Zhang Ji, the newly appointed chief envoy of Shanxi, disguised himself as a caravan accountant and followed a horse team out of Jingxing, Taihang, to Zhending City on the north bank of the Hutuo River.
Standing in front of the city gate, waiting to line up for inspection and entering the city, Zhang Ji looked at the city.
Some of the walls of this city are said to be as old as the Northern Zhou Dynasty. The stones are very old and have a history of more than a thousand years. During the Tang Dynasty, the Hutuo River overflowed into the city, and it was expanded after the water receded. During the Ming Dynasty, major expansion was carried out.
, after expansion, it has a circumference of twenty-four miles, a height of three feet and two feet, and a width of two feet at the top.
During the Longqing period, the expanded earth city was converted into a brick city. It cost more than 60,000 treasuries and recruited countless Zhending civilians, and it took five years to complete.
Each of the four completed gates has a moon city and a urn city.
The new city played an important role in flood prevention and military defense.
However, after the Qing army entered the pass, Hebei was almost determined by word of mouth. After the Qing army occupied Zhending City, it was changed to Zhengding City. At this time, at the far gate of Xicheng Gate, the Great Ming Dynasty Sun and Moon Flag was flying again, and people dressed in red Rong uniforms were flying.
The Ming army in uniform wore armor and held spears to guard the city gate.
There are also special tax collectors at the city gate to collect taxes, industrial and commercial taxes, etc.
Commercial goods entering the city must be inspected.
The team entering the city was divided into two rows. One row was for people who did not carry anything. They walked to the left and could quickly enter the city after a simple inspection. On the right, there were people pulling horse-drawn carts and carrying a lot of things. They had to accept
Check carefully, and even charge taxes and invoices for commodity pricing, etc.
Because it was a slow process, the queue was quite long.
Zhang Ji, however, was unhurried and patiently looked around.
Zhending City is both the prefectural and county government, and it is located at the entrance of Jingxing, one of the Eight Great Routes, connected to Shanxi, especially adjacent to the important town of Taiyuan, so it is also relatively prosperous.
After the Ming army occupied the city, not only did it not become depressed, but it became even more prosperous and lively.
The queue was very long, and some smart vendors came to set up stalls. Some set up tea shacks on the roadside to sell tea, and some sold steamed buns and steamed cakes. There was even a storyteller telling stories there. He was not talking about the Three Kingdoms or anything else.
Others are actually things that have been confirmed in recent years.
"It is said that in March of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the intruder Li Zicheng led the invading army all the way into Beijing City. Another invading army was led by the intruder general Liu Fangliang. They passed through Yangcheng from Pingyang, crossed Taihang and left northern Henan. They descended first
Wei Hui, Zhang De, and then go north to Zhending.
It is said that Liu Fangliang was also a powerful general under Li Zicheng. He went east from Guguan and came to Zhending City with troops, and sent an envoy to send a letter to Xu Biao, the governor of Zhending, to persuade him to surrender.
But Governor Xu tore into pieces the letter urging him to surrender and killed Liu Thief with one sword.
At that time, Governor Xu was determined to die and wanted to hold on to Zhending City. However, Qiu Maohua, the prefect of Zhending, was greedy for life and feared death. He wanted to run away and secretly sent a servant to sneak a family of young people out of the city. As a result, he was targeted by Governor Xu.
Camp Discovery.
Xu Futai ordered him to be captured and put on death row. After the rebel army was defeated, he was taken to the capital.
But in the middle of the night, the Zhending garrison mutinied. They kidnapped the governor, opened the prison, and asked Qiu Maohua to come out. As soon as Qiu Maohua was released from prison, he immediately sent a message to the prefectures and counties where he belonged, offering the city to surrender. Chen Fangliang still couldn't believe it, so he only ordered a few cavalrymen to surrender.
I entered the city to inspect and collect the land where the money was collected. It was a pity that I managed to seize this place three hundred miles away from the capital, Sanguanxiong Town and Jifu District without any effort.
Liu Fangliang led his army into the city and asked Xu Futai to come out and persuade him. However, Xu Futai yelled at the thieves and was eventually killed. Zhen Dinghuo attacked the camp and attacked Chen Sanjie as a guerrilla. Seeing that the situation was over, he was still afraid of surrendering to the thieves.
He left a desperate poem and hanged himself to death.
This poem is written in this way. God knows my ambitions in life. Unexpectedly, things have changed now. I will pay tribute to the army through the ages. People in the world must not laugh at me as a fool!"
"But things are unpredictable. The intruder Li Zicheng entered Beijing, but he was defeated in Shanhaiguan not long after. The traitor Wu Sangui became a beauty in anger and attracted the Tatar regent Dorgon to enter the pass and captured Beijing in one fell swoop. Li Zicheng was as panic-stricken as
The bereaved dog headed south in panic.
Li Zicheng encountered a fierce battle with the Qing army in Dingzhou and was defeated and retreated south. He fought again in Zhending and was also defeated.
He was wounded by an arrow in the Battle of Zhending, so he had to leave Guguan via Jingxing and evacuate Zhili, enter Shanxi, and return to Xi'an.
Wu Sangui was the vanguard, leading the Qing generals Tan Tai and Liao Fu Li Yutian to join forces in pursuit."
Some people cheered loudly, and some even bought tea and cakes. The gentleman smiled and handed over his hand, and many people directly rewarded him with money.
A boy next to the storyteller came up to him holding a gong and asked him for a reward.
Zhang Ji smiled, took out a dragon silver and placed it on the plate.
"That's good. I don't know what your husband is called. How can you make this paragraph so clear?"
"My husband's surname is Bian. He was originally the master of Bian Dashou in Mizhi County. In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, Shaanxi Governor Wang Qiaonian ordered Bian Dashou to dig up Li Zicheng's ancestral grave and crush the bones and scatter the ashes. Bian Dashou resigned and returned home out of fear of revenge.
Renqiu's hometown in Hebei Province. Later, the intruders attacked Beijing and he was captured. My husband was also kidnapped together. He was forced to follow the intruders from Beijing all the way to Shanxi via Zhending and others, and then fled to central Shaanxi in defeat.
of.
My husband finally came back from Guanzhong, and he didn’t have any money, so he told stories along the way to make up for the money. Everyone liked to hear stories about intruders, so he told us what he had seen and heard in the past.”
When Bian Dashou was the county magistrate in Li Zicheng's hometown, he was ordered to dig up the graves of Li Zicheng's grandfather and father and burn them. Afterwards, he was afraid of retaliation, so he resigned and ran back to his hometown in Hebei. Who knew that Li Zicheng was soon beaten to Beijing, and Bian was also arrested?
The army searched and captured him, but Li Zicheng was quickly defeated.
He was forced to follow him all the way to the west. Along the way, he saw with his own eyes how disordered and disorganized the army was. He secretly scolded them for being a rabble. However, Bian Dashou was lucky. He was forced to flee westward. When the Qing army was in Shanxi
He caught up and defeated the invading army, and Bian Dashou was rescued.
Because he was a county magistrate in the Ming Dynasty and had dug Li Zicheng's ancestral grave, Wu Sangui, who wanted to avenge Chongzhen, was very polite to him and recommended him to the Qing court.
After experiencing the military turmoil, Bian also praised the Tatars and was appointed magistrate of Xiuwu County in Henan Province. Not long ago, he was promoted to magistrate of Taiyuan.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In addition to being an official, Bian Dashou also used his free time to write a book about his experience of escaping from the army, and published it for sale, called The Story of Surviving a Life in the Tiger's Mouth
, starting from when he dug up Li Zicheng’s ancestral grave, crushed his bones and raised ashes, and wrote about his experiences in the past few years, especially how he escaped later, and it actually became quite popular.
Zhang Ji used to be Shanxi Liang Dao, but now he is the chief envoy. Of course he recognizes Bian Dashou, the prefect of Taiyuan. He is also a greedy, timid and flattering person. His ability is good, but it is mainly used for camping. The two of them
It can even be considered a pretty good cooperative relationship.
He could guess at a glance that the storyteller in front of him was definitely not a master from the Bianshou tribe. Otherwise, even if he didn't escape with him at the beginning, he would have gone directly to find Bianshou after escaping from Shaanxi and passing by Taiyuan.
.
Undoubtedly, this is a Jianghu storyteller in the name of Bian Dashou's family, and what he is telling is actually the content of "The Story of Survival from a Tiger's Mouth" written by Bian Dashou.
He was very eloquent, so everyone was very happy to hear it.
Zhang Ji felt that although this guy might be a bit of a charlatan, he was quite satisfied with his eloquence. He actually rewarded him with a silver dollar and called him over, asking if he would like to work with him. He also offered him a salary of ten silver dollars a month.
The man immediately closed the stall happily and called his boss.
After lining up to enter the city, Zhang Ji was not in a hurry to see Tu Guobao and the others. Instead, he wandered around, looking here and there, looking at the Ming troops guarding the city, the patrolling soldiers, the goods and prices in the shops in the city, and even the people.
look.
After walking around for a long time, I went to the Yamen to visit.
At the door, I directly asked the newly admitted master to give me eight-color snacks, etc., and also gave me a 20 yuan silver dollar door bag.
When the gatekeeper saw him on his way, he was also smiling and very enthusiastic.
When Zhang Ji took out a name sticker, he immediately went in to inform him and jumped in line.
Money can make ghosts go around. Zhang Ji is very knowledgeable about how to give gifts and deal with them. The king of hell is easy to meet, but the devil is difficult to deal with. These skills should not be underestimated.
Tu Guobao and Ma Guozhu were both a little surprised when they saw Zhang Ji.
"Zhang Daotai abandoned the dark and turned to the bright, and he came back anyway?" Tu Guobao joked.
Zhang Ji was dressed in businessman's clothes, but he was very calm. He smiled and said, "To tell you the truth, I just got the decree from Beijing and was promoted to Shanxi Chief Envoy. No, the first thing I did when I took office was to come here to visit me."
Two old friends." He said and took out the formal gifts he had prepared.
The gifts cost eight thousand taels of silver, including gold and jade.
Seeing this, even Tu Guobao was a little stunned.
"Congratulations then. I thought something happened to Brother Zhang and he ran away to join my brother."
Zhang Ji gave the gift and explained his identity. Then the three of them dismissed the others, and they sat together and chatted secretly for a whole day.
We talked a lot.
Zhang Ji took the initiative and took the risk to come to the secret meeting and gave him another eight thousand taels of silver as a gift. Of course, he was not here to pay protection fees, but to discuss business.
He has now been promoted to Shanxi Chief Envoy, Shi Tingzhu is the governor, his ancestral brothers are the commander-in-chief, and Jierhalang's two sons are in charge of Shanxi. However, he feels that the Tatars must not grow up for a long time, and now he has the power and position.
Hurry up and find more benefits for yourself and get more money.
Zhang Ji took the initiative and suggested that Tu Guobao could send troops to capture Guguan and Niangziguan, and control this important smuggling line. He was worried that the two young sons of Jierhalang would come and destroy their hard-earned business.
This smuggling channel.
It's better to let them control Tu Guobao first, so that future transactions will be safer.
Zhang Ji also proposed to expand the amount of smuggling. They needed salt and grain in large quantities. Zhang Ji had successfully established a grain smuggling line directly to Beijing. He secretly imported large amounts of grain into Beijing's underground grain market, and the profits were extremely high.
.
"What to trade for?"
"As usual, we use livestock such as cattle, horses, camels, and even medicinal materials such as fur, tendons, horns, and ginseng from the grassland."
"not enough."
Zhang Ji said directly, "If there is not enough, we will make up for it with gold and silver. Now the Eight Banners in Beijing and Gyeonggi Province are not short of gold or silver, but they are short of salt and grain."
Tu Guobao pondered for a moment.
"Yes, but the previous prices are not good and have to be reset. The prices of grain and salt have to be raised, while the prices of livestock and furs have to be lowered."
Zhang Ji was not dissatisfied at Tu Guobao's robbery. He just smiled and said, "The price is easy to say. What matters now is the quantity. The quantity must be increased. It must be several times what it was before. As long as the quantity is increased, the price will be easy to say."
"
Beijing now has more than ten taels of grain and one stone of grain, and the same goes for salt.
So as long as we can get salt and grain, the benefits will be huge. Before the Tatars move their capital, we should do a few more jobs quickly. If it's too late, we won't have this opportunity.
Of course, in addition to cooperating with smuggling, Zhang Ji also has a request. He can help the Ming army obtain the two major passes of Jingxing and Niangzi Pass. However, he hopes Bao Bao Guozhu of the Tu Kingdom will also agree to him and occupy these two passes.
Stop sending troops across the border into Shanxi.
His reason is that if the Ming army does not enter Shanxi in a large scale, everyone's business can continue well. But once they threaten Taiyuan, or even attempt to seize Shanxi, they may attract the attention of the Qing army and even
If you fight back, then this transaction will be very dangerous.
Tu Guobao thought for a while and nodded in agreement.
At this time, Ma Guozhu, the governor of Zhili, put forward an additional condition.
"It's okay to continue private trade, but one thing must be added. From now on, we will control the entry and exit of goods from Jingxinggu Pass, Niangzi Pass, and Shanxi. You must pay customs duties and taxes according to the system of our Shao Dynasty, and purchase from us.
You have to pay extra salt tax on salt and grain, and you have to pay special tax on grain. You also have to pay taxes on other tobacco, alcohol, tea, sugar, etc. You have to pay livestock tax on the livestock you sell, and you have to pay fur tax on furs. The tax rates are all in accordance with the regulations of the court.
Collection and payment.”
Zhang Ji was stunned there, with his mouth wide open, unable to speak for a long time.
Everyone is cooperating in private and engaging in smuggling.
Do you still have to pay taxes now?
Are there any customs duties, taxes, special taxes or even special taxes?
Is there any mistake?
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! But Ma Guozhu picked up the teapot and poured him a cup of tea, and then said unhurriedly, "We also know that Mr. Zhang is just a representative from the other side of the mountain.
, Don’t worry, we won’t make it difficult for you, the taxes will be as stated, there will be no surcharges, etc. In addition, we will use 10% of the taxes collected to thank Mr. Zhang.”
Zhang Ji not only has a deep knowledge of giving gifts, but also how to make money. But today he has to admit that Ma Guozhu is worthy of being a senior. He was able to become the governor of Shanxi when the Qing army entered the customs.
Governor Xuanda, who later became the governor of the three provinces of Jiangnan, had a brain beyond his own.
There are still taxes to be collected for smuggling, what a damn talent.
But faced with the 10% kickback, Zhang Ji remained silent.
It's all for making money.
The money earned from the smuggling transaction is not his alone, it belongs to the group of people in Shanxi, but the 10% rebate from the smuggling tax is undoubtedly his alone.
Seeing that Zhang Ji finally agreed to pay taxes, Ma Guozhu looked like he had expected it.
At this time, Tu Guobao refilled his tea, "Your Majesty has recently transferred many large armies from Henan and Shandong, and put them under the control of our two brothers. We will be the vanguard to attack Beijing. Now all the soldiers and horses have gathered in Hebei and set up defenses along the Hutuo River.
, with over 100,000 soldiers and horses.
However, many of the brothers' troops are native villages or rebels in the Central Plains, and their equipment is a bit poor, especially those who lack armor and bows and arrows. Sir Zhang, can you help us get some armors, bows and arrows? Don't worry about the price, we will never lose money to Sir Zhang.
You decide the price, as long as it's not excessive, we can have as much as we want, and we can exchange it for salt and grain.
Of course, after the matter is completed, we are willing to give Mr. Zhang another 10% rebate."
"Except for armor, bows and arrows, as long as it is ordnance, whether it is swords, guns, swords, shields, or shotguns, artillery, lead, gunpowder, fuses, etc., there is no limit. You can buy as much as you want. Regardless of the amount of the transaction, we will give you a 10% rebate based on the price. This rebate requires gold.
That’s fine, too, and silver is fine, and I can exchange it for grain or salt, no problem.”
Zhang Ji couldn't help but swallow his saliva, the temptation was too great.
Although he also knows that smuggling involving ordnance and horses is not easy, and most of the 10% kickback will be paid by then, but it is undoubtedly a way of making money.
"I'll go back and give it a try. You two will wait for my reply."
