Northern Song Dynasty Justice

Chapter 231

Xu Zhiqian was too lazy to argue with Zhang Fei, and after sitting down, she and Qiu Zhengwen got ready.

In fact, Zhang Fei didn't want Ma Xiaoyi to help them at all. He arranged for Qiu Zhengwen to come over to help them early in the morning. The main task was to do some hard work such as cleaning the table, carrying the copywriting, and running errands.

"Zhang San, look at the many people on the opposite side!"

Xu Zhiqian turned sideways suddenly and whispered to Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei looked up and saw seven or eight people sitting under the opposite shed, and the one sitting in the front was Erbi Li Lei from the Li Family Bookstore, and around him were Li Guozhong, Fei Ming and other big people. Famous tea eaters.

It can be seen that the division of professions in this industry is still relatively strict. Li Guozhong and the others did not stand up to fight Zhang Fei by themselves, but chose to make suggestions and prepare materials from the sidelines, and the limelight was given to Li Lei, who was the youngest among them.

This is because the tea eater is only good at writing pleadings, is good at finding out the other party's loopholes, and making suggestions, but not good at arguing.

This is not to say that they do not have this talent, but because it was very difficult for Er Bi to go to court to argue, almost all of them were pleadings, and everyone wanted to be a tea eater, but now the situation has changed.

Er Bi's profession has gradually overtaken tea cannibals and has become a key figure in the dispute.

"Perhaps the five hundred guan is not wronged."

Seeing this scene, Zhang Fei felt very relieved, and seemed to have seen the prospect of professionalizing litigation.

An important indicator of specialization is teamwork and clear division of labor.

Compared with this, he seemed unprofessional on the contrary, he and Xu Zhiqian were responsible for everything, unlike the other side, each defendant had a special tea eater who was in charge of advising Er Bi.

Xu Zhiqian seemed to be aware of this problem, so she whispered: "Zhang San, why don't we call more people here so that they can learn."

Zhang Fei nodded: "It's the same as I thought. After this fight is over, I'll talk to Fan Yuanwai."

Then, he tilted his head slightly, and asked Qiu Zhengwen behind him: "Zhengwen, how do you think they will fight this lawsuit?"

Qiu Zhengwen thought about it for a while, and then replied nervously: "I thought they would justify themselves as tenant farmers."

Zhang Fei nodded and asked again: "Then how should we deal with it?"

Qiu Zhengwen held back for a long time, and replied: "I don't. I don't know."

Zhang Fei didn't seem to be surprised, and asked again: "Do you know who we are helping in the lawsuit?"

Qiu Zhengwen said: "Scholar Wang."

Zhang Fei turned his head and stared at Qiu Zhengwen.

Qiu Zhengwen blinked, "Set up the Regulations Department of the Second Government."

"It's the imperial court."

Zhang Fei said depressedly: "What we are pursuing is taxation. Only the imperial court has the power to collect taxes. Have you recorded those tax laws and regulations clearly?"

Qiu Zhengwen had an embarrassing smile on his face.

Zhang Fei also explained: "For the imperial court, they are all citizens and have the obligation to pay taxes. Therefore, in our view, they are a whole, and this is the key to our victory."

Qiu Zhengwen nodded with a vague understanding: "Yes, I remember."

And just as they were preparing, officials came to the corridor one after another, and this lawsuit attracted a lot of officials.

But unlike in the past, after these officials sat down, they were relatively quiet, and there was not much discussion. Most officials sat quietly in their chairs, and it was obvious that they were very nervous.

Perhaps they are not bystanders or participants, but parties involved.

This lawsuit involves the interests of each of them, whether they are ordinary people or officials.

After a while, Han Qi, Fu Bi, and Wen Yanbo quietly came to the corridor.

"So many people!"

Han Qi saw that the corridor was already overcrowded, and even the muddy ground in front of the corridor was full of people.

Wen Yanbo laughed and said, "They're not here to watch the trial this time."

Han Qi chuckled: "Neither are we!"

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to Fu Bi again: "Please, Mr. Fu."

"Please."

After the three sat down.

Han Qi asked Fu Bi again in a low voice: "Did Fu think this lawsuit can really solve the problem?"

"I can't see it."

Fu Bi shook his head, "So I'm very curious about how Zhang San will fight this lawsuit and what purpose he wants to achieve."

"Really?" Han Qi sighed, "I didn't figure it out either."

In fact, both of them are not in favor of this lawsuit. Even if the class of the scholar-officials is not mentioned, this lawsuit is too risky and the benefits are too small for the emperor's rule.

Because this lawsuit is impossible to solve the problem of tax evasion and tax evasion, on the contrary, it may complicate things, and even create a situation of confrontation between North Korea and China.

In comparison, Wang Anshi's reforms are much more reliable than this. They don't approve of Wang Anshi's reforms, but they just don't agree with Wang Anshi's ideas, but reforms are the only way to solve the problem.

Judiciary is impossible to solve social problems, only legislation will do.

After a while, Lu Gongzhu, Li Kai, Huang Gui, Cen Yuanli, Yu Zaishen and other six judges and pushers came to the hall together.

This is definitely the all-star lineup of Kaifeng Mansion.

There is no way, there are too many people suing the other party, and the Kaifeng government has to go all out.

Zhang Fei, Li Guozhong and others also got up and left the wooden shed one after another, and came to the middle of the hall, ready to salute.

The promotion ceremony of Kaifeng Mansion is indispensable. After all, Kaifeng Mansion is a professional court, which is different from Zhengshitang and Judgment Court.

After being promoted, Lu Gong said in a clear voice: "Because there are many people involved this time and the accounts are more complicated, I think it is impossible to finish the trial in one day. The next day, the trial will be held for two hours in the morning, from Chenshi to noon, until the trial is over, do you have any opinions?"

Originally, there were not so many arguments in the trial, but with the complexity of the dispute, the Kaifeng government was forced to issue various regulations.

It is difficult to complete the trial in one day. If the time is not set in advance, it may cause disputes at what point it will end. It must be explained in advance, so that it is fair.

Both parties expressed no opinion on this.

On such a hot day, it was just right to end at [-] o'clock in the morning.

Don't tire the old men watching the trials.

After agreeing on the matter, Mr. Lu asked them to go back and prepare to start the trial.

As for the defendant who came to testify in court, it was also determined based on the appeal Zhang Fei had submitted before.

There are too many people. We can't let the one hundred and eight defendants and hundreds of tenant farmers wait here.

There are only ten places per day, but after the review, there are only a few, and they leave work on time at noon.

The first person to make a confession was Du Shaojing, a native of Bianliang, Tokyo, and he was the cousin of Du Xiu, the judge of Du Zhi, but after a few turns in the middle, Du Shaojing's grandfather and Du Xiu's grandfather were cousins.

Although Kaifeng Prefecture did not build sheds specifically for the defendants and witnesses, their seats were set up under the big trees on the left and right sides, and they were taken care of. In order to facilitate the trial, the witnesses sat on the right side, while the defendant sat on the left side. , There are signs hanging on the trees.

Everything is evolving towards specialization.

Zhang Fei stood up and asked Du Shaojing: "Mr. Du, according to my investigation, you own a total of 120 hectares of land in Xiaqu Township, Gongqiao Township, and Dudian Township of Kaifeng County. Is this correct? "

One hectare is equal to one hundred mu, which is about 1 mu. This was common in the Northern Song Dynasty, because land could be bought and sold freely.

Du Shaojing nodded and said, "Yes."

Zhang Fei glanced at the words again, and said: "Before this year, [-] hectares of them avoided paying the land tax through the white deed."

"I object!"

Li Lei standing opposite suddenly stood up, "The imperial court has ordered that as long as the deed tax is paid within this year, the past will be forgotten. The [-] hectares of land are not included in this lawsuit."

Mr. Lu nodded slightly, then looked at Zhang Fei again.

Zhang Fei explained: "In the imperial decree, let the past go, it doesn't mean that as long as you pay the deed tax, you can forget the past, but it means that starting from this year, if you pay taxes according to the law, you can forget the past due to the taxes owed by the white deed in previous years. The key is the land tax. , not the deed tax, the deed tax is just a proof of tax payment."

Lu Gong nodded his head.

But many officials showed contempt on their faces, and they knew that you people were harboring evil intentions.

When suing, it was said that it was tax evasion other than Bai Qi, but when it came up, it immediately changed face.

Really shameless.

I also heard Zhang Fei say: "But according to the tax documents provided by Kaifeng County, Du Shaojing only paid back the deed tax, but he hasn't paid a penny of tax on the forty hectares of land so far. In the past month, they still haven’t paid taxes, and they have no money, so the forty hectares are not included in this exemption, and the imperial court has the right to pursue their taxes.”

Li Lei immediately argued: "You represent Wang Xueshi, not the imperial court."

Zhang Fei said: "Scholar Wang hired me in the name of the Department of Regulations and Regulations of the Second Mansion. Regarding this point, it was clearly written in my pleadings, and the purpose is to recover taxes for the court."

Li Lei snorted: "The establishment of the Second Government Regulations Division is just a temporary lawsuit, how can it represent the imperial court?"

A person in the corridor shouted: "Well said!"

Lu Gong turned his head to look, and the officials in the corridor all looked calm, and they didn't know who called, so they had to give up.

The corners of Wang Anshi's mouth twitched a few times, and he said in a low voice, "Are all these Erbis so arrogant and domineering now?"

Sima Guang smiled and said, "Can you still know how to draw a ladle by following the gourd?"

The implication is that everyone learns from Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei said with a smile: "Dare to ask your Excellency, do you know who set up the Department of Regulations of the Second Mansion?"

Li Lei was silent.

Zhang Fei asked: "I don't know?"

Li Lei remained silent.

Zhang Fei laughed and said, "The Department of Regulations and Regulations of the Second Mansion was established by the government. Do you think I can represent the imperial court? Speaking of which, if I cannot represent the imperial court, why should I sue them for tax evasion and demand tax from them?" ?”

Li Lei remained silent.

You carried the emperor out, but you really didn't talk about martial ethics.

But it's really not that Zhang Fei doesn't talk about martial arts, he has to explain this point, if he doesn't represent the imperial court, many bases are unreasonable.

Moreover, this is a game between the emperor and the landlord. If this is not clear, how can the emperor stand in the middle!
Lu Gongzhu asked Li Kai, Cen Yuanli and others: "What do you think?"

Li Kaidao: "It was not mentioned in the previous pleadings, so we don't need to pay attention to him."

Cen Yuanli said: "But this dispute started because of this, Xueshi Wang also made it very clear in the court, we must avoid this point, this lawsuit may never be clear."

Yu Zaishen and the judges all nodded their heads.

Lu Gong thought for a while, and said loudly: "The fields that have not paid the summer tax in time, even if the deed tax is paid, will also be included in the scope of this trial."

(End of this chapter)