Northern Song Dynasty Justice

Chapter 27 A drop in the ocean

I don't know if Xu Zhiqian's sexuality made her popular, or she really wanted to drive Zhang Fei out of Xu's mansion. Anyway, the next day, she brought Zhang Fei to a temple at the junction of Kaifeng County and Xiangfu County. .

Here, Zhang Fei finally saw the farmer. He was a young man of his age, but looked haggard.

It turned out that this little farmer was almost heading for the final return of most self-cultivating farmers, that is, committing suicide. Fortunately, Xu Zhiqian helped him find a livelihood and a temporary shelter in the fire house in the temple.

When the farmer saw Xu Zhiqian, before he could say a word, he was crying so hard that he couldn't make a sound.

Alas. It's no wonder that his life has just begun, and he lost his wife and Zutian overnight, and anyone else would collapse.

And this is the fundamental problem of the feudal era.

The people have no ability to resist any natural disasters and man-made disasters. If they are not careful, they will go bankrupt and sell their children and daughters.

"Don't cry, I'll invite an expert today to see if I can help you."

Xu Zhiqian stretched out her hand to lead Zhang Fei beside her.

Expert?Zhang Fei couldn't help but glanced at Xu Zhiqian with a strange expression, thinking, this woman is really realistic, if she asks me for help, she will become a master, otherwise, she will be a disciple.But the two don't seem to be in conflict.

Hearing the words, the farmer boy couldn't help being both surprised and happy, he turned his head and looked at Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei clasped his hands and said, "My next Zhang Fei, you can call me Zhang San."

In ancient times, people were generally not called by their names, but outsiders still used to call him Zhang San.

The farmer boy hurriedly bowed, sobbed and said, "Brother Sansan, you can just call me Li Si."

"It turns out that Brother Li. What?"

Zhang Fei looked at the young farmer and said, "Your name is Li Si?"

Li Si raised his head, nodded, and looked at Zhang Fei anxiously.

Xu Zhiqian asked curiously, "Is there a problem?"

"Oh. No! No!"

Zhang Fei shook his head, thinking, Zhang San Li Si, hehe, I can be regarded as seeing my brother in the book, could it be God's will again.Then he said to Li Si: "Brother Li, please sit down, please sit down."

After sitting down, Zhang Fei said, "I need you to explain the whole process clearly."

Although he came to the Song Dynasty, his thinking has not changed. The process is more important than the result. The loopholes rarely appear in the result, but in the process.

As he spoke, he suddenly asked Xu Zhiqian, "Are you fast at writing?"

Xu Zhiqian understood it as soon as she heard it, but she asked curiously, "Do I still need to remember this?"

Zhang Fei said: "I'm afraid I will forget."

Xu Zhiqian glanced at Zhang Fei and thought to herself, as a person from Erbi, doesn't she even have such a memory?
But she didn't say much. After all, it wasn't a big deal. She immediately fetched the Four Treasures of the Study and prepared to record it.

After Xu Zhiqian was ready, Zhang Fei said to Li Si, "You can talk."

Li Si immediately told Zhang Fei the ins and outs of the whole matter.

The process was the same as what Xu Zhiqian said, he was seriously ill, his wife sought medical treatment for him everywhere, and spent all the money left in the family, so he had to borrow ten pennies from a local rich man named Chen Yuteng to treat his illness. .

After he finished speaking, Zhang Fei directly picked up the transcript written by Xu Zhiqian just now, and read it again.

Xu Zhiqian felt that this guy was young, but he was quite stylish.

What he wrote was exactly what Li Sifang said, but Zhang Fei wanted to see what she wrote.

Zhang Fei didn't notice, he concentrated on looking at the record, and suddenly asked: "The repayment date was on the fifteenth of June last year, but you signed the second debt repayment contract on the third day of June of that year. It’s not yet the repayment date, are they forcing you to pay back the money?”

Li Sidao: "This is because Chen Yuteng saw that I didn't have much harvest back then, and was afraid that I would run away, so he sent people to watch me from July, urging me to pay back the money quickly, and also sent people to persuade me to use my wife to pay off the debt. Later, my wife and I really couldn't bear it, and I couldn't pay the debt at all, so we signed the second contract a few days in advance."

Zhang Fei looked at Xu Zhiqian and said, "Is this legal?"

Why doesn't this person know anything?Xu Zhiqian looked at Zhang Fei speechlessly, and said: "Lending money to others is not a bad thing, and no one wants to lose everything, so as long as it does not hurt others, the government will not care about such things."

In fact, even if you hurt someone, as long as it is not very serious, the government will generally not care about it, and the government will even help you beat it again, so that you will not pay back the money.

Zhang Fei asked again: "Since you have been wronged so much, why didn't you sue the officials?"

Li Si stammered, "I'm afraid. Mr. Chen is not easy to mess with. If he fails, I will be punished."

Xu Zhiqian explained: "If there is no problem with the contract, if he goes to sue the officials, he may be convicted of false accusation by the officials."

Seeing Li Si's nervous expression, Zhang Fei couldn't help asking Xu Zhiqian: "You seem to have never told me, what is this Chen Yuteng's background? Is he just a rich man?"

Xu Zhiqian's eyes dodged a little.

Zhang Fei half-jokingly said: "You are not planning to deal with me, are you?"

"of course not."

Xu Zhiqian retorted resolutely, and immediately said: "Chen Yuteng's uncle is Wang Wenshan, who sentenced Si Nong Temple."

Sinong Temple's current authority is not very large. After Wang Anshi's reform, this department will become a very critical power department, shouldering the heavy responsibility of the Young Crop Law.

But no matter what, he was also the head of the financial department of the central court, and he might be promoted in the future. This is not a small matter!
I know it's not that simple.Zhang Fei said angrily, "How long are you going to hide from me?"

Xu Zhiqian said with a guilty conscience: "You are not even afraid of Sima University, why are you afraid of this little Si Nong Temple?"

Zhang Fei said: "It's not about being afraid. If you hide something from me, not only will I not be able to help you, but it will actually hurt me."

Xu Zhiqian asked, "Do you have a solution?"

Zhang Fei snorted and said, "Don't change the subject, if you let me know that you have something to hide from me, then you can hire someone else."

Xu Zhiqian was a little upset and said, "It seems that you begged me?"

Zhang Fei said sternly: "What I want is cooperation, an equal relationship, not just being a tool for you, at your command. Do you think it is necessary to continue this cooperation full of lies?"

Xu Zhiqian knew she was wrong, and explained: "I didn't mean to hide it from you, but I want to see if you can do it first. If you really have a way, I will tell you about it, and I will never Keep it from you, after all, it will also implicate my father."

"I don't like excuses." Zhang Fei shook his head, and said: "Don't have another time, otherwise, you will bear the consequences."

Xu Zhiqian nodded slightly, thinking to herself, if you can't find a way, see if I can drive you out.

Zhang Fei asked Xu Zhiqian to copy all the contracts and written documents again, and then left with these materials.

After leaving the temple, Xu Zhiqian asked, "Is there anything you can do?"

"Not yet."

Zhang Fei shook his head.

Xu Zhiqian immediately showed disappointment.

Zhang Fei suddenly asked: "Have you mentioned this matter to your father?"

"no!"

"Why?"

Zhang Fei asked: "Is it because the other party has a background in Sinong Temple and is afraid of causing trouble for your father?"

Xu Zhiqian turned around and said: "You must have underestimated my father. If my father is afraid of this trouble, then why would he support the case of Ayun to come to Bianjing? I didn't tell my father, mainly because I Dad was not in Bianjing at the time, and secondly, I knew it would be useless to tell him, because this kind of thing happened countless times, and countless people went to sue the officials, but no one succeeded."

"is it?"

Zhang Fei said with a smile: "It seems that Miss Xu still has great confidence in me."

Xu Zhiqian sneered and said, "I just can't bear to see you boasting."

"I see." Zhang Fei nodded with a smile, and said, "Then do you mind if I ask your father for advice?"

Xu Zhiqian snorted softly, "If you don't believe me, you can ask for advice."

Zhang Fei didn't mean to tease Xu Zhiqian on purpose. When he returned to Xu's mansion, he told Xu Zun about it and asked him about it. After all, Xu Zun had rich experience, which Xu Zhiqian did not have.

After carefully reading the information they provided, Xu Zun couldn't help shaking his head and sighing, "There is nothing wrong with this contract. Although Li Si is illiterate, someone else read it out, which complies with the rules. He can only blame himself for being careless. At that time Did not ask clearly."

Zhang Fei said: "But this is obviously a fraudulent incident. Li Si's situation at the time made it impossible for him to choose to use his wife to pay off the principal, because he didn't have the money to pay the interest. It's better to pay off the debt directly with the land. It's clear."

Xu Zun shook his head and sighed: "Do you know that there is a saying called 'Officials have political laws, and the people follow private contracts'. In this kind of dispute, the contract is very important evidence. Generally speaking, the government will only judge according to the contract. If you don’t do this, the government will have endless lawsuits.”

Zhang Fei said: "I know this, but the interest involved is not in compliance with the rules."

Xu Zun sighed: "Actually, the imperial court had many restrictions on high profits. For example, if you borrow corn and wheat, you must return them with corn and wheat. This is to prevent those big households from exploiting the farmers by converting them.

Unexpectedly, it is self-defeating, because usually farmers only have corn and wheat in their hands, but no coins, and what they can borrow is coins. Once the corn and wheat cannot be converted into money in time, they will become unable to repay the debt. This made the annexation intensified. Furthermore, it is simply impossible to calculate how much you think Li Si's wife is worth. Therefore, in the Zhenzong Dynasty, the court relaxed such restrictions. "

Zhang Fei frowned and said: "In this way, there is no need to open this case."

Xu Zun shook his head and said, "I have no choice, but if you have a way and can find evidence, then I will definitely support you."

He is really powerless in this kind of private loan dispute case.

If usury is allowed, farmers will die, but if they are not allowed, they will die even faster.

Therefore, if the government can insist on the private contract of the people and not collude with the landlords, it is already very fair and just, and it cannot be too much.

If you don’t stick to this rule, first of all, who would dare to borrow it?
There will definitely be many old lai again.

There are also a lot of old people at the moment.

The government does not have so many manpower, whether to allow the landlords to recover in their own way, this will instead breed more problems.

Of course, adhering to the private contract of the people is definitely beneficial to the ruling class. This is beyond doubt. One of them is that most people are illiterate.

This kind of verbal contract is just a way for the landlord to expropriate the owner-peasant.

Cases like Li Si's were really just a drop in the ocean, and Xu Zun had seen many of them, but he could only judge according to law.

That's why he went to the countryside to teach the people the knowledge of the law, the purpose is to avoid this kind of thing from happening, but their father and daughter have limited ability and can only help one or the other.

Xu Zhiqian asked Zhang Fei again: "What are you going to do?"

Zhang Fei glanced at Xu Zhiqian, and said seriously: "I plan to borrow a copy of "Song Xingtong" to study first."

".?"

(End of this chapter)