In fact, Zhang Fei has always been very cautious about the expansion of the police station, and he even did not hesitate to let the imperial court charge into the battle to cover the expansion of the police station.
He also successfully used the issue of retired soldiers to recover their military pay, and brought the branch to the village gates. He also used self-reporting to deepen the relationship between the villagers and the police station.
He tried every possible means to hide his intentions and make everything go smoothly.
However, he only analyzed the landlords' desire for profit, but ignored that there was also a group of smart scholar-bureaucrats hidden in the countryside.
The landlords had never agreed to Wei Yingfang's suggestions before, and even asked for a head-on confrontation with the imperial court. However, those scholar-bureaucrats who had retired from the court faintly felt an unprecedented crisis.
Once this continues, the ancient patriarchal system will be dealt a devastating blow, and the public security organs, prosecutors, and law will directly take over the management of the countryside.
This is to dig out the roots of scholar-bureaucrats.
Because the real power of the scholar-officials as a group is not in the court, but in the countryside. Otherwise, why would thousands of useless scholar-officials challenge the emperor?
Are you crazy?
The fundamental reason is that the emperor needs to rely on scholar-bureaucrats to manage the countryside. For example, in collecting taxes and recruiting troops, the squires are all helping the court.
At the same time, when a scholar-bureaucrat entered the court and became an official, he also represented various places, not just himself.
This is why prime ministers often do not want to stay in the prosperous Bianjing when they become official, but want to return to their hometown to benefit the villagers.
It is conceivable that once the royal police can collect taxes and recruit troops, then why do they need squires?
In fact, some scholar-officials have long understood Zhang Fei's purpose, and they are also waiting for the opportunity, because the big landowners also belong to the ruling class, and unlike the scholar-officials, they have generous salaries and have no worries about having no money to spend. The demands of the two sides are different.
How to unite them?
wait!
When the public prosecutor and the law force the landlords into a desperate situation, they, the country squires, can stand up and unite everyone.
This immediately established a very strong fortress in the countryside.
Fortunately, Zhang Fei is not a pushy person. When he saw that the other party had seen through his plan, he quickly showed his pattern.
Encourage them to reconcile privately.
From a legal perspective, in a lawsuit like this, reconciliation is actually the best solution.
As the saying goes, it is difficult for an upright official to deal with household chores!
This wave of litigation is like a tidal wave, it comes and goes away just as quickly.
With the intervention of the squires and the compromise of the landlords, many villagers came to the imperial court and asked to withdraw their lawsuits.
The Legal Aid Agency has to apply to the Royal Court to get the petition back.
But those Er pens are exhausted!
"Oh, what a waste of time!"
Li Min sighed while packing up the information.
Qiu Zhengwen smiled and said: "Brother Li can also think that we are stopping the loss in time. After all, we have only been busy for a few days. If this situation had not happened, then we might have been busy for several months."
"That's true."
Li Min nodded and then said: "But are you sure they won't come again in the future?"
"!"
Qiu Zhengwen was really not sure, after all, they didn't know what was going on above them.
"A good news or a bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"
Fu Shichun asked Zhang Fei.
"Good news."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "Because the bad news must be that all the plans we made before have been cancelled."
Fu Shichun nodded with a smile and said: "After the mediation of the squires, the landlords are willing to offer more favorable conditions, so many farmers do not need to rely on the uniforms of our police station to make a living and repay the money."
Having said this, he paused for a moment, "And the good news is that those big landowners have begun to file their autumn taxes in full."
Zhang Fei said: "This is really good news."
Fu Shichun smiled and said, "But this method is different."
Zhang Fei said in surprise: "The method is different?"
Fu Shichun said: "They made the declaration based on a township."
Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment and asked, "What do you mean?"
Fu Shichun said: "Their village first makes statistics, and according to the rules set by the government, they use the land deed to calculate how much they need to pay, and then report it to us."
"They are really obsessed with it."
Zhang Fei even laughed, "That's okay! You ask someone to ask them, if tax evasion is found, who will bear the responsibility? Is it their squire?"
Fu Shichun said: "They have already given an explanation for this."
"Really?" Zhang Fei looked at Fu Shichun doubtfully.
Fu Shichun said: "This is what they said about this. The people reported it to the Royal Police, and the Royal Police handed it over to the government. If there is tax evasion, are the Royal Police responsible? If they don't need to be responsible, then they naturally don't need to.
Be responsible and catch anyone who evades taxes."
Zhang Fei blinked, "Are they all so powerful?"
This explanation actually talks about power.
Of course, the Royal Police does not need to be responsible, because their authority is only responsible for accepting declarations and then reporting them, and does not involve investigating tax evasion and evasion.
In the same way, the squire is just doing the same job as the royal police.
They are responsible for statistics, tax collection, and then sending it to the branch office. If someone evades taxes, you go to them.
The question is, do they have this power?
They explain this way, of course because they think they have the power to collect taxes, but in fact they have the right to do so.
After all, the imperial court currently has no explicit regulations that the royal police take over the entire countryside, and the emperor does not dare to say so.
In the past, the government relied on the gentry to collect taxes.
Fu Shichun smiled and said: "Most of the squires are officials who have become official, and they know every regulation better than us. But in this case, it will be difficult for us Royal Police to contact the villagers. This returns to the same situation as before, between us and the squires.
docking.”
Zhang Fei frowned and asked: "Then do they force the villagers to go to their place to file taxes, or do they let the villagers choose themselves?"
Fu Shichun said: "I heard that the government is already negotiating with them. In all likelihood, the government will hand over this power to them. Have you forgotten that we do not have the right to collect taxes for the time being."
Zhang Fei said depressedly: "So you think this is good news?"
This move really closes the door. You, the Royal Police, can't even think of entering the countryside.
Fu Shichun smiled and said, "Aren't I trying to comfort you?"
"Thank you very much for your comfort."
Zhang Fei laughed self-deprecatingly: "Maybe it was too smooth at the beginning, which made it difficult for me to accept this small setback."
Fu Shichun chuckled and said, "Then what should we do now?"
Zhang Fei glanced at him and said, "I see you are very happy."
Fu Shichun smiled and said: "When I was forced to come to Hezhong Mansion, you were also gloating about my misfortune."
Zhang Fei said: "But now we must be in the same boat."
Fu Shichun immediately said: "Don't worry, I distinguish between public and private affairs. I came to tell you this news to take pleasure in others' misfortunes only secondarily, and mainly to discuss countermeasures with you?"
"You have already mentioned the countermeasures. Keep public and private affairs separate."
Zhang Fei sighed and said: "Abide by the principles, do everything in accordance with the rules, and do whatever the government arranges. This is the foundation of our public security, procuratorate, and law in Hezhong Prefecture."
If you can't fight, you can only retreat, practice your internal skills, and wait for the opponent to make a mistake first.
Coincidentally, the other party thought the same way. In fact, those squires also knew that this dog could not change its habit of eating shit. The reason why the landlord was willing to compromise was entirely due to the aggressiveness of the public prosecutor and the procuratorate.
What they pursue is to kill the other party before they make a mistake.
Of course, it cannot be denied that some upright squires also want to use the imperial court to rectify the ills in the countryside.
Society is very complex. Remember not to generalize, otherwise big problems will arise.
And they think that the other party will make a mistake first because of the existence of the Green Seeding Law.
As soon as Fu Shichun left, Yuan Jiang came to the imperial court under the cover of night.
"The villagers are accustomed to relying on the gentry. Now that they have stipulated an interest rate of 1.5 cents according to the patriarchal law, the villagers will definitely choose to borrow from them."
"I know."
Zhang Fei nodded.
Yuan Jiang said: "Then do you have any way to issue a law to prohibit them from doing this?"
Zhang Fei shook his head and said: "I'm afraid this will be difficult."
Yuan Jiang said: "During the Renzong period, the imperial court issued laws against the Ya people's monopoly on market transactions and severely cracked down on the practice of bullying and dominating the market. Can this law be used to ban them?"
Zhang Fei thought for a moment, "If I were just an Erbi, I would think that this lawsuit can be fought, but the success is not high, because we first have to prove one thing, that is, what they do is really to protect usury and crack down on the Youth Law.
But now they are saying to the outside world that assisting the court in cracking down on loan sharking is the squire's duty, and until evidence of their crimes is found, the possibility of winning the case is very low."
Yuan Jiang frowned and said: "Actually, this matter belongs to the power of the government. The government can issue orders to prohibit them from doing this."
Because the Song Dynasty had an official system, it was possible to monopolize a certain industry through administrative orders.
Zhang Fei said: "If this problem can be solved with a single order, then the court does not need to issue the Green Seedlings Law. The essence of the Green Seeding Law is to combat usury with low interest rates."
After saying this, he paused for a moment and then said: "Scholar Yuan, in fact, the people benefited from what the squire did, so why don't we enjoy the results."
Yuan Jiang sighed: "It's not that simple. First of all, they did this just to kill the Young Crops Law. After this law is abolished, loan sharking will definitely come back.
Secondly, Academician Wang has just allocated 100,000 yuan in interest money. If Qingmiao Law does nothing, do you know how much pressure Academician Wang will face in the government? The entire New Deal may be in jeopardy because of this."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "Scholar Yuan is really overly worried. Then Scholar Wang is dedicated to serving the people, and the Green Seedling Law is entirely to combat loan sharking. Now that the Green Seeding Law has appeared, it has achieved remarkable results, and Bachelor Wang will definitely be very pleased."
Yuan Jiang glanced sideways at him, "Do you really not understand, or are you just pretending not to understand for me?"
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "I really don't understand."
Yuan Jiang said: "If the function of the Green Seed Law is only to combat usury, then why bother calculating interest? The two-cent interest rate is not low. Wouldn't it be better to directly use the Changping Cang Method and lend without interest?"
Zhang Fei said: "So Qingmiaofa still wants to make money for the country?"
Yuan Jiang said: "Does this need to be said? Which new law does not seek to kill two birds with one stone? If the Najun Loss Law is not on the one hand, it will combat the hoarding of businessmen, and on the other hand, it will make money for the country."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "If that's the case, it would be easy to handle."
Yuan Jiang asked: "What do you mean by this?"
Zhang Fei said: "What the squires are doing now, no matter what their purpose is, they can at least suppress usury, which is half the goal. And the rest is just to make money. As long as we make money again, isn't it killing two birds with one stone?
?
The promotion of Chang Ping Division is not only established for the Qingmiao Law, but also includes salt banknotes, salt debts, etc. To be honest, if the Qingmiao Law does not take coercive actions, it will not make much money.
This is because the Green Seeds Law really slanders the poor, but most poor people have no collateral. Borrowing money from them requires taking extremely high risks. Generally speaking, those who are slightly richer will not borrow money easily.
If you don’t borrow, and if you don’t have the ability to borrow, how much money can you make every year?”
Yuan Jiang said: "In Hezhong Mansion alone, you may not have much money, but you can add up to a little."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "The cost of debt collection by the government can probably be offset by the interest income."
Yuan Jiang said: "According to the Qingmiao Law, if there is no mortgage, a high-class household must guarantee it, and the government can rely on the high-class household to collect debts."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "But if there is no compulsion, how many high-end households are willing to provide this guarantee?"
Yuan Jiang fell silent.
Zhang Fei added: "Salt banknotes, salt debts, and lending to businessmen have low costs but very high benefits. Why not take this broad road?"