I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 762 This case is really exciting!

"Ziyi, do you think the medicine sold by Mr. Hai is poison?" Li Sanjiang asked.

Qu Jinxian shook his head like a rattle, "How could the medicine sold by Mr. Hai be poison? Even though the medicine he sells tastes bitter, it must be a good medicine to save the world and the people."

Li Sanjiang nodded slowly: "Yes, although the bowl of medicine handed to me by Mr. Hai tastes bitter, I drink it willingly.

But no one knows what the medicinal properties of this bowl of medicine will be after drinking it."

Qu Jinxian thought for a moment and asked, "Prefect, do you want me to go to the Siliyuan to take a look?"

"Don't go. At this time, people who shouldn't be in the Court of Justice should not show up."

In Courtroom No. 6 of the Huzhou Administrative Court, the chief prosecutor summoned the last prosecution witness, glanced at the people in the audience, turned to look at the chief judge, and said confidently.

"Chief Judge, two co-judges, to sum up, the fact that Yang Kaitai and Gou Cai colluded and conspired to embezzle Gou Shide's money is clear and the evidence is irrefutable. I ask the three judges to convict Yang Kaitai based on the clear and irrefutable evidence and facts, and sentence him according to the law."

There was a lot of discussion in the press box and the audience.

"I didn't expect that the cabbage was actually eaten by the sheep."

"How can Gou Shide swallow this insult when he lost both his life and his wealth?"

"No man can swallow this."

"The truth is out! I didn't understand why Gou Shide was so crazy and kept biting Yang Kaitai before. I thought he was just greedy for money. He turned out to be a cuckold, no wonder he is like this."

"Wearing a green hat and being a cuckold, Gou Shide would never have made his scandal public unless he was pushed to the edge of despair."

"It seems that Yang Kaitai is not a good person either."

"He is very successful in the business world and has many connections in the Agricultural Exchange Bureau and the Futures Exchange. How can he be a good person?"

"Yang Kaitai deserves it!"

"Why do you hate Yang Kaitai? Do you have a grudge against him?"

"I have no grudge against him. I stand on the side of justice. I cannot stand against evil! Tsk tsk, such a juicy little cabbage was eaten by the sheep for nothing."

The chief prosecutor waited for more than a minute for the chief prosecutor to finish speaking, then slammed the gavel.

"quiet!"

Wait until the court is quiet.

The chief prosecutor turned to look at the Shanghai prosecutor who was sitting in the defense litigation seat. "Defense, it's your turn to state your case, question the prosecution witnesses, and call the defense witnesses. Are you ready?"

The chief prosecutor of the defense stood up, crossed his arms and bowed, saying, "Mr. Chief Prosecutor, we are ready."

"Okay, let's begin."

"Chief Prosecutor, Co-prosecutor, and Secretary, the prosecutor has just stated the entire case from the plaintiff's perspective. I, the defense, will not refute this statement for the time being. Let's first question the plaintiff's first witness, Mai Chengqi, the purchasing director of Tianjin Cotton Mill No. 2 in Shanghai."

"Approved. Call witness number one, Mai Chengqi."

Mai Chengqi stood in the witness stand again.

The chief prosecutor of the defense looked at him and asked, "Mai Chengqi, you said that Yang Kaitai sold 100,000 kilograms of Subei cotton to you in October of the fourth year of Wanli?"

"Yes."

"You have personally seen these 100,000 kilograms of cotton and inspected its quality. And with your rich experience, you can recognize the origin and variety of this batch of cotton."

"Yes."

"Then let me ask you, the 100,000 kilograms of cotton that Yang Kaitai sold to you, did you know that he got it from Gou Shide?"

"Sir, what do you mean? I only know that Yang Kaitai bought the 100,000 kilograms of cotton from northern Jiangsu. How do I know where he bought it from?

If he doesn’t tell me, I’m not a god.”

"Well, you don't know whether the 100,000 kilograms of cotton that Yang Kaitai sold to you was Gou Shide's cotton, so why did the prosecutor insist that the 100,000 kilograms of cotton was Gou Shide's?"

The chief prosecutor immediately stood up and loudly refuted: "Chief prosecutor! The defense is making specious arguments. The prosecution objects!"

The chief defense judge refuted rudely: "Chief prosecutor, the prosecution is looking for excuses to accuse the accused. The defense objected!"

The chief judge slammed the gavel and turned to the chief prosecutor, "Plaintiff, please state your reasons."

"Promoter, the cotton that Gou Shide asked Yang Kaitai to sell on his behalf is exactly 100,000 kilograms. The origin is northern Jiangsu, and the variety is Donghai No. 4. It is exactly the same as the 100,000 kilograms of cotton that Yang Kaitai sold to Mai Chengqi!
How could there be such a coincidence in the world? So I have every reason to believe that the 100,000 catties of cotton that Yang Kaitai sold to Mai Chengqi were the 100,000 catties that Gou Shide had. "

Marcelo nodded after hearing Leon's reaction.

What the chief prosecutor said is reasonable.

One hundred thousand catties of cotton is not ten catties, but one hundred catties. The products, varieties, and quantities are completely consistent, which is irrefutable evidence.

Everyone's eyes turned to the chief judge, eagerly waiting for his rebuttal.

The evidence is irrefutable, how can you refute it?

The chief defense officer said calmly: "Chief prosecutor, please allow me to explain some situations to everyone present. It will take a little time. These situations are closely related to the case and whether the criminal Yang Kaitai is guilty."

"approve!"

The chief defense officer first bowed to express his gratitude to the chief judge, then turned to the press seats and the audience and spoke loudly.

"First of all, let me explain to you that northern Jiangsu cotton refers to the cotton-producing areas in the four counties of Taizhou, Runie, Taixing and Tongzhou, based on Yangzhou County in northern Jiangsu.

According to data from the Shanghai Agricultural Exchange Bureau and the Futures Exchange, in the fourth year of the Wanli reign, the cotton fields in the four counties of northern Jiangsu totaled 3.79 million mu, producing 416.7 million kilograms of cotton.

Donghai No. 4 is the most widely planted cotton variety in northern Jiangsu, accounting for more than 70% of the total area. In other words, in the fourth year of Wanli, the cotton-producing areas of the four counties in northern Jiangsu produced about 300 million kilograms of Donghai No. 4 cotton.

Compared to 300 million catties, 100,000 catties is just a drop in the ocean.”

The press box and the audience immediately started buzzing with discussion.

After listening to Leon's translation, Marcelo was shocked.

The four counties in northern Jiangsu produce 416.7 million kilograms of cotton a year, totaling 208,000 tons.

Two hundred and eighty thousand tons!
And this is just the output of one place!

With so much cotton sent to the cotton mill, how much cotton cloth can be woven into it!
Is this the true strength of the Ming Dynasty?
The chief prosecutor immediately stood up and refuted: "Gou Shide gave Yang Kaitai 100,000 catties of cotton, and Yang Kaitai sold exactly 100,000 catties to Mai Chengqi. Why is it such a coincidence?"

Yes, why is it such a coincidence?

Marcelo, like the audience in the audience, was pulled back from his thoughts by the words of the chief prosecutor. Yes, there is no such coincidence in the world!

The chief debater remained calm and composed amid the buzz of discussion.

After the chief judge silenced the noise in the courtroom with the clatter of the gavel, the chief defense attorney began to speak.

"Yes, why is it 100,000 kilograms?" The chief debater turned his head to look at the press seats and the audience seats and asked loudly.

Everyone nodded involuntarily.

Yes, why is it such a coincidence, it must be 100,000 kilograms?
The chief judge continued, "Let me share some knowledge with you. The jin we often talk about was 16 liang before, which is equivalent to the standard weight of 600 grams issued by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, which is 0.6 kilograms.

In order to facilitate the actual use of the people, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory unified the official metric system and the folk market system to two catties equal one kilogram, one catty equals 10 taels, equals 500 grams, and one tael equals 50 grams.

The chief judge glanced at everyone's faces, and after everyone had digested his words, he continued.

"One hundred thousand catties equals fifty thousand kilograms, or fifty tons. For ease of transportation, a whole bag of cotton weighs twenty-five kilograms, or fifty catties.

A large bale of cotton is made up of 10 bales of cotton, 250 kilograms, or 500 catties. Cotton is often transported by cargo ships, and one cargo ship can hold 200 large bales of cotton, or 50,000 kilograms, which we call 100,000 catties.

One hundred thousand jin is not only the carrying capacity of a standard space on a river or sea vessel, but also the standard trading unit of the Shanghai Agricultural Exchange Bureau and the Futures Exchange, one lot. "

The courtroom was silent, with only the slightly hoarse voice of the chief defense attorney echoing.

"Over time, the cotton trading market has formed its own rules. One lot, which is 100,000 catties, 50,000 kilograms, or 50 tons, is the minimum wholesale amount in the market.

Everyone, do you know what this means?
This means that if you want to be a cotton wholesaler and trade with others, you must start with a lot, which is 100,000 kilograms. If you have less than this amount, you can only be considered a small trader and are not worthy of appearing in the Agricultural Exchange Bureau and the Futures Exchange.

Yang Kaitai has two trading seats in the Shanghai Agricultural Exchange Bureau, with the license numbers of Agricultural Exchange B26 and B51. He also has one trading seat in the Futures Exchange, with the license number of Shanghai Exchange B15.

He sold as much as one million catties of cotton from northern Jiangsu every year. One hundred thousand catties was his starting point.

The courtroom became increasingly quiet, and everyone was listening attentively to the speech of the chief defense attorney.

"The prosecution has verified that Mai Chengqi, the purchasing director of Tianjin Cotton Mill No. 2 in Shanghai, and Yang Kaitai had a cotton transaction of 100,000 kilograms. We have also verified that it is indeed true.

But we also found out that Yang Kaitai sold 100,000 kilograms of cotton to the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

The Wuchang Cotton Mill's purchasing director in Shanghai, Li Weiyang, and Yang Kaitai's 300,000-jin cotton deal; the Changsha Cotton Mill's purchasing director in Shanghai, Huang Zhongyang, and Yang Kaitai's 400,000-jin cotton deal; the Hangzhou Cotton Mill's purchasing director in Shanghai, Qian Haitang, and Yang Kaitai's 500,000-jin cotton deal.
Coincidentally, the cotton was produced in northern Jiangsu and the variety was Donghai No. 4. According to statistics from the Shanghai Municipal Procuratorate and Judicial Bureau, in the fourth year of the Wanli reign, Yang Kaitai sold a total of 1.2 million kilograms of cotton, all of which were Donghai No. 4 cotton produced in northern Jiangsu.

Chief Prosecutor, can you tell us which 100,000 kilograms of the 1.2 million kilograms of cotton belonged to Gou Shide? Or, in other words, why did the 100,000 kilograms of cotton sold to Mai Chengqi belong to Gou Shide? But the 100,000 kilograms of cotton sold to the Futures Exchange did not belong to Gou Shide? "

The courtroom finally began to buzz with discussion.

"So this is ah."

"It seems that Yang Kaitai is wronged."

“Who knew cotton trading was so complicated.”

"So, Yang Kaitai sold 100,000 kilograms of Gou Shide's cotton to the futures exchange at a low price. The rest of the cotton was sold to the cotton mill buyers at a high price.

Why did he do this? Was it really because of Xiao Baicai that he deliberately did something bad to cheat Gou Shide of his money? "

"Trickster."

"The profiteer is not running away, but it seems like what he did is not illegal!"

The prosecutor's face flushed red. After hesitating for a while, he suddenly stood up and asked, "Why did Yang Kaitai sell Gou Shide's 100,000 kilograms of cotton to the futures exchange at a low price, while selling his other cotton at a high price?"

The chief judge immediately replied: "All this was requested by Gou Shide!

He made huge profits by selling cotton to the futures exchange two years ago, and wanted to do it again in the fourth year of Wanli. But Yang Kaitai told him that the prices in the futures exchange fluctuated and were difficult to grasp.

Especially when it is only 100,000 kilograms of cotton, it is just a drizzle in the tens of millions of kilograms of cotton traded in the exchange, and it is easy to be cheated out of everything.

But Gou Shide refused to listen and sent his steward Gou Quan to follow Yang Kaitai to Shanghai. After arriving in Shanghai, news came that India had a bumper cotton harvest, and the price of cotton on the futures exchange plummeted.

Yang Kaitai advised Gou Quan to wait a little longer, but Gou Quan refused to listen. He was frightened by the plummeting cotton prices at the time and kept urging Yang Kaitai to sell.

Yang Kaitai had no choice but to list the 100,000 kilograms of cotton that Gou Shide had stored in the exchange's warehouse for sale on the exchange as Gou Quan requested.

Yang Kaitai waited for more than half a month, and finally received the news that although India had a good cotton harvest, the quality of the cotton was very poor. The price of cotton in northern Jiangsu rebounded immediately, and he sold the cotton in stock one after another at a good price.

The chief complainant's expression changed several times. He sat down awkwardly and began to discuss quietly with his colleagues.

Everyone started talking again. This case was really exciting up to this point.
After consultation between the chief judge and his co-judges, the gavel was slammed loudly.

"It is now 11:40. I hereby declare that the court will take a break for an hour and a half and will resume at 1:30 p.m.

Adjournment! "

Following the slam of the gavel by the chief judge, the clerk stood up and shouted, "Everyone stand up!"

Everyone stood up and bowed to the judge.

After the three judges left from the right door, people in the press and audience seats left one after another.

Shu Youliang pulled Leon and Marcelo out of the door, and people immediately surrounded them and asked anxiously.

"Brother, is the case over?"

"We've finished the trial in the morning. Let's take a break and continue in the afternoon."

"Is the cabbage juicy?"

"Shui Ling! Fresh Shui Ling that will burst into water as soon as you pinch it."

Shu Youliang answered casually, and when he glanced around, he saw two familiar figures.

Two reporters from Zhejiang Daily squeezed in front, went to the street, called a horse-drawn carriage, and went all the way to Mochou Pavilion.

Mochou Pavilion is an official guesthouse built by the Huzhou Government. It is more upscale than the Yingbin Hotel, and only officials of the fourth rank and above are qualified to stay here.

On weekdays, important meetings of the Huzhou Government, the Censorate and the Military Preparations Department, as well as meetings between the prefect Li Sanjiang and the governors and governors of other provinces, were also held here.

Someone was guarding the door. When he saw the two people, he quickly took them to Tingyu Pavilion.

Tingyuxuan is one of the small courtyards, where officials above the rank of governor and governor live.

Entering the main hall of Tingyu Pavilion, the two reporters crossed their arms and bowed, saying respectfully, "Students greet Governor Wang."

(End of this chapter)