Chapter 196: Who is ‘People’?
Zhao Bian was also stunned, having become entranced while listening. Zhang Fei’s “I have no further questions” left him somewhat at a loss.
Wei Yushan’s crimes were now set in stone.
But the problem was that this case wasn’t about prosecuting Wei Yushan – he was only present as a witness, not a defendant. The prosecution was against Wang Hong!
Could it be that they were just using Wang Hong to convict Wei Yushan? Hmm.
It was possible.
After all, Wei Yushan’s testimony was very favorable to Wang Hong.
Such integrity and honesty.
But the earlier performance was too convincing – it nearly drove Wang Hong mad.
If Wang Hong is found innocent, he would surely seek revenge.
Only Xu Zhiqian knew the truth. This wasn’t about using Wang Hong to convict Wei Yushan – Zhang Fei was obviously letting Wei Yushan off easy. So after Zhang Fei sat down, Xu Zhiqian angrily questioned him: “You’re being so unfair. Why were you so lenient with Wei Yushan? Couldn’t you have asked a few more questions?” She utterly despised people like Wei Yushan and had wanted to kick Zhang Fei earlier. She knew Zhang Fei well – with his way with words, he could have extracted a capital offense confession.
Even he wanted to let him off easy, this was going too far.
No pressure was applied at all, letting Wei Yushan say whatever he wanted.
Zhang Fei explained helplessly: “I wanted to ask more questions, but our goal isn’t to get Wei Yushan killed. From the current situation, we’ve already achieved our objective. I feared asking even one more question might cause problems. Look at Remonstrator Fan – he sat there without making a sound, completely abandoning Wei Yushan. Things could have really gotten out of hand.”
Xu Zhiqian snorted but remained silent.
As Xu Zun’s daughter, she understood that some things were simply unavoidable, but she was still upset and couldn’t hide it. With only Zhang Fei nearby, she could only vent her frustrations at him.
Fan Chunren had been ready to admit defeat, but seeing this unexpected turn of events, he seized the opportunity and stood up: “Your Honor, the facts have proven that Magistrate Wang never accepted any bribes from Wei Yushan. Moreover, he served honestly, organizing villagers and wealthy households to carry out water works and build roads. Although Magistrate Wang was indeed negligent in the Geng Ming case, it was certainly not to shield Wei Yushan. I believe he should at most be charged with ‘negligently condemning the innocent’.”
Zhang Fei quickly stood up: “Remonstrator Fan, with such serious corruption and bribery, you still claim he served honestly? Or perhaps the remonstrators’ standards differ from common sense?”
Differ from common sense? Criticizing me is one thing, but insulting all remonstrators?
Fan Chunren frowned: “I hope you can show more respect.”
Zhang Fei hurriedly said: “My apologies! I was just discussing the facts, nothing more.”
Fan Chunren didn’t dwell on this and demanded: “Wei Yushan just stated he never bribed Magistrate Wang, and you have no evidence. Where is this serious corruption and bribery coming from?”
Zhang Fei smiled: “The law doesn’t specify that only cash payments count as corruption and bribery.”
Zhao Bian grew anxious and asked: “Zhang San, stop being mysterious. If you have evidence, present it.”
Zhang Fei said: “Actually, Wei Yushan already made it very clear. He indeed never gave money to bribe Wang Hong – at least I can’t find evidence of that. However, whenever the magistrate needed money for water works or road construction, he would voluntarily donate money, and quite substantial amounts at that.”
When these words were spoken, everyone was dumbfounded.
This should be a good thing! Water works and road construction were beneficial to the country and to the people.
Sima Guang and Wen Yanbo looked at each other in confusion, not understanding what could be wrong with this.
Keeping wealth with the people was the point, and although these particular “people” weren’t model citizens, the official’s actions seemed fine.
Zhao Bian directly stated: “This benefits national development. It’s a good thing. How could this be corruption and bribery?”
Zhang Fei asked: “Has Your Honor considered why Wei Yushan was willing to voluntarily donate money to Magistrate Wang?”
Zhao Bian replied: “Didn’t Wei Yushan just say he admired Magistrate Wang’s way of handling affairs?”
Zhang Fei smiled and said: “Perhaps that’s part of it, but if Magistrate Wang had been like Geng Ming, I don’t think Wei Yushan would have donated any money to him.”
Wang Anshi was the first to understand, stroking his beard and chuckling: “This young man hasn’t failed to deliver on any of his promises to me.”
Lü Huiqing nodded: “He’s even exceeded expectations.”
Wang Anshi smiled and kept nodding.
Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo, and the others furrowed their brows as they gradually began to realize the issue.
As the presiding judge, Zhao Bian needed to get clarity and couldn’t rely on speculation: “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Zhang Fei said: “If Magistrate Wang had simply gotten these large landowners to donate money, whether through intimidation or trickery, that would show capability. Even if he didn’t collect their taxes, it would still be considered decent performance.
There are some truths that everyone knows – many large landowners evade taxes. If they can be made to donate money at crucial times, that’s indeed quite good.
However, if you carefully examine the land tax revenue situation in Kaifeng County, you’ll find that Magistrate Wang performs exceptionally well in tax collection, which is the main reason he was quickly promoted to magistrate of Kaifeng County.”
Zhao Bian asked puzzledly: “Isn’t that even better?”
Zhang Fei smiled and asked: “Has Your Honor carefully read Geng Ming’s complaint document?”
Zhao Bian nodded.
Zhang Fei said: “You should have noticed that Wei Yushan’s tax-evading land increased every year.”
Zhao Bian looked again and nodded: “Indeed, it increased every year.”
Zhang Fei continued: “I believe many large landowners are in the same situation. In other words, while the total farmland remained unchanged and untaxed land increased yearly, the total tax revenue remained the same or even increased. Where did these taxes come from?”
Fan Chunren immediately said: “You can’t use Wei Yushan’s household to make assumptions about other large landowners.”
“I have evidence.”
Zhang Fei gestured to the side, and a document was placed in his hand. “These are the tax collection records from Wang Hong’s two years as Kaifeng County magistrate, along with tax account books that I secretly investigated myself.”
Fan Chunren asked: “Where did you get these tax records?”
Zhang Fei replied: “The Judicial Court provided them.”
Fan Chunren suddenly remembered that Zhang represented the Judicial Court.
It seemed that there were officials working against other officials.
Although the Judicial Court didn’t manage finances, being part of the same system meant there were ways to obtain these account books.
But in reality, it was Lu Huiqing who had provided them.
Lu Jiawen didn’t have such capability yet.
Zhao Bian said: “Present them.”
Zhang Fei said: “We secretly sampled second, third, and fourth-class households, totaling 150 households. It’s clearly evident that their annual taxes increased, even as their farmland decreased or remained the same.
The accounts provided by the Judicial Court completely match my investigation.
Why did this happen? Because Magistrate Wang distributed the large landowners’ land taxes among ordinary farmers, with second-class households like Geng Ming seeing the highest increases.
This was because second-class households had money but no power or status. When everyone shared the burden, they could endure such tax increases without being driven into causing trouble.
As for the methods used, Liu Dong and Geng Ming have already explained very clearly. I don’t understand why no one has questioned what was all this extra money that they paid.”
Fan Chunren said: “This was all Wei Yushan’s doing. What does it have to do with Magistrate Wang?”
“Hold on, Remonstrator Fan.”
Zhang Fei smiled and said: “I have another document here, also provided by the Judicial Court, regarding tax litigation cases handled by Kaifeng County over the past two years.”
Xu Zhiqian immediately handed it to him.
Zhang Fei held up the document and said, “The number of land tax disputes handled by Magistrate Wang was three times that of his predecessor, and his punishments were far more severe. He frequently met out beatings to deal with so-called ‘unruly peasants’.
But was he impartial? Not necessarily. All the punishments were directed at second, third, and fourth-class households. Cases involving first-class households were very rare, and when they did occur, the verdicts were always in favor of first-class households, without exception.”
At this point, he handed the document to the approaching clerk and continued: “Magistrate Wang’s secret to promotion was simple – he showed great leniency to major landowners and gentry, allowing them to consolidate land while maintaining strict judicial supervision over second, third, and fourth-class households.
He used his so-called strict law enforcement to force second, third, and fourth-class households to bear the tax burden of major landowners’ tax evasion. Then he used appeasement tactics to win the favor of those major landowners. When he needed money for water works projects, the landowners were willing to donate – there was an unspoken understanding between them.
Therefore, Magistrate Wang’s performance can only be described as ‘outstanding’ – he got things done without spending government money. Who else would the imperial court promote if not him? But his success truly came at the expense of countless others.
I also believe Wang Hong may have never actually taken money from others.
But I want to ask everyone: how much money would it take to buy the position of Kaifeng County Magistrate?”
The courtyard fell completely silent.
So that was it! Fan Chunren finally understood, but he immediately challenged: “At most, this can only serve as evidence of Magistrate Wang’s improper conduct, not as proof of corruption and bribery.”
Everyone understood the reasoning, but in court, they still had to follow the law. Based on this point alone, you couldn’t prosecute for corruption and bribery – it could only serve as corroborating evidence.
Zhang Fei smiled and said: “That’s why I’m not charging him with corruption and bribery, but with ‘intentionally condemning the innocent’.”
Fan Chunren was momentarily speechless.
Usually, intentionally wronging others went hand in hand with corruption, bribery, and private dealings.
However, looking at the Song Code’s interpretation, this wasn’t a necessary condition.
Something that was “usual” was no replacement for the law.
Zhang Fei looked around and declared: “Without doubt, Magistrate Wang Hong is an exceptionally capable official with rich experience in handling cases.
During tax collection periods, he also adjudicated many tax-related lawsuits. It’s impossible that he overlooked Geng Ming’s grievance simply due to tax collection duties.
There can only be one reason – Magistrate Wang attempted to shield Wei Yushan. From the Bianjing Law Firm pen-in-cap case and Liu Dong’s experience, it’s clear he is a habitual offender. The common people were indeed oppressed by major landowners, but Wang Hong used superficial evidence to dismiss their lawsuits. This dismissal was merely Wang Hong’s habit, which is even more frightening than if it were a special case.
His benevolent governance and love for the people was directed at major landowners, wealthy gentry, and local elite. His strict law enforcement targeted self-sufficient farmers, small craftsmen, and ordinary citizens.
His love and hatred were so contradictory that during the earlier questioning, contradictions were everywhere, making it unclear whether he was a good official or a corrupt one. But once you distinguish between these different classes of ‘people,’ everything becomes crystal clear.
Wei Yushan genuinely admired him, but his admiration is precisely evidence of Wang Hong’s wrongdoing.
When we exhort officials to ‘govern the people benevolently’ and ‘keep wealth amongst the people’, does ‘people’ refer only to wealthy gentry, major landowners, and local elite? Unless this definition of ‘people’ is written into the Song Code, Wang Hong is absolutely guilty of intentionally condemning the innocent.”
“Kill that dog official!”
“Dog official!”
“If this dog official isn’t convicted of intentionally wronging others, the Heavens must be blind!”
The people at the entrance suddenly went mad, raising their arms and shouting hysterically through gritted teeth.
Their resentment reached the Heavens.
It came down to that same saying – people resent inequality more than scarcity.
If you want achievements in governance, you can be harsh, that’s fine – if you treat everyone equally and extort money from everyone alike, even if you’re ruthless, the common people won’t be this angry.
But instead you made the lower-class households bear the tax burden of the upper-class households.
This was even more detestable than a corrupt official.
Inside the courtroom was dead silence.
Only Wang Anshi stared at Sima Guang opposite him, his lips repeatedly mouthing the words “keep wealth amongst the people.”
This angered Sima Guang so much that he turned his face away.
Unfortunately, Wang Anshi had to hold back his laughter – with emotions running so high outside, he didn’t dare laugh out loud.
But he was very pleased with how this case turned out. This deal had been more than worth it – he had exceeded his objectives.
Zhao Bian looked toward Fan Chunren.
Fan Chunren wasn’t a professional pen-in-cap after all – he was also an official. With the crowd shouting so loudly outside, if he tried to argue the case, it might ruin his father’s reputation. More importantly, he had no way to refute these charges except through clever wordplay, which wouldn’t accomplish much.
He just shook his head and sat back down.
Zhao Bian struck his gavel and immediately pronounced the verdict: Wang Hong was guilty of intentionally condemning the innocent.