Second watch time.
Xu Zun returned home with a hint of drunkenness. When he saw his son, daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law came to the door, he apologized slightly and said, "You are not asleep yet!"
"How can I dare to sleep if my father is not back?"
Xu Lingxiao said quickly.
After all, Xu Zun is quite young, and the family is still a little worried if he doesn't come home tonight.
Arriving at the hall, Mu Zhen quickly poured Xu Zun a cup of hot tea.
Xu Zhiqian said slightly worriedly: "Dad, at your age, it's better not to go out drinking at night, so as not to hurt your body."
"I don't want to go socializing, that's not..." Xu Zun suddenly glanced at Zhang Fei standing aside, "Isn't it all your husband's fault?"
Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, then he came to his senses and said, "Is it because of the appeal by the people in Hedong?"
"What else could it be?" Xu Zun smiled bitterly and sighed: "Everyone who wants to invite me to drink today is almost queuing from the south gate to the north gate."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "Is it so exaggerated?"
"dare you laugh?"
Xu Zun glared at him angrily. In fact, he didn't like socializing either. In fact, many old friends came forward to ask him out this time. He added: "What happened this time is really different from the past. In the past, no matter how noisy you were, you wouldn't Few people come to me to inquire about information, because they also know my character, but this time everyone came to me shamelessly and asked me to advise you, you must put the overall situation first and don't mess around."
Xu Zhiqian murmured in a low voice: "The people have grievances, why can't they appeal?"
Xu Zun glanced at Xu Zhiqian helplessly, without saying anything, and said to Zhang Fei: "Zhang San, I have no intention of interfering with your duties. I just want to tell you the situation in the court. As for how you deal with it, that's up to you." Matters of the Supreme Court.”
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded: "I know."
In the past, Zhang Fei's troubles were related to the struggle for everyone's interests. Pay more taxes and do less illegal things, and that's it.
Moreover, Zhang Fei often occupies the moral high ground, is in line with Confucianism, and can win the support of many people.
But this time it's different, this time it's fatal!
It even involves the survival of the country.
Therefore, this time, both the reformists and conservatives, loyal ministers and traitorous ministers are all very worried about this.
Because this matter fell into Zhang Fei's hands, they had no way to control it, so they lowered their profile and went to Xu Zun to inquire about the information. This clearly implied that Zhang Fei must be aware of the stakes involved.
Xu Zun knew about the relationship between Zhang Fei and Zhao Xu. Without the emperor's nod, he would not have dared to bring this up. Moreover, Zhang Fei was actually better at this aspect than him, so he just informed Zhang Fei of the situation.
Even the vast majority of ministers in the DPRK are very worried about this.
But in fact it is limited to North Korea and China.
Since these people filed a lawsuit publicly and also requested the Legal Aid Department, the news spread quickly and immediately aroused heated discussions, but the atmosphere was completely opposite to that between North Korea and China.
This reason is also very simple. The people who are suing now are the people who have been treated arbitrarily by the Liao Kingdom, which can more arouse the empathy of the people. However, as a minister, you must still pay attention to the overall situation. For example, Fu Bi’s response to In fact, he was also very angry, but he didn't think it was a good time to break up with the Liao Kingdom.
But whether it was the bartender of the restaurant or the young scholar, they all complained that the Liao Kingdom was too arrogant and unreasonable, because this was not just once or twice, but every time.
When you hear it, you get angry, you get angry.
But they have given up hope in the court, because it has been the same every time, so what is the difference this time?
Therefore, they now place all their hopes on the Chief Justice, hoping that the Chief Justice can give them something different.
The presence of the Chief Justice is also the biggest difference from the past.
However, Zhang Fei only released the news. Too many people were involved, and the case was complex. The Supreme Court still needed to collect more evidence before it could make a judgment.
There has been no decision yet to review the case, but there is no talk of dismissal either.
The highest royal court.
"Since Mr. Zhao has dismissed it, why should you take the blame again?"
Sima Guang said with a serious face: "If it were just a simple judicial case, I would definitely not come to intervene, but this case, unlike any previous case, will affect the public prosecutor and the law.
Because no matter how you judge, your judgment cannot determine the direction of this matter. This must be decided by the court and the officials.
If you make a ruling but cannot implement it in the end, this will definitely affect the authority of your chief judge.
Also, if your judgment affects the court's negotiations, or even if you have not affected it, but the negotiations there are unfavorable to our court, someone will blame you for this fault.
The current situation is very unfavorable to our government, and we are in need of a scapegoat! "
Although he did not support breaking up with the Liao Kingdom, he really did not come to Zhang Fei to influence Zhang Fei's judgment. It was just that he knew that Zhang Fei's judgment was useless in this matter. He was purely helping Zhang Fei. Fei analyzes the stakes.
No matter how you judge, you can't decide the direction of the whole thing. It will only damage your authority and get you into trouble.
If you really want to cede territory, you have to find someone to take the blame. If you step in, you will definitely be the first choice.
This kind of thing happened many times in the Song Dynasty, but in the past it was all Diplomatic Hours that took the blame, and Sima Guang was very worried about this.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Thank you, Bachelor Sima, for your concern, but what I think may be a little different from what Bachelor Sima sees."
Sima Guang said in surprise: "It's different? What's different?"
Zhang Fei said: "Sima, like most people, sees diplomacy and the relationship between countries, but what I see is the interests of the people.
Yes, I can't decide the diplomatic aspect, but I can decide whether the people should receive compensation. As Mr. Zhao said in the reason for the rejection, this is a diplomatic matter and is not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.
It is true that diplomacy does not belong to the imperial court, but the people have suffered huge losses due to diplomacy. Then I think the imperial court must be responsible for these people. They lost their land for no reason but did not receive any compensation. This is simply an insult to the judiciary. The idea of insulting the rule of law. "
Sima Guang was startled, "Oh, you want to help those people get compensation?"
"certainly."
Zhang Fei said: "At least judging from the current evidence, they should receive compensation."
Sima Guang nodded repeatedly after hearing this, "This should be compensated." As he spoke, he glanced at Zhang Fei with a hint of suspicion, and said: "Let's do this. I suggest that the court pay compensation to those people first, and you don't want to do anything about it." After all, Doctor Han is still negotiating with the Liao envoy in Youzhou, so don’t make matters worse."
Zhang Fei hesitated for a moment and said: "Sister Sima, you know me. I just look unruly, but in fact I am the most disciplined!"
"I know you very well. You are the one who knows the rules best, but you are not the one who abides by them."
Sima Guang interrupted him and chuckled: "Don't talk about this kind of thing to the common people, even I have never thought that they can go to the imperial court to file a lawsuit. I had suspected before that the common people from Hedong had wings to fly over. Yes. Only you can think of this method, because you are the only one who knows best how the public security system works."
".?"
"Why don't you say anything? Aren't you very good at speaking?" Sima Guang snorted.
Zhang Fei was very aggrieved and said: "I thought that Bachelor Sima was here to care about me, but it turned out that he was here to test me."
"Does this still require testing?"
Sima Guang snarled angrily and said, "If I didn't care about you, why would I come here to this muddy water."
Having said this, he whispered: "You have to know that this matter cannot be decided by any one person. If this decision is to be made, there will be countless hands holding him. And the person who took advantage of this matter, He will inevitably become a scapegoat. Mr. Zhao is selfless, but he also chose to be wise in this matter to protect himself."
This is not just one or two times. Even now, he has figured out Zhang Fei's routine. This matter cannot be that simple.
But he believed that not even the emperor could make the decision alone, because it involved too many aspects, and if something went wrong, no one could protect you.
Zhang Fei was a little moved when he heard his sincere tone. After all, these words are generally not allowed to be said. His expression changed, and he smiled confidently: "Actually, I have always understood this truth."
Sima Guang frowned slightly and said, "So you still decided to do this."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "I just decided to keep this option. As for whether to use it or not, that's not what I have to consider."
Household Department.
"Hey! It's the president of the court, a rare visitor, a rare visitor indeed!"
Wang Anshi stood up, cupped his hands and smiled.
"Xueshi Wang really upset me."
Zhang Fei quickly bowed his hand in return, and then said with a wry smile: "Scholar Wang, you should call me Zhang San, it sounds better to me."
"Don't dare."
Wang Anshi said: "It's not that I'm afraid of the authority of your chief judge, but if I call you too close now, I'll get into trouble."
Zhang Fei curled his lips and said, "Scholar Sima even cared about me, unlike you, Scholar Wang, who kept a distance from me. You are so unloyal."
Wang Anshi snorted: "He went to find you because he only saw through you that you sent those people to the capital to complain, but he didn't see through your next step."
Zhang Fei asked: "Did Academician Wang see through it?"
Wang Anshi said: "Didn't you tell me that to start arousing people's anger against the Liao Kingdom, the court trial is undoubtedly the best publicity. You must be watching the situation."
Zhang Fei immediately laughed a few times.
Wang Anshi said seriously: "But there are still dangers involved."
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "That's why I came here to ask. With such preparations, if we lose the fight, it will be dangerous for everyone."
Wang Anshi said: "But I think this is not the best time. At least we have to wait until we eliminate Xixia and obtain the Hetao Racecourse before we can have the ability to compete with the Liao Kingdom."
He had his own strategic line, which was to concentrate the main force to destroy Xixia first, and delay the Liao Kingdom as much as possible. It didn't hurt to suffer some losses in the middle, because the cost of fighting on two fronts was too great, and the chance of winning was not high.
Now, in his opinion, this situation may turn into a mess.
"That's certainly ideal."
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "But Xueshi Wang knows about this, I know, and the Liao Kingdom also knows it, so now it is not us who are provoking, nor is it us who want to fight, but the Liao Kingdom is taking action. We must ensure that we do not Beaten."
Wang Anshi couldn't help but sigh, nodded and said: "So now Jifu is running outside every day, so I can only help him look after this household."
Zhang Fei asked: "How is the situation now?"
Wang Anshi said: "It's going relatively smoothly so far. The granaries in all the important towns in Hebei are full, and the production of firearms has also been stepped up. After all, I have saved a lot of money in the built-in inventory, so I don't feel it is difficult for the time being. And according to the information from the Third Division, According to statistics, the imperial court mainly spent money on grain, coal and iron, and more on grain purchase and transportation.
A large amount of tax coins flowed into the hands of landlords, and landlords were different from businessmen. After the three major Jiekupu increased the storage interest, they deposited the tax coins into Jiekupu, or directly purchased national debt, and the price of tax coins temporarily increased. Not affected.
But the problem still exists, that is, the Liao army has a geographical advantage. When it sends troops from Youzhou, it is a smooth river. At the same time, they have a large number of cavalry. Firearms alone may not be able to defend them. If they really fight, it depends on the combat effectiveness of the Hebei Forbidden Army. "
One of the reasons why he was eager to wait until Xixia was wiped out was because he knew that the most capable armies of the Song Dynasty were all in the northwest, including the elite cavalry. He still did not have much confidence in the Hebei Forbidden Army. Although they had begun to rectify it long ago, after so many years, If you have never fought a war, who knows whether you can win it.
The plains of Hebei are very flat, which is very conducive to cavalry operations. Firearms cannot make up for this. Fighting must rely on soldiers and horses.
This is also why he wanted to promote Ma Zheng and why he insisted on flowing eastward. Hebei had no natural dangers, so he changed the river course, which simply created an offensive environment for the Liao Kingdom.
And this is the strategic dilemma of the Song Dynasty.
Zhang Fei said optimistically: "The Song Dynasty has been completely reborn, and the Liao Kingdom is not the Liao Kingdom during the time of Queen Mother Xiao. I cannot think of myself as too weak, and there is no need to think of the other party as too strong."
Wang Anshi said: "But you seem to be too optimistic about this."
Zhang Fei said: "It's not that I'm too optimistic, but I think this battle is inevitable, so it's better to face it optimistically and be fully prepared."
Wang Anshi smiled slightly and said, "By the way, why did you come to the Ministry of Household Affairs?"
Zhang Fei said: "Oh, I'm here to get the tax account books for the Hedong territory, and I'll ask how the preparations went."
However, the facts were just as Zhang Fei expected. Since Han Wei did not mention the Sui coins, the Liao Kingdom saw that the Song Dynasty was just bluffing, and backhanded it with a super double, accusing the Song Dynasty of violating the Chanyuan Alliance.
The reason is that the Song Dynasty is stepping up the construction of fortifications in Xiongzhou and Zhuozhou and requires the Song Dynasty to dismantle them immediately.
This made Han Wei speechless.
He couldn't accuse the other party of violating the Chanyuan Alliance, because he had the emperor's order. In fact, the Song Dynasty had indeed practiced it, especially recently, it had practiced a lot, which indeed violated the Chanyuan Alliance.
In fact, this regulation was very unfavorable to the Song Dynasty, because the Liao Kingdom mainly relied on cavalry, while the Song Dynasty relied on infantry, and the cities along the border did not build forts. Of course, the Song Dynasty suffered a loss.
Han Wei was very cautious about this matter. If the emperor did not allow him to say it, he would not say it. He knew that it was easiest to take the blame for this kind of thing, so he quickly wrote to the emperor.
What do you want me to say?
This letter undoubtedly slapped the officials of the Song Dynasty twice in the face. You asked not to bring the Chanyuan Alliance into question, but now the Liao Kingdom has brought it out, so what should we do?
From a diplomatic point of view, the Song Dynasty is becoming more and more passive. Now it accuses the Liao Kingdom of violating the Chanyuan Alliance. If the Liao Kingdom really agrees to withdraw its troops from the border of Hedong in exchange for you demolishing those fortresses, will you demolish them or not?
The land east of Hedong was easily occupied by the Liao Kingdom and could not be defended at all. To occupy or not to occupy was only a nominal issue, but if you wanted to demolish the fortress, you would be risking your life.
History books always record how powerful the diplomatic envoys of the Song Dynasty were, but in fact, in terms of diplomacy, the Liao State was better than the Song Dynasty. Otherwise, the Liao State would not be able to take advantage every time through diplomacy.
Although force is one aspect, strategic vision is also important.
Especially during the last period of Song Huizong, the Liao State's diplomatic strategy was very correct, which was to unite with the Song Dynasty to fight against the Jin Dynasty. In fact, the Song Dynasty wanted to support the Liao State at that time, and it could hide behind and control it, but the Song Dynasty's diplomatic strategy was simply a mess.
This time is no exception.
He originally went to accuse the Liao Kingdom, but ended up being so passive.
If I had known earlier, I might as well not have gone.
Faced with the pressure from the Liao Kingdom, the court returned to silence.
In fact, silence represents compromise, but they dare not say it out.
In the end, Fu Bi came up with a way, that is, to let the Liao State follow the evidence and recognize that those territories belonged to the Song Dynasty, in exchange for the Song Dynasty dismantling the fortifications in Xiongzhou.
The Liao Kingdom may agree to withdraw its troops from the disputed areas, but it is impossible to agree to recognize those lands as belonging to the Song Dynasty.
But this can only be a procrastination technique.
But at this moment, the Supreme Court suddenly announced that after many days of evidence verification, the Supreme Court decided to open a hearing on the Hedong people's land lawsuit.
The news was so sudden that the ministers were shocked. They had seen that Zhang Fei had not decided to open a trial before, so they thought that Zhang Fei knew the stakes and felt a little relieved.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Fei suddenly decided to try the case, but there was no news beforehand.
The only one who can stop Zhang Fei is the emperor.
Because the political hall cannot interfere with the judiciary.
But the problem is that the Liao Kingdom just slapped them twice, and now they ran to tell the emperor to stop the chief judge, which seemed too weak.
The key point is that as soon as this news came out, the people were rejoicing that someone could finally make the decision. Young scholars also wrote vigorously and published articles in newspapers and periodicals in support of the president.
Because they all know that the only issue in this lawsuit is whether to go to trial. As long as the trial goes to trial, the people will most likely win.
As a result, the ministers are even more afraid to speak. If this spreads out, the people are not allowed to block the door of his house and scold him.
They could only settle for the next best thing and demand a closed-door trial.
However, Zhang Fei believed that this was a civil lawsuit and decided to open the trial. The date was even set for the next rest day, which was only three days away from today.
This made the ministers laugh angrily.
This guy is really incompetent. You try, you try, you have to make the Liao Kingdom compensate, I will chop off his head and give it to you as a chair to sit on. The law of the public prosecutor is my creed in the next life. Who the hell says that the law of the public prosecutor is not right? I Fight him hard.
There are also some ministers who anonymously published articles attacking Zhang Fei, thinking that Zhang Fei was just showing off, grandstanding, and taking the opportunity to hype himself up, but in fact it was useless. It is impossible for the defendant to participate in this trial. This is just our own entertainment. happy.
Is this interesting?
It will only bring chaos to the country.
I have to admit that this statement has won the approval of many people.
After all, if the defendant doesn't participate, what's the point of holding a trial?
But for the people, this is exactly what they expect from the chief judge.
When Zhang Fei sued the court, most people thought he was seeking death.
So what are the facts?
This happens again and again.
Who said that the Chief Justice could not govern the Liao Kingdom.
When Zhang Fei appeared in the imperial court for the first time as the president of the court on the day of the trial, a uniform shout suddenly sounded outside.
"President of the Grand Court!"
"President of the Grand Court!"
The people raised their arms and shouted excitedly.
Zhao Xu, who was sitting in the hall, felt a little disappointed when he heard the cheers. The cheers could have belonged to him, but he also knew that he couldn't do it, and he couldn't do it for the time being.
As Sima Guang said, once he decides to do this, there will be countless hands holding him. After all, Song and Liao have been at peace for more than eighty years. There are too many people's interests involved. Once a war breaks out, life or death will be uncertain.
The judgment of the chief judge can be denied by him, and it can even turn into a farce, but once he speaks, there is no turning back.
In fact, Zhang Fei helped him take off all the pressure first, so that he could make a more calm decision.
Therefore, the ministers sitting in the courtyard sneered at this, and everyone thought that Zhang Fei was trying to please others.
You are happy with the trial, but the people of the world are accompanying you to bear the consequences of all this. You are really a loyal minister!
After a while, it was not until Zhang Fei dropped the hammer that the outside gradually became quiet.
When the time was up, an official stood up and read out the case of the trial.
Immediately, Zhang Feixuan's first batch of witnesses appeared in court to testify.
A total of five people came up.
Zhang Fei first asked them to state their names and where they were from.
The five of them are all common people near Tianchi in Hedong.
Tianchi is also the main area of controversy in this negotiation.
Zhang Fei lowered his head and looked at the copy and said, "According to your complaint, about four months ago, on March 26th of this year, the Khitans occupied your land?"
One of the young men named Chen Xu said: "Yes."
Zhang Fei asked: "How did they occupy your land?"
Chen Xu said excitedly: "That morning, dozens of Khitan people suddenly came. They rode on horses and suddenly surrounded our village. They said that this land belonged to their Liao Kingdom and gave us three days to move out. Here, and when leaving, they took away all our farm tools and even destroyed the fields, which were the seedlings we had just planted!"
When he talked about it later, he had tears in his eyes, and the four people next to him also wiped the corners of their eyes silently. After all, this field is the life of their farmers.
There was also a burst of yelling and cursing outside.
This is really deceiving.
"quiet!"
Zhang Fei banged the gavel hard and asked Chen Xu: "Do you have any certificates to prove that those lands belong to you?"
"Of course."
Chen Xuzhi nodded and said: "We have the land deed, and our family has been farming there for 20 or 30 years."
Wang Hui of the Legal Aid Agency, who represented them, stood up and said, "President, not only do we have the land deed, we also found the official documents from the court at that time. It was Han Qi who personally ordered the recruitment of them to farm in Tianchi during the fifth year of Huangyou's reign. , and promised that they only need to farm for two years before the land deeds can be issued to them. Therefore, the five of them received the land deeds from the government in the first year of Zhihe."
Zhang Fei said: "Submit it."
"yes."
After the evidence was presented, Zhang Fei did not have an assistant, but after looking at it one by one, he asked Chen Xu and others: "Were there any government officials or soldiers to protect you at that time?"
"No. Not one."
Chen Xu added: "There were patrols in the area, but when they saw the Liao people coming, they ran faster than us."
There were boos.
The ministers sitting inside all lowered their heads and scratched their foreheads.
In fact, they are already used to it.
Above the imperial court, the imperial court has no dignity at all.
He is so honest and can say anything.
At this moment, another person was heard shouting: "Royal Police!"
Immediately everyone shouted in unison: "Royal Police!"
This is also a mockery of the old system.
The court police officer was about to raise his sign, but when he heard this, he immediately put it down and continued shouting for me.
It wasn't until Zhang Fei looked at them with questioning eyes that they raised the sign.
quiet!
After it was quiet outside, Zhang Fei continued to ask: "Where has your family been farming for more than 20 or 30 years?"
"Yes."
"Have similar things happened during this period?"
"Yes. Yes. Over the years, Khitan people have been coming to invade our fields, claiming that those fields are theirs, and beating many of us to death. As far as I know, they killed more than ten of us, including soldiers. , but also ordinary people.
But this time it was different. This time they sent many people over and drove us all out. "
"So how did the local government respond when this happened before?"
"We don't know about this, and it may be settled in the end."
The people outside suddenly heard their blood pressure soar.
(End of chapter)
