Judge of the Song Dynasty

He still remembered how uplifting it was when that court case ended, with countless commoners moved to tears.

Zhang Fei had become a hero in the hearts of the people.

However, only a few days had passed.

The situation took a dramatic turn, with the uplifting mood changing to widespread complaints, and tears of joy turning into wails of despair.

It was that dramatic.

This showed how difficult reform was – this was only preliminary work limited to the capital region, yet it had already caused such problems.

If they went further, it would be unimaginable!

This time, Zhang Fei couldn’t stay uninvolved. If they intended to use this to overturn Wang Hong’s case, once successful, he might end up being exiled to Qiongzhou.

Xu Zun also believed this could be retaliation.

Signs of this were already appearing. Many court officials had begun using this as justification to exonerate Wang Hong, saying that when Wang Hong was in charge, there were no problems and tax collection went smoothly. Now that Wang Hong was gone, public resentment had erupted.

This suggested Wang Hong’s methods had some merit.

This meddling Emperor.

See? Now there’s trouble.

Wang Anshi spoke eloquently about caring for country and people, but what were the results?

Empty talk.

Wishful thinking.

No additional tax burden on the people while increasing state revenue?

What an absolute joke.

“The people were already crying out in suffering before any tax increases – imagine if taxes actually went up.”

Many officials mockingly ridiculed Wang Anshi’s slogan.

At the Reform Planning Commission.

“Teacher, look at these lease contracts I had people find,” Lu Huiqing handed several contracts to Wang Anshi. “From my investigation, most informal contracts split the tax burden between landlord and tenant farmers. In some cases, the tenant farmers bear the full burden – they pay taxes that go entirely to the landlords. The situation Lin Dan described, where landlords pass on all tax savings to tenants, exists but is very rare.”

“Outrageous!” Wang Anshi slammed the contracts on the table.

Lu Huiqing continued: “Master, you shouldn’t have compromised on the summer tax issue. We can’t yield on such matters.”

Wang Anshi glanced at him and sighed: “To be honest, I regret it too. But at the time, Wen Yanbo kept emphasizing how unprepared the court was, which was true, so I thought to compromise, figuring we might be too late to collect summer taxes anyway.”

Lu Huiqing said: “But now they’re using your words to make a huge issue of it, stirring up more public resentment. If the court yields whenever they cause trouble, won’t they just keep causing more? Besides, this isn’t the majority – some people are deliberately making a show of force. I think the court shouldn’t pay any attention. The tenant farmers should complain about high rents, not government taxes.”

He was even more ruthless than Wang Anshi.

To achieve great things, one shouldn’t get caught up in minor details.

Wang Anshi nodded: “This was my mistake. I’ll submit a memorial to His Majesty right away – we must proceed as planned and not exempt summer taxes.”

He didn’t want to add to the tenant farmers’ burden, but at this point, he couldn’t back down. He had to take a firm stance, or everything would be lost.

Throughout history, it had always been this way.

Those implementing reforms had to show great strength in the initial stages. This had nothing to do with good or evil – it was purely political behavior.

There was no other choice!

Wang Anshi picked up the contracts again, glanced at them, and said: “Go find Zhang San and ask him about this.”

Lu Huiqing was startled, “Zhang San? I doubt he can help with this matter.”

Wang Anshi pondered: “Since the problem lies in these lease contracts, see if Zhang San can litigate on behalf of the tenant farmers to seek justice.”

Lu Huiqing’s eyes lit up.

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If they could prove these contracts invalid through litigation, wouldn’t that solve the problem?

”Yes! I’ll go find Zhang San right away.”

Lu Huiqing immediately rushed to the Bianjing Law Firm, but his trip was in vain. Fan Li informed him that Zhang Fei hadn’t come to the law firm at all that day.

Lu Huiqing then hurried to Zhang’s house.

There he learned that Zhang Fei had left early in the morning and hadn’t returned.

By linking this matter to Wang Hong’s case, they had essentially forced Zhang Fei to align with Wang Anshi.

Zhang Fei wasn’t someone who liked being passive, whether in bed or in court.

Early that morning, he had gone with Xu Zhiqian to White Horse Village to seek Geng Ming’s help.

In this matter, Geng Ming was in the same boat as them.

If Wang Hong returned, Geng Ming would surely be done for.

Everyone knew that Geng Ming was just Zhang Fei’s pawn against Wang Hong – that case was no coincidence.

Geng Ming, who had just reunited with his wife and children, became very anxious upon hearing this news and immediately helped Zhang Fei find two tenant farming contracts.

“There are several types of unsealed lease contracts for farmland, but mainly these two types. If the relationship between the tenant farmer and landlord is good, the contract will specify that the landlord will collect corresponding payments from the tenant based on tax receipts proving that he had paid those taxes.”

“Second, if the landlord and tenant aren’t familiar with each other, they use a dual contract system, signing an additional private agreement stating that if the government levies taxes on the land, the tenant farmer will bear the burden.”

“It seems that when it comes to tax evasion, people’s ingenuity knows no bounds, regardless of the era!”

Zhang Fei nodded with a bitter smile.

The dual contract system was essentially a shadow agreement. Since it involved tax evasion, they couldn’t be too explicit in the lease contract, so both parties would sign an additional private document specifying who would bear the tax burden if the government taxed the land.

The responsibilities were clearly defined.

But if both parties were familiar with each other, they would include a provision in the contract stating that the tenant would pay a certain percentage of tax based on the landlord’s tax receipts.

Taxes had to be paid to get the receipt, and when the landlord didn’t produce tax receipts, the tenant naturally wouldn’t have to bear that tax burden.

However, there was a risk that landlords might forge tax receipts or obtain genuine ones through other means, causing the tenant to bear the tax. Without sufficient trust, parties generally wouldn’t sign such contracts.

Xu Zhiqian asked anxiously, “Zhang San, can we take this to court?”

Their first thought was also to see if they could help the tenant farmers avoid these taxes through litigation.

Zhang Fei hesitated briefly, then suddenly asked Geng Ming, “Why didn’t the two tenant farmers come to consult in person?”

Geng Ming replied sheepishly, “They’re afraid of offending their landlords.”

He added, “Unless Benefactor can guarantee they won’t face repercussions.”

Zhang Fei turned to look at Xu Zhiqian and sighed helplessly, “That’s exactly the problem.”

Xu Zhiqian asked, “You can’t guarantee them protection?”

“If it were just two tenant farmers, that would be a small matter, but this isn’t just about two tenant farmers.”

Zhang Fei shook his head and sighed, “Even if I help them avoid these taxes, I can’t control whether the landlords will reclaim their land. Now, with land scarce and people abundant, landlords aren’t worried about finding tenants, but the farmers fear having no food to eat.”

Xu Zhiqian asked, “Then what can we do?”

Zhang Fei shook his head and said, “This can only be resolved by Academician Wang.”

This wasn’t a matter of right or wrong, but a matter of the means of production. With the means of production in the landlords’ hands, how could tenant farmers dare to sue them?

Even if they won the case.

Yes.

They wouldn’t have to pay taxes.

But they’d lose their livelihood!

That would be even worse.

In fact, the means of production had always been the root of the conflict.

Litigation couldn’t solve the problem of means of production.

This could only be resolved by the government.

After their fruitless discussion, Zhang Fei and Xu Zhiqian left Geng’s courtyard, bid farewell to Geng Ming, and departed by carriage.

Seeing Xu Zhiqian’s low spirits, Zhang Fei said, “Don’t be discouraged yet. There should still be considerable room for maneuver in this matter, after all, Academician Wang won’t let their scheme succeed.”

Xu Zhiqian nodded gently.

Suddenly, they heard someone on the road saying: “Old Qin, please be lenient for a few more days. My son was just born, he’s not even a month old. My wife has no milk to feed him, so we had to hire a wet nurse. If we pay these taxes, my son might starve to death!”

“Stop,” Xu Zhiqian immediately ordered Long Wu, then lifted the carriage curtain to look outside. She saw a young man desperately pleading with a pot-bellied middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man sighed, “Begging me is useless. It’s not our master who wants this money – these are government collections. We have no choice. We haven’t asked for a single extra coin – these tax rates are all set by the government. There’s still some time before the payment deadline, so hurry and figure something out.”

The young man cried, “But it’s only a few days! Where can I get the money? The autumn harvest isn’t even in yet.”

The middle-aged man said, “See if you can borrow from somewhere.”

The young man choked up and fell silent.

He knew what taking a high-interest loan meant.

But if he didn’t borrow…!

The middle-aged man, seeing this, said no more. “I need to visit other households, so I’ll take my leave.”

Just as he left, a baby’s cry could be heard from inside the house.

The young man seemed not to hear it, standing dazed at his doorway, looking lost and helpless.

Xu Zhiqian’s brows furrowed slightly. Suddenly she called out, “Qingmei.”

“Sister Qian, what is it?”

“How much money did we bring?”

“About thirty or forty coins, I think.”

“Miss Xu, do you need money? I have about a hundred coins here,” Li Si said hurriedly.

Xu Zhiqian said, “Take all the money and give it to that young man.”

“Yes!”

After Li Si got down from the carriage with the money.

Xu Zhiqian instructed Long Wu, “Let’s go.”

The carriage slowly moved forward.

Zhang Fei tried to comfort her, “This is just an isolated case. According to those two tenant farmer contracts, even after paying taxes, they should still be able to survive.”

But Xu Zhiqian shook her head, “This is absolutely not an isolated case. Every family has their difficulties. Most tenant farmers count every single coin they spend.”

She glanced at Zhang Fei, seeing him looking at her with concern, and said, “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I’ve seen too many cases like this – I help when I can.”

This was why she and her father supported Wang Anshi’s reforms – they had witnessed too many situations where they could offer no real help, and could only pin their hopes on government reform.

Zhang Fei nodded.