With hearts full of grief and indignation, the Song family members and Zhao Ying rushed to the Prefectural Governor's Residence.
When they arrived, they found that Zhao Jianzhi was also present.
And Shen Jing and Su Yourong had already arrived at the Prefectural Governor's Residence before them.
It was clear that they were there to ask Feng Min to “preside over justice” for them.
Feng Min sending people to summon them to the Prefectural Governor's Residence must also be because of this matter.
Beast!
Shen Jing, that beast!
The thief crying ‘stop thief’!
The group glared fiercely at Shen Jing and Su Yourong, then bowed to Feng Min: “Greetings, Lord Feng, greetings, Lord Zhao!”
“No need for formalities!”
Feng Min slightly raised his hand, pointing to the seats beside them, “All of you, sit!”
“Thank you, Lord Feng.”
The group expressed their gratitude and sat down uneasily.
Feng Min looked up at Song Jinshan and the others, “Originally, Young Master Shen and Miss Su intended to accuse the Su Family of crashing their cargo ship, causing them immense losses! But I, this official, thought that everyone here is a person of standing, and if this matter can be resolved privately, then there’s no need to take it to court. What do you all think?”
“Your Excellency, we’ve been wronged!”
Song Rui immediately stood up and vehemently denied, “It was clearly their ship that hit ours, and our ship was also damaged! We didn’t demand compensation from them, and that was out of respect for Grand Tutor Su, not wanting to blow this matter out of proportion…”
“Spin, keep spinning!”
Shen Jing looked at Song Rui with cold eyes, “Yesterday at the East Gate Wharf, many people witnessed with their own eyes that our cargo ship had already turned to give way, yet your ship still crashed into it! Our cargo ship was completely smashed from the side. Do you think we’d use our side to hit your bow? Do you even believe yourself?”
“You…”
Song Rui choked slightly, then angrily retorted, “You were eager for our broken ship to be smashed to pieces, so of course you deliberately used your side to crash into us!”
Shen Jing was too lazy to argue with Song Rui, “Lord Feng, at this point, Song Rui is still slandering us. It seems there’s no need for mediation. Let’s go directly to court! Your Excellency can also issue a notice to find the eyewitnesses from yesterday! Whether they deliberately damaged our ship or not, Your Excellency will know with a single inquiry!”
Hearing Shen Jing’s words, Song Rui’s heart immediately panicked, and he quickly cast a look of distress at Zhao Jianzhi.
This was clearly a deliberate provocation arranged by Shen Jing’s men, who even intentionally exposed their side for them to hit!
However, the people on shore couldn't hear their shouting match!
To those people, it simply looked like their ship deliberately crashed into Shen Jing's men's ship when they were yielding the main channel!
This was something that couldn’t be explained, no matter how right they were!
Meeting Song Rui’s gaze, Zhao Jianzhi’s heart was filled with anger.
Idiot, why are you looking at me?
You did something stupid without thinking, and now that you’re caught, you’re panicking?
What the hell were you doing earlier!
Zhao Jianzhi also wanted to curse right now, wishing he could beat this idiot Song Rui to death with a stick.
Feng Min looked up at the Song family members, “Young Master Shen no longer wishes to mediate. If you also feel there’s no need for mediation, then I, this official, will proceed with the court session.”
Zhao Jianzhi immediately spoke upon hearing this: “Lord Feng, this official believes there is indeed something fishy about this matter!”
“Oh? What’s fishy about it?”
Feng Min glanced indifferently at Zhao Jianzhi.
He knew Zhao Jianzhi wanted to help the Su Family.
He also wanted to see how Zhao Jianzhi intended to defend the Su Family.
To be honest, he also didn’t want the Su Family to fall completely.
After all, the Su Family were Tribute Merchants, and if there was a problem with the tribute cloth, and the imperial court investigated, the Su Family members would surely lose their heads.
He, the Prefect of Huaizhou, might also be implicated for “ineffective local governance.”
His choice not to hold court but to mediate was also for this reason.
Once it escalated to an official court, and once a verdict was reached in court, many matters would leave no room for maneuver.
Zhao Jianzhi squinted at Shen Jing, “Young Master Shen, you limit the sale of white sugar every day, so where do you get so much white sugar to transport?”
“Is there a contradiction in that?”
Shen Jing smiled, “Precisely because I want to transport the main supply of white sugar to the capital to sell at a higher price, that’s why I limit its sale in Luochuan Prefecture!”
“Hmm… that makes sense.”
Zhao Jianzhi nodded, “But I also learned another situation: you had already loaded those goods onto the ship the day before yesterday, but you delayed transporting them, insisting on waiting until Song Rui returned to Luochuan Prefecture yesterday before setting sail. This seems unreasonable, doesn’t it?”
This clearly meant they deliberately went to collide with the Su Family’s ship!
This was a meticulously designed trap.
Unfortunately, that idiot Song Rui foolishly fell right into it.
“What’s unreasonable about that?”
Shen Jing said dismissively, “Yesterday was an auspicious day. I chose an auspicious day and time to depart, is that not allowed?”
“Moreover, which imperial law stipulates that goods loaded onto a ship on a certain day must be transported that same day?”
“As long as I’m willing, I can transport them whenever I want!”
“Of all the times Song Rui could have returned, he just happened to return yesterday. I could even say he deliberately chose that time to crash into our ship!”
Fool!
He’s a fourth-rank official, yet how can he be so naive?
Does he think he can turn the tide for the Su Family by seizing upon this small issue?
What is he thinking!
“You… you’re slandering us!”
Zhao Jianzhi choked slightly, then turned to ask, “Then do you have evidence to prove that the cargo ship was loaded with white sugar?”
Song Jinshan was furious: “You are clearly trying to slander us for damaging your goods so you can extort us!”
“Song Jinshan, you need to be responsible for your words, don’t just spout nonsense.”
Su Yourong frowned, “Do you think my Su Family is easy to bully, or do you think with Lord Zhao backing you, you can arbitrarily twist black and white?”
As she spoke, Su Yourong’s playful gaze fell upon Zhao Jianzhi.
“Ahem…”
Zhao Jianzhi coughed twice and then glared at Song Jinshan: “We are just discussing the matter at hand. Don’t speak carelessly without evidence!”
“Exactly!”
Feng Min also nodded slightly, “You say Young Master Shen and his people want to extort you, what evidence do you have?”
As he spoke, Feng Min secretly smiled bitterly in his heart.
Some things, everyone actually knew deep down.
Shen Jing must have deliberately chosen that time to let Song Rui sink their ship!
One could say Shen Jing wanted to extort the Su Family, or one could say he wanted to ruin the Su Family.
But the problem was, even if they knew it, it was useless!
Many things required evidence!
Currently, all the evidence was extremely unfavorable to the Su Family.
Faced with Feng Min’s inquiry, Song Jinshan and the others were immediately speechless.
What evidence could he have?
That scoundrel Shen Jing was determined to extort them to death!
“You have no evidence, right? But we do!”
Shen Jing stood up and handed the account book in his hand to Feng Min, “Lord Feng, this is our ledger. How much brown sugar we purchased and how much white sugar we produced, everything is meticulously recorded in the ledger!”
“This is our tax receipt for the ferry tax paid at the wharf. It’s clearly written on the tax receipt!”
“Furthermore, Your Excellency can also summon all the inspection personnel from the wharf and ask them if what we loaded during their inspection was white sugar…”
Tax receipt!
Hearing Shen Jing’s words, the Song family members’ hearts immediately clenched.
As expected, Shen Jing indeed had the tax receipt in his hand!
This was the most crucial thing!