I studied in modern times

Chapter 821: Abolition of Taxes (1)

Xiangyi, the gateway to the east of Beijing, is 170 miles away from Bianjing. The Bian River and Sui River run through it, connecting Bianjing with the south. It becomes the first of the four canals connecting the north and the south, and is also the most important lifeline of the city of Bianjing.

The food supply for more than one million soldiers and civilians in the capital depended almost entirely on this canal, which transported cheap rice from the six southeastern routes to Bianjing.

In Xiangyi, there is a town by the river, named Liyi.

This is the place where the northern and southern canal ships must stop on their route.

Therefore, merchants have always gathered here and boats have arrived.

Early in the morning, Li Erhu led his men to the dock of Liyi Town.

He came here for the sugar ships entering Beijing from Jinghu South Road and Guangnan West Road.

Of course, it was not the sugar cane carried on the sugar ship, but the ramie that was a by-product on the ship.

The ramie from Guangnan West Road and Jinghu South Road has completed its preliminary rough processing locally.

Those who entered the capital could enter the weaving mills, be spun into yarn, and made into linen cloth.

In the past, the ramie brought into Beijing was piled up in yards and purchased by the Capital Commercial Tax Bureau.

At that time, as long as you took the Jiaozi and handed it directly to the Capital Commercial Tax Bureau, you could buy a large amount of ramie at a very low price.

But now, things have changed.

When Li Erhu's spinning workshop operated smoothly outside the new city and made huge profits, the government turned a blind eye.

In the city of Bianjing, those who were good at research began to end up.

At the end of April, a new textile workshop appeared in Mingyifang.

The spinning machine he used was the same "Taimu cart" as Li Erhu's.

The government is still as blind as ever.

As a result, the whole city was boiling!
Does the royal family really not care about the people opening workshops using the imperial items (the Mother's Cart)?

Even a fool would finally react at this moment.

As a result, various workshops, large and small, began to emerge in the new city of Bianjing.

In recent days, three workshops are being prepared in the Anjiefang area where Li Erhu's workshop is located.

Li Erhu recognized two of the workshop owners.

He was a member of his father-in-law's Bian Jing Cloth Shop Guild.

Chaos ensued. In order to compete for ramie, workshop owners were like crazy, waving Jiaozi and engaging in vicious competition in the Capital Commercial Tax Bureau.

In less than half a month, the purchase price of ramie in the Capital Commercial Tax Bureau had risen from three strings of coins per stone (according to the Song Dynasty system, one stone was 92.5 Song catties) to more than five strings of coins per stone!

Almost doubled!
The workshop owners are not just engaging in price wars.

Still using various traditional Song Dynasty business warfare projects.

For example, they stuffed their competitors into sacks and threw them into the Bian River, or bribed the government officials to put their competitors in jail...

In short, just eliminate the opponent physically.

Then, naturally, there would be no such thing as competition.

For a time, there was blood and gore inside and outside Bianjing.

Fortunately, at this time, the inspectors of the left and right armies of Kaifeng Prefecture launched a heavy attack.

Several typical cases were arrested and thrown into the prison of the Silusi of Kaifeng Prefecture, where they were severely tortured.

There were even disciples of noble families who were arrested for hiring someone to kill someone.

This finally put a stop to the increasingly fierce internal competition in the textile industry in Bianliang.

Recalling those sleepless nights at the beginning of the month, he still has nightmares.

Li Erhu couldn't help but shiver!

In those days, some people also thought about killing him!

Li Erhu even suspected that the person who attacked him might be his father-in-law, the head of the Bian Jing Cloth Shop Guild.

Good thing...

He looked at the two burly men beside him who were silent.

These two men were guards sent by his employer to protect him.

It was thanks to the day and night protection of these two strong men that he was not stuffed into a sack and thrown into the Bian River.

While thinking about these things, Li Erhu heard the crowd on the dock starting to make a noise.

"coming!"

Everyone stretched their necks and looked into the distance.

Then they saw the fleet appearing on the river.

One after another, grain boats loaded with ramie appeared in sight.

"The sugar boat is coming!"

The crowd cheered and jumped for joy.

Li Erhu clenched his fists excitedly!
"I should be the first textile merchant to come here in person to welcome the sugar ship," he thought.

Sugar ships from Guangnan West Road transported specialties from Guangxi to Bianliang through the canal day and night.

At the beginning, these ships were usually loaded with sugar cane and transported to Bianliang, satisfying the Bianliang people's demand for sugar.

But soon...

Someone has intercepted it!

When the sugar ships from Guangnan West Road arrived in Yangzhou, they often had less than half of the sugar they transported left.

The people of Yangzhou must buy at least half of this half of the sugar!
Because the wealthy businessmen in the southeastern states also want to eat candy!

Therefore, when the sugar ship arrived at Yingtianfu (Shangqiu), it was a blessing if one third of the sugar on board could remain!

This is because these sugar ships are tasked with the mission of transporting sugarcane to Bian Jing.

Otherwise, most of the sugar would have been completely digested by the huge appetites of the wealthy families in the east when it reached Yangzhou.

Forget about "icing sugar", I'm afraid even brown sugar won't be left for the people of Bian Jing!

There are too many monks and too little meat, so sugar is expensive in Bianjing!
So, smart people soon reacted - if the nouveau riche on Southeast Sixth Road can intercept, why can't we?
As long as we buy up the sugar before others, then… when we get to Bianjing, other people who want sugar can only buy it from me at a higher price, right?
Once this line of thought comes to mind, smart people will take action immediately.

Everyone likes this kind of business which is risk-free and profitable.

Xiangyi suddenly became a place where merchants from Bianliang gathered.

Nine out of ten sugar ships entering Beijing are now going to be intercepted by these people.

Naturally, this also inspired Li Erhu.

When he found out that he needed to pay a high price to compete with other rivals in the Capital Commercial Tax Institute.

He thought of coming to Xiangyi County to intercept the grain ships entering Beijing.

As long as I buy the ramie entering Beijing before I rob others.

Then wouldn't my family's workshop be able to have more raw materials, weave more cloth, and make more money?

Li Erhu is very proactive. As soon as the corner turns, he takes action immediately.

In order to ensure success, he personally went to ask for help from his current boss, who was also his protector.

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I got a business card from the latter.

When the sugar ship from Guangxi docked, countless merchants rushed forward waving the Jiaozi in their hands.

At this time, several officials from the Capital Commercial Tax Bureau wearing green robes appeared at the dock.

They brought soldiers and horses to isolate the crowd from the sugar boats.

When the merchants saw these guys, they immediately started cursing.

"Why are these rotten sheep heads here too?"

"Can they not come?"

"If you don't come soon, the people selling sugar at the Commercial and Taxation Bureau will be out of sugar to sell!"

"It seems that we have to go further next time. Why not go to Yingtian Prefecture in advance?"

"good!"

The merchants were talking about it in a buzz.

And those officials have already begun reading the documents from the Ministry of Revenue.

The general meaning is that, from today onwards, all the commercial goods on the sugar ships on Guangnan West Road must first be purchased at the sugar selling office of the Capital Commercial Tax Bureau before they can be sold to the outside.

No matter where? No matter where?

In short, the Sugar Sales Office of the Capital Commercial Taxation Bureau has the exclusive right to sell sugar!

Any candy that is not purchased by a candy seller is illegal! It is private candy!

The imperial court will soon enact laws to severely punish the smuggling of sugar!
After hearing this, the merchants in the crowd began to chatter.

While these people were talking, Li Erhu took the opportunity to move forward and came to an official from the Capital Commercial Tax Bureau who was wearing a green robe and handed over his business card.

"Excuse me, sir..." Li Erhu asked, cupping his hands, "Can the ramie on these sugar ships also be bought here?"

After hearing what Li Erhu said, the official lowered his head to look at the business card that Li Erhu handed over. When he saw the gold-plated pattern on the business card, his eyelids twitched.

Look at the text again.

"Li Kui, the clerk of the Hedong Jinglüe Shogunate, bows his head and bows to you..."

He immediately laughed: "You are related to Li Sihe!"

"Li Sihe and I are of the same age..."

"Well! Just give Brother Si He some face!"

"Alright, we have to buy some ramie after we bring it to Beijing!"

As he said this, he waved to Li Erhu, signaling the soldiers behind him to let the merchant in.

Li Erhu walked in through the gap made by the soldiers, and then he saw the sugar boats moored at the dock.

Outside the sugar boat's cabin, there were densely packed piles of chopped ramie.

They were all white ramie that had been soaked and cleaned in Jiaozhou or Jinghu South Road, tied tightly, placed on the deck, and piled in the cabin.

They are ballast cargo, and also provide shelter and protection for the precious sugar cane.

However, Li Erhu knew that these ramies were treasures of high quality. The yarns spun from them and the linen cloth woven from them were both delicate and wear-resistant.

Nowadays, people in Beijing have fallen in love with this high-quality and low-cost linen.

It can be said that the supply exceeds the demand!
And on those sugar ships, each one carried dozens or even hundreds of stones of ramie.

When Li Erhu saw the ramie, his heart was suddenly filled with excitement.

As long as we can buy them and transport them to the workshop in Anjiefang... they can be turned into valuables immediately!
Just ...

"I don't know. There's a rumor in Beijing lately that Kaifeng Prefecture wants to abolish all taxes in the counties... Is it true?" Li Erhu thought.

If that's true, then he can save a lot of money.

otherwise……

There are at least five or six checkpoints along the way from Xiangyi to Bianjing City.

He is charged once at every checkpoint, even if it is according to the statutory tax rate, which is legal and reasonable.

He also has to pay a lot of taxes!

If that was the case, he could only consider hiring a ship from the transport officer to help him transport the goods to the capital.

But those people in the Caosi are all ruthless guys.

If you ask them to help transport the goods, you will also be severely stabbed!

Thinking of this, Li Erhu said softly: "Let's buy the ramie first..."

"Let's try to transport a small batch back to Beijing first..."

"Look at the tax cards on this road. Have they been abolished?"

If this is true, Kaifeng Prefecture has already abolished all taxes within the prefecture in accordance with the imperial decree.

Then he could consider doing business in the whole Kaifeng Prefecture in the future.

(End of this chapter)