Judge of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 41: Lion fighting rabbit

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"Xu Zhiqian, come out here."

Zhang Fei rushed straight to the door of Xu Zhiqian's boudoir, put his hands on his hips, and shouted loudly.

“Xu Zhi…!”

With a creak, the door opened and Xu Zhiqian came out. She glanced at Zhang Fei and asked, "What do you want?"

"What do I want?"

Zhang Fei immediately laughed and raised his hand: "We are so familiar with each other, let's stop playing dumb. I don't have the time. I just want to ask you, what did you tell Qingmei to those wealthy people?"

He still held out a little hope, hoping that Xu Zhiqian would not kill him all.

Xu Zhiqian confessed: "I just told them that you only help poor people in lawsuits, so that they don't have such thoughts."

It's over! It's over! It's all over!

"Why do you make the decision for me?" Zhang Fei was completely crazy.

Cutting off someone's source of wealth is like killing his parents.

Xu Zhiqian snorted softly, "You are the one who is dishonest. You said nice things, but you were thinking in your heart that you would use these poor people to attract rich people to come to you to sue you. I am doing this for your own good, so that you won't go astray."

"For my own good?" Zhang Fei felt it sounded so friendly. He was so angry that he scratched his forehead and choked up, "This is fucked up. He didn't find a girlfriend, but he found a mother. This is really amazing."

Xu Zhiqian heard it clearly and spat, "I don't have a son as old as you."

"You wish."

Zhang Fei exploded on the spot and said angrily: "Sister, I have to make money to support my family. Do you think it's that easy to help the poor in court? Or do you trust me too much and think that I can be invincible and make hundreds of coins every time without being retaliated against? Besides, is it unjust to make money from the rich? What kind of bullshit is this?"

Xu Zhiqian argued, "You are a spy, and you want to make money from the rich. That means you are helping the evildoers and exploiting the people together with them."

Zhang Fei was so angry that he gasped, "I haven't done anything yet, and you are accusing me and exploiting the people. Do you think I'm stupid? I helped them exploit the people. The people have little money, which is not enough for them to fill their own teeth. You are stupid, so don't think others are as stupid as you."

Xu Zhiqian also became excited. "Am I stupid or are you stupid? If you do more righteous things now and don't gossip, your future will be limitless. Don't ruin your future just for the sake of this petty profit."

"What do you mean by limitless future? What do you mean by self-destructive future?" Zhang Fei saw that she not only refused to admit her mistake but was talking nonsense here, and he was so anxious that he danced with joy: "What are you talking about? I am just an ordinary person, how can I be as lucky as you? My future depends on my own efforts, but now you have ruined it all. This is an opportunity I fought for with great difficulty, you... You really talk without any pain in your waist."

"You are really hopeless." Xu Zhiqian stamped her feet fiercely and said with a wave of her sleeves: "Whether you believe it or not, I am doing this for your own good."

"It's over! It's over!"

Zhang Fei covered his face with his hands. "I really found a mother. Oh my god!"

"What are you arguing about?"

Suddenly I heard someone talking behind me.

The two looked back and saw Xu Zun walking towards them.

Zhang Fei glared at Xu Zhiqian fiercely and said, "Recognize your relationship."

"Dad, don't listen to his nonsense." Xu Zhiqian glared at Zhang Fei, and then noticed that Xu Zun looked strange, and asked, "Dad, why did you come back?"

Xu Zun glanced at Zhang Fei and said, "Something happened."

Zhang Fei suddenly had a bad feeling.

Generally speaking, misfortune never comes alone.

... ..

"What? Kaifeng Prefecture received more than thirty petitions in just one morning?"

Xu Zhiqian looked at Xu Zun in shock.

Xu Zun nodded and said, "And they are all about contract disputes."

Zhang Fei's heart trembled, and he frowned: "They want to cut off the source of the trouble!"

Xu Zun nodded and said, "I think so too. Since ancient times, every dynasty has banned litigation, except our dynasty. However, the debate on this issue has never stopped."

"Oh! No!"

Xu Zhiqian also reacted: "Originally, the government followed the principle of 'officials follow the law, and the people follow private contracts' for such contract lawsuits. Disputes like this would not even alarm Kaifeng Prefecture, but Li Si's case set a precedent. Kaifeng Prefecture must treat everyone equally, but it is impossible for Kaifeng Prefecture to handle these disputes every day. If this continues..."

Zhang Fei said: "The court can only prohibit the lawsuit. In short, I am now facing the risk of losing my job."

Aren’t you good at speaking

OK!

We surrender!

We will seal your mouth and cut off the source.

Xu Zun nodded and said, "It is possible, but it does not necessarily mean that litigation will be banned. It is also possible that more restrictions will be imposed. Their next step should be to report to the emperor, but we cannot make any judgment on the specific result at the moment. We still have to see how other ministers react. But the current situation is very bad."

Xu Zhiqian, who had figured it out, could not help but get angry: "This is outrageous! They are clearly guilty of their crimes and are using their power to take revenge. They are afraid that one day Zhang San will expose their ugly deeds. This is really too much."

Then, she excitedly said to Zhang Fei: "Zhang San, we must not give in. We must fight them to the end. I don't believe they can cover the sky with one hand."

Zhang Fei was dumbfounded.

Was everything that just happened an illusion

He vaguely remembered that they were arguing fiercely just a second ago.

Xu Zun patted Zhang Fei's shoulder gently.

Zhang Fei turned around and looked at Xu Zun.

Xu Zun looked at him with a firm gaze and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I will definitely support you in this matter, even if it means losing my official uniform."

In order to avoid suspicion, he rarely asked about the previous lawsuits, but this matter was different. The other party was clearly playing dirty and bullying the weak, and he could not tolerate such a thing.

Zhang Fei was touched and ashamed when he heard this. Although he didn't feel that he had done anything wrong, he felt that he had let Xu Zun down and caused him trouble. He tried hard to force out a smile and said, "Please rest assured, benefactor, I will not give in. They are trying to defeat me with this, which is too contemptuous of me. I still have many tricks to use. Therefore, I beg you not to get involved in this matter because of me."

Xu Zun frowned and said, "But if I don't support you in the court, you can't reverse this matter at all."

Zhang Fei said: "As long as I can still speak, I won't lose."

Seeing that he was restless and didn't seem to have a plan, Xu Zun was silent for a moment and nodded gently: "Okay, I'll keep your mouth shut. As for the rest, you can handle it yourself."

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Thank you very much, benefactor."

As he said this, he looked at Xu Zhiqian again, his expression was very complicated. After struggling for a while, he sighed in his heart, "Forget it, forget it. For the sake of my benefactor, I will take a step back." "I'm very sorry for what happened just now."

Xu Zhiqian looked at Zhang Fei in surprise: "You are still in the mood to talk about this now?"

"I... okay."

Zhang Fei was really at a loss for words. After all this time, it turned out that I was still the one who was petty.

Xu Zun asked, "What are you talking about?"

Zhang Fei was slightly startled, and said truthfully: "My benefactor, you don't know, in fact, I have always wanted to use Li Si's case to increase my fame, and then do the business of those rich people."

Xu Zhiqian looked at Zhang Fei in surprise, wondering why he was so frank, was there another reason

"I see!" Xu Zun nodded slightly, then glanced at Xu Zhiqian. He probably guessed what they were arguing about. After all, he knew his daughter very well.

Zhang Fei added: "But I... ..!"

"You don't need to explain, I believe you." Xu Zun waved his hand and interrupted Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei's expression froze, and he looked a little surprised. "Does the benefactor really believe me?"

Xu Zun laughed and said, "Whether a person has a bad heart or not, I can tell clearly. Although you are a little cunning, you are not a bad person at heart."

Having said this, he glanced at his daughter and added, "If Qian'er did something that made you unhappy, don't take it to heart. I believe she did it for your own good."

For my own good again? This should be a catchphrase of the ancients. Zhang Fei nodded with a wry smile, but now he really didn't have the mood to care about those things.

Because he is facing an existential crisis.

And at the moment he was unprepared.

... ...

Kaifeng Prefecture can be said to be the highest judicial department of the Song Dynasty. Ordinary lawsuits cannot be brought to Kaifeng Prefecture. However, more than 30 lawsuits were received this morning, which has set a record and may be difficult to break in the future.

When Lu Gong first learned about this, he was completely confused.

Since when did Kaifeng Prefecture become a public toilet, and all the trivial matters were thrown into Kaifeng Prefecture.

But he soon realized that someone was interfering, and the person might be quite powerful.

Otherwise, no one would dare to start any action in Kaifeng Prefecture.

Lu Gongzhe was not a coward. After he realized what was happening, he was furious. They had actually played a trick on the Kaifeng government. That was a big deal. The dog-head guillotine and tiger-head guillotine in his home had not been used for a long time. He had to polish them quickly to see which blind guy would jump over by himself.

But what happened next left him dumbfounded.

On the same day, more than 20 officials from the four major departments, namely the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, the Court of Justice, and the Censorate, jointly submitted a memorial requesting the court to issue an order to curb the trend of litigation.

Soon after, dozens of officials reported the incident to the authorities.

Among them were many retired scholars and officials.

The large number of people and the fast speed frightened Song Shenzong.

This is not a big deal!

But this is by no means accidental.

The reason is simple. If this trend is encouraged, it will harm the interests of their scholar-official class.

If Chen Yuteng had no background, could he have become the largest landlord in Xiangfu County

Then, who in the court is not Chen Yuteng

Who can guarantee that what happened today will not happen to them

Different political views are just internal struggles.

The winner is the king and the loser is the villain, there is nothing to say.

But to the outside world, they are quite united and the meat must rot in the pot.

Therefore, once someone takes the lead, these people will stand on the same front without any prior agreement and start to add fuel to the fire from behind.

Just as Xu Zun had expected, they directed their attacks directly at Zhang Fei. The Xu family made a big show of stirring up disputes among the people, so that the people flocked to the case.

If it is not stopped, the consequences will be disastrous.

Although Xu Zun, Wang Anshi, Sima Guang, Lu Gongzhu and others also stood up to speak for justice, saying that Zhang Fei won the lawsuit within the rules and did not violate the rules.

But faced with the collective indictment of the entire system, their arguments pale into insignificance.

The key point is that those people did not say that they wanted to punish Zhang Fei. They just used the Zhang Fei incident to ask the court to curb the trend of litigation. Otherwise, Kaifeng Prefecture would have to deal with lawsuits every day.

Song Shenzong reacted quickly and issued an order, ordering Privy Councilor Chen Shengzhi to lead Wang Shiyuan and Qi Hui to discuss the matter.

The Privy Councilor is the legitimate prime minister of the Song Dynasty.

It didn't seem reasonable to ask him to deal with such a small matter.

But Chen Shengzhi knew very well that Emperor Shenzong wanted to keep the peace.

Because this case was more or less related to Wang Anshi, and there were people in the court with ulterior motives who intentionally or unintentionally tied the dispute to Wang Anshi.

This is a very dangerous signal.

Shenzong would never allow such an accident to happen.

Besides, suppressing disputes is not a bad thing for the emperor.

After half a day, they came up with a specific plan.

After all, it's really not a big deal.

It is also very simple to handle.

They decided that from now on, if the spies wanted to go to court to defend someone, they had to be recommended by the bookstore.

This is one of them.

Secondly, from now on, the spies in Bian Jing must pass the examination held by the Ministry of Justice before they can obtain or retain the official documents in their hands.

The purpose of these two conditions is very simple and clear. It is obviously not possible to completely prohibit people from filing lawsuits, which goes against the laws of our ancestors. However, the absolute authority of the government must be maintained, and everything must be controlled in the hands of the government.

But if this happens, Zhang Fei is basically finished.

First of all, he couldn't get any introduction from the tea-drinking people.

Secondly, the officials might not give him a pass in the exam either.

After all, they are not of the same mind.