Although Pu Xin also had some doubts in his heart, he remained silent on his face, but silently waited for Li Zhou to continue speaking. Although the case was tried by him, the person who really decided to accept it was Taishou Xia Ruan. When Xia Ruan handed over the case to him, he also specially instructed that it should be tried in accordance with the law, and there should be no bias at the beginning, and he seemed to attach great importance to it in his words.

Park Xin has been an official for more than ten years, and he is most familiar with the various twists and turns in the officialdom. Although Taishou did not say it explicitly on the surface, his words faintly revealed that he actually had a fixed opinion in his heart, and he was definitely biased towards Li Zhou, who was interested in litigation. Thinking about it this way, the origin of this Li Zhou is definitely not simple, and it will not be untargeted.

Sure enough, Li Zhou didn't care about the reaction of everyone in the hall at all, but slowly took out a stack of silk silk from his arms, and said with a playful smile: "Although the grass people have not seen Cao Jian, these IOUs are genuine, and they can't be relied on." ”

Shuzuo was very interested, and when he saw that the person who was involved in the lawsuit showed evidence, he didn't need the presiding judge to speak, and hurriedly stepped forward to take it. He carefully examined it for a while, and after confirming the general content and seal on the IOU, he bowed down and presented it to Pu Xin's table, and said respectfully: "Yu Pengshi, the lower officials have checked it, and it is indeed an IOU set up by Cao Jian." A total of 100 million baht is owed, and the monthly interest is 5%. ”

Cao Jian, who was originally full of suspicion, heard this, and his face changed dramatically and questioned loudly: "It's impossible to break it!" The grass people had never met this man, so how could they borrow such a huge amount of money from him?! ”

"Silence!" The official behind him raised his foot and kicked his ** fiercely, scolding: "How can you be presumptuous in the courtroom!" ”

Cao Jian was defenseless, he was kicked when he landed, and he took a few steps forward before standing firmly, although he was kicked in pain, he didn't dare to exhale in pain.

However, he seemed unwilling to give up the right to refute, and hesitated to defend himself again, but he only heard Hu Dalang, the county commander of Wanxian County, say: "Don't worry, the head of the Cao family, Park Pengshi will naturally not only listen to one side of the story, and after the inspection is completed, you will definitely be given the opportunity to defend yourself." ”

When Cao Jian heard this, he suddenly realized that his words and deeds were a little inappropriate, and he thought that there was Hu Da who was listening to the trial, and he thought that he could also help Xiang Yi or Two, so he couldn't help but relax his mood a little, and hurriedly bowed down and confessed: "It's the grass people who are reckless, and the chief of Wanwang Hall forgives his sins." ”

Park Pengshi didn't care, just frowned and waved his hand, signaling the officials to pull Cao Jian back to his place and stand still, and then picked up the many IOUs on the table and checked them one by one.

After some gestures, he looked at Li Zhou with interest and asked, "Although there is no doubt that the seal letter and signature are indeed Cao Jian, the person who lent the money is not the same. Such as Kong Kuang, Kong Hui, Kong Po and others, although not all of them are familiar with this official, they have also tasted their people, and they seem to be all from Nanyang Kong, right? ”

Li Zhou smiled and nodded, obviously not surprised that Pu Xin could recognize these people, after all, most of the clansmen of the Nanyang Kong clan were well-known merchants in the Nanyang realm. Even if Pu Xin was newly transferred from the capital to fill the official vacancy, he must have a certain degree of understanding of the profound Nanyang Kong clan, otherwise he would not be a suitable official.

Compared with Li Zhou's calmness, everyone in the hall was in an uproar.

Especially Cao Jian, there was a bang in his head, as if he had exploded the Nine Heavens thunder, and he almost fainted. When Kong Kuang's name came out of Pu Xin's mouth, he knew that the situation had developed in a very bad direction, and there seemed to be a bloody mouth waiting for an opportunity in the black fog behind him, ready to devour the Cao family at any time.

Hu Da's face also changed greatly, originally he guessed about the profound heritage of the Cao family, thinking that Cao Jian would definitely not owe Li Zhou, who was dressed as a farmer, such a large amount of silver, and it was impossible for him to pay it back on time. Therefore, he thinks that this Li Zhou is a false accusation, and it is even likely that the new Taishou and the governor of the government took the opportunity to blackmail the Cao family and solicit bribes in disguise.

Out of this consideration, the reason why Hu Dashicai interceded for Cao Jian several times was to consider that the Taishou and the governor of the government behind him probably didn't want to fish with all his might, but just wanted to scare Cao Jian. If this is the case, he made a statement to ease the atmosphere in the hall, not only selling favors in front of Cao Jian, but also tantamount to rounding the field for Taishou and the governor of Futai, which is equivalent to a good deal that can be sold at both ends.

However, in light of the circumstances, he suddenly realized that things were not as he had thought. Especially when he learned that Nanyang Kong seemed to be involved in this strange lawsuit, and Cao Jian's face changed greatly, Hu Da felt that he seemed to have made a big "political mistake".

If you know your mistakes, you can change them, and you can show the true colors of officialdom.

As the county magistrate who survived the purge of Nanyang officialdom and was able to keep his official position, Hu Da naturally knew the way of being an official, and his face was thicker than the city wall, and he didn't even have the slightest intention of checking the IOU, so he immediately changed his tone and scolded Cao Jian: "Bold Cao Jian!" Even if the evidence is conclusive, why does Shicai still defend himself? Trying to deceive the court?! ”

Cao Jian had long been out of his mind, and he didn't respond to Hu Da's shameless sudden change at all, but just muttered unwillingly: "Impossible, impossible, why is the IOU of the Kong family in the hands of this person?" ……”

Seeing this, Pu Xin naturally knew that Cao Jian had indeed borrowed a huge amount of money from these Kong family members, and he also avoided the procedure of letting him confirm the authenticity of the IOU. According to the procedures of previous trials, in order to prevent others from privately carving seals and copying handwriting, the various contracts submitted to the court must be confirmed by both the government and the litigation before they can be used as conclusive evidence.

However, according to Cao Jian's performance, these IOUs can be relied on, but the origin needs to be clarified.

Pu Xin looked at Li Zhou, who was indifferent, and asked, "In this way, these IOUs are indeed true, but how did they fall into your hands?" Hundreds of millions of baht is a huge amount of money, why don't the people of the Kong family ask for it themselves? ”

Li Zhou slowly took out another roll of silk silk from his arms, and said with a slight smile: "These IOUs were all resold by the Confucian family to the grass people, and there is a contract as a basis, and I also ask the court to take a look." ”

After Shu Zuofu stepped forward to inspect it again, he handed it over to Park Xin. Pu Xin only glanced at it a few times, but didn't look closely at all, and then nodded his head to accept it. He already had a fixed opinion in his heart, since this Li Zhou was promoted to the court, he had a confident posture, and there was no panic at all, obviously he had a plan in advance, and he would definitely not do the stupid thing of forging seals and contracts.

"Cao Jian, now that the evidence is conclusive, what else do you have to say?" Pu Xin slammed the startled wood on the table, and the crisp sound frightened the distracted Cao Jian to tremble before he came back to his senses.

Cao Jian was suspicious, but he had no clue, especially about Kong's approach. Although the Kong family is also a wealthy businessman in Nanyang, he has always held the industry with drums and has never interfered in the salt industry, so he has no deep hatred with the Cao family.

What's more, because the two giants are both giant businessmen in Nanyang, they still have a lot of contacts, and they support each other to deal with foreign businessmen such as Henan businessmen, and the relationship is harmonious. It stands to reason that suppressing the Cao family will not benefit the Kong family at all, but will fall into the bad name of suppressing local businesses, causing the indignation of other businessmen in Nanyang.

Although Cao Jian was full of doubts and hated the Kong family's secret arrows to hurt people, he knew that now was not the time to get to the bottom of it, so he immediately calmed down a little, bowed down and said slowly: "Looking back at history, even if these IOUs are true, they can only prove that the grass people owe debts, but the lawsuit sues the grass people for overdue debts, and the two cannot be compared. If this person comes to the door with these IOUs to ask for debts, the grass people will sell their ancestral property, and they will pay off all the principal and interest, so why bother going to court? ”

Pu Xin was stunned when he heard this, but he couldn't help but slightly agree, and had to admit that Cao Jian was reasonable. It is a matter of course to repay debts, and the government has always only cared about those who do not repay debts, but now Li Zhou seems to have never come to ask for debts, and Cao Jian is not a violation of the law at all.

Seeing this, Li Zhou still bowed down and said: "Yu Pengshi, it is clearly agreed on the IOU that the principal and interest should be returned in full within half a year." The IOU was made in April and May, and now that the New Year's Festival is approaching, the six-month deadline has already passed. ”

Pu Xin picked up the IOU and looked at it carefully, nodded and said, "It makes sense, it is indeed half a year since the contract, and it is undoubtedly overdue." ”

Cao Jian saw that Pu Xin's words changed sharply, and the secret words were not good, so he hurriedly defended himself: "Peng Shi Rongyu, although the period above this IOU is half a year, but the grass people said that they had agreed with these Kong clansmen before that it could be extended for another half a year!" ”

"Oh?" Pu Xin looked at Cao Jian noncommittally and asked slowly, "Is there really such a thing?" ”

Cao Jian nodded like garlic and said: "The grass people never dare to deceive the court, it is really true. ”

Li Zhou, who had always been calm, couldn't help but chuckle, and said with a mocking face: "There is no basis for what you say, I don't know if Cao Jun can make a contract with them?" ”

Instead of caring about Li Zhou's rash remarks, Pu Xin looked at Cao Jian rather playfully, clearly waiting for him to defend himself.

Cao Jian chuckled in his heart, and became more and more flustered. A few days ago, the sub-period was approaching, and it was the craziest period for the massive hoarding of sea salt. At that time, he not only went to the Confucian family to negotiate the extension of these IOUs, but also borrowed more money from the Confucian family. Because Kong Cao's two families are both worth hundreds of millions, and they are businessmen who value credibility, they have never defaulted on their debts, so they did not make a written contract at all when the contract was extended, but only agreed orally.

However, at this time, these IOUs fell into the hands of this annihilator named Li Zhou, and the Kong family could no longer be trusted, and there was no way to prove that there was an extension of the contract. When Cao Jian thought of this, he couldn't help but feel depressed in his heart, his throat surged, and he felt that he was panting unbearably, so he had to open his mouth and pant heavily.

Seeing this, everyone in the hall naturally knew that Cao Jian must not have a written contract in his hand, and the crime of overdue debts was already a certainty. Next, the crux of this case is the issue of debt repayment, which is probably also the main purpose of the litigators.

After all, a simple overdue debt does not violate the criminal law, but belongs to the category of miscellaneous laws, if it can be paid off within a time limit, at most it should be flogged, and dozens of whips will be applied.

Therefore, the means of repayment and the time limit for repayment determined by the presiding judge are the key, and according to the results of the settlement, the final penalty can be said to be very different, and the insolvent will even be relegated to slavery.

Although in the early Han Dynasty, when the rule of inaction was governed by inaction and the people's livelihood was lived, the laws were loose and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, but for slaves, it was a different situation. The brutality of slaves in the early Han Dynasty was no less than that of the pre-Qin period, and even exceeded. In the eyes of the Han people, slaves are just livestock, and their status is not even as good as livestock. (To be continued.) )