After the court, Du Zhongxiao had just returned to the official hall, and Ye Xiang, the chief bookkeeper, arched his hand and said: "Zhongcheng, Fang Ping has come back from Ye County!" ”

Du Zhongxiao was stunned for a moment, and said, "Let them check for a few more days, be sure to make things clear, why are you coming back now?" ”

Ye Xiang said: "He got the key witness, and he was afraid that there would be an accident in Ye County, so he brought it back to the capital directly." Now the person has gone down to the prison, just waiting for Zhongcheng to interrogate. ”

Hearing this, Du Zhongxiao was a little confused for a while. He sent people to Ye County, not to try the case, but to check whether there were any suspicious points in the case. If he couldn't find anything suspicious, out of sympathy, he settled Bai Xian in Beijing. If you find out the suspicious points, you will go to the chapter and let Jingxi Road investigate. Fang Ping came back with a key witness all of a sudden, which was different from what he thought.

After thinking for a while, Du Zhongxiao said, "Let Fang Ping come over to see me." ”

Ye Xiang said yes and left the official hall. Not long after, he brought Fang Ping in.

Du Zhongxiao said: "You said that you found the key witness in the Bai family's case and brought it to the capital, what happened?" ”

Fang Ping arched his hand: "Yu Zhongcheng, the little one is investigating the case in Ye County, who knows that the news has leaked, and I always feel that someone is following me." The small one consulted with Jian Cheng, he went to Baiting to supervise the files, and the small one went to Dengzhou, and got rid of the people who were monitoring us first. Na Cheng thought, after getting in the car, he happened to sit with the director of the bookstore that wrote the IOU for the Bai family at that time. Because the supervisor might as well leak out what happened at that time. The little one was afraid that there would be an accident in Ye County, so he simply brought it into Beijing and was personally interrogated by Zhongcheng to end the line. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Okay, if this matter can really solve this case, you should be credited." Let's go to Taiwan and listen to what people have to say. ”

After speaking, together with Fang Ping, they went to the Taiwan Prison Officer's Hall and ordered to bring people over. After a short time, Fang Ping escorted Yi Li into the official hall and saluted together.

Du Zhongxiao looked at Yi Li, about fifty years old, dressed in green clothes, with black hair, very capable. I really didn't believe it in my heart, such a big case was accidentally broken by Fang Ping.

Calming down, Du Zhongxiao said, "What's your name?" Where to do things? One by one. ”

Yi Li arched his hand and said: "Little Yi Li, he has read poetry and books since he was a child, and he is a supervisor in the Zhang family bookstore in Ye County. Half a year ago, Bai Zhengran of this county borrowed 100 yuan of cash from a foreign member, set the interest, and wrote an IOU from the small one. A few days later, the clerk suddenly said to me that he wanted to change the IOU to a thousand yuan. I haven't done this kind of thing, and the little ones really don't dare. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at Yi Li and said lightly: "How dare you later?" ”

Yi Li sighed: "Money is moving. The little one didn't dare, but he took out a silver ingot, about ten taels, and said that he had changed the IOU, and the silver would be mine. Moreover, Jian Yuan is an unusual family in Ye County, his family is rich, and there are people in the official face, if he does not obey him, he is afraid that his business will be difficult in the future. The little one was dizzy for a while, so he changed the IOU for them. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "IOUs are relied on by the government to decide cases, where is it so easy to change?" ”

Yi Li said: "Xianggong is right, it's really not easy to change." The IOUs in the bookstore were all deed papers, specially bought from the yamen, and there were numbers one by one. However, there were people in the Jian family in the Yamen, so they brought blank deed paper, and the small ones were changed. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "After changing the IOU, Bai Zhengran has to sign and draw a pledge, how can he be willing to draw a pledge on the new IOU?" ”

Yi Li said: "This is what Jian Yuan did outside. I heard that it was bought off, and when Chengbai was not paying attention, he secretly drew a charge. How to do it, I don't know. Jian Yuan's foreign wealth is very powerful, and he wants to find someone to do this. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, was silent for a while, and asked, "What physical evidence is there in this matter besides you?" ”

Yi Li said: "At that time, the small one received the original 100 yuan IOU, saying that it was destroyed, but in fact it was kept. ”

Hearing this, Du Zhongxiao stood up abruptly and said, "Where is that old IOU?" Can I take it with me? ”

Yi Li said: "By your side." This time, the staff sent the small one to Xiangzhou, and clearly said that the Yushitai sent someone to investigate the case in Ye County, and the small one specially brought the evidence with him in order to prevent accidents. As he spoke, he took an IOU from his bosom.

Fang Ping came back with Yi Li, and there was no interrogation, but he was just detained in Taiwan. So at this time, Yi Li took it out.

Du Zhongxiao took the IOU and looked at it carefully. In the end, it is a person who has served in the local government for many years, and it can be seen that it is a format uniformly printed by Ye County, which says next month, Bai Zhengran borrowed a hundred yuan from the shop outside the Jian Yuan, and paid it off after one year, with an interest of twenty yuan.

The bookstore has the function of impartiality, and their IOUs, contracts, contracts, etc., are all used in the deed paper bought from the government, which is equivalent to the government receiving the stamp. The number of these deeds is clear, and theoretically each one is registered, so there will be no confusion. However, there are people in the Jian family who are officials in the county government, and there is a way to get a blank deed paper, which is actually not a difficult task.

After reading it carefully, Du Zhongxiao put away the deed paper and instructed the official to summon a scribe to interrogate Yi Li carefully. At what time and under what circumstances did Bai Zhengran borrow money, and what was the situation at that time. Later, when the IOU was changed and what happened after that, I asked in great detail. Now there is only Yili's confession, of course, the more detailed the question, the better.

Everything was asked clearly, and let Yi Li draw the charge on the pleadings, Du Zhongxiao said: "You are not the main culprit in this matter, and you are not a serious crime, if you can help the court try this case, you can be exempted from guilt." These days, I was locked up in Taiwan and waited for orders. ”

After speaking, he ordered someone to escort Yi Li back to Taiwan Prison and ordered him to take care of it. If he had an accident, he would be held accountable.

Out of the prison, Du Zhongxiao said to the other party calmly: "You immediately go back to Ye County and discuss with Jian Cheng, and the two of them stay there to confuse people's ears and eyes." After I played, the court made a decision to let the two of you come back. ”

After all the orders, Du Zhongxiao returned to his official hall and closed his eyes and thought. This case document is too beautiful, and after I received the white first paper, I actually didn't have much hope. Sending Jian Cheng and Fang Ping to Ye County was just to do their best and obey the destiny of heaven. Unexpectedly, Fang Ping really had such luck, and he bumped into Yi Li at once, asked the reason, and brought him back to the capital.

In the kind of place in Yexian County, with the development of the iron prison over the years, it has changed in a few years. There must be a lot of cases like the Bai family, but there are not many people in the world who have Bai Xian's perseverance and can sue all the way to Yushitai.

There are several aspects of this case, and Du Zhongxiao has to think about it carefully. One is an unjust, false and wrongly decided case, which of course must be retried. As long as there is a confession provided by Yi Li, it can be handed over to Jingxi Road for retrial. Another is that Bai Xian has been suing and judging his father's grievances, and the court should commend him to persuade the world to fulfill his filial piety. There is another case, this case, except for the factor that Bai Xian insisted on suing, is actually not a big case. Not to mention Ye County, there may be such things in many places. With this case, it should be a bigger thing to be able to clean up the chaotic status quo of Baiting Prison.

Of these three factors, which one is the main one to play, Du Zhongxiao has to make a choice. After thinking for a long time, Du Zhongxiao stood up, paced back and forth behind the case, and finally decided to play with the chaos of the Bai Pavilion Supervisor as the main reason.

Since the establishment of the Iron Prison, it has actually opened the prelude to the industrialization of the Great Song Dynasty. What the process was and what the result was, Du Zhongxiao didn't know. As industrialization progresses, there will inevitably be similarities with the historical European industrialization process, but there will also be differences.

China is large enough to have a huge market, while the external market is insufficient, and the initial stage will inevitably meet the internal market. This is different from Europe in history, and Du Zhongxiao does not know what the specific process is. This kind of thing must have its objective laws, and if it violates the objective laws, even if it is proud for a while, it will eventually change.

Du Zhongxiao knows the priority and connection between social productive forces and production relations, but he does not know how the facts will evolve. His choice was to establish an iron prison first, let them take the initiative to have a relationship with the system, and slowly change the whole society. After more than three years on Hequ Road, my thinking is no longer the same as when I was first supervised. Whether or not to use this case to reorganize the current situation of the iron prison, Du Zhongxiao will not be able to make a decision for a while.

Objectively speaking, now the imperial court is in control of the iron supervisor and other large factories related to the people's livelihood in the world, and at the same time the small factories under the supervision of Baiting are nurtured, and the effect is still good. In recent years, the railway supervisor has developed rapidly, and various small factories in Baiting have sprung up and are thriving. However, due to the lax governance of the government and the lack of manpower, all kinds of chaos have arisen at the same time, and the Bai family's case is just the tip of the iceberg.

Now the domestic market is far from unified, and the society has unlimited demand for various products of Baitingjian, and there are opportunities everywhere. The reason why Jian Yuanwai did not hesitate to kill people and seize the land of the Bai family was a manifestation. No matter how much money the Bai family can make a year from farming, it is not worth mentioning compared to opening a factory.

The magnificence of the upper strata of society often condenses the blood and tears of the lower strata of society. The more glorious the upper class, the more miserable and infinite the lower class may be. Just like the case of the Bai family, if we look at it from the perspective of developing industry and developing capitalist relations, it seems that Jian Yuanwai, as a new capitalist, should be encouraged and protected. But from the perspective of the ordinary Bai family, of course, it should be severely punished.

Where is the combination of a country's prosperity and the happiness of the people at the bottom? How should it be combined? Du Zhongxiao didn't know, and he didn't want to know. Now this case has forced him to think about what to do.

The Bai family case may be simple, but for Du Zhongxiao, it has many other meanings. How to deal with it and how the court should deal with it really contains too much content. In this case, Du Zhongxiao's thinking should be clarified.