, but he held back from saying anything. He was afraid that if he spoke too much, he would disrupt Yuan Jiang and the others' plans.
Yuan Jiang said, "Manager Tang, you know best what's going on. Please talk to Chief Prosecutor Su."
Tang Zhongwen immediately said: "Of course we know, but this is because the court's finances are insufficient and they did not allocate enough military funds to us. We also cannot get enough money, so we can only default on the payment."
Su Che said: "This is just empty talk, I wonder if your Transportation Department has any evidence in this regard?"
Tang Zhongwen said: "Of course."
Su Che said: "Could you please send us the evidence from the Transportation Department? We already have enough evidence, but we need to decide who to sue first."
Tang Zhongwen said confidently: "Sure!"
The reason why he was so confident was because the gap in military expenditure was indeed not small, especially in Hezhong Prefecture. Because they had to first meet the military expenditure of the border states, the reserve army naturally received less.
In comparison, the withholding and embezzlement of military pay are just superficial things.
soon!
Just three days later, the Transportation Bureau sent the specific accounts to the Procuratorate.
In fact, they had already prepared before this, because this account was the most favorable evidence for them and the most crucial proof that the military expenditure was indeed insufficient and not due to corruption.
Royal Court.
By the lake.
"Judge Zhang is here again!"
Su Che felt depressed when he saw Zhang Fei's hair was wet again and he was wrapped in a coat.
Zhang Fei cupped his hands and said, "This is unfortunate. I hope Mr. Su will forgive me."
"It doesn't matter! I just came at the wrong time."
"I wonder what business Mr. Su has for coming here?"
"I came here today to tell you that I have already received the accounts of the Transportation Department."
"Yeah?"
Zhang Fei asked: "How big is the gap?"
Su Che sighed, "If you calculate it, the military expenditure shortfall of Hezhong Prefecture alone is more than 300,000 strings of cash."
Zhang Fei couldn't help but take a deep breath when he heard this, "The military budget of Hezhong Prefecture alone is so short."
Su Che nodded and said, "The entire Shaanxi Province may have more than one million guan, but this is only a shortfall in the accounts. In reality, there is not that much missing."
Zhang Fei was surprised and asked, "Is there someone else putting money in it?"
"That's not the case."
Su Che said, "This is because the efforts of Governor Cai and Xue Fayun have increased some military funds. This shows that if we really want to sue them for corruption and bribery, we may not be able to bring the case."
The government worked desperately to amass wealth, and even if they were greedy, they would not be greedy for the imperial court.
Zhang Fei asked, "I wonder what Mr. Su is going to do next?"
Su Che said: "If you have no problem with this, I will file a petition with the court to request a reduction in the number of soldiers."
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "I have no problem."
Su Zhe nodded, but his eyes were still sizing up Zhang Fei, and he suddenly asked, "You were the one who arranged the matter at the police station, right?"
Zhang Fei was stunned, then nodded and said with a smile: "It was my suggestion."
Su Che asked again: "You have planned this a long time ago, right?"
Zhang Fei hesitated for a moment and said, "It's not too early. I only thought of it after the procuratorate decided to prosecute."
Su Zhe asked with a smile, "I wonder what other plans Judge Zhang has."
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "No more! You know my relationship with Cao Yanei. I have been helping him with strategies for the police station."
Su Zhe sighed, "If Judge Zhang still has some hidden plans, I might have to sleep more soundly."
Zhang Fei said hurriedly: "Really not."
(End of this chapter)
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