Judge of the Song Dynasty

The crowd gathered in front of the courthouse had previously harbored no sense of justice in their hearts—they were only there to place bets, and many among them had hoped Zhang Fei would lose this lawsuit.

But upon hearing Li Dacai’s ordeal, anger appeared on everyone’s faces.

These were not plants or trees, but people with feelings!

Yet they all dared to be angry but not speak out. Each one suppressed their rage, glaring with wide eyes, though they didn’t know exactly at whom they were staring.

Fu Bi and Han Qi exchanged glances and both let out deep sighs.

Under normal circumstances, would those tenant farmers dare to speak such words?

They must have a death wish!

Someone had definitely taught them to say these things.

This was one of the key reasons why those ministers all advised the emperor not to use judicial means to resolve this problem, but rather to use administrative decrees.

Whenever it involved tax issues, the blame could ultimately be traced back to the imperial court. The major landlords, scholar-officials, bureaucrats, and the imperial court were actually all one entity—there was no distinction between them.

This wasn’t an individual act, but a widespread problem. Many minor officials collected extra money with the court’s tacit approval. Why was it approved? Because the court couldn’t pay them enough.

To prosecute them would be tantamount to prosecuting themselves, wouldn’t it?

Then everyone would have their underwear stripped off to see who had more filth on their backside.

It would definitely be the imperial court.

The source of all evil.

And who was the head of the imperial court?

Only Sima Guang and Wang Anshi remained particularly calm, because they both knew that Zhang Fei was very clear about this issue.

Zhang Fei had repeatedly mentioned that lawsuits involving tenant farmers were very difficult to win, because tenant farmers and landlords were on the same side, not opposing sides. They would definitely support the landlords because their survival depended on it.

And now this was exactly the situation—these tenant farmers directly shifted all responsibility to the court, claiming that they were forced to ask for unsealed contracts.

Actually, if the tenant farmers had just pointed their fingers at the landlords, it would have been almost a guaranteed win, but this was impossible unless you could guarantee them land to farm.

After Li Dacai’s sobbing gradually subsided, Zhang Fei continued asking: “You mentioned earlier that you once paid three times the tax amount? You even sold your daughter because of it.”

Li Dacai nodded vigorously.

Zhang Fei said: “Have you ever thought about filing a complaint with the authorities?”

Li Dacai sobbed: “Aren’t those officials the ones demanding extra taxes from us? If I file a complaint, I’d probably end up even worse off.”

Zhang Fei smiled: “That’s just what you think, but the facts aren’t like that. You could go to the Bianjing Law Firm and use litigation to fight for your rights. As it happens, the Bianjing Law Firm is about to launch a brand new tax calculation service.”

“I object.”

Li Lei immediately stood up.

If you’re going to have a trial, have a trial, but advertising here was truly shameless.

Almost everyone present cast contemptuous looks at Zhang Fei.

Even Xu Zhiqian whispered: “You’ve really gone too far.”

You could suggest litigation without needing to mention the Bianjing Law Firm.

Zhang Fei looked disdainful—what did they understand? The plot had reached a crucial moment, so an advertisement was necessary. When else would he advertise?

Lu Gongzhu struck the gavel and said with a stern expression: “Zhang San, try not to mention matters unrelated to this case.”

Zhang Fei remained unfazed and said seriously: “Prefect Lu, I’m absolutely not advertising for my own business. I have a reason for raising this issue.”

Lu Gongzhu glared at him: “Then don’t mention any law firm either.”

Who are you trying to fool? No matter what your purpose is, as long as you mention the Bianjing Law Firm, your motives definitely aren’t pure.

“Yes.”

Zhang Fei nodded sheepishly, cleared his throat, and continued questioning Li Dacai: “Li Dacai, do you understand why you had to pay extra taxes?”

Li Dacai shook his head: “I don’t know. They give a different reason each time—how would I know?”

Zhang Fei said: “As far as I know, many tax collectors are corvee laborers, not officials collecting personally. They all have quotas. If one piece of land doesn’t pay taxes, then someone else will definitely have to pay extra taxes.”

Unsealed contract lands never pay taxes, so this portion of land tax is transferred to sealed contract lands. Now that you are farming unsealed contract land, you can avoid the court’s taxes, but this portion of taxes hasn’t disappeared—it has been transferred to your former self.”

“I object.”

Li Lei stood up again.

Zhang Fei immediately said to Lu Gongzhu: “I only want to explain that when common people encounter unfair treatment, they must immediately resort to official channels, rather than suffer in silence, and certainly shouldn’t aid tyrants in their abuse, letting more people experience the same suffering as they have.

This is why I had to mention the Bianjing Law Firm earlier, because the Bianjing Law Firm has rich experience in fighting lawsuits for the poor.”

Li Guozhong whispered: “You should also mention our bookstore.”

Li Lei was slightly stunned, then quickly said: “Is that so? Then what are you doing now? Our Li Family Bookstore is the one defending tenant farmers.”

When Fei Ming heard this, he felt displeased and said quietly: “It’s not just your Li Family Bookstore, there’s also my Fei family.”

Li Guozhong pretended not to hear.

Zhang Fei said disdainfully: “You’re defending landlords. My Bianjing Law Firm is the one thinking of the people.”

Bang!

Lu Gongzhu struck the gavel. “Guards! Drag these two men away and give each ten heavy strokes!”

He was furious!

The court had been splattered with a bucket of filth, and here you are playing righteous heroes—do you take me for nothing?

How outrageous!

“Good!”

“Such troublemakers should be properly punished.”

“Beat them!”

The officials who had been expressionless moments before, upon hearing that Zhang Fei would be beaten with the rod, all became as excited as if they’d been injected with adrenaline, suddenly shouting encouragement.

When Zhang Fei heard about the rod, he immediately cowered and quickly said: “Prefect, spare my life! This commoner dares not anymore! This commoner knows his error!”

Li Lei on the other side also hurried to beg for mercy.

Lu Gongzhu glared at them and said: “I will give you one more chance. If you offend again, don’t blame me for showing no mercy.”

“Thank you, Prefect! Thank you, Prefect! I’m finished with my questions.”

Zhang Fei quickly sat down, picked up his teacup, and drank some tea to calm his nerves.

Xu Zhiqian said: “What nonsense are you spouting?”

Zhang Fei replied: “Didn’t you hear? The root cause lies in the court’s excessive taxes and levies. Without stopping this, there’s no way to eliminate this phenomenon. I was just telling them this is the way to solve the problem, but I don’t dare guarantee for other bookstores, so I could only mention our Bianjing Law Firm.”

Xu Zhiqian was speechless.

That really was the case.

Lu Gongzhu looked toward Li Lei again.

“I have no questions.”

Li Lei shook his head while appearing frightful.

But he wasn’t actually frightened—he had never planned to ask these tenant farmers any questions anyway.

Because they had already agreed that the tenant farmers would push all responsibility onto the imperial court, so such questions were naturally left to Zhang Fei.

Aren’t you representing the court?

Fine! I’ll make every question you ask unfavorable to the imperial court.

The landlords and tenant farmers who came up next all used the same routine.

With unsealed contracts, they played the card that “the law doesn’t punish the masses”—not only did landlords like unsealed contracts, but common people liked them too.

The tenant farmers complained of their suffering: we’re all being exploited by the court, just through different methods, which emerge endlessly.

After two hours of questioning, the court had almost become the defendant.

Lu Gongzhu, as an official, conducted the trial with a completely red face, extremely embarrassed—it was truly torturous.

Before they knew it, it was 11am.

Lu Gongzhu quickly ended the day’s questioning.

This was something many people hadn’t expected. Zhang Fei’s lawsuits were always exciting, brilliant, and full of suspense, but today’s proceedings were both boring and embarrassing.

“What are you doing?”

Wang Anshi charged directly into the pavilion and questioned Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei said quietly: “I didn’t expect them to be so shameless, daring to say anything and pushing everything onto the imperial court.”

Wang Anshi said: “I anticipated this, but you didn’t.”

Zhang Fei replied: “I thought they would do this, but I didn’t expect them to be without any bottom lines. Those rotten affairs—weren’t they the ones who did them?”

Wang Anshi said: “Regardless, you can’t keep harassing the tenant farmers. There will definitely be many people petitioning His Majesty this afternoon, demanding a stop to this trial.”

As he spoke, he also glanced over toward Han Qi and Fu Bi.

He could see quite a few officials surrounding Han Qi and Fu Bi, whispering among themselves.

Without even thinking about it, he knew they were asking Han Qi and Fu Bi to petition His Majesty to stop this trial.

If the trial continued like this, even if there was no public resentment now, it would create public resentment.

“I understand. I’ll think of another way,” Zhang Fei said, then added, “But this isn’t my fault.”

Wang Anshi sighed. “Let’s win first, then talk.”

Zhang Fei nodded.

Behind them, Sima Guang watched Wang Anshi and Zhang Fei thoughtfully, thinking to himself: This doesn’t seem like an act. Could it really be that they know the evidence has been tampered with, so they’re planning to break through from the tenant farmers’ side?

“Second Brother, you need to hurry up and write a poem.”

Su Zhe stood up and said to Su Shi.

Su Shi looked bewildered: “What are you talking about?”

Su Zhe said: “We have to pay rent soon.”

With that, he left.

“…!”

Although he didn’t have the advantage in the courtroom, when Zhang Fei emerged from the courthouse, he still received the same enthusiastic cheers as always.

Because most people had bet on Zhang Fei losing.

Regarding today’s results, they only wanted to say—well fought, spectacular!

Zhang Fei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about this, and hurriedly got into his carriage.

Inside the carriage, two pairs of resentful eyes stared at him intently.

It was Ma Xiaoyi and Cao Dongdong.

“You guys…”

“Brother San, you’ve really screwed us over this time.”

“Brother San, what were you doing in there just now? It was so boring.”

“…!”

Zhang Fei said: “Didn’t I tell you to adjust the odds?”

Cao Dongdong said gloomily: “It would have been better if we hadn’t adjusted them. Once we did, even more people started betting.”

“What?”

Zhang Fei’s face showed alarm, then he said: “Could it be that we adjusted the odds wrong? How about we adjust them again—I’ll make mine two-to-one, and theirs one-to-one.” The rıghtful source is Nove1Fire.net

When Cao Dongdong heard this, he panicked even more. “Brother San, you’re not really going to lose, are you?”

Zhang Fei clicked his tongue: “It’s still uncertain. This is only the first day. I still have more tricks up my sleeve. But since we’re running the book, this is business, and business requires risk management. You need to go adjust things quickly.”

Cao Dongdong wasn’t stupid either, and said uneasily: “Given the current situation, even at two-to-one odds, quite a few people might still bet.”

Zhang Fei said: “Everyone knows our relationship. If you set the odds too low, they’ll think you have inside information and know I’ll definitely lose, so even more people will bet. If the odds are similar, they won’t be able to figure it out. Hurry up and go.”

“You’ve really killed us this time.”

Cao Dongdong stamped his foot anxiously and rushed out of the carriage, pulling Ma Xiaoyi with him.

After they left, Xu Zhiqian looked at Zhang Fei with confusion. “What do you mean by ‘running the book’?”

Zhang Fei said sheepishly: “Making some extra money on the side to support the family.”