Judge of the Song Dynasty Chapter 754: beat up the drowned dog

Do they dare?

How dare they!

The key public security laws still have execution capabilities that far exceed those of the current government agencies.

As soon as the decree was issued, all the court police and royal police were dispatched the next day. This was really rare in the political system of the Song Dynasty, and it could even be said that it had never been seen before.

Even if the emperor gave the order, he would have to stay under Zhongshu’s door for ten days and a half.

This directly caught the powerful people off guard.

Before we even had a chance to resist, you entered directly without even a single insurance.

Isn't that bullying?

The belated officials reacted immediately and ran to the political hall to inquire about the situation.

Why did the imperial court's policy become illegal?

Is there any heavenly justice?

Is there any royal method?

"Alas!"

Wen Yanbo sighed, "It's useless for you to come here to argue. In fact, the chief court president had talked to Lao Chen and Jie Fu about the matter beforehand. We all rejected it sternly at the time, but the imperial court still wanted to There is nothing we can do about this."

Wang Anshi on the side also nodded aggrievedly.

We tried our best!

"What do you mean? Do I, the Great Song Dynasty, have the final say now as the president of the court?"

Zhao Wenzheng shouted immediately.

Wen Yanbo shook his head and said: "That's not true. It's just a system based on the separation of politics and law. Now it is difficult for the political hall to interfere in the decision-making of the imperial court."

Jiang Zhiqi said: "But the separation of politics and law does not mean that the imperial court can do whatever it wants."

Wen Yanbo glanced at Feng Jing, the imperial censor, and Sima Guang, the minister of punishment, and asked: "Have the censor Zhongcheng and the minister of punishment ever gone to the imperial court to ask?"

Feng Jing and Sima Guang nodded at the same time.

Sima Guangdao: "The Chief Justice believes that he did not interfere with the policy, but that the previous system became unreasonable due to the promulgation of the new tax law. He once asked the Political Affairs Hall to make adjustments, but the Political Affairs Hall was unwilling , so the imperial court can only issue a ban, but how to adjust it specifically belongs to the authority of the government, but it cannot conflict with the law."

Feng Jing said nonchalantly: "According to the promulgated new tax law, it is indeed clearly stated that it is calculated based on total tax. However, what is now prohibited was previously classified as commercial tax. This is not what we are doing. It’s hard to refute!”

Zhao Bian has been in the public security, procuratorate, and law for so long, and he has already figured out the tricks here. If he orders a change in the system, it will be an interference in the administration, but he only prohibits it, and it is only temporary. Anyway, you don’t If you change it, I will keep banning it.

There's nothing wrong with that.

At this moment, they finally realized what the true separation of politics and law was.

It's so painful.

The officials were so angry that they were speechless.

Who asked you to talk about reason and power!

The key point was that the emperor remained silent. Regarding the war on the Western Front, the emperor only discussed it with key ministers. No one knew what the emperor was thinking.

At this moment, they really miss the public prosecutors and prosecutors who were led by Zhang Fei.

There is really no harm if there is no comparison.

At least Zhang Fei will sincerely consider their interests, and will not do anything absolutely, and will always leave room for them.

How can he be like the "big evil man" Zhao Bian, who has a little power but doesn't even know his last name.

This is simply lawless!

However, as before, Zhang Fei seemed to disappear at such times, keeping a very low profile, but this time it was different. A group of new people came to the Procuratorate, and they were all full of energy, unlike before. Wang Gong and the others are all veterans of the officialdom, and they always try to calm things down when they encounter trouble.

They thought it was not lively enough.

Now, like He Zhizhong and others, they see that the imperial court and the police station are so beautiful, but the procuratorate seems to be outside, and they all feel very disappointed.

Procuratorate.

In the conference room, Zhang Fei looked around at the group of hanging-headed chicks in front of him and asked with a smile: "It seems that you are all suffocated."

He Zhizhong immediately raised his head: "Prosecutor Zhang, the imperial court and the police station are very busy now, why does our procuratorate have nothing to do?"

Zhang Fei asked: "Then what do you want to do?"

He Zhizhong was stunned for a moment, with his head hanging down: "Students don't know."

"Then you still ask?" Zhang Fei asked again.

".!"

He Zhizhong lowered his head silently.

Zhang Fei asked the others: "What about you? What do you think our procuratorate should do?"

Wang Hui suddenly said: "The students thought that we, we should monitor whether the royal police and court police are executing the orders of the royal court."

Zhang Fei nodded and asked: "Is there more?"

Everyone was silent.

Zhang Fei waited for a while, "Wang Hui is right, we must supervise the process of the Royal Police performing their tasks, especially this kind of law that involves many people.

But first, we need to find out whether the imperial court's decree is legal. The duty of our procuratorate is to defend the law in accordance with the law. Anyone who violates the law is trampling on our procuratorate.

So, you must investigate clearly whether the prohibited charges are illegal. If they are all illegal, are there any omissions? ”

Having said this, he glanced at Xu Zhiqian beside him.

Xu Zhiqian immediately distributed copies of the copy to He Zhizhong and the others.

He Zhizhong and others immediately picked up the copy and read it excitedly.

Zhang Fei added: "This is your latest mission. Investigate all government offices that charge people. At the same time, you must also ask them whether the court police and the royal police have bent the law for personal gain during the execution of their tasks."

At this moment, Li Si suddenly appeared in front of the door, "Third brother, Director Cai is here."

"Ask him to wait for me in the lobby."

"Yes."

After Li Si left, Zhang Fei asked He Zhizhong and others: "Do you understand everything?"

"Understood."

He Zhizhong nodded excitedly.

Zhang Fei asked again: "Then you should understand now why I am assigning tasks to you now?"

Everyone was confused again.

Zhang Fei said unhappily: "If these tasks were assigned to you from the beginning and nothing happened at that time, what would you be investigating? Are you going to keep an eye on the royal police for enforcing the law? We are not looking after homes and homes. The main functions and powers of the procuratorate are actually to strike later. Do you understand?"

"Understood."

"The meeting is dismissed!"

After saying that, he went out with Xu Zhiqian.

When they arrived in the lobby, Cai Jing stood up immediately. Zhang Fei quickly waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to be polite, "Cai Jing, it's better for you to lead the students. This new group of people really **** me off. Everyone is so angry." It’s like a piece of wood, not smart at all.”

After that, he picked up the teacup again and took a big sip.

Cai Jing said nonchalantly: "My mentor has given me the reward. In fact, in the beginning we often made our mentor angry."

"Really?"

Zhang Fei thought for a while, coughed twice, and put down the teacup, "By the way, what do you want from me?"

Cai Jingdao: "Master, have you heard that no one goes to the grain store to sell food recently?"

"I heard about it."

Zhang Fei said: "That's because everyone is full of confidence in the warehouse tax, so they are waiting for the big landowners to release the grain. Then the price of grain will definitely fall."

"Exactly."

Cai Jingdao: "Students think that at this time, they should beat the loser, lower the price of food in the grain stores, give the people more confidence, and make those big landowners panic. Maybe those big landowners can still hold on, but most of them The main households may not be able to sustain it. Once they release food, the big landowners will not be able to sustain it for long.”

Zhang Fei said: "But have you ever considered that part of the grain in the capital is transported from other places? If the price of grain is too low, it will affect grain merchants in other states and counties selling grain to the capital."

Cai Jingdao: "This student has also considered it, but the current food storage in Gyeonggi is very amazing. As long as they release food, there will definitely be no shortage of food this year. On the contrary, some places in Hebei and Huainan have insufficient food storage. We can raise grain prices in those places to attract grain merchants. As long as the grain prices and shipping costs are calculated, we can control the grain in the hands of grain merchants through grain prices."

Zhang Fei nodded slightly, thought for a while, and then said: "Go and tell Bachelor Wang and the Third Secretary about this plan. After all, they are not clear about your abilities yet. You need to show yourself now."

Cai Jing was overjoyed and immediately said: "Thank you very much, teacher, for your guidance. The students are very grateful."

The landowners were in dire straits, but the businessmen had a great time winning.

Although the Northern Song Dynasty did not emphasize agriculture and suppress business, it emphasized officials and suppressed business. The government still had very strict control over businessmen. When everything was in ruins, strict regulations were conducive to the development of business, but now , it becomes a hindrance to business development.

Because the more you control, the more places the government can make money.

In fact, Zhao Pian, Fu Bi, and Sima Guang did not like too much government control. This is why Zhao Pian came up and immediately issued this decree.

Wang Anshi is just the opposite. He wants to take care of everything, but he is not talking about belief, but that he wants to make money. The principle is still the same. No matter how he makes money, the emergence of the tax department has also changed his In my opinion, if the tax department can collect all the taxes, then it doesn't really matter to him.

More and more merchants began to accept tax coins.

Not only that, prices began to fall, especially for handicrafts. Because the government did not cut off 10% of the price, merchants' costs decreased, and prices naturally went down.

You must know that we are still in the midst of a drought. It is a miracle that prices have fallen instead of rising.

Sansi

"Ms. Wang, what did the officials say?"

Seeing Wang Anshi coming, Xue Xiang immediately went up and asked.

He knew that Wang Anshi and Han Jiang were going to discuss matters with the emperor today.

Wang Anshi said: "Today the officials are just talking to us about the Xihe War, and have appointed a privy envoy to the northwest to take charge of the war."

Xue Xiangdao: "That means the officials do not plan to withdraw troops from Xihe."

Wang Anshi nodded.

Xue Xiang asked again: "What about warehouse tax?"

"Didn't talk about it."

Wang Anshi frowned slightly and said: "But I think the officials must have made up their mind to support the warehouse tax, but for now, there is no need for the officials to say this, because whether it is the imperial court or the Legislative Council, They are all doing things according to the rules."

Why Zhao Xu never expresses his position on this matter? It's not that he doesn't want to show off, but that he may not be able to win in a war. He can only count on Wang Shao and the others, so he has to leave some room for himself.

"Really?"

Xue Xiang couldn't help but look happy.

Wang Anshi nodded.

Xue Xiangdao: "If this is the case, we must quickly adjust relevant policies according to the imperial court's decree."

Wang Anshi said: "Not yet, the powerful people in the court are still not convinced. If you adjust now, you will become the target of public criticism again. Don't you think there are not enough people in the court to impeach you?"

Xue Xiangshan nodded.

At this moment, a civil servant appeared in front of the door and said, "I would like to inform the Third Secretary that Director Cai has something to ask for."

Xue Xiang was stunned for a moment, "Director Cai?"

Wang Anshi said: "Yes! I haven't had any conversations with Cai Jing since he took office."

Xue Xiang immediately ordered the clerk to invite Cai Jing in.

Cai Jing was even more happy when he saw Wang Anshi was there. He quickly bowed his hand and said, "Cai Jing has met Wang Xianggong and the three envoys."

Wang Anshi glanced at Xue Xiang.

Xue Xiangdao: "No need to be polite. Director Cai, what do you have to report?"

Cai Jing immediately informed the two of his plan.

Xue Xiang nodded and said: "If you can do this, of course it is possible. They have been betting that we are short of food, and now we have lowered our purchases, which can undermine their confidence."

Cai Jing immediately said: "The WFP is a public service agency, and it does business. Moreover, the food is currently borrowed from the treasury and cannot be sold. Of course, the price must be adjusted, which is natural."

Xue Xiang's eyes lit up, "Yes! You are the WFP, not the government."

Wang Anshi smiled and said, "Is this what Zhang San taught you?"

Cai Jing nodded and said, "Yes, in Hezhong Mansion, I used to help my mentor handle such matters."

Wang Anshi asked again: "Who came up with this plan?"

"This is what the official came up with." Cai Jing said.

Wang Anshi asked: "Didn't Zhang San teach you?"

Cai Jing said hurriedly: "I haven't told my mentor about this yet, because my mentor is more concerned about the separation of politics and law. He has told me before that when I return to Beijing this time, I can't go to him for advice on everything like before. So as not to confuse people’s opinions.”

"Well, this seems like Zhang San's style."

Wang Anshi nodded and said, "But if someone asks you outside, what would you say?"

Cai Jing hesitated a little and said: "I would say this is the decision of the official. As the director of the WFP, the official has the right to make this decision."

Wang Anshi nodded with satisfaction, "Let's do it."

"I obey my orders."

After Cai Jing left, Xue Xiang said: "This Cai Jing is really a talent."

Wang Anshi smiled and said: "Can the apprentice trained by Zhang San be a good person?"

Xue Xiang chuckled and asked: "But what happened recently, does it have something to do with Zhang San?"

"I haven't gone to see Zhang San yet."

Wang Anshi said: "If it is Sima Junshi, then it must be Zhang San who came up with the idea. Sima Junshi does not have such courage, but it may not be the case with Fu Gong."

I also murmured in my heart that it was time to meet Zhang Fei.

On the second day, Wang Anshi came to Zhang's house.

"Did you convince the rich man?"

Wang Anshi, like Zhao Xu, asked Zhang Fei straight to the point.

Fu Bi suddenly stood up, which indeed made many people not understand.

Why is this?

Zhang Fei is definitely a suspect.

Zhang Fei smiled helplessly and said: "Xueshi Wang really praises me too much. With my virtue, can I convince the rich man?"

Of course Wang Anshi knew Fu Bi's character. He hated evil and was very opinionated. It was unlikely that he would be fooled by Zhang Fei, so he just tried it out and said hehe: "Yes! You can only fool Sima. Junshi, that idiot."

Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "Scholar Wang is joking."

Wang Anshi looked Zhang Fei up and down, and said sourly: "You have strong wings now, and you don't need my care. Maybe I will have to ask for help from you in the future!"

It’s not like you haven’t asked for it before. Zhang Fei immediately said: "Where do you start with what Wang Xueshi said? I have always supported Wang Xueshie's new policy because I agree with Wang Xueshie's ideas, rather than saying that I want to get rich through Wang Xueshei's promotion. This has never changed. It has happened before, and it will never change again.”

Wang Anshi nodded and had no doubt about this, because in his eyes, Zhang Fei was really not a person who was greedy for power, and this was also his attitude all along. He added: "But now the Public Security Bureau has fallen into the trap of In the hands of Mr. Fu and Mr. Zhao, this matter is not easy to handle!"

Both of them were against the New Deal.

Zhang Fei said: "I don't think so. Instead, I think that with Mr. Fu and Mr. Zhao protecting Mr. Wang, Mr. Wang can now implement his policies more calmly."

Wang Anshi smiled and said: "Will they **** me?"

Zhang Fei said: "Of course. Because they can only control whether it is illegal or not? For example, the Green Crops Law does not violate the law. Only those who use the Green Crops Law to make money are illegal. Therefore, the New Deal can get better results Execute."

Wang Anshi still has some doubts.

Zhang Fei was as clear as a mirror and said: "Of course, I will continue to provide advice to Bachelor Wang in this regard to ensure that the policy will not be defined as illegal by the imperial court or the Legislative Council."

Wang Anshi smiled and nodded.

Nowadays, Zhang Fei's role for him is becoming more and more important. Zhang Fei is his biggest influence within the Public Security Bureau.

He came here today to ensure his relationship with Zhang Fei.

For Zhang Fei, the more independent the public prosecutor and the judiciary are, the more he has to strengthen his relationship with Wang Anshi. Because of the separation of politics and law, he can only implement policies through Wang Anshi.

After chatting with Zhang Fei for a while, Wang Anshi stood up and left.

As soon as I went out, I met Ai at the corner, oh no, I met Sima Guang.

Sima Guang glanced at the door of Zhang Fei's house and said with a smile: "Come to curry favor with Zhang San?"

"Whatever you think."

Wang Anshi did not deny it, but retorted sarcastically: "Jun Shi, you see, after all these years of hard work, it is worse than an article by Mr. Fu or a ban by Xianggong Zhao.

And it can be seen that you kept saying justice and fairness before, but in fact it was to deal with me. Mr. Fu is called justice. He not only defended the warehouse tax, but also defended the tax currency bill that Xue and I proposed to them. Aren't you ashamed? ”

"Why should I be ashamed?"

Sima Guang said confidently: "I am more self-aware than you. I have never said that I have done well in these years, and I have always thought that I am not qualified. Let alone Fu Gong, that is, compared with Su Zizhan and Fan Yaofu, I It's not as good as you. It's like you are the only smart person in the world, and you are the only one who is right."

The implication is that Fu Bi did better than me, and that is what he should have done. I was not as good as him in the first place.

Wang Anshi was dumbfounded. This was boring. After a while, he waved his sleeves and said, "Yes! Why should I argue with you?"

After saying that, he walked away.

On this point, he really couldn't refute Sima Guang.

Sima Guang has indeed been recommending talents. He is happy to be a bole and has never thought about being in a high position. This time he was also promoted to prime minister, but he refused and recommended Wen Yanbo because of his lack of ability. .

He is really not modest. He really thinks that he can't do anything good, at least not as good as Wen Yanbo and the others. He even knows that his talent is not as good as Wang Anshi's.

When he evaluated Wang Anshi, he didn't mean that Wang Anshi lacked ability, nor did he mean that Wang Anshi had bad morals, but that Wang Anshi didn't know how to recognize people, and he was surrounded by villains.

"Do I want to argue with you?"

Sima Guang snorted and went straight to Zhang's house.

Zhang Fei was not surprised at all by Sima Guang's arrival. The two enemies had always had a tacit understanding.

"Is Wang Jiefu here to curry favor with you?"

Sima Guang is also straightforward.

Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment and said hurriedly: "Of course not, how could Bachelor Wang flatter me?"

Sima Guang said: "Why not? Now that the rich man has come forward, he must be scared. He must win over you."

Zhang Fei said sarcastically: "It's not even about winning over."

Sima Guang hummed: "I know the relationship between you and Wang Jiefu best, but now the political and legal affairs have been separated, and the Procuratorate, like the imperial court, is completely independent, you no longer need to rely on Anyone.

As a prosecutor and the author of the Public Prosecution Law and the legal system, you should set an example. You can no longer cooperate with him behind the scenes like before. If anyone knows about it, the Public Prosecution Law will be severely damaged. ”

This is the reason why he came to Zhang Fei, because he expected that Wang Anshi would definitely come back to find Zhang Fei, but he believed that the public prosecutor, procuratorate, and law had become completely independent, and Zhang Fei should distance himself from Wang Anshi.

Zhang Fei smiled and said: "For this, Bachelor Sima should have full confidence in me, because I have always been the most disciplined person."

"That's good."

Sima Guang nodded.

Zhang Fei suddenly said: "I think the current pressure is all on Bachelor Sima."

Sima Guang hurriedly asked: "How do you say this?"

Zhang Fei said: "The Ministry of Punishment is responsible for the personnel arrangements of the Public Security Bureau and the Procuratorate. At present, the Public Security Bureau and the Procuratorate are being promoted so quickly and their power is getting bigger and bigger. If this personnel arrangement is not done properly, big problems will occur."

"I know this, and I am very cautious. However." Sima Guang sighed again: "This time the warehouse tax dispute has made me see many people clearly. To tell you the truth, I also think that the warehouse tax They were a little more radical, but their reaction was beyond my expectations!"

Zhang Fei smiled and said: "I think this is understandable. It's a bit uncomfortable at first, but you will get used to it gradually."

Sima Guang said: "It seems that you already have a chance to win."

Zhang Fei shook his head and said with a smile: "Master Sima's information is a bit behind. At this time, we have already passed the stage of winning, and now we have reached the stage of beating up the lost dog."

The next day, the grain store with the Food Department suddenly announced that the price of food had been reduced from 40 cents per bucket to 38 cents.

It’s not much, so I’ll drop two cents.

But these two cents made it difficult for those powerful and powerful landlords to sleep well.

On this day of disaster, food prices fell instead of rising.

Are you bullying us for not having tax coins?

If those powerful people and landowners hold tax coins, they will definitely buy them all and play this game with us.

We still don’t know how much grain is in the warehouse.

Who are you scaring here?

Those powerful landowners jumped out and started a public opinion war. This was a conspiracy. The imperial court did not have so much food at all.

In order to sell newspapers, the genuine bookstore also hired a firm to calculate the accounts clearly. Judging from the 50% penalty tax, how much should the price of food be reduced to be equal to the penalty tax?

When the people saw it, they still had to fall!

Wait!

I would rather eat less now than buy food easily. No matter how much I buy now, I will lose a lot!

So, except for the grain stores, the entire capital market has become unprecedentedly prosperous.

Because money has increased, but this money has not fully entered the grain market, even ordinary people are not in a hurry. For one hundred pence a day, they only need to buy a bucket of grain, which can last for two or three days.

With the drop in food prices, they are no longer in a hurry. They don’t store food at home because everyone knows that food prices will drop in the future and it will not be too late to buy them then.

They can have a lot of spare money to buy other goods.

It just so happened that due to the imperial court's ban, the prices of other goods were also falling.

When these two things collide, how prosperous the market will be.

Ma Shuai, Wang Chao and the others are all laughing. The football league has benefited greatly from the increase in money. Farmers did not watch football in the past, but now they work in the suburbs every day and come to watch it in their free time.

The first to be unable to bear it are the small and medium-sized owners. They know better that the big landowners control almost half of the grain in Gyeonggi. The key is that their grain reserves are very terrible, and this time they have to release them all. This kind of This has never happened in history. If the big landowners release grain until the end, the price of grain will definitely plummet, and their own grain may not be able to sell even if they want to.

They must be the first to release the food from the warehouse.

Alum Tower.

In a large private room, there were only four or five middle-aged people wearing satin robes, looking at Fan Yong eagerly.

"Brother Fan, the brothers are all counting on you."

"Don't say that."

Fan Yong said: "I also have to pay warehouse tax."

"But you can use it to make wine!"

"The situation this year is extremely special. Quyuan has been banned from making koji. We can only make wine based on the amount we bought at the end of last year. As for the grain for brewing, I bought it from you last year. This is beyond the limit. Yes, that’s a 300% liquor tax, so I might as well pay the warehouse tax.”

"They may not have discovered it."

"It's not like you don't know the methods of the Taxation Department. How many people have been punished and bankrupted, who dares to gamble."

"Then you are willing to die without saving anything."

"I didn't do anything to save it. It was beyond my ability. You can sell it in the market. Now that the drought is going on, you don't have to worry about selling this food."

"If we all release food, food prices will inevitably plummet, and we will suffer heavy losses."

"This."

Fan Yong said: "Then you can only ask for one person."

"Who."

"Director Cai of the WFP, now only the WFP does not have to pay warehouse tax, and according to the law, within the Gyeonggi area, the WFP can only purchase food at a minimum price of thirty-five cents. How much food can the agency purchase?"

There is no way.

These small and medium-sized owners can only go to Cai Jing.

Brother! Take us in.

Cai Jing did not make things difficult for them, because the price of food was limited and could only be purchased for thirty-five cents. This was to ensure that the WFP would not manipulate food prices.

But instead of buying them all, he bought one-third, or half, and let them sell the rest in the market.

And instead of giving tax coins, you can buy it directly with copper coins.

Because they always want to prevent tax money from flowing directly into the hands of these landlords.

When these owners saw it, we came to beg him, but he would not give us tax coins, but gave us copper coins. How strong these tax coins are!

These small and medium-sized owners began to surrender, which immediately triggered a domino effect.

In this way, the food available on the market will last until early autumn.

When a wave of punitive taxes comes up in early autumn, the court can wait for a while.

The dignitaries in the imperial court were ashen-faced. They now even doubted whether the emperor had deliberately kept silent. His purpose was to give them hope and then harvest them in the final wave.

You are so cruel!