Northern Song Dynasty Justice

Chapter 513 It's finally here

However, the government's counterattack, especially to prevent Li Min from litigating, also made Duan Chaobei and other salt merchants and banknote merchants feel uneasy.

Because in terms of common sense, both sides have already torn their faces, so will the government abide by the judgment of the imperial court?

From this it can be seen that what they trusted was not the law, but power.

So they immediately found Li Min.

In fact, Li Min was also beating drums in his heart, but he still pretended to be calm and comforted everyone.

"Everyone, please rest assured. I asked President Zhang before, and President Zhang said that because the government had not raised any doubts about my official documents before, I am now part of this case. If there is no absolutely legitimate reason, I cannot be arrested. easily separated from the case."

Duan Chaobei and the others were at a loss for what they said.

So Li Min explained: "In short, I can sue this lawsuit to the end."

Duan Chaobei said: "But the government's investigation of Brother Li is obviously unwilling to obey the judgment of the imperial court. If the government refuses to accept it, what should we do?"

Li Min hesitated a little. After all, he was not sure that the government would obey. Judging from the current situation, it didn't seem like he was going to accept punishment. I think they should not easily disobey the law."

At this moment, a person came in and whispered something in Li Min's ear.

Li Min was overjoyed when he heard that, and immediately said to Duan Chaobei and the others: "Just now the imperial court sent a letter. Under the urging of the imperial court, Bachelor Yuan and the others will come to the imperial court tomorrow to discuss the details of how to compensate."

Duan Chaobei and the others couldn't help but be overjoyed.

Li Min asked again: "Will you go with me tomorrow, or should I follow the government's compensation plan first, and then discuss it with you?"

Duan Chaobei waited and looked at each other again.

Soon, they said that Li Min would go on their behalf.

If they wanted to sit on it, they wouldn't dare to negotiate terms. Although their actions were supported by many officials, it didn't mean that they really dared to confront those officials.

Especially in the current situation.

Huayin County is where Tongguan is located, and it is just to the southwest of Hezhong Mansion. The distance between these two places is only more than a hundred miles. If you ride a fast horse, you can arrive there within a day.

In fact, as early as two months ago, that kind of errand had already rushed to Huayin County secretly.

Because this is a military center, the military power is very strong, and at the same time, it does not belong to the Hezhong Mansion, but to the Jingzhao Mansion (Chang'an), and Zhong Er hides in it, so that he can secretly inquire about the situation of the Hezhong Mansion, and can arrive at any time.

"Father, Uncle Qin sent a secret letter."

A tall, handsome young man entered the room, and handed a secret letter to the leopard-headed eagle-eyed, burly middle-aged man sitting on the chair.

This middle-aged man is Zhong Er, and the young man is his eldest son Zhong Pu.

After Zhong Er received the secret letter, he immediately opened it and looked at it. Gradually, his face became more and more sad.

Zhong Pu couldn't help worrying: "Father, what did you say in the letter?"

Chong Er sighed, and said: "Now the Fuya and Yansi have completely lost face with the imperial court, it seems that we have to hurry over."

Zhong Pu said in astonishment: "Since those civil servants and the imperial court have already fought, it is a good thing for father!"

Zhong Er sighed: "Your Uncle Qin said that there are many people in the army who are dissatisfied with the imperial court. It's just because of my sake that I forbear it for now, but the situation is not easy to control."

After speaking, he handed the letter in his hand to Zhong Pu.

After Zhong Pu looked at it, his face was full of confusion, "This imperial court is not pleasing to both sides, so which side will he lean towards?"

"I can't see it as a father! But judging from the whole matter, it is estimated that the other party will still be biased. Otherwise, there is no need to retry the case."

Zhong Er shook his head and sighed, "I would rather face a hundred thousand enemy troops on the battlefield than face a civil servant in the hall."

Because all the officials who requested a retrial of the case were officials who supported Lu Shen, so in terms of the unspoken rules in the officialdom, this must be against him.

Military generals are very afraid of this, because this is the specialty of civil servants, how can they outplay each other.

Zhong Er was very pessimistic about this, but this public prosecutor's law made him a little confused, so he came to Huayin County early, just to see what the public prosecutor's law meant.

But after looking at it for a long time, I didn't understand which side the public prosecutor's law was leaning on.

Even neutral enough to offend both sides.

Then Qin Zhongshou hurriedly sent a letter asking him to go to the Hezhong Mansion. At present, what the military suppressed did not have a direct conflict with the imperial court, but the civil servants and the imperial court began to fight.

How could he have imagined that he is a supporting role, the main character is Zhang Fei, and the purpose is not a civil and military dispute at all, but reform.

Chong Pu asked, "What is Daddy going to do?"

"This has to go."

Zhong Er asked again: "Where is Lu Zhifu now?"

Zhong Pu said: "Prefect Lu fell ill on the way out of Shu, and was delayed for some time. Calculated, he should have arrived at Jingzhao Mansion."

It turned out that Lu Shen didn't mean that he was afraid of the public prosecutor's law. He was also an upright official, very upright, and he was not afraid of the swaying of his shadow.

Zhong Er said: "You go and prepare, we will leave tomorrow, we must arrive at Hezhong Mansion before Lu Zhifu, lest anyone think we are guilty."

"Yes."

This morning, Cai Yanqing, Wei Yingfang, Yuan Jiang, and He Chunlin came to the imperial court to propose a compensation plan from the government.

Compared with the past, today's atmosphere even has a slight chill in the superficial greetings.

"I hope we didn't keep Zhang Ting waiting for long."

Yuan Jiang said with a skinny smile.

Zhang Fei said: "Actually, our imperial court does not want to urge you, we know the difficulty of the salt administration, so we just hope that you can give an accurate date."

Li Min, who was caught in the middle, saw that their faces were uneasy and uneasy, and he dared not speak, so he just sat quietly by the side as if on pins and needles.

Yuan Jiang said: "In these days, the official has carefully reviewed the previous issuance of salt banknotes and the price of salt banknotes. It was about three years ago that the government gradually exchanged salt banknotes with less than two hundred catties of salt.

For the salt banknotes issued during this period, we, the Salt Division, are willing to take responsibility and provide compensation. "

Zhang Fei frowned and said, "But the salt note does not stipulate that the other party must exchange it for salt within a limited period of time."

Yuan Jiang said: "But it is also because of the speculative behavior of banknote merchants that Yanchi hoards a lot of salt, so that salt banknotes must be distributed again to sell the unsalable salt. The merchants are also responsible to a certain extent. Blame the government."

Zhang Fei nodded, turned his head to look at Li Min.

I'm sitting in the middle, so I can't always talk about it for you!

Li Min plucked up his courage and said: "Scholar Yuan's remarks are wrong. This is an omission in the government's formulation of the rules. The businessman cannot be blamed. The businessman speculates in salt money. This is not illegal, so why should he be held responsible?"

He Chunlin angrily scolded: "You businessmen are hoarding and making huge profits, and you have the face to shirk your responsibility."

Li Mindao: "Xiaomin didn't shirk responsibility, Xiaomin was just discussing the matter, even if the businessman's behavior was immoral, but the imperial court was talking about the law, not morality."

Yuan Jiang suddenly looked at Zhang Fei, and said: "I remember that when Judge Zhang was teaching at the Imperial College, he also said that morality can be used as a reason to commit a crime. This salt is related to the lives of the people, but the banknote merchants don't care about the people. The government issued excessive salt bills to sell the salt from Yanchi to meet the needs of the people. If they don’t have to bear any responsibility, it would be unreasonable.”

Zhang Fei pondered for a while, nodded and said: "They do have to bear part of the responsibility, but the government has never issued a decree to prohibit this kind of behavior, or to make up for these loopholes, and they really spent real money to buy salt The government cannot use this as an excuse to deny the legitimacy of the salt banknote. Maybe the businessman who holds the salt banknote has moral defects, but it cannot be judged that the salt banknote is illegal because of some behaviors of the holder. Those who have salt banknotes are not those banknote merchants hoarding them, and our imperial court cannot judge this."

Yuan Jiang and Cai Yanqing looked at each other, and said: "Just now I said that the amount of salt bills exchanged for salt has gradually decreased since three years ago, so that's it, all the salt bills issued before are counted in this year. , The government also starts to calculate from the first year of Xining, and pays compensation in three years."

"Three years?"

Li Min said in astonishment.

Cai Yanqing ignored him, but said to Zhang Fei: "Mr. Zhang, Hezhong Mansion's finances are very tight at present, and we don't know how much money there is outside. According to our calculations, it will take three years at the earliest to pay back all of them." Qing, otherwise, it will affect the operation of the government and military spending in the Northwest."

Zhang Fei thought for a while, and then asked: "I don't know how to apportion it to three years."

Yuan Jiang said: "We will convert all the salt banknotes with a face value of two hundred catties into government debts. As I said just now, starting from the first year of Xining, the salt banknotes issued this year and those issued before will be counted as debts. For those in the first year, we will compensate the interest for the first two years this year, and the interest and principal for the third year will be paid next year, and so on for subsequent payments.”

Li Min immediately said: "Isn't next year the fourth year?"

Yuan Jiang said: "How can interest be calculated in the first year, because the first year is for sale, and most salt merchants exchange salt banknotes from the border, and they should go to Yanchi to exchange salt in the second year. , the interest should be calculated at the end of the second year of Xining. It will be the third year at the end of next year."

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "It's reasonable."

Li Min asked again: "How is the interest calculated?"

Yuan Jiang said: "Based on the principal of buying salt banknotes, a salt banknote is worth 280 yuan, and the annual interest is [-] out of [-], [-] eight yuan."

Li Min questioned: "May I ask, this salt note is salt, why not use salt to calculate interest?"

If the calculation is based on two hundred catties of salt, the annual interest is 480 catties of salt, which is calculated at a price of [-] Wen, which is [-] Wen, which is about [-] Wen short.

He Chunlin said: "If it is calculated by money, the government can directly compensate you, but if it is calculated by salt, you can go to the designated Yanchi to get it yourself. You must know that the salt in Yanchi is unstable. If the designated salt pond is a little bit off , if you don’t go to collect it, then you can only blame you, but not our government.”

In Yanchi, which is a bit farther away, the optical travel fee may not be able to afford it.Li Min thought to himself, these officials are really powerful, and their calculations are more shrewd than businessmen.

He can't say that the interest is determined by the selling price. How can it be possible to calculate the interest by the seller for the [-] cash that the government gave you.

Zhang Fei looked at Li Min.

Li Min said: "I have to discuss this with my employer."

Zhang Fei nodded, "Then you go first."

"Yes."

After Li Min left, Zhang Fei suddenly said to Cai Yanqing: "Prefect Cai, when will you pay us for the reconstruction of my government office?"

As soon as these words came out, the four looked at Zhang Fei in surprise.

Zhang Fei said: "This shouldn't be a very excessive request, right? Or do you think I can live in the same standard house as the official family?"

Cai Yanqing hesitated a little, Wei Yingfang immediately said: "I'm really sorry, we didn't think carefully at that time, and the imperial court didn't explain this point. The remodeling of the imperial court was also decided by Judge Zhang himself, and he didn't rule our government in advance. Therefore, Our government did not plan to spend this amount."

Zhang Fei laughed and said, "Is your government's financial expenditure so planned? How much is this?"

Wei Yingfang said with a chuckle: "Our Hezhong government's finances have to bear the Northwest military expenses. If we don't plan more carefully, how can we do it? In addition, Bachelor Yuan has already discussed with us. Since we need to compensate those salt merchants, we will hand it over to our government this year. The government's salt profit may be less, and we are also very embarrassed."

Zhang Fei said: "So the salary of the head of the court is no longer included in the government's planned expenditure?"

Wei Yingfang said: "Of course it is, but we didn't expect that the police station and the procuratorate would recruit so many people and give them such high salaries, so our government has to carefully consider whether we should allocate the money to The procuratorate, the police station, or your imperial court."

Just at this moment, Cai Jing entered the room, "Report to the Chief Judge that General Zhong has arrived."

Good guy, you are here.Zhang Fei rolled his eyes, and ordered: "Let General Zhong stay here for a while, the imperial court is currently in financial difficulties, and is temporarily unable to hold a trial on this case."