I'm really not doing business

Chapter 604: Misfortune favors the unfortunate, and a hemp rope tends to break at its thinnest point

Among the Roppongi flower crown gentlemen, the ones who have to pay the lowest price are the Benming gentlemen. Not only can these Benming gentlemen enjoy the beauty without spending any money, they can even make money from the oiran.

Because Benmingjun has a very high social status, he can make money by simply using the courtesans to organize gatherings or have them spend money in his own store.

The ones who spend the most here are the tribute gentlemen, who are responsible for paying the bill but often cannot see the courtesan. It is a very happy thing for them to get an invitation letter to the poetry meeting. These tribute gentlemen are often businessmen who have become rich overnight and have a very low social status. They need to use this kind of poetry meeting to enter the upper class society.

However, due to the limitations of their size, Japan's tactics did not cause much noise. After the opening of the sea, these tactics flowed into the Ming Dynasty, which immediately further expanded them.

The reason why Qu Hexing had to clean up the house himself was because Qu Daocheng was too embarrassing!
The twelve women on the Songjiang Prefecture's top flower list were all tools used by Qu Daocheng to flaunt his wealth. The reputation of being a spendthrift due to these luxury cars had spread to Nagasaki! She could have been played by the Lord of Destiny, but she had to be the Six Gentlemen, and even the Tribute Gentleman.

Who would want a wealthy and powerful person to be a tribute-bearing gentleman?

The Qu family could barely reach the level of a monopoly class, but under the Ming Dynasty's official selection system, a new class, the monopoly class, was emerging among the powerful and wealthy.

There are a total of sixty-four cotton shops in Shanghai County, fifty of which belong to the Qu family. Even the land deeds of the county government belong to them. If Yan Shixuan had not been too strong, the Qu family would still have held on to the land deeds. There are hundreds of boats floating on the sea, circling around a group of women all day long.

Yan Shixuan said to the angel with a wronged look on his face that he wanted to surrender and that he would not be allowed to live, etc., making him look like a poor little thing. But could a poor little thing govern the 800,000 people of Shanghai County in an orderly manner? Could a poor little thing replace all the people in the county government with his own people? Could a poor little thing make things happen with a wave of his hand?

The Hailong Gang disappeared just like that.

In the murder case of Qiu Yunniang, Yan Shixuan conducted a thorough investigation and found out that five people from the Fan family and four people from the Chen family were killed one after another!
In the eyes of the powerful and wealthy, the process of this case was that the county magistrate Yan Shixuan wanted to rebuild the market and wanted the land shared by the Fan and Chen families. The Fan and Chen families refused and were directly exterminated by the county magistrate.

If Qu Hexing wasn't afraid, would he have taken the initiative to hand over the land deed? If he didn't, he would have followed the footsteps of the Fan and Chen families.

In Qu Hexing's opinion, Yan Shixuan was no different from the stone in the toilet, both were stinky and hard! He was ruthless and resolute, and did things without mercy.

Under the official selection, their Qu family is a top wealthy family that can compete with Songjiang Sun Family and Songjiang Ocean Trading Company.

Qu Daocheng played with the courtesans. Even if he built a luxurious villa and kept the twelve courtesans in a golden house, Qu Hexing would not bother to care about him. But Qu Daocheng was flaunting himself in the streets. Isn't this obviously courting death? Qu Daocheng's behavior was like a big fat pig shouting to the butcher: Look at me, look at me, I'm fat, so fat that I can't stand it, I can be slaughtered and eaten!

Qu Hexing's worries did not come true. Yan Shixuan, the King of Hell, seemed to want to destroy the Hailong Gang more.

The Hailong Gang, which had been entrenched in Shanghai County for nearly thirty years, disappeared overnight, as if it had never existed. As a result, just as the limelight had passed, his grandson came to the most luxurious place with a luxury car carrying twelve courtesans, and wanted to compete with others in wealth again!
Qu Hexing really hit him on the head with a stick. Seeing that his grandfather was really going to kill him, Qu Daocheng wailed and ran backwards. However, Qu Daocheng, who was hollowed out by alcohol and sex, could not even dodge the stick from Qu Hexing, who was in his sixties. The stick did not hit his head but hit his leg.

"Help! Help!" Qu Daocheng knelt on the ground and crawled forward in pain, but no one around dared to lend a hand. Even the courtesans who had just got off the car were frightened and kept backing away, fearing that they would be implicated!
Qu Hexing raised the wooden stick again, pretending to hit again. It seemed that he was really angry and would not stop until he killed him.

"Mr. Qu, please spare his life!" Yan Shixuan saw that the beating continued and was afraid that someone would die. As a local official, it would have been fine if he hadn't seen it, but if he had seen it, he would have spoken up.

When Qu Hexing heard the voice, he frowned, then quickly relaxed his brows and said with a smile on his face, "So it's Yan Qingtian in person. I've met Yan Qingtian. Is Yan Qingtian patrolling the streets again?"

Patrolling the streets was Yan Shixuan's response to the Hailong Gang, which was protected by someone. The six clerks from the six rooms were rotated every six days, leading the squad leaders of the constables to patrol the streets. The Shanghai County inspectors also paraded through the streets with archers. Anyone who broke out in a fight would be arrested and brought to justice. Yan Shixuan himself would also patrol the streets.

Hai Lao Si, the leader of the Hailong Gang, always gets drunk and says to others: This Yan Shixuan is more like the leader than him! He only manages two things, this and that.

Yan Shixuan looked around, stood with his hands behind his back, and said calmly: "We can't let this cause a murder. His leg is almost broken. With such a fierce commotion, I thought this Qujia Bay really belonged to the Qu family, not the territory of the Ming Dynasty."

"Mr. Yan, you're joking, you're joking! Let's disperse now. No one will be killed. No one will be killed!" Qu Hexing's attitude was even a little flattering. As soon as he finished speaking, Qu Hexing brought his servants and carried the eldest son of the Qu family away.

Li Yougong could see that Yan Shixuan was not as pitiful as he said in Shanghai County.

Yao Guangqi arrived soon. Yan Shixuan hosted a banquet for him. He took his advisor with him, completed the handover, and went to Hangzhou Prefecture. Li Yougong did not leave, but stayed in Shanghai County for a few more days. It was not until early March that he returned to the capital to report.

"Yan Shixuan handled many cases in Songjiang Prefecture. I have brought back all these files. After compiling them into books, they can be printed and given to the Ming Dynasty bureaucrats who are appointed to local posts. At least when facing these things, they will not be completely in the dark." Li Yougong presented the files he had compiled to the emperor.

There are a lot of files. Li Yougong wrote a table for the "Shanghai County Government Collection Book", which describes in detail the composition and content of the book.

"If you name it like this, no one will want to read the book. So, change the name to: "A Chronicle of Officialdom: From Entering the World to Dominating the World". If you change the name like this, won't the bureaucrats of our Ming Dynasty flock to it? Won't everyone have a copy?" After reading the application form, Zhu Yijun had no dissatisfaction with the content, but he disagreed with the title.

The name "Shanghai County Government Collection" is somewhat bland.

"Isn't the name 'Contradiction Theory' more suitable?" Li Yougong felt that the name 'Contradiction Theory' was more appropriate.

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "The contradiction is that there is more reason than practice, but this book is more practice than reason."

The theory of contradiction is the principle of morality, while this is a collection of cases, and their nature is different.

"I obey your command." Li Yougong was silent for a moment and chose to obey. The name "Your Majesty" seemed more impactful. What's interesting is that the name "Your Majesty" gave was not a false name, but very suitable for the content. It was really apt.

Yan Shixuan really had great power. Qu Hexing lived from the Jiajing period to the twelfth year of the Wanli period and had experienced all kinds of storms. This Yan Shixuan was really not easy to deal with.

"Ji Bu" is a style of writing that has existed since the Han Dynasty. It compiles official documents between the county government, prefectural government and the imperial court into volumes for use in compiling county annals. Li Yougong sorted these documents into different categories.

"This case is quite interesting." Zhu Yijun flipped through the catalog of the collection book, suddenly looked closely, pulled out a volume from the thick file, and began to read it carefully.

"Your Majesty really has a keen eye. It was after this case that Yan Shixuan became a great judge. The powerful and wealthy people in Shanghai County are somewhat afraid of Yan Shixuan." Li Yougong said with certainty.

In the Qiu Yunniang case, one copper coin cost fifteen lives.

Qiu Yunniang's original surname was Yun. She was sold to a human trafficker when she was young. After raising her for two years, the human trafficker found that Yunniang looked abnormal, so he sold her to the Qiu family as a child bride. From then on, she was renamed Qiu Yunniang.

Qiu Yunniang married Qiu Da when he was fourteen years old and gave birth to a son named Qiu Xiaolang. He had not yet entered school and had not found a teacher to give him a formal name, as this name would make it easier to raise him.

After Qiu Yunniang gave birth to Qiu Xiaolang, her health had not been good. Qiu Da was also idle and addicted to gambling, and he squandered most of the family's already meager fortune.

One day, Qiu Yunniang felt a little dizzy and the family had no money, so she gave the six-year-old Qiu Xiaolang a copper coin and asked Qiu Xiaolang to buy ginger to make soup to treat the illness.

Qiu Xiaolang did not learn good things but instead learned to gamble like his father. He gambled with a neighbor kid of the same age as him and lost a penny. Qiu Xiaolang was unhappy about the loss and started fighting with the neighbor kid.

Qiu Yunniang heard the noise and went out to see a fight. She was already sick and in a bad mood, so she naturally scolded the neighbor's child.

The neighbor's child went home and cried to his mother, saying that Qiu Yun's mother was abusive and told his mother to go out and have a affair to support the family, and she didn't even let the child take a penny.

The neighbor kid's mother was a notorious shrew! She immediately went out to the street and started swearing. The curses were so nasty that it was as if all the ancestors would suffer for it.

Qiu Yunniang was not in the right because she really had an affair and all the neighbors knew it clearly.

Qiu Da was idle, addicted to gambling, and didn't care about the family's livelihood. Qiu Yunniang had no choice but to become a secret prostitute. This was somewhat the case. Qiu Yunniang was favored by Chen Yuanwai, who liked married women like this. They were less troublesome, and would do whatever he said if he gave her some money every month, and they wouldn't make any trouble.

A shrew scolding in the street is a rare entertainment activity nowadays. Qiu Da was already very angry after losing money in gambling. Everyone knew that he was a cuckold and was scolded by the shrew.

Qiu Da didn't dare to provoke the shrew. He returned home, closed the door, and beat Qiu Yunniang severely.

Qiu Da beat Qiu Yunniang and asked Qiu Yunniang to ask Chen Yuanwai for ten taels of silver. Qiu Da wanted to get his money back!

Qiu Daquan thought that Qiu Yunniang was still in contact with Chen Yuanwai, but in fact, Chen Yuanwai and Qiu Yunniang had already broken up. Mainly because Chen Yuanwai's wife found out and made a scene with Chen Yuanwai. Chen Yuanwai gave her three taels of silver and ended the relationship.

Qiu Yunniang was beaten by her husband, abandoned by her patron, scolded by a shrew, and kicked out of the house by her husband. She could not return home unless she got ten taels of silver.

Qiu Yunniang was completely desperate. She had no way to find ten taels of silver. When she was a secret prostitute, she only earned twenty cents for each sexual intercourse. After she got together with Chen Yuanwai, her life was considered stable, but it was not much. Chen Yuanwai was old, and apart from the monthly allowance, he would only give her tips when he looked for her, which was less than seven cents of silver a month.

It was a bleak and rainy winter. Shanghai was already rainy, and since some time in history, it started snowing in Shanghai as well.

The snow in the south is different from that in the north. The snow in the south melts on the same day it falls, and it is often sleet. Snowing makes the temperature drop, and it becomes even colder when the snow melts. Qiu Yunniang was walking aimlessly on the street in just a thin shirt, and she fell headfirst into a pile of snow.

The night patrol leader happened to meet Qiu Yunniang and took the unconscious Qiu Yunniang back to the county government office. She was frozen stiff, so he soaked her in hot water. He also invited a doctor from Huimin Pharmacy to treat her overnight. It was not until the second half of the night that Qiu Yunniang came back to life.

The squad leader asked Qiu Yunniang about her background, but Qiu Yunniang didn't answer and just kept crying.

Yan Shixuan inquired about the situation. Two days later, Qiu Yunniang recovered from her illness and her mood stabilized. She told him her story. Yan Shixuan thought it was just a quarrel between husband and wife, so he didn't think much about it and sent her back to Qiu's home.

The mother of the neighbor's child was the shrew who cursed in the streets. When she heard that the man had returned, she stood in front of the Qiu family's door and cursed in the streets using all kinds of foul language like a clapper. This time, the scope of Qiu Yunniang's cheating on her had expanded from Mr. Chen to the head of the team, the doctor, and County Magistrate Yan.

Qiu Da was furious and closed the door in anger. He beat Qiu Yunniang again and asked her to go find the money because he wanted to get his money back.

Once the snow started to fall in Songjiang Prefecture, it would not stop for several days. Qiu Yunniang was walking on the street, and as she was walking, she fell headfirst into the snow. This time, without the foreman, Qiu Yunniang froze to death in the heavy snow.

"Scumbag, this Qiu Da can't afford to live, he can just die!" Zhu Yijun's mouth twitched a few times when he saw this. It was really hard for him to understand how such a lazy man survived. As a father and a husband, he had no sense of responsibility at all. Apart from gambling, he beat his wife and children. He couldn't afford to live, he could just die and waste food.

It is true that misfortune favors the unfortunate, and a hemp rope tends to break at the thinnest part.

Qiu Yunniang was sold by her parents, sold by human traffickers, and beaten by her husband. With no means of livelihood at home, she had to sell her body to make money. Even in this situation, bad luck seemed not to let her go. As if it was a joke, the first time she was kicked out of the house, she was found and rescued by the foreman of the county government. But the second time, she was not so lucky.

Zhu Yijun grabbed the file, took a few deep breaths, and then continued reading.

Qiu Yunniang froze to death in front of Mr. Chen's restaurant. When they opened for business in the morning, the clerk and the shopkeeper saw a dead body in front of the door. They were shocked and looked closely to find that it was the master's mistress.

The affair between Mr. Chen and Qiu Yunniang became known to everyone.

Qiu Yunniang also learned some music, chess, calligraphy and painting from the trafficker, although not much, but Chen Yuanwai still liked these things. Chen Yuanwai had a fierce wife at home who was illiterate and didn't want to learn, so Chen Yuanwai often taught Qiu Yunniang to read and write.

In order to please Mr. Chen, Qiu Yunniang studied very hard. In the past one or two years, Qiu Yunniang had become quite good at playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.

When Chen Yuanwai found out that Qiu Yunniang could be taken out, he often took Qiu Yunniang to poetry gatherings and to restaurants to eat and drink. They were so blatant that if Chen Yuanwai's wife didn't do something, she would no longer be his wife, so he made a fuss.

The restaurant's owner and waiters knew Qiu Yunniang and immediately told Chen Yuanwai.

When Mr. Chen saw that Qiu Yunniang was dead, he was not sad but very happy, because Yunniang's body was of great use!

Mr. Chen and the Fan family are fighting for a piece of land. This land has no title deed and is very barren. Before the sea was opened, this was a tidal flat that no one wanted. But after the sea was opened, this place became a hot commodity.

The Chen family and the Fan family were fighting to the death for this piece of land, and Mr. Chen whispered to his adopted son, saying this and that, and this and that.

The conflict came again. Fists and kicks were used, and the servants of each family were fighting each other. The fight was so chaotic that no one paid attention to it. Suddenly, Mr. Chen shouted: The Fan family was too ruthless and beat someone to death!

When the two parties in the conflict saw that it was indeed Chen Yuanwai's favorite mistress Qiu Yunniang who was beaten to death, and even the Chen family's servants didn't know that the body was picked up, they were genuinely angry. They had been arguing for so long and everyone had stopped, but you, the Fan family, actually beat someone to death. This is a fight to the death!
When the Fan family saw that the Chen family was serious about their move and they felt they were in the wrong, they scattered like birds and beasts and ran back to the Fan family.

Mr. Chen’s idea was that your Fan family was in the wrong for killing someone, so just give the land to your Chen family and we won’t take the matter to the authorities. Moreover, Mr. Chen had great confidence in the beast Qiu Da, so as long as he gave him some silver, Qiu Da would not take the matter to the authorities.

Mr. Chen confidently took his men to the Fan family to argue.

The adopted son and several sons of the Fan family were extremely anxious, thinking about how to deal with the situation. It was impossible for Mr. Fan to give up the land because it was too valuable. He became disgusted and came up with an evil method to exchange one life for another.

Mr. Fan called the firewood carrier in. As soon as the firewood carrier entered the house, Fan's son hit him on the head with a stick and killed him.

Then Mr. Fan, his sons and adopted sons placed the firewood carriers in front of the inner courtyard gate and dismantled most of the door bolts so that the door would fall down with just a push.

Mr. Chen rushed into the Fan Mansion with his servants. In the excitement, they pushed open the inner door without paying attention to where they were stepping.

Mr. Fan's son had prepared a plan in advance. When people rushed in and started fighting with sticks, creating an extremely chaotic scene. Mr. Fan's son took out a gong and started beating it while shouting, "Someone from the Chen family has been beaten to death, someone has been beaten to death."

That's two lives.

When things got to this point, someone ran to the county government office to report the case. When the head of the group heard that someone had died, he brought all the bailiffs out in full force and brought all the people to the county government office for interrogation. The coroners quickly began the autopsy.

If a local coroner was used, both Mr. Chen and Mr. Fan could bribe them. However, this coroner from outside the place was not so easy to bribe. This coroner was from Guizhou and could not even speak Mandarin. After examining the bodies, he found that Qiu Yunniang had frozen to death and the firewood carrier had been beaten to death with a wooden stick.

When Yan Shixuan learned that Qiu Yunniang had frozen to death, he became furious. Thinking with his heels, he knew that there was a 90% chance that she was driven out of the house by her husband and froze to death. The reason for Yan Shixuan's anger was very clear. He should have asked a few more questions at the beginning. Simply sending the person back was basically sending her to the underworld!

If I don't kill Boren, Boren will die because of me.

With this mentality, Yan Shixuan became ruthless and was determined to get to the bottom of the matter. He used the old method to investigate the case: starvation.

Everyone was interrogated in turn, their confessions were checked, and they were not allowed to sleep. They were starved for a total of five days. The truth of the case was finally revealed. Yan Shixuan did not even have to use the torture he had prepared, and the group of people confessed.

The son of Mr. Fan, who had killed someone, was sentenced to immediate execution by Yan Shixuan, but the others had to be released.

When Mr. Fan's son was sentenced to immediate execution, Mr. Fan went crazy. The fight with the Chen family over the land became more and more intense, and blood was shed several times.

Yan Shixuan asked Mr. Fan and Mr. Chen to come to the yamen and asked them to make concessions. The land would be returned to the yamen and the money used to buy the land would be divided equally between each family. The matter ended there.

Neither Mr. Fan nor Mr. Chen agreed with the mediation result. Why should I give half of my land and my money to his family?
Half a month later, the two sides fought to the death again because of a dispute over land. This time the Chen family went to plant rice and the Fan family tried to stop them. The Fan family had lost a son, so the Fan family did not leave any room for the other family members. In the conflict, another family member of the Chen family was beaten to death.

This time, someone died, but the two sides not only did not stop, but fought even more fiercely on the spot! The squad leader received a report and took the yamen runners to arrest all the criminals.

In this age where people can fight to death over water, it is not surprising that people can be killed over a piece of valuable land.

In the end, both the Fan family and the Chen family suffered losses, including Mr. Fan and Mr. Chen, all of whom were on the beheading list.

The old man of the Qu family, Qu Hexing, was really scared. In the end, he got the land without spending a penny of silver from the court. From Qu Hexing's perspective, it was because the Fan family and the Chen family refused to contribute and sell the land to the government office that led to the destruction of the family. It was also at that time that Qu Hexing donated the land deed of the government office to the government office free of charge.

"For one copper coin, Qiu Yunniang, the firewood carrier, four people from the Chen family, and five people from the Fan family, four people died in the fight for land, a total of fifteen lives." Zhu Yijun sighed. If Qiu Yunniang had not admonished the neighbor's children, would these things have not happened?
Zhu Yijun thought about it for a while and felt that Qiu Yunniang would still die. Because of her gambling husband, Qiu Yunniang could not escape her tragic fate.

Even if Qiu Yunniang hadn't died, the people from the Chen and Fan families would have fought to the death for that piece of land.

"What about Qiu Da? How is he now?" Zhu Yijun flipped through the files and was somewhat unhappy that he did not see what happened to Qiu Da. It would be a waste of food if such a person lived one more day.

Qiu Da was a murderer, but the Ming Dynasty law did stipulate that if a wife cheated on her husband, it was legal for her to divorce and drive her away.

"Qiu Da owed gambling debts and refused to pay them back, so he was beaten to death by the debt collectors from the Hailong Gang. It was because of the murder that Governor Shen noticed the Hailong Gang." Li Yougong actually went to find out what happened next.

Qiu Da died. He was beaten many times by the debt collectors. He couldn't pay the money and was sold to the docks as a laborer. He didn't work well and was beaten many times again. The Hailong Gang's gang of bandits didn't care how hard they beat him. They beat Qiu Da to death.

Qiu Xiaolang was also sold by the Hailong Gang, but he was sold to a family that had no son.

"You deserve it." Zhu Yijun certainly didn't think that the Hailong Gang was chivalrous. Qiu Da got what he deserved.

Li Yougong frowned and said, "When Qu Hexing returned home, he locked up his only grandson. He blocked all the doors and windows with bricks, leaving only a hole to pass in some food and drink, and did not allow Qu Daocheng to go out."

"But I do think that the Qu family is about to be finished. Qu Daocheng knew that his misbehavior would make grandfather angry, but he still did it because the money was given by Qu Daocheng's father. This is not just doting, but it was Qu Daocheng's father who forced Qu Hexing to submit and acknowledge the three illegitimate children born outside."

"The Qu family has grown to its current size under Qu Hexing, but his sons and grandsons are not very good."

"I am not talking nonsense. Qu Hexing's son and four grandsons all like opium. County Magistrate Yao Guangqi is already investigating them."

"Like opium? Then let Yao Guangqi investigate." Zhu Yijun nodded in agreement. Li Yougong dared to say it in front of the emperor, so he was at least 80% sure that it was true and not groundless. Zhu Yijun frowned and said, "The list of the most beautiful women? Send an order to the Songjiang Taxation Bureau. If anyone stirs up such rumors, the Taxation Bureau will investigate them to see if they have paid enough taxes!"

"Oh, and about Xiafei Street, let's ask the Songjiang Prefecture Taxation Office to check if the tax has been paid in full."

It’s okay to do business, and it’s not a problem to be more extravagant than Zhu Yijun, but it’s not okay to do business without paying taxes!

Zhu Yijun was already thinking about how to make money, confiscating property? Confiscating property is so crude, and it is a one-size-fits-all deal, collecting taxes is the right way.

"Send a letter to the Ministry of Revenue to make clear regulations on such luxury items, and impose an additional special tax, starting at 30%, with no upper limit. Don't they have the money to make them? Keep making them, make as many as you can!" Zhu Yijun was not just talking, he really wanted to impose additional taxes on luxury goods.

The Ministry of Revenue quickly drafted a regulation to increase taxes. There were only two items subject to the 50% tax, jadeite and jade, while the other taxes started at 100%, and Sichuan brocade and Sichuan satin were increased to %. The tax increase was quickly approved by the court.

Luxury goods are completely separated from the use value of commodities and only have exchange value. In addition, they also have extremely high emotional value, that is, showing off. The specific method of collection is that when you walk out of that street, the Tax Inspection Office can issue a tax invoice, which means that this thing is from Xiafei Street and is authentic.

Improving taxes on luxury goods will be conducive to the healthy and orderly development of the luxury industry.

It can effectively curb over-consumption. Poor people don't have to rely on these things to show off because they can't even pay the tax. In this way, the trend of luxury competition can be effectively curbed within a small circle.

Consuming luxury goods far beyond one's financial means is a form of pre-consumption, and it has extremely bad consequences.

(End of this chapter)