Northern Song Dynasty Justice

Chapter 545 Taking Interest in the Law ([-])

did not think of!

This is really unexpected!

No one thought that Su Zhe would investigate the funding of the military treasury in the accounts of the Minister's Office.

At that time, they all thought that it would take several months for the procuratorate to investigate these accounts, so they were a little surprised that Su Zhe sued so quickly.

As everyone knows, Su Zhe didn't look at those accounts at all, and directly investigated the accounts of the Minister's Office, because the Minister's Office also has some relationship with military expenditures, especially in terms of rewards and pensions, and the procuratorate just went to get some accounts back as usual.

But the Minister's Office was very cooperative in order to prove their innocence, saying that their funds were beyond their means.

But how do you know that the drunken man's intention is not to drink.

But why Su Zhe could immediately think of the Minister's Office at that time, indeed, it was because he was an official.

This is really an unwritten rule. I'm not an official, so I really don't know about it.

At that time, according to the accounts presented by all parties, the Hezhong Mansion's finances were indeed very tight, and it was beyond its means. It was in a deficit, so how could there be a surplus.

This is also absolutely true, no matter how much money the Legation can spend, it will not be able to spend the Hezhong government's finances into a deficit.

Previously, including Zhang Fei, they had been thinking about how Su Zhe would prove that the finances were in surplus.

It cannot be said that as long as there is still money in the financial accounts, it should be allocated to Chen Guang.

This is also unreasonable.

After all, the annual expenditure is planned, which cannot be easily destroyed, and this matter is also prioritized. The key government did not say that it would not give the money, but only said that it would be owed first.

Under the current system, this is also reasonable.

However, Su Zhe's complaint was the arrears and withholding of military pay, so it must be proved that the military treasury has a surplus, but he did not pay it.

But as we all know, how can there be surplus in this fiscal deficit? It is true that the central government still needs appropriation to subsidize military expenditures.

Unexpectedly, Su Zhe made a breakthrough directly from the humble official office of the Minister's Office.

This embassy is not an ordinary government office. It is related to the vital interests of every official. The public funds for food and drink all depend on the funds of the embassy!

This is also why, generally, when the envoys ask for money, all the government offices will actively cooperate. They are also officials, so the money is allocated for their own use, at least they can go to a banquet.

Anxious!

This time the officials are completely anxious!

"How could he talk about the Legation? Didn't he use the money of the Legation?"

"It's unreasonable! It's unreasonable! I didn't expect that this kid is even more hateful than Zhang San."

"Is the procuratorate going to be an enemy of all the officials?"

In the VIP seats on both sides, whispers and curses continued.

There have been many unpleasant moments since the hearing of the Hezhong Mansion's imperial court, but it has never been like this, with officials from both sides swearing directly.

It's like poking a hornet's nest.

The atmosphere suddenly became quite violent.

Both Chen Qi and Wang Shen lowered their heads, it can be seen that this was within their expectations.

But they thought to themselves, you are unwilling to let you reconcile, and you still try to make things difficult for us. Can this be our fault?

What's funny is that the soldiers watching the trial in front of the gate were also scolding.

It turns out that you took our military pay and gave it to officials to eat and drink at public expense. It's really deceiving!
Only the generals were silent, with rather tangled expressions.

They also used the money from the Minister's Office, but the arrears of military pay was obviously not beneficial to them.

What a dilemma!
For a moment, there was buzzing inside and outside the imperial court.

"quiet!"

Zhang Fei slammed the gavel a few times, "Silence! Silence! If anyone makes noise again, the chief judge will expel him from the imperial court, and he will not be allowed to enter the imperial court to watch the trial within three months."

Under how intimidating, inside and outside the courtyard, it gradually became quiet.

Zhang Fei then said to Su Zhe: "Procurator Su, you can continue."

"Yes."

Su Zhe bowed his hands slightly, and then looked at Tang Zhongwen again.

At this moment, Tang Zhongwen lowered his head, sweating profusely, as if sitting on pins and needles.

"Cough cough!"

From the VIP seat, there were two heavy coughs.

Anyone can hear that there is a strong sense of threat in this voice.

Zhang Fei just glanced at it, but didn't make a sound.

Since Su Zhe decided to take this step, he must have fully considered the consequences. He has already reached this step, and if he does not continue, how can he do it.He also had no way out, so he asked Tang Zhongwen again: "Sili Tang just said that it has always been like this, what does he mean by that?"

After a while, Tang Zhongwen remained silent.

Zhang Fei said, "Manager Tang, please answer Prosecutor Su's question."

Tang Zhongwen raised his head, opened his eyes wide, stared fiercely at Su Che, and suddenly said harshly: "This is the rule set by Fan Gong back then."

As soon as these words came out, Zhang Fei was taken aback, and interjected to ask: "The Fan Gong mentioned by Tang Sili is Prime Minister Fan Zhongyan?"

"Exactly."

Tang Zhongwen suddenly straightened his back.

Wow. This melon is not small!Zhang Fei was also shocked, and looked back at Xu Zhiqian.

Xu Zhiqian shook her head, expressing that she didn't know.

None of them expected that Su Zhe would break through from the Minister's Office, and they didn't have this first-hand information.

Zhang Fei asked the four little King Kongs in front of him very gossip again: "Do you know?"

All four shook their heads.

However, when Su Zhe heard about Fan Zhongyan, he looked a little hesitant, obviously he knew about it.

Tang Zhongwen also saw it, and immediately took the initiative to say: "In the fourth year of Qingli, there was a censor who impeached Zhang Kang of Weizhou for excessive use of minister's money, including using minister's money to subsidize visiting scholars. defend.

Afterwards, Emperor Renzong promulgated the "Edict to Deployment of the Four Routes of Shaanxi along the Border for Economic and Strategic Recruitment", confirming that as long as the minister's money is not for his own use, he can be lenient. "

After hearing this, Zhang Fei asked again, "Is there such an edict?"

Shangguan Jun was not sure: "It should be something, because as far as I know, the envoy's money is really expensive."

Ye Zuqia whispered: "This is the welfare of our officials themselves!"

Zhang Fei smiled wryly, "So I'm not an official!"

".!"

When Ye Zuqia heard it, he was right, our imperial court didn't enjoy it at all!

Outrageous!

It's okay if you don't mention it, but you will get angry if you mention it!

At this time, there were whispers outside the courtyard.

Zheng Xie stood up suddenly and said: "It's nonsense! Fan Gong is only targeting the use of the minister's money. Many honest and honest officials can't afford the money for appointments in Beijing, so they can only ask for help from the Minister's Office. The key is what Fan Gong said at the time. It has nothing to do with military spending."

Zhang Fei looked sideways at Zheng Xie, "Scholar Zheng, I hope you don't interfere with the interrogation. If necessary, we will let Xueshi Zheng testify in court."

Zheng Xie said: "I'm just helping to explain this clearly."

"Thank you, Xueshi Zheng, for your kindness."

Zhang Fei nodded with a smile, and said loudly to the four little Vajras, the court recording official: "What Zheng Xueshi said is just outside the court, ignore it."

Several people nodded.

Zheng Xie blushed in embarrassment, and sat down angrily.

Zhang Fei said to Su Zhe again: "Chief Prosecutor Su, you can continue."

Su Zhe nodded slightly, and asked Tang Zhongwen expressionlessly: "I'm not asking how the minister's money will be used, but your military treasury. But there is a rule that the military treasury will bear the expenses of the minister's office."

".!"

Tang Zhongwen was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that he was managing the military treasury, not the embassy. He said awkwardly, "The embassy has a lot of expenses. What can I do?"

He can only push the responsibility to the Minister's Office, otherwise the military treasury will have to take over everything, which he can't afford!
Su Zhe asked again: "Is there any system regulation?"

Tang Zhongwen shook his head in embarrassment.

Su Zhe continued to ask: "I don't know if there is a clear regulation that the funds of the Minister's Office and the military treasury cannot be borrowed from each other?"

Tang Zhongwen's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hurriedly said: "No! No! I was wrong just now. In fact, our military treasury and the Minister's Office can borrow money from each other, and there are express regulations on this."

Zhang Fei smiled when he heard the words, and muttered: "It seems that he has made a lot of progress!"

Xu Zhiqian asked in a low voice: "What do you say?"

Zhang Fei leaned back slightly, and said with a smile: "You will know later."

Seeing that Su Zhe continued to ask: "Just now, Manager Tang said that the reason why the military treasury allocates funds to the Minister's Office is because the Ministry's expenditure is too high."

Tang Zhongwen nodded.

Su Zhe said: "This was planned long ago, and it is a temporary expenditure."

Tang Zhongwen immediately said: "Of course this is temporary."

Su Zhe nodded and said, "As far as I know, before the military treasury allocates these two sums of money, the list of applications for pensions has already been sent to the military treasury."

Whoops!It's over!This fellow is so cunning that he even plotted against me.Tang Zhongwen's heart trembled, and he began to pretend to be confused again, and said casually: "I don't remember."

Su Zhe picked up a document and said to Zhang Fei, "This is the list of pensions handed over by the military camp to the military treasury. It clearly records that it was handed over on December [-]th last year."

Zhang Fei said: "Present."

After the copy was submitted, Zhang Fei read it, then nodded and said, "Regarding Chen Guang's pension application, it was indeed delivered to the military treasury on December [-] last year."

Pass it to Cai Jing and the others.

Su Zhe asked Tang Zhongwen again: "Manager Tang, just now you said that the military treasury did not have enough money at that time, and the military expenditures in the accounts were all planned. Money, but there is no plan, I don't know how Manager Tang will explain this."

Tang Zhongwen blinked guiltyly, and said again: "It seems that there is a plan again, I... I don't really remember."

Su Zhe asked, "Does Manager Tang know why Li Yushi was transferred?"

The corners of Tang Zhongwen's eyebrows twitched, and after a while, he scratched his head and said in a low voice: "I remembered, it was a temporary call."

It turned out that Li Hao, the censor, was transferred by Wang Anshi because of the impeachment of Xue Xiang, and then he was transferred away by Wang Anshi, not a regular transfer, how could there be a plan for this.

He didn't even believe it himself!

Su Zhe asked, "But I don't know what the money was originally planned to be used for?"

Tang Zhongwen stammered: "There is no plan, this is surplus money."

Su Zhe asked again: "But just now the transfer envoy Yuan Xueshi said that the current financial difficulties, the distribution of funds for the transfer department is also based on the funds of previous years. Manager Tang also emphasized that financial difficulties, no rich people Therefore, Chen Guang and his pension can only be delayed until next year."

"I."

Tang Zhongwen opened his mouth, and looked at Su Che with a trace of begging for mercy in his eyes.

Su Zhe looked at him suspiciously, with a spark in his eyes.

Come!
come!

Make things difficult for us!
Show us face!
Aren't you very arrogant?

In fact, Su Zhe was very annoyed by this matter. At the beginning, he had obtained the evidence from the Minister's Office, so he went to negotiate with them. He didn't want to strip this fig leaf.

Tang Zhongwen saw that the begging for mercy was fruitless, so he could only say: "This is rich money, because we have to keep a part of the money in the military treasury to deal with emergencies, and we know that if the soldiers stop, the barracks will give a sum of food. Therefore, it is generally calculated in the coming year.”

He has two choices, either admit to misappropriating military expenditures, because if the money in the military treasury is within the plan, it must be military expenditures, and if it is spent on the envoys for officials to eat and drink, it is not embezzlement of military expenditures without authorization, or admit that they deliberately misappropriated military expenditures. If I am in arrears with the military salary, I will not pay it if I have money.

The former crime is fatal, and the penalty for defaulting on military pay is relatively light.

Su Zhe asked: "So this is practiced by Li Yushi, is it considered an emergency that the military treasury has to face?"

Tang Zhongwen also broke the jar, "I've done this before, and I'm doing things as usual."

(End of this chapter)