Judge of the Song Dynasty Chapter 508: Salt banknote dispute (middle)

"Strange!"

Chen Qi tilted her head and whispered to Su Zhe: "Chief Prosecutor, why didn't the other party ask those officials? Could it be that Zhang San is the president of the court and restricted the power of the ear pen?"

When you were the ear pen, you were defiant in court, you could ask whoever you wanted, but now it's your turn to be the judge, the ear pen has become so low-key.

It's too much!

Su Zhe said: "Don't think about it too much, Zhang San talked with me about this matter, it's because Li Min has just arrived, and he doesn't dare to make things difficult for those salt officials, and the government didn't ask for a lawsuit. It was left to Zhang San to ask."

Chen Qi nodded: "I see."

They who came from the capital felt that Li Min was too low-key, but in the eyes of the officials of the Hezhong Mansion, this ear pen is simply going to heaven!

When asking, it was all kinds of hints that the court was unfair.

Even Cai Yanqing couldn't help being a little surprised, "It seems that in this court, there is no difference between that ear pen and the chief prosecutor."

Yuan Jiang Fuxu laughed and said: "In Kaifeng Mansion, there is no distinction between the two in the court, but each has its own master. The procuratorate mostly represents the court and acts as the prosecutor, and the ear pen represents the defense. .”

Cai Yanqing nodded: "I see"

But I thought in my heart, so he knew, but he didn't invite the ear pen to fight for the government. It seems that he took the opportunity to rectify the salt administration. This calculation is really shrewd!

Yuan Jiang secretly glanced at Cai Yanqing, thinking, he is not testing me. Forget it, let him think about it, anyway, I have asked their opinions, it is because they don't believe in ear pens, no wonder me.

At the time of the whisper, He Chunlin had already come to the court. It was his second time appearing in court, and he was far less nervous than the first time. Moreover, compared to the case of private salt, this case really had little to do with him. , he is an executor, a supervisor, not a decision maker.

"I have troubled He Yanjian to testify in court in the midst of his busy schedule. Zhang is really sorry."

Zhang Fei said with guilt.

He Chunlin also smiled slightly at the man who stretched out his hand without hitting the smiling face: "Presiding Judge Zhang is really polite. Assisting the judiciary is also a matter of my duty."

"He Yanjian understands righteousness deeply, which is admirable."

Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, and when he was about to ask, He Chunlin suddenly said: "I have something to say, I don't know if I should say it or not?"

Hey young! Learn to answer quickly. Zhang Fei was taken aback, and said expectantly: "If it's related to this case, He Yanjian said it's okay."

He Chunlin immediately said: "The salt merchants were all lying just now, they are all rich, how could they borrow money to live on, Judge Zhang must not believe them, and should punish them."

The salt merchants who were sitting below were shocked and looked at Li Min one after another. Li Min gave them a calm look.

Don't panic.

It's all under control.

"Thank you, Supervisor He Yan, for letting me know."

Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, "Our imperial court mainly looks at the evidence, not what they say, our imperial court will accept it."

He Chunlin said: "They are above the imperial court, talking nonsense with their eyes open. Judge Zhang should punish them. This kind of behavior must not be tolerated."

The four little vajras sitting below all thought, you told a lot of nonsense last time in court!

Zhang Fei explained patiently: "It's like this. If the imperial court convicts a witness because of a false statement, no one will be willing to testify in court. Not so easy to answer.

As long as it is not the kind of lies and perjury that are similar to framing and framing, our imperial court will generally not care about witnesses, and our imperial court will also distinguish between true and false based on evidence. "

The people nodded frequently.

Favourability towards the imperial court continued to rise, while fear decreased sharply.

I heard Zhang Fei continue to say: "In addition, regarding the issue raised by He Yanjian, in fact, it does not have a great impact on this case. Our main concern is the value of the salt bill and the value at this time. , whether there has been any change. After all, our imperial court is pursuing fairness and justice, and handling affairs according to the law, rather than robbing the rich and helping the poor, and we cannot treat the other party differently just because the other party is a rich businessman. He Yanjian thinks I am right?"

He Chunlin nodded lightly, "Chairman Zhang is right."

But the tone is obviously dissatisfied. It's the first time I've seen such a gentle justice!

Zhang Fei smiled slightly, then looked down at the documents on the table carefully, and raised his head to ask: "According to our investigation, the period of time when the value of the salt banknotes alleged by the plaintiff happened to coincide with He Yanjian In charge of this matter, I wonder if?"

He Chunlin nodded.

Zhang Fei suddenly handed Li Si a salt note.

Li Si immediately sent the salt note to He Chunlin.

Zhang Fei asked: "He Yanjian should have heard the other party's inquiry just now. What the judge wants to know now is how much salt can be exchanged for the salt banknotes in He Yanjian's hand from the salt pond?"

He Chunlin glanced at the salt note, and said with a little embarrassment: "About one hundred and twenty catties."

Although it has little to do with him, it is still a bit uncomfortable to answer this kind of question.

Zhang Fei asked again: "I don't know what is the amount set by the government?"

He Chunlin said: "Two hundred catties."

"That is to say, according to the government's regulations, the salt money in your hand should be exchanged for two hundred catties of salt."

"Yes... yes."

"Has it always been like this? Has the government issued a notice to re-regulate the amount of salt that this salt banknote can exchange for."

"No!"

He Chunlin shook his head.

Zhang Fei asked: "Excuse me, He Yanjian, how should the judge understand this question? Since the imperial court has not changed the amount of salt exchanged for salt banknotes, why are there salt banknotes originally worth two hundred catties that can only be exchanged for one yuan?" One hundred and twenty catties."

He Chunlin said: "We also follow the orders from above."

Zhang Fei said: "What is the order from above?"

He Chunlin said: "It is the previous envoy to untie salt, and now envoy Xue Fayun."

Zhang Fei said: "But I just asked He Yanjian whether there was any official document issued by the imperial court. He Yanjian said no, and now He Yanjian said that it was the order of Xue Fayun envoy. Can the chief judge understand that, This is Xue Fayun's personal order."

He Chunlin nodded.

Zhang Fei asked: "Does the Salt Relief Envoy have this power?"

He Chunlin shook his head and said, "I'm not too sure about that."

Zhang Fei pondered for a while, and then asked: "Is that what you did before?"

He Chunlin said: "This method originated in the Jiayou period, and it was created by Fan Xiang, the prisoner of Hezhong Prefecture at that time. After that, the annual salt banknotes issued have been maintained at 1.66 million guan. Around, after Xue Fayun came, the salt banknotes issued every year began to exceed this amount."

In fact, he has worked under Xue Xiang for many years, and this friendship is good, but he dare not hide this matter for Xue Xiang, because there are still supervisors sitting next to him, and these officials are looking for Xue Xiang everywhere.

Zhang Fei said: "So the change in the face value of salt bills is caused by excessive issuance of salt bills."

He Chunlin nodded.

Zhang Fei asked: "I don't know why you broke the rules set by Fan Tixing at that time?"

He Chunlin immediately said: "This is actually related to those businessmen."

He came prepared this time.

Zhang Fei asked: "How do you say that?"

He Chunlin said: "In the beginning, merchants usually exchanged money for salt banknotes in Bianzhou, and then went to the salt ponds in Jiezhou to exchange salt, and then sold them to various places, but later some merchants liked to hoard salt banknotes, Up for grabs.

The salt bills were not exchanged for salt, which led to more and more salt accumulation in the salt pond. of salt.

Later, Xue Fayun combined the salt administration and the horse administration together, bought horses with salt profit, and rented the former pastures to those landless farmers, and at the same time exempted thousands of people from labor labor involved in raising horses and making salt. , and saved more than 100,000 yuan in horse raising expenses for the court, but the land lease was included in the local government, because the Hezhong government was also very short of money at that time. "

Hearing this, the expressions of the common people were all moved.

It turned out that the salt merchant was wronged and let us profit, so... that is a good thing after all.

Yes...but don't change it back!

Thinking of this, I feel uneasy again.

For a while, I didn't know who to support.

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "He Yanjian, please continue."

He Chunlin said: "After the inventory in Yanchi was depleted, they began to pay for horses again. The over-issued salt banknotes did not decrease. On the contrary, due to the war in the Northwest at that time, the issuance of salt banknotes continued to increase.

As a result, three years ago, Yanchi could not exchange salt for a time, and many banknote merchants sold salt banknotes at low prices, and the lowest price at that time was two to five hundred yuan. It can be exchanged for about one hundred and twenty catties. "

Su Zhe frowned when he heard this, and said to Chen Qi in a low voice: "Just now, I said to the north that if the salt banknotes can only be exchanged for 120 catties of salt, I will lose everything."

Chen Qi said: "That's not going to lose everything."

Su Zhe said: "Haven't you heard that some salt merchants are willing to sell at a low price, but some salt merchants are not willing."

Chen Qi frowned, and said: "What the chief prosecutor means is that the cost for someone to obtain salt money is very low."

Su Zhe nodded and said: "That's right. Although the imperial court has a very complete issuance system, it doesn't mean it's perfect. After all, salt money is just a piece of paper, which is much easier than obtaining two hundred catties of salt." , there must be someone who can easily get salt money, we have to pay close attention to this matter in the future."

Chen Qi said: "We have to send people to Bianzhou to investigate."

Su Zhe said: "As long as it is within the scope of Shaanxi Road, our procuratorate has the right to procurate."

I heard Zhang Fei ask again: "Since the envoy Xue Fayun told you that a salt bill can only be exchanged for about 120 catties of salt, why didn't he directly issue a government order and announce it to the people."

"I...I don't know much about this." He Chunlin shook his head and said.

The government also needs face. If it is directly stipulated, this is obviously unreasonable. The best way is to print and distribute small notes to replace the old ones, and depreciate the notes from here.

At that time, Xue Xiang originally planned to directly stipulate that only small banknotes were recognized, but due to some resistance and the salt merchants making a lot of noise, the government also needed merchants to sell salt for the time being, so Xue Xiang gave them some time to change.

Many officials sitting here scoffed, they were all conservatives, and they did not support Xue Xiang's style of play very much.

This is obviously stealing money and competing with the people for profit.

But those who really know how to manage money, once there are money dealers outside, they can actually issue more money, but they must avoid causing panic, and a run on it will be bad.

Xue Xiang also had no choice, the court forced him to take the money, and a group of officials below were displeased with him, so they let the wind go out in private and attacked up and down, so he could only drag it.

As soon as he was transferred, there was a thunderstorm immediately, and the problem of salt money became bigger and bigger.

In history, in order to protect the salt law, Emperor Shenzong still paid for the bottom line, but that was also because of Wang Anshi's reform, which filled the treasury.

Zhang Fei didn't ask any further questions. This was normal in the past. He glanced at Wen Yu and asked, "I wonder how many salt notes are issued by the government every year?"

He Chunlin hesitated and remained silent.

Zhang Fei asked: "Isn't this public?"

He Chunlin shook his head.

Zhang Fei said: "So apart from the government, no one knows how many salt notes have been printed and distributed?"

He Chunlin nodded.

This amount of printing and distribution is only reported to the public and not disclosed to the public.

The imperial court was still able to find out the specific accounts.

But most salt merchants don't know, and the common people are even more ignorant.

Zhang Fei looked down again, and said: "According to our imperial court's investigation, the government issued salt notes worth 2.3 million guan last year. I wonder if it is?"

He Chunlin nodded.

Zhang Fei said again: "Who decides the number of salt banknotes issued?"

He Chunlin thought for a while, and said, "Originally it was determined according to the output of Yanchi, but now it should be determined according to the military expenditure needs of the Northwest."

Actually, there is currently no regulation, which is to dissolve the salt so that you can do it yourself, but this thing is addictive, and it will only increase, not decrease, because it is difficult for people who spend money to go from extravagance to frugality.

Of course He Chunlin was citing military expenditures, and the generals were all involved.

If you lose money, you will reduce military spending.

"One last question."

Zhang Fei asked: "Is the government currently capable of exchanging those salt notes with the prescribed amount?"

He Chunlin didn't even think about it, just shook his head and said, "No!"

Zhang Fei asked with a smile: "Why did He Yanjian answer so firmly? Could it be that he knows how many salt money there are outside?"

He Chunlin hurriedly said: "I don't know the details, but I estimate that there are at least millions of salt money outside. The key point is that the Hezhong government's finances are relatively tight at the same time, and it also shoulders military expenses and horse administration. I have reported this situation to the imperial court, and I hope that the imperial court will give some subsidies, so I will definitely not be able to spend any extra money."

"I got it!"

Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, then looked up again, "Do you have any questions from the plaintiff and the procuratorate?"

Li Min directly shook his head.

The other party didn't make any sophistry, it was clearly Lai.

Su Zhe stood up and said, "Our procuratorate needs He Yanjian to provide relevant evidence to prove what he just said."

"This is what it should be." Zhang Fei nodded, and said to He Chunlin: "Because this is related to the interests of the imperial court, the procuratorate must examine the relevant evidence to avoid damage to the interests of the imperial court. The procuratorate provided relevant evidence."

He Chunlin nodded, thinking to himself, this procuratorate seems to be more troublesome than the imperial court.