Chapter 140: The smallest place is extremely large
He Chengze followed Wang Gui up the steps, bowed his head in greeting, glanced at Gu Yan, cupped his hands and said, "There are some old sayings that I should tell the prince face to face."
Gu Yan looked at He Chengze. He Chengze met Gu Yan's gaze and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, you must listen."
"Okay, since it's an old saying..."
"It's going to take a while. How about the prince come to Heji to take a break and have a cup of tea?" He Chengze pointed to the old Heji restaurant next to him.
"Yeah." Gu Yan motioned to Wang Gui and others to watch, then turned and walked towards He Ji's old house.
Gu Yan stood under He Ji's gate and did not go in any further.
He Chengze personally moved a chair, a small chair, and a small square table from the concierge. He Ruiming had already received the letter and hurriedly sent a teapot, teacups, tea leaves, and a small red clay stove. Gu Yan sat on the chair and watched with cold eyes as He Chengze boiled water, scalded the kettle and cups, made another pot of tea, and poured two cups.
"Your Majesty, when you start today, you must have checked and found out, and got all the account books you should get." He Chengze looked at Gu Yan and got straight to the point.
Gu Yan looked at He Chengze with a half-smile but said nothing.
"In addition to the investigation, the prince is also making preparations for the cleanup, such as the porters on the dock." He Chengze continued.
Gu Yan leaned back on the chair and looked at He Chengze without saying a word.
"The silk shop evaded sea tax. It first diverted the silk that was supposed to be sold to the empire to Linhai Town. Later, the old prince smoothed the difference between inside and outside and changed all the taxes payable by the weaving mill to 50%. The silk shop's
All the hands and feet were transferred to Linhai Town."
He Chengze lowered his eyelids and chatted casually.
"Before the restructuring, the old prince also manipulated the number of loading and unloading, but it was only a small matter. The Customs and Excise Department and the Silk Shop also frequently checked, but it never became a success.
"After the old prince's restructuring, the number of loading and unloading was no longer a trivial matter. At first, the silk shop teamed up with the dock gang to conceal 30% of the quantity. Later, it became more and more, and now, it is dozens
By the end of the year, at least 50% of the amount will have to be concealed.
"The porters on the pier initially made three trips as two trips, and the other trip was subsidized by the silk shop to the gang, and then the gang distributed it to the porters, and later."
He Chengze sighed.
"Things are like this, there are many layers of manipulation, and the ones who suffer in the end are the bearers."
Gu Yan squinted his eyes and looked sideways at He Chengze, half-smiling.
He called him here just to talk about this?
"The Crown Prince rectified the sea tax in order to plug loopholes and replenish the national treasury, but has the Crown Prince found out where the half of the sea tax intercepted by the Silk House went?"
He Chengze looked at Gu Yan.
Gu Yan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Your Majesty, please wait a moment." He Chengze stood up, bowed to Gu Yan, turned around and went inside. After a moment, he came out with an old indigo cloth bundle, untied the bundle and placed it in front of Gu Yan.
There are four or five slightly old account books inside the baggage.
He Chengze pointed to the account book and said: "This is the account book of a young cousin who, under the instructions of his father, kept his name secret and worked as the general accountant of Jiangnan Silk Company for ten years. This is the account book he copied back. Inside is his
During the ten years when I was the general accountant, all the unexplainable expenses of Jiangnan Silk Company, recorded in these account books, accounted for at least 70% of the underpaid sea tax."
Gu Yan straightened his back slightly and looked from the old account books to He Chengze.
"More than ten years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the south of the Yangtze River was prosperous. Linhai Town was built, and the Customs and Excise Department was first organized. People were needed everywhere, and there was a shortage of manpower everywhere. The price of goods rose sharply several times, especially for silk lint, and even mulberry saplings.
They all once rose to dozens of times their current value, and then fell again.
"In the past, farmers did not grow rice, but planted mulberries in the fields, raised silkworms and cotton. The price of food soared. After a few rounds, the price of silk and labor doubled compared with the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China."
He Chengze picked up the cup, took a sip of tea, and sighed.
"It is against the law for the weaver to transfer the silk that should be sold to the empire to Linhai Town. This needs to be managed from top to bottom.
"Later, the Silk House took a long-term view and began to subsidize students, go to various yamen, and recommend junior officials. In order to be able to speak out, it bore the expenses of volunteer schools in prefectures and counties. Later, it provided services to the six ministries from Liangzhe Road.
Officials sent tribute to the festival, and gave pens, ink, and silver to Jiangnan students who were preparing for exams in the capital.
"Half of the money transferred through the bank is retained at Jiangnan Silk Head Office."
He Chengze looked at Gu Yan.
"Half of the tax money was evaded on the silk, but the weaving shop paid only more than 20%. The other 20% was paid by the weaving shop and intercepted here at the Jiangnan Silk Head Office.
"The other half of the expenditure of the Silk Head Office is handed over by each weaving workshop to the local silk shop, and then the local silk shop and the Jiangnan Silk Head Office coordinate the deployment.
"The profits of today's weaving mills are less than half of what they were in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. They are not as good as before the old prince changed the tax system. The small one did the accounting for several medium-sized weaving mills in Pingjiang City. At that time, Shun Shun was the leader. After a year, the net profit was only one or two thousand.
Two."
He Chengze's voice dropped, and Gu Yan's face turned slightly pale.
In the past, when he was vigorously renovating the Customs and Excise Department, He Chengze told him that he was an enemy of the entire Jiangnan, and even the gentry officials of the entire empire. He scoffed at that time.
"From the pier to the Customs and Excise Department, the prince completely cut off the quantity of silk and collected it according to the actual quantity. I am afraid that only 30% of the weaving workshops in Jiangnan cannot support it.
"The Crown Prince's inspection and rectification today is not to close the net, but to start. These," He Chengze pointed to the old account books, "What to do after opening them is the Crown Prince's real problem."<
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Gu Yan was silent for a moment, then reached out and tied the bag and picked it up, "I understand. I want to take a good look at these accounts. If there is anything unclear, please ask Uncle He for advice."
"Your Majesty, you are so polite. I will tell you everything I know." He Chengze stood up in a hurry, bowed and said.
"Yeah." Gu Yan hummed, grabbed the bag and walked out of He Ji Laohao. Standing in the sun, he felt that the sunshine was too bright and dazzling.
"You stay here to assist Huang Xianzhou in the trial, and let Huang Xianzhou report every day." Gu Yan ordered Wang Gui, handed the baggage to Shi Gun, got on the horse, and went straight to Pingjiang City.
There were still one or two miles to go before leaving the business. Gu Yan suddenly reined in his horse and sat on it. After a moment, he ordered Shi Gun: "Give me the baggage, and you can ask Miss Li to come over."
Shi Gun hurriedly handed the bundle in his arms to Gu Yan and asked carefully, "Please come here, Miss Li?"
This is a post road, with people coming and going. It would be too unexpected if the eldest son of his family was waiting here.
"The pier over there." Gu Yan pointed not far away.
The pier over there is already within the scope of Wangfu Villa.
Shi Gun breathed a sigh of relief, answered yes, beckoned his two young men, and went straight to Pingjiang Mansion.
Li Xiaonan was discussing with Sister Mei how to make a pot of rice cakes. Wang Yuting followed behind and said that since Awu was not here, she could help Sister Mei make rice cakes.
Shi Gun knocked on the door and called Li Xiaonan. Li Xiaonan looked at Shi Gun's forehead first.
Sweat on my forehead.
"What happened?" Li Xiaonan asked, looking at Shi Gun's forehead.
"That's not true. Our prince invites the girl to come over." Shi Gun said with a smile.
Li Xiaonan was a little hesitant. Bieye was having a big banquet for guests today. Why did he invite her to go?
"Girl, let's go. The younger one came in such a hurry that he didn't even have time to prepare his car. He came on horseback." Shi Gun said with a smile.
After his eldest son spoke to Shopkeeper He, although he couldn't tell anything from his face, he intuitively felt that his eldest son was not very good.
"You're not having a big banquet for guests at your house, why did your prince ask me to go there?" Li Xiaonan asked in a low voice.
"Our prince is not in another industry, he is outside." Shi Gun lowered his voice and answered with lowered eyes.
Li Xiaonan let out a slow ooh, then looked back at Sister Mei and Wang Yuting, who were looking at her side by side, waved her hands and said, "I'll go out and come back for dinner."
