The reason why those officials were so nervous about the crime of treason was because treason would lead to collective punishment and would involve a wide range of people. As for Luo Hai's personal safety, not many people cared about it because the tax commissioner had solid evidence that they funded Wu Tian, and they had also killed a lot of tax police. Even if it wasn't considered treason, it would most likely be a dead end!
But with Zhang Fei's reminder, Li Guozhong suddenly realized a very big loophole, that is, there is a very sharp contradiction between the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs and the system of collective responsibility.
The public security, procuratorial and judicial departments only look at evidence, but the law of collective responsibility looks at blood ties and interpersonal relationships.
It is impossible for the public security, procuratorate and courts to sue all the parents and neighbors in court because there is no evidence to prove that they were all involved.
The Royal Court cannot convict a person who does not exist in the indictment.
In the old judicial system, since officials presided over the trial, there was no one in the court who opposed them. The two departments of interrogation and adjudication were just assisting, or it could be said that there was a division of labor. The interrogation department was responsible for investigation, and the adjudication department was responsible for checking the law based on the facts. The chief judge made a judgment based on the statements of the two.
They have the power to include many people.
Once the system of collective responsibility is involved, there will be innocent people, but this kind of innocence is actually recognized by the judiciary. In the crime of treason, it is better to kill a thousand people by mistake than to let one person go.
But this is not allowed by the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems.
The current law of collective responsibility is incompatible with the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems.
...
...
If it won't cause large-scale involvement, just kill these people and Li Guozhong and his men will achieve their goal!
However, Li Guozhong has not made it public for the time being. This has to be left for later. If it is raised during the trial, the royal court and the procuratorate may make adjustments to the charges.
We have to wait until the verdict is out before we can take any further action.
However, many people have not realized this, including Wang Anshi and Sima Guang.
However, Wang Anshi absolutely supported the heavy sentence, because they were also partly responsible for the chaos in Jingdong East Road, and they could use the same tactics to deal with his new policies. The public security, procuratorial and judicial organs were clearing the way for him, and he was of course willing to enjoy the results.
However, Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo and others were deeply worried about this.
After the trial, Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo and others went to a small garden near the imperial city to rest. After all, the weather was very good these days and they didn't like staying indoors.
Lu Gong said: "From today's trial, it can be seen that the procuratorate has won the case, and it is difficult to reverse it. However, this time Zhang San seems to really not intend to show mercy, which is not like his style."
In the past, Zhang San always left some room for maneuver and would consider the overall situation. This is also what they admire about Zhang Fei very much: one should not do things to the extreme.
Wen Yanbo said thoughtfully: "Before, Zhang Fei was just a pen, or a businessman. Businessmen will naturally leave some room for maneuver, but now Zhang San is an official. He should hope to use this case to further expand the authority of the Procuratorate and the Taxation Department. But doing so is really ill-considered!"
Sima Guang asked, "Wen Gong, where did you get this from?"
Wen Yanbo said: "The public security, procuratorial and judicial organs have just been established on Jingdong East Road. They are still weak and cannot control the situation. Once all those people are convicted of treason, someone will secretly fan the flames and drag more innocent people into it, which will lead to others catching them. At that time, all the responsibilities will be put on the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, which will only make the gains more than the losses outweigh the gains."
Once a case of treason breaks out, it may be out of control. Are Luo Hai and others really colluding with the bandits?
There must be more than that!
What the superior likes, the subordinates will like even more.
The people below will definitely make a big report, and in this process, many people will definitely add fuel to the fire, because this will lead to more and more opponents, and the situation will get completely out of control.
These are all routines.
Sima Guang was well-versed in history books, and he was very clear about this situation. Wen Yanbo was not exaggerating. He could not help but sigh: "It's a pity that Zhang San is no longer a pen, but a prosecutor. According to the system, the procuratorate is independent, and I can't interfere."
Wen Yanbo looked at Sima Guang with pity for his lack of resistance. In fact, he said this just to let Sima Guang intervene.
Fu Bi on the side frowned and said nothing, thinking, what on earth did I overlook?
He also believed that if some innocent people were implicated in this case, it would definitely be a loss and would be extremely detrimental to the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. However, he believed that Zhang Fei would not do so because Zhang Fei valued the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs more than anyone else. However, judging from the current case, Zhang Fei wanted to beat them to death and clearly not give them a way out.
Fu Bi believed that there must be some mystery behind this.
But it was precisely because they focused their attention on Zhang Fei's operations and ignored the fact that the final judgment was made by the imperial court that they did not figure it out for a while.
We can only wait for the follow-up, after all, the lawsuit has not yet been concluded.
On the other side, after Zhang Fei captured Wu Tian and Luo Hai, he immediately sped up. The next 32 people were divided into groups of four, because they were similar to Luo Hai, but the goods they donated might be different, some gave money, some gave food, and the amounts were also different.
During the trial, Zhang Fei mainly emphasized the amount of funding they provided, because this was the biggest difference between him and Luo Hai.
As for Li Guozhong and others, they did their best to emphasize the environment of Jingdong East Road at that time and the panic brought about by the Qingmiao Law.
After five more trials, all 35 people charged by the procuratorate finally appeared in court.
Next comes the closing argument.
First, of course, the prosecution will make its closing statement.
Zhang Fei took a sip of tea, stood up, glanced at the copy, and said: "Regarding the first defendant Wu Tian, I can only say that the crimes he committed are too numerous to list.
Although the other party repeatedly tried to describe him as an ordinary robber, because in the legal provisions of "Song Dynasty Criminal Code", the crime of treason was classified as "the law of robbery".
However, the "Song Dynasty Criminal Code" has very clear explanations of treason and robbery.
In the Song Dynasty Criminal Code, treason is defined as plotting to endanger the country. The word "plot" means "intentional". Only when you have a purpose and intentionally do something that endangers the country and the monarch can it be defined as treason.
The crime of robbery is the use of violence to plunder other people's property. This behavior will certainly endanger national security, but its purpose is to seize other people's property, and the harm it causes is very, very small.
There is still a clear difference between the two.
The crime committed by Wu Tian was obviously not for the purpose of taking possession of other people's property. First of all, he had a deep hatred for the court, the government, and the officials. He longed to overthrow the rule of the court and the government, and took action to burn warehouses, rob official silver, smuggle official knives, and coerce officials to obey his orders.
Secondly, in Liu Lian's confession, she said that Wu Tian wanted to use her to do legitimate business. But it turned out that Wu Tian was using Liu Lian to bribe or threaten officials to obtain some prohibited goods, such as official swords, war horses, bows and arrows, etc.
This is also the biggest difference between Wu Tian and ordinary robbers. He is not only seeking wealth, but also using money to expand his power, expand his interpersonal relationships, and even infiltrate and corrupt government offices.
Finally, the other party argued that Wu Tian's various actions were to obtain amnesty from the imperial court. I don't want to say more about this because he has been arrested now and he has lost this qualification.
Based on the current evidence, it is sufficient to prove that Wu Tian had reasons, premeditation, and intention to undermine the stability of the country. Therefore, I implore the imperial court to sentence Wu Tian to the crime of treason. "
At this point, he paused for a moment, took another sip of tea, turned a page of documents, and continued: "As for Luo Hai and the other thirty-three people, based on the current evidence, it is sufficient to prove that they funded Wu Tian not to avoid taxes, but to defend their own power and seek more power, including the power to compete with the court.
Throughout history, anyone who funded rebels was seeking power, a power that was not bound by laws and systems.
In order to obtain this power, the only way is to overthrow the existing system and laws, which are the two main pillars supporting the country. This is absolutely endangering the country. Therefore, I implore the Grand Court to sentence them to the crime of assisting in treason. "
After he finished his closing statement, Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo and others looked at each other, their worries clearly visible on their faces. Up to this point, Zhang Fei's work was basically done, and everyone could clearly feel that Zhang Fei was not going to leave any room for maneuver.
After a while, Li Lei stood up and said, "Regarding Wu Tian, Luo Hai, and all the defendants in this case, have they committed a crime? They are absolutely guilty. Even though I was hired by them, I have never denied the crimes they committed.
But I don't think they committed treason. As Prosecutor Zhang said, endangering the country is a deliberate and purposeful act. But I don't think Wu Tian and Luo Hai deliberately undermined the stability of the country.
When you feel scared, panicked, and forced into a desperate situation, all you do is to protect yourself. Take Wu Tian for example, why did he become a bandit? Because he was bullied by officials, his family's land was taken away by the government, and his parents died because of it.
He had no choice but to become a bandit and make a living by robbing.
Why did he attack the tax police? Because the tax police targeted him first. Why did he want to expand his power? Because he attacked the tax police and he was worried that he would be retaliated against.
Everything he did was to protect himself and to survive. Although he was guilty, he was not guilty of treason. In addition, we should not ignore the situation in Jingdong East Road at that time. Not to mention the common people, many wealthy families were forced to break up and become heavily in debt by the Qingmiao money. There were many cases of common people attacking tax collectors. This is actually not much different from what Wu Tian did.
Luo Hai and others were all good people. They would not attack officials or murder tax police, so before the crisis, they chose to support Wu Tian. Of course, this was a wrong choice, but they were only doing it for self-protection.
Therefore, I implore the Grand Court to rule that my client has no intention of treason."
After hearing this, Zhao Yan suddenly asked, "Defense, do you know the regulations of our dynasty regarding defense?"
Li Lei was stunned for a moment, then said guiltily: "I know."
Zhao Yan continued, "Then you should know that the self-defense regulations cannot be applied to harming innocent people?"
Li Lei remained silent.
Your self-protection is too forced. In order to protect yourself, you rob and kill people. In order to protect yourself, you burn food.
Zhao Yan just pointed this out, and then announced: "Today's trial ends here. After this judge has reviewed all the evidence, he will open the court on a chosen day and make a verdict."
Although there was no verdict in court, everyone present knew very well that the procuratorate had already secured victory.
Ultimately, the public security, procuratorate and courts are more inclined to evidence, but judging from the closing statements of both sides, the procuratorate has repeatedly emphasized evidence and conclusive evidence.
Li Lei, on the other hand, emphasized environment and cause and effect, but during the process of questioning, he was unable to connect the two into a whole and form a necessary causal relationship.
The Qingmiao Law has caused unrest among the people, and you go to deal with the Commissioner of Taxation?
Perhaps there is a certain relationship between the two, but this cannot be used as a basis in court.
Many dignitaries left the imperial court with gloomy faces.
Sima Guang and others saw it with their own eyes and were worried in their hearts.
After the imperial court makes its verdict, it is likely to enter into the traditional process of officialdom, namely the game between the monarch and his ministers.
At this time, there must be many powerful people speculating that the emperor is going to carry out a major purge.
The key point is that the current situation within the Song Dynasty shows signs of this, mainly due to the conflicts caused by land annexation. To release the land, it is necessary to take action against these powerful people.
Because everyone knows very well that Luo Hai and his men have no intention of rebelling. Their counterattack, to a certain extent, represents the protection of the powerful class for their own power.
If you want to kill Wu Tian and Luo Hai, it is actually acceptable to them, but if you want to charge them with treason, it means that you are going to take action against more people.
Although the procuratorate was independent, they believed that it would not dare to do so without the emperor's connivance, and that the emperor was above the tax commissioner.
Sima Guang did not dare to carry out reforms for the emperor at the beginning because he was worried that things would evolve to this point.
Because in this kind of game, nine times out of ten, the emperor will end up in a miserable defeat. One of the important reasons for this is that the powerful nobles have already taken shape in the dynasty. There are enough of them who can afford to lose, but you, the emperor, cannot afford to lose.
Sima Guang originally thought that he could slowly bring everything back to normal through judicial reform, but he didn't expect that he would still have to face it in the end!
But Sima Guang always adhered to his principles. Although he was extremely anxious, he did not go to Zhang Fei to discuss the matter.
In fact, you shouldn't look for Zhang Fei, but Zhao Yan. However, no one goes to look for him, because everyone knows that Zhao Yan is more ruthless than Bao Zheng. If you go to him to discuss things, you will just get scolded.
Three days later, the imperial court opened the trial and pronounced the verdict.
The VIP seats were empty, with only Sima Guang and a few others sitting there to listen.
The verdict was almost the same as everyone had guessed. Wu Tian and Liu Lian were convicted of treason, and Luo Hai and 33 others were convicted of assisting in treason.
Among them, only five were not sentenced to death and were sentenced to exile 2,000 miles away. The rest were all sentenced to death.
All that was heard was a wailing sound from the prisoner's bench.
Except for Wu Tian and Liu Lian, everyone else was desperately protesting their injustice. They really didn't expect that things would come to this point.
They obviously underestimated the tax department.
This was not the first time that the Commissioner of Taxation had been underestimated, but everyone believed that a strong dragon could not defeat a local snake, and Zhang Fei had always left room for them before, giving them some illusions. They always wanted to give it a try, but they died after trying.
However, some people outside the courtyard who were watching the fun cheered. They were of course happy to see these powerful people being punished.
Li Guozhong and Li Lei looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
Li Lei whispered: "Godfather, should we go and say hello to the other party?"
Li Guozhong said, "Forget it this time."
Over there, Zhang Fei was humming a little tune while sorting out the documents. Suddenly, he saw that Wang Gong and Qi Ji were worried, so he asked, "Such a great victory, why aren't you two happy?"
Qi Ji glanced at the empty VIP seats and couldn't help but say, "We have offended everyone this time."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if you don't offend me, you've already offended me. Why don't you just accept it happily?"
Wang Gong laughed and said, "We are not as open-minded as Prosecutor Zhang."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "This is not being open-minded, but we have no choice. This is what the evidence shows. Do you want us to bend the law for personal gain?"
Qi Ji said: "But it seems that no one can understand it, including Sima Xueshi and others."
As he said this, he glanced to the side.
Zhang Fei looked up and saw Sima Guang just walking by. His resentful and confused eyes really made him look like a resentful woman.
In response, Zhang Fei just smiled and nodded.
This made Sima Guang even more confused.
Is this kid really drifting?
If it were so easy to judge, why would the public security, procuratorate and courts have their turn?
Or does he have a plan for dealing with it?
Lee's Bookstore.
"This is your reward. Thank you for your hard work."
A noble and imposing young man waved his hand with an extremely frustrated look, and a servant behind him immediately brought him a plate of silver.
Li Guozhong glanced at the silver and said, "The lawsuit is not over yet, Mr. Xu, don't rush to pay."
Mr. Xu was stunned for a moment, "The lawsuit is over."
Li Guozhong said: "It will not be over until the imperial court issues its verdict."
Master Xu frowned, "Could there be a chance of a turnaround?"
Li Guozhong said: "Everything will be discussed after the verdict is issued."
Royal Court.
"Grand Judge, there is something wrong with this judgment."
The judge Liu Hao came to Zhao Yan to report.
Zhao Yan was stunned for a moment, "Is there a problem with the verdict?"
Liu Hao nodded and said, "According to the law, the relatives of Luo Hai and others must be sentenced, but the judgment of the chief judge is based on the prosecution's complaint. Can we include all their relatives in the list?"
Zhao Yan blinked, his mind a little confused, and suddenly asked: "How was the treason case done before?"
Liu Hao said: "In the past, the main culprit was sentenced, but the lower-level officials will arrest all the people related to it according to the law, and then punish them according to the law.
But there was no prosecution or defense before, so I don’t know if I can do this.”
"Yes!" Zhao Yan frowned and said, "If the imperial court can add prisoners at will, then what is the purpose of the procuratorate and what is the purpose of trials?"
Liu Hao said: "In my opinion, we can only ask the procuratorate to add another indictment, because that is the law."
Zhao Yan nodded slightly, "Go and invite Prosecutor Zhang here quickly."
"yes."
An hour later, Zhang Fei arrived at the imperial court.
"Your humble servant greets the Grand Judge."
"Prosecutor Zhang, excuse me."
Zhao Yan raised his hand and asked Zhang Fei to sit down again, then said: "I asked Prosecutor Zhang to come here today because I have an urgent matter to discuss with him."
Zhang Fei asked curiously, "What's going on?"
Zhao Yan said: "According to the treason law, the families of the principal offender and the accomplices must be punished according to the law, but these people are not involved in your indictment, which makes it difficult for our imperial court to make a verdict. Can you add another indictment to include their relatives?"
"ah?"
Zhang Fei was shocked and said, "I'm afraid that won't work. Our procuratorate prosecutes based on concrete evidence, and we don't have any evidence of those people's crimes. This should be the responsibility of the imperial court."
Zhao Yan immediately said: "But if the imperial court can add prisoners to the verdict at will, it will be a mess."
Zhang Fei said: "If our procuratorate can prosecute at will, it will be a mess!"
Zhao Yan was stunned and asked, "What should we do now?"
Zhang Fei asked, "I wonder how it was done before."
Zhao Yan said, "In the past, in cases like this, either no one was arrested, or if someone was arrested, most of the family would be arrested together, and then the main culprit would be retrialed. If he was found guilty, everyone would be sentenced according to the law, and even more people would be arrested depending on the severity of the case. But according to the system of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, it seems that doing so is not appropriate."
The royal court does not control the judicial power. There are also procuratorates and police stations under it. Luo Hai's wife and children were not arrested, but were confined to their homes and their property was temporarily sealed.
Zhang Fei said awkwardly: "Grand Judge, searching for legal provisions and making judgments according to the law are all the responsibilities of the Imperial Court. Our procuratorate is really unable to do so!"
Zhao Yan said, "But the evidence the Imperial Court has obtained so far all comes from your procuratorate. The Imperial Court doesn't know how many sons, daughters, and concubines Luo Hai has. The Imperial Court doesn't have the ability to investigate at the moment. How would I know who should be counted in and who shouldn't be counted in? Shouldn't this be investigated by your procuratorate?"
Zhang Fei said: "Our procuratorate can investigate, but the question is, will the Royal Court recognize what we find?"
Zhao Yan asked: "Why doesn't the imperial court recognize it?"
Zhang Fei immediately said: "But our procuratorate does not have any evidence. We only judged their relationship with Luo Hai. However, according to relevant laws and regulations, wives, concubines, children, brothers, sisters, servants, and neighbors can all be counted."
Zhao Yan stroked his beard and said, "This is not right! Isn't it all up to you, the Procuratorate, to decide?"
His royal court also needs to see the evidence.
But in this kind of situation, evidence is often not needed, only the relationship needs to be clarified.
Zhang Fei said: "It may be that the police station has the final say, because most of the cases are investigated by the police station."
This kind of thing is too easy to make mistakes and be caught by others. The procuratorate will never do such a stupid thing.
"no!"
Zhao Yan waved his hands and said, "You can't do that. If you do that, there's no need to try this case. The reason why the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems are fair and just is that they emphasize evidence, which can avoid most wrongful convictions. Doing this will definitely undermine the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems."
After a pause, he continued, "Go back and think about it carefully. I will also consider it carefully."
"yes."
After the imperial court's ruling, everyone was ready for the second step. The situation was already settled and there was no way to reverse it.
However, the verdict was not issued for a long time, which made everyone very curious. Did Zhao Yan plan to ask the emperor for instructions?
This inquiry was made without consulting the emperor.
Gradually, the news began to spread.
It turned out that the royal court didn't know how to write the judgment.
This is hilarious!
The dignitaries in the court were all stunned by what they heard. What was going on? After careful inquiry, they suddenly felt hopeful again. It turned out that they had tied themselves up!
There is such a good thing.
Let Li Guozhong and others prepare quickly. As long as the verdict does not conform to the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems, we will prosecute, because the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems place great emphasis on the trial system.
Government Affairs Hall.
"I see."
Wen Yanbo laughed and said, "I was wondering why Zhang San would go against his usual behavior and kill everyone. It turns out he has a trick up his sleeve."
Lu Gong asked, "Do you think that Zhang San deliberately left this flaw?"
Wen Yanbo nodded: "That must be the case."
Fu Bi shook his head and said, "It can't be said to be a flaw. The public security, procuratorial and judicial systems do conflict greatly with the law of collective responsibility."
Sima Guang asked: "If so, how can we reconcile the conflict between the two?"
Fu Bi shook his head and said, "I have no idea either."
Palace.
"I never thought that something would go wrong even though we had already taken the final step."
Lu Huiqing found it funny, "This is incredible."
Wang Anshi thought thoughtfully: "Maybe someone planned this."
Lu Huiqing was startled, "Zhang San?"
Wang Anshi nodded.
Lu Huiqing nodded and said, "This is really like Zhang San's style. He always does things in a thorough manner and will not let the situation get out of control."
“That’s not all.”
Wang Anshi said: "He may also want to use this case to redefine the system of collective responsibility with the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. This will make more ministers support the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs."
(End of this chapter)
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