At this critical moment, a small stone may cause a huge wave.
Wang Anshi has always believed that these unkind and wealthy landlords are parasites to the country. Now that he has run into this case and Zhang Fei is making trouble, how could he let go of this opportunity
He could also use this to accumulate political capital, because the Li Si case happened to involve the core content of his reform. He could use this to publicize his own ideas and gain support from more people in the court.
Therefore, he criticized usury in the court, and at the same time demanded that Li Si and Zeng be forgiven and Chen Yuteng be severely punished.
When he made a fuss, things became complicated.
If there had been no Wang Anshi, these officials would still be able to "understand" each other, and considering Chen Yuteng's family background, the situation would not have been so difficult. The reason is simple: most people have dirty tricks and of course hope to keep things peaceful.
This is a political consensus.
However, since Wang Anshi was making trouble at the top, the officials below did not dare to act rashly for fear of bringing trouble upon themselves. At present, Wang Anshi was a popular and important official in the court and was highly valued by Emperor Shenzong.
It is said that a friend's death is a pity for me.
But at present, Kaifeng Prefecture is still bearing all the pressure.
From the emperor and his ministers to the landlords and common people, all were keeping their eyes on Kaifeng Prefecture.
The prefect Lu Gongzhe was well aware of the interests involved and did not dare to be negligent. They first sent people to arrest Chen Yuteng, Zeng and others, and then asked Li Kai, the second-in-command of Kaifeng Prefecture, to go in person to question them and investigate the case.
Logically speaking, in this kind of contract dispute case, it would be impossible to ask the second-in-command of Kaifeng Prefecture to give a confession.
"Prefect Lu."
"What did you find out?"
When Lu Gong saw Li Kai coming, he immediately put down the documents in his hand and asked Li Kai.
Li Kaidao: "There is something very strange."
Lu Gong asked hurriedly: "What do you mean?"
Li Kaidao: "The witness who read the contract said that he only read the contract and was not aware of the discussion between them. The key lies in Zeng's confession. According to Li Si's initial confession, Zeng should have been involved all along. But when I asked her whether the initial agreement between them was to use her to repay the principal or to repay the entire debt, Zeng said that she had no idea and that it was all agreed upon by Li Si and Chen Yuteng."
Lu Gong was delighted and asked, "You mean Zeng and Chen Yuteng have had an affair for a long time?"
Li Kai nodded and said, "That's possible, but it's also possible that Zeng changed her mind after marrying Chen Yuteng. It's hard to tell at this point. And according to the law of hiding the truth between relatives, even if Zeng is making false confessions, we can't do anything to her."
To put it simply, "protecting one's relatives" means shielding one's relatives. Generally, this cannot be considered a crime, unless it involves two crimes: first, treason. Second, mutual harm, such as domestic violence.
As Chen Yuteng's wife, Zeng can certainly refuse to provide any confession that is unfavorable to Chen Yuteng, and you cannot torture her to extract a confession.
Lu Gong frowned and immediately started flipping through the table.
Li Kai said: "No need to look for it. Xiangfu County has never asked Zeng about it, because usually the government will only recognize the contract."
Lu Gong thought for a while, "If Zeng and Chen Yuteng had an affair, why didn't Zeng bite back at Li Si? She is an important witness, and she is protected by the principle of hiding the truth from relatives."
Li Kai said: "I have also considered this, but as Zhang San argued in the court, the compensation contract, although in accordance with the rules, is not reasonable. According to Li Si's situation at the time, he could not have used only his wife to compensate for the principal.
If Zeng bites back, Zhang San will definitely not give up and will definitely ask to go to court with her. This will not stand up to scrutiny, and Zeng may not be able to resist. On the contrary, it will be disadvantageous to Zeng, because everyone is still very sympathetic to Zeng, and we may even follow the clues and find out their affair. Therefore, it is most wise for her to refuse our questioning by saying that she is not aware of it. "
Lu Gong said: "But this is a clue after all. If we can find out their affair, then this case will be much easier to handle."
If it can be found out, it would be possible to bring the criminal to justice while avoiding harming the innocent Li Si.
Li Kai sighed, "I have sent people to inquire. After two years, it is difficult for us to find evidence to prove that Zeng had an affair with Chen Yuteng beforehand, and did not fall in love with someone else after marrying Chen Yuteng.
Most people in their village believed that Zeng and Li Si had a good relationship. When Li Si was ill, Zeng was always by his side, never leaving him, and was deeply respected and praised by the neighbors. Even Li Si thought so. Li Si's confession was very beneficial to Zeng. "
Lu Gong couldn't help but frowned: "Aiyou! This is difficult. If we want to sue Zeng for adultery with Chen Yuteng, we must first find a way to treat Zeng as Li Si's wife, and then let Li Si file the complaint first, and then we can accept it."
According to the Song Dynasty Criminal Code, if a wife committed adultery with another man, her husband had to file a complaint. If the husband did not file a complaint, the government was not allowed to accept the case and could not intervene forcibly.
On the one hand, this law protects the husband's authority, and on the other hand, it also protects family privacy.
Li Kai nodded and said, "That's right. Let's not talk about whether we can find a way to abolish the relationship between Zeng and Chen Yuteng. If we can't find conclusive evidence to prove that Zeng and Chen Yuteng had a private affair before, Li Si will definitely not agree. Now he still feels guilty towards Zeng and wants to protect Zeng."
Lu Gong sighed and said, "The current situation in the court will probably not give us much time to investigate this unfounded matter."
Li Kai said: "If we delay and refuse to close the case, some people will think that we are protecting Chen Yuteng. After all, Chen Yuteng is Wang Sinong's nephew."
Lu Gong asked: "According to your opinion, how should we judge it?"
Li Kaidao: "When I was interrogating Chen Yuteng, he proposed a solution for reconciliation."
Lu Gong asked: "Reconciliation?"
Li Kaidao said: "Chen Yuteng said that it was indeed all his fault. He was too anxious to marry Zeng and miscalculated the date, which led to such a big problem. He is willing to admit his mistake and pay 500 strings of cash as compensation, hoping to get Li Si's forgiveness. And according to the confession in this case, if Li Si did not sue, the three of them would be innocent."
Chen Yuteng is not stupid. He cannot say that there is a problem with the contract. He can only say that there is a problem with himself.
Lü Gong was surprised and asked, "Five hundred strings of cash?"
For civilians, this is definitely a sky-high compensation.
That has never happened before.
Li Kai nodded.
Lu Gong thought for a while and said, "What do you think?"
Li Kaidao said, "I think this is the best solution. Many lawsuits in the past were also caused by miscalculation of numbers or dates, which led to disputes. Although some of them were intentional, for most of them, we abide by the private contract between the people and the government, and do not investigate their criminal responsibility. I believe that Chen Yuteng's attitude and the compensation he proposed are enough to convince the public. Even if he is sentenced to prison, it will only be two years. However, Li Si has to accompany him in prison for two years. This is not fair!"
Lu Gong nodded slightly. He agreed with this plan. He didn't want to convict Li Si and hoped to get justice for Li Si. He said, "But we still have to convince Wang Jiefu first. It's not a good idea for him to keep making trouble in the court."
Li Kai said: "We still need to discuss this with Zhang San."
Lu Gong suddenly asked, "Do you think this is what Zhang San wanted?"
Li Kai said without hesitation: "It must be."
Even a fool knows that sending Li Si to jail would do Zhang Fei more harm than good.
Lu Gong closed his eyes and sighed: "He won again."
... ...
Of course, Lu Gongzhe did not go to Wang Anshi himself, because he was the chief judge. How could he ask for Wang Anshi's consent? After all, the emperor did not allow Wang Anshi to participate in the case this time.
But this case had obviously become politicized, and he had to consider political factors. He chose to inform Sima Guang first. Sima Guang also strongly supported this solution, so Sima Guang went to discuss it with Wang Anshi.
Now Sima Guang saw that Wang Anshi was also troubled. After he finished speaking, he saw that Wang Anshi remained silent, so he said earnestly: "Jiefu, this is the best solution. On the one hand, Li Si will not only be acquitted, but also receive a huge amount of compensation, and he will have no worries for the rest of his life.
Secondly, this is enough to deter those unkind landlords who are rich and unscrupulous, and it is even better than letting Chen Yuteng go to jail for two years. After all, some people value money more than their lives.
Isn’t this what you want?”
Wang Anshi looked at Sima Guang for a while, and after a while, he suddenly burst into laughter.
Sima Guang said unhappily, "I am talking to you about serious matters, why are you laughing?"
Wang Anshi laughed and said, "I didn't say I didn't agree. You're begging for mercy like this, and others don't know about it, and they think I'm bullying you. I'm Wang Jiefu, not Zhang San, so how can I do that?"
"I bother!"
Sima Guang spat directly in Wang Anshi's face: "Wang Jiefu, you are so ungrateful and abominable. You have been making trouble in the court, making everyone panic and distracted from government affairs. How dare you still smile?"
Wang Anshi touched his face with his sleeves and said smugly, "If I hadn't made a scene, would Li Si have been able to get the compensation? As for what you said about the people in the court being in a panic, it's because they have something to hide."
He became more and more excited as he spoke, pointing his finger outward, "Don't I know who Chen Yuteng is? He could have been an official through imperial favor, but he chose to go home and do business. In less than a few years, he became the richest businessman in Xiangfu County. Could it be that he relied on his own ability? Humph, there are many people like him in the court."
Sima Guang sighed, sat down, and said, "You are right, I agree, but have you ever thought that this is not unique to our dynasty? If you don't understand this, you can't solve this problem."
Wang Anshi said firmly: "I think it very clearly. In my opinion, what is lacking is not the means, but the determination."
... ...
Kaifeng Prefecture.
"Is this the result you wanted?"
Li Kai looked at Zhang Fei with a smile.
Zhang Fei first bowed his hands and then said, "I hope to reduce the price by one hundred strings of cash and exchange Zeng's for Li Si."
This undoubtedly confirmed Li Kai's guess, and he smiled and said, "I'm afraid Zeng Shi doesn't want to go back with Li Si."
Zhang Fei frowned and looked at Li Kai in confusion.
... ...
As the trial is still ongoing, in order to facilitate the interrogation, Chen Yuteng, Li Si and Zeng have not been imprisoned yet, but are only detained in Kaifeng Prefecture.
After all, we are all in the same circle, so we should not look at the monk's face but the Buddha's.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Zhang Fei, and Li Si asked me to help him with the lawsuit."
"Are you Zhang Fei?" A flash of anger flashed in Zeng's eyes, but she immediately covered her face and cried, "I have no grudge against you, why do you want to harm me? I am innocent."
Zhang Fei said: "Don't cry first, I know you are innocent, and I don't mean to hurt you, I'm just helping you get back to Li Si."
"What did you say?"
Upon hearing this, Zeng stood up immediately.
Zhang Fei said seriously: "Now as long as you nod, you can go back to Li Si."
After hearing this, Zeng became even more flustered, and clenched her hands tightly together, not knowing where to put them.
After waiting for a while, Zhang Fei asked: "You... you don't want to?"
Zeng was startled, and choked up again, "I have already been married to someone else, how can I go back to him?"
Zhang Fei said: "But Li Si doesn't mind."
"But I mind." Zeng shook her head with tears in her eyes and said, "I really don't have the face to go back to him. I... I don't even have the face to live anymore."
After saying that, she suddenly stood up and rushed towards the wall.
Just as she was about to hit the wall, Zeng suddenly stopped, turned around and looked at Zhang Fei in surprise, only to see Zhang Fei looking at her with a smile. She suddenly woke up with a look of horror on her face.
Zhang Fei's smile faded, and he said, "Don't worry, I'm not here to trap you, and I don't have the power to do so. I'm just a little curious. You've already got what you wanted and married into the Chen family, so why do you want to kill Li Si? As far as I know, he's not bad to you. This night is a hundred days of love between husband and wife."
Zeng sat down and murmured to himself: "I am innocent, I am innocent..."
"excuse me."
Zhang Fei nodded slightly, then walked out the door.