At dawn the next day, Li Yanqing came to the county office, which is one of the advantages of being a local official, he doesn't have to go out so early every day, and he can calmly eat breakfast at home before going out.

On the square, the new head catcher and deputy head catcher Zhang Bao and Zhang Ying are teaching more than a dozen catchers to practice boxing, and they are fighting vigorously, and there are several catchers kneeling next to them, and it is estimated that they were punished for not coming on time.

Li Yanqing didn't bother them, and walked directly to the county office, which had just opened the door, and two officials were sweeping the steps with bamboo brooms in their hands.

The functions of the yamen and the arrest are different, the officials are mainly responsible for collecting rent, or doing all kinds of miscellaneous things, and the arrest is to maintain public order, mediate disputes, and arrest thieves, but like the black-hearted dragon king, the river thief who gathers hundreds of people is not a matter of catching fast, but the responsibility of the township soldiers, and the fast arrest is only responsible for catching the lone Jiangyang thief.

Seeing the arrival of the county order, the two officials hurriedly saluted together, "See the county king!" ”

"Are Yang County Cheng and Zhou County Lieutenant here?"

"Yang County Cheng has just arrived, and County Lieutenant Zhou is probably still early."

Li Yanqing was stunned, "Why?" ”

County Lieutenant Zhou usually doesn't appear until noon, and he's a more ...."

The officials didn't dare to continue, Li Yanqing smiled: "It's better wine, isn't it!" ”

"That's right, the previous Wang County Order didn't care about him, and he has developed a habit in a few years."

Li Yanqing nodded secretly, it is estimated that the former county commander is the same as himself, with his henchmen as the head and catcher, and the county lieutenant Zhou is empty, this county lieutenant Zhou is older, and he is not from a professional class, so he has no hope for the future, so he drinks all day to pass the time, waiting to retire.

Although it is a little sympathetic, Li Yanqing does not want to change the status quo, and some county orders do not care about military power, but he values it very much.

Walking into the county office, he saw the county Cheng Yang Ju directing the officials to carry the boxes, Li Yanqing stepped forward and asked with a smile: "What are you doing?" ”

Yang Ju hurriedly saluted Li Yanqing and said with a smile: "I only remembered last night that there were a lot of things from the county order in the county magistrate's office, so I rushed here early in the morning to ask the officials to move them elsewhere." ”

Li Yanqing saw that there were more than 20 large boxes, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's in the box?" ”

"It should be some stones, this is Wang Xianling's hobby, he put it here for the time being, and he will send someone to take it when he comes back."

Yang Ju smiled again and asked, "How does the county gentleman feel about Jiayu County?" ”

"It's a quiet small county, the people are simple, the price is cheap, and the wine here is good!"

Yang Ju suddenly smiled and said: "It must be the wine bought by the Wen Hotel, their store is the only store in the county that can make wine, the wine is really good, and it is very famous in Ezhou." ”

After a pause, Yang Ju smiled bitterly again: "But many families in the countryside make wine in private, and if you don't check the simple customs of the people here, you will die if you check it, there is no way, as long as you don't go too far, the government can only turn a blind eye." ”

Li Yanqing is not surprised, the mountain is high and the emperor is far away, and it is difficult for the imperial court to compete with the people for profit, which is not the case in Tangyin County, so there is a saying that 'the imperial court is in charge of Zhou County, and the squire is in charge of the village', and below the township is the world of the squire.

At this time, Li Yanqing remembered something again and asked: "Yesterday, I heard County Lieutenant Zhou talk about the river thief, I don't know how much Yang County Cheng knows?" ”

Yang Ju groaned and said: "River thieves have always been a plague of the Yangtze River, and they have never been cut off for hundreds of years, does the county know what the reason is?" ”

"County Minister, please speak!"

"There are three reasons, one is that the geographical scope is vast, and most of the dangers caused by river thieves cross the state and government, either everyone pays money and efforts to suppress the bandits, or everyone doesn't care; The second is that the suppression of bandits is a costly and laborious thing, and it costs a lot of money, food, and people to suppress bandits, but it is often fruitless, and the court does not want to do a loss-making business; But a more important reason is that the harm of river thieves is limited to the surface of the water, and has no impact on the court and society, and even has no impact on the government, and the court and local officials have not eliminated their sense of crisis. ”

"But I heard from County Lieutenant Zhou that it seems that he once surrounded and suppressed the river thieves, and he also lost two catchers for this."

Yang Ju shook his head, "The last time the thief was ten years ago, the two catchers did die at the hands of the Black-Hearted Dragon King, but it had nothing to do with the bandits, the bandits didn't need to be caught quickly, it was a matter of the township soldiers, that time it should be said that it was an accident, they met the Black-Hearted Dragon King in Dongting Lake, and the two catchers died under the knife of the Black-Hearted Dragon King." ”

"What are you going to do in Dongting Lake from Jiayu County?" Li Yanqing asked puzzled.

"This matter is a long story, I'll tell the county gentleman in detail when I go back."

Li Yanqing saw that he was vague and seemed to have something to hide from him, so he didn't ask any more questions, and said with a faint smile: "Speaking of which, isn't it very dangerous for me to take office by boat this time?" ”

"There is no danger, they have rules, they will not touch the official ship, if there is an official flag on your ship, they generally will not provoke it, otherwise they will anger the court, and their life will be sad."

"Will the merchant ship pretend to be an official ship to avoid trouble?"

"Generally not, it will outweigh the losses if you do that, firstly, you can't hide the poisonous eyes of the river thieves, and secondly, you will be imprisoned for pretending to be an official ship, and few boatmen are willing to take this risk."

The two walked while talking, and soon walked into the lobby, at this moment, there was a sudden rumbling drum sound outside, Li Yanqing was stunned, Yang Ju smiled: "It seems that some people are afraid that the county monarch will be idle, so they will come to find trouble for the county monarch." ”

"It's ..... Has anyone sued? ”

"Exactly!"

At this time, the two officials who were sweeping the floor at the door just now ran in, "That He Lao Liu has come to sue again, and he also brought a lawyer!" ”

Yang Ju frowned, "Didn't they promise to negotiate a solution by themselves?" How come it again. ”

"Who is He Lao Liu?" Li Yanqing asked puzzled.

"It is the proprietor of a money shop in this county, he lent a sum of money last year, but the victim died at the beginning of the year, leaving only orphans and widows, at that time the owner seemed to use the borrowed money to buy a shop, He Lao Liu wanted to take back the shop, but the widow of the victim refused, so he has been fighting this lawsuit, originally the two sides promised to negotiate to settle it, but I don't know how to sue today, it is estimated that it is because of the county monarch taking office."

Li Yanqing nodded, someone sued him on the first day he officially took office, and he was a little interested, Li Yanqing immediately sat in the lobby, and asked people to go to Mo Jun, Mo Jun is an experienced old staff member who can give himself a little idea.

He then sat down under the plaque of 'Mirror Hanging' and slapped the shocked wood, "Open!" ”

Several catchers shouted loudly, "Open the hall-"

........

The people of the Song Dynasty were very good at lawsuits, beating drums and complaining at every turn, and trivial disputes had to be seen in court, so there were many people who helped fight lawsuits, called lawyers, that is, today's lawyers, and the Great Song Dynasty also had a special lawyer school to train professional advocates who were proficient in law.

It is precisely because the Song people are good at fighting lawsuits, so most of the energy of the county order is spent on dealing with various civil lawsuits, in this case, most of the trivial disputes are mediated by the law Cao Zhulu, and if the mediation fails, it must be in court before the county order will try the case, which virtually reduces the burden of the county order to a large extent.

Moreover, some major cases can also be appealed to the criminal prosecution department at a higher level, which is equivalent to the procuratorate, which specializes in reviewing all kinds of important major cases in the state capital to prevent the occurrence of unjust imprisonment.

Of course, the Criminal Division does not care about trivial civil disputes, and they generally only monitor major criminal cases.

Unlike the Ming and Qing dynasties, the county officials of the Song Dynasty were very close to the people, and generally did not need to kneel, and there were no officials on both sides who held water and fire sticks and shouted might.

And it is not that a lawsuit will be filed, there are two signs at the entrance of the county office, one side is called the 'word lawsuit card', the other side is called the 'Qu card', and there is a box below, if it is not an urgent civil lawsuit, the plaintiff can file a complaint under the word lawsuit card, and then the county government will hold a court on a certain date after the mediation fails; if it is an urgent matter that needs to be sued, then go to the 'Qu Pai' to file a complaint.

As for Wendeng drums, they are only allowed to beat drums during non-working hours and when there is an emergency, and the county magistrate who lives in the back house will come to the court to hear the case after hearing the drums.

Li Yanqing sat in the middle of the lobby, and came out quickly to lead the plaintiff to the west corridor to wait, and the lawyer who came up was the lawyer, who was responsible for handing over the pleadings and explaining the facts of the case, and would only call the plaintiff to ask in court when necessary.

At this time, Mo Jun hurried over and stood beside Li Yanqing, and the lawyer walked forward quickly, bowed and saluted, "Student Zhang Ming see the county gentleman!" ”

"But what's the urgent case, you have to beat the drum?" Li Yanqing was quite dissatisfied in his tone, obviously there was no case in a hurry, but he wanted to beat the drum and urge.

Zhang Ming hurriedly explained: "The students don't dare to tease the county gentleman, but the county gentleman doesn't know something, the villagers like to make early profits, pay attention to opening the door to see the dividends, today is the first time the county gentleman has tried the case, and everyone is eager to admire the demeanor of the county gentleman." ”

Li Yanqing looked below, and there were already more than a dozen idlers standing in the verandah who came to hear the trial, but they were not actually idlers, almost all of them were lawyers, and they all wanted to understand the trial style of the new county magistrate through this case.

Li Yanqing didn't buy his account, and said coldly: "Small things are done in a big way, and things are done urgently, regardless of the severity, and you will be fined 500 yuan for 'disrespectful behavior'." ”

The lawyer is also constrained, there are only three demerits in a year, and three consecutive demerits will not be able to take over the case that year, this case is obviously not in a hurry, it should be placed under the word litigation card, and wait for the trial to be held on a later day, they just want to knock on the drum to file a complaint, which is the lawyer is not professional, so he has to be punished, not only the lawyer is fined, but the plaintiff also has to be fined 500 Wen to show a warning.

Lawyer Zhang Ming didn't expect the new county order to be so strict, and it was not easy to fool at all, he was so frightened that he lowered his head and didn't dare to say anything.

Only then did Li Yanqing say: "Hand over the lawsuit!" ”

Zhang Ming bowed down to submit the lawsuit, and a arrester quickly transferred the lawsuit to Li Yanqing, who turned it over and said: "I already know the general situation of this case, but I heard that you have agreed to negotiate with the defendant to settle it, why do you want to sue again?" ”

"Qiyu County, there are two reasons, one is that the two sides failed to negotiate and refused to give in, and the other is that we have found new evidence that can prove that the other party bought the land with the borrowed money, so we decided to go to court to appeal."

Li Yanqing nodded, "You go down and wait first!" Wait until I get the defendant in and then proceed with the case. ”

The lawyer also went to the west corridor to wait, and Li Yanqing immediately ordered the two arresters to hurry up and say: "You go and find the defendant, and tell her that if she refuses to come, I am afraid that the judgment will be unfavorable to her." ”