Northern Song Dynasty Justice

Chapter 497 I just can't open my mouth to let him know

"call."

Is it finally over?

Li Yongji couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief. Just a few questions made him feel like he was alive after a catastrophe. When he stood up, he realized that his butt was already soaked.

He has been in the officialdom of the Hezhong Mansion for many years, and he has never seen any kind of intrigue or conspiracy, but this is the first time this feeling has appeared on him.

He didn't feel that Zhang Fei was targeting him and wanted to convict him, but he felt very uneasy in his heart, even felt naked in front of others, every question made him feel embarrassed, his mind was blank.

When I returned to my seat and sat down, my hanging heart slowly sank.

He sneaked a glance to the side, but saw that many officials had pale faces and remained silent.

Even though it was a scorching summer day, sitting here felt a chilling chill.

Even Cai Yanqing looked a little nervous, under the watchful eyes of everyone, is it really okay for you to say this?

You are going to take off the court's underpants!

In this regard, the heart is also full of worries.

Only Zhang Fei still had a calm demeanor, as if he just asked a few insignificant questions and drank half a cup of tea before letting Cai Jing send the next witness to the court.

What He Chunlin guessed was right, it was him.

When he came to the court, his legs were trembling slightly. Li Yongji was in the midst of the game, so he naturally felt a little confused. He could see clearly from the side, this kid didn't play cards according to the routine, what embarrassment did he ask? , had no idea what question he would ask.

Chunchun is a stunned young man, this kind of official is the most terrifying in the officialdom.

But to be honest, he didn't seem to be taking it personally, he just said it made you feel ashamed to say it, but it didn't make you feel life-threatening.

"He Yanjian, please sit down."

Zhang Fei smiled and stretched out his hand to signal.

"Thank you."

He Chunlin cupped his hands slightly and sat down.

Zhang Fei read the following case, and asked with a smile: "According to the understanding of the chief judge, He Yanjian is in charge of the salt affairs of Xuenvchi, so he should be very familiar with it."

He Chunlin hesitated for a while before nodding helplessly.

He is in charge of the business, and there is no need to push it from above.

Zhang Fei asked: "This case involves salt, which is obtained by Huang Tong's prolific income, that is to say, excluding the 12 catties of salt handed over to the imperial court, the additional production is made. Is this behavior allowed by the imperial court?"

He Chunlin nodded and said, "Yes."

Zhang Fei asked: "Then who should this part of the salt belong to?"

He Chunlin thought carefully before answering: "Of course they belong to Yanhu, but they must be sold to the imperial court."

"It must be sold to the imperial court."

Zhang Fei asked with great interest: "If it is sold to someone other than the imperial court, what is it?"

He Chunlin said, "That's considered selling illegal salt."

Zhang Fei said: "Is there a rule that the imperial court must also purchase the extra salt produced by salt households?"

He Chunlin pondered for a while, and said: "The imperial court stipulates that the extra salt produced by the salt households must be sold to the imperial court. There is no express rule that the imperial court must buy it, but we have never refused."

As soon as these words came out, many people outside the courtyard immediately scoffed.

He Chunlin didn't even dare to look over there, as if he didn't know.

Since the people only expressed their dissatisfaction with their eyes and lips, Zhang Fei did not knock the hammer, and continued to ask: "But I don't know how your salt supervisor buys the salt from the salt households. There is a specified date, a specified price, and then unified. Acquisition, or Yanhu door-to-door active sale, as many households come to accept as many households, as much as they sell, and as much as they sell, the price is negotiable.”

After this series of questions, He Chunlin started to sweat.

Many of the officials sitting on the side were also twisting their bodies and swinging their skirts.

So hot!

He Chunlin thought for a long time, and said: "This... cough cough is like this. Generally speaking, because the amount of salt produced by each household is different, and the date is not fixed, the government cannot purchase it uniformly. Generally, the salt households sell it door-to-door. If not, it’s not certain.”

"is it?"

Zhang Fei said: "But according to the evidence provided by the procuratorate, it shows that the Yanjian will only collect salt from salt households at a certain period of time, and this date is uncertain."

He Chunlin hesitated and said: "Yes, because the Yanjian also depends on the situation of the warehouse. If the warehouse is full, it will naturally not be able to collect it. For example, if there is no money in the account, it cannot be collected."

Zhang Fei said: "So when to collect, you decide according to the warehouse situation, and there is no clear rule."

"Yes."

He Chunlin nodded.

Zhang Fei asked: "He Yanjian should know salt very well."

He Chunlin nodded.

Zhang Fei said: "Salt needs to be well preserved, and as far as I know, salt households are unable to preserve a large amount of salt. Once the date for the government to purchase salt is set in winter or the spring of the next year, the salt in the hands of salt households will , will be affected by damp, moldy, and volatilized, who should bear the loss?"

When the people heard this question, they were very excited, and they all looked at He Chunlin with wide eyes.

It turns out that the government often refuses to collect the salt, and the salt households cannot keep it. They can only watch the salt get damp and moldy.

In the end, Yanhu had no choice but to use all of them to please officials.

He Chunlin hesitated for a while, "The responsibility will be borne by Yanhu."

Zhang Fei asked: "Has this happened before?"

He Chunlin nodded slightly.

Zhang Fei said: "In this case, can the salt households sell the salt that is about to be damaged?"

"cannot!"

He Chunlin's eyes were closed, and he had a feeling of deception.

The people watching the trial had already grimaced and gritted their teeth.

Officials are as embarrassed as they want.

This kind of thing is not a secret, and Yanhu is not dumb, but the people just talk about it in private, and they will not talk about it on the stage.

It would be superfluous to speak out.

How to do things in the future.

Is this kid a fool?

Zhang Fei seemed to be very involved in the question, and said: "Just now when we talked about the price of salt purchased by the imperial court, He Yanjian said that it is not sure, whether the price is different for each household, or the price is different every year."

He Chunlin thought for a while before he was not sure: "Should the price be different every year?"

The lesser of two evils, the price cannot be different for each household, that's a big problem.

Zhang Fei asked, "So what was the price last year?"

He Chunlin lowered his head and said vaguely: "It's probably less than a penny."

He didn't have the face to say anything, those officials didn't have the face to look at them, they wanted to get up and leave.

Chen Qi whispered: "Procurator, what exactly does the imperial court want to do?"

Su Zhe was startled, "I don't know either, but... But these questions are good questions."

Zhang Fei asked again: "What is the highest price He Yanjian knows?"

He Chunlin thought for a while, "Almost."

"Less than a penny?"

"Ah."

"Who will set the price, or is it a joint agreement between the government and Yanhu?"

"Of course it was ordered by the government."

"Can the imperial court have clear regulations, or is it up to your Yanjian to decide?"

"The imperial court doesn't have a clear regulation. Generally, it is determined by our Yanjian, or it may be determined by the higher authorities."

"I wonder what you base your pricing on?"

".?"

Do you still have to ask?Of course, it is based on the fact that the less the better, it is best to give it away for nothing, or even owe it to us.He Chunlin became dizzy when asked, but he also had a lot of experience in the field, and said: "It depends on the needs of the frontier army."

Come on!

I don't hide it anymore, if you ask, you will be arrested if you have the ability.

When Qin Zhongshou and other generals heard this, their hearts began to beat, they wouldn't let us testify in court.

Zhang Fei, like a curious baby, said, "That is to say, the demand for border troops is high, so the purchase price will be low, and if there is no war on the border, the price of salt will be set high?"

He Chunlin nodded and said, "Exactly."

Zhang Fei said: "However, He Yanjian said just now that the purchase prices are similar, and they are all less than a penny."

".!"

He Chunlin was immediately dumbfounded.

Su Zhe pursed his lips, trying not to laugh out loud.

Cao Dongdong over there said excitedly: "Uncle Qin, this is Zhang San's special skill, you must be careful when answering his questions."

How could Qin Zhongshou and the others have the mood to say this, with the sound of their own heartbeats in their ears.

After a while, He Chunlin explained: "That's because there has been a lot of shortage of border finances recently, and they are all set at a very low level."

Zhang Fei asked again: "According to He Yanjian's observation, how much salt can the salt households produce per year?"

He Chunlin said: "It can be as little as hundreds of catties, or as much as thousands of catties."

Zhang Fei nodded, looked at another document, and said, "According to the official records, there are currently about 50 salt households in Hezhong Prefecture. If each household produces an extra thousand catties per year , [-] households are [-] jin, not counting the price that the government sells to merchants, but counting it at the price of [-] Wen, that is [-] jin. Is there a miscalculation?"

The people watching the trial were confused. What does this mean?

But He Chunlin could hear the implication, and immediately looked at Zhang Fei with loveless eyes.

You don't even leave us a pair of underwear?

Zhang Fei asked, "Did I make a mistake?"

He Chunlin shook his head and said, "No."

Zhang Fei said with a smile: "It can be seen that there is indeed a huge financial deficit in the northwest border. Even [-] yuan must be calculated carefully. It is really difficult to be a salt official!"

The people suddenly realized, and secretly praised in their hearts.

What you said was so serious, it was related to the Northwest War, and the highest price was only [-] guan.

He Chunlin sneered and said, "President Zhang might as well speak up if he has something to say, why bother with insinuations."

He is different from Li Yongji, he was sent by the central government, he is a very powerful official, he can say a few tough words.

"I just realized the difficulty of He Yanjian, and there is no other meaning."

Zhang Fei smiled apologetically, and said, "Thank you very much He Yanjian for testifying in court."

"Humph!"

He Chunlin stood up and left angrily.

"It is said that the county captain of Hedong County will appear in court."

"It is passed on to Liu Daxing, the county lieutenant of Hedong County."

A middle-aged man with a beard and a Confucian shirt sitting at the end was a burly man who came to the court.

At first glance, it is a standard configuration of both civil and military skills.

The county lieutenant is equivalent to the director of the Public Security Bureau. When the police station comes here, the county lieutenant is also one of the main victims.

After asking Liu Daxing to sit down, Zhang Fei asked: "The reason why the head of the court sent Lieutenant Liu to the court is mainly to ask a question."

As he said that, he looked down at the copywriting, then raised his head and asked: "Just now, Lieutenant Liu should have heard Sergeant Ma's statement."

Liu Daxing nodded.

Zhang Fei asked: "According to Huang Tong's reaction at the time, the chief judge couldn't feel it at all. He was doing an illegal thing that would be sentenced to death. This made the chief judge very confused. Does Liu Xianwei know?" The reason?"

Liu Daxing shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Zhang Fei couldn't help but smiled awkwardly, and asked again: "I wonder if there were many cases of selling private salt in Hezhong Mansion before?"

The dossiers of the Hezhong Mansion had been given to him before, so he should be very clear about it.Liu Daxing thought for a while, and said, "Not too much."

Zhang Fei asked: "Lieutenant Liu means that there are not too many cases of selling illegal salt?"

Liu Daxing remained silent.

Zhang Fei asked again: "Is Lieutenant Liu not clear?"

Liu Daxing said: "I'm not quite sure."

Zhang Fei asked: "But according to the investigation of the procuratorate, it is very common for salt households to sell illegal salt in Hezhong Prefecture. Huang Tong's confession also said that he has been selling it all the time, but he was caught for the first time. "

"This cough cough!"

Liu Daxing suddenly felt a little stuffy in his throat.

Zhang Fei asked caringly, "Would you like to pour a cup of tea for Lieutenant Liu?"

"No need!"

Liu Daxing's forehead was covered with sweat, and he replied again: "Maybe."

Zhang Fei said: "Then are there many cases involving the sale of illegal salt?"

Liu Daxing wiped the sweat from his forehead, and stammered: "Not a lot."

Zhang Fei said: "Is it because it is difficult to catch these salt merchants who sell illegal salt?"

Like Li Yongji and He Chunlin, Liu Daxing couldn't hold back, and said directly: "That's not true, but we also know that those salt households are also more difficult, so as long as there are not many, we will just turn a blind eye and close one eye." .”

Lie flat!

go ahead.

Zhang Fei asked: "So Lieutenant Liu also agrees with Huang Tong's words. If they don't sell salt privately, it will be difficult for their family to survive."

Liu Daxing nodded.

Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, "I'm sorry."