Officials are definitely afraid.
But the problem is, the Chief Judge is also an official!
And the person in charge now is the chief judge!
Those robbers wanted to consult the government in advance, but the government ignored them. However, if they took all the charges, they might be finished!
But if they could solve this problem through the defense of an espionage agent, they could rely on the royal court and the judiciary to avoid retaliation from the government.
They had no choice but to adopt Li Min's suggestion because they had to choose the lesser of two evils.
After all, the government is not the only one in power in Hezhong Prefecture now, so there is still a glimmer of hope by doing this.
Subsequently, plaintiffs appeared in court one after another, and without exception, they all accused the rogues hired by the local residents of excessive taxation, abuse of violence, and causing them great losses. Their situations were almost the same.
Li Min, on the other hand, took the trouble to shift all the responsibility onto the government, showing no mercy at all.
This went on and on until the people outside the courtyard were gasping for breath.
But their emotions have been transferred to the government by Li Min, and it is the government that is the source of all evil.
This is really a case of the upper beam being crooked and the lower beams being crooked.
The government itself is of a bad character. During the tax collection process, they also try every possible way to exploit the people. Anyway, various means are endless. Do you think those poor people can still abide by the law to collect taxes
Totally impossible.
If the superiors like something, the subordinates will do even more. They will only take more extreme measures.
The non-head officials have also laid down now. After the last time they and the gentry dug their pants, they have gradually gotten used to it. You can say whatever you want, we will still do what we are supposed to do.
It's that simple.
The first time everyone still had to save face, the second time they were much more relaxed.
The key point is that the other party’s accusation is directed at the government, not at a specific official.
But if we look at the lawsuits from both parties, this lawsuit actually has nothing to do with the government. But when we ask about it, the government's presence is everywhere. Anyway, the defendant almost puts all the blame on the government.
You say that my client is overtaxed, but the problem is that the government collects the same taxes, with all kinds of conversions and transfers. If I don't calculate according to the government's, do I have to create my own tax law
If we don't ask the officials about this, I'm afraid the case won't be able to go on.
However, neither the prosecution nor the defense's informants took the initiative to request that the officials be summoned for questioning.
Although Fan Zhen has only been an informant for a short time, he has been an official for decades and is very experienced. Since he is suing those who have lost their clients, he must be targeting those clients. After all, the government has not caused direct harm to his clients. If he summons officials to question them, it will not only cause unnecessary trouble, making the whole case extremely complicated, but also make his litigation chaotic and the audience will wonder, who are you suing
At the same time, it will make people suspicious of his intentions, whether Xiang Zhuang is dancing with a sword and his target is Pei Gong.
But he never questioned Li Min and others' shifting of responsibility to the government, no matter how Li Min shifted it, because Li Min was just shifting it and did not refute it. The responsibility was always there. The two sides seemed to be confronting each other, but in fact they were enjoying themselves.
As for Li Min, they had enough evidence to put the blame on the government. Who couldn't see the pile of shit on the government's ass? So not summoning officials to question him was actually very beneficial to him, at least the government would not have a chance to refute.
Since the plaintiff didn't spread it, he is even less likely to spread it.
Zhang Fei was very clear about the thoughts of both parties, but for him, he could not make a judgment unless he summoned an official to ask about the situation, so he took the initiative to summon an official to the court.
The official's name was Li Siwen. He was a supervisory official, a type of official at the lowest level of finance, most of whom were dispatched officials.
According to the system of the Song Dynasty, this kind of dispatched official was an official with power, but because they belonged to the lowest level, they did all the dirty and tiring work, which was relatively lowly, only slightly better than a clerk. Generally, officials who passed the imperial examination were unwilling to be this kind of official, which led to many supervisory officials being hired from outside, or promoted from clerks. There were also good and bad people among them.
But they are also the officials in charge of the most affairs. They are in charge of all taxes, treasuries, miscellaneous crops, and monopolies in the state and county.
They constituted the largest financial and tax bureaucracy in the Northern Song Dynasty.
And this Li Siwen is the supervisory official in charge of the shopping market.
"The chief judge summoned Li Jianwu to appear in court today mainly to understand the government's purchase tax system."
Zhang Fei asked very seriously: "Li Jianwu, can you tell me why the government would use some market taxes and even some rural taxes to buy goods?"
Li Siwen replied: "This is because those places are very remote and the government has no manpower. Establishing a local supervisory office to collect taxes is the only way to collect taxes. Moreover, for the government, this is a way to save money and effort, killing two birds with one stone."
Zhang Fei asked again: "So how does the government sell these taxes?"
Li Siwen replied, "Our supervision is to adopt the method of sealing and submitting a petition, that is, the tenant writes his price on the petition, and then seals it and submits it. The one with the highest price wins."
Zhang Fei nodded slightly and continued to ask: "Before bidding, will the government give a reserve price?"
Li Siwen nodded and said, "Generally, yes."
Zhang Fei asked: "Then I wonder how the government calculates the base price, such as the purchase tax."
Li Siwen suddenly glanced at Zhang Fei cautiously, thought for a while, and then answered: "The government evaluates based on the local tax revenue in previous years, as well as the local household population and land tax, and finally gives a base price."
Zhang Fei nodded slightly and said, "Assuming that the tax revenue of a certain market is 100 guan in the future, what is the minimum price that the government will give?"
As soon as this question was asked, the Four Little Golden Warriors, Xu Zhiqian, Su Zhe and others all focused their attention on Li Siwen.
Li Siwen thought about it seriously for a while, "It's not certain, probably between 80 and 100 strings of cash."
Some officials looked depressed upon hearing this.
Zhang Fei asked: "In other words, for the betting households, the profit is between 0 and 20 strings of cash?"
"That's not the way to say it."
Li Siwen shook his head and said, "Because the commercial taxes purchased by the government are generally difficult for the government to collect, the taxes collected in previous years were not the full amount.
In addition, the households that have purchased the business taxes can pay in installments, and if they continue to purchase the business taxes of a certain market, the government will often give them preferential treatment in the second year and appropriately reduce the price, so they are all profitable. "
After hearing this, the four little warriors couldn't help but exchange glances with each other, as if they were all saying that this guy is a master!
In fact, these supervisory officials are much more difficult to deal with than Wei Yingfang and others, because they are battle-hardened and deal with all kinds of troubles every day, and are able to deal with all kinds of situations calmly.
Wei Yingfang and his men only look ruthless, but it is relatively easy to find flaws in their mouths.
Zhang Fei's question is actually a trap. If the tax is one hundred strings of coins, and you buy it at a price of one hundred strings of coins, then in order for the merchant to make money, he must generate extra profits, which must be borne by the people.
But his answer was very good. The one hundred strings of cash were not necessarily the full amount of tax, because these taxes on buying were very difficult to collect. If they were easy to collect, the government would not have used them for buying.
Since the government does not receive the full amount of taxes, if you receive the full amount of taxes, the households will make a profit.
But this is uncertain.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Just now, Li Jianwu said that if you buy for two consecutive years, the government will give you a discount. Is this continuous purchase mandatory?"
“It is generally not mandatory.”
Li Siwen said: "But if the buyer does not want to continue to buy, he must submit an application in October every year, and the government will be prepared to use this tax to continue to buy. If it is overdue, the government will be lenient. As long as there is someone willing to take over, it can still be transferred. But if no one is willing to take over, the government will ask the original buyer to continue to buy for another year."
After hearing this, Li Min couldn't help but ask his assistant, "Is that the case?"
The assistant immediately said, "There is such a rule, but if you apply, you will have to go through a lot of review. The government may send someone to negotiate with you, or they may ignore you. If you keep delaying, you will be overdue. How can we win over the government?"
The officials of the Northern Song Dynasty all understood the law because it was a compulsory course. They would not blatantly break the law, but they would know how to circumvent the law and set up and design some rules to exploit the common people and the wealthy.
The regulations require applications to be submitted in October, but the problem is that your application will only be counted if it reaches the supervising official. In fact, it is just giving the government an opportunity to force the poor households to continue buying if there is no fool to take over.
Zhang Fei was also puzzled by this and asked, "I wonder what the reason for this application deadline is?"
Li Siwen said: "The tax collection is usually done in November every year, so the buyers must submit their applications by October at the latest so that we can put the tax collection on hold in November. Once November is over, everyone will be preparing for the Chinese New Year in December, so we can only postpone it until next year, but by then, it will be difficult to find buyers immediately."
"So that's what's going on." Zhang Fei nodded and continued to ask, "Then I wonder if the government has any regulations on how much tax they can collect at most?"
"No."
Li Siwen said: "The purchase tax is mainly concentrated in the commercial tax in the market, but the commercial tax is uncertain and we cannot stipulate it. Although there are a few agricultural taxes, these agricultural taxes are also uncertain. For example, under natural disasters, the court will give appropriate exemptions, or the court will suddenly pardon some people's taxes. It is impossible to stipulate the specific amount.
But everyone must abide by the law. We have already specified in the contract how many households or which market will pay the tax. Naturally, the tax must comply with the tax law. This should not need to be written into the contract."
Zhang Fei asked again: "If the households collect less taxes, will the government provide subsidies or support?"
Li Siwen shook his head and said, "No. Even ordinary people would not do that."
Zhang Fei nodded and continued to ask: "What if the tax collectors use violence to pay taxes during the tax collection process, how will the government deal with it?"
Li Siwen immediately said: "This is not our business, we just focus on buying the market."
This answer is absolutely flawless.
Finally, he kicked the ball directly to the county government.
Zhang Fei could only summon County Lieutenant Liu Daxing to testify in court. The County Lieutenant was in charge of public security matters, equivalent to the current Royal Police.
Liu Daxing said, "It is true that some people come to our door to file complaints. If the evidence is solid, we will punish them. But it is often the people who resist paying taxes first, and then the two sides come into conflict. We don't know how the tax collectors sign the contract with the tax collectors, so it is difficult for us to control many things. In fact, their tax collectors have the power to handle such matters. Generally, they handle tax disputes in the market. Our county government mainly handles thieves and robbers."
Li Siwen, who had just gone down, stood up and said, "We have the authority to handle such matters, but the premise is that this market is still under our jurisdiction. The markets that are sold out are not under our jurisdiction. I have no one there, so how can I manage it? This should be handled by the county government. After all, those markets are under the jurisdiction of the county government."
Liu Daxing immediately retorted: "We don't know the contract between you two. If we say that we have to arrest people who break the law, then most of the time it is the people who resist paying taxes first, so do we have to arrest them all?"
The two sides began to pass the ball back and forth.
It has to be said that it was quite easy to pass the buck in the Song Dynasty because power was too dispersed and there was a lot of overlap. Once something happened, it was difficult to find who was responsible.
In fact, the power of the supervisor is not small. He has the right to execute the punishment of mole and punish the people who do not pay taxes.
But it is hard to say whether the market where the sellers have already bought out falls under the jurisdiction of the supervising officials. After all, there is no one in charge of the supervising officials there, so how can they manage it? The people will go to the county government instead of them.
But it is hard to say whether it belongs to the county government. It originally belonged to the supervisor, but the supervisor sold this power to the businessmen. As far as the county government is concerned, no matter who you sell it to, it belongs to you, the supervisor, so you should be responsible, not the county government. The key point is that the county government is not clear about how the contract between you was signed.
Their Tai Chi performance was met with the loudest boos from the audience, as well as millions of contemptuous looks.
You guys are still playing like this in front of everyone, do you really think we are stupid
Aren't you guys in the same group
But they are not playing for the people, but for the imperial court. Doesn't the imperial court focus on evidence
OK!
Then we will just pass the buck to each other, and we ourselves don’t even know who is responsible for this, do you understand
Because they were not defendants, Zhang Fei only asked some professional questions.
After the booing, both sides entered into the closing arguments.
Fan Zhenxian stood up and said, "The country has its own laws, and the family has its own rules. In our dynasty, whether it is commercial tax or agricultural tax, there are very detailed regulations. The current evidence has fully proved that the defendant did not collect taxes according to the tax law. They collected double or even several times the tax from my client.
As for the tax calculation method mentioned by the other party's earpiece, first of all, they have no basis for it. Secondly, those people did not explain clearly to my client why they had to pay so much tax. But of course, the people have the right to ask for clarification, and before they understand clearly, the people also have the right to refuse to pay.
However, the other party resorted to violence, robbing, forcing, and even molesting my client's wife, causing huge losses to my client. I hereby implore the Royal Court to rule in our favor, punish the defendants, compensate my client for all losses, and hold them criminally responsible."
After these two lawsuits, Zhang Fei probably figured out Fan Zhen's style: he was not very aggressive and didn't ask many questions, but he always managed to grasp the most critical issues.
I don’t care how they pass the buck, it has nothing to do with me, I only care about the interests of my clients.
After Fan Zhen sat down, Li Min stood up and said, "The other party is right. This country has its own laws and families have their own rules. However, my clients have strictly abided by the contract with the government and the power granted to my clients by the government.
The other party said that my client collected too much tax, which is completely groundless because there is no stipulation in the contract about the maximum tax my client can collect. At the same time, there are many clauses in the contract that emphasize that the client is responsible for his own profits and losses, which invariably encourages the client to collect more and earn more.
As for this point, the answer given by Supervisor Li just now can provide sufficient proof. When the taxes collected by several of my clients were far lower than the purchase money, the government would not give any subsidies to my clients. The government even did not allow my clients to refuse to continue the purchase when the contract expired.
In other words, whether to collect more or less is up to each person. As for the violent means accused by the other party, that is even more out of context. The facts have proven that it was the other party who refused to pay taxes first, and then my client's men resorted to violent means.
You must know that my client's power comes from the supervisor, and the supervisor can impose a fine of up to sixty lashes when faced with refusal to pay taxes.
Then my client should also have this power, but my client did not do so. They only used force to take away the corresponding taxes. The purpose was to collect taxes, not to hurt people.
This is even a means of self-protection. The evidence I provided just now can prove that many tax collectors hired by the households were beaten by the villagers, but the government would not give any support.
If someone accuses this purchase contract of having problems, it is difficult for me to object, but they cannot accuse my clients of being guilty, because this is unreasonable. My clients fully abide by the contract with the government. Therefore, I implore the Grand Court to find my clients not guilty. "
"Thank you for your statements from both the prosecution and the defense."
Zhang Fei nodded, then turned his head to look at the assistant judges and said, "Eight assistant judges, do you have any results?"
The eight people nodded at the same time, without hesitation.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "If you need to think carefully, I can give you some time to think."
The eight assistant judges shook their heads in unison, indicating that this was totally unnecessary.
"Oh well!"
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, then asked, "Those who think the plaintiff should be found in favor of the case, please raise your hands."
The eight assistant judges raised their hands at the same time, wishing they could all stand up.
This requires some thought. The plaintiff must win!
How abominable the other party's behavior is.
"Thank you for the assistance of the assistant judges."
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, picked up the teacup and took a sip, then suddenly asked the four little golden men in front of him: "You...!"
As soon as the words came out, the four of them wanted to bury their heads in the documents.
"Wow... that's all you have."
Zhang Fei was so angry that he kicked the four people below, but they remained unmoved and kept silent.
This is a bit too difficult, because after asking around, it seems that the responsibility lies entirely with the government, but the problem is that the government is not a party to this case and they have no idea how to judge.
"What a loser!"
Zhang Fei shook his head, glanced around, and then said loudly: "In terms of reason, this judge also agrees with the judgment of the eight assistant judges, but in terms of legal principles, this judge cannot determine whether the defendant is guilty for the time being."
When these words were spoken, everyone was stunned.
Is this not enough to convict the defendant
Mr. President, what’s wrong with you
Zhang Fei explained: "Because in our dynasty's laws, there is no prohibition on tax collectors from using violence when the other party refuses to pay taxes. According to the testimony of the previous witnesses, the premise for the defendant to use violence is that the other party refuses to pay taxes first.
The point of contention is whether the taxes the defendants require people to pay are legal. If they are illegal, the defendants can be found guilty, but if they are legal, they are not guilty.
However, the purchase contract signed between the government and the households did not specify the legal tax amount in detail. Supervisor Li gave the reason that taxes often change, and everyone should abide by the law to collect taxes. This is common sense and there is no need to write it into the contract.
However, what Supervisor Li did not take into account was that collecting taxes according to the law only binds the tax officials, not the people. The people only need to pay taxes according to the law.
The po merchants are ordinary people, not officials, so they do not need to abide by the law of tax collection. They only need to abide by the contract with the government. This is like if the government hires people to collect taxes, those people only need to obey orders, and do not need to abide by the law of tax collection. They collect as much as required, and the responsibility is borne by the government. However, the government did not specify the specific tax amount and tax collection principles and regulations in the relevant po purchase contracts. This is obviously not right, and it will be beneficial to the defendant.
As for the defendant's evidence on tax collection, it is believed that their method of calculating taxes was based on the government's tax calculation method, which actually has nothing to do with the plaintiff and should be a dispute between the defendant and the government.
Therefore, the presiding judge’s suggestion for this case is that if the plaintiff feels wronged, he should sue the government and seek corresponding compensation, rather than the defendant, because the tax law relationship only exists between the people and the government. The government also has an unshirkable responsibility when facing the people. As for who should bear this responsibility, it is a dispute between the defendant and the government.
Therefore, based solely on the current confession, this judge is unable to find the defendant guilty.
But one thing is certain, that is, this contract has many problems, and the responsibilities and obligations are not clearly defined. In order to avoid more disputes, this court president has decided that before this case is thoroughly examined, the government is prohibited from buying taxes from anyone in any area. If there are any agreements to buy taxes for several years, they will all be suspended starting next year. "
When they heard the last paragraph, the expressions of the officials present changed drastically, and some even stood up and glared at Zhang Fei.
If the royal court simply convicts the government officials based on the evidence, they will be mentally prepared because they all know the mess involved. However, if you directly ban the purchase tax, it will be an infringement of their power.
Because the purchase tax is an administrative system.
However, Zhang Fei did not notice their behavior, but asked Fan Zhen and Li Min: "Do the defendant and the plaintiff have any objection to this verdict?"
Li Min and Fan Zhen both expressed no objection.
Zhang Fei asked Su Zhe again: "Does the procuratorate have any objection to this?"
Su Zhe smiled and said, "The procuratorate has no objection."
Zhang Fei immediately banged the gavel and said, "Court is adjourned."