Chapter 494 The thunder is loud and the rain is small
As a legal professional, Zhang Fei still has his own set of principles.
For the same thing, if he thinks that your starting point is not malicious, but you do it unintentionally, or even your starting point is for his own good, even if you suffer a big loss, he may be angry, but he won't care much about it.
But if he thinks that you are doing this with malicious intent, no matter how small it is, he will definitely remember it in his heart, and then he will retaliate with tooth for tooth, eye for eye, even this small loss will not be tolerated.
Zhang Fei's plan before coming to Hezhong Mansion was to take the initiative first. The new official took office with three firepowers, and it would not be enough without one. It is just that this plan cannot keep up with the changes, but it cannot be said that he will be suppressed by the other party as soon as he comes up.
This is not his style.
The key point is that he came here with the task of rectifying the salt administration. Since the other party came to test him with this matter, he might as well use it to find out the bottom line.
...
Procuratorate.
"What does this mean?"
Chen Qi pointed to the pen, ink, paper and inkstone on the table, and almost became angry, "Is it because the indictment we wrote is too simple to satirize us?"
When literati play this kind of satirical game, they are definitely professionals among professionals. They had already reacted before Cai Jing opened his mouth.
Cai Jing was a tactful person and said quickly: "Prosecutor Chen, please don't misunderstand us. We have no intention of doing so. We just happen to have some leftovers, so we will send them to your procuratorate."
Chen Qi asked again: "Then what's going on with this indictment?"
Cai Jing said sarcastically: "After review by our imperial court, we found that the evidence is not enough to meet the standards for a trial."
Su Che suddenly asked: "Isn't this enough?"
Cai Jing nodded and said: "Because there is a key piece of evidence missing here, which is whether this salt is private salt."
Su Che and Chen Qi looked at each other, both confused.
Chen Qi even picked up the indictment and looked at it to see if Su Zhe had taken it by mistake. After a while, he shook the indictment and asked Cai Jing: "This... this doesn't prove that Huang Tong sold the goods."
It’s private salt.”
"Can't...completely prove it."
Cai Jingdu is somewhat lacking in confidence.
Su Che asked: "How do you say this?"
Cai Jingdao: "Because the origin of this salt is not clearly written on it. Is it the result of Huang Tong's prolific production, or is it someone else entrusted Huang Tong to sell it? And whether it has the permission of the government. According to the salt government, as long as the government allows the sale,
It’s just legal.”
Chen Qi was so angry that her orifices were filled with smoke, "If not, why would Huang Tong admit it?"
Cai Jingdao: "Huang Tong admits it, but it doesn't mean it's his. There should be some investigation."
Su Che asked: "Does your imperial court plan to expand this eucalyptus?"
Chen Qi was startled and looked at Cai Jing suspiciously.
Cai Jing hurriedly said: "We have no intention of doing this. We just think that the evidence is indeed not enough. It only contains twelve kilograms of salt and Huang Tong's confession. At least there should be confessions from relevant salt officials, subordinate officials, and other salt households."
, in order to make this evidence more complete.”
After Su Che examined Cai Jing, he nodded and said: "We understand, this is our negligence, and we will investigate it clearly."
"Forgive me! Forgive me!"
Cai Jing stood up and held up his hands repeatedly, saying: "If there is nothing else, I will resign first."
"Um."
After Cai Jing left, Chen Qi immediately said: "Prosecutor General, they clearly want to expand this case, but we don't have the strength yet."
Su Che pondered for a while, then picked up the indictment and read it for a while, then said: "Actually, the imperial court's request is not just nitpicking. The current salt administration in Hezhong Prefecture is not about the government taking over government property, but the government taking over private property."
Sales, these salt sellers are all businessmen, and they are not necessarily private salt, so we have to confirm it."
Chen Qi said depressedly: "Isn't it a fool's errand to ask the imperial court just to make sure?"
Su Zhe said: "The more rigorous this lawsuit is, the better. You go to the police station in person, and then Superintendent Cao will send someone to ask."
...
Police station.
"What?"
Cao Dongdong opened his eyes wide and asked, "Insufficient evidence?"
Ma Xiaoyi and Fu Shichun also looked at Chen Qi in shock.
There is insufficient evidence!
Funny?
Chen Qipi said with a smile: "You can't blame us, it's the request of the imperial court."
As he spoke, he handed over a copy of the document, "The imperial court needs evidence in these aspects."
Cao Dongdong shook his head.
Fu Shichun glared at him first, then stood up, took it with both hands, and looked at it carefully.
After a while, Fu Shichun nodded to Cao Dongdong.
Cao Dongdong said: "Okay, we will send someone to investigate."
"Then it will be hard work."
Chen Qi bowed her hands and left.
As soon as he left, Cao Dongdong immediately asked: "What do you say?"
Fu Shichun said: "It's just some insignificant questions, but the targets are all those salt officials and salt officials. So it's okay, let them get to know our royal police."
Cao Dongdong asked: "Don't they know our Royal Police?"
Fu Shichun clicked his tongue: "Don't you understand this? In the past, it was the prefect who gave the order, and naturally he could control these officials. But now that politics and law are separated, and you, the superintendent, give the order, you have to try to find out whether they will cooperate.
!”
Cao Dongdong blinked and immediately said: "Go and ask more officials."
If you look for more, there are plenty of them.
The most bloated bureaucracy in the Northern Song Dynasty was finance, especially salt, tea, wine, iron, and horses. Otherwise, how could these taxes be collected?
The police station immediately dispatched thirty-two Royal Police officers who knew how to read and write to go and interrogate.
This Huang Tong is a salt householder who belongs to the salt pond in the southeast of Hedong County. The first-line official with real power is the supervisor, who is a dispatching officer and holds real power. The person in charge of salt is called the salt supervisor.
Although the Salt Supervisor of Hezhong Prefecture has a small official position, his power cannot be underestimated.
"Royal Police Officer Ou Jun has met Mr. He Yanjian."
"What's up?"
He Chunlin looked at Ou Jun slightly uneasily.
Ou Jun said hurriedly: "I have been ordered to come here to investigate Huang Tong's selling of illegal salt."
After hearing this, He Chunlin stood up suddenly and said, "That's unreasonable. What does this have to do with me? Don't try to slander me."
"No no no!"
Ou Jun hurriedly explained: "He Yanjian misunderstood. We are just here to ask as usual whether Huang Tong is a salt householder in Hezhong Prefecture? Can he sell salt to outsiders? Why doesn't the government buy the salt in his hands? What's wrong with his salt?
Where did it come from?”
He Chunlin said excitedly: "Of course he can't sell salt to outsiders. Salt households can only sell salt to the government. This is a rule. Why doesn't the government buy their salt? Of course they hide it and don't sell it. As for their salt,
Where does it come from? How does this official know? If you ask him, do you think I am too idle?"
"Yes Yes Yes Yes!"
Ou Jun was listening and writing with a short note.
He Chunlin asked: "What are you writing?"
Ou Jun said hurriedly: "What Mr. He Yanjian just said is evidence of this. We must record it."
When he spoke, he had already written it, and then handed it to He Chunlin, "He Yanjian please read it to see if there are any omissions. If there are no omissions, please ask He Yanjian to sign."
It was the first time He Chunlin interacted with the Royal Police. It was not like this before. The man was a little dizzy. He looked at him blankly and said a few words. He was really angry to death. This Ou Jun said, "You think this officer is too much?"
"Freedom" was written in, and he immediately scolded: "You idiot, why did you also write the last sentence?"
After thinking about it, these questions are not a big deal. Don't make them think that they are guilty of committing crimes. "Okay, okay, I will answer you properly. Rewrite, rewrite."
"yes."
...
Yancang Division.
"What? You want to see the accounts?"
Superintendent Li Yongji looked at Royal Police Officer Zhou Jia in front of him in shock.
Who are you?
This salt account is not for anyone to look at casually.
Just your little royal policeman.
Zhou Jia hurriedly explained: "Don't blame Li Yasi. The reason why I want to check the relevant accounts is to confirm that the government regularly purchases their prolific salt from salt households."
Does this still require confirmation? Li Yongji found it unbelievable, fearing that there was a trap inside, and asked cautiously: "Why? Hasn't Huang Tong already confessed?"
Zhou Jiadao: "But we need to find out whether his confession is true. If the government refuses to accept their prolific salt first, it will also affect the imperial court's judgment."
Li Yongji immediately said: "How is this possible? If they hand over salt, we will definitely accept it. How can we refuse?"
Zhou Jia apologized: "Please ask Li Yasi to let us check the relevant accounts of the salt production of the government salt collectors this year."
Li Yongji asked: "Do you have this power?"
Zhou Jiadao: "I am just following orders. This is an order issued by the imperial court."
To be honest, he didn't even know if he had this power.
Li Yongji pondered for a while and said, "Wait a moment, I'll look for you."
"yes."
...
The royal police were suddenly dispatched and almost searched the local salt officials of Hezhong Prefecture. It was definitely a big move and shocked the entire officialdom of Hezhong Prefecture.
What is this for?
Why are they coming at us? Is it a conspiracy?
How can I sleep here?
The salt officials, big and small, immediately ran to the government office to find Wei Yingfang.
"Wei Tongpan, what are they going to do? Huang Tong has already confessed, why do you come to us to ask?"
"I have lived for so long and I have never seen such an investigation. It is really unreasonable for me to prove that the illegal salt is illegal."
...
"Don't talk about it yet."
Wei Yingfang was also confused when he heard this, "What questions did they ask you?"
He Chunlin said: "There is nothing wrong with the problem. Hey, look at me, I have been covered up by the royal police. Those problems are not bad. They have something to do with this, but they are only marginally related.
"
He also briefly discussed those issues.
"It's the same here. I said I wanted to check the accounts before, but you scared me. In the end, I just wanted to see if our warehouse had purchased any salt from salt households, that's all."
"It's even more outrageous here. They want to check whether Huang Tong has the ability to produce more salt. I don't even know how to answer."
...
Again, your words and my words made Wei Yingfang confused. These questions were really irrelevant. The thunder was loud and the rain was light. He couldn't help but look at Cao Yi.
Cao Yi asked: "Didn't they say goodbye?"
"No!"
Everyone understood and quickly shook their heads, saying that they were unnecessary words, but they didn't say a word.
Cao Yidao: "Could it be that they want to knock down the mountain to frighten the tiger?"
Wei Yingfang laughed, "You want to scare us? That would be looking down on us too much."
...
Because the questions were so simple, within a few days, the police station had asked them all, and then submitted the evidence to the procuratorate, which immediately wrote an indictment.
Imperial Court.
"This is like an indictment!"
Zhang Fei took the thick stack of indictments and weighed them. The weight was substantial and reassuring.
"Just as long as President Zhang is satisfied."
Su Che chuckled and asked again: "I wonder why President Zhang did this?"
Zhang Fei said with a smile: "If they want to use a small thing to make a big difference, then I will give them a lion to fight a rabbit."
"Lion fighting rabbit?"
Su Che frowned and said: "Our footing is still stable...!"
Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Fei said: "Mr. Su Xiao, please rest assured that it is limited to this and will never be expanded."
This was not the first time Su Che had dealt with Zhang Fei. He knew that this man was always meticulous in handling matters and would not be too aggressive, so he stopped asking any more questions and stood up to leave.
For the procuratorate, there is nothing to say about this case. It depends on how the imperial court decides.
"What are you going to do?"
After Su Che left, Xu Zhiqian came up and asked.
Zhang Fei handed her the indictment and said with a smile: "List the witnesses above, and then order people to issue subpoenas one by one, asking them to appear in court to testify in three days."