Judge of the Song Dynasty

One hundred and eight persons?

Indeed, this number sounded somewhat auspicious.

But in criminal cases, it usually only meant one thing.

Rebellion!

Li Kai immediately asked, “Is someone rebelling?”

Lu Gongzhu also looked tense.

“No!”

Zhang Fei hurriedly explained, “If someone were rebelling, how would I even have the chance to file a complaint?”

Lu Gongzhu realized this made sense – would rebels send someone to file a lawsuit?

Even if this pen-in-cap could spin wild tales, there was no way he could win such a case! “Then what is it?” Li Kai asked.

Zhang Fei replied, “Tax evasion.”

“…?”

Li Kai and Lu Gongzhu exchanged knowing glances before turning back to Zhang Fei.

“You’re saying… you want to sue one hundred and eight people for tax evasion?” Li Kai asked uncertainly.

Zhang Fei said, “I was commissioned to file complaints against these one hundred and eight people for tax evasion.”

Lu Gongzhu suddenly asked, “Who commissioned you?”

Zhang Fei replied, “Academician Wang.”

“Wang Anshi?” Lu Gongzhu seemed somewhat uncertain.

“Yes.”

Zhang Fei nodded and continued, “I hope you both will believe me – I’m truly just hired help this time. This case has little to do with me personally.”

“Little to do with you?”

Li Kai exclaimed in frustration, “Don’t take us for fools! You must have learned that many court officials are trying to vindicate Wang Hong, and you’re worried about his revenge when he returns. So you’re instigating Academician Wang to pursue these people’s taxes through litigation.”

He didn’t bother speaking in riddles with Zhang Fei anymore – he knew this routine all too well.

Lu Gongzhu nodded in agreement.

Zhang Fei explained innocently, “Vice-Prefect Li, please understand – this truly has nothing to do with me. I didn’t even want to do this. You both know that our Bianjing Law Firm has always fought cases for common people!”

Li Kai snorted, “You only did that to build reputation for profit.”

Damn! This guy really had him figured out – he’d have to be more careful in the future. Though startled internally, Zhang Fei maintained his composure and said, “Even so, this lawsuit doesn’t serve our firm’s interests.”

Lu Gongzhu raised his hand to stop Li Kai from arguing further and said, “Present the complaint document.”

The fact that they only now asked for the document after such a long discussion showed their resistance to accepting Zhang Fei’s complaints – they would reject them if possible.

But since the client was Wang Anshi, a state councilor, they couldn’t turn him away.

Arguing with Zhang Fei was pointless.

They had to accept the document, though whether to proceed with a trial was another matter entirely.

When Zhang Fei presented the complaint document, both Lu Gongzhu and Li Kai were dumbfounded.

They had never seen such a thick complaint document – over three hundred pages.

It was extremely excessive.

If they looked through it now, they would even see Xu Zun’s handwriting – he had helped write some after work hours when they were overwhelmed.

Even Gao Wenyin had helped with the copying.

It was pure manual labor with no technical skill required.

One complaint document contained five different people’s handwriting.

It was absolutely ridiculous.

“Is this really a complaint document?” Li Kai pressed down on the thick stack of papers with both hands while staring blankly at Zhang Fei.

This volume!

Indeed!

Only the prefectural office had the capacity to review it, and they would probably need to call in help from both the Left and Right Courts.

Zhang Fei smiled bitterly and said, “Please don’t blame me, Vice-Prefect Li. Since we’re suing one hundred and eight people, this… this actually… well, isn’t really that much.”

“Get out!”

Zhang Fei was driven out of the Kaifeng Prefectural Office amid Li Kai’s roars.

However.

He was used to it by now.

Besides, he had anticipated this, which was why he had made it clear earlier that he had no personal involvement in the case. This was indeed somewhat cruel and extremely inhumane.

The officials of the prefectural office didn’t have it easy either!

”Prefect Lu, he’s not filing complaints, he’s clearly torturing us!” Li Kai complained indignantly to Lu Gongzhu after driving Zhang Fei away.

Looking at these complaint documents was giving him a headache.

Lu Gongzhu asked, “Are you referring to Wang Anshi or Zhang San?”

“They’re all cut from the same cloth-!”

Li Kai quickly stopped himself before revealing too much, and instead said, “Wang Anshi is already a state councilor. Does he really need to file complaints about others evading taxes? If he has evidence, he could just issue an order directly. Isn’t this redundant?”

Lu Gongzhu furrowed his brows in thought for a while before saying, “First arrange for someone to review these complaints. I’ll go ask Wang Anshi what exactly he’s trying to do.”

At the Bianjing Law Firm.

“How did it go?”

Seeing Zhang Fei return, Xu Zhiqian immediately came forward to ask.

Zhang Fei sighed, “How else could it go? They drove me out with their staffs.”

Fan Li said wearily, “Brother San, why do we put ourselves through this? Sure, we’re making money, but living in constant fear every day, this…”

He didn’t even know how to describe it.

There wasn’t a single peaceful day.

Zhang Fei was also furious, “How is this my fault? Those stupid landlords should have come to me first to help them avoid- cough help them calculate their taxes. They were too stingy to pay the legal fees and only knew how to use their stupid methods, thinking they could still get away with doing anything.

Times have changed!

Look at our mogul clients Brother Hao, Brother Qian, and Brother Fan – how steady they are. If Academician Wang were to sue them for tax evasion, I definitely wouldn’t take the case. Not only that, I would help them argue their case based on reason.”

“…?”

Fan Li suddenly felt Zhang Fei made perfect sense.

That’s right!

Zhang San’s reputation was so great, so why didn’t they come to seek legal services from us pen-in-caps when they ran into trouble?

Just because they were too stingy to pay those small legal fees.

They deserved it!

They couldn’t blame us pen-in-caps when problems arose – we need to make money too!

That’s exactly right!

At the Reform Planning Commission.

“Gongzhu, please have some tea.”

Faced with Wang Anshi’s flattery, Lu Gongzhu snorted angrily and turned his face away haughtily.

Wang Anshi wasn’t upset at all. He gently placed the tea on the table beside Lu Gongzhu and said, “That kid hasn’t gone to the prefectural office to cause trouble for you again, has he?”

Lu Gongzhu snorted, “Stop pretending to be innocent. Even if he goes to the Left or Right Courts, this case will ultimately come to me. How could you not know this?”

Wang Anshi apologetically smiled, “I truly didn’t know. This is just a minor case, just… just with a lot of people involved.”

Lu Gongzhu couldn’t be bothered to argue pointlessly and asked directly, “Wang Anshi, what exactly are you trying to do?”

Wang Anshi put on an aggrieved expression, “I was forced into a corner and had no choice but to resort to this strategy. Why don’t you point out a better way for me?”

Lu Gongzhu said, “As a state councilor, even if you want to collect taxes, do you need to use such methods? Isn’t this… isn’t this just redundant and completely unnecessary?”

If you issue an order, we at the Kaifeng Prefectural Office would have to act on it.

Filing complaints like this – what’s the point?

Wang Anshi said, “If I were to issue an order asking the Kaifeng Prefectural Office to collect taxes, you would be even angrier than you are now.”

Lu Gongzhu frowned, his expression softening somewhat. That was indeed true. He sighed, “Deep-rooted problems can’t be solved overnight. This matter should be carefully planned out, not rushed into. Why won’t you listen to advice?”

Wang Anshi said, “I did this precisely because I listened to your advice.”

Lu Gongzhu was dumbfounded, “When did I ever tell you to do this?”

Wang Anshi said, “Now that the complaints have reached you, you could rule that they don’t have to pay taxes!”

Lu Gongzhu jumped up, “You, Wang Anshi! You couldn’t solve this problem so you dumped it on me. You’re truly ungrateful!”

Wang Anshi quickly said, “Gongzhu, please calm down. That’s not what I meant at all. This matter isn’t as terrible as you think, and it won’t cause you any trouble. As the Prefect of Kaifeng, when someone files a complaint, you must hear it. Just handle it according to proper procedure – what are you afraid of?”

Lu Gongzhu earnestly said, “I’m worried you’ll cause chaos. Don’t you know why the imperial court didn’t directly pursue responsibility for unsealed contracts in the first place? The law can’t punish the masses!”

He knew in his heart that with so many people evading taxes, how could the government control it?

If it couldn’t control it, it would become embarrassing.

The imperial government would find itself in an awkward position.

Wang Anshi said, “What do you mean ‘the law can’t punish the masses’? I only know about these 108 people evading taxes. Are you saying you know about many more tax evaders?”

Lu Gongzhu blinked and asked, “Are you trying to make an example of them?”

Wang Anshi’s expression changed as he said seriously, “I just want them to know that tax evasion is illegal and must not be done.”

Lu Gongzhu frowned, “But you must understand, they aren’t resisting government orders. They’re just shifting the tax burden to their tenant farmers, which isn’t illegal. If you prosecute them now, they’ll just pass the punishment on to the farmers, which will cause public resentment.”

Wang Anshi asked, “Do you think those tenant farmers can afford it?”

Lu Gongzhu replied, “Of course they can’t.” The source of this content ɪs Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

Wang Anshi said, “Then who should bear the burden?”

Lu Gongzhu sat down, “You’ve given me quite a predicament!”

Wang Anshi consoled him again, “This is just a legal case. If they have ways to prove their innocence, let them use them. You just need to judge it fairly. If you overthink it and worry too much, you’ll only make things more complicated.”

Lu Gongzhu sighed, “I suppose there’s nothing else I can do.”

Now that it had reached the Kaifeng Prefectural Office, the news spread throughout the court and society that day.

Civil and military officials were shocked.

This was even more outrageous than Lu Jiawen suing Kaifeng County. At least Lu Jiawen was Wang Hong’s subordinate, and according to imperial court regulations, one could appeal if treated unfairly.

Though Lu Jiawen’s choice to litigate was debatable.

But for Wang Anshi, a state councilor, to sue some landlords?

This was really bringing shame to the imperial court!

Censors and remonstrance officials immediately submitted memorials impeaching Wang Anshi for violating imperial court regulations and damaging imperial court prestige.

Emperor Zhao Xu, who was prepared for this, immediately called a meeting to discuss the matter.

Zhao Bian, as Chancellor, stepped forward first, “The court previously stated that if people paid their contract taxes within this year, past offenses would be pardoned. This policy was approved by Your Majesty and issued by the Palace Secretariat.

Now while everyone is actively paying their contract taxes, Academician Wang violates the policy and files a complaint at the Kaifeng Prefectural Office. In my decades as an official, I’ve never seen such a thing. The common people won’t know whether to follow the imperial court’s policy or await the Kaifeng Prefectural Office’s ruling.”

Many officials nodded in agreement, criticizing Wang Anshi.

Wang Anshi was a member of the Chamber of State Affairs, yet he was filing complaints against his own issued policies.

It was absurd.

They couldn’t find words to describe Wang Anshi.

Facing their criticism, Wang Anshi remained calm.

Emperor Zhao Xu looked at Wang Anshi and asked, “Does Academician Wang have nothing to say?”

Wang Anshi replied, “Your Majesty, certain censors and remonstrance officials are prone to fabrication and slander, which I’m used to. But I’ve never seen a Chancellor blatantly lie and defame his colleague.”

Zhao Bian stood up angrily, “Wang Anshi, explain yourself clearly. When did I defame you?”

Wang Anshi asked, “May I ask Chancellor Zhao, have you read the complaint document?”

Zhao Bian said, “Though I haven’t read it, aren’t you suing them for tax evasion?”

Wang Anshi nodded, “Indeed it’s about tax evasion, but it has nothing to do with unsealed contracts. I only discovered after investigating the land that they were using various methods to evade taxes. The court’s previous policy only pardoned unsealed contracts, it never said all tax evasion would be pardoned. If that were the case, no one would pay taxes this year.”

Zhao Bian was dumbfounded, his face instantly turning red.

The other officials looked at each other awkwardly.

The complaint document was so thick that the Kaifeng Prefectural Office hadn’t finished reviewing it. Li Kai had only briefly skimmed it without ordering a thorough review, thinking it too outrageous and wanting to wait for the court’s ruling.

But when they heard about this matter, they automatically assumed Wang Anshi must be suing the landlords over unsealed contracts.

They thought he was just using old tactics – unable to win politically, he took it to court instead.

But they never imagined that Wang Anshi hadn’t mentioned the issue of unsealed contracts at all.