"A small boat, just a few boatmen."
"It looks like Ri Zong is having a good time."
Li Qingcha casually complained,
Gong Lianxue, who was standing by, stretched out her little hand and twisted it around Li Qingcha's waist.
The three of them headed to the pier together.
The water was sparkling, and many small boats were heading for the Grand Canal. To avoid being hit by official ships sailing at night, they all avoided the center of the river.
From time to time, laughter and singing could be heard from the boat.
Others drift with the current, causing the hull to vibrate extremely irregularly.
emm...
Is this considered a boat shock?
The ancients really had a lot of fun.
Li Qingcha shook his head at Xiang Nan.
"Brother Xiang, I think we should forget it. Now we are rowing towards the center of the river. I am afraid that we will not be in the mood to appreciate the moon and drink. Just eavesdropping will be enough."
Pooh!
Color embryo!
Xiang Nan spat inwardly.
In fact, the reason why the girl made that suggestion was to avoid civilian ships and cargo ships, because her boat was small and the sound insulation was poor. During this period of time, she always heard that kind of noise at the dock, which disturbed her sleep.
I don’t know what’s going on in those boatmen’s minds. As soon as they get ashore, they start playing with women crazily, and as soon as they get on the boat, they start talking about women crazily.
Xiang Nan said regretfully: "So, let's stop here today?"
Li Qingcha and Gong Lianxue clasped their fists.
As a result, before they could say "goodbye, see you again some other day", they suddenly noticed that the queue in front of the dock's currency exchange was a little noisy.
The banknote customs is the tax station.
Because merchants refused to use the depreciated treasure notes, the government allowed merchants to use the treasure notes to pay the commercial goods tax in their business operations to smooth the flow of the treasure notes, and took the opportunity to increase taxes, hence the name "Chaoguan".
There is always a long queue in front of the banknote exchange, which is normal.
But the situation today was a little special. It was not long, but very rough. A group of businessmen were arguing with the tax collector.
"It's trouble." Gong Lianxue said in a low voice.
"What's wrong?" Li Qingcha asked.
"Look carefully, there are many merchants in the queue who are on the ship we are on. Moreover, even the ship merchants are here. If the ship merchants are in trouble, we will definitely not be able to sail normally tomorrow."
"..."
Li Qingcha didn't respond, thinking that it shouldn't be that serious.
There have always been many bad habits and practices, and ship merchants must have expected this.
Even if they lose money in the end, facing the tax collectors' increasing taxes, the ship merchants can only swallow their anger and bear the consequences. Otherwise, the business will be abandoned halfway and the losses will be even greater.
This is what is called a “sunk cost”.
The businessmen all had angry looks on their faces.
"That's too much! They're counting the empty barrels and boxes on our ship as cargo and collecting taxes on them. Is that reasonable?"
"Yes! This is going to force us to death!"
"I will never hand it over!"
……
The sentiment is exciting.
The tax collector saw this and pressed his hands down, signaling everyone to be quiet.
The reason why an official is called an "official" is that he has no quality, but he looks bloated and full of himself, and looks more like an official than those real high-ranking officials that Li Qingcha had seen in the capital.
He spoke in an official tone, "What's the point of talking to me? If you want to argue, go find the clerk who measures and weighs the goods! I'm only responsible for collecting taxes, and weight is not my responsibility!"
If it is the modern era with a high degree of division of labor, there is nothing wrong with this statement.
But, in ancient times...
"Aren't you clerks from the same government office?" a young businessman shouted angrily.
Everyone became even angrier.
"Look at your behavior..." The tax collector was furious. "What? You want to attack the tax station? Attacking the tax station is a bigger crime than attacking the government office!"
"We can't survive..."
"You're going to rebel openly because you can't survive?"
Several soldiers immediately drew their weapons.
In terms of numbers, the merchants certainly had the upper hand, but they were used to being bullied and lacked courage. When faced with the white blades flashing in the moonlight, they suddenly became a little wilted.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The quay was quiet.
The tax collector snorted and kicked the box beside him.
thump—
The box made a muffled sound.
Obviously, it was packed full.
"It's okay. I'll make a break for you. You don't have to pay. You can use the goods as compensation." The tax collector chuckled. "I don't mind defective goods."
He opened the box.
The cloth inside is indeed defective, and the cloth will definitely not be accepted in big cities, but it should be no problem to sell it in small counties.
It is human nature to always like to compromise.
——Brother Xun.
When the merchants saw that they could exchange inferior products for tax money, they kept silent.
a long time,
"Sir, can you show us what we can use as exchange?" someone asked.
"Okay, okay, let me show you."
The tax collector opened the boxes at the back one by one.
Rotten pottery, Pu'er tea, fabrics with dyeing problems...
All kinds of junk are available.
Li Qingcha frowned slightly, feeling puzzled.
Pu'er?
Even if the quality of Pu'er tea is second to none, it is still a specialty of the south. Oranges grown in the south of the Huai River are good things when they are brought to the north.
Who is so stupid as to use this as a tax deduction?
Chapter 116: The master is here, and the sky will be clear!
Li Qingcha was not the only one who felt that Pu'er tasted off-putting.
Because they had just eaten fish soup rice, Xiang Nan and Gong Lianxue were somewhat sensitive to this food and knew that it was expensive.
What's more, it was such a full box.
"what?"
"strangeness……"
The two spoke almost at the same time.
This incident was not the corpse dumping case in Tuziba. It wouldn't waste much time to take a look, and it would satisfy curiosity.
Xiang Nan walked over quietly and took a look.
Not long after, she came back, covering her lips with her right hand, and said in a barely audible voice, "There's something strange about the tea leaves. They smell like blood, and the color isn't right either."
The tea soup of Pu'er tea is thick orange-yellow, but the tea leaves themselves are not that color.
A line gradually formed in Li Qingcha's heart.
Yao Zhixing's Tie Pai Gang was causing trouble because Fu Chi supplied goods to that store, and they wanted to extort money from him.
The specialty of that restaurant is the fish soup rice mixed with Pu'er tea.
There must be key clues hidden here.
Xiang Nan smiled.
"Brother Li, it seems that this is God's will."
“Oh, I didn’t expect that it would be so easy to get.” Li Qingcha was helpless and turned to Gong Lianxue and said, “Junior sister, thank you for coming.”
While speaking, he handed over the ivory plate of the Young Phoenix Camp.
Gong Lianxue gave her a cold look and left quickly.
At the same time, some of the merchants who were quick and nimble had already started to "pay taxes" by carrying their boxes.
The tax collector took his book and recorded it very carefully.
In Daxia, the clerks who worked overtime at night were probably the tax collectors who collected money and the constables who handled criminal cases.
He recorded and complained:
"Fuck! You guys are so brave. You dare to give me rotten vegetable leaves and cabbage stalks?"
"What is this? Agate? I don't believe you!"
"Is this ready-made clothing? It's for a fucking kid, right?"
……
Cursing at the same time.
There are too many people using dirty words in the market. Although Li Qingcha finds it offensive, he knows that it is normal.
Moreover, watching the tax collector unboxing the box felt like opening a lucky bag;
That feeling is that even though you know you spent a hundred dollars but couldn't buy something worth a hundred dollars, you still enjoy the surprise of opening the lucky bag.
The tax collector was sweeping the goods one by one, and halfway through, he stopped in front of a young merchant.
"And yours?"
The young businessman couldn't help but swallow his saliva.
"Um... sir, my merchandise is porcelain."
When the tax collector heard that it was porcelain, his eyes lit up immediately.
This thing is valuable.
"I don't want more from you, just one... one will do."
"what?"
"What? You don't want to give it to me?"
"..."
The young businessman fell silent.
Anyone can see that he really doesn't want to give it.
