Things like tea-horse coupons were still very valuable ten years ago, because the profits from tea-horse trading were huge and there were many people engaged in this industry. In order to stabilize the market and prevent vicious competition, the imperial court established the Tea-Horse Division for management.
A certain amount of quota is set every year to control the amount of tea flowing into pastoral areas, so as to avoid creating an unfavorable situation in which tea is cheap and horses are expensive.
This is a good system, which can not only regulate the tea and horse market, but also bring certain benefits to the court. Ten years ago, if you wanted to engage in tea and horse trading, you had to apply in advance, pay a deposit, and pass the qualification review by the tea and horse department officials.
, in order to obtain a certain amount of tea-horse coupons, you can conduct tea-horse transactions with the amount specified on the tea-horse coupons, otherwise the goods will not be able to leave the border at all.
However, due to the weak power of the imperial court, powerful and powerful families in the border areas simply ignored the Tea and Horse Law. Their excessive export of supplies and vicious competition caused the price of brick tea and horses to plummet. The upper-level officials patrolling the trade routes took bribes and did nothing. The border defense was in vain.
Nowadays, except for the ability to collect a small amount of symbolic taxes, most of the functions of the Patrol Road have been lost, and the Tea Horse Division is even worse. It is simply a symbolic yamen.
Fan Liangchen, the Tea Mati Secretary, was from Huguang. He was born in Juren and served as a royal censor. Because he offended someone, he was demoted to Lanzhou to work as a Tea Mati Secretary. In fact, it was equivalent to a disguised exile. He wrote several times to patrol the business world.
, it was suggested to crack down on smuggling and re-establish the authoritative status of tea-horse coupons, but those senior officials had stakes in smugglers, how could they agree, so Fan Liangchen's official position became more and more unsatisfactory, until Yuan Feng's
Only when he appeared did his eyes light up, as if there was a chance.
Since this person can sell Hequ horses, it shows that he has certain abilities. Seeing as he is a new face, and he actively offers to do business with the government, he is probably still a young person in this industry, so the matter will be easy to handle.
To make a breakthrough, re-enable tea-horse coupons. If this thing can be fooled, it will be a great achievement.
After Fan Liangchen said that he would use tea and horse coupons to pay the bill, he guiltily picked up the tea cup and took a sip. The boy next to him saw this and was about to call him off, but he glared at him and shut his mouth. Fan Liangchen was uneasy.
Waiting for Yuan Feng's answer, according to his assumption, Yuan Feng will definitely not agree. When the time comes, he will explain the tea horse law and coax and scare him to get these three hundred good horses first.
Say it again.
Sure enough, Yuan Feng hesitated and asked: "What is this tea-horse coupon? Why haven't I heard anyone say that those who sold horses in the past also used this thing?"
Fan Liangchen said: "The tea-horse coupons are the certificate given by the imperial court to you and others to engage in tea-horse trading. Without this certificate, trading and trafficking is smuggling. To be honest, the imperial court is about to launch a major operation. Anyone without tea-horse coupons
All businessmen will be shut down. Seeing that you are determined to serve the country, I will give you this huge advantage."
Seeing Yuan Feng's thoughtful look, Fan Liangchen lowered his head to drink tea again to cover up his guilty conscience. This kind of lie is to deceive a young and inexperienced person like Yuan Feng. If an expert hears it, he will still laugh out loud.
.
Yuan Feng pondered for a while and said: "So, if we get all the tea-horse coupons, this business will only be done by my family?"
"That's right." Fan Liangchen replied, his face calm and upright, but his heart was tumbling. Seeing that this young man was about to take the bait, he was excited and guilty.
"Then how many tea-horse coupons are there in total?"
"This year's quota is 10,000 horses and 100,000 dans of bricks and tea."
"Well, give me all these tea horse coupons, and the three hundred Qiang horses will be used as payment to the tea horse department..."
"Okay!" Before Yuan Feng could finish speaking, Fan Liangchen stood up and said hurriedly: "Let's sign the agreement right now."
Although the Tea Horse Law has become useless, after all, this system still exists. Every year, specially printed tea horse coupons are delivered to the Lanzhou Tea Horse Company, and they are kept in the warehouse and accumulated in the warehouse. Since Yuan Feng wants it, all of them are given to him.
yes.
Three hundred horses rushed into the official circle, and Yuan Feng and others left with a box full of tea and horse coupons that looked like waste paper. The merchants in the Lanzhou cattle and horse market were shocked and speechless. Those who looked down on them in the past
The servants of my master's tea and horse department couldn't help but provoke Brother Thumb to praise Lord Tisi's abilities.
Not to mention them, not even the people in Shibalibao understood Yuan Feng's behavior. Looking at the beautifully printed tea-horse coupons in the box, Zhang Tietou said: "This thing doesn't even work if you wipe it.
What's the use?"
Yuan Feng said: "With this thing, tea horses can be trafficked openly."
"Tch! Other people don't have this stuff, so they're still selling it in full swing."
"Humph, let's see again. By the way, are you done with what you were asked to do?"
"That's it. Of the remaining two hundred horses, we will keep the best fifty for our own use. The rest will be sold to those horse dealers for a total of twenty-six thousand taels of silver. We will clear the cash in cash."
"Very good, now let's split into two groups. Brother Tietou, you take the people to purchase brick tea. Uncle Chu and I will go home. Chu Jian's life or death is uncertain. We can't let Uncle Chu take risks anymore."
"No!" Chu Muzui, who was walking silently on the side, said: "What we do is originally a business with our heads in our belts. It doesn't matter if someone dies. Our business has just started, so we have to strike while the iron is hot.
Go down, you can’t just go home and rest because of this little thing.”
"Well, Uncle Chu, let's continue. Although Chu Jian is in danger, our remaining brothers will take care of uncle and aunt." Yuan Feng said.
"Yes, leave your unfinished filial piety to us." Several teenagers said in unison, and the group sped up and ran away against the sunset.
After stopping in Lanzhou for one night, Yuanfeng sent Zhang Tietou to buy brick tea with silver, and then took people to the Kangba grassland to sell horses. In addition, he also asked him to pick out a batch of exquisite and expensive silk ornaments in Lanzhou Prefecture.
, given to Hermione and King Qiang's concubines, etc. As for the money, there is no need to worry about it. Those precious furs donated by King Qiang can be exchanged for at least seven or eight thousand taels of silver.
Bricks, tea and horses were open to trade. If you had money, you could buy anything. Zhang Tietou could rest assured that he could lead the people to handle the matter, so Yuan Feng, Chu Muzu and others packed up and headed towards Shibali Fort.
"Brother Feng, your business is doing well. What are you going to do when you go home? Just ask someone to deliver the money to your family." Chu Muzu asked puzzledly.
"Uncle, we are not going home, we are going to Luyang County."
"Why are you going to Luyang County?"
"Complain."
…
I arrived in Luyang County three days later. At this time, Luyang County was completely different from the first time I came. The city walls had been repaired, the crow's nests had been dug out, and the messy weeds had been pulled out. The streets were completely different.
The wild dogs are also extinct, and even the pedestrians on the road don’t look as disgraced as before.
When I arrived at the gate of the county government office, I saw that the former dilapidated government office had been renovated. The walls had been painted with lime water and the broken tiles had been replaced. There was a grievance drum next to the door. The drum head was covered with new cowhide.
The yamen door is open, and four black and red sticks are hanging inside.
Seeing them stopping at the gate of the government office, an old man selling sesame seeds next to them asked, "You're here to complain, right? There's a drum over there. If you beat it twice, someone will take you in."
Yuan Feng asked curiously: "Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and the county magistrate also opens an office to receive cases?"
The old man said: "Yes, in the past, the county magistrates always opened offices on a daily basis, and there were many things to pay attention to when accepting petitions. They needed to have a sponsor, and they would not accept petitions written by litigants even if they were written in the wrong format. Now this Liu
The master really loves the people like a son. He knows that there are not many people in the county who can write, so he simply doesn’t need to file a complaint and just express his grievances verbally. In the past few months since he took office, he has almost solved all the backlog of cases in the past three years."
Unexpectedly, the magistrate of Liu County turned out to be a capable person. Yuan Feng felt more confident and immediately stepped forward to beat the drum of grievances. Just after three thumps, two yamen came out and asked kindly: "Come on.
Who is it? Are you complaining?"
"Exactly, the common people are from Shibalibao. If you have any grievances, please ask the great master to make the decision."
"Come in, remember to kneel when you go to the hall. Look up only when I ask you to."
Several people entered the court and knelt down to complain that they were wronged according to the instructions of the yamen servant. However, laughter came from the hall: "It's okay if you don't bully others. Why are you being wronged?"
Yuan Feng couldn't help but look up and saw County Magistrate Liu sitting behind the public case. The case was filled with files, probably a backlog of various civil and criminal cases. The parent official was stroking his beard with his face filled with spring breeze.
It seems that dealing with official duties not only makes him irritable and tired, but also has the effect of refreshing him.
"The common people are indeed wronged," Yuan Feng said.
"Well, you seem to know how to read. Then write down your grievances."
"Xiaomin has already written it, please take a look at it."
"Oh, bring it up."
The yamen officer took the Zhuangzi from Yuan Feng and handed it to Liu Zhixian. The county magistrate glanced at ten lines and read it all in an instant. He laughed and said: "I can't accept your Zhuangzi. You said you got the tea and horse coupons from the Tea Horse Company."
, you can specialize in the tea and horse business. Yes, according to the laws of this dynasty, if other merchants continue to operate this business, it is smuggling. However, this matter has been investigated by the tea and horse department. What does it matter if you submit the complaint to me?
use?"
Yuan Feng said: "Of course, the common people also submitted a petition to the Tea Horse Division, but the case involves the interests of the county, so they had to submit the petition to Luyang County again."
County Magistrate Liu said: "How do you have interests in this county? Please tell me."
Yuan Fengdao said: "The common people are from Shibalibao and are citizens of this county. Moreover, the only route of the tea-horse trade route is also within the jurisdiction of this county. Therefore, this county has the responsibility to investigate and arrest smuggling. Then
The reporter said that those smugglers can operate without purchasing tea-horse coupons. This is unfair competition and directly affects our income. If our income is less, the taxes paid to the county will be less. If the taxes are less, the master will not be able to
If you can't give monthly money to the government officials for building the city wall, doesn't this affect the interests of the county?"
Liu Zhixian laughed loudly: "That's good! But have you ever thought about it, even the Tea Horse Department has no power to investigate this matter. How can I, a small Luyang County, have the power? How many people in this county can do it?"
A good man who goes out on the road to investigate?"
Yuan Feng knew without looking that there were only two or three old and weak government officials in the county government, who could not even ride a horse, let alone go to arrest smuggling. He said calmly: "I'm telling you, the common people only need you.
Nod, let us investigate on our own. The common people dare not work hard for their own business. If smuggling is stopped, not only will the common people be profitable, but even the master will be able to rise to prominence."
Liu Zhixian laughed again: "What a sharp-tongued and quick-thinking boy. Your name is Yuan Feng, and you are the land security guard of Shibali Fort, right? Well, I will allow you, and I will give you another title and appointment."
You are the head of the horse racing team in this county, and you are responsible for investigating tea and horse smuggling, what do you think?"
What else are you talking about? Magistrate Liu is on the road. Yuan Feng was so excited that he immediately kowtowed and thanked him: "Thank you very much, sir."