At this point in the hearing, many officials were confused.

What on earth is this doing?

Because in the eyes of many officials, whether it is a hearing or a court trial, there must be a purpose, either to favor Cheng Fang or Cheng Yi.

But when Zhang Fei came up, he would either hit fifty big sticks each, or hit him with a big stick and give him a big jujube.

It made it confusing.

If we continue to ask this question, everyone will argue and won’t know how to fight.

Unable to get a result.

Most officials could not understand what Zhang Fei wanted.

After Liu En left, Wang Gong sent word to Suizhou judge Sheng Tao to attend.

When Cheng Fang saw this person, a stern look flashed in his eyes.

"Judge Sheng, I heard that when Cheng Dujian opened the Zhanghe River, you happened to be the supervisory censor, inspecting Hebei Province?"

Zhang Fei asked.

Sheng Tao nodded: "Yes."

Zhang Fei said: "What do you know?"

Sheng Tao immediately said: "What I see is that it wastes money and wastes money, and harms the country and the people."

Zhang Fei asked: "Can you give me more details?"

Sheng Tao said: "Forcing people to work at night, trampling field seedlings, digging graves, occupying fields and destroying houses, there are countless people. The voice of sorrow and resentment spreads in the Tao."

Zhang Fei asked: "Did you see this with your own eyes?"

Sheng Tao nodded and said, "I saw it with my own eyes."

Zhang Fei said: "Then did you dissuade the supervisor at that time?"

Sheng Tao said: "Of course there is, but Cheng Dujian threatened the river defense fortifications. If I dare to stop the river defense fortifications, if a flood occurs, I will be responsible. But I do not intend to hinder the river defense fortifications, but think that they

Doing so will only waste people's money and consume national power. I advise them not to be so radical."

Zhang Fei said: "Have you monitored Cheng Dujian personally?"

Sheng Tao seemed to understand what Zhang Fei meant, nodded and said: "Yes, but I didn't find that Cheng Dujian made money through water conservancy."

Zhang Fei said: "Have you reported this to the court?"

Sheng Tao nodded, "After my persuasion failed, I immediately impeached Inspector Cheng, and then I was transferred to Suizhou to serve as a judge."

"Yeah?"

Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment and asked: "Do you think this is Cheng Dujian's revenge?"

Sheng Tao glanced at Wang Anshi, then shook his head and said, "I don't know that."

Zhang Fei asked again: "Then are you going back to Beijing this time?"

Sheng Tao said: "I came to attend the Legislative Council at the end of last year. I was already on my way back, but was detained by the procuratorate."

"I see."

Zhang Fei suddenly nodded towards Wang Gong.

Wang Gong immediately sent a message to Hebei Province to mention Wang Guanglian, the prison chief.

Wang Guanglian came and sat down next to Cheng Fang.

Zhang Fei asked with a smile: "Wang Tixing, as far as we know, when the Zhang River was opened, the imperial court ordered you and Cheng Dujian to inspect and formulate relevant plans. I wonder if that's true?"

Wang Guanglian nodded and said: "Yes."

It should be noted that the Department of Prisons and the Department of Transportation both have the authority to manage rivers. Because these officials are envoys, their power can better represent the central government.

Zhang Fei said: "Does that mean you participated in the whole battle of Zhanghe?"

Wang Guanglian nodded and said: "Yes."

Zhang Fei stretched out his hand to guide Sheng Tao across from him, "You must have heard what Sheng Yushi said just now. Is the situation really as he said?"

Wang Guanglian said: "For the battle of Zhanghe River, one hundred thousand laborers were recruited and it stretched for more than two hundred miles. The scale of the project cannot be described by you or me at a glance.

Whether or not graves are excavated is a gain, and whether fields are occupied and houses are destroyed is a gain, but these are inevitable, and these are only a minority.

In order to gain credit, their censors were mean and ungrateful, and they only liked to find out the root of the problem. However, they did not mention anything that was beneficial to the people. As Liu Tongpan said just now, many people in Mingzhou are happy to work.

They turned a blind eye. If what they said was widespread, Hebei would have been in chaos long ago. Facts have proved that this is not the case."

Zhang Fei nodded and said: "But since these things did happen, can Wang Tixing avenge them?"

Wang Guanglian said: "I was busy controlling floods at that time, so it was hard to worry about it."

Zhang Fei asked again: "Does Wang Tixing think these things are illegal?"

Wang Guanglian shook his head and said: "I don't think that the demolition of houses to widen the river is for the sake of the people and the country, rather than us pocketing those farm houses. If we don't manage the river well, we will be

As the flood spreads, how can the farmhouses by the river survive?"

Zhang Fei added: "Regarding the demolition of private houses and occupation of private fields, does the government have any compensation measures?"

Wang Guanglian said: "There may be some omissions, but most of them are still recorded. Our court allows people to appeal for this, but at present it is estimated that we cannot provide money or land to compensate."

Zhang Fei said: "When you planned to excavate the Zhanghe River, did you include these compensations in advance as expenses?"

Wang Guanglian shook his head and said: "That's not true. If we want to calculate these statistics, it will take too much time, which will delay the fortifications."

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Thank you both for being able to attend and testify."

Later, Wang Gong stood up and invited Fu Bi to attend and testify.

Everyone was refreshed. Fu Bi was highly respected and his testimony would definitely have a great impact.

After Fu Bi sat down, Zhang Fei said with a smile: "Today we invite Mr. Fu to testify, not because Mr. Fu is related to this matter, but because we know that Mr. Fu is familiar with the law and has high attainments in it.

With rich experience, we hope to listen to some professional advice.”

After Wang Anshi and Sima Guang heard this, they immediately felt unhappy. We are also professionals!

Fu Bi modestly said: "In terms of legal attainments, I am far inferior to Zhang Prosecutor."

Zhang Fei said hurriedly: "I don't dare! I don't dare! I am far inferior to Mr. Fu in terms of legal research and experience."

After some negotiation, Zhang Fei asked: "What the officials just said, Mr. Fu should have heard it."

Fu Bi nodded.

Zhang Fei said: "I want to know, in Mr. Fu's view, is there any illegal behavior in this?"

Fu Bi stroked his beard and said: "It is indeed difficult to judge the abuse of people's power, but I think we should still consider the people's livelihood. Otherwise, if the officials force the people to rebel, it will lead to catastrophe. This water can carry a boat

, can also capsize a boat.

The next step is forced labor. According to the regulations of our court, officials cannot collect labor without authorization. This requires the approval of the court. However, regarding the Hebei river defense fortifications, the court has issued a decree, but the decree did not specify a specific number, which is not good.

Determine whether there is forced recruitment.

The only thing worth debating is the forced expropriation of people’s land and the demolition of people’s houses.”

Zhang Fei asked: "Is there any explicit regulation on this?"

Fu Bi said: "As far as Lao Zhuo knows, there have been several examples of expropriating private land and houses in the past.

In the seventh year of Dazhong Xiangfu, the imperial court built the Gongxie Tiandi Altar, occupying the land of 18 households. Later, Emperor Zhenzong issued an edict to compensate these 18 households. Not only was the compensation based on the market price, but an additional compensation of more than 300 yuan was provided.

Each household can get more than sixteen strings.

In the first year of Tiansheng's reign, the Yongding Mausoleum was built, occupying 18 hectares of Du Yangui's field, and was estimated to require a total of 700 guan. Emperor Renzong issued an edict to increase the amount to 1,000 guan."

Although it is said that the whole world is not the king's land, the special national conditions of the Northern Song Dynasty caused the idea of ​​private ownership to be relatively strong. Maybe the emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty himself did not think that the whole world was the king's land.

The first demolition bill in history was promulgated by Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty in the Yuanfeng Year. But in ancient times, you should not be fooled by this kind of bill. Implementation is the key.

Fu Bi seemed to remember something again, and continued: "Oh, there is one of the most prominent examples, that is, in the first year of Qingli, when our court was fighting the Xixia, the court was worried that the border soldiers would be killed because of the construction of fortifications.

The destruction of civilian houses aroused public resentment, so the Zhongshu Province drafted an edict stipulating that civilian houses should not be forcibly demolished for the purpose of building fortifications.

In the second year, when Fan Wenzhenggong inspected the Western Front and passed through Pizhou, he encountered people blocking the road and complaining, saying that "officials built camps, occupied gardens, and demolished houses." Fan Wenzhenggong cited this at that time.

The regulations require the government to immediately compensate the people.

However, there were twists and turns in the process of compensation. Originally, Fan Wenzhenggong asked the government to compensate for the land and houses to the people, but because the government had no free space, they discounted the price and compensated. However, because the local transportation department also had relevant regulations, it should be compensation.

The land was given to the people, but no one informed the transfer department that the government had no land to compensate, but according to this rule, the government asked the people to get back the money they paid for compensation.

After Duke Fan Wenzheng learned about this, he ordered the government to immediately return all the money that had been paid, and this is the end of the matter."

After hearing this, Sima Guang was overjoyed and slapped his thigh again, and said angrily: "How could I have forgotten this? Although there are no regulations, there are precedents!"

Wang Anshi and Lu Huiqing frowned, and even Cheng Fang became frightened.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Those previous confessions only revealed that Cheng Fang abused people's power, but there were no rules to follow, but Fu Bi came up with laws and precedents.
To be continued...