The two bartenders were bent over, holding on to the door, breathing slightly, listening to the bustle of people inside.
One of the bartenders looked back, looking at the crowded scene, and couldn't help but look back again, "What day is it today? Why are there so many customers here at once."
"Didn't you hear that just now? They were all talking about the imperial court."
"What did the imperial court do?"
"It seems to be about some big case."
While they were chatting, they saw a middle-aged man with a heavy back and simple clothes walking towards the building.
A bartender immediately came forward and said, "Sir, I'm so sorry, we are full today."
Before he finished speaking, someone slapped him hard on the back of the head. The bartender turned around suddenly, but when he saw it was the shopkeeper, he immediately got scared and stepped aside with his head down.
But the shopkeeper didn't pay attention to the two bartenders. Instead, he raised his hands to the middle-aged man and said, "Zhong Qianji, please come inside. Please come inside. General Zhe and the others are on the second floor."
"Thank you!" The middle-aged man nodded and went straight to the second floor.
After inviting the middle-aged man to the second floor, the shopkeeper returned to the door, pulled the two bartenders to a corner outside the door, and reprimanded: "You are blind, you don't even recognize Zhong Qianha."
It turns out that the middle-aged man's name is Zhong Ji, and he is the eldest son of the famous general Zhong Shiheng and the eldest brother of Zhong E. He currently serves as the commander of Jingyuan Road and knows Yuanzhou.
The two bartenders were very aggrieved because they really didn’t know each other!
The shopkeeper said again: "Remember, no matter who you are today, no matter whether there are seats inside, you must go inside first."
"Yes, I have remembered it."
With that said, the bartender asked cautiously: "Shopkeeper, what happened today?"
The shopkeeper said: "Haven't you heard that the case about General Xiao Zhong will be tried in the imperial court of our Hezhong Prefecture. These generals are all here for this case."
"That's it. No wonder they are all talking about a lawsuit."
"I have to cheer up these days. All the people here are distinguished guests."
"I know, I know."
When Zhong Ji reached the second floor, he immediately saw a man standing up and shouting: "Brother Zhong, this way."
Zhong Ji immediately walked over, bowed his hands to the two leaders at the wine table and said, "Brother Zhe Shi, brother Yao Xian."
The elder one is named Zhe Jizu, he is the magistrate of Fuzhou, and is currently the head of the Zhe family army.
The younger one is named Yao Si. His father Yao Bao died in Dingchuan during the Renzong period and currently serves as the governor of Huanqing Road.
There were several people standing behind the two of them, all of them were generals from the northwest, including Qin Zhongshou.
After some greetings, a few people sat down. Zhong Ji first raised his glass and said, "Thank you all for taking the trouble of your busy schedule to come here to support my third brother."
Zhe Jizu waved his hands and said: "Don't let anyone know about it. This case is not just a matter for Tanesaburo alone, but also closely related to each of us. Brother, I heard that this is not a special case. In the future, most cases of our military generals will also be involved.
It will be handed over to the public prosecutor and the law for trial.”
"I've heard about this too."
Zhong Ji nodded and said, "But what exactly is going on with the public prosecutor's office?"
Several people looked at Qin Zhongshou.
Qin Zhongshou hurriedly told Zhong Execution what happened during this period.
Zhong Ji nodded slightly, "From this point of view, the trial in this imperial court can be considered fair."
Zheji's ancestor said: "If it is just about justice, regardless of success or failure, your brother's case will not be good."
In any case, Zhonge just disobeyed orders and sent troops without permission, but he won.
Justice is not necessarily a good thing!
Lu Shen was also very upright as an official.
Zhong Execution was frowning again.
Qin Zhongshou also nodded repeatedly and said: "It is still unclear which side the imperial court is leaning towards. Although he is currently fighting with the civil servants, he has not considered compensating the salt merchants at all.
When it came to our military expenditure, it was Master Yuan who finally came up with the salt debt method, which prevented the military expenditure from being cut."
Yao Si said: "I heard that the trial period has not been set yet because the imperial court is dissatisfied with the government for not allocating funds to them."
Qin Zhongshou nodded and said, "That's exactly it."
After listening to the explanation, Zhong asked hurriedly: "What's going on?"
Qin Zhongshou explained the matter again.
Hearing the explanation, Zhong's heart palpitated, "This is simply treating the emperor's order as child's play. These two things are not related at all."
Qin Zhongshou said: "I also specifically inquired about President Zhang's friend, the current Hezhong Prefecture Superintendent Cao Dongdong. According to Cao Dongdong, this man is extremely petty and will retaliate. This is his usual style."
Hearing this, Zhong Ji couldn't help but sweat profusely on his face and feel chills in his heart.
Imperial Court.
"President Zhang, are you going too far by doing this?"
Su Che said to Zhang Fei anxiously.
"Going too far?"
Zhang Fei looked surprised and said: "How do you say this?"
Su Zhe said: "This matter is the same thing. The government has not allocated funds to you. That is the government's fault. We can report this matter to the court, but you can't threaten the government with this case! You are here to hear this case under the emperor's order.
case."
Xu Zhiqian on the side also looked at Zhang Fei very worriedly.
Zhang Fei immediately said: "The prosecutor has to rely on evidence when he speaks. When did I threaten the government? There is no money and the witnesses are not present. What can I do?"
This is a good excuse.
Su Zhe couldn't help but said sincerely: "But it's not an option if you continue to make trouble like this. At present, all the civil servants and military officers in Hezhong Prefecture are here, and they have expressed their dissatisfaction. Some even came to our procuratorate and expressed that they would sue your imperial court.
."
Zhang Fei said: "If you have evidence, you can sue, but you can't sue me. This is against the rules. You should submit it to the procuratorate in the capital first, and the procuratorate there will file a lawsuit against Dali Temple."
Su Che was immediately dumbfounded and said in confusion: "But if you do this, it will also affect the authority of the imperial court."
"What authority?"
Zhang Fei said: "The president of the court has been here for so long, and the two parties are just late. Now that they are here, I will start the trial immediately. Don't we, the imperial court, lose face?"
Seeing that Zhang Fei was not getting enough food and salt, Su Che also had a severe headache and couldn't help but look at Xu Zhiqian.
Xu Zhiqian whispered: "President Zhang!"
"Shut up!"
Zhang Fei immediately scolded her and then said to Su Zhe: "Mr. Su Xiao, there are no outsiders here. I will tell you clearly. Even if the officials come, if you don't allocate money, I will not try it, and the procuratorate will not
You can sue us. This is your duty. If it were me, I might choose to sue. This is indeed suspected of dereliction of duty."
"I see."
Su Che nodded and stood up, "Su said goodbye."
It's useless even if the officials come, so there's no way to persuade him.
Zhang Fei said: "I will send Mr. Su Xiao off."
"No need!"
Su Che bowed his hands and went out.
Zhang Fei still sent him to the door, but when he turned around, he saw Xu Zhiqian's cold eyes and immediately said: "In this room, you are the chief clerk, and I am the president of the court. Can't I reprimand you?"
It is very unprofessional behavior for you to look at your boss like this."
Xu Zhiqian's expression changed slightly, and she said aggrievedly: "But you have to be reasonable. After all, Mr. Su Xiao is thinking about you. If you continue like this, you will offend both civil and military officials. I heard that all the people from the great general families in the northwest are all
Here, if we offend them, we won’t be able to move even here!”
Originally, she had no objection to Zhang Fei doing this, but she had some worries, but now the situation is completely different. All the civil servants in Hezhong Prefecture and people from all the major general families in the northwest are here. These people have a very important position in the Song Dynasty.
Seeing this matter getting bigger and bigger, it's really scary.
Not to mention his father, even Wang Anshi wouldn't dare to play like this!
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "I am the president of the court, and what I pay attention to is convincing people with the law. Now I will try my best to please them. Once the verdict is unfair, it is meaningless to please them at this time. But if I make a good verdict, I will now
Just leave them alone, and everything will become pleasant and respect me."
Xu Zhiqian said: "You can't say it so lightly. Don't forget, you have many enemies. Those officials will definitely report to impeach you."
Zhang Fei chuckled: "What are you impeaching me for? Do you want to advance money to work overtime? If those officials were like me, my country, the Song Dynasty, would not need to reform at all."
Fuya!
"What did you say?"
Wei Yingfang looked at Chief Registrar Zhuo Qun in shock, "The procuratorate plans to sue the imperial court in the capital?"
Zhuo Qun nodded and said: "Yes, it seems that Su Ziyou also went to the imperial court to persuade Zhang San, but Zhang San is still unwilling to start a trial, so the procuratorate can only prosecute."
"madman!"
Wei Yingfang immediately cursed: "This is a lunatic!"
For this little money, what would you do?
This is simply to destroy both the jade and the stone!
Cai Yanqing glanced at him and said, "You're not bad either!"
"I!"
Wei Yingfang glanced at Cai Yanqing anxiously.
Cai Yanqing is too lazy to speak, so just keep wasting it, and we will die holding each other together.
After Yuan Jiang escaped, he didn't want to continue to make trouble, but Wei Yingfang and the others strongly requested that they must fight back, otherwise the government would be too embarrassed.
Xue Zhi, the magistrate of Hedong County, said: "If this continues, it will not work. People outside are already saying that our government office is withholding funds from the imperial court and intends to interfere with the imperial court's trial."
Because this matter doesn't seem very political. Why would Zhang Fei ignore the emperor's order for this little money? But a normal person would not do this. There may be something fishy in this.
As a result, some people speculated that the government was withholding funds in order to threaten the imperial court and influence the imperial court's judgment. However, Zhang Fei was stubborn and refused to comply, so he was unwilling to hold a trial.
This conspiracy theory immediately won the support of the people, because in the eyes of the people, the imperial court was very fair.
"Nonsense."
Wei Yingfang said excitedly: "That kid was unkind first, and we are unjust."
Xue Zhi said: "But if the trouble goes to the capital, we will all be blamed."
He Chunlin and Liu Daxing, who hated Zhang Fei the most, couldn't help but nod their heads. Now they were all frightened.
They all felt that they were already standing on the edge of a cliff, or it was because all the civil servants and military officers in Hezhong Mansion seemed to be here, and they all knew about this. If they launched an attack together, the court would definitely take it seriously.
But there is no way for oil and salt to enter the imperial court.
If he really wanted to go to the capital, no matter what Zhang Fei's crime was, they would still hold back the funds.
This is what they never expected. No matter how upright an official is, he will not be so ruthless, even risking his life for this little money.
This can only be described as "crazy".
Wei Yingfang was so depressed that he stamped his feet and said, "Okay, okay, I'll give it to them. Isn't it okay to give it to them?"
After saying that, he walked away angrily.
I was angry, but more importantly, I was afraid that this matter would never end, and he was the culprit, and it was all his orders.
So he quickly called Cai Jing.
When he saw Cai Jing, Wei Yingfang pretended to be calm, held a glass, blew on it, and asked casually: "How much money will it cost to try this case?"
After that, take a sip of tea.
"Ten thousand guan." Cai Jing wrote lightly.
"puff!"
Wei Yingfang couldn't calm down anymore. He licked his lips and looked at Cai Jing in surprise, "How much?"
Cai Jing also replied casually: "Ten thousand guan."
He has been dealing with this matter all the time. He has a very clear judgment on the current situation. He knows that he is the one with the advantage. If you have the ability, you won't give it to him!
Let's just spend it.
Let's see who dies first.
Wei Yingfang said angrily: "Are you, the imperial court, insulting us? It costs ten thousand yuan to try one case. You are extorting money. I will impeach you to the imperial court."
Cai Jing replied unhurriedly: "Replying to Wei Tongxuan, these are the rules of our imperial court. Because the case is complicated, several years apart, and involves many witnesses, it requires a lot of funds.
We, the president of the court, don’t want to bother the government, so we plan to build some shops to supplement these funds, but unfortunately the shop construction plan has not been approved by the government so far.”
Wei Yingfang understood immediately and thought to himself, it turns out that you want to build a shop, but I am not satisfied with what you want. He said: "I will give you 10,000 guan, but I will report it to the court."
Cai Jing cupped his hands and said, "Thank you very much, Wei Tongpan. In addition, we also have our salary and the previous renovation costs, which are 17,000 guan."
Wei Yingfang was dumbfounded again and asked, "Doesn't this ten thousand yuan include salary?"
Cai Jingdao: "Just now, Judge Wei Tong only asked about the cost of trying the case."
Okay! Okay! After this case is over, I will come back to teach you a lesson. This is unreasonable. Wei Yingfang gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, I will order someone to allocate it to you when the time comes."
"Thank you Wei Tongpan."
Cai Jing bowed his hands again and said, "If there is nothing else, I will take my leave first."
Wei Yingfang nodded, but when he saw that Cai Jing was really going to leave, he was really unsure whether they wanted money or a shop, so he quickly stopped him and said, "Wait a minute, you will come back first."
Cai Jing turned around again and asked, "Does Wei Tongpan have any other instructions?"
"Don't dare!"
Wei Yingfang snorted and said: "In this case, the government will not be able to come up with so much money for a while, and I don't know how much money you need to trial the case. In order not to delay the trial of the case, the government will allow the construction of shops there.
, I will have someone allocate the funds for the first two months to you."
Cai Jing had no expression on his face, "Thank you very much, Wei Tongpan."