Great Lawyer

Chapter 629 The Debate of Merchants ([-])

Above the main hall, King Gui asked someone to move a chair. He sat side by side with King Jiujiang, and Duke An was sitting opposite him.

In Xiashuli, from high to low, there were nearly a hundred courtiers standing.

The censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate stayed up late last night to fight hard, and this morning's memorial was like snowflakes, which floated into the cabinet and sent to the imperial study.

Before Zhao Yu had time to look at it, he glanced at Du Jiuyan and said, "Only two things will be discussed this morning, and the rest will be discussed tomorrow!"

"First, before the death of Taizu, he left a last word. If the descendants of later generations revise the Zhou law, they will restore the Zhou law to the original. I have read the message and letter, and it is indeed Taizu's notes."

"Secondly, Du Jiuyan, also known as Princess Gui Qin Jiuyan, in the Dali Temple court yesterday, proposed to add a law about respecting women and allowing women to study and work in schools."

Zhao Yu looked at Du Jiuyan, "About the first matter of restoring the Zhou Law, Du Jiuyan, please talk to you about the necessity from the perspective of a litigator."

"Yes!" Du Jiuyan cleared his throat, and suddenly Liliu Yushi stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, she committed the crime of deceiving the emperor, impersonating her name, and acting as a lawyer in the identity of a woman. cannot be exonerated.”

There are 12 censors in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Liu Yushi is not the only one. He was the first to speak because he walked fast.

"Yes!" Zhang Yushi said: "Her crime cannot be avoided."

This kind of thing is the best time for the censor to perform. If they don't stand out, who can stand up.

"This matter was discussed in Dali Temple yesterday. She has a fan left by Taizu, and the fan is her death token." Zhao Yu said: "I will not pursue her crimes any further. This is for Taizu. respect."

Liu Yushi was about to speak, but Du Jiuyan said loudly: "Student, thank you, Your Majesty!"

"What kind of student, you can't call him a gentleman." Liu Yushi said.

Du Jiuyan glanced at him, not wanting to quarrel with him now and delay the business.She crossed hands with everyone, and said: "Everyone, it has been nearly 200 years since the Taizu established the Zhou Law. The first draft of the Zhou Law consisted of forty volumes and thirty sections, a total of 120 laws, and it is still in accordance with today's laws. There are still 120 and [-] articles that are enforced.”

"Three articles have been deleted and revised, but these three laws contain twelve minor items."

"Seven of these [-] sub-items are about support for merchants and businesses, and the remaining four are about women's rights."

"Now, restore these three laws to the original, and make no changes to the Zhou law." Du Jiuyan said: "The Zhou law set by Taizu is very comprehensive and humane. As future generations, although we can't perfect it, we can You must also never change it privately."

"Yes, I propose to restore Zhou Lu!" Du Jiuyan said.

Zhao Yu nodded slightly, and looked at the crowd, "Everyone expresses their opinions, but don't forget to quarrel and abuse!"

Quarreling in the courtroom is a common occurrence, not to mention quarreling, there have been fights.

"Your Majesty, there is no problem in restoring Zhoulu, but we must also think about it from another angle. In the past, under what circumstances, these regulations were abolished and revised." Wan and several colleagues prepared the copy all night, and read: "Among them, in the "Zhou Law, Taxation", there is an amendment about the ship's tax evasion. Twice as much property shall be confiscated."

"However, this article was amended by Mr. Fu of the cabinet during the Huacheng period. It was revised to read: If a ship is investigated and punished for evading taxes, ten times the amount of tax and money will be fined and confiscated, and the criminal will be sentenced to eighty sticks and half a year in prison. .”

"Why did Lord Fu propose to revise this law, and why did it get the approval of all the officials? According to records, it was because of the famine in the north the year before, and there was no harvest. Many southern merchants used the canal to transport rice to the north for trading."

"However, because the imperial court controlled the price of rice and grain, and intensified the investigation and punishment of the black market, these merchants thought of another crooked way."

"They separated the floor of the cabin with a partition, and separated the upper and lower cabins into two warehouses. When the road inspected the taxation of the city ship inspector, they only paid the tax for one floor, and evaded the next floor."

"After such a story spread, many businesses followed suit. As a result, there was only 86 taels in the treasury this year, which was the least in the year when the dynasty was opened."

"That's why Master Fu proposed to amend this regulation." Master Liu looked at Du Jiuyan, "Princess Gui, this regulation has been revised very well. From now on, no merchant will dare to do this again."

"Taizu opened the dynasty with outstanding abilities, and the law is the most perfect human nature in the millennium. However, we also need to be flexible. Only flexibility is the foundation of the development of the world."

After Liu Yushi finished speaking, he looked at Du Jiuyan, his intention of provocation was obvious.

After he finished speaking, everyone nodded, and the cabinet king nodded and said: "This is indeed reasonable. Only by being flexible can we make progress, and we can't blindly preserve the things of our ancestors. In other words, Taizu abandoned the old laws of the previous dynasty and re-written the laws , is also a manifestation of flexibility.”

"My lord Wang is right, it's true."

"Every revision of the law has its current reason and original intention. Now it is blindly saying that the original law should be restored. Isn't this going back 200 years?"

Ren Yanhui looked at Elder Lu Ge, and said in a low voice: "In the past, the relationship between Elder Lu Ge and Mr. An was not considered close, but in the next few years, they got along more and more harmoniously. Now it seems that it is because the two discussed the so-called Du Jiuyan. Law?"

"Let your granddaughter dress up as a man and become a lawyer. I don't know what you two plan to do? Amending the code is to shake the foundation of the country. Your ambitions are obvious."

Lu Zhangzhi pointed to the white morning light outside, "At such a time, it must still be night in the eyes of Elder Ren Ge?"

"But in my eyes, it's already daytime."

"What kind of eyes do you use to see things, and what kind of form things will appear in. If you want others to be right, you must first be right!"

Lu Ge's old words fell, and he couldn't help but look at Du Jiuyan.

He thought Du Jiuyan was designed by them, so he could be proud of raising such an outstanding granddaughter.It's a pity no, this granddaughter is not close to him, and he doesn't even know why she has such a sudden change.

He is guilty.

"Govern the country with heavy codes!" Du Jiuyan looked at Mr. Wang, and his eyes fell on Liu Yushi's face again, "What Mr. Liu said just now seems to make sense, but unfortunately, if I were in the court that day, I would have to dissuade you from revising it. this law."

"Dissuade? If you don't modify it, the treasury will have no money, and you will fill it?"

Du Jiuyan smiled, and took two steps with her hands behind her back, her skirt fluttering with a smile on her face, "Did Ku Yin come here as a punishment?"

"No!" She said, "Businessmen want to stock up on goods, and they have to travel hundreds of miles to the capital for more than a month. Has Mr. Fu ever calculated the cost of this journey?"

"Once the rice is [-] wen, the waterway freight will be charged. When he transports it to the north, the price of rice stipulated by the imperial court will be [-] renminbi." Du Jiuyan said: "How much rice is a ship and how much tax is paid? Cost, if he buys and sells at the market price stipulated by the imperial court, he will lose money."

"Businessmen are only interested in profits! It's a disgrace for them to talk about interests in the face of national disaster!" Liu Yushi said.

"You don't value profits, why don't you use your money to help the poor people outside the city?" Du Jiuyan sneered.

"I'm not a businessman, and the salary I earn is only a drop in the bucket. It's hard to support a family. How can I help the poor people?" Master Liu said, "In the face of the national crisis, I will do my best to give full play to my strengths."

Du Jiuyan said: "Master Liu's specialty is to stand here and talk about wars on paper, right?"

"You," Liu Yushi said angrily, "Your Majesty said, don't attack others when discussing things. If you are like this, don't talk about it anymore."

Du Jiuyan cupped his hands, "I'm sorry, I had an argument with Mr. Ren Ge at Dali Temple yesterday, and now those who are influenced by him, I don't want to reason, but just scold."

"Du Jiuyan!" Ren Yanhui was furious.

"Why are you calling my wife?" King Gui raised his eyebrows to look at him.

Ren Yanhui gritted his teeth, flicked his sleeves and turned his head away.

Du Jiuyan laughed, cupped her hands together, and said, "Come back to business!" She paused and said, "It's right for merchants to value profits. It is within the law of love. They are on a boat, ranging from the parents and children of merchants to the family of crew members, and you let them travel hundreds of miles just to bring warmth to the disaster area, which is the difficulty of the strong."

"Send it or not, it's their right. They can do what they can, but they only do business." Du Jiuyan said: "But, even if they don't provide disaster relief, can they deny that what they do is only for money? ? In other words, if they hadn’t transported rice and grain for hundreds of miles, the people in the north would have to go out of the city to eat bark even if they had silver taels in their pockets!”

Du Jiuyan paused slightly as he spoke, "Besides, Mr. Liu only mentioned heavy punishments for tax evasion, but he didn't mention the number of people who died of famine in Huacheng 14 years ago. A total of 6000 people died in the four northern prefectures alone!"

"In many big mansions that are not short of money, there are people who starve to death."

"Why?" Du Jiuyan said: "This is the disadvantage after the heavy code. Maybe no one leaks taxes, but under the tough heavy code, no businessman will suffer anymore to deliver rice!"

"So, this is the purpose of the patriarch when he wrote this law. Punishment must be punished, but those who cannot be punished will go bankrupt. Dogs will inevitably bite people. Compared with tax evasion and human life, what is more important?" Du Jiu Yan said: "There is a degree of relaxation, this is the purpose of the Patriarch."

"Forcing others to have no way to go, the result is that everyone has no way to go." Du Jiuyan said.

Liu Yushi wanted to speak, Du Jiuyan said: "This is a law to support merchants. As for the promotion and influence of the development of commerce and trade on the progress of the world, I remember that two hundred years ago, the patriarch once said that those who are interested will record it in a book. , everyone can go and look it up, I won’t make mistakes.”

"So, this law cannot be changed whether it was a famine year or a peace year now!" Du Jiuyan said.

Darren Wang said: "Do you know how many disadvantages there will be if the punishment is not heavy?"

(End of this chapter)