Judge of the Song Dynasty

“Order! Order!”

Lu Gongzhu struck the gavel several times.

He had no choice—the discussion outside the courtyard was too loud.

The audience was clamoring for answers about the ledgers.

Such a bizarre matter—if an answer wasn’t provided, how could anyone sleep?

Fortunately, it was actually Zhang Fei who had requested to continue the trial instead of investigating that matter, not Lu Gongzhu. Otherwise, the discussion would probably have been loud enough to lift the roof off the Kaifeng Prefectural Office.

The voices of discussion outside the gate continued.

Lu Gongzhu also became angry and struck the gavel heavily again. “If you all do not quiet down, I will conduct a closed-door trial.”

Outside the courtyard gate, it immediately fell silent.

“Huff, huff…” Sitting in the shade, Shen Huaixiao wiped away his profuse sweat while gasping for breath.

That moment just now had truly been extremely perilous for them.

If those beating strikes had come down and Lu Gongzhu had taken the opportunity to investigate this matter strictly, with Zhang San assisting from the side, who could guarantee that Zhou Cai would be able to persist and answer flawlessly, not exposing them all?

Although this matter was certainly not over yet, at present it seemed there was still room for maneuvering and space for operation, since it hadn’t been exposed in open court.

Wen Yanbo observed all their distress and whispered to Fu Bi and Han Qi: “I never expected they would lose so miserably this time.”

In his heart, he also felt some lingering fear toward the young emperor.

Fu Bi stroked his beard and said: “Their tricks don’t work well in open court!”

Han Qi nodded and said: “During the Qingli years, they also used similar tactics, always catching us off guard and making us unable to defend against them. But in open court, it’s two sides facing off, and everyone knows what’s crucial, so it’s easier to guard against.”

Wen Yanbo nodded thoughtfully.

In political struggles, you simply couldn’t predict what moves the other side would make. A minor figure, a painting, a rainy day—any of these could change everything.

Everyone used every means at their disposal.

The defending side was very passive, and the reform faction was usually the defending side, naturally placing them at a disadvantage.

But in open court it was different. Both sides were clear about what constituted key evidence, and everyone relied on actual strength to compete on the point. The emperor had a natural advantage here.

Of course, they had thought despicable tactics were their exclusive domain, never expecting the emperor would also play this way.

“Brother Li, what should we do? Should we just give up?”

Fei Ming was now completely panicked. If they got implicated in this, they might lose their heads—this wasn’t a matter of winning or losing a lawsuit.

Li Guozhong frowned and said calmly: “Why are you panicking? We’re just hired to fight the lawsuit. They provided the evidence—it has nothing to do with us.”

Speaking thus, he gently patted Li Lei, who was breaking out in cold sweat. “Pull yourself together. The more you act like this, the more people will think we have a guilty conscience. Now we have only one path: do our utmost to defend them. Perhaps we can turn misfortune into fortune. If we give up now, we’ll end up with nowhere to turn and die even more miserably.”

Fei Ming and the others all nodded.

Li Lei turned to look at Li Guozhong. “But there’s no way to fight this case now.”

Li Guozhong said: “We’ll do our best.”

Li Lei took two deep breaths, then nodded. The group immediately began discussing again.

This variable was something they hadn’t anticipated, so they needed to discuss new countermeasures.

Amid the whispered conversations, Du Shaojing walked up to the hall on his unsteady legs. Where was his arrogance and domineering manner from yesterday? He could barely speak clearly now.

“This… this… this humble person ggg… greets…!”

“Never mind!”

Lu Gongzhu waved his hand, then pointed toward the defendant’s seat.

Just these few steps, yet Du Shaojing walked as if heading to an execution ground.

With difficulty, he came under the tree and sat down, but felt as if sitting on pins and needles.

Zhang Fei stood up, looked at Du Shaojing, and smiled: “Mogul, please don’t panic. Answer each question calmly to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.”

Du Shaojing nodded woodenly.

“I object.”

Li Lei suddenly stood up and said: “The opposing counsel’s words contain implied threats.”

Zhang Fei quickly said: “I withdraw my previous statement.”

Du Shaojing looked sharply toward Li Lei, suddenly remembering: Oh yes, I also have a pen-in-cap to protect me.

He couldn’t help but feel slightly more at ease.

Zhang Fei looked at the documents he had prepared in advance, then continued questioning Du Shaojing: “Mogul Du, yesterday we mentioned that among your 180o acres of farmland, 600 acres are held under unsealed contracts, and among the remaining 1200 acres of farmland, our current investigation shows that only 200 acres have taxes paid. The remaining 1000 acres have no tax payment records whatsoever. How do you explain this?”

Du Shaojing glanced at Zhang Fei with a guilty conscience, then looked toward Li Guozhong and the others, only to see Li Guozhong and his group all lower their heads.

Don’t look at us for this matter – you handle it yourself.

Du Shaojing shook his head like a rattle drum. “I… I won’t explain.”

“Won’t explain?”

Zhang Fei asked.

Du Shaojing said: “I… I admit I haven’t paid taxes.”

Lu Gongzhu quietly flipped through the account book from five years ago, which contained Du Shaojing’s tax payment records.

But Du Shaojing wasn’t stupid either. No matter how serious the crime of tax evasion was, it couldn’t be more serious than the crime of secretly altering official government ledgers.

He could only admit it.

Moreover, if he didn’t produce tax receipts, they couldn’t use the ledgers to prosecute him, since ledgers were written by officials, not by him.

Zhang Fei asked: “According to my investigation, most of these lands are held under sealed contracts, and the government has records of them. I wonder how you evaded the government’s tax collection efforts.”

Du Shaojing said: “Same as everyone else – concealing farmland, or using female households and Buddhist monks or Taoist priests to evade taxes.”

Same as everyone else – the law doesn’t punish the masses.

Zhang Fei glanced at the opposing side, saw they were making some movements, so he said: “I’m finished with my questions.”

Then he sat down.

Qiu Zhengwen, sitting behind him, looked stunned and said in a low voice: “Brother San, why didn’t you press the advantage?”

Zhang Fei said with a serious expression: “This is for teaching purposes. I’m deliberately demonstrating incorrect examples for you. You must remember – you must strike while he’s down and finish him off. Never be soft-hearted.” Orıginal content can be found at novel⁂fire.net

Qiu Zhengwen made an “oh” sound.

Xu Zhiqian smiled with pursed lips, glancing sideways at Zhang Fei with a look that said his nonsense sounded so convincing.

Li Lei stood up and asked Du Shaojing: “Mogul Du, may I ask how many tenant farmers you have in total?”

Du Shaojing looked at Li Lei as if asking whether he wanted him to tell the truth or make something up.

Li Guozhong beside him nodded frantically – if you make things up now, you must be tired of living.

Du Shaojing said: “Four… over four hundred households.”

“So many?” Li Lei asked again: “Did you give them very low rent rates?”

High or low?

Du Shaojing looked at Li Lei, seeking an answer.

Li Guozhong, hiding from Lu Gongzhu above, used lip movements to tell Du Shaojing to speak truthfully.

Lu Gongzhu couldn’t see it, but Sima Guang, Su Shi and others on the opposite side could see it clearly, and they were already struggling to suppress their laughter.

Things were too difficult for them!

Zhang Fei also covered his mouth and chuckled, then turned back and said: “This is also an incorrect demonstration. When you litigate in the future, prepare more backup plans. Don’t go down just one path to the bitter end. Once that road is blocked, you’ll end up like they are now.”

Qiu Zhenghua and the others kept their mouths tightly shut and nodded vigorously.

Du Shaojing shook his head and said: “The rent isn’t low.”

Li Lei asked again: “Since the tenant rent isn’t low, why would so many people still be willing to become your tenant farmers? Could it be the same situation as with Li Dacai and the others?”

Zhang Fei immediately turned back to Qiu Zhengwen and the others: “At this point you must definitely object. His question contains implications and is leading.”

Qiu Zhengwen asked in confusion: “Why didn’t you object, Brother San?”

Zhang Fei glared at him angrily: “Are you stupid? If I objected, how could I teach you?”

“…?”

Qiu Zhenghua was baffled. If you had objected, I would have remembered it. When you just tell me, I might not necessarily remember it. Could this be another demonstration of incorrect teaching methods?

While they were still whispering here, Du Shaojing suddenly came to his senses over there, nodding repeatedly: “Yes, yes, many common people are only willing to cultivate those non-tax-paying lands. If you want them to pay taxes, they’d rather not come.”

“Why?”

Li Lei asked.

Du Shaojing said: “Because the government imposes miscellaneous charges—transportation charge, conversion charge, and waste charge—these three charges have no fixed amounts. Many common people hide their household registrations and sell their fields to flee because of this. If I don’t find ways to evade taxes, I can’t recruit tenant farmers to help me cultivate the land.”

Many upright and honest officials listening felt their anger rising. What kind of reasoning was this?

However, quite a few common people outside the gate were nodding repeatedly.

Transportation charge meant that for military campaigns, the government required people to personally transport their tax payments to designated locations, often dozens of miles away. What was even more outrageous was that they had to pay transit taxes along the way.

But since Bianjing was too far from the front lines, if you couldn’t go, you could pay cash instead of the usual tax payment in goods.

Conversion charge meant converting grain into fabric, or fabric into grain. Depending on what you had and what goods were demanded on you, you might have to convert one to another. With this conversion, you had to pay considerably more.

Waste charge referred to losses from rats eating the grain, transport losses, and so forth—all of which were calculated into the tax.

The key issue was that these three items had no fixed amounts. If you were lucky, you paid a little less. But what if you weren’t lucky?

Three times the original amount was actually considered modest. After this series of combined charges, it was often five or six times the original.

Of course the common people would rather pay high tenant rent than pay taxes.

Indeed, tax-exempt land was more attractive to tenant farmers.

Li Lei continued: “I’ve heard that you frequently donate to charity, distribute grain to refugees, and contribute to government waterworks projects.”

Du Shaojing’s mind began to clear. This was returning to yesterday’s rhythm. He immediately replied: “To attract tenant farmers, I have indeed engaged in tax evasion, but I feel guilty about it, so I frequently donate some money and grain to the people and the government.”

Li Lei turned to Lu Gongzhu: “I’m finished with my questions.”

Zhang Fei stood up and said: “Your Honor, I have a very crucial witness here. I hope Your Honor will summon this witness to testify in court.”

Lu Gongzhu said: “Summon him.”

After a while, a man in his twenties walked into the hall.

“Goudan.”

Du Shaojing suddenly stood up. “How did you get here?”

Lu Gongzhu frowned in warning: “Du Shaojing, do not be insolent.”

Du Shaojing hurriedly said: “Your Honor doesn’t know—he’s a servant of my household. He cannot casually come to court to accuse me.”

Lu Gongzhu frowned slightly.

Zhang Fei smiled: “Mogul Du, that was a few days ago. I’ve already paid to help him redeem his freedom.”

Du Shaojing immediately said: “Impossible. How would I not know about this?”

Zhang Fei smiled: “You keep so many servants. For such a small matter, why would you need to handle it personally? Your household steward Zhuang can make such decisions. Mogul Du should understand this better than I do.”

Xu Zhiqian timely handed over a contract. Zhang Fei took it and held it up. “This is Goudan’s deed of release. Please examine it, Your Honor.”

“Present it.”

After Lu Gongzhu examined it, he ignored Du Shaojing and had Goudan sit in the witness stand.

Du Shaojing sat back down. Having just relaxed for a moment, he was immediately drenched in sweat again.

The man named Goudan bowed to Lu Gongzhu, then went to sit in the witness stand.

Zhang Fei stood up and asked: “Goudan, is that your real name?”

The man shook his head: “My original name is Zhu Erjiu. The name Goudan was given to me by Du Shaojing.”

Zhang Fei said: “How did you come to know Du Shaojing?”

Zhu Erjiu said: “I was originally a third-class household in Dudian Village, Kaifeng County. Due to corvee service for the government, I fell into considerable debt to the government and ultimately could only sell my fields to repay the debt.”

Upon hearing about bankruptcy from corvee service, Han Qi, Fu Bi, and others all sighed deeply without speaking.

Zhu Erjiu continued: “Afterward, my siblings and I had nowhere to turn, so we could only rent three acres of farmland from Du Shaojing to cultivate.”

Zhang Fei asked: “What was the rental rate?”

Zhu Erjiu said: “Half of the field’s produce for each party, but I had to bear all the tax burdens.”

Zhang Fei nodded and asked: “What happened after that?”

Zhu Erjiu suddenly glared fiercely at Du Shaojing. “I never imagined that Du Shaojing would calculate all the government’s charges and other taxes into the total, and always more rather than less. When calculated this way, we simply couldn’t pay the taxes and could only borrow money from him. Once we borrowed…!”

He wiped away his tears. “But I could never pay it back. The interest kept growing, the taxes kept increasing. Even if I farmed for several lifetimes, I still couldn’t repay it all. In the end, my sister was taken by him to settle the debt, and I could only become his bonded servant.”

Perhaps because the people had heard too much yesterday, the observing crowd had become numb, and there wasn’t much commotion outside the door.

“You’re making malicious accusations!”

Du Shaojing stood up and angrily pointed at Zhu Erjiu.

As soon as he shouted, the observing crowd immediately turned countless angry gazes toward him.

If looks could kill…

Zhang Fei smiled slightly. “Mogul Du, don’t forget that your household doesn’t have just this one bonded servant – you have over a hundred households. Should we call them all up to testify?”

Du Shaojing’s lips trembled, but in the end he didn’t dare speak out.

Zhang Fei then turned to Lu Gongzhu. “According to my investigation, Mogul Du’s household has at least one hundred and twenty households of bonded servants. They were all previously Mogul Du’s tenant farmers who, due to illness or natural disasters, were forced to borrow high-interest loans from Mogul Du at roughly ten times the normal rate.”

At this point, Xu Zhiqian handed Zhang Fei a stack of loan contracts.

Zhang Fei took them and raised his hand. “I have here over ten high-interest loan contracts signed by Mogul Du.”

Immediately, clerks came over and took away all these contracts.

Zhang Fei said: “With such high interest rates, plus tenant rent and taxes, it was impossible to repay. With compound interest, they owed Mogul Du countless amounts of money. Not just one lifetime – even ten lifetimes wouldn’t be enough to pay it back. They could only work like oxen and horses, farming land for Mogul Du. But among all this farmland, not one inch of land has ever paid taxes to the court.

“This shows that Mogul Du’s tax evasion has nothing whatsoever to do with the tenant farmers – it’s purely his personal conduct. As for yesterday’s accusations against the government by Li Dacai and other tenant farmers, those were pure rumors and slander, complete nonsense. Everything they have was granted by the government, and all the suffering they endured was inflicted by Mogul Du and his ilk.”

Before he could finish speaking, a deafening chorus of boos erupted from the doorway, directly interrupting Zhang Fei’s speech.

Even Lu Gongzhu’s gavel couldn’t restore order.

You say Du Shaojing is a great villain – we all agree with that.

Well said.

But his evil doesn’t mean the government is good.

They’re birds of a feather.

These words were truly shameless.

Everyone was outraged.

Of course, the one feeling embarrassed wasn’t Zhang Fei, but the officials sitting inside.

Wen Yanbo and the others looked at Zhang Fei with great frustration. Stop with the flattery – the more you flatter, the more awkward it becomes.

Isn’t the imperial court embarrassed enough already?

The key point was that Sima Guang, Han Qi and the others all knew that the court’s current embarrassment was deliberately orchestrated by Zhang Fei. Yesterday’s trial was completely unnecessary.

Now he was trying to backtrack here – he was simply treating them like monkeys!

With his speech interrupted, Zhang Fei couldn’t continue. After all, there were no microphones in this era. He turned his head to look at Xu Zhiqian, saw the woman covering her face with both hands and burying her head in the documents, and said unhappily: “Hey! Beautiful! We’re the imperial court’s pen-in-caps. Be a little professional, will you? With you acting like this, how can I continue?”

Xu Zhiqian leaned back against her chair and said glumly: “But what you’re saying is truly disgusting. I can’t bear to listen anymore.”

Zhang Fei said: “Give me a quarter-hour, and you won’t feel that way.”

Xu Zhiqian rolled her eyes. “That’s impossible.”