The sun sets.
The case will be heard in court tomorrow, but Zhang Fei and Xu Zhiqian are still sitting by the lake, reviewing the relevant evidence and discussing tirelessly.
In fact, there is no secret to this legal work, just diligence and meticulousness. Outsiders only see their glamorous side and seem to take it for granted.
Little did they know that Zhang Fei worked harder than any Erbi.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to produce so much surprising evidence in court.
But no one has learned this trick yet.
Even though Fan Chunren and Su Che realized that Zhang Fei was very meticulous in his lawsuits, they could never be as meticulous as Zhang Fei.
It’s not that they don’t work hard enough. This may have something to do with the style of contemporary articles, because nowadays there are only so few numbers in a sentence. What is emphasized is a short and exquisite one, and what is pursued is artistic conception. However, the law is pursuing long and detailed, which makes me feel confused just by looking at it. The kind that makes people sleepy.
Maybe this kind of thinking is also disturbing them.
"The court will be held tomorrow, and it seems that the government really doesn't intend to ask for an Erbi." Zhang Fei put down the copywriting in his hand, squinting his eyes softly. .
Xu Zhiqian nodded while sticking the label, "They may not realize the importance of this Erbi."
Zhang Fei said: "They have arrived for the essay collection. Do you want to do it?"
"That's not okay."
Xu Zhiqian immediately objected: "The Legal Aid Agency only has a small amount of manpower. It mainly helps the poor with lawsuits. It's not like the government has no money. Who can blame them if they don't invite them themselves?"
Zhang Fei hesitated: "But according to the system, our imperial court can assign Erbi from the Legal Aid Department to litigate for one of the parties."
He still hopes to pursue a fairer trial. He knows that the government is not looking for him, not because he is stingy with money, but because he does not realize the importance of Erbi in today's trials.
Xu Zhiqian was very insistent: "But they are not ordinary Erbi, and they are no worse than Li Min. If people find that the free ones are better than the paid ones, they will not ask for help from the Legal Aid Department. Then the poor people will But I can’t find anyone to file a lawsuit. I think this rule needs to be changed. The Legal Aid Department can only help those people living in poverty to file lawsuits.”
Zhang Fei felt that what Xu Zhiqian said made sense. At present, there were too many poor people, but the Legal Aid Department only had so many resources.
Xu Zhiqian saw that Zhang Fei was still hesitant, so she added: "Besides, if the government does not take the initiative to ask for Erbi, if our imperial court assigns it for them, they may blame us if they lose. This is purely thankless. We have already told you They can ask for Erbi, but they don’t want to, and obviously they also hope to win the case.”
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Okay, you decide the rules."
Xu Zhiqian accepted it happily. She has always been in charge of legal aid, and said: "I heard that many people go to the Procuratorate to apply for prosecutors. Why not ask Mr. Su Xiao to help promote the Legal Aid Department. Those who fail to pass the exam can come. The Legal Aid Department works and accumulates experience.”
Zhang Fei said: "That's okay, but I think there may not be many people coming for the time being. Prosecutors can be officials after all, but the Legal Aid Agency is not yet a formal official agency."
Xu Zhiqian said: "If Li Min wins this lawsuit, it will definitely change the people's view of Erbi in Hezhong Prefecture, and maybe it will attract a lot of people. Isn't that the case in Kaifeng Prefecture."
Zhang Fei nodded.
At this moment, Li Si suddenly ran over and gasped slightly: "Third brother, the price of salt banknotes outside has increased by another hundred yuan, and it has now reached four yuan."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "I understand."
Xu Zhiqian asked curiously: "Why are you interested in the price of this salt banknote? Is this related to this case?"
Zhang Fei shook his head and said: "I just want to know if this salt banknote is more active among the people. After all, the government will continue to use it in the future. So far it seems to be pretty good and the response is relatively fast."
Xu Zhiqian said: "But the original price of salt banknotes was four thousand eight hundred cents, and now it has only increased to four cents. It seems that many people still think that those salt merchants may not win the lawsuit."
Zhang Fei asked Li Si again: "Are there many transactions?"
Li Si shook his head and said: "I just asked about the bids, but I haven't heard of anyone actually selling the salt banknotes in their hands."
Zhang Fei nodded and said to Xu Zhiqian: "Currently there is a price but no market, and both parties are just shouting. The price is relatively unreal, but at least it can reflect that merchants are still keen on speculating on salt banknotes."
Xu Zhiqian asked: "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "Of course it is a good thing. Giving interest to salt banknotes is also to make the salt banknotes have better circulation. Any commodity must be circulated to still have value. If the salt banknotes are not recognized by the public, then this It’s really just a lawsuit and it won’t affect much.”
The next day.
It was still just dawn, and there was already a sea of people in front of the imperial court. Even the courtyard was already packed. It turned out that the imperial court had advanced the court opening time from the previous three quarters to three quarters, a full hour earlier.
This is because the weather has been too hot recently, and last time the review lasted until noon, which seriously damaged the experience of the viewers.
But no matter how early it is, those officials will arrive early. This lawsuit may seem simple, but the significance of this judgment is very important.
Officials are very nervous about this.
"If the imperial court really rules that the government has breached the contract and needs to compensate those salt merchants, will the government really compensate them?"
Hedong County Lieutenant Liu Daxing asked curiously.
The surrounding officials were also watching from left to right.
Not to mention that they had never seen it with their own eyes, there was no record of it in the history books. There was really no trace of it, and they had no idea what it would become.
"I don't know that either."
Wei Yingfang shook his head, then glanced at Qin Zhongshou next to him and said, "If the government really wants to compensate hundreds of thousands of dollars, Commander Qin, our military expenditures will definitely be reduced a lot this year!"
Qin Zhongshou hummed: "Hundreds of thousands of dollars in military expenses? OK, if this army is in chaos, you will be responsible."
Wei Yingfang hurriedly said: "Commander Qin, I am just kindly reminding you, why are you still complaining about me? The original increase in salt banknotes was not just for military expenditures. If you want to make up for this amount, you can only make up for it from military expenditures." buckle."
Qin Zhongshou said: "Aren't the public prosecutors and the procuratorate included in the finances of Hezhong Mansion? Why don't they deduct their money? They are the ones who decided the case."
Cao Yi said with a smile: "Their total expenditure is only that much. If it is to be deducted, it must be deducted from military expenses."
Qin Zhongshou said unhappily: "I'll let you do whatever you want. Anyway, if something happens, you will be responsible."
Liu Daxing suddenly said: "The imperial court is saying that we are not subordinate to each other. Why can the imperial court interfere in our government affairs?"
Qin Zhongshou immediately said: "That's right! Just ignore him."
Wei Yingfang chuckled and said, "We don't want to pay attention to it either. Unfortunately, both Magistrate Cai and Academician Yuan are afraid of the Public Security Bureau. If they don't take the lead, what's the use of us going there."
"Ahem!"
Cao Yi suddenly coughed twice and glanced to the side again.
I saw Cai Yanqing and Yuan Jiang entering the court.
Qin Zhongshou immediately walked over and asked: "Prefect Cai, Bachelor Yuan, if the imperial court really decides to compensate those salt merchants, it can't be deducted from military expenses!"
Cai Yanqing frowned and said, "Who is spreading rumors?"
Qin Zhongshou's expression changed and he chuckled: "No one is spreading rumors, even the soldiers are very worried."
Yuan Jiang said: "Commander Qin, don't worry, the military expenses that should be paid will not be less than a penny."
Qin Zhongshou breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "That's fine."
Regarding this matter, Liu Daxing also came forward, "Prefect Cai, Bachelor Yuan, compared to the army, people in our government office are even more panicked. When the public prosecutor came, they were already afraid of losing their jobs, and now they are even more worried."
Cai Yanqing said: "The case has not been decided yet, so what are you worried about?"
Yuan Jiang nodded and said: "What Magistrate Cai said is reasonable. This has not yet been judged. Don't worry. I believe that President Zhang is also a person with general knowledge and will not deliberately make things difficult for the government."
Liu Daxing said humbly: "I hope so."
But they all know in their hearts that you either don't want to try this lawsuit. As long as it goes to trial, the government will definitely lose. They don't have the mentality of winning, and even asking Erbi is in the way.
However, the finances are not rich to begin with. If we want to make up for this amount of money, it will definitely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, so we will definitely have to reduce expenditures. All parties are worried that the cuts will be borne by themselves.
Especially the military, they are big financial financiers.
Wei Yingfang and the others also took advantage of the mentality of all parties and deliberately fanned the flames and created panic.
After a while, Su Che, Cai Jing and others entered the court.
But this time, the corridor next to Su Che was finally built and welcomed its first user. Li Min and his three deputies also entered the corridor.
As soon as they entered, there was a lot of discussion outside the courtyard.
Li Min is really in the limelight recently, and this request for interest is really exciting and exciting.
Can this still be done?
After a while, Zhang Fei and Xu Zhiqian went to the court president's stage, and the inside and outside of the courtyard gradually became quiet.
After making some preparations, Zhang Fei glanced at the sky, looked around, and said loudly: "Because the weather has been very hot recently, in order to be able to conduct the trial in a more comfortable environment, the president of the court has decided to advance the court opening time to 4:30. From now on, the court opening hours will also change depending on the weather. If you want to come to the hearing, you need to pay attention to the notices posted by the imperial court in time."
Thoughtful!
This handsome president of the court is still so considerate.
The people's favorable impression of Zhang Fei is really overwhelming.
Cai Jing stood up again and said: "Today our imperial court is hearing a case involving a salt merchant suing the Salt Department for salt banknote breach of contract."
After he sat down, Zhang Fei banged the gavel and said, "The court is officially open. Erbi, the plaintiff's representative, will speak first."
Li Min stood up, bowed, and said: "I would like to ask the president of the court to summon the plaintiff Duan Chaobei to appear in court to testify."
"pass."
As soon as he stood up, there was discussion all around.
This is the first time in Hezhong Prefecture that Erbi can be seen in court. In the past, it was the procuratorate's role. Today, the procuratorate is only here to supervise.
This Erbi is not only on an equal footing with the Prosecutor General, but there seems to be no difference between the two.
Is the status that high?
Almost all Erbi from Hezhongfu came. Seeing this scene, their eyes became moist, and they felt that their spring was finally coming.
After a while, Duan Chaobei came to the court. It was early in the morning, the cool breeze was blowing, but this man was sweating profusely and restless, just like under the scorching heat. Although they had also witnessed the trial of the imperial court, But when you actually sit on it, the feeling is completely different.
Li Min asked: "Duan Chaobei, where are you from?"
Duan Chaobei replied: "I am from Luoyang."
Li Min asked again: "Why are you here in Hezhong Mansion?"
Duan Chaobei said: "I have been engaged in selling salt, so I often stay in Hezhong Mansion."
"Excuse me, how many years have you been selling salt?"
"More than ten years, to be precise, twelve years."
"But I heard that you are changing your career recently?"
"right!"
When Zhang Fei heard this, he leaned back slightly and whispered: "This Li Min looks pretty good!"
Xu Zhiqian whispered: "Even though he is young, he has fought hundreds of lawsuits in the Legal Aid Department, and he is actually no worse than Li Lei."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "This can only show that he has experience, but the specific method is hard to say. After all, the other party does not have an Erbi, so he has taken a huge advantage!"
Then Li Min said: "Really? You have been working for twelve years, why do you want to change your career suddenly?"
Duan Chaobei said: "That's because the salt business has become increasingly difficult recently."
"Why?"
"According to the rules set by the government, we salt merchants transport money to the border, buy salt banknotes from there, and then go to designated salt ponds to exchange salt banknotes for salt. However, in the past four years, the salt banknotes have been exchanged for salt. They come less and less, and many times they can’t even exchange for salt.”
"Can you be more specific, how much salt could the salt banknotes be exchanged for, and how much salt can it be exchanged for now?"
"Originally, one salt banknote could be exchanged for two hundred kilograms of salt, but now it is one hundred and ten kilograms or one hundred and twenty kilograms."
"Salt banknotes can be exchanged for two hundred pounds of salt. This is an unwritten rule, but it is also explicitly stipulated by the government."
"It is clearly stipulated by the government."
Duan Chaobei said excitedly: "The government issued a clear notice at the beginning. It has always been possible to exchange for two hundred catties. It has only been gradually reduced in recent years."
Li Min asked again: "What did the government say?"
Duan Chaobei said: "The government just said that there is not that much salt in the salt pond, so a salt banknote can only be exchanged for 110 kilograms or 120 kilograms. Many times the government simply refuses to exchange it for us because there is no salt.
Later, the government issued a salt banknote worth sixty kilograms of salt, but the original salt banknote could only be exchanged for two, which still totaled one hundred and twenty kilograms of salt. "
Li Min asked: "Could it be that the government has changed the regulations, but you just don't know about it?"
"impossible!"
Duan Chaobei said: "The government has never issued a notice in this regard, and we have also signed a contract with the government."
Li Min nodded, picked up another piece of evidence, and said to Zhang Fei: "President, this is the contract between Duan Chaobei and the government, and the original notice issued by the government can prove that the salt banknote issued by the government, one It’s worth two hundred pounds of salt, and the value of the salt banknote has never changed.”
"Submit."
"He already has the evidence, so what else is he asking? Couldn't he just present it directly? It's really pretentious!"
Qin Zhongshou said with disdain.
Fu Shichun on the side smiled and said: "Uncle Qin, you don't know this. The purpose of this Erbi lawsuit is to convince the president of the court and the procuratorate. They will only ask questions that are beneficial to them."
Cao Dongdong said anxiously: "But why does the government not know about Erbi?"
Qin Zhongshou said: "You can't win this lawsuit even if you file it."
Cao Dongdong said: "That's not true. If we can hire Zhang San, we can win this lawsuit."
Qin Zhongshou said in surprise: "Really?"
Cao Dongdong nodded and kindly reminded: "If Uncle Qin commits a crime in the future, he must pay for an Erbi. The money cannot be saved. Back then, the instructor accused me of rape. Xiaochun, why did you stab me?"
Fu Shichun rolled his eyes, "A good man doesn't mention how brave he was."
Cao Dongdong suddenly woke up, sat up straight, and began to observe carefully.
The military attaches on the side looked at Cao Dongdong one after another.
"Ya Nei, haven't you finished speaking yet?"
"Well, Li Min still has some tricks up his sleeve!"
".?"
After Li Min presented the evidence, he continued to ask Duan Chaobei: "Then did you exchange the salt banknotes for salt?"
Duan Chaobei shook his head and said: "Of course not. If you only give me one hundred and twenty kilograms, then I will lose all my money."
"how do I say this?"
"We need 4,800 yuan to exchange for a salt banknote, which is 24 yuan per catty, plus shipping costs. If we sell it to Jingdong Road, we have to sell at least 40 yuan per catty to make a profit. But if One hundred and twenty kilograms, the cost is forty pennies per kilogram, plus freight, it would cost at least fifty or sixty pennies to make a profit, but for fifty or sixty pennies, it cannot be sold at all, and it may be sold. Official punishment.”
As he talked, Duan Chaobei looked aggrieved and choked up: "So we have been staying in Hezhong Mansion, hoping that the government can give us salt in full. In the past two or three years, all my money has been in these salt banknotes. , I can’t do anything, I can only sit and eat, and sometimes I even rely on borrowing money to survive.”
The acting is good and the words are touching, but compared to Wu Zhang and Huang Tong before, the people watching this time are very calm. Although they hope that the salt merchants will win, it is only for the government. They are not stupid. They themselves Who can sympathize with these big salt merchants if they don’t have enough to eat?
The officials even sneered and wished they could be punished themselves. Who doesn’t know you people? You still need to borrow money to survive. Do you think we are stupid?
Li Min asked again: "How many salt notes do you have in your hand now?"
Duan Chaobei said: "Twelve thousand strings in total."
The people shook their heads when they heard this. You can come up with so much money, and why are you still crying about being poor?
Li Min said: "Is this a one-time exchange?"
Duan Chaobei shook his head and said: "No! It was divided three times because the government repeatedly promised at that time that as long as we continued to sell salt, it would give us enough salt, but it has not been fulfilled until now."
Li Min nodded and asked, "If you could get all the salt in exchange, would your life be different?"
Duan Chaobei immediately said: "That will definitely be much better than now. In recent years, I have been staying in Hezhong Mansion every day, looking forward to it day and night, and haven't made a penny."
"I'm done asking."
Li Min bowed to Zhang Fei and sat down.
"He lied."
"I don't believe he didn't make a penny."
"He has a lot of money, how can he borrow money to live?"
There were sounds of dissatisfaction all around.
"quiet!"
Zhang Fei directly struck down with the gavel.
Xu Zhiqian whispered: "This salt merchant must not be telling the truth."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "Who told the government not to invite Erbi?"
Xu Zhiqian said: "Aren't you going to expose their lies?"
Zhang Fei said: "I am the president of the court now, not Erbi. As long as they produce evidence to prove what they say, it will be fine. If they can't prove it, just ignore it. The key is that these misfortunes will not have any impact on the case. They It didn’t even impress the people.”
With that said, he said to Li Min: "Since the other party did not ask for Erbi, the plaintiff represents Erbi and can continue to pass evidence."
Li Min's eyes flashed with joy, this was truly a wild start!
He summoned the remaining six plaintiffs one after another.
All kinds of grievances, all kinds of misfortunes, all kinds of hints that the government does not keep its promises.
The officials were so angry that they were glaring, but there was nothing they could do.
"President, all my witnesses have appeared in court."
"Um."
Zhang Fei nodded and said loudly: "It is said that He Yanjian will appear in court."
Li Min did not subpoena an official, it was all from his own side, but logically speaking, questioning the officials is the key. Li Min and Zhang Fei also discussed this point. He was new here and was still a little afraid because you have to ask the officials. , must be asking to death.
But who would dare to dig into this muddy water? Li Min didn't know what would happen to him.
In addition, the other party did not ask for Erbi, so Zhang Fei personally asked the government.
In the past two days, many friends have returned, and the update time is more unstable than before. Please forgive me.
(End of chapter)
