Judge of the Song Dynasty Chapter 509: Salt banknote dispute (below)

When He Chunlin went down, almost everyone thought that the question was about the same, because He Chunlin didn't try to refute it.

Bang!

Zhang Fei suddenly knocked on the gavel, "Mr. Fu Wenxian, Mr. Fu."

Everyone present was startled, they all turned their heads to look at an old man with white beard and hair who was sitting in front of him in unison.

I saw this old man coming to the court, ready to bow his hands to Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei hastily stretched out his hand first and signaled: "You don't need to be polite, old man, please sit down."

"Thank you!"

Fu Wenxian sat down.

Su Zhe asked a little embarrassedly: "Who is this old gentleman?"

Chen Qi shook her head.

Accidents are not accidents, because Zhang Fei likes to summon some surprising witnesses when he is an earbud.

Zhang Fei asked with a smile: "May I ask, does the old man live a long life this year?"

Fu Wenxian clasped his hands and said, "It's the age of seventy."

Zhang Fei was surprised and said: "But the old man still looks very energetic, which really makes us ashamed."

Fu Wenxian said with a chuckle: "Chairman Zhang is already the chief judge of the Hezhong Mansion at his age, and he should be ashamed of himself if he is old."

"Thank you! Thank you!"

......

When the surrounding guests saw the two complimenting each other, everyone broke into a cold sweat.

Hey!

This is a trial, what are you doing, greeting?

It's so insincere.

Zhang Fei coughed lightly, and said again: "Thank you very much for being able to testify in court today, Mr. Can you please introduce your resume first."

Fu Wenxian nodded and said: "Old Zhuo is from Hedong County, not a Jinshi. When he was young, he served in the pre-yamen service and served as an undersecretary in the county government. After that, he has been tossing and turning in various counties of Hezhong Prefecture. Ten years ago, the government made an exception and promoted Lao Zhuo to be the governor of Xiezhou, and later served as the county lieutenant of Hedong County, and then as the general judge of Hezhong Prefecture."

According to his resume, he is not from an ordinary background, otherwise, it would be impossible for the yaqian officer to directly serve as the undersecretary. Moreover, it is very difficult for an official to be promoted, and he must have a background.

Zhang Fei nodded, and said again: "The old man must be very familiar with the changes in Hezhong Mansion in the past few decades."

Fu Wenxian nodded and said, "It's relatively clear."

Zhang Fei lowered his head and glanced at Wen An, and asked again: "Do you still remember, old man, when did you serve as the general judge of Hezhong Prefecture?"

Fu Wenxian thought for a while and said, "It should be the first year of Jiayou."

Zhang Fei said: "What was the situation in Hezhong Mansion at that time? Especially in terms of finance."

Fu Wenxian sighed, shook his head and said: "The finances of Hezhong Mansion were really bad at that time."

Zhang Fei asked: "Why?"

Fu Wenxian said: "Before Jiayou, there were continuous wars in the northwest, and at that time, the salt government in Jiezhou was extremely corrupt, and private salt was rampant, and tens of thousands of people were forced to serve, alas... "

At this point, he sighed heavily, really unbearable to look back.

Zhang Fei asked again: "How did the court respond afterwards?"

Fu Wenxian cheered up and said: "After the war with Xixia ceased, the imperial court immediately sent people to rectify the salt administration, but the effect was not good. It was not until Fan Tixing came here to preside over the salt law that the predicament of the Hezhong Mansion was completely reversed. "

"Fan Xiang?"

"Yes."

Zhang Fei asked: "Fan Tixing's salt law, but the salt money mentioned just now, that is, the merchant takes the money to Bianzhou to exchange for salt money, and then takes the salt money back to Jiezhou to exchange salt. sold everywhere."

Fu Wenxian nodded.

Zhang Fei asked: "Can you tell me how much the court benefited from the salt law?"

Fu Wenxian said: "Because Lao Zhuo happened to be the general judge of the Hezhong government at that time, I knew it quite well. After Fan Tixing presided over the salt law, the salt government increased by more than 4 million yuan from losses to profits. The imperial court saved more than 8 million guan in expenditure, and made tens of millions of guan in profit for the court."

Why does the imperial court always hope that the Hezhong government can solve the Northwest military expenditure as much as possible? That is, when fighting with Xixia Li Yuanhao before, the salt government of the Hezhong government was corrupt and could not provide more support. The central government had to allocate money, and the loss was very alarming of.

At the same time, the savings of 8 million guan also included laborers. At that time, they were all laborers to deliver military rations. These people were on the road every day, and they couldn't farm and pay taxes. Shaanxi's local finances collapsed directly.

Wang Anshi is a staunch supporter of Fan Xiang, this is financial management!

What's funny is that this is exactly the reason why Sima Guang opposed Wang Anshi. Before the Yan government was so corrupt, it was not because of the official discussion of the law, official property, official sales, and official movement. The result was a collapse, and the people lived in dire straits , The court did not see a penny.

Zhang Fei was shocked: "Is there so much?"

Fu Wenxian hehe said: "If it weren't for this, how could this law continue to this day? You must know that the previous salt law was changed every three years. Not to mention the common people, even officials such as me often don't know. What kind of respect should this be?" law."

Zhang Fei asked: "According to the old man's opinion, will excessive issuance of salt bills violate the salt law set by Fan Tixing?"

"Absolutely."

Fu Wenxian said: "When Fan Tixing was in office, he repeatedly told him not to issue excessive salt bills. Fan Tixing even adopted the ordinary method to balance the price of salt bills and stop them from hoarding and speculating."

Zhang Fei asked: "The old man thinks, is there a new law that can replace the old law?"

"No."

Fu Wenxian shook his head, "Anyway, the old clumsy didn't find out."

Zhang Fei continued to ask: "Based on the old man's experience, if Fan Tixing's salt law is violated, will the country's interests be harmed?"

Fu Wenxian nodded and said, "I will."

Zhang Fei asked: "Why is Mr. Fu so determined?"

Fu Wenxian said: "Because after Fan Tixing was transferred away, his successor once overturned Fan Tixing's salt law. As a result, the finances immediately returned to the past, and he was forced to return to Fan Tixing's salt law. It has never been changed."

"I got it!"

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Thank you, sir, for testifying in court."

"Should be, should be."

A royal policeman came forward, but Fu Wenxian waved his hands, then stood up by himself, bowed his hands slightly and went down to the court.

Everyone looked at Fu Wenxian with confusion on their faces. What does this have to do with this case?

Xu Zhiqian quietly came to Zhang Fei's side and put a document on it.

"Thank you!" Zhang Fei nodded, lowered his eyes to stare at Wen'an for a while, then suddenly knocked on the gavel, raised his head and said in a loud voice: "Wei Yingfang was judged by Chuanhe Zhongfu."

Wei Yingfang was not surprised, because Zhang Fei had already sent someone to inform him that he might be asked to testify in court. After all, the Hezhong Mansion's sentence involved financial and prison rights, so he got up and came to the court immediately.

"Wei Tong, please sit down."

"Thank you."

After Wei Yingfang sat down, Zhang Fei said: "I'm very sorry, since Mr. Fu failed to provide the current financial situation of Hezhong Mansion, I can only trouble Wei Tongju."

Wei Yingfang nodded and said: "President Zhang, don't be polite, this is also my duty."

"Thank you for your understanding."

Zhang Fei asked: "I don't know when Wei Tongpan came to Hezhong Mansion to serve as the general judge?"

Wei Yingfang said: "The first year of Xining."

Zhang Fei said: "At that time, Envoy Xue Fa was still here as an envoy to relieve salt."

"Yes."

"How was the finance of Hezhong Prefecture at that time?"

"Very good."

Wei Yingfang nodded and said truthfully: "The government's finances are increasing every year, and the people's labor taxes are greatly reduced."

Zhang Fei asked: "But I don't know what magic method Xue Fayun used?"

Wei Yingfang said: "Actually, Envoy Xue Fayun has always firmly supported Fan Tixing's salt law. He just combined the salt administration with the horse administration. Just as He Yanjian said, it saved more than 100,000 horses. At the same time, thousands of people were exempted from hard labor, and during Xue Fayun’s tenure, Hezhong Mansion made millions of dollars in profits.”

Zhang Fei asked: "Can I think that Xue Fayun's method is just to transfer the more than 100,000 yuan of horse raising fees and the labor of thousands of people to the salt merchants."

Wei Yingfang thought about it for a while, and said: "Maybe there is a part, but the main reason is that the government has issued more salt money every year because of the increase in military expenditure in the Northwest."

Zhang Fei said: "Mr. Fu said just now that excessive issuance of salt bills will definitely destroy the salt law. I wonder if Wei Tong judge agrees with it?"

Wei Yingfang hesitated for a while, nodded and said, "I agree."

Zhang Fei asked: "I don't know what evidence Wei Tong has for the judgment?"

Wei Yingfang said: "In the past two years, the amount of salt banknotes sold by the imperial court has been decreasing, and the number of merchants who are willing to go to Bianzhou to buy salt banknotes is also decreasing."

Zhang Fei asked: "Does Wei Tong think that this will affect the country's finances?"

Wei Yingfang nodded.

"Is it a big impact?"

"It's not too big."

Wei Yingfang said: "If the merchants don't go, the imperial court can only send military rations and military expenses, which will inevitably increase the labor of the people and increase the loss."

Zhang Fei asked: "Does the imperial court have any countermeasures?"

Wei Yingfang shook his head and said, "As far as I know, no."

"Thank you, Wei Tongsan."

After Wei Yingfang went down, Zhang Fei did not call any more witnesses, but said: "If the plaintiff has no other demands, he can make a closing statement."

"We have no other demands."

Li Min stood up, "Because the facts and evidence have already proved that the government violated the contract without reason, and did not give a reasonable explanation afterwards. Instead, they have been delaying and using the means of issuing small notes to force me The parties concerned bear the losses caused by the government's breach of contract.

Because several of my clients have invested all their capital in these salt money in the past few years, and are unwilling to bear these losses, so that there is no harvest these years, and they are sitting on nothing. If the imperial court fulfills the contract, according to the calculations of previous years, within the past two years, my clients will be able to obtain a total of about 10,000 yuan in profits.

Therefore, I implore Judge Zhang to rule in our favor, and the government will exchange the amount of salt stipulated in the contract for the salt banknotes in my client's hands, and compensate my parties with 20% of the total value of the salt banknotes. "

The surrounding officials looked at Li Min as if they were fools.

What is he talking about?

Accuse the government?

Gone!

This ear pencil is really floating!

Will he survive tomorrow?

If Su Zhe said that, it would be normal. The procuratorate is supposed to supervise, and he came here to accuse the government of being wrong.

But the problem is that Li Min is just an ear pen, how can he say that?

However, Yuan Jiang and Su Zhe, who saw Zhang Fei's lawsuit, were not surprised at all. Compared with it, this is really too gentle.

Not a single sarcasm.

Zhang Fei knocked on the gavel, "Adjourn the court for now."

Then got up and entered the back hall with Xu Zhiqian, Cai Bian and others.

Some old men quickly stood up and moved their shins. They really regarded this lawsuit as a kind of entertainment, and they were extremely fascinated by it, but it turned out that it was a sore back.

Yuan Jiang also stood up, but she frowned and looked at Wei Yingfang, "Wei Tong's judgment just now is really inappropriate!"

Wei Yingfang was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly asked, "What does Bachelor Yuan say?"

Cai Yanqing suddenly said: "It seems that he will probably award compensation."

As soon as the words came out, surrounding officials immediately gathered around.

Cai Yanqing explained: "Mr. Fu's confession and Wei Tongju's confession just now have fully explained that if you want to continue to maintain the existing salt law, you cannot over-issue salt bills. will suffer greater losses, so the solution is naturally to compensate those salt merchants."

Yuan Jiang said: "Prefect Cai is right. In the current situation, even if he judges the government to pay compensation, what can you do?"

The surrounding officials suddenly realized.

Finally understood why Zhang Fei wanted Fu Wenxian to testify in court.

They thought it was very difficult to judge before. If Zhang Fei dared to award compensation from the government, then your imperial court would be responsible for financial problems. will be bigger.

How can you argue with the imperial court?

Wei Yingfang was immediately annoyed, and cursed secretly, this brat is really hard to guard against! He justified again: "Old Mr. Fu said that before, if I didn't say that, I could say that again."

If he realized this, he might change his rhetoric, but he didn't dare to change the facts. There is evidence for these things, and everyone knows that salt money is not selling well nowadays.

The reason is that the salt money has depreciated too much.

He Chunlin asked eagerly, "What should I do?"

Cai Yanqing looked directly at Yuan Jiang.

Yuan Jiang frowned, "Let's see and talk."

However, the worries of the officials were seen by those salt merchants, and they were very excited. For them, this process is actually not important, because the government must have breached the contract. The key lies in what the imperial court will do. Whether the government will execute the sentence again.

The expressions of the officials are more important than this process.

......

After a good while, Zhang Fei and others came out from the back hall. As before, everyone stood and looked forward to it.

Zhang Fei knocked on the gavel, and suddenly seeing the silence around him, he couldn't help smiling, and said loudly: "According to the trial of this case by the chief judge, it is judged that the government breached the contract first, and the contract must be followed." The amount of salt should be exchanged for corresponding salt banknotes, and at the same time, the government needs to compensate the plaintiff’s losses with an annual interest rate of 6%.”

There was an uproar immediately.

Duan Chaobei and other salt merchants all opened their eyes wide and looked at Zhang Fei in disbelief.

Sentenced!

Really awarded compensation.

Although they didn't ask for 20%, but the compensation is 6% per year. If it is three years, it will be 18%, which is close to 20%.

In fact, the key is not the amount, even if it is 0.1%, it is unprecedented.

Because in the previous judiciary, the government was in an absolute dominant position. It is very, very rare to be able to compensate you in full. If you pay back the interest, what the **** are you thinking about Taozi.

But the imperial court really awarded compensation.

"Silence! Silence!"

Zhang Fei slammed the gavel a few times, and when the surrounding area calmed down, he continued: "However, since these salt notes have been accumulated for two or three years, and the Hezhong government is currently in financial difficulties, it may be difficult to get them for a while. So much salt.

The finances of a government are related to the people of the government, and at the same time, it also involves the supplies of the frontier army. Compensation plan, and the consent of the salt merchants must be obtained. "

As soon as these words came out, the salt merchants were taken aback again, didn't they immediately compensate?

This has to be delayed again!

Drag and drag and it will be gone!

Wei Yingfang and the others were also a little depressed. Instead, they expected that Zhang Fei would be sentenced to pay compensation immediately. At this point, why are you still planning to delay the attack? Can you be firm?

"Also!"

Zhang Fei said: "In the future, the government must announce the amount of salt banknotes issued, and there must be no concealment about this...."

"I object!"

Su Zhe immediately stood up and said, "The imperial court has no right to interfere with the salt administration. Why does Judge Zhang require the government to announce the amount of salt money to be issued?"

He Chunlin wondered, "Are the procuratorate and the imperial court on the same side?"

Su Zhe tried to overturn Zhang Fei's judgment several times.

Yuan Jiang said in a low voice: "According to the system, the procuratorate mainly supervises the trials of the imperial court, so the rank of the chief prosecutor is the same as that of the chief judge."

Over there, Zhang Fei also explained: "The imperial court did not intervene in the salt administration, and never thought of intervening in the salt administration, but the imperial court must safeguard the legitimate interests of the people, because the salt banknotes are sold by the government to the common people. The common people naturally have the right to know about salt banknotes. The confession and evidence just now can prove that the number of salt banknotes issued will directly affect the people's willingness to buy salt banknotes.

In addition, the government's actions this time will also be suspected of violating the law of our ancestors. The Procurator-General believes that the current decision to issue salt notes has complied with the governing principle of "preventing things and making things right". "

The common people couldn't help crying with joy. We must protect our interests. Are you telling the truth?

But Su Zhe was dumbfounded.

What the hell?

The law of the ancestors?

Chen Qi and Wang Shen were also dumbfounded.

Zhang Fei waited for a while before continuing: "The confessions of all the officials just now did not give a solution. Obviously, they did not consider the consequences of issuing excessive salt money. The law of the ancestors runs counter to the law. The chief judge also hopes that the procuratorate can supervise this aspect."

Su Zhe was overjoyed immediately, it seemed that he and I wanted to go together, nodded and said: "Our procuratorate will investigate this matter."

He originally wanted to investigate this matter, but Zhang Fei also gave him an ancestral method, which is even more justifiable.

Wei Yingfang, He Chunlin, Cao Yi, Qin Zhongshou and other officials couldn't help sweating profusely.

This hat is well buttoned, everyone is stunned!

Cai Yanqing was puzzled and said: "Scholar Yuan, can the imperial court still judge whether it violates the law of the ancestors?"

There has never been a government ruling which eucalyptus violated the ancestral law, because without this law, the ancestral law is just a reason to restrict the emperor.

How can ordinary officials afford this hat.

Yuan Jiang said: "Cai Zhifu doesn't know that the new version of "Song Xingtong" has the laws of the ancestors written on the first page. Written by the official himself."

In the past, the law of the ancestors was not a written rule, but after the lawsuit, Zhao Xu wrote the law of the ancestors into the "Song Xingtong" in his own hand, because Zhao Xu believes that it is unwritten, and you use various ancestral systems to constrain it every day Me, this is not fair, I wrote it directly in "Song Xingtong", and everyone is restrained.

And there is an argument.

I have a pen with big ears, who am I afraid of.

Zhang Fei looked around and said: "If both parties have objections to this judgment, they can present corresponding evidence to appeal. Today's trial ends here, and we will leave the court."