Judge of the Song Dynasty Chapter 27: A drop in the ocean

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

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

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

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

Well, 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 feudal times.

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 will invite an expert today to see if I can help you."

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

An 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.

The young farmer couldn't help being both surprised and happy when he heard the words, 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 young farmer quickly bowed his head and sobbed, "Brother Sansan, you can call me Li Si."

"It turns out that Brother Li. What?"

Looking at the young farmer, Zhang Fei 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 considered to have met 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 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 Er Bi, 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, and his wife sought medical treatment for him everywhere. She spent all the money left at home, so she had to borrow ten pennies from a local rich man named Chen Yuteng to treat his illness. live.

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 fellow was not very young, but he had a lot of style.

He wrote what Li Sifang said, but Zhang Fei wanted to see what she wrote.

Zhang Fei did not notice, he concentrated on looking at the transcript, 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 money. My wife paid off the debt, and then 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 glanced at Zhang Fei speechlessly, and said: "Lending money to others is not a bad thing, no one wants to lose everything, so as long as it does not hurt others, the government will not pay attention to such things."

In fact, even if you hurt someone, as long as it is not very serious, the government will generally ignore 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 and said: "I'm afraid that Mr. Chen is not easy to provoke. If he fails, I will be punished."

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

Looking at Li Si's nervous expression, Zhang Fei couldn't help asking Xu Zhiqian: "You seem to have never told me, what is the background of this Chen Yuteng? 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 is also the chief of the financial department of the central court, and he may be promoted in the future.

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, so why be afraid of this little Sinong Temple."

Zhang Fei said: "This is not a matter of fear. If you hide something from me, not only will I not be able to help you, but it will hurt me instead."

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 are hiding something 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 a tool for you, at your command. This cooperation is full of lies. Do you think it is necessary to continue?"

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

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

Xu Zhiqian nodded slightly, thinking, 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.

Out of the temple, Xu Zhiqian asked, "Is there anything you can do?"

"Not yet."

Zhang Fei shook his head.

Xu Zhiqian suddenly showed disappointment.

Zhang Fei asked suddenly: "Did you mention this 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 underestimate my father. If my father is afraid of this trouble, then why would he support the case of Ayun in Bianjing? I didn't tell my father, mainly It was because my father 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.”

"Really?"

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 stand your brazen talk."

"I see." Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, and said again: "Then do you mind if I ask your father for advice?"

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

Zhang Fei didn't mean to tease Xu Zhiqian. When he returned to Xu's mansion, he told Xu Zun about it and asked him. After all, Xu Zun had rich experience, which Xu Zhiqian didn't 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. You can only blame him for not being able to read it." Be careful, I didn't ask clearly at the time."

Zhang Fei said: "But this is obviously a fraudulent incident. Li Si's situation at the time made it impossible to choose to use his wife to repay the principal, because he has no money to repay the interest. It is better to use the land to repay the debt directly. It is clear. .”

Xu Zun shook his head and sighed: "Do you know that there is a saying called 'the government has political laws, and the people follow the private contract'. In this kind of dispute, the contract is very important evidence. Generally speaking, the government will only settle the case according to the contract." Judgment, 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 using material conversion.

It is self-defeating to never think about it, because usually farmers only have corn and wheat in their hands, and they have no money, and what they can borrow is money. If the corn and wheat cannot be converted into money in time, they will become unable to repay the debt, and in the end they can only repay the land. , On the contrary, it further intensified the annexation. Besides, it is 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 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 insists on the private contract of the people and does not collude with the landlords, then it is already very fair and just, and we cannot expect too much.

If you don't stick to this one, first of all, who would dare to borrow it?

There will definitely be many old Lai again.

There are also many old Lai at the moment.

The government does not have so many manpower, whether to allow the landlord to use his own way to recover, this will breed more problems instead.

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 deprive the owner of the farm.

Cases like Li Si's are just a drop in the ocean. Xu Zun has seen many of them, but he can only judge according to law.

That's why he went to the countryside to teach the people about 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" for research."

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