Although Wang Anshi seemed confident and eloquent, as if he was making sense, he was actually just telling Wen Yanbo and the others that he would not make any concessions on this.
Because he had been forced into a desperate situation, there was no possibility of him giving in.
However, the Censorate actually has no room for extra concessions. If the Procuratorate can conduct a retrial after the Censorate's verdict, then who will take the Censorate seriously in the future?
In the past, the judgment of the Censorate could be said to be the final judgment, because the Court of Criminal Justice generally only investigated the trial files of Kaifeng Prefecture and would not check the Censorate. The reason was that the Censorate usually targeted ministers, so you could either stop the judgment, or if you couldn't, then it could be said that the final word was on their shoulders.
Usually, it was the emperor who nodded from behind.
Therefore, this will also have a huge impact on the Censorate.
This meeting of prime ministers ended in a bad mood.
There is no result.
This is almost becoming a dead end.
"I never thought that you, Kuanfu, are still so diligent at your age."
...
...
Fu Bi looked at Wen Yanbo, whose face was filled with anger, stroked his beard and said with a smile.
Wen Yanbo glanced at Fu Bi and immediately restrained himself. He said helplessly, "It's not that I want to argue with them, but Zhang San, that brat, went too far this time."
Fu Bi asked, "What does this have to do with Zhang San?"
Wen Yanbo snorted angrily, "This matter is most likely related to him, because he is the only one who is sure to win this kind of lawsuit. If Wang Jiefu hadn't discussed it with him beforehand, would he dare to hand Xue Xiang over to the procuratorate?"
"You are right. This matter was most likely planned by that guy behind the scenes."
Fu Bi nodded thoughtfully.
Wen Yanbo said: "But by doing this, he will undoubtedly force the Censorate into a desperate situation. Even if the public security, procuratorate and courts force the trial, those censors will not recognize the judgment of the public security, procuratorate and courts. This will make the entire judicial system a mess."
Jiang Zhiqi and other censors had already made harsh statements long ago that no matter what the public security, procuratorate and courts did, the Censorate would never pay any attention. As long as Xue Xiang left the procuratorate, the Censorate would be determined to arrest him.
Fu Bi nodded slightly.
Wen Yanbo glanced at Fu Bi secretly, "Mr. Fu doesn't seem to agree with me doing this."
Fu Bi was startled, shook his head and sighed: "That's not the case. If I didn't support you, I wouldn't have spoken just now. But."
Wen Yanbo asked, "Just what?"
Fu Bi said: "Although I don't like Xue Xiang's character, his experience reminds me of what happened to me and Brother Fan Xian during the Qingli period."
Wen Yanbo immediately said, "How can a villain like Xue Xiang be compared with you two?"
“That’s not the point.”
Fu Bi waved his hand and said, "If I or you were in Xue Xiang's position, would this matter be different? Put yourself in his shoes. Would you rather be tried in the Censorate or in the Procuratorate?"
Wen Yanbo frowned and said, "Maybe Lord Fu will choose the public security, procuratorate and courts, but many ministers will choose the Censorate."
Fu Bi nodded and said, "That makes sense!"
Court of trial.
"I knew that the Xu family's father-in-law and son-in-law were born rebellious and untrustworthy. Now that everything has been proven, why is my husband still being polite to them?"
Liu Shu was so anxious that he paced back and forth in front of Sima Guang and spoke indignantly.
Sima Guang asked: "Then what do you think I should do?"
Liu Shu said: "According to the regulations, above the public security, procuratorate and court is the Court of Criminal Justice. My Lord can order them to hand Xue Xiang over to the Censorate, or at most order the Procuratorate to assist the Censorate in its investigation."
Sima Guang said: "But the power of the Criminal Court is to review the case after the public security, procuratorate and court have made a judgment. At present, the investigation is still ongoing. I force them to hand the person over to the Censorate. This is against the rules!"
Liu Shu really wanted to cry but had no tears: "It's already this time, why is my husband still entangled in these trivial details?"
Sima Guang said: "Why is Xue Xiang hated? It's because he doesn't follow the rules and always puts profit first. If I do the same now, what's the difference between me and him?"
".!"
Liu Shu was speechless. He respected Sima Guang because he adhered to Confucian ethics and rules, but at this moment he felt a little disgusted with these.
Sima Guang glanced at him and sighed, "After this case is over, I will submit my resignation."
Liu Shu hurriedly said, "Sir, that's not what I meant."
Sima Guang nodded and said, "But I have made up my mind."
In the eyes of the conservatives, it was he who promoted Zhang Fei. Now that Zhang Fei has turned against him, it has caused dissatisfaction among many people. Unless he stands up now and stops Zhang Fei, he will definitely not be able to continue to be the head of the sect.
But he was unwilling to violate his principles.
He also believed that if the procuratorate had found concrete evidence but did not prosecute, this was absolutely not what he wanted to see. However, if there was no concrete evidence, the royal court would not accept the case.
Therefore, he was unwilling to intervene and undermine the procuratorate's system.
But he knew in his heart that doing so would indeed hurt the efforts of many people, including himself, and he was very eager to drive Xue Xiang out of the court.
I can only resign and apologize.
But he did not apologize to the emperor, but to his colleagues.
The prime ministers were unable to reach a consensus, and the officials below were even more hostile to each other. This time, the reformists and the powerful class all supported the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, and were very united.
It’s just that the core members of the reformists cannot afford to lose, while the powerful class hopes to take this opportunity to alienate the relationship between the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs and the conservatives. After this case is over, they will turn around and attack the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, and then no one will protect them.
Since no one from top to bottom could reach an agreement, the final arbitration power fell on the emperor.
But the whole thing has reached a dead end, and there is no room for maneuver for either party.
The emperor can only choose one of the two options, and the losing party must withdraw from the court.
But the emperor was unwilling to make a choice.
In the Chuigong Hall, Wang Anshi and Wen Yanbo had a heated debate, but it ended in vain.
The emperor did not make a decision either.
The matter is at a standstill here.
This also bought Zhang Fei valuable time.
Inside the carriage.
"The person you want is already on the way to the capital and will arrive soon."
Li Bao said to Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei nodded, "What about Xihe?"
“No reply yet.”
Li Bao suddenly said, "But there will be some movement from the Taxation Commissioner."
Zhang Fei asked, "What's going on?"
Li Bao said: "I heard from the tax commissioner that there may be many people evading taxes this year, but there was no sign beforehand. I think they must have thought that the public security, procuratorate and courts are in trouble now, so they made a temporary decision to pay less tax."
Zhang Fei laughed and said, "The tax commissioner is very unhappy."
Li Bao said: "The tax department and its staff are also very worried."
Zhang Fei said: "Then let them worry about it, so as not to alert the enemy."
Since there is no explicit ban from above, the procuratorate will continue to investigate. As for whether the Censorate recognizes it or not, the procuratorate cannot force it.
Daming Mansion.
I saw a group of people and horses galloping on the official road, with a cloud of dust rolling behind them.
The man in the middle was riding his horse at full speed, but he seemed to be weighed down by something.
This person was Lu Huiqing, who was in Daming Prefecture working on flood control. He never expected that he would encounter such a thing just after he left. Wang Anshi and the New Deal were already in a desperate situation.
At this moment, he could no longer care about so many things. If Wang Anshi fell, then with his position and purpose, he would not be able to support the banner of reform.
He must return to the capital immediately.
But just as we reached the outskirts of the city, we suddenly saw a fast horse coming from the opposite direction.
"Whoa!"
The cavalry on the opposite side stopped first, and the man on the horse shouted, "Is that Lu Xiaokan on the opposite side?"
Lu Huiqing also stopped and looked carefully, "Wang Xian."
This person was the guard beside Wang Anshi.
Wang Xian got off his horse and clasped his fists in greeting, "Wang Xian greets Proofreader Lu."
Lu Huiqing also hurriedly got off his horse, stepped forward and grabbed Wang Xian's sleeve, "How are you, my dear teacher?"
Wang Xian hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Lieutenant Lu, everything is fine. It was because Lieutenant Lu was afraid that he would worry, so he sent me to tell him."
"Beijing City!"
After that, he glanced around, pulled Wang Xian to the side of the road, and asked, "What's the situation in the capital now?"
Wang Xian directly took out a letter and handed it to Lu Huiqing.
Lu Huiqing took it hastily and opened it immediately. After reading it carefully, he struggled for a while and sighed: "Forget it! It's useless for me to go back now."
Although he had some reservations about Zhang Fei, he knew that Zhang Fei had always been defending the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. Without them, Zhang Fei would lose everything. According to what was said in the letter, now that the reformists were tied to the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, Zhang Fei would definitely do his best.
Just as he was about to go back, he suddenly saw a carriage coming up the river bank on the east side. He felt that the carriage looked familiar.
After hesitating for a moment, he walked towards the intersection.
After a while, he met the carriage at the intersection.
Two dusty old men got off the carriage. They were Hou Shuxian and Liu Yi, the president and vice president of Damingfu Water Conservancy College.
"It's the Fortune Teller. What a coincidence!"
"Second Dean, where did you just come from?"
"Over there by the Ergu River."
"What's the situation over there now?"
Lu Huiqing asked again immediately.
Hou Shuxian and Liu Yi looked at each other, stroked their beards and said nothing.
Lu Huiqing hurriedly said, "If you two have anything to say, just speak up. We are here to solve the problem."
"The situation over there is not good!"
Hou Shuxian said: "Just as Han Xianggong said, while we are widening the river here, the silt downstream is also increasing day by day. This is not a fundamental solution."
Liu Yi said: "Besides, the Minister of River Defense has not really solved the problem of the Ergu River. Chanzhou still suffers from frequent floods. In addition, because Cheng Dujian has been promoting water conservancy in recent years and has cut down too many trees, many river embankments have been damaged."
Lu Huiqing asked: "So you two both think we should choose Beiliu?"
Hou Shuxian said: "It's not that we want to choose to flow north, but the river chooses to flow north. However, if we let the river flow north, whether it can avoid floods, we can't guarantee it."
Liu Yi said: "But according to the current situation, it is difficult for Dongliu to avoid floods. We came to Damingfu along the Beiliu River before. We found that the previous floods in Beiliu were caused by the disrepair of the river. If the embankments are reinforced, the floods can actually be alleviated."
Lu Huiqing said: "This is also my biggest headache. At present, most of the ministers in the court support the eastward flow, because this is related to the defense of our northern border. Although we have the right to choose the northward flow, if there is a flood, we will be blamed."
Hou and Liu both remained silent.
What should I do then?
They could only provide technical advice, and the final decision would have to be made by Lu Huiqing, the newly appointed Hebei Transport Commissioner.
Lu Huiqing added: "It seems that the only plan for now is to make two preparations. The East Flow River is used to monitor and consolidate the river defense works left by Cheng Dujian. The main purpose is to prevent more people from dying from floods, which can reduce the pressure of public opinion.
At the same time, we will follow Vice President Liu’s idea and concentrate manpower to reinforce the north-flowing river channel. If the east-flowing river breaks its banks again and the river chooses to flow north again, we will change the river channel to the north-flowing river channel.”
Hou Shuxian and Liu Yi nodded at the same time.
Lu Huiqing had always been opposed to Wang Anshi's large-scale flood control efforts. In his opinion, this was a thankless task. He came here mainly to make up for some of his previous mistakes and to shirk his responsibility. Eventually, he would hand over the river defense to the Water Conservancy Institute and get out in time.
Compared with the still turbulent Hebei region, Jingdong East Road has slowly returned to its former tranquility. Qingzhou's finances have increased and its burden has been lightened due to debt restructuring and the Enterprise Law, and life is getting better and better.
As for places like Qizhou, because the Director of the Ministry of Revenue spent money to build water conservancy projects, the people had jobs to do and their land was irrigated, so naturally they did not complain.
Recently, Su Shi also came to Qingzhou, mainly to repair the relationship between Qingzhou and Qizhou, because the previous competition between the two laws led to Qingzhou being completely cut off from other prefectures and counties.
But Qingzhou is the provincial capital of Jingdong East Road after all, and currently the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs are all located in Jingdong East Road. It is necessary to quickly establish the hierarchical relationship between the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs.
On the other hand, Su Shi also came to visit Ouyang Xiu.
Ouyang Xiu was grateful to Su Shi and Su Zhe for promoting them, and their political ideas were very similar.
Around noon.
Fan Chunren invited Su Shi to a restaurant next to the procuratorate.
As soon as I entered the restaurant, I saw that each of the guests inside was reading a newspaper with great interest.
Fan Chunren hurriedly asked, "Is there a new court bulletin?"
The shopkeeper said, "It's fresh out of the box. The Southeastern loss case has a new twist. The public security, procuratorate and courts have finally intervened."
Among the government offices in Qingzhou today, the Dibaoyuan is the most profitable tool. Whenever there is any movement in the capital, the Dibaoyuan will immediately publish an article. The Junshu case has almost been turned into a TV series by the Procuratorate, and they even published this news in two newspapers.
But there was no way around it, as the government monopolized the information, so every time it was reported it sold out in big numbers. Now many officials regretted choosing the academy instead of the Dibao Academy.
"Yeah?"
Fan Chunren hurriedly said, "Quickly bring me one."
The shopkeeper said awkwardly, "They have all been sent out."
Fan Chunren frowned and said, "It's really absurd that the court bulletin from the court bulletin office was sent to the restaurant first instead of to our office."
Su Shi smiled and said, "They paid for the reservation, so of course they have priority. They are in the government, and they are here to make money."
Although Fan Chunren was not ashamed to do so, he thought about how the business law would help Qingzhou solve the problem of redundant officials. If he didn't make money, those officials would have to come back to collect salaries.
The shopkeeper didn't know whether to laugh or not, but he felt very happy in his heart.
In fact, it was Shen Kuo who asked Yan Jidao to do this. Officials were the main consumers of reading materials. If the official documents were sent to the government offices first, there would be no need for the officials to go to the restaurants to read them. If the documents were sent to the restaurants first, it would force the officials to consume in the restaurants, and the price of the official reports could be increased.
After a while, someone finally returned the report, and the shopkeeper immediately sent it to Su Shi and Fan Chunren.
"The Southeast Loss Case has another twist. Are the public security, procuratorate and courts finally getting involved?"
Su Shi held the court newspaper in his hand and tilted his head to look at the shopkeeper, "That's the title you just mentioned!"
"Yes!" The shopkeeper nodded with some confusion in his eyes. Is this strange?
"It's okay! Go and get busy first."
"Then I will go and get busy first."
After the shopkeeper left, Su Shi said with a smile: "This Yan Jidao has really inherited Zhang San's true teachings. He has abandoned the literary talent of the Yan family and relied on this gimmick to attract people's attention."
In the past, the official reports were very traditional announcements, but nowadays they are more entertaining and provide very thorough analysis, which people love.
Although this goes against tradition, it's not bad to make money.
“This is not a gimmick!”
Fan Chunren put down the official report and said, "It is just as you expected. Wang Jiefu really used the procuratorate to prosecute. It seems that your letter was not delivered to the capital in time."
It turned out that after Su Shi learned about this, he immediately thought that Wang Anshi might file a lawsuit through the Procuratorate, so he quickly wrote a letter to Sima Guang, asking him to be on guard against this move, but unfortunately he did not use the official express horse because this was a private letter.
Su Shi didn't care and smiled, "Even if it was delivered in time, it might not be able to stop it. After all, the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs are all about evidence. Since the procuratorate dared to take the case, it proves that they have solid evidence in their hands. Their mistake was that they shouldn't have chosen the Censorate in the first place.
Instead, we should choose the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs first, and regard the Censorate as a backup, using the Censorate to supervise the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. In that case, we will not be so passive. "
Fan Chunren said: "I think the best solution is for the Censorate to prosecute through the Procuratorate. After all, the Censorate's trial system is far less fair and just than the public security, procuratorate and courts."
Su Shi smiled and said, "Maybe this is what Zhang San intended."
Tokyo, Imperial Court.
After carefully reviewing the indictment and related evidence submitted by Zhang Fei, Zhao Yan said to Zhang Fei: "Prosecutor Zhang, although the evidence provided by your procuratorate is sufficient for a trial, the Censorate may not accept this trial."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "We in the procuratorate pursue fairness and justice, not seeking recognition from the Censorate."
Zhao Yan said: "But this case is closely related to the Censorate. If they don't get involved, how can it be tried?"
Zhang Fei said: "The key to this case is whether Xue Xiang is innocent. We don't have enough evidence to prove that the Censorate has some suspicion of favoritism and abuse of power, so if they don't participate, it won't affect anything. Of course, our procuratorate may get some convenience, but this is their own fault, so we can't blame them."
Zhao Yan said: "But the problem is that under this situation, even if we sentence him, we may not be able to execute him. The Censorate has already threatened that no matter what we do, they will arrest Xue Xiang."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "They are so arrogant, what can we do? We just do what we should do. As for what they want to do, that is their business."
Zhao Yan asked: "Can't we do it perfectly?"
Zhang Fei said: "We in the procuratorate have tried hard, but our people can't even get into the gate of the Censorate, and we have no other choice."
Zhao Yan sighed, "We still have to discuss this with the Imperial Court, and we will send someone to notify your procuratorate when the time comes."
"yes."
This seems to be an unsolvable situation.
The Censorate refused to even talk about it. You don't respect me, and I don't recognize the judgment of your public security, procuratorate and courts. This time even the emperor was forced to be helpless, because the court was completely divided in this case. One side unreservedly supported the Censorate, and the other side unreservedly supported the public security, procuratorate and courts.
Zhao Xu simply stopped asking.
These two sides are the big shots, we can’t afford to offend them.
Slip away!
Sima family.
"Alas, this Su Zizhan, he didn't even know to send a fast horse to deliver such an important matter. If he had delivered it a month earlier, it wouldn't have come to this!"
Sima Guang put down Su Shi's letter and couldn't help complaining.
After a while, Liu Shu came to visit suddenly.
"My husband, the imperial court has just issued a notice that it has decided to hear Xue Xiang's case on the third day."
“That’s what I expected.”
Sima Guang nodded and said, "Prime Minister Zhao originally hoped to have this case brought to the public security, procuratorate and court for trial. Alas..."
Sighing, he asked again, "What did Duke Wen and the others say?"
Liu Shu said: "None of them will be present. I wonder if my husband will go?"
Sima Guang hesitated for a moment and said, "Of course I will go. I will also think about how the Censorate wronged Xue Xiang."
Anyway, he has made up his mind to leave, so it doesn't matter.
In this regard, he and Wang Anshi are extremely similar. Neither of them is greedy for power. They enter the government as officials only to realize their ambitions. If they cannot achieve their ambitions, they will leave immediately and will never stay in the court for power. They are not interested in those.
Both of them did not own any property, nor did they take concubines. They lived an extremely simple life, not caring about anything except food, clothing, housing and transportation. Power was just a tool to achieve their goals. If they could not achieve their goals, power would become meaningless. In this respect, even Fan Zhongyan could not compare to him.
Three days later.
I saw a team of more than a hundred royal police officers marching towards the direction of the imperial court.
The leader was Cao Dongdong who had just returned. He and Ma Xiaoyi were sitting on tall horses, and there were several carriages following behind them.
The Royal Police on both sides were guarding the carriage in three layers inside and three layers outside.
This attracted countless people to watch.
"Who is sitting in the carriage?"
"It is said that they are the shipping envoy and some witnesses in the Southeast Junshu case."
"Do witnesses need to be protected like this? The treason case back then didn't involve this kind of drama."
"You don't understand this. It is said that the Censorate has issued a warrant for the shipment. This is done to prevent the Censorate from arresting the shipment."
"ah?"
Upstairs on the Baifan Building.
But I saw a group of middle-aged men in gorgeous clothes standing in front of the window on the fifth floor, looking at the team in the distance.
They were the imperial censors such as Jiang Zhiqi and Peng Siyan.
"Apart from anything else, the ability of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs to attract attention is truly convincing!"
"Yes! They knew we wouldn't go up to arrest people, but they still put on such a scene. Who are they trying to scare?"
"As long as we disagree, Xue Xiang will be a wanted criminal. I don't believe he can stay in the court."
Today, Zhang Fei, Wang Gong, Qi Ji and others came to the imperial court early to prepare.
Qi Ji glanced around and saw that they were all reformists. He couldn't help but whispered, "Prosecutor Zhang, no one is here, including Scholar Sima."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Whether they come or not, the imperial court's decision is binding on the law."
Qi Ji said: "I hope so."
He really didn't believe it, because the power of the Censorate was no less than that of the public security, procuratorate and courts, and should even be considered above them. If they didn't admit it, would it really make sense to continue the trial?
Just at this moment, a loud announcement was heard, "The Emperor has arrived!"
The officials present were startled when they heard the words, and they all looked in the direction of the voice, only to see Zhao Xu entering the court accompanied by Liu Zhao.
They all knew that the emperor had come here secretly to watch the trial before, and he was always very low-key. This was the first time he came here in such a high-profile manner.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, a group of officials, including Zhang Fei and others, immediately went over to pay their respects.
Zhao Xu simply said casually: "No need to be polite, everyone. I just happened to have nothing to do today, so I came to take a look."
The officials looked at each other in bewilderment.
Before, Zhao Xu had never expressed his stance on which side he was on. Although he now only said that he came to take a look, once he sat here, the value of this trial could be imagined.
(End of this chapter)
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