"It's the same trick again."
Sima Guang just shook his head.
Feng Jing whispered, "What do you mean, Junshi?"
Sima Guang was stunned for a moment. "Oh, you didn't seem to be in the capital at that time. This is actually Zhang San's usual trick. He first accused you of the ten evil crimes, either filial piety or treason, to make the chief judge feel fearful. Except for you, everyone sitting here is a victim."
Fu Bi and Zhao Yan were immediately embarrassed.
Junshi!
Don't tell anything outside!
But the facts before him made Feng Jing unable to disbelieve it!
The judicial officials on both sides were like dumb people, unable to say a word.
But they are very impatient inside!
...
...
Not only will there be a fine, but there will also be criminal penalties, plus the tax commissioner, do you dare to tamper with this?
However, it is difficult for them to refute.
Food, to put it in a bigger context, can even cause rebellion.
Anyone who dares to refute this point will be in trouble if the gentry or landlords rebel next time.
This kind of thing has happened before, and what Zhang Fei said is all true.
Wang Anshi glanced at Xue Xiang, who was looking at Zhang Fei with admiration, and coughed.
Xue Xiang was stunned and looked at Wang Anshi in confusion.
Wang Anshi said: "Don't think about learning from him. It may seem simple, but he is the only one who dares to say so. If others say so, and they refute it a little, they may get themselves deeply involved, which is very dangerous."
"I know." Xue Xiang nodded and asked, "So, does Prosecutor Zhang often do this?"
Wang Anshi nodded.
Xue Xiang was very depressed. It was really frustrating to compare yourself with others!
At this time, Feng Jing suddenly spoke up: "Prosecutor Zhang, what you said makes sense, but most people who hoard food do not have the slightest intention of rebellion. As far as I know, some people just like to hoard food. If there is no food in the warehouse, they will feel anxious. Do you agree with this?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "I agree."
Feng Jing continued, "But your testimony always links the two together. I am very worried that someone will use this as an excuse to build a prison and label all the wealthy families who hoarded grain as treason, or use the opportunity to extort money from them. Do you think this will happen?"
Many officials nodded frequently.
This is really terrible. If I hoard food, I might rebel.
Zhang Fei thought for a while and said, "I want to make it clear first that the ultimate penalty of this bill is the warehouse tax. The criminal liability mentioned just now is based on the fact that the other party concealed the grain and did not report it.
These are two different things and should not be confused.
If someone deliberately conceals grain and does not report it, will they be framed and charged with treason? I think this is possible, and this is why the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems were created, because under the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems, anyone who wants to sue others for treason needs to provide a lot of evidence. Unlike before, a poem or an article could be charged with treason.
Regarding Feng Zhongcheng's problem, my advice is to obey the law as much as possible and not to harbor any fluke mentality. If you have no intention of treason and simply want to evade taxes, but you do a lot of things that you shouldn't do in order to evade taxes, and a lot of coincidences happen at the same time, then you may really be defined as committing treason.
And this kind of thing is very likely to happen. But whether this is considered being wronged, I don’t think so, because no one knows what you are thinking, we can only judge based on the evidence.
Of course, the premise is that the Royal Court, the Procuratorate, and the Police Station all conduct their review in accordance with the law.”
Feng Jing said: "So Prosecutor Zhang believes that this situation is unavoidable."
Zhang Fei said: "I think it can be avoided, just don't deliberately evade taxes."
Feng Jing immediately said, "So the reason why Prosecutor Zhang keeps mentioning treason is that he hopes to use this to intimidate the people and make them pay taxes."
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "I don't mean that."
Feng Jing said: "But I feel that your confession is threatening."
This question is extremely aggressive.
Fu Bi and Sima Guang glanced at Feng Jing at the same time.
It can be seen that the old man is a little dissatisfied.
Zhang Fei said: "I don't think this is a threat. I just tell everyone the worst outcome. This is the responsibility of a judicial officer. When we encounter any prisoner in the procuratorate, we will first tell him the worst and best outcomes.
Judging from previous cases, the vast majority of people who intend to rebel will secretly stockpile food and recruit soldiers.
If you openly hoarded grain, you would face a penalty tax. But if you deliberately concealed your hoarding of grain from the court, the procuratorate or the police would definitely investigate this risk.
Of course, I raised the possibility of treason not to threaten everyone with the crime of treason, but just to abide by the first sentence of "Song Dynasty Criminal Code", which is to follow the laws of our ancestors, to prevent any incidents and to regulate any changes.
Because the bill was proposed by our procuratorate, and treason involves the core interests of the monarch, the country, and the people, and since there are cases proving the existence of this possibility, we must take precautions and make suggestions.
But if the Legislative Council deems it completely unnecessary, and believes that those who secretly hoard food are all trying to evade taxes and cannot have the intention of treason, then our procuratorate will strictly abide by it. "
Feng Jing's heart trembled, and he quickly said, "I didn't say that."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "I know, but I am only explaining Feng Zhongcheng's question. I believe this is also the main reason why the Legislative Council President held a hearing."
It is indeed Erbi, and its ability to bite back is very powerful. Feng Jing said again: "But what I want to know is, who will supervise your public security, procuratorate, courts and tax department during the whole process?"
Zhang Fei said: "First of all, the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs are not subordinate to each other. The police station is under the Ministry of War, and above it is the Political Affairs Hall. Our procuratorate is not under the imperial court either, but everyone is used to calling these three government offices together.
According to the system, there are checks and balances. In addition, there are the Censorate, the Legislative Council, and the National Security Bureau to conduct supervision.
Even the people themselves should regard going to court to sue as a way to defend their own interests and should not feel afraid, because the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs are based on the law of the rule of law.
In fact, more and more people understand this, so after losing the lawsuit, those businessmen come to our procuratorate to complain and accuse the system of injustice. "
Feng Jing looked a little depressed, glanced at Fu Bi and Sima Guang, and whispered, "I have no problem for the time being."
The underlying meaning is, I have tried my best.
Sima Guang then asked, "I agree with what Feng Zhongcheng said just now. Some people are frugal by nature and prefer to save food. They would rather eat less on weekdays. Is it inappropriate to impose punitive taxes on such behavior?"
Zhang Fei replied: "Frugality is of course a virtue, but what Sima Xueshi said is not frugality, but waste. What is the difference between saving food and not letting people eat it and burning it?
I think the frugality advocated by Confucianism is to avoid waste, because there are still many people who need food. Don't let the food rot in the warehouse, sell it to those in need. This is frugality and this is virtue.
Just like Sima Xueshi, who has always advocated frugality, but the food in Sima Xueshi's home is not even as much as the owner of the genuine bookstore."
Hou Donglai was standing outside and almost fainted. "Brother, why did you mention me?"
Sima Guang immediately glared at him unhappily, signaling him to stop flattering and be more serious.
Han Zhongyan suddenly whispered, "Junshi and the others seem to be fighting desperately."
Han Qi laughed and said, "They are doing this for others to see. If they don't ask some unreasonable questions, how can they convince the public? After all, those people are unreasonable. If Junshi doesn't ask this question, someone will definitely question the Legislative Council about it. It's not easy to be the Legislative Council President!"
Han Zhongyan nodded and said, "I see."
Fu Bi suddenly asked: "There is a drought in the capital area at this time. Is the reason why the procuratorate submitted this bill at this time to help the court resist the drought?"
When this question was raised, many officials looked at Fu Bi in surprise.
This really requires all your effort!
Zhao Xu couldn't help but frown.
This issue is actually very sensitive.
According to common sense, as a court official, is there anything wrong with me offering advice on how to deal with the drought?
Even if it is, so what?
But in fact, it is not so, because many people currently blame the drought on the emperor. If you intend to do so, then you are using other people's money to clean up the emperor's mess.
That's not fair.
You are responsible for the trouble you have caused.
Zhang Fei said: "I can only say that the drought has accelerated our submission of this bill, but even if there was no drought, we would have submitted this bill. As I just said, the reason we submitted this bill is because many people are dissatisfied with it and think it is unfair, and there is indeed unfairness in it.
But it may not be so early. There are special circumstances such as the Xiangguo Temple mentioned just now, but there is no specific provision in this bill. If there is no drought, our procuratorate may conduct an investigation in this regard and submit a more complete bill.
It is precisely because of the sudden drought and the fact that Xiangguo Temple is a special case that can be dealt with later that we decided to submit this bill first. "
If I had known this!
Many powerful people seemed a little annoyed because they were the ones who asked people to complain about the injustice.
The result actually provided Zhang Fei with a perfect excuse.
Fu Bi nodded slightly, and suddenly looked at the judicial officials on both sides, as if asking, do you have any other questions?
In fact, not all of these judicial officials are conservative. In order to make the hearing more convincing, Fu Bi also invited several judicial officials from powerful families to participate. However, the eyes of those judicial officials were even more confused than theirs.
In fact, before the meeting started, they were thinking about starting from the execution aspect rather than refuting Zhang Fei theoretically.
Because they also know that they are in the wrong.
At present, land annexation is too serious, which indeed poses a great hidden danger to the country.
In addition, Zhang Fei exempted them from grain commercial taxes and supported not suppressing land annexation. It was indirect coercion rather than direct coercion. He did not suppress grain prices, transactions, or help you choose trading partners. You can all sell at a high price as long as you can sell it.
If you can't sell it, you will be responsible for it.
They originally intended to refute your idea in terms of execution, saying that your idea is good, but the problem is that you cannot execute it and will encounter many problems.
This is the same approach as refuting Wang Anshi's new policies.
But times have changed. The country has several more powerful enforcement departments, namely the public security, procuratorate, courts and tax bureau.
Make everything impossible, possible.
The key point is that the questions asked by Fu Bi, Sima Guang, Zhao Yan and others were more comprehensive and courageous than what they had considered.
So they don’t know what to ask.
In fact, Fu Bi, Sima Guang and others all knew very well that their mission on this trip was to make things difficult for Zhang Fei, so that people would be convinced.
Seeing that no one had anything to say, Fu Bi put the evidence in front of him aside, turned to another document, and said: "This bill also includes a liquor tax bill."
When these words were spoken, many people felt as if they had lost their parents.
The fact that Fu Bi turned over this page proved that the Legislative Council no longer had much objection to the warehouse tax.
The chances of this passing are very high.
But the merchants were all cheering up. They all hoped that the liquor tax bill could be passed. Even the Baifanlou, which had a monopoly, had 3,000 foot shops helping it sell liquor.
This was all granted by the imperial court.
But it's only glorious on the surface. There is no free lunch in this world. One can imagine how much money Baifanlou has to pay every year to be able to get so much wine yeast.
The 20% liquor tax imposed now is also quite painful for Baifanlou.
"Yes."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "This is also a tax that was very controversial in the tax lawsuit last year. Its essence is the same as the grain tax. Many merchants think that they have already paid a lot of money to the government, and it is unfair to collect another liquor tax here. I have prepared the court record of the liquor tax dispute."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Zhiqian immediately presented the evidence.
He had to emphasize this evidence to show that he had sufficient reasons, rather than just trying to solve an urgent problem or to cover up for the emperor.
Feng Jing said: "Generally, wine merchants spend money to buy wine yeast from the government, rather than giving money directly to the government. There should be no controversy here."
Fu Bi and Sima Guang both felt a little embarrassed when they heard this.
They are very clear about the twists and turns here.
But the question still needs to be asked, and this is a hearing.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Mr. Feng also said that they were ordinary wine merchants, that is, there were still wine merchants, and they did not buy wine yeast from the government."
Feng Jing did not deny it, "But most people are like this."
“Even for most of them, the price they pay for the koji is different.”
Zhang Fei looked down at the copy and said, “Regarding the sale of wine yeast, the court is very diverse, and there are currently various systems.
For example, the buying system requires wine dealers to offer bids to compete for koji. Some prices are high, some are low. This requires the tax commissioner to investigate every household, because if a unified profit is used, it will be unfair to many wine dealers.
Because they get the koji at a high price, the selling price is naturally high, but the profit is not much.
For example, under the official monopoly system, wine is only allowed to be purchased from the government. The court has already collected part of the profits, so how should the wine tax be calculated?
Another type is licensed wine producers, who directly pay taxes to the government and obtain the right to brew and sell wine. Do these wine producers need to pay wine taxes?
Such a diverse system not only places a huge burden on the tax commissioner, but also leads to many unfair phenomena. "
Feng Jing said: "The tax commissioner has all the means. This is nothing to him. Isn't it just a matter of increasing the fine?"
"Mr. Feng is right. It is not the tax commissioner who is complaining, but the wine merchants."
Zhang Fei responded with a smile, and then said: "To be honest, no matter what kind of system it is, it is for the national finances. However, when we look at the accounts of liquor tax, we find that in many cases, the government has to lose money. This is simply unbelievable. Putting aside fairness and justice, even this most basic purpose has not been achieved. Why not reform it?"
Critical hit!
This sentence made Feng Jing speechless.
Monopoly should be a very profitable business, but whether it is the local or central government, sometimes it does not make enough money to cover its expenses.
It's outrageous.
But the reason is very simple.
It would be nonsense to say that government monopoly either breeds corruption or it would be nonsense.
The official monopoly on salt also caused a lot of trouble. But compared to salt, you won’t die if you don’t drink wine.
Xu Zhiqian quietly placed another note on the document.
Zhang Fei took a look and said, "Damn, I almost forgot this story."
He raised his head again and said with a smile: "There is another point. Some people once said that it was because of me that Lushi Lane became prosperous, but in fact it is not true. The rise of the litigation industry in the capital, or the prosperity of Lushi Lane, is because of this wine system, because it caused many disputes between the government and the wine merchants at that time.
The main dispute was that the government offices often had more expenses than income, so they had to suddenly raise the price of koji and pass the losses on to the wine producers.
Fu Bi said: "So, you hope to completely abolish the official monopoly system and replace it with a tax system."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "This is the only way to be relatively fair. At least the tax rates faced by wine producers are the same."
Fu Bi asked again: "There should be many people who know this principle. Why do you think it has not been done before?"
Zhang Fei said, "That's because there were no taxation bureaus and public security and judicial organs before. If we use the old system to check liquor taxes, it would be difficult to find out exactly how much liquor the wine producers have brewed. We might collect too much or too little, which would be detrimental to financial stability."
Fu Bi asked, "Can the tax commissioner find out now?"
"able."
Zhang Fei nodded, took another copy from Xu Zhiqian, and glanced at it. "Hezhong Prefecture also adopted a similar bill, but the liquor tax has almost doubled compared to before. Some people deliberately evaded taxes, but most of them were found out.
At present, the tax department's public investigation criteria for liquor tax are mainly the number of stoves, followed by coal, firewood, and grain. During the investigation, the company will also refer to the liquor dealers' daily business to estimate a rough number.
After saying that, he handed over the evidence in his hand.
Sima Guang suddenly asked, "Do you have any evidence to prove that the increase in liquor tax is due to the abolition of the official monopoly system? As far as I know, the overall finances of Hezhong Prefecture are good."
Zhang Fei said: "What Sima Xueshi said makes sense. This is of course related to the economic improvement of the entire Hezhong Prefecture, but if the people have no money, the wine tax will naturally not increase.
But compared to the old system, firstly, the court does not need to pay for brewing koji and keep a lot of people there; secondly, it is not easy to breed corruption. I am not here to settle old scores, but according to our investigation, it is a consensus in the court that the official monopoly system is prone to corruption. Thirdly, it will increase the number of wine households, thus increasing tax revenue.
And all of these advantages that I mentioned are evident in that evidence.”
After he finished speaking, Fu Bi moved the evidence he had just glanced at slightly towards Sima Guang.
Sima Guang glanced at it curiously. In fact, he knew very well what Zhang Fei said. He was also firmly opposed to the official monopoly system, but he wanted to know how this could be reflected in the evidence.
After reading the results, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
But the evidence listed above shows a very detailed comparison of various data before and after the reform of Hezhong Prefecture. The comparison is really clear at a glance.
So that they didn't know how to refute.
Zhao Yan said, "The imperial court controls the production of wine yeast to limit winemaking. Its purpose is also to prevent wine producers from wasting grain to make wine for the sake of profit. Prosecutor Zhang also mentioned this just now. Can we avoid this through wine tax?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Yes."
Zhao Yan said, "I understand what you said, but I want to know how you would determine how much the liquor tax should be increased to avoid excessive grain production, and how much the liquor tax should be reduced to avoid low grain prices hurting farmers."
Zhang Fei replied: "After I discovered these disputes, I secretly asked the police for help and went to all the big and small regular shops, foot shops, and military camps to conduct a census.
Simply put, it is to ask those drinkers how much alcohol they would drink per month at a certain price.
During the past few months, a total of one thousand people were investigated, including eight hundred ordinary drinkers, one hundred and fifty people in ordinary regular restaurants, and fifty people in large restaurants like Baifanlou.
I think this is enough to show that our procuratorate submitted this bill not because of the drought outside, but because of the existence of injustice.
Based on the consumption of these drinkers, we can roughly calculate a range for adjusting the alcohol tax to avoid being too high or too low.”
When these words were spoken, everyone in the audience was shocked.
Is it still possible to do this?
Only Cao Dongdong held his head high, looking as if he had never seen the world.
Zhao Xu was also a little confused and asked Liu Zhao: "Can this be calculated?"
Liu Zhao was a little confused for a moment.
Lan Yuanzhen said, "Your Majesty, this sounds quite reasonable. Let's not talk about the wealthy. For ordinary people, he only has so much money every month. If the price of wine is high, he will have to drink sparingly."
Zhao Xu nodded and asked, "But can we know the answer by checking a thousand people?"
Lan Yuanzhen thought for a while and said, "We don't know about this either."
Zhao Yan came back to his senses and immediately asked, "You can figure it out just by investigating a thousand people?"
"Yes."
Zhang Fei nodded. "We have formulated a sampling inspection standard, which is mainly divided according to the age of customers, the specifications of regular stores and foot stores, and then statistically analyzed."
Zhao Yan asked: "What evidence do you have to prove this?"
"some."
Zhang Fei said: "When I was still in Hezhong Prefecture, Hezhong Prefecture had already carried out liquor tax reform. After that, the number of liquor households and liquor production in Hezhong Prefecture increased day by day, and the grain consumption also increased.
However, after the Xihe War broke out, due to the need for food on the front line, Hezhong Prefecture used this trick to adjust the liquor tax by investigating the consumption capacity of customers. Facts have proved that the effect is very good. The liquor tax that year immediately dropped by nearly 30%, and this was even when the people of Hezhong Prefecture were growing.
I have here a comparison of the accounts of Hezhong Prefecture two years before and after the adjustment of the liquor tax, their census at that time, and their prediction of the grain reserves after the liquor tax adjustment.
At the same time, we also found out from our investigation in the capital that the consumption capacity of ordinary people in Hezhong Prefecture is comparable to that of people in the capital."
This last sentence immediately broke the defense of the people outside the courtyard.
What the hell?
In Hezhong Prefecture, which is not even one of the four capitals, the consumption power of ordinary citizens is actually stronger than ours?
What does Kaifeng Prefecture eat?
Zhao Yan immediately asked someone to present all the evidence.
Xue Xiang was very interested in this proof and asked Wang Anshi, "Mr. Wang, is this what is taught in the Academy of Mathematics?"
Wang Anshi was stunned for a moment and asked, "Do you think this should be taught in the Academy of Mathematics?"
Xue Xiang nodded, "Of course, because this is financial management. When I was reforming the Tea-Horse Law in the northwest, I found through investigation that raising horses by myself was very expensive and the quality of horses was uneven, so it would be more cost-effective to buy horses directly.
For example, the New Deal's equal transport law, exemption from military service law, and green seedling law were all formulated after investigation, weren't they? It's just that we don't seem to be as detailed as he is, and we don't have a standard. "
Wang Anshi blinked and thought, yes! This is how financial management should be done. Why didn't I think of letting this kid become a doctor in my academy of mathematics?
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