"Madam Xu! Madam!"
Li Si, who hurried back to Zhang's house, staggered into the house.
"How about it?"
Xu Zhiqian immediately walked out of the hall.
Li Si gasped and said, "Madam Xu, Third Brother and Shi Erlang were arrested by Kaifeng Prefecture."
Gao Wenyin, who came out later, just happened to hear this and felt dizzy and almost fell down. Fortunately, Xu Zhiqian was quick to help Gao Wenyin. She smiled calmly and said to Gao Wenyin, "Don't panic, Madam. This is also within our expectations. Don't worry, Zhang San will be fine. I will go find my father now."
Xu Zun had predicted before that he would most likely be imprisoned in Kaifeng Prefecture.
This kind of thing is probably a serious crime.
Gao Wenyin tightly grasped Xu Zhiqian's sleeves with both hands, choking with tears and saying, "I'll leave everything to Madam Xu..."
"Madam, there is no need to thank me." Xu Zhiqian interrupted her quickly, "I will go find my father now."
"Oh, okay. Madam Xu, be careful on the road." Gao Wenyin quickly let go of her hand.
... ...
At this moment, Lu Gongzhe was in the Ministry of Justice, cleaning up the mess left over from last year with a group of chief justices, which naturally included Xu Zun.
The main debate is whether to relax litigation, tighten litigation, or regulate litigation.
Zhang Fei's appearance last year attracted great attention from the imperial court, especially the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice, among other highest judicial departments.
We have to work out a result quickly.
Because every time Zhang Fei went to complain, they were caught off guard.
But speaking objectively, Zhang Fei did not actually violate the rules. It was just that his behavior was particularly eye-catching, but he was subtly breaking through the class barriers.
Although citizens could sue officials in the past, the key to success or failure lay in the game within the court, and the judiciary was only secondary. If it was Bao Zheng, one might win the case, but if it was a corrupt official, one might get himself implicated.
But Zhang Fei forced them to punish Wang Wenshan.
This makes them very fearful.
Therefore, most officials in the court believed that control in this area must be strengthened. There were too many loopholes, and God knew what Zhang Fei would do next.
In fact, there is no need for God to know, because they have heard that Zhang Fei is about to launch the tax calculation business. The three departments are very nervous about this, and each department is also putting pressure on the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple.
This business endangers the interests of too many people.
There are currently three main arguments.
First, it is still the traditional view, which is to further restrain litigation. For example, the Ministry of Justice reviews the official documents of bookstores once a year.
The meaning is very clear. If you don't obey me, I won't give you the official documents.
This is what most people support.
This is also a traditional method.
The second is the viewpoint put forward by Prime Minister Tang Jie, which is to standardize the work by cooperating between the government and bookstores, with officials using the art of balance to control judicial power.
This is a test of the ability of officials and the efficiency of government work.
The third is to completely open up litigation, but the government will charge a certain fee. The officials of the Northern Song Dynasty were really good at economics. Last year, the officials of the Kaifeng government complained every day, but if they were given a generous bonus, it would not matter, and it would also help build judicial finances.
The three arguments each have their pros and cons.
Everyone is arguing about this.
After arguing for a long time, there was still no result.
The key is that there is this weirdo Xu Zun making trouble. He is firmly opposed to continuing to restrict litigation. He also controls the Dali Temple, and his suggestions are also very crucial.
Suddenly, Huang Gui, the chief clerk of Kaifeng Prefecture, walked quickly into the hall, bowed to everyone present, then came behind Lu Gong, bent down and whispered something in his ear.
"What?"
Lu Gong was so shocked that he stood up.
It also scared a lot of people.
The Imperial Censor, Lü Hui, could not help but ask, "Prefect Lü, what happened?"
Lu Gong slowly turned his head to look at Lu Hui, but he didn't know what to say.
At this time, Xu Yuan, the chief clerk of the Dali Temple, also ran in and whispered a few words in Xu Zun's ear.
Lu Gongzhe immediately looked at Xu Zun angrily.
Xu Zun's reaction was not that big. He just asked Lu Gongzhe: "Prefect Lu, there are grievances among the people. How can Kaifeng Prefecture arrest people who complain at will?"
Seeing that he still had the nerve to say that, Lu Gong could not help but get angry and said, "Why did you arrest him? I think Xu Si knows more about this than I do."
Xu Zun said: "I only know that Kaifeng Prefecture did this, which is against the rules."
"Wait a minute!"
Seeing that the two of them suddenly started arguing, Lu Hui asked, "What are you talking about?"
Liu Shu, a doctor in the Ministry of Justice, asked, "Yes! What happened?"
Lu Gong snorted angrily, "Just now Zhang San went to Kaifeng Prefecture to file a complaint again."
"What?"
Almost everyone present was going crazy because of this.
They held this meeting on their first day at work, with the purpose of preventing the Zhang San incident from happening again, but the guy was quicker and didn't leave them any time at all.
Everybody is full of swear words.
Liu Shu asked, "Who is he suing?"
Lu Gong said: "The court."
"The court?" Liu Shu was confused. "What do you mean?"
Lu Gong said: "The target of Zhang Fei's lawsuit this time is the imperial court."
"What?"
Everyone present, except Xu Zun, was horrified.
Xu Zun said calmly, "There is no law in our dynasty that does not allow the people to sue the court. What basis does Kaifeng Prefecture have to arrest people?"
"That's outrageous."
Liu Shu could no longer bear it, and immediately stood up and angrily scolded Xu Zun: "At this point, Xu Sishi still wants to protect that kid. The law does not stipulate that it is not allowed to sue the government, so can ordinary people also sue the government?"
Xu Zun immediately argued, "If the emperor made a mistake, why can't he sue? The Censorate has impeached the emperor before, so what's so strange about this?"
Lu Hui, who was about to speak, immediately shut his mouth again.
The Censorate led by him often contradicted Emperor Shenzong. Last time, in the case of Ayun, the Censorate directly rejected the emperor's decision.
He also taught Emperor Shenzong a lesson.
Liu Shu said: "That is the authority of the Censorate."
Xu Zun said: "Then how did the Censorate know about the injustice? Didn't they learn about it from the people? Zhang Fei went to Kaifeng Prefecture to file a complaint, but Kaifeng Prefecture arrested the person who came to seek justice without a trial. If this gets out, what will the people think? Who would dare to go to Kaifeng Prefecture to file a complaint then? I must impeach you, Kaifeng Prefecture, for abusing your power and bending the law for personal gain."
Qi Hui snorted, "Who is actually bending the law for personal gain? Maybe the mastermind behind this is you, Xu Zhongtu."
Xu Zun directly retorted: "So what? Isn't it our duty to redress the grievances of the people?"
Qi Hui sneered and said, "Whether it is an injustice or not, it has not been found out yet."
"So we can just arrest people directly?" Xu Zun said.
Qi Hui said: "That kid sued the imperial court."
Xu Zun said: "But since there is no regulation in our dynasty, we cannot sue the court."
Lu Hui stood up and said, "Stop arguing. In my opinion, this is the first time Kaifeng Prefecture has encountered such a situation. It cannot be said that it is a case of partiality and perversion of the law. Let's investigate it first!"
Xu Zun glanced at Lu Gong and said, "If Kaifeng Prefecture dares to abuse private punishment, I will never give up."
It’s true that the Dali Temple actually has this authority.
Lu Gong was too lazy to pay attention to Xu Zun. He said, "Sorry! I have something to do. I'll take my leave now."
He hurried back to Kaifeng Prefecture.
... ... .
"That's... that's all?"
After reading the petition, Lu Gong was stunned for a long time.
Li Kai nodded.
Lu Gong was so angry that he was fuming and asked, "Is this kid crazy?"
He thought it was a big case, a lawsuit against the imperial court, and it was based on ancestral laws, but... the result was just this
Really are... ... !
Li Kai said, "I thought so at first, but after calming down, I found that what he did seemed to make sense."
Lu Gong was very angry and said unhappily, "What's the reason?"
Li Kai said: "This kind of thing is not uncommon in our dynasty. The court's laws stipulate that if a yamen runner loses or damages public property, he should compensate the court. If he wants to sue, he can only sue the court."
Lu Gong couldn't help but frowned.
Li Kai added: "I have just inquired clearly. The concubine that Zhang San bought back a few years ago is the wife of Shi Dalang in this case."
"I see."
Lu Gong nodded and said, "But... But this is not the reason for him to sue the court. By the way, where is he now?"
Li Kai said: "I have already put him in jail. No matter what his purpose is, I think he should be taught a lesson."
Lu Gong asked, "You didn't torture him, did you?"
Li Kai said: "To be honest with you, I really want to torture him, but look at the reason for his complaint, he is accusing the current court of violating the laws of our ancestors. I don't understand this clearly, so how dare I torture him?"
Lu Gong said, "First release him from prison and then find another place to detain him, so as to avoid giving others a reason to criticize him."
"What about Shijiro?"
"Same here."
Lu Gongzhe sighed, "We still have to wait and see how the court reacts to this matter."
... ...
Kaifeng Prefecture Prison.
Zhang Fei was seen tied to a wooden cross with various braziers and torture instruments in front of him.
"We brothers are in a good mood today, so you can still choose. Which one do you want to try?"
The jailer held a whip in his hand and grinned at Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei glanced at him and said, "I choose iron nails."
"Iron nails?"
"There's none?"
Zhang Fei said: "First they stripped me down to a pair of white shorts, then nailed my hands to a wooden frame with iron nails, tied my arms with hemp ropes, and put them under the scorching sun for public display until I bled to death."
The jailer blinked and asked, "Why did you choose to die this way?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Because he's handsome."
Snapped!
The jailer whipped Zhang Fei beside him, "You are teasing me."
A jailer said, "Now that you are in our hands, you still dare to be so arrogant."
Zhang Fei sighed: "Who told me to have the last name Zhang?"
"you... !"
The jailer had never seen such an arrogant prisoner before, and he was about to whip him, but was stopped by the two guards nearby.
"Let me go! I have to teach this ignorant spies a lesson today."
"Don't be fooled by him. It is said that he demanded hundreds of strings of cash in compensation when he was beaten last time."
"... ... ?"
The picture seemed to be still.
Just then, the cell door opened and Huang Gui walked in. He said expressionlessly, "Put him down."