On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 468 Exploitation and extortion
According to his father Cui Che's instructions, Cui Yanzong took the old general Wang as the general manager of the Wandai Bank, while he left Liaodong with his family and returned to Jinyang to report on his duties.

At this time, his elder brother Cui Qiji was also preparing to leave, but Cui Qiji had his own views on the way of returning to the court.

After hearing Cui Qiji's thoughts, his childhood friend Li Mi objected:

"As the saying goes, scholars, farmers, businessmen, high and low are orderly, and the status of the son is so noble. Now that he is ordered to enter the court, how can he pretend to be a merchant along the way? If it is spread, it will make the world laugh.

"Even if the son is worried about safety along the way, just bring more guards, please think twice."

Li Mi came from aristocratic background, so he naturally looked down on traders.

In his opinion, Cui Qiji, as the dignified son of King Yan, had to disguise himself as a merchant to avoid danger while walking in the territory of the Eastern Sui Dynasty.

Of course, Li Mi would not explain this level of meaning clearly. Regarding Cui Qiji's return to Jinyang as a merchant, Li Mi clearly expressed his opposition.

Cui Qiji explained helplessly:

"Xuan Sui is overthinking, now that the world is at peace and thieves are extinct, how can I worry about meeting bad guys on the way.

"It was only when I was young that my father taught me:
"'Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it.'

"'The people are the water that carries and overturns the boat, and the person in charge is the boat that crosses the water.

"'Only by going deep into the people can we know the gains and losses of government and preserve our country and society.'

"It will take some time for my father to collect commercial taxes. The reason why I pretend to be a merchant is to take this opportunity to investigate and see the impact of this commercial tax on people's livelihood."

As soon as Cui Qiji finished speaking, Du Ruhui couldn't help applauding:

"It's a good one, 'Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it!'"

He helped Cui Qiji persuade Li Mi and said:

"Pu Shangong, what the son said is reasonable, even if this matter is spread in the future, people in the world will only praise the son for understanding people's sentiments."

During Yang Jian's reign, Li Mi inherited his father Li Kuan's title as Lord of Pushan County. Later, he defected to his brother Cui Che, who was the Duke of Pushan County.

"Since this is the case, the son should not pretend to be a peddler, but be a big merchant. Only when he enters and exits is escorted by a caravan escort can he ensure his safety."

Li Mi has obviously been persuaded by Cui Qiji's words, and now he is only worried about Cui Qiji's safety.

The two grew up together, and Cui Qiji, as the future heir of the Cui Group, once he takes over the family business in the future, Li Mi's future will naturally be bright.

But if Cui Qiji had an accident, Li Mi's life would not be easy in the future.

Du Ruhui agreed:

"Pu Shangong's words are reasonable, please accept it."

Cui Qiji really wanted to be a peddler at first, to experience the bitterness of small peddlers, but after some persuasion from the two, he finally decided to put his own safety first.

"Just do what you two want."

The next day, Du Ruhui prepared a batch of goods for Cui Qiji. After everything was settled, Cui Qiji took Du Ruhui to handle Xuzhou's government affairs on his behalf.

Princess Nanyang and Cui Qiji were sitting in a carriage. Since their aunt and mother-in-law Yang Lihua sent a letter to Princess Nanyang, the relationship between their husband and wife has become more harmonious.

Yang Lihua didn't say anything else, she just warned Princess Nanyang that now that she is a mother, she has to think about everything for Cui Badger.

This family business will eventually fall on Cui Qiji's head. No matter how much Cui Che dotes on Cui Badger, Cui Qiji has to choose the third generation heir.

Once Cui Qiji hates the eldest son because of the bad relationship between their husband and wife, and in the future makes up his mind to abolish the elder and establish the younger, what should happen if he abolishes the eldest son and establishes the concubine.

This sentence can be regarded as awakening Princess Nanyang. From then on, no matter whether there is resentment in her heart or not, in the eyes of outsiders, they are regarded as husband and wife.

Cui Qiji ran to Princess Nanyang's yard frequently at night.

Sitting in the same carriage with the two is a Xi woman holding a baby girl.

This woman is the daughter of Ahui Lusu. Ahui was pregnant before and gave birth to a daughter. An envoy traveled all the way to Jinyang to announce the good news. Cui Che was also very happy and immediately sent someone out to share the happy event with Ahui Lusu.

This trip to the north, Cui Qiji did not disturb the local government, he indeed passed through various tax customs as a merchant.

Even if he was asked for bribes and made things difficult along the way, he did not reveal his identity, but secretly recorded those tax collectors who ignored the law, and prepared to report them all to his father when he arrived in Jinyang.

When the caravan arrived in Jinyang, Cui Qiji estimated the goods he had brought according to the local market price in Jinyang, and found that he could only make a small profit.

The root cause lies in the repeated taxation of local customs.

Although Cui Che issued repeated orders not to double tax collection, there were policies and countermeasures from above. The tax collectors in various places did not repeatedly collect the [-]% tax. However, when the tax collectors were just servants to inspect the goods, they would always take a small part of it and classify it as loss.

In fact, it was they themselves who were greedy for ink, which made Cui Qijiu go through more customs duties. Even if a sale was not made, the goods would be less and less.

And some daring tax collectors openly extorted bribes, which also made Cui Qiji angry.

If you don’t use money to send them away, these people will always excuse you that there is something wrong with the goods and won’t let you pass through the customs. What’s more, they will even detain the goods until the merchants are afraid of missing the trading time and can’t afford to delay, so they have to use money to clear the way.

"Husband, why should you be angry with the dead?"

Princess Nanyang comforted, in her opinion, those tax collectors and servants are no different from dead people, so there is no need to be angry about them.

Cui Qiji sighed and said:

"What I complain about is not here, but that my father secretly sent spies from the Observation Division to monitor the business in order to prevent tax collectors from exploiting the merchants. Now that the situation is like this, I am afraid that the people from the Observation Division will also get a share of it. When I return to Jinyang, my father must take action so as to punish them."

In the first year of Zhenyuan, on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, Cui Qiji, who had changed his outfit after entering the Taiyuan Basin, finally arrived in Jinyang before New Year's Eve.

From Xuzhou to Jinyang, the water and land transportation is convenient. According to Cui Che's inherent experience, Cui Qiji should have arrived earlier, but he even came later than Cui Yanzong.

Cui Che was displeased at first, thinking that the eldest son was lazy and didn't take his order seriously.

However, after Cui Qiji explained, Cui Che turned his anger into joy, patted Cui Qiji on the shoulder and praised:
"You can have this kind of heart, and I am very comforted for my father."

(End of this chapter)