Chapter 497 I just can’t open my mouth to let him know
"Huh..."
Is it finally over?
Li Yongji couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Just a few questions made him feel like he was surviving a disaster. When he stood up, he realized that his butt was already soaked.
He had been involved in the officialdom of Hezhong Prefecture for many years, and he had never seen any intrigues or intrigues, but this was the first time that this feeling appeared to him.
He couldn't feel that Zhang Fei was targeting him and trying to convict him, but he felt very uneasy inside. He even felt that he was naked in front of others. Every question made him feel embarrassed, and his mind went blank.
When I returned to my seat and sat down, my anxious heart slowly sank.
He glanced secretly to the side, but saw many officials with livid faces and silence.
It's obviously a hot summer day, but sitting here I feel an overwhelming chill.
Even Cai Yanqing looked a little worried. In front of everyone, are you really okay with saying this?
You are trying to take off the imperial court's underpants!
Regarding this, my heart is full of worries.
Only Zhang Fei still looked calm, as if he just asked a few insignificant questions and drank half a cup of tea before letting Cai Jing pass on the next witness to the court.
He Chunlin's guess was correct, it was him.
When he came to the court, his legs were trembling slightly. Li Yongji was in the middle of the game, so he naturally felt a little confused. But he could see clearly from the side. This kid didn't play according to the routine, so why was he embarrassed to ask questions?
, I had no idea what questions he would ask.
A pure and foolish young man, this kind of official is the most terrifying in the officialdom.
But to be honest, he didn't seem to be targeting anyone personally. He just said it to make you feel ashamed to speak up, but it didn't make you feel that your life was threatened.
"Supervisor He Yan, please take a seat."
Zhang Fei smiled and stretched out his hand to signal.
"Thank you."
He Chunlin held his hands slightly and sat down.
Zhang Fei flipped through the article and asked with a smile: "According to the understanding of the president of the court, Supervisor He Salt is in charge of the salt affairs of Snow Girl Pool. He should know it very well."
He Chunlin hesitated for a while before nodding helplessly.
He is in charge of affairs and has nothing to do with the higher ups.
Zhang Fei asked: "This eucalyptus involves salt, which was obtained from Huang Tong's prolific production. In other words, it was obtained in addition to the 120,000 kilograms of salt submitted to the imperial court. Is this behavior allowed by the imperial court?"
He Chunlin nodded and said, "Yes."
Zhang Fei asked: "Who should this part of the salt belong to?"
He Chunlin thought carefully before replying: "Of course they belong to Yanhu, but they must be sold to the imperial court."
"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 does it count as?"
He Chunlin said: "That's considered selling private salt."
Zhang Fei asked: "Is there any regulation that the imperial court must also purchase additional salt produced by salt households?"
He Chunlin pondered for a moment and said: "What the imperial court stipulates is that the extra salt produced by salt households must be sold to the imperial court. There is no explicit provision that the imperial court must purchase it, but we have never refused."
As soon as these words came out, many people outside the courtyard immediately sneered.
He Chunlin didn't dare to look there, pretending he didn't know.
Since the people only expressed their dissatisfaction with their eyes and lips, Zhang Fei did not bang the hammer and continued to ask: "But I don't know how your salt supervisor purchases the salt from the salt households. There is a specified date and a specified price, and then unified
Acquisition still means that salt households come to your door and take the initiative to sell. We will take in as many households as they come, and we will take as much as we want to sell. The price is negotiable."
After this series of questions, He Chunlin started to sweat.
Many of the officials sitting nearby were also twisting their bodies and swinging their clothes.
So hot!
He Chunlin thought for a long time and said: "Well...ahem...it's like this. Generally speaking, because...because each household produces different amounts of salt and the date is uncertain, the government cannot purchase it uniformly. Generally...
.Usually they are sold door-to-door by salt households, and the price... is not certain."
"Yeah?"
Zhang Fei said: "But according to the evidence provided by the Procuratorate, the Salt Supervisory Authority will only collect salt from salt households during a certain period of time, and this date is uncertain."
He Chunlin hesitated and said: "Yes...yes, because the Salt Supervisor also has to look at the situation of the warehouse. If the warehouse is full, naturally it cannot be collected. For example, if there is no money in the account, it cannot be collected."
Zhang Fei said: "So when to collect it, you decide based on the situation in the warehouse. There are no clear rules."
"Yes."
He Chunlin nodded.
Zhang Fei asked: "He Salt Supervisor should know a lot about salt, right?"
He Chunlin nodded.
Zhang Fei said: "Salt needs to be well preserved, and as far as I know, salt households are not able to preserve a large amount of salt. Once the date for the government's purchase of salt is set in winter, or in the spring of the next year, then the salt in the hands of salt households will
, it will get damp, mold will grow, and it will evaporate. Who should bear this part of the loss?"
When the people heard this question, they were very excited and looked at He Chunlin with wide eyes.
It turns out that the government often refuses to collect the salt, and the salt households cannot save it. They can only watch the salt get damp and moldy. When the government comes to collect it again, they can make things difficult for them.
In the end, Shiono had no choice but to use it all to please the officials.
He Chunlin hesitated for a moment, "It will be borne by Yan Hu."
Zhang Fei asked: "Has this situation happened before?"
He Chunlin nodded slightly.
Zhang Fei said: "In this case, can salt farmers sell salt that is about to be damaged?"
"cannot!"
He Chunlin closed his eyes, feeling like he was hiding his ears.
The people who were watching the trial had already turned into ferocious faces and gnashed their teeth.
Officials are as embarrassed as they want to be.
This kind of thing is not a secret, and Shiotou is not mute, but people only talk about it privately and will not talk about it on the stage.
It would be redundant to say it.
What to do in the future?
Is this guy 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, Supervisor He said it was not necessarily the price. Is it because the price is different for each household or the price is different every year."
He Chunlin thought for a while and then said uncertainly: "It should be that the price is different every year, right?"
It's the lesser of two evils. You can't have different prices for each household. That would be a big problem.
Zhang Fei asked: "So what was the price last year?"
He Chunlin lowered his head and said unclearly: "Well...it's probably less than a penny."
He was too embarrassed to say anything. Those officials had no shame to look at him and wanted to get up and leave.
Chen Qi whispered: "Prosecutor, what exactly does the imperial court want to do?"
Su Zhe was startled, "I don't know, but...but these are good questions."
Zhang Fei asked again: "What is the highest price that He Salt Supervisor knows about?"
He Chunlin thought for a while, "Almost."
"Less than a penny?"
"Um."
"Who sets this price, or is it jointly agreed upon by the government and salt households?"
"Of course it is decided by the government."
"Can the imperial court have clear regulations, or is it up to you, the Salt Supervisor, to decide?"
"The imperial court has no clear regulations. Generally, it is decided by our Salt Supervisor, or it may be decided by the higher-ups."
"I wonder what you base your pricing on?"
"...?"
Do you still need to ask? Of course, the decision is based on the less the better. It is best to give it away for free or even owe us. He Chunlin was dizzy when asked, but he was also experienced in the battlefield and said: "It is based on
It will be decided according to the needs of the border troops."
Come on come on!
I won’t hide it anymore. If you ask, if you have the ability, you will arrest them all.
When Qin Zhongshou and other generals heard this, they began to think that they would not let us testify in court.
Zhang Fei, like a curious baby, said: "In other words, if the border army has a large demand, the purchase price will be low. If there is no war on the border, the salt price will be set high?"
He Chunlin nodded and said: "That's exactly it."
Zhang Fei said: "But He Yanjian just said that the purchase prices are similar, and they are less than a penny."
"...!"
He Chunlin was immediately dumbfounded.
Su Che pursed his lips, trying not to laugh out loud.
Cao Dongdong over there said very 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 still be in the mood to say this, with the sound of their own heartbeats in their ears.
After a while, He Chunlin explained: "That's because recently... there have been a lot of deficiencies in border finance recently, and the budget has been set very low."
Zhang Fei asked again: "According to He Salt Supervisor's observations, how much more salt can salt households produce each year?"
He Chunlin said: "It can be as little as a few hundred kilograms, or as much as several thousand kilograms."
Zhang Fei nodded, opened another article and read it, saying: "According to government records, there are currently about 500 salt households in Hezhong Prefecture. If each household produces an additional one thousand catties per year, it can be calculated
In other words, five hundred households would be five hundred thousand jin. Not counting the price sold by the government to merchants, let’s calculate it at 40 guan, which is 20,000 guan. Is there any miscalculation?”
The people watching were confused. What did this mean?
However, He Chunlin heard the overtone and immediately looked at Zhang Fei with despair.
You didn't even leave us a pair of underwear?
Zhang Fei asked: "Did I make a mistake in my calculation?"
He Chunlin shook his head and said: "No."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "It can be seen that the finances of the northwest border are indeed very deficient. Even 20,000 yuan must be calculated carefully. It is really difficult to be a salt official!"
The people suddenly understood and praised secretly in their hearts.
What you said is so serious, it is related to the northwest war, and the result is that based on the highest price, it is only 20,000 yuan.
He Chunlin sneered and said, "If President Zhang has something to say, you might as well say it directly, why bother with insinuations."
He is different from Li Yongji. He was sent by the central government and is a very powerful official who can say some tough words.
"I just understand the difficulties of He Salt Prison, I have no other meaning."
Zhang Fei smiled apologetically and said: "Thank you very much, Mr. He Yanjian, for testifying in court."
"snort!"
He Chunlin stood up and left angrily.
"The captain of Hedong County is sent to court."
"It is passed down that Liu Daxing, the captain of Hedong County."
I saw a tall, middle-aged man with a beard and a Confucian shirt sitting at the end coming up to the court.
At first glance, it looks like a standard configuration for both civil and military use.
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 president of the court summoned County Lieutenant Liu to come to court is mainly to ask a question."
As he said that, he looked down at Wen Yu, then raised his head and asked, "Liu Xianyou should also have heard the statement made by Chief Ma just now."
Liu Daxing nodded.
Zhang Fei asked: "Based on Huang Tong's reaction at that time, the president of the court could not feel at all that he was doing something illegal that would be sentenced to death. This made the president of the court very confused. Did Liu Xianwei know?
The reason?"
Liu Daxing shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Zhang Fei couldn't help but smile awkwardly, and then asked: "I wonder if there were many illegal salt sales in Hezhong Prefecture before?"
The files of Hezhong Mansion had been given to him before, so he should be very clear about it. Liu Daxing thought for a while and said: "No...it's not too much."
Zhang Fei asked: "Liu Xianwei said that there are not too many illegal salt sales?"
Liu Daxing remained silent.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Isn't Lieutenant Liu clear?"
Liu Daxing said: "No...not sure."
Zhang Fei asked: "But according to the procuratorate's investigation, it is very common for salt merchants to sell illegal salt in Hezhong Prefecture. Huang Tong's confession also mentioned that he has always been selling, but this is the first time he was caught.
"
"This...ahem!"
Liu Daxing suddenly felt his throat was a little blocked.
Zhang Fei asked thoughtfully: "Would you like to pour a cup of tea for County Lieutenant Liu?"
"No... no need!"
Liu Daxing's forehead was covered with sweat, and he replied: "Maybe... maybe."
Zhang Fei said: "So are there many eucalyptus involved in selling illegal salt?"
Liu Daxing wiped the sweat from his forehead and stammered: "No...it's not a lot."
Zhang Fei asked: "Is it because it is difficult to catch these salt merchants selling illegal salt?"
Liu Daxing, like Li Yongji and He Chunlin, couldn't stop him and said directly: "That's not true, but we also know that those salt households are also in difficulty, so as long as the number is not large, we will turn a blind eye or close a blind eye.
.”
Lie flat!
go ahead.
Zhang Fei asked: "So Liu County Lieutenant 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 nodded with a smile and said, "I'm sorry."
