Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 285
The Jinyiwei stationed in Chaoguan, Huai'an was a small banner, with a total of 50 school captains and warriors, led by the general banner Wu Shanghu.After receiving orders from Shangfeng a few days ago, Wu Shanghu took most of his men to Linqing for business, leaving only a few captains on duty at the gate.

Xu San found under a thatched hut by the river, where two captains in brocade clothes were sitting on a stool beside a square table, watching the situation on the river, and chatting over tea while chatting with each other.

This thatched hut was specially built for the officials of the Chaoguan before, so that they could rest and wait for work in their spare time, but since Jin Yiwei settled in, it has become the exclusive place for the school captains, and others dare not approach it at all.

Xu San approached the thatched shed with a smile on his face, stood outside and bowed to the two school captains and said, "Master Sun, Mr. Zhang, are you two busy? The villain came to report something and disturbed the two gentlemen's pleasure." !"

The two captains had seen Xu San coming this way long ago, but they didn't pay attention to it. After hearing Xu San's words, Sun Zhong, the older captain, raised his feet and said, "Xu San, first!" Don't talk about anything else, I came to ask you how much money I have collected in the past few days? I have heard people say that although your boy is just a helper, his net worth is much richer than that of the army! Not to mention your family's This is Mr. Zhao, he must have made a lot of money! I can tell you, take the time to remind your Mr. Zhao when you go back, don’t take the pro-military as dry food, maybe you can see him in the prison someday What! Hmph!"

Another young lieutenant named Zhang Tao didn't say anything, just looked at Xu San with a smile.

"The villain is wronged! With Mr. Sun's eyes staring at him, even if the villain has a wicked heart, he has no guts! But since Mr. Sun opened his mouth, the villain is not a lump of elm. After the duty at noon, the villain A banquet was held at the Juying Restaurant in Banzha Town, and the two masters were invited to show their respect, and the villain also gave me a small gift! Now the villain really has something important to report. I wonder if the two masters have the courage? The villain thinks, If this matter goes wrong, it will be an opportunity for the two masters to make meritorious service!"

Xu San replied with a hippie smile.

How can a slicker like him not understand the meaning of blackmail in Sun Zhong's words?Common people like myself, who can take the opportunity to build a good relationship with Jin Yiwei, may be able to use it at any time.

Since Jinyiwei settled in, Xu San has long been acquainted with most of the people in Jinyiwei Xiaoqi by virtue of his familiarity with the locality and his habit of being low-key. He also invites everyone to the town for a drink from time to time. Therefore, except for Wu Shanghu, the general banner, the other captains will give Xu San a face in case of trouble.

"Oh? Let me hear it! Let me tell you, Xu San, apart from the emperor's family, we Jinyiwei have never been afraid of anyone! Tell me, is there someone who dares to resist the tax?"

Sun Zhongteng stood up abruptly, his tone full of pride and disdain.

"Mr. Sun, don't worry, don't worry! Although those merchants are scolding openly or secretly when the tax is paid, there are really no people who don't pay the tax. Without the tax payment certificate, the canal will not be allowed to pass at all! This time is a big deal , It’s an official boat smuggler!”

On the official ship flying the banner of the magistrate of Yangzhou, Liu Xingwen, who was dressed in a blue uniform and a six-in-one hat, was sipping fragrant tea leisurely in the cabin on the second floor, waiting for the release of the ship.

Liu Xingwen, who is over [-] years old, is the distant cousin of Liu Zuo, the prefect of Yangzhou, and Liu Zuo's spokesperson in the business field. Liu Xingwen is only the nominal owner of Liu's firm, but in fact the real owner is Liu Zuo. The profits of Liu's firm Most of the heads belong to Liu Zuo.

Liu's firm has regular business partners in the capital. Every year, Liu's firm organizes a large number of goods such as tea, silk, cloth, salt, porcelain, paper, gold and silver jewelry, etc., to be transported from the south of the Yangtze River to the capital through the canal for sale. Goods from the North, such as coal, livestock, fur, rolling felt, cotton, wheat beans, peanuts, etc., were transported to the Jiangnan area for sale, and the value of the goods between them was innumerable.

With the face of the magistrate of Yangzhou, when traveling between the north and the south in the past, Liu's business only needs to pay a certain amount of taxes and fees at Chongwenmen. As for the checkpoints on the canal, all the way is unimpeded. Liu Zuo's family brought huge profits.

But since the second half of last year, Jinyiwei has wiped out all the officials, officials and helpers of the original Chaoguan, and began to pay the tax at a rate of [-] to [-], which made Liu's business such a big family feel pain.

Take the goods loaded on the official ship this time as an example, the total value of silk, gold and silver ornaments, cotton cloth, etc. is almost 2 taels. In the past, only a few dozen taels of silver were needed to arrive at the capital, but now it is more than [-] taels. This is equivalent to snatching hundreds of taels of silver from the Liu family's pocket.This is still one time. If the number of times Liu's merchant fleet travels to and from the canal is accumulated, the Liu family alone will have to pay the imperial court thousands or even tens of thousands of silver in commercial taxes every year, which is very difficult for the Liu family to accept.

It is useless to pretend to be the magistrate as in the past. The imperial court stipulates that, except for the official ships and the grain ships, all the other ships will pass after paying taxes; Yes, because there are more Jinyiwei and Yushi after the banknotes are closed, the fleet of Liu's firm is all registered, and someone is watching, who dares to blatantly underreport the amount of the goods every time?

In desperation, Liu Xingwen came up with the idea of ​​smuggling official ships, because the official ships are large and carry more cargo, and a round trip can save a lot of tax money.

Impressed by his rhetoric, Liu Zuo finally agreed to his request after careful calculation.

Just when Liu Xingwen was getting impatient after waiting for a long time, Li Song, the steward of Liu's firm, hurried up to the second cabin: "Master, it's bad! There are Jin Yiwei who want to go on board and search for them!"

Liu Xingwen, who had always been in a calm state of mind, panicked when he heard it. He hurriedly got up and walked out of the cabin, and asked anxiously as he walked, "Has Jin Yiwei ever boarded the boat? How many people are here? Go to my cabin to get the Some silver taels are in the sandalwood box next to the bed!"

Before Li Song could reply, Liu Xingwen had already hurriedly descended the steps to the bow of the ship, just in time to bump into Sun Zhong, Zhang Tao who had just boarded the ship, and a group of accountants and servants from Chaoguan.

"You guys have worked hard! My cousin, Liu Xingwen, the magistrate of Yangzhou, is entrusted by Liu Zhifu to bring some local products to Beijing to visit the teachers, classmates and other relatives and friends of the intermediate examination. Please take a seat in the cabin! Come on, go and prepare tea, melons and fruits, so that you can wait for your business and rest!"

Liu Xingwen bowed his hands to Sun Zhong and Zhang Tao who were the leaders.

After stopping, Sun Zhong looked Liu Xingwen up and down, and said calmly: "This member is very kind, thank you so much! It is said that this ship is suspected of smuggling, so I'd better wait for someone to search for it before talking about anything else." Alright! Come on, let’s split up and search for it!”

"The villain waits to obey!"

A group of money holders and servants were about to scatter along the sides of the ship to search for them. Li Song, the steward, hurried down from the second floor and came to Liu Xingwen's side. Liu Xingwen turned cold and shouted: "And Stay! The valuables in the cabin are all needed by the nobles in the capital. Don’t you just want to take advantage of this opportunity to fish in troubled waters and steal? I want to see who dares to enter the warehouse! Could it be that the prefect of Yangzhou doesn’t care about you? The prefect of Huai’an is also a classmate and friend of the prefect Liu. Wait until you think about it!"

Those cashiers and servants were all locals of Huai'an, and when they heard the threat in Liu Xingwen's words, they stopped and dared not move again.

The masters of Jinyiwei may not be afraid of the local government, but they have lived in Huai'an for generations. If they really annoy the Yangzhou magistrate, they will give a note to the Huai'an magistrate, and maybe one day they will be messed up by the Huai'an government for any reason. The family is broken.

Liu Xingwen didn't wait for Sun Zhong to get angry, turned his head, put on a smiling face and cupped his hands at Sun Zhong: "This superior is your name? Could you please take a step to talk? I have something to ask the superior!"

　Thanks to the book friend SHAJIA for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)