My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 18 Buddha Saves Those Who Are Predestined

"Since he is indeed from Bingzhou, he cannot be a Hun spy." Huang Yi acted as if he realized something and ordered everyone to put away their weapons.

Lu Bu and others also put away their weapons under Lu Yi's order.

The tense atmosphere on the field suddenly eased, and everyone present slowly relaxed. Zhang Jia, who had never seen such a battle, looked terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

"However, although your actions are beyond doubt, you still have to pay commercial taxes." Huang Yi gave an order, and the assistant official who had just reported the news to him brought several soldiers to inspect the goods of Lu Yi and his party.

It is the garrison commander's duty to guard the border and collect commercial taxes.

This assistant clerk was an experienced official with many years of experience. Not only was he very efficient, but he was also well aware of the value of various goods. He quickly checked the goods and their value in the 30 carts of the Lu family caravan.

"The caravan has a total of thirty vehicles, and the value of the goods is more than 110 million..." The assistant clerk took out a booklet and read aloud while quickly recording on it.

"The vehicle and vessel tax is calculated at two taels per vehicle, which means 7,200 coins should be paid..."

"Wait!" Zhang Jia suddenly stood up. As a businessman, he was naturally familiar with various tax systems, so he interrupted when he heard the assistant clerk record like this.

"What's the matter?" The assistant clerk stopped writing in displeasure and turned his head slightly to glance at Zhang Jia.

"Your Excellency, this vehicle and vessel tax should be collected by the Magistrate of Mayi County. We took the initiative to pay it at the county government office long before we formed the caravan. This is the tax payment receipt of our caravan!"

Zhang Jia ignored the clerk's contempt and instead, with a smile on his face, presented a letter of official document to Huang Yi standing beside him.

But Huang Yi didn't even bother to look at it, and said arrogantly: "Who knows if the certificate in your hand is forged by you? When you come to me, you must abide by my rules, and you must pay the vehicle and vessel tax! If you have really paid it in Mayi, I will naturally return it to you after checking with the Mayi County Magistrate."

"Return?" Lu Yi sneered in his heart. Does this guard think of him and others as three-year-old children?

However, Lu Yi did not rush to refute Huang Yi, but quietly watched to see what other tricks he had.

"Continue the inspection!" Huang Yi said, ignoring Zhang Jia who was pestering him, and immediately rudely ordered the assistant officer to stop.

The assistant official received the order and began to record quickly again.

"The tariff is 13, and you should pay 366,000 coins..."

"The tax rate for defense against the Huns is 11%, so you should pay 110,000 coins..."

……

The assistant clerk wrote quickly, listing more than ten items of taxes under various names, which made Lu Yi and others angry.

"Asshole!" Hearing this, Lu Bu was furious. He drew his sword again and grabbed the assistant official and shouted: "If you continue to collect taxes like this, the taxes will be more expensive than the goods in my caravan! Then what kind of business can we do? We might as well just give all the goods to you!"

Hao Meng and others were also furious and ready to attack at any time.

Even Gao Shun, who was usually calm, couldn't help but glare.

This group of corrupt officials was really too much. The caravan's goods were only 110 million yuan, including the food and grass for the caravan itself. But now they had to pay nearly % tax to pass the customs.

Even if they go out of the border and sell to the Hu people, they can only make a little more than double the profit. Doesn't that mean they are just making a wasted trip and working for these corrupt officials?
Not only do you have to pay taxes when leaving the country, you still have to pay a 200% tax when entering the country.

Even if Lu Yi and others brought back the horses after selling them, they would still be exploited by these corrupt officials for a while, so there would be no profit at all.

What's more, apart from customs duties, most of the other taxes were collected by the garrison commander himself under various pretexts and would never be submitted to the court.

"How outrageous!" Huang Yi was furious when he saw that his assistant was insulted in public. He no longer cared about Lu Yi's reputation and ordered 500 soldiers under his command to draw their weapons and point them at Lu Bu and others.

"General Huang, please calm down!" Although Zhang Jia was a shrewd man and good at business, he had never seen such a tense scene before. He immediately ran to Huang Yi and tried to persuade him kindly.

"Zhang Jia! Why do you want to be his friend?" The hot-tempered Cheng Lian was furious and immediately cursed: "At worst, we can fight them and let these corrupt officials see the martial virtues of our heroes in Bingzhou!"

"How dare you, a group of law-breaking bandits, call yourselves knights. You didn't encounter me before, general. Today you have run into my hands, and I will let you experience the majesty of the imperial court!" Huang Yi was furious, and immediately led his soldiers to fight with Lu Bu and others.

"Slow down!" At the critical moment, Lu Yi suddenly crossed the crowd and shouted to stop both parties.

"Lü Yi, your brother Lu Bu took up arms to resist my tax collection, which is a serious crime of treason. What else do you have to say?" Huang Yi was relentless and immediately accused him of treason.

The crime of treason is punishable by the execution of all nine generations of the family. Since Lu Bu committed treason, Lu Yi naturally could not escape the pursuit of the court.

However, Lu Yi laughed when he heard this, and suddenly understood the real meaning of this guard's action.

"This commander has set the commercial tax so high on his own initiative. If normal merchants pay taxes honestly, they will not only not make any money, but will have to pay for it themselves. The trade route will definitely be cut off. However, I have seen many returning caravans along the way, so the real commercial tax is definitely not that high."

"This guy seems to be a law-abiding person, but he is just trying to extort some money from us merchants passing by."

After figuring out the key points, Lu Yi put on a smile, ignored the sword Huang Yi was pointing at him, and walked up to him and bowed.

"My brother Lu Bu has offended me greatly, I beg General Huang to show mercy."

"Hmm?" Huang Yi saw that Lu Yi was quite reasonable, so he stretched out his tone and said playfully: "I think you are still polite. As for you wanting me to raise my hand, it's not impossible. It depends on whether you are reasonable or not!"

"No need for that!" Lu Yi nodded implicitly to Lu Bu, who had to reluctantly let go of the assistant and put away his sword.

Then, Lu Yi waved to Cheng Lian, who was guarding the property, and said, "Bring me the golden Buddha I found on the road!"

"Picked it up? Isn't this golden Buddha our cargo?" Cheng Lian was stunned when he heard this. He didn't know what Lu Yi meant. He could only obey his order and take the golden Buddha and hand it to Lu Yi.

"General Huang has been guarding the border day and night, and has made great contributions. I am worried about something recently, and I hope that the general can help me solve my worries!"

Lu Yi held the golden Buddha weighing four or five kilograms in his hands and smiled even more brightly, without showing any signs of being troubled.

"Oh? I wonder what worries you? How can I help you?" Huang Yi looked at the golden Buddha statue in Lu Yi's hand. It was as if he saw Tathagata in person. He couldn't take his eyes off it. Subconsciously, he even addressed Lu Yi politely.

(End of this chapter)