"Let's follow Mr. Huang to the government office..."
"That's right. We already collected taxes once when we passed the checkpoint, but we didn't expect to have to pay taxes again here. Let's go ask, otherwise we won't be able to operate this line in the future."
"Merchants from other countries don't pay taxes, but only merchants from our Tang Dynasty do. How can this be allowed?"
Many businessmen also stood up at this time. They were not convinced before, but after all, they were on someone else's territory. If you want to make trouble, they will probably have various ways to deal with it. So these people were ready to swallow their anger. Who knew that an official from Anxi City suddenly came, and of course they had to follow to see.
"It looks like you made a lot of money."
Li Xiang looked at the Tang Dynasty merchants around him. According to the tax rate he had just collected, they indeed spent a lot.
"Let me go immediately. I'm telling you, I don't care what kind of official you are in the Tang Dynasty. Do you know what the relationship is between the prefect and me? He's my cousin. Even if you capture me, do you think anything good will happen to you? And you businessmen, can he control you forever? As long as he's gone, you'll still have to come here to do business in the future. Do you think I can leave?"
This guy saw that things were about to get out of hand, and the Tang Dynasty merchants around him were all worried after hearing what he said.
Lord Huang may be able to seek justice for us, but if we want to do business here for a long time, we really cannot offend the person in front of us.
"You truly are the local bully, but I'm best at dealing with bullies like you. Either you come with me and seek justice. With the prestige of the Tang Dynasty, I believe a mere city like Wa wouldn't dare to openly defy it. Otherwise, you'll suffer the consequences."
Li Xiang said with his hands behind his back, if you want to recover your losses, you must pay something. Tang Dynasty merchants must also hold themselves up high when abroad. If you admit that you have suffered losses, then there is nothing more to say. You will pay for your own weakness.
"Fuck you... You're actually blackmailing us Tang merchants. At worst, I won't do business here anymore. I won't take this humiliation. I'm willing to follow Mr. Huang to the government office."
"That's right. No matter where we merchants from the Tang Dynasty go, we may not make money, but we must never weaken the prestige of the Tang Dynasty."
Naturally, there are a group of strong-willed people among the merchants. These people also took out their weapons and put them on their waists. If a conflict really happens in the government later, the worst that can happen is that we will fight them. Can we still be afraid of these foreign countries?
Seeing the actions of the Tang Dynasty merchants around him, Lord Tiragon was scared to death.
He knew that what his cousin admired most was the Tang Dynasty culture, and that half of the city's prosperity was brought about by these Tang Dynasty merchants. If he was dragged to his cousin because of this matter, he would be in big trouble.
But now he had no other choice. Both of his arms were held down tightly. Normally, his fighting power was OK, but when he met the two guards of Lord Huang, no matter how he struggled, his arms could not move at all.
In the past, Wa City was always in turmoil. It was only in the past two years that it became a little quieter. There had never been any large-scale riots. But at this moment, hundreds of people suppressed the officers of Wa City and went directly to the prefect's government office.
"Let them go immediately! Who are you? How dare you detain our troops from Wa City without permission? Don't you want to live?"
When approaching the government office, the guard standing guard at the door recognized Tiragon at a glance, but he did not know the people around him, so he immediately called his soldiers to come up.
"Quickly capture all of these people. They are all from the Tang Dynasty. They want to occupy our Wa City."
Tiragon said loudly at this moment that he would not let his cousin come out no matter what.
Fortunately, the lieutenant on duty was still able to distinguish right from wrong. These people in front of him were indeed from the Tang Dynasty, but if they wanted to occupy Wancheng, that would be a joke. There were still 3,000 defenders in Wacheng. Could they rely on just these people?
"I am an official from Anxi City of the Tang Dynasty. I want to see your prefect and ask him something."
Li Xiang slapped Tiragon in the face. Just as the guards at the government gate were about to take action, Li Xiang revealed his identity, and the person next to him also took out the government seal.
When Li Xiang slapped him in the face just now, these guards were really angry. You merchants from the Tang Dynasty actually dared to be so bold as to attack our army at the gate of our government office.
However, when they saw the official document with the seal, these people looked at each other. They realized that this was not an ordinary Tang Dynasty businessman, but an official of the Tang Dynasty.
The Tang Dynasty has been very famous in recent years, and these people have all heard of it. If the situation is not handled properly, the army may come from the north. Originally, Nanzhao was an independent country, but now it has become a protectorate of the Tang Dynasty.
To put it nicely, it was a protectorate. To put it bluntly, wasn't it Tang territory? The soldiers in the border cities were all replaced by Tang soldiers. Where was the trace of the Nanzhao army?
"Master Huang, please let me in and report later."
The yamen runner did not dare to be negligent and told the people around him to watch carefully, but absolutely not to take any action.
Li Xiang was quite satisfied with his reaction. Hadn't all the wars he had fought over the years been to enhance the prestige of the Tang Dynasty? If they didn't even have this little privilege, then all the wars would have been in vain.
As for Tiragon, his mouth was blocked at the moment. He had just been slapped by Li Xiang for nothing. Looking at the reactions of the yamen runners in front of him, he certainly understood what was going on. He estimated that his life was going to end here.
But anyone would fight for their life. He signaled one of the guards with his eyes to quickly mobilize the troops. This man was usually his drinking buddy, so how could he not understand what he meant? Taking advantage of the panic, he hurried out of the city.
Tiragon's cousin was the governor of Wacheng, one of the most important officials in the entire Pyu Kingdom. Upon hearing the news, he didn't dare to neglect it and quickly put on his official uniform to meet with the Tang officials...
