In the early morning, outside Jiujiang Prefecture.
As an important town in Jiangxi and one of the transportation hubs between the north and the south, Jiujiang has its own unique history compared to other cities.
The teams entering the city were clearly divided. The empty-handed people walked on one side, while the merchants or caravans carrying goods walked on the other side.
On the common people's side, there were only a few government officials conducting routine checks, while on the so-called businessmen's side, there were a group of tax collectors, all armed and unsmiling, and it was hard to get along with them.
"Master Jun, you are all dishonest!"
Zhu Yunxi was in the team and saw several tax regulations with his own eyes. He rudely used the stick in his hand to stab the oxcart delivering food.
The baskets of neatly arranged vegetables were suddenly stabbed into disarray by them.
"You say it's just food?" The taxman said with a sideways smile, "Who knows what you have in it?"
"The villain dare not!"
"Don't dare, haha!" The taxman sneered again, "Go and weigh yourself on the scale!"
"Master Jun, this..." the food delivery person cried bitterly, "Look at this little man's cart, which weighs at most five to six hundred kilograms..."
"Go on the scale..."
"Anything later will be a waste of time. How can I move alone..."
"Gungun, don't fucking come in. Jiujiang Mansion is short and you don't have food to eat?"
"No, no, no, no, I'm going to weigh you, little man!" The food deliveryman drove the cart aside with a grimace and a sigh, and then, sweating profusely, he moved down the baskets of vegetables and prepared to weigh them.
But...what about the scale?
"This is not a good person!"
In front of Zhu Yunxi's carriage were several businessmen who were delivering meat to the city. Several of them gathered together and whispered, "This taxman clearly wants money! The king of hell is better than the imp, so why don't you give him some benefits?"
Already..."
"Hey! You think he is one of you!" Next to him, a shopkeeper who looked richer and had several waiters whispered, "How much money can a food delivery person make?"
"Shopkeeper, what's your business?"
In the crowd, Zhu Yunxi smiled and chatted with the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper turned around and saw that Zhu Yunxi had an extraordinary temperament. He hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Is this gentleman's accent a foreigner? I am the shopkeeper of the Hengfeng Hao!" He said with a smile, "I am in the tea business!"
"Tea?" Zhu Yunxi frowned slightly, "I would like to ask, how much tax will be charged for bringing this tea into the city?"
"Young master, I'm afraid you're not a businessman, right?" The shopkeeper looked at Zhu Yunxi with sharp eyes and said with a smile, "As for tea, in addition to attracting money for the tea from the court, there is also a five-point city gate tax when entering the city...
.." As he spoke, he looked at Zhu Yunxi again, and then looked at the followers behind Zhu Yunxi calmly, "It's hard to do business these days!"
Zhu Yunxi asked, "Why do you say this?"
"According to the law of the imperial court, merchants offer tea as a guide to purchase tea, and when they see tea along the way, they get tea coupons, and they are not allowed to prevent them from privately raising taxes. But now, almost every place they pass, they have to pay more or less."
Zhu Yunxi suddenly frowned, "Someone is raising taxes without authorization?" gòйЪ.ōΓg
"It's not a tax increase, it's a matter of worldliness!" The shopkeeper smiled, "Otherwise it would be so easy to pass the test!" He said, sighing, "In fact, the more detailed the court's laws are, the less they are for us small businessmen.
benefit."
As he spoke, he continued to sigh, "Tea goods must be taxed when entering the city. After entering the city, the tea house must pay a fixed tax of eight silver dollars to the prefect's Yamen every year... Alas! Otherwise, this tea is just the leaves of the tree. How can it be done?"
It can be sold so expensively!”
If there are policies at the top, they must be implemented step by step. This has been a chronic problem for thousands of years.
"So the tax is heavy enough!" Zhu Yunxi sighed.
"Who makes today's Long Live Master like to collect taxes?" The shopkeeper smiled again.
Behind Zhu Yunxi, He Guangyi, who had his head lowered, suddenly raised his head and stared at the shopkeeper's neck with cold eyes.
"Yeah!" Zhu Yunxi smiled bitterly, "However, I heard that the Long Live Lord has issued an order to set up a special taxation department. In the future, businessmen will have less money to pay taxes!"
"It's all about changing the soup without changing the medicine!" the shopkeeper said with a smile, "Long live Lord Jinluan is sitting here. He doesn't have clairvoyance, can he see local things?" He said in a low voice, "Besides, the tax money
, even if the officials don’t want it, the soldiers must want it, otherwise what will they eat?”
Just as he was talking, a taxman holding a fire stick and five or six people urged him, "Hurry up, stop mumbling, come here, come here!"
The team moved forward, and there was a constant clanking sound.
That was the sound of silver and copper coins falling into the frame. Beside the money frame sat a ninth-grade official with his feet on the stool and a straw hat covering his face.
"You..." A taxman pointed the iron ruler in his hand at Li Jinglong in front of Zhu Yunxi, "Are you the shopkeeper?"
Li Jinglong is tall and looks like a rich man.
"Exactly!" Li Jinglong smiled.
"What kind of business do you do?" the taxman asked again with a sideways look, very condescending.
All that was missing from that posture was a red armband.
"We are horse dealers!" As he spoke, Li Jinglong pointed to a dozen fat and strong horses behind him and continued, "I want to sell these horses to the mule and horse market!"
Suddenly, the taxman's eyes lit up.
This is a big deal!
Those dozen war horses were already shining gold in his eyes.
But suddenly, the tax collector, who had been sleeping with his face covered with a straw hat, took off his straw hat and showed a suspicious face.
"Where did you come from?" the tax collector asked.
"Yes, where did it come from? Household registration documents!" the taxman asked in a pretentious manner, then waved his hands fiercely, and several taxmen came over with a loud noise, and said loudly, "Where did your horse come from, and why did it come to our Jiujiang Prefecture?
Already?"
When you go out, it is a private visit incognito, and your identity is already prepared.
Li Jinglong handed over the household registration documents, "We are from Zhili..."
"Where did these horses come from? Do you have tax stamps?" The tax official interrupted him unceremoniously.
"We purchased this horse from the Western Regions, and originally wanted to send it to Hankou for sale!" Li Jinglong said with a smile, "But it was my first time doing horse selling business, and I passed by Guibao, and I wanted to ask about the market...
"
"Tax stamp!" the tax official said again.
"Tax stamp?" Li Jinglong was stunned for a moment and said with a smile, "This is my first time doing business, so I forgot..."
"If there is no tax stamp, the source is unknown." The tax official narrowed his eyes and said, "Come on, collect it first!"
He gave the order, and several tax collectors came forward to pull the horses.
"Wait a minute!" Zhu Yunxi said loudly, "Are you going to collect our horses if their origins are unknown?"
"Who knows if it's stolen property?" the tax official snorted coldly, "Let alone a horse, even a human being will be detained!"
"Detain me?" Zhu Yunxi sneered.
"You have an extra feather?" the taxman scolded, "you don't look like a good person!"
Suddenly, everyone changed their colors.
Deng Ping, Hu Guan, and He Guangyi put their hands into their bags at the same time. As soon as the emperor opened his mouth, they beat the man into a hornet's nest with fire blunderbuss.
"What happens after you detain me?" Zhu Yunxi gave Deng Ping and others a "don't move" look and asked.
"Why do you talk so much nonsense?" The tax official looked at those sycophants and said impatiently, "Someone, send them to the prefect's Yamen... for a good interrogation!"
"Wait a minute!"
Suddenly, the tea store clerk who had just passed the scale and paid the tax turned around and said to the tax collector, "Sir, foreigners don't know the rules..."
As he spoke, he quickly walked to Zhu Yunxi and whispered, "This young master, a powerful dragon cannot overwhelm a local snake!" As he spoke, he continued to lower his voice, "If the Yamen detains you, it will not be easy to get out!"
"Huh?" Zhu Yunxi sneered again, "Why, you still have to lock me up?"
"Your horse can't explain its origin, so of course you will be locked up!" the shopkeeper said sternly, "They also follow the rules!"
"He is holding me captive, how can I prove my origin?" Zhu Yunxi sneered.
"Young master, don't you understand?" the shopkeeper smiled bitterly. "The origin is unknown, but it doesn't matter at all! If you are detained, even if your family sends you a certificate, it will only last for a year and a half."
As he spoke, he lowered his voice and said, "Don't tell me whether you will suffer from the pain of your flesh and blood. Will your horses be able to recover? By then, even if you prove that the horses are really trafficked from the Western Regions,
If your upper lip touches your lower lip, the government will tell you that these horses died of illness and were buried. Do you have a place to reason?"
Zhu Yunxi's anger rose in his heart and he said, "Please give me some advice from the shopkeeper!"
"Money!" said the shopkeeper, "Since you are a horse dealer, do you need those three melons and two dates? It's obvious that you are asking for money, so you should just send them away..."
As he said that, he looked Zhu Yunxi up and down again, and said seriously, "The old man and this tax collector are considered acquaintances! If you can trust me, I will go tell him and let him show his respect..."
This chapter has been completed!