Judge of the Song Dynasty

You don’t believe it?

Who do you think you are?

This is the account ledger from the Three Bureau Archives!

Everyone looked at Zhang Fei with puzzled expressions, especially seeing his resolute face, they really wanted to go up and beat him.

What right do you have not to believe it?

Li Kai said, “Zhang San, this is the account ledger from the Three Bureau Archives.”

Zhang Fei said firmly, “But I also trust my source of information. The Three Bureau Archives’ ledgers absolutely have no tax payment records for Mogul Zhou, so I believe there’s a problem with that ledger.”

“Here comes the good show,” Su Shi said excitedly.

Su Zhe frowned and said, “Since the other party dared to bring the ledger here, it proves they’re completely confident. Second Brother, you shouldn’t celebrate too early.”

This was actually Lu Gongzhu’s sentiment as well. These ledgers had already been tampered with to such an extent that it was very difficult to determine their authenticity, so he handed the ledger and a tax receipt to Huang Gui, “Take these for him to see.” “Yes.”

Huang Gui took the ledger and tax receipt, came to Zhang Fei’s booth, and handed them to Zhang Fei.

Zhou Cai, who had been relaxed just moments before, now inevitably felt somewhat nervous. Having a guilty conscience was only natural, and he couldn’t help but glance into the crowd. Many eyes turned toward him, all conveying the same message: stay calm.

We did this perfectly – there’s no way we could have made a mistake.

Sima Guang secretly glanced at Wang Anshi and saw that his expression was also unusually tense. He thought to himself that it seemed Wang Anshi hadn’t tampered with anything.

Zhang Fei took the ledger and began flipping through it to examine it. Xu Zhiqian also leaned over to look with him. Suddenly she said in surprise, “Oh! There really is a tax payment record for Mogul Zhou.”

Then she looked at Zhang Fei, “Could it be that we really made a mistake?”

Hearing this, Huang Gui secretly sighed. You’re only discovering this now – it’s too late.

Meanwhile, Shen Huaixiao and the others looked at Zhang Fei with smiles, anticipating their bewildered and confused expressions.

Obviously, he too had been deceived by Xu Zhiqian’s acting, though this wasn’t surprising, since Xu Zhiqian had once fooled Zhang Fei completely with her performance.

There was no helping it – who told Xu Zhiqian to have a father named Xu Zun? Being his daughter, if she didn’t know some acting skills, how could she survive?

“No way.”

Zhang Fei frowned and shook his head, turning page by page slowly. Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows, his eyes fixed intently on a name in the ledger. Then he turned to look at Lu Gongzhu and said, “Prefect Lu, there’s a problem with this ledger.”

As soon as these words were spoken, Li Guozhong and the others immediately stood up.

A problem? Impossible – how could he see through it? Shen Huaixiao’s whole body trembled, and beads of sweat as large as beans rolled down his cheeks.

Everyone in the entire venue held their breath, as if they could hear the sound of leaves falling to the ground.

Lu Gongzhu asked, “What problem?”

Zhang Fei first answered, “This is a ledger from two years ago.”

Lu Gongzhu nodded.

Zhang Fei said, “But it has a tax payment record for Geng Ming.”

Lu Gongzhu was stunned. “Geng Ming?”

Quite a few people present also looked completely confused, not reacting immediately.

Who was Geng Ming?

Though the name seemed somewhat familiar.

Zhang Fei said, “Prefect Lu, surely you haven’t forgotten that I once fought a lawsuit for Geng Ming.”

Lu Gongzhu nodded woodenly, as if he still hadn’t reacted.

Zhang Fei said, “At that time, I carefully investigated Geng Ming’s information. He was forced by Wei Yushan three years ago to sell his fields and house and become a Daoist monk. Only this year did he just reclaim his fields and house. In other words, his tax payment records should be from at least four years ago – it’s impossible for them to appear in a two-year-old ledger.”

Zhao Bian, who had personally tried the Geng Ming case, seemed to wake from a dream. “Yes! A two-year-old ledger couldn’t possibly have Geng Ming’s tax payment records.”

When investigating that case, the backgrounds of both Geng Ming and Wei Yushan had been investigated very thoroughly.

Shen Huaixiao, Du Xiu and the others looked at each other, everyone’s eyes filled with confusion.

Impossible!

How could this be possible!

We clearly copied from the ledger from two years ago.

Lu Gongzhu caught on as well. Secretly delighted, he said: “Quickly bring it here for .”

Huang Gui hurriedly handed the ledger to Lu Gongzhu.

Lu Gongzhu examined it carefully, and sure enough, it was written very clearly: Geng Ming of White Horse Village.

Li Kai also stood up to take a look, and couldn’t help but be stunned. “Could this be someone with the same name?”

Before Lu Gongzhu could speak, Zhang Fei said: “Having the same name is possible, but having the same name, same village, same household members- that’s absolutely impossible. We did investigate at the time. In White Horse Village, there was only one Geng Ming.”

Lu Gongzhu furrowed his brow. “What exactly is going on here?”

Zhang Fei spread his hands: “I’d like to know too – what exactly is going on? Errors in ledgers are quite common, but why do Mogul Zhou’s two years of tax receipts match this erroneous ledger?”

Lu Gongzhu couldn’t help but look sternly at Zhou Cai.

Zhou Cai no longer had his earlier calm composure, and frantically defended himself: “I don’t know, I don’t know anything.”

Meanwhile, Li Guozhong and the others on the opposite side were even more dumbfounded.

Hadn’t they said everything was taken care of?

Logically speaking, it should have been taken care of.

Otherwise, Zhou Cai’s tax payment records wouldn’t be in there, but why was this happening?

Could they have gotten the wrong ledger?

This…

This was damn embarrassing.

At this moment, deafening whispers had already erupted both inside and outside the courtyard, showing how many people were discussing this.

This was indeed too bizarre.

Lu Gongzhu struck the gavel. “Court is temporarily adjourned while I investigate this matter.”

He then stood up and returned to the main hall with the other examining officials.

Upon entering the main hall, Lu Gongzhu said to Li Kai: “Vice-Prefect Li.”

“Present.”

“Go to the Archives immediately and find out what exactly is going on.”

“Yes.”

At this moment, Li Kai was also covered in sweat.

This problem had really blown up!

As soon as they entered the hall, public opinion erupted outside.

This was truly unbelievable.

Were they being haunted?

Wei Yushan, who had been observing the trial from outside the door, patted his chest several times, still shaken. Fortunately he hadn’t participated, otherwise he would really be finished this time.

He was also a famous large landowner in Kaifeng County, but because he had confessed last time and voluntarily paid all his back taxes, Wang Anshi had no way to drag him out and grill him again.

Tang Ji looked completely bewildered. He leaned forward and said in a low voice: “That ledger couldn’t possibly have problems. When it was sent to the Kaifeng Prefectural Office, our people specifically checked it again.”

Cao Han frowned: “Could someone have tampered with it beforehand?”

“That’s impossible, unless!”

Du Xiu suddenly froze, as if realizing something.

The archives had always been under the control of their Three Financial Bureaus. Except for the Emperor, no one could evade their surveillance and tamper with things inside.

Shen Huaixiao’s heart was in his throat. “Don’t say so much for now – quickly send someone to check the Archives.”

“I’ll send someone immediately.”

Du Xiu had just stood up when he suddenly sat back down, his face pale.

Shen Huaixiao asked: “What are you doing?”

Du Xiu blinked, then looked at Shen Huaixiao. “Now… now we can’t get into the Archives.”

“How could we not be able to get in…”

Shen Huaixiao’s face also turned ashen, his right hand trembling uncontrollably.

It turned out that when the archives had leaked earlier, the Emperor had directly sent people to monitor it, and they had been watching ever since, leaving no opportunity to tamper with anything.

Tang Ji immediately panicked: “What should we do now?”

What to do?

Shen Huaixiao and the others suddenly felt like lambs awaiting slaughter.

Su Shi suddenly lightly nudged Su Zhe beside him with his elbow. “Third Brother, shouldn’t we consider getting a bigger mansion?”

Su Zhe looked at the smug Su Shi and asked: “Second Brother, how much did you win?”

“T-twenty-five strings.”

Su Shi blurted out the answer, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he froze.

Su Zhe asked again: “Then how big a mansion do you plan to get?”

“…!”

Su Shi gritted his teeth and cursed: “Those crooked merchants.”

Wang Anshi said smugly to Sima Guang: “This is what they call ‘Heaven’s net is loose but nothing escapes!'”

Sima Guang stroked his beard and nodded with a smile: “Indeed! This is truly satisfying!” Thıs content belongs to ɴovelfire.net

Wang Anshi’s expression froze. “Sima Guang, you… why are you so happy?”

Sima Guang said: “I, Sima Guang, have always focused on matters rather than people. I deeply detest such illegal and undisciplined behavior. If we can root it out, of course I’m happy too!”

As he spoke, he looked Wang Anshi up and down. “I say, Wang Anshi! You’re not trying to implicate me in this, are you? How can you be so malicious?”

Wang Anshi shot Sima Guang a contemptuous look and waved his sleeve dismissively. “Enough! Stop putting on this act. You have no principles whatsoever. How tedious.”

“Strange!”

Fan Chunren frowned.

Qian Yi beside him asked: “What’s strange?”

Fan Chunren said: “Since Zhang San possessed such important evidence, why did he go to such unnecessary lengths yesterday?”

“Indeed!”

Qian Yi pondered: “If he had directly presented this evidence yesterday, it would have been enough to secure victory. Why did he waste his breath?”

Fan Chunren thought for a moment and said: “Brother Qian, what do you think the purpose of this lawsuit is?”

Qian Yi was startled. “The tenant farmers’ taxes.”

Fan Chunren nodded.

“What are you looking around for?”

Xu Zhiqian noticed Zhang Fei looking left and right, and asked curiously.

Zhang Fei continued scanning around. “Oh, I’m seeing how many people are involved in this. I’ll need to be careful of them in the future.”

Xu Zhiqian rolled her eyes. “Enough. Our purpose isn’t to pursue these matters. We’re here to help those tenant farmers. This is just the beginning – there’s still much fighting ahead.”

Zhang Fei glanced at Li Guozhong and the others across from them. “Look at them – they’re already like dead dogs. What comes next will be purely my personal performance.”

Xu Zhiqian looked at Li Guozhong and the others across from them. Seeing them all ashen-faced and slumped in their chairs, having lost all fighting spirit, she nearly burst out laughing.

An hour later, Li Kai returned to the Kaifeng Prefectural Office, gasping for breath.

“The Archives said that when they were organizing the account books earlier, they made a mistake. This… this is the account book from two years ago, while that one was from five years ago.”

“What?”

Both Cen Yuanli and Yu Zaishen were dumbfounded.

They could play it this way?

Lu Gongzhu took the account book and looked through it – there was no record of Zhou Cai paying taxes anywhere.

Li Kai asked: “Prefect Lu, what should we do now?”

This was a serious problem.

Even a fool could tell that someone had definitely falsified records, and they weren’t small players either.

Lu Gongzhu snorted: “They brought this on themselves. They can’t blame anyone else.”

He thought to himself: Hmph, you think you can cover the sky with one hand and deceive heaven itself? Now you’ll get what’s coming to you.

Zhang Fei was already sitting in his chair yawning. Of course, he was the only one in the entire hall with such leisurely composure – everyone else was sweating so much they were nearly dehydrated.

Torment!

For many people present, this waiting process was undoubtedly torment. They didn’t even dare get up and leave – whoever left now would look guilty!

Finally!

Lu Gongzhu and Li Kai emerged from the inner hall and returned to their seats.

Everyone looked at Lu Gongzhu.

Lu Gongzhu looked directly at Zhou Cai. “Zhou Cai.”

“This one is here.”

Zhou Cai was trembling so hard he nearly slid off his chair.

Lu Gongzhu picked up the bundle of tax receipts and asked: “Where did you get these tax receipts?”

Zhou Cai was stunned and hurriedly said: “I obtained them by paying taxes.”

“Nonsense!”

Lu Gongzhu slammed the gavel. “The Archives has just confirmed that due to an operational error when organizing the account books, an official accidentally bound together the index from an account book from five years ago with an account book from two years ago. But how could your tax receipts from paying taxes two years ago be recorded in an account book from five years ago? Confess the truth immediately!”

Every official present knew in their hearts that this kind of operational error was impossible, because the tax payment records for each township would have the date written at the front. So there was only one explanation – the account books had been switched beforehand.

But then the question arose: how did the tax receipts match up?

At this moment, Zhou Cai’s face was completely bloodless, and he mechanically repeated: “I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”

Many gazes around him were already telling him nakedly: take the fall for everything.

When you die, I shall take care of your wife and children!

“You don’t know?”

Lu Gongzhu snorted, “I see that you truly won’t shed tears until you see your coffin. Guards, drag Zhou Cai out and give him twenty beatings!”

Zhou Cai trembled in terror and was about to cry for mercy when Zhang Fei suddenly stood up. “Prefect Lu, regarding the matter of the ledgers, this does not fall within the scope of my current lawsuit. I also reserves Academician Wang’s right to prosecute them, but now, I hope to continue the trial of this case, as that would only be fair.”

Lu Gongzhu frowned, thinking to himself: I’m the one conducting the trial – do I need you to direct me?

But upon further reflection, the matter with the ledgers would certainly implicate many people. If he followed this line of investigation, this case might be delayed, which would indeed be unfair.

At the same time, he was very clear about who was behind Zhang Fei – only that person could have switched the account books. Even Wang Anshi lacked such capability.

Since Zhang Fei had spoken thus, it meant that His Majesty probably also did not want the matter of falsified ledgers brought before the court for trial.

Lu Gongzhu nodded, “Since you make this request, then let us continue with the trial of this case first.”

Zhang Fei continued, “I wish to summon defendant Du Shaojing.”

This unexpected counterattack left even Lu Gongzhu stunned.

Zhou Cai was already a dead fish – instead of pressing your advantage against him, why summon Du Shaojing again?

They had already tried him yesterday.

But Lu Gongzhu quickly understood. Zhou Cai was already a dead fish, and trying him had no value. Whatever you asked him, he probably wouldn’t say anything – he could only hold out and wait for rescue.

Yesterday Du Shaojing had been so arrogant, causing the court to lose face for an entire morning. Without recovering from this setback, Zhang Fei would be unable to account to his superiors.

Lu Gongzhu nodded, “First take Zhou Cai away, and summon Du Shaojing.”