"Judge Zhang, no need to send me off!"
"Mr. Su, take care."
Zhang Fei stopped at the door and looked at Su Che's departing back. He couldn't help but smile, "This is really a man of great skill and courage. I didn't expect that he would even think of using laws to force the court to reform."
At this point, he frowned, "But the risk of doing this is really too great. I dare not play this game with you."
After muttering something, he turned and went back.
When he arrived at the lake, he saw his two lovely wives sitting in a small pavilion, so he quietly walked over, stood on tiptoe, and looked inside. He saw a pile of documents placed on the stone table in the pavilion. He couldn't help but smile, and quietly came behind Xu Zhiqian, bent down, and quickly kissed her on the cheek.
"ah!"
Xu Zhiqian was frightened immediately. She turned her head and saw that it was Zhang Fei. She immediately rolled her eyes at him fiercely, "You are already the chief judge, but you are still so dishonest. If someone sees you, it will be very bad for your prestige."
"This is my style. If they don't like me, they can just replace me! Who wants to be the chief judge?"
Zhang Fei snorted softly and said, "You workaholic, it's ok that you don't even have an appetite, but you even drag your wife along to go crazy with you."
Gao Wenyin said hurriedly: "It has nothing to do with Zhiqian, it's... I was free, so I came here to help Zhiqian tidy up."
"Yeah?"
Zhang Fei smiled, sat down, picked up the document on the table and took a look. It was indeed the laws and regulations on military expenditure corruption and the relevant military expenditure management system.
Gao Wenyin knew she couldn't hide it, so she bit her lips lightly and lowered her head guiltily.
She did have a special concern for this case because she had experienced this kind of thing before and knew the pain involved, so she also wanted to do her part.
Xu Zhiqian knew very well that Zhang Fei didn't like to read these things, so she thought about helping him organize the relevant documents, which was what she did when they worked together before.
This is also why Zhang Fei appointed Xu Zhiqian as his chief clerk. They work very closely together on this job.
Zhang Fei glanced at the two of them and suddenly felt very grateful and said, "With such a virtuous wife, what more could a husband ask for!"
"I am just doing my job as a bookkeeper."
Xu Zhiqian pouted proudly and asked, "By the way! I heard that Mr. Su is here."
Zhang Fei nodded.
Xu Zhiqian asked: "Are you here to sue?"
"no!"
Zhang Fei shook his head, and then said: "But it's more terrible than this."
"Even scarier?"
Xu Zhiqian asked anxiously: "What do you mean?"
Gao Wenyin opened her big watery eyes and looked at Zhang Fei anxiously.
Zhang Fei would not hide anything from them, so he told the two girls about Su Che's plan.
Xu Zhiqian's eyes flashed with joy, but seeing Zhang Fei's doubtful expression, she asked, "Did you agree?"
There is no doubt that she definitely wants to seek justice for Chen Guang, but she also knows her own limits. She has always done her best to help others in the past. For example, when it came to Li Si, she only helped Li Si find a temple and settle him down, but she did not foolishly go to settle the score with Chen Yuteng. She generally would not cause extra trouble for Xu Zun.
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "No."
Xu Zhiqian pursed her lips in disappointment and asked again, "Why?"
"Because Mr. Su and I have different goals."
Zhang Fei said: "He is thinking about eliminating the country's bad policies, not putting the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs first, so he dares to take such a risk, but my target is the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs.
At this moment, if a judgment is made that is ultimately rejected by the court, then everyone will believe that political decrees are always higher than legal decrees, and this will also greatly damage the authority of our imperial court.
Therefore... "
He shrugged slightly, "There's no way I'll agree to his request."
Xu Zhiqian said: "But judicial reform is ultimately to eliminate bad policies."
"Wrong!" Zhang Fei laughed and said, "Judicial reform is only to allow others to eliminate bad policies. The public security, procuratorate and courts do not have this power."
Xu Zhiqian immediately said: "So what Mr. Su Xiao thought was not wrong. He also wanted to use the law to force the court to eliminate bad policies."
Zhang Fei said helplessly: "I didn't say he was wrong, I just think the risk is too high. According to his idea, we should first make this case bigger, attract more people to file a complaint, and then force the government to pay a huge amount of compensation. The other party will definitely use financial issues to put pressure on the court, so that the court will realize the problem and force the court to make changes. But..."
He shook his head and said, "The court is not unaware of these issues and has discussed them before, but in the end no changes were made. In other words, the emperor and the prime ministers still have many concerns in their hearts. It is entirely possible that they will reject our final judgment.
If the court rejects it, it will be more harm than good. Not only will it not help Chen Guang, but it may also cut off Chen Guang’s chances to appeal and make those corrupt officials more fearless.”
After hearing this, Xu Zhiqian said no more and just looked at Gao Wenyin depressedly.
... ... .
Soon after nightfall.
Xu Zhiqian, who had just finished taking a shower, was wearing a jade-white satin pajamas, revealing her snow-white, slender neck, adding a touch of nobility to her coldness.
When I came to the bedroom, I saw Zhang Fei half-lying on the long bench again, with his legs crossed, gently shaking his bare toes, holding a document in his hand, reading it intently.
She walked forward and snatched the document from Zhang Fei's hand, "Aren't you afraid of blinding yourself?"
Zhang Fei glanced at her and said in surprise, "How dare you, a workaholic, say that to me?"
Xu Zhiqian said seriously, "Unless there are special circumstances, I will try my best to finish my work during the day. I won't lie down and watch like you. The candlelight is so far away from you, how can you see clearly?"
Zhang Fei didn't know how to refute, so he stretched out his hand to pull her into his arms, grinning and saying, "I've finished my shower."
Xu Zhiqian gently patted his mischievous hand and let him do what he wanted. She suddenly glanced at the document and said, "Didn't you say that Mr. Su's method was too risky and that we couldn't do it this way? Then why were you so engrossed in it just now?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "So if we can reduce the risk, then we can do it this way."
Xu Zhiqian asked expectantly, "Then have you come up with a solution?"
Zhang Fei hooked his finger towards the document in her hand.
Xu Zhiqian subconsciously wanted to hand the document to Zhang Fei, but then she changed her mind and thought, no, if I give it to him, then... wouldn't it make me look hypocritical? She still suppressed her curiosity and said seriously, "Forget it! Let's... read it tomorrow. You must... take care of your rest."
Zhang Fei knew her personality very well. Seeing her tangled expression, he couldn't help laughing and hugged her tightly, "You little girl."
Just kissed her...!
An hour later.
Xu Zhiqian lay on top of Zhang Fei. The thin silk quilt could not withstand the smoothness of her jade-like back and slid down a little, revealing her sexy shoulders.
"Zhang San, have you come up with a solution?"
"Won't we talk about it later?"
"Just chatting. I have nothing to do now anyway."
Xu Zhiqian pouted her red lips and said delicately.
"All right."
Zhang Fei nodded. "Since you were quite cooperative just now, I will talk to you."
Xu Zhiqian's face immediately turned red, and she looked so beautiful that she could hardly stop spitting. Then she said, "Why don't you tell me now?"
Zhang Fei rested his arm on the pillow with one hand and gently stroked Xu Zhiqian with the other hand, "Do you remember that you once told me that although the military budget is fixed, coins only account for a small portion. Generally, we will issue whatever is stored in the warehouse, and then convert it into an equivalent monetary value."
Xu Zhiqian asked curiously: "What does this have to do with the risks you mentioned before?"
"Don't be impatient, just listen to me."
Zhang Fei smiled and glanced at her, then continued, "You also said that there are special brokers who do this job and exchange these goods for money and food."
Did I say this? It seems I did. Xu Zhiqian herself couldn't quite remember it, because it was just a very insignificant part of the process. Her eyes became even more confused. She didn't understand why Zhang Fei valued this.
Zhang Feiyan said, "I just read the documents you compiled and found that the court stipulated that the annual salary of the imperial guards was about 50 strings of cash, while the annual salary of the garrison soldiers was about 30 strings of cash. The proportion of currency in the salary was not high. The highest annual salary of the imperial guards was 12 strings of cash, the average salary was 7 or 8 strings of cash, and the worst annual salary of the garrison soldiers was 5 or 6 strings of cash.
It accounts for about one-fifth.”
Xu Zhiqian nodded, but said, "I still don't understand what you mean."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "According to what Mr. Su Xiao said, regarding the reduction of the military, the court is roughly divided into two factions. Duke Wen and Sima Xueshi are in favor of the reduction of the military.
The Emperor, Wang Xueshi, and Chen Shumi do not agree. Therefore, we must find a way to convince the Emperor and Wang Xueshi first, so that the court will support my decision.
The reasons why they are unwilling to disarm can be roughly divided into two categories. The first is that they are eager to make a difference on the border, and disarmament is obviously not in line with their ideas.
The second reason is that they are worried that the disarmament will cause these disarmed soldiers to gather together and become thieves. "
Xu Zhiqian said: "So we need to prescribe the right medicine and convince them."
"of course not."
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "It's not our turn to prescribe the right medicine. I'm afraid Duke Wen and the others have already explained it very clearly. We have to throw out a bigger temptation to affect the entire balance."
"A greater temptation?"
"good."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "It's the military expenditure issue we just mentioned. The current military expenditure structure seems to be a lot, but in fact it makes the soldiers miserable, because as long as it involves the conversion issue, it will inevitably cause huge losses to the people.
Since the pawnbrokers can exchange those goods for money and grain, why doesn't the court directly open a pawn shop and use Wang Xue Shi's equalization method to convert these goods into money and grain, which can be collected by the soldiers themselves
In this way, we can also prevent some cases of people eating empty salaries.”
In fact, there are still relatively few people in the Song Dynasty who draw empty salaries, but the trend is increasing.
"More importantly," Zhang Fei said with a smile, "Master Wang is preparing for the Qingmiao Law. The so-called Qingmiao Law means that if you want to lend money to the people, you need capital and a financial institution to do these things. Not only that, according to the documents you compiled, the current military expenditure management is simply a mess.
The Three Departments even had to record the materials needed for repairing local boats, which would inevitably make the accounts complicated and disorderly, giving corrupt officials more convenience.
In fact, the central government only needs to control money, grain, cloth, salt, tea, horses and other related finances. For example, firewood, post materials, repairs, bamboo, wood, and carriages and horses can be handed over to local finances, and then they can be included in it, and then combined with the Equalization of Transport Law and the Qingmiao Law, a super-large financial management institution can be formed. This is enough to impress Mr. Wang and make him support Mr. Su Xiao's plan and use my judgment to force the court to make reforms to facilitate his own new laws.
The public security, procuratorial and judicial organs and the new law are all core interests of the government, and disarmament can reduce the financial burden. With so many benefits, the government will certainly be tempted. "
Xu Zhiqian finally understood what was going on and suddenly asked, "Then how do we place those laid-off soldiers?"
Zhang Fei said: "I haven't thought about this in detail, but to support this huge financial institution, it also requires a lot of manpower. In addition, the police station also needs a lot of manpower, so it should be able to absorb most of it."