Their goal was very clear from the beginning to the end. Except for the crime of treason, they would admit to all other charges.
The charge of tax evasion was already a foregone conclusion, because Luo Hai had not paid taxes when he was arrested.
In addition to funding Wu Tian, the Tax Commissioner also has solid evidence, and they are not hiding any of this. If they did, they would be guilty of a crime.
Anyway, everything is done to avoid the crime of treason.
Luo Hai also nodded, his face no longer had the arrogance of the past, only aggrieved, because he really had no intention of rebellion, he just wanted to maintain his power, or privilege.
It's not really about that little bit of tax money. They are not ordinary wealthy businessmen like Fan Yong. They have status and position. In their opinion, if I pay taxes honestly today, I will only pay more and more, so they will definitely fight the court to the end.
The struggle for power is a zero-sum game.
Zhang Fei glanced at Li Lei, then smiled and said, "I never said that Luo Hai's actions were just because he didn't want to pay taxes. What I said was that the tax collectors in the past didn't dare to collect taxes from Luo Hai's house, but the tax commissioner would definitely go to Luo Hai's house to collect taxes, which was the main reason why Luo Hai funded Wu Tian.
You should know that the money that Luo Hai donated to Wu Tian was far more than the taxes he should have paid. It can be seen that he did not do it for the money, but to maintain his supreme power in Qizhou.
And I have enough evidence to prove it.”
...
...
After hearing this, Li Lei couldn't help but look at Zhang Fei in confusion, thinking, this is not true, where did you get the evidence?
He knew very well that Luo Hai had no intention of rebelling, otherwise they would not have resisted here.
Zhao Yan couldn't help but ask: "What evidence do you have?"
"I'll prove it in a moment."
After Zhang Fei finished speaking, he continued to ask Luo Hai: "Luo Hai, you just said that you have known Wu Tian for three or four years, and you also sought his protection in business, so you must know him very well, right?"
Luo Hai answered very cautiously: "I can't say that I know him very well. I mainly want to avoid my goods being robbed by Wu Tian, so I interact with him. My relationship with him is like a business cooperation relationship."
Zhang Fei asked again: "Since you are worried that the goods will be robbed by Wu Tian, it shows that you have some understanding of his strength."
Luo Hai thought about it, then nodded, "He is very famous in the local area, everyone knows him."
Zhang Fei nodded and continued, "You said before that you wanted to use Wu Tian to deal with the tax commissioner for two reasons. First, there are rumors that the tax commissioner framed people and confiscated their property. Second, Wu Tian threatened to deal with the tax commissioner. Is that true or not?"
Luo Hai thought for a while before nodding and saying, "Yes, yes."
Zhang Fei asked, "So did you provide financial support to Wu Tian after you learned that he was going to deal with the Tax Commissioner, or did you plan with him to deal with the Tax Commissioner and promised to provide financial support to him?"
Luo Hai hurriedly explained: "I gave him funding because I knew he was going to deal with the tax commissioner. I didn't plan anything with him."
Zhang Fei asked: "Are you sure?"
Luo Hai nodded nervously, "Yes, I am sure."
Zhang Fei asked again: "Since Wu Tiandu has already planned to deal with the tax commissioner, and you know his strength, you can just sit back and enjoy the results, so why do you still support him?"
Luo Hai blinked and said, "I just want to express my support, and there is no other meaning."
Zhang Fei asked, "Do you know about Wu Tian and Xie Liuwu reselling sabers?"
Luo Hai hurriedly shook his head, "I was not involved in this matter, I know nothing about it."
Zhang Fei said: "Based on the situation of Wu Tian and Xie Liuwu reselling sabers, one thousand strings of cash can buy at least two hundred sabers, and this is still illegal, resulting in an excessively high price.
Moreover, according to the tax commissioner's investigation of your land, your family only needs to pay more than 300 strings of taxes every year, including the autumn tax and the exemption tax.
Don’t you think your support is overly generous?”
Luo Hai said: "But compared to the confiscation of property and the extermination of the whole family, this one thousand strings of cash is nothing."
"That's true."
Zhang Fei nodded with a smile, and asked Zhao Yan to summon Luo Erchun to testify in court again.
After a while, Luo Erchun returned to the court again.
Zhang Fei asked Luo Erchun, "Luo Erchun, do you know when Wu Tian planned to deal with the tax commissioner?"
Luo Erchun replied: "I don't know the details, I only know that when there were rumors that the tax commissioner was coming to Jingdong East Road, Wu Tian was already preparing to deal with the tax commissioner."
Zhang Fei asked: "Is he confident about this?"
Luo Erchun said, "Yes. Because he even looked down on the imperial guards, let alone the tax police. In his opinion, the tax police were just like the yamen runners."
Zhang Fei said: "If I say that he thinks that with your strength at that time, you are enough to deal with the tax commissioner, do you agree?"
Luo Erchun nodded and said, "I agree."
Zhang Fei said: "But as far as I know, in the second half of last year, your Yunling Village was actively recruiting soldiers and expanding its power, and even took over the entire Lianzihu area to protect its rear."
Luo Erchun said: "That's because after attacking the tax commissioner, Wu Tian was worried that this would lead to retaliation from the imperial court and send soldiers to encircle and suppress them, so he was actively recruiting soldiers and expanding his power."
Zhang Fei asked: "But where did you get the money?"
Luo Erchun said: "Because at that time many gentry and landlords were actively supporting Wu Tian, especially after Wu Tian ambushed the tax police, they all gave a lot of financial support. Wu Tian used this money to recruit soldiers and expand his power."
After hearing this, Li Lei couldn't help but feel a headache and muttered, "This is really difficult."
Upon hearing this, Fu Bi couldn't help but say, "Although the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs have always emphasized fairness and justice, they mainly look at evidence and can no longer rely on the judgment of the chief judge. If you are not careful and leave some evidence, even if you didn't mean to, you may be convicted of a serious crime."
They actually all knew that Luo Hai definitely had no intention of treason. If they were to judge him, they might not sentence him for treason.
But the public security, procuratorial and judicial departments are different. They only look at evidence and everything is guided by evidence, but evidence may also lead to unjust cases.
This is also very different from the old judicial system.
Wen Yanbo nodded, "How do you think we can make up for this, Lord Fu?"
Fu Bi thought for a long time and said, "If I rely on others to make up for it, it will undermine the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems. I can only find new evidence to prove myself."
While the interrogation was still going on, Zhang Fei suddenly pointed at Luo Hai and asked Luo Erchun: "Do you know Luo Hai?"
Luo Erchun glanced at Luo Hai, then nodded: "I know him."
Zhang Fei said, "He once donated 1,000 guan to your Yunling Village. Did you know that?"
Luo Erchun nodded, "I know."
Zhang Fei said: "Then will your Yunling Village use this thousand strings of cash to deal with the tax commissioner, or recruit soldiers and expand your power?"
Luo Erchun said: "Recruit soldiers and expand power. Because before Luo Hai donated 1,000 strings of cash, we had already defeated the tax commissioner, and Wu Tian believed that the tax commissioner was severely damaged, and the court might send heavy troops to encircle and suppress him next. At that time, Wu Tian was preparing for this step.
This was one of the reasons why Wu Tian fell into the trap. He did not expect that the tax commissioner would arrest Liu Lian. But in Wu Tian's opinion, the tax commissioner was already unable to compete with him head-on, so he chose to capture his woman to threaten him, so he led 300 people to attack the military camp. "
"Thank you very much."
Zhang Fei picked up a map and said to Zhao Yan, "Grand Judge, this is the account book I received from Wu Tian and a map of the entire Yunling Peak area. The account book clearly records when Wu Tian started recruiting soldiers, and the map clearly marks how they plan to expand and how to prepare for the upcoming war.
As for this war, their idea was that the imperial court would send the imperial guards to encircle and suppress them, rather than the revenge of the tax commissioner.
All this happened after Wu Tian ambushed the tax police, and the money used to recruit soldiers came from Luo Hai's funding.
If Luo Hai just believed the rumors and was worried that his family would be destroyed and his property would be seized, so he planned to use Wu Tian to deal with the Tax Commissioner to avoid being destroyed and his property would be seized, then he should have given Wu Tian full support before the ambush.
Instead of waiting until Wu Tian succeeded in ambushing the tax police before providing funding, Luo Hai knew Wu Tian's strength and was capable enough to deal with the tax commissioner. Obviously, Luo Hai provided funding to Wu Tian not to deal with the tax commissioner, but to deal with the upcoming war with the imperial court."
"You're talking nonsense."
Luo Hai said excitedly: "Of course I will wait until he takes action before I support him. If I support him beforehand, what if he is a liar?"
This is really the truth. If you just talk about it, no one will give you funding. This is not a small amount of money. You have to take action and do something, then people will give you some support.
Zhang Fei asked back: "According to what you said, since he has already ambushed the tax police and severely damaged the tax commissioner, your goal has actually been achieved, so why do you still want to support him? Is this something you agreed on beforehand? But you just said that you and Wu Tian didn't plan anything beforehand."
"I."
Luo Hai tried to argue: "I just gave him a little reward."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "In other words, he is working for you."
“No, no, no!”
Luo Hai said: "He didn't do anything for me. I didn't know about his ambush on the tax police."
If he doesn't say anything, he's still an accomplice. But once he says it, he'll almost become the principal offender. How terrible that will be!
Zhang Fei said aggressively: "In fact, you think the same as Wu Tian. The imperial court will not give up easily and may send troops to encircle Wu Tian. You are supporting him now for the next step, that is, how to deal with the imperial court, not to avoid paying that little tax."
"I I.!"
Luo Hai opened his mouth, but didn't know how to defend himself.
Because the fact is that they were just preparing for the next step. If the imperial court really sent heavy troops to encircle and suppress the rebellion, they would definitely support the Commissioner of Taxation. Their goal was to completely suppress the Commissioner of Taxation and the public security, procuratorate and courts. This was a process of game.
However, Zhang Fei cleverly split the whole thing into two parts, and counted the money that Luo Hai donated to Wu Tian as Wu Tian's recruitment of troops and expansion of power.
From this perspective, this is the beginning of a rebellion, not just simple banditry.
Li Guozhong frowned, thinking, no wonder he didn't mention recruiting troops and expanding territory when he sued Wu Tian before, it turned out that he was doing it to deal with Luo Hai and his men. It seems that he really doesn't intend to leave any chance for the other party to survive this time.
"I have no problem for the time being."
After Zhang Fei finished speaking, he sat down.
Qi Ji laughed and said, "They are dead this time."
Zhang Fei said: "Not yet. I still have one hard kick to give."
"Heavy feet?"
Qi Ji was stunned.
Zhang Fei nodded.
Wang Gong asked curiously, "When are you going to kick it?"
Zhang Fei glanced at Li Lei and said, "Wait for him to bring the person to me."
Qi and Wang turned their heads to look at Li Lei.
Li Lei stood up and asked, "Luo Hai, how is your family situation?"
Luo Hai said: "It is considered wealthy."
Li Lei asked: "How many acres of land do you have?"
Luo Hai said: "About a hundred hectares."
Li Lei asked: "That's a lot. How can your family own so much land?"
Luo Hai said: "Because my family was originally a gentry in Qizhou, and later relied on the favor of the late emperor, and my grandfather also served as an official in the court, so we have accumulated a lot of family property."
Since his aunt was able to marry a man of Xu Zhizhong's merit, her family must not be an ordinary one, but it's just not as prominent as the Xu family.
Li Lei asked: "So everything your family has now was given by His Majesty."
Luo Hai nodded, tears in his eyes, and said: "Without the grace of the Holy Lord, my family would not be where it is today."
Zhao Xu, who was sitting in the corridor, was immediately furious when he heard these words. He thought to himself, since the ancestors have been so good to your family, you are still ungrateful and want to be my enemy everywhere. You are really a group of greedy villains. None of you can escape this time.
But for Zhao Yan, he saw it from another perspective. There must be a reason for rebellion. Wu Tian had legitimate reasons for rebellion. He had been wronged and humiliated in the imperial guards, and his parents died as a result. He had a deep hatred for the court. So what was Luo Hai's purpose in rebelling?
It's not worth it!
As expected, Li Lei asked again: "What can Wu Tian give you?"
Luo Hai said depressedly: "I have no choice but to associate with Wu Tian. I just want to prevent my goods from being robbed by him. Apart from that, what else can he give me?"
Li Lei asked again: "Were you the only one who opposed the Director of Taxation at that time?"
Luo Hai said: "Almost all the gentry are very opposed to it."
Li Lei asked: "Really? Why are they all against it?"
Luo Hai nodded and said, "This is because the Qingmiao Law caused complaints throughout the Jingdong East Road. No one has ever seen a tax commissioner, so how can they not be afraid? That's why everyone is very opposed to it. Not to mention the gentry, even the common people are in a state of panic."
Li Lei asked again: "If the imperial court had established a tax office in the local area before the Qingmiao Law, would you still object?"
"Won't!"
Luo Hai just shook his head.
Li Lei asked: "Why do you think so?"
Luo Hai immediately said: "To be honest, the Qingmiao Law is more terrible than the Taxation Bureau. At least we pay taxes based on our income, but the Qingmiao Law requires us to pay the Qingmiao fee, and we have to pay 2% of the interest. I am not against the Qingmiao Law, I support it very much."
After hearing this, Wang Anshi became very angry. You can say whatever you want, but you always use my Qingmiao Law as a shield. Do you really think I'm easy to bully?
Lu Huiqing was also a little unhappy. This matter had already passed, so why was it brought up again? We will find some people from Qingzhou to interrogate the case later.
Li Lei continued to ask: "But you still made some money from the Qingmiao Law."
Luo Hai said: "Then I can also use the same method to make some money from the tax commissioner. It was only because the local area was quite chaotic at that time, coupled with the rumors outside, that I was frightened for a moment and went to support Wu Tian. I regret this very much."
Li Lei nodded and said, "I have no problem for now."
Zhang Fei stood up and said, "Luo Hai, you have repeatedly said that Jingdong East Road was very chaotic at that time. How chaotic was it?"
Luo Hai immediately said: "It was really chaotic at that time, and everyone was in danger. Because many people could not pay back their debts, and many landlords owed money to the government, the government pressed the landlords, and the landlords could only press the people, resulting in fights almost every day, and many yamen runners were injured.
What was even more frightening was that the people at that time openly refused to pay taxes, and the government was helpless. Many people even came to the capital to file complaints.”
"Thank you for your answer."
Zhang Fei nodded with a smile, then sat down.
Luo Hai blinked, not yet reacting.
Wang Anshi laughed and said, "There is really no hope this time."
Li Lei also looked frustrated and shook his head at Li Guozhong.
The young man sitting next to Li Guozhong didn't understand either. Seeing that Li Lei was silent, he whispered to Li Guozhong: "Captain Li, what does he mean by this?"
Li Guozhong said with a hint of despair: "If the world is peaceful, who would believe that Luo Hai would collude with a bandit to rebel? This is simply impossible because it is impossible to succeed. But at that time, Jingdong East Road was so chaotic. If someone wanted to take advantage of the chaos to rebel, it would be hard to say!"
Li Lei wanted to let Zhao Yan know that Luo Hai had no reason to rebel at all, as he was a vested interest.
But Zhang Fei's question was to remind Zhao Yan that the situation in Jingdong East Road was serious at that time. Under the control of the supreme power, can you guarantee that Luo Hai will not take risks?
Under the circumstances at that time, he had reasons to rebel, and he also took action. Fortunately, the Commissioner of Taxation won. What if he had lost?
The young man asked, "What Li Xingshou means is that we...we lost?"
Li Guozhong said: "The possibility of us winning is very small."
"What should I do then?"
"I."
Li Guozhong tilted his head to look at Zhang Fei, "We can only find a way to ask the procuratorate to let him go."
The young man also turned his head to look at Zhang Fei.
Zhao Yan asked Li Lei: "Does the defense have any other questions?"
Li Lei shook his head.
Zhang Fei also said that he had no questions.
When Luo Hai saw it, his face turned pale and the little bit of hope in his heart disappeared into thin air.
He never thought that this pit would be so big and that he would fall so deeply. He felt wronged and cried in court: "I really didn't intend to rebel. I was wronged."
But no one paid any attention to him. Zhao Yan just glanced at him indifferently and directly announced that the afternoon trial would be temporarily over here.
Although the verdict has not been announced yet, everyone can see that the defense is in a state of decline and has basically lost the case. It's just that there are too many people involved, and it's counted as one case, so the final verdict can only be given after all of them have been tried.
But the remaining people are in similar situations to Luo Hai, except that their backgrounds are not as strong as Luo Hai's.
If Luo Hai is convicted of treason, the rest of the people will not be able to escape either.
Perhaps as Li Guozhong said, they only have one way left, which is to go to the procuratorate to discuss and beg the procuratorate to give them a way out.
But judging from Zhang Fei's attitude, this seems to be very difficult. However, no matter how difficult it is, they will give it a try.
You should know that this is allowed by the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs.
The defense can negotiate with the procuratorate to see if a lighter sentence can be achieved.
After the trial, Li Guozhong took the initiative to find Zhang Fei and said, "Prosecutor Zhang is truly the best in the judicial world. We are convinced of our defeat!"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "The lawsuit is not over yet, it's too early to talk about winning or losing."
Li Guozhong said: "But in fact, we have already lost. If Prosecutor Zhang is willing to reduce the charges against my client, we can end this lawsuit earlier."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Our procuratorate has been resting for a long time, so it won't matter if we try the case for a few more days."
Although the Procuratorate has a negotiation mechanism, this mechanism is not a charity. I have already won, so why not wait a few more days? It can also increase the exposure of the Procuratorate.
Li Guozhong said: "I know that Prosecutor Zhang is only concerned about the public security, procuratorial, judicial and taxation departments, but if he is really convicted of treason, it may force many people to take desperate measures, which will be detrimental to the promotion of the public security, procuratorial, judicial and taxation departments."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Li Xingshu is familiar with me. As long as others do not target me personally, I will generally show mercy. After all, the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs have just been established. But Li Xingshu needs to know one thing. This case was not initiated by us, but by the tax commissioner. They killed so many tax police officers, and the tax commissioner repeatedly emphasized to us that we should not leave them any chance to survive.
Otherwise, the tax commissioner will continue to appeal and even sue our procuratorate and me. They should just blame themselves for being unlucky and getting in trouble with the tax commissioner. They must pay the price for their arrogance. "
Li Guozhong nodded and said, "I know. I know all this. They are indeed guilty of the death penalty, but the crime of treason has wide implications. It will implicate many innocent people. How will others view your public security, procuratorate, and courts, and how will they view the tax commissioner?"
Zhang Fei said: "Our procuratorate prosecutes based on evidence. I have not prosecuted any innocent person."
"But according to the treason law!"
Li Guozhong blinked and asked, "Yes! Does the Royal Court have the power to sentence people other than those prosecuted by the Procuratorate?"
Zhang Fei asked, "Did you say that?"
Li Guozhong said: "According to the system of public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, the imperial court is passive and can only make judgments based on the prosecution list of the procuratorate. This is different from the previous judicial system. According to the system of public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, it has no power to convict people outside of the court.
But according to the law, if it involves treason, almost everyone's family will be implicated."
Zhang Fei smiled and shook his head, saying, "I am not the presiding judge now. My duties are very clear, so I cannot answer your question. I can only tell you that there is no room for maneuver in this case, because the tax commissioner wants everyone to pay with blood."
Li Guozhong seemed to be thinking about something else.
Zhang Fei added: "If there is nothing else, I will take my leave first."
Li Guozhong nodded and said, "Have a good time! Prosecutor Zhang, have a good time."
"Goodbye."
After Zhang Fei left, Li Guozhong stood there and said, "I see. My previous guess was correct. He still puts the construction of the public security, procuratorial, judicial and taxation departments first."
Actually, I really want to write more and finish this case earlier. The weather has been a bit weird recently, sometimes hot and sometimes cold, which made my rhinitis come back. I felt a bit dizzy when I was coding.
I was late for more than ten minutes again today. . . . .
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