When Lu Xiaosheng stood up, Fan Zhen immediately cast an apologetic look, but Lu Xiaosheng looked at him with shame, sighed, and slowly walked down the court.
This Lu Xiaosheng was Fan Zhen's confidant and good friend. He was a very upright man and had a high moral integrity throughout his life. Therefore, Fan Zhen was the first to summon him to testify, hoping to use him to demonstrate the demeanor of their country squire and reverse the bad influence caused by the morning.
But little did he know that the other party would still find a flaw and make his old friend suffer.
In the eyes of the squires, this is really demoralizing.
However, Fan Zhen still looked confident and strategizing, without any panic.
Next it was the defense's turn to call witnesses, and this time it was Lu Bangxing who was in charge. He directly summoned a squire from the other side named Xu Qingnian, the same squire who refused to testify in court because of illness in the morning.
But at noon, after some persuasion from Fan Zhen, he agreed to appear in court.
After all, he is one of the plaintiffs. As a plaintiff, it would be too unconvincing if he is not willing to testify in court.
This old man, Ting Lai, was not as arrogant as Liang Youyi just now. He was sitting in a dignified manner, with his aggrieved eyes like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Are these country squires still alive today? Lu Bangxing almost laughed out loud, stood up, and asked directly: "I heard that Mr. Xu opened a Jieku shop in the city, specializing in lending."
Xu Qingnian nodded and said, "Yes."
Lu Bangxing asked again: "I wonder how much interest Mr. Xu's Jiekupu usually charges?"
“There’s high and there’s low.”
After saying that, Xu Qingnian immediately added: "I admit that some of the interest rates are relatively high. If you use the imperial court's conversion method, some of them will be more than double."
I admit it all, don’t ask.
Lu Bangxing smiled slightly and added, "I wonder if the interest agreed upon by the clan this time will bind Mr. Xu's Jiekupu?"
Xu Qingnian shook his head and said: "It is not restrictive, because the regulations are only for my folks in Huaishu Township. Jiekupu is in the city, and the two sides have nothing to do with it."
Lu Bangxing said: "In other words, Mr. Xu will not increase the interest rate of Jiekupu to 1.5 cents."
Xu Qingnian said: "No."
Lu Bangxing asked again: "So Mr. Xu doesn't sincerely support the one-and-a-half cent interest?"
Xu Qingnian said: "That's not true. I am very happy to do something for the villagers. And my Jiekupu in the city is just for business, as long as it is not illegal."
Lu Bangxing lowered his head and glanced at the copy, and said: "But according to my investigation, during the famine period about five years ago, which was the most difficult period for the villagers, the Xu family lent as much as twice as much as twice as much to the villagers. Three times the interest, and annexed the land of dozens of households. At that time, Mr. Xu didn’t seem to think of doing anything for the people? "
Xu Qingnian glanced at him and said, "I'm already so honest, but you still want to do this. It's really heartbreaking." He immediately replied desperately: "Many people did this at that time."
He doesn't usually talk like this. Like Liang Youyi, he talks about benevolence, justice and morality, but he knows that saying something here will only make himself more embarrassed, so he simply abandons the cloak of Confucianism and talks about interests directly.
Suddenly boos broke out outside the hospital.
"Quiet! Quiet!"
Zhang Fei immediately banged the gavel as if this was his only job.
After the people outside the hospital calmed down, Lu Bangxing continued to ask: "I heard that the draft agreement on interest was drawn up by Mr. Xu."
"Yes, it is."
Xu Qingnian nodded slightly.
Lu Bangxing asked: "Why did you ask Mr. Xu to draft it?"
Xu Qingnian said: "Because my family owns Jiekupu, I know this better."
Lu Bangxing asked again: "I heard that it is stipulated in the draft agreement that anyone who violates this provision will be expelled from his hometown?"
Xu Qingnian was stunned for a moment. After hesitating for a moment, he replied: "This was the plan in the original draft, but this clause was later deleted."
Lu Bangxing asked: "Why?"
Xu Qingnian said: "This is because the government has banned it. We are worried that writing this way will violate the law."
Lu Bangxing asked: "But according to my investigation, the patriarchal law of your Huaishu Township stipulates that if a woman becomes pregnant before marriage, she will be expelled from the township. I wonder if that is true?"
Xu Qingnian frowned and nodded: "Yes."
Lu Bangxing asked: "Can it be deleted now?"
Xu Qingnian shook his head and said: "That's not true."
Lu Bangxing asked: "So Mr. Xu is not afraid of breaking the law?"
Xu Qingnian was speechless.
Lu Bangxing waited for a while and then asked: "Is it possible that this provision only restricts you big landowners and country gentry, so it only stipulates regulations but not punishments?"
Xu Qingnian said hurriedly: "Of course not."
Lu Bangxing asked: "Then why is there no punishment?"
Xu Qingnian thought for a moment and then said: "That's because the matter has not been finalized yet. After this lawsuit is completed, we will consider the issue of punishment."
After Lu Bangxing heard this, he asked again: "In other words, this rule can be modified."
A flash of regret flashed in Xu Qingnian's eyes, and he also wondered, do all these Erbi minds move so fast? One hole was blocked, and another hole came, endlessly, and all I could do was nod helplessly.
Lu Bangxing asked again: "Interest can also be modified?"
"I don't know much about this." Xu Qingnian said sarcastically.
Lu Bangxing asked reluctantly: "Is there any provision in the patriarchal law that cannot modify interest?"
Xu Qingnian shook his head and said: "That's not true."
"That's okay."
"Yes, it is."
Lu Bangxing said: "I wonder if you amend this regulation, do you need to seek the consent of all the villagers?"
Xu Qingnian said truthfully: "This is not necessary. Generally speaking, the rules in the village are decided by the elders of the village."
Lu Bangxing said: "In other words, as long as a few elders in the village nod, the interest can be changed at will."
Xu Qingnian said sarcastically: "The elders in the village will also take the attitude of the villagers into consideration."
Lu Bangxing asked: "What should you consider?"
"Well."
Xu Qingnian said: "The elders in the village will still think about the villagers."
Lu Bangxing said: "That's it, no supervision?"
Xu Qingnian shook his head.
Lu Bangxing said: "If I say that after half a year or a year, if the elders in the village think that the interest rate is inappropriate, they can directly modify it, right?"
Xu Qingnian struggled for a moment and finally nodded.
"I'm done asking."
Lu Bangxing sat down directly.
Xu Qingnian couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
This is really leniency for those who confess and severity for those who resist!
Fan Zhen stood up slowly and asked, "Mr. Xu, does this regulation restrict villagers to only borrow money from the village and not outsiders?"
Xu Qingnian shook his head and said: "No. We only agreed that when villagers lend money in the countryside, the interest cannot be higher than 1.5 cents."
Fan Zhen nodded and said: "Just now, Mr. Xu said that he opened a Jieku shop in the city for lending. I wonder what the interest rate is in your shop?"
Xu Qingnian said: "This is not necessarily true. There is an interest rate of 1 cent, an interest rate of 5 cents, or even higher. This is determined based on the customer's collateral and the length of the loan."
Fan Zhen asked: "Now that the township has set an interest rate of 1.5 cents, will it affect your store's business?"
Xu Qingnian shook his head and said: "No, because the interest rate of 1.5 cents is not the lowest. If you have a very valuable mortgage, you can still borrow money with 1 cent interest, but if you have nothing and no If someone guarantees you, you may not be able to borrow it in the countryside."
Fan Zhendao: "So even if the township sets an interest rate of 1.5 cents, it cannot achieve a monopoly."
Xu Qingnian shook his head and said: "Impossible. I have never seen any businessman who can monopolize this industry with low interest rates, unless it is the imperial court."
Fan Zhen asked: "How do you say this?"
Xu Qingnian said: "Take Jiaozi as an example. Back then, Jiaozi was issued by our Jiekupu. However, some Jiekupu issued Jiaozi indiscriminately due to poor management, causing some people to lose their money, so the court A special Jiaozi service was set up to issue Jiaozi. At the same time, private Jiekupu was prohibited from issuing Jiaozi. Soon Jiaozi was monopolized by the imperial court."
Fan Zhendao: "This is a good thing."
Xu Qingnian said: "But the imperial court issued more coins, so recently the people have returned to using copper coins and iron coins."
The people outside the hospital began to whisper to each other. Xu Qingnian did not lie. After Jiaozi was briefly issued in Shaanxi, it plummeted. The reason was that the imperial court used a large amount of Jiaozi to pay military salaries, which far exceeded the government's reserve fund. As a result, Jiaozi immediately depreciated in value.
Businessmen also have spam, but the scope is limited and it is impossible to cause such a bad impact.
The reason is that if businessmen send excessive amounts of money, the people will immediately come to make trouble, and they will soon be able to control it, and the government will take action. But if the court wants to use excessive amounts of money, the people can only try not to use it, and there is no other way.
"Thank you!"
Fan Zhen nodded and said to Zhang Fei: "I've finished asking, and all my witnesses have appeared in court."
By implication, I can begin my closing argument now.
This surprised many people, because the scene seemed to be still about 50-50.
Only Zhang Fei nodded slightly to express his understanding.
Li Min asked in surprise: "Does he think the winner has been decided?"
Qiu Zhengwen asked: "Should we still ask?"
Li Min thought for a moment, then looked at the copy and said, "Actually, we have already asked almost all of the questions we want to ask. The remaining witnesses can be asked or not."
Lu Bangxing said: "Then it's better not to ask. If it's just us asking and we can't ask any new questions, it will offend a lot of people."
After all, they are just Erbi, and what they seek is money. If they are hurting each other and everyone is their own master, then it doesn't matter. But now that the other party has given up asking questions, they continue to break the news and continue to expose the ugly side of the squire. , that will cause a lot of people to be unhappy.
Li Min nodded slightly.
At this time, Zhang Fei asked them again: "Does the defense have any witnesses to appear in court?"
Li Min immediately replied: "No more."
As soon as he spoke, all the officials and squires present breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, it was over.
It’s really fatal!
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "In that case, you two should prepare for the closing speech later."
After a while, we came to the stage of closing arguments.
Fan Zhenxian stood up and said: "All the accusations made by the government against the clan-based interest rate agreement in the countryside are actually baseless. Their only reason is that the Qingmiao method's two-cent interest rate comes first, while the patriarchal method's one-to-five cents comes first." Rest is behind, that's all, but this is obviously untenable.
Because interest rates of 1.5 cents were commonplace before, and it was not something that the squires suddenly came up with.
As for Fang Yan's unequivocal monopoly, that is even more ridiculous, because it is impossible to achieve a monopoly by agreeing on interest rates according to patriarchal laws. Facts have proven that no businessman or landlord can achieve this. On the contrary, the government can Achieve monopoly through prohibition.
And the reason why they want to ban the interest rate agreed according to the clan system is to seek a monopoly and allow more people to borrow young people's money. This has nothing to do with benefiting the people, but only interests.
More importantly, what these twenty-eight townships did was not illegal, no matter what their original intentions were. In this case, if the imperial court decides that the government wins the case, it will have very bad consequences, because then the government can seek money, ban more folk conventions, and monopolize all ways to make money, even if these behaviors are all legal. , In addition, this is even more inconsistent with the legal principle of the rule of law. I'm done. "
Many people nodded frequently and looked worried.
Zhang Fei just nodded expressionlessly, and then looked at Li Min, "The defense can start its closing argument."
"Thank you."
Li Min stood up and said, "First of all, I want to explain that the government has the absolute right to prohibit the squires from agreeing to low interest rates according to patriarchal laws. Just now, the other party did not dare to raise any questions about this."
Fan Zhen remained silent.
I don’t dare!
From a legal point of view, it is impossible to argue. Today is a system of centralized power by the emperor. Of course, the government has the right to do this.
He complained that officials were misusing their powers, illegally extorting gifts, and amassing wealth, but he did not say that the government had no right to do so.
Li Min continued: "However, the government did not ban them rudely, but sent people to communicate with them in advance. When the communication failed, they were forced to issue a ban, and the reason for the ban was not for seeking To amass wealth is to think about the people, not to compete with them for profit.
The reason why the imperial court promulgated the Young Crops Law was entirely because of the proliferation of usury among the people, which made the people miserable. Most of the private usury comes from squires and big landowners like them. They used usury to arbitrarily annex the people's land, exploit the people, and even forced the people to leave their hometowns, begging along the way, or turning into bandits, which had a very bad impact on the stability of the country, but it was the imperial court that finally stood up to make up for all this.
This is obviously unfair. If they really care about the people, what were they doing before? It was precisely because the imperial court was gradually losing patience with them that it decided to promulgate the Green Seed Law to curb their actions.
They obviously also know that the Green Crops Law will delay their intention to annex land, so they came up with this strategy to destroy the Green Crops Law. Therefore, I sincerely ask the Chief Justice to rule in our favor. "
Many people nodded frequently after hearing this, feeling that what Li Min said made sense.
After all, it was because of the proliferation of loan sharks that the court promulgated the Green Crop Law. It was not for nothing. If the court didn't do something, it wouldn't work!
In an instant, all eyes were focused on Zhang Fei.
At this point in the lawsuit, there were only a few people present. It was obvious who had the upper hand in the scene. Neither of them were good people anyway. At the same time, both sides made sense. It seemed that no matter who was judged to win, both were wrong and both were right. of.
Zhang Fei nodded, looked down at the copy, and then said: "The debate between the two sides just now centered on the harm caused by loan sharking to the country and the people. They also hoped that the people could live a better life, and they both said it very clearly. It makes sense, so the president of this court believes that the people have more say in this matter."
Having said this, he looked at the assistant trial seat and saw that the twenty assistant judges, like the people outside, looked extremely frustrated, but he still asked: "Everyone, assistant judges, do you have any thoughts in your hearts now?" Answer?"
I saw them nodding for a while and shaking their heads for a while, with confusion on their faces.
They are all bad guys, who should I choose?
After Zhang Fei saw this, he added: "This case is related to the interests of everyone in Hezhong Prefecture. The president of the court also hopes that you can consider it carefully, so the president of the court will give you some more time to think about it."
"Thank you very much, Chief Justice."
At this time, the assistant examiner seemed to have lost the initial excitement and excitement, and was left with endless pressure.
Zhang Fei picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and suddenly leaned forward, whispering: "Who do you four think will win the case?"
Cai Bian said: "Students think the government's side is more reasonable. After all, the government is thinking about the overall situation, while those squires are just for their own selfish interests."
Shangguan Jun said: "The imperial court is looking at the evidence, not the overall situation. Obviously what they did is not illegal."
Zhang Fei shook his head and sighed, "You guys! You are really not professional at all. Until now, you still can't give an accurate judgment."
The four of them couldn't help but look at each other.
Is the outcome already decided?
No way!
Zhang Fei seemed too lazy to pay attention to them anymore. He leaned back and picked up some of the evidence they had just handed over and began to examine it.
After another long while, Zhang Fei raised his head and asked the assistant judge again: "Have you thought clearly?"
The twenty assistant judges nodded at the same time, but there was still some hesitation on their faces.
Zhang Fei said: "If you think Twenty-Eight Township should win the case, please raise your hands."
The butcher was the first to raise his hand, and others raised their hands, three, four, five!
Finally everyone raised their hands.
This scene really surprised many people.
Because in their opinion, the scene was a 50-50 split, with both sides having a lot of negative information, and the people booing on both sides, but they never thought that this vote would all turn in favor of the plaintiff.
this.?
Were they bribed?
Yuan Jiang, who was well informed, was a little hesitant at this time. He did not expect that in this situation, the people would choose to trust the squire without hesitation instead of the government.
The squires were very pleased. After all, the people believed in them more.
Li Min, Qiu Zhengwen, and Lu Bangxing almost stared out of their eyes. What did I do wrong that you want to do this to me? They are so bad and you still choose them, are you crazy?
Only Fan Zhen and Su Che smiled, as if everything was planned.
Zhang Fei also asked: "Can you tell me the reason?"
An aunt plucked up the courage and said, "I don't want to support the plaintiff either, but I'm even more afraid that I'll have to go to the government to borrow money in the future."
It's really a nutshell.
Many people outside the hospital also nodded.
After all, the money owed to the landlord can be delayed, and the most it will be is a slap in the face. We can still talk about it. The imperial court has dealt with so many loan sharking cases before, and the two parties finally reached a settlement.
Would you like to try the money you owe the government?
It must be a total loss.
It’s not that officials want to deliberately torture the people to death, but because the money doesn’t belong to the officials, it belongs to the court. If the money is missing, they won’t be able to pay the bills and will definitely have to make up for it themselves, so naturally they can’t miss a penny. ah!
Yameng is not just a bloody lesson. If Yameng makes a slight omission and damages public property, he will be punished immediately and bankrupt his family. Anyway, it is only a lot more.
As the saying goes, choose the lesser of these two evils.
Although the common people have not read the book, they know better than anyone which method is more painful.
In terms of benefits, more 1.5% interest is not a bad thing!
"I see."
Zhang Fei nodded with a smile, and whispered to the four of them: "Are you ashamed? The common people can understand better than you."
The four little kings lowered their heads and focused on the evidence, pretending that Quan didn't hear anything.
Zhang Fei looked around again and said loudly: "The assistant judge has given his verdict just now, and the president of this court will review this lawsuit from the judicial level.
First of all, the interest is agreed upon in the village according to the clan system. This interest is far lower than the maximum interest stipulated by the law, and there is no coercion, so there is no illegal behavior here.
Secondly, the evidence presented by the prosecution is sufficient to prove that the government will directly benefit from the prohibition of clan-based interest agreements, and even achieve the effect of monopoly. The defense did not provide strong evidence to prove that they did so with the intention of undermining the Youth Law.
Although the defense presented a lot of evidence to prove that many of the plaintiffs were duplicitous, that they had previously benefited from loan sharking, and that they were all sanctimonious hypocrites, in justice, character is not even considered evidence. and benefit from legal interest, no matter what their purpose is, this will be protected by the judiciary.
The defense spends a lot of energy trying to prove that the other parties are all bad people, but as far as justice is concerned, bad people do not mean they are guilty. "
Doesn’t being a bad person mean that he is guilty?
Cai Bian and the others couldn't help but fell into deep thought.
Li Min and the others looked at Zhang Fei in embarrassment and confusion. They thought this made sense, but also found it strange.
Zhang Fei then continued: "What the president of the court values the most is the monopoly technique mentioned by the defense, because Emperor Zhenzong and Emperor Renzong both issued edicts prohibiting similar behaviors.
This kind of behavior will indeed cause harm to the country and the people, but the defense did not provide enough evidence to prove this. On the contrary, the prosecution provided strong evidence to prove that it wanted to achieve a monopoly with an interest of 1.5 cents, and Manipulating interest rates is almost impossible.
Because you can earn a lot of money with just one cent of interest, not to mention one cent and five cents, and everyone can borrow money. There is no threshold, so it is impossible to achieve a monopoly. To take a step back, even if they are really targeting Qingmiaofa, it is just a reasonable competition, not an act of sabotage. "
Everyone nodded frequently.
Lu Bangxing asked: "Is this monopoly technique the key to our victory?"
Qiu Zhengwen said: "Then the highest principle of the legal system is not the interests of the country and the monarch?"
Li Min said depressedly: "You didn't tell me earlier."
"I."
Qiu Zhengwen smiled awkwardly.
He then heard Zhang Fei continue to say: "As for the government's concern that the gentry will use the patriarchal system to exploit the people, there is actually no need to worry too much, because if the interests of the villagers are harmed under the patriarchal system, they can appeal to the imperial court. , the clan system in the village is just an agreement, not a government order or decree. The two parties to the agreement are in a relationship of equality, not obedience.
Finally, the president of this court also fully understands the government, because government lending is different from private lending. Interests cannot be arbitrarily determined and can only be determined through continuous discussion. However, this is at a disadvantage in commercial competition. Therefore, it is completely understandable that the government believes that the interest rate agreed in the countryside will undermine the implementation of the Green Crop Law.
However, the government's approach is obviously unreasonable. The government should optimize its own Green Crop Law to make it more competitive. It should not prohibit other people's legal competition in order to make its own business better. This is obviously not a normal behavior, and the consequences are very serious. The previous Salt Administration has fully demonstrated this. After the government monopolized everything, the situation only became worse, and the Trade Law will eventually be implemented.
This will not be conducive to the commercial development of our country, and will inevitably reduce commercial taxes and damage national interests. At the same time, it also violates the ancestral law. See any thoughtfulness.
Based on all this, the President hereby rules that the government's ban is invalid. "
"good!"
"Well judged!"
"The Chief Justice is absolutely right."
There were bursts of cheers outside the hospital, and gradually, it became a bit hysterical.
This was also the only thing people cheered for in this lawsuit.
Before, they had almost become depressed, even despairing!
This caused them to involuntarily place their hopes on the imperial court. Zhang Fei's words not only fully considered the rights and interests of the people, but also crucially agreed with the suggestions of the assisting panel. You must know that the assisting panel represents them. This gives them a feeling of rain coming out of a long drought.
(End of chapter)
