"The Sichuan Gang can't beat the Tea Gang, and the locals can't beat a group of people from other provinces?" Pan Er thought it was incredible.

"It is said that the strong dragon does not suppress the head snake, but there are not as many porters in the local area as in other provinces, so naturally they can't beat it. However, in the past few years, the Sichuan Gang has become more and more courageous, otherwise the two gangs would not have fought for three days, and they have become more and more arrogant. ”

"Why are there not as many locals as there are people from other provinces?"

"You can go to a few wharves outside the city to take a look," Han Xiufeng flicked the wick and explained: "From the Sichuan River up to our Chongqing Mansion's cargo ship, a boat must employ at least seventy or eighty slender men. But when he returned from the descent, he hired only thirty or forty porters. Based on the calculation of 10 ships arriving and leaving each day, the number of slender men stranded on the riverside of Ba County and doing nothing every day reaches 3 to 400, and more than 10,000 people a month. These stranded porters can't afford to live without a livelihood, so they can only carry goods for others as porters. There are many people in Ba County, but there are naturally not as many porters as there are in other provinces. ”

"So that's the case," Pan Er thought about it and asked, "Fourth brother, you just said that it also involves miscellaneous taxes, persuasion and errands, what's going on?" ”

"Brother Pan, your family runs a pawnshop, and it is impossible not to know that taxes are not only land silver, but also land deed tax, discipline tax, pawnshop tax, livestock tax, stall tax, landing tax, fishing tax, tea tax, etc., most of these taxes and the bad rules of the yamen come from the merchants who do business. Most of the merchants in Ba County are merchants from other provinces, and most of those merchants are related to the tea gang. ”

"Come to think of it, you just said that the Tea Gang was the first to be the porters of tooth shops, shops and warehouses, they were a group, maybe they were related to each other."

"That's why I asked Jiang Liutuo to go to the guest head of the Eight Provincial Halls to help make peace," Han Xiufeng paused, and then said: "The county lord not only has to collect their business taxes, miscellaneous taxes and bad rules, but also has to ask them to persuade them to donate in case of natural disasters such as floods, so it is still relatively polite to treat the guest heads of the Eight Provincial Halls." ”

"Who made them have money for those people from other provinces," Pan Er nodded, thought about it and asked, "What's the matter with errands?" ”

"The errand is the servitude of the porter at the wharf, the luggage picked up and dropped off by the Xuexian exam, the civil and military constitutions were honored to carry the luggage, the two sacrifices of the Spring and Autumn Period carried the goods, the warehouse was checked and the grain stone was carried on the back, the military rice was carried on the back, the nitrate was carried on the back, the copper and lead of the boat was covered, the Huangmu transit belt cable, and there were some messy chores, all of which had to be done by the porter at the wharf."

"Fourth brother, I don't understand you chewing words."

Han Xiufeng suddenly remembered that although he knew a few words, he had never studied properly, so he had to explain: "It is to help the officials who passed through Ba County to carry their luggage, and to help the green camp carry grain and grass." Saltpeter and sulfur are military supplies, and they can only be transported by porters hired by the yamen, and our Chongqing Prefecture happens to produce sulfur, and we don't know how many thousands of catties we have to carry in a year. ”

Pan Er asked, "What else?" ”

"The copper and lead of the boat is to carry the Yunnan copper and Guizhou lead salvaged from the river and transferred to the capital, and all the Yunnan copper and Guizhou lead must be transferred by ship in our Ba County. There are 23 dangerous shoals in our Ba County, and the copper and lead sink tens of thousands of catties at every turn, and the porter at the wharf not only has to help carry and change the ship, but also helps to fish up the copper and lead from the river if the ship capsizes. ”

Han Xiufeng pushed open the window to look at the sky, and continued: "The Huangmu transit cable is also a heavy errand, the emperor wants to build a palace, the Internal Affairs Office will have to purchase nanmu from Yunnan-Guichuan, and those giant nans will also have to be transported on a raft in our Ba County, and it is said that there are as many as hundreds of porters required for each plant." ”

Pan Er subconsciously asked: "The Sichuan Gang wants to bear the errand, but the Tea Gang doesn't need it?" ”

"The Sichuan Gang has nothing to do with the eight provincial halls, and those tooth shops, especially merchants from other provinces, don't give them the goods, they can only beg for a living at the dock. But as soon as there are these errands, the county magistrate will be assigned to the husband of the Qimen Wharf according to the old practice, and dozens or even hundreds of porters will go out of one door, and they will not be paid for their work, so the Sichuan Gang has grievances. ”

"The county magistrate should do things with a bowl of water, and as soon as he has an errand, he will be sent to the Sichuan Gang, and he doesn't need the tea gang to contribute, isn't this favoring the tea gang?"

"There's no way, who let this be an old example," Han Xiufeng sighed lightly, and then changed his words: "But the successive county masters also know that the Sichuan Gang has suffered a loss in errands, so every time the Sichuan Gang and the Tea Gang get into trouble with the Yamen, they also favor the Sichuan Gang intentionally or unintentionally." ”

"What about this time?"

"This time is different from before, after all, there is a human life, and whether the big head can save his life depends on his self-sufficiency."

The locals were actually bullied by people from other provinces, and Pan Erzhen was a little resentful.

He touched his chin and thought about it, then raised his head and asked, "Fourth brother, just now the husband asked you to help him go to the torture room to do something, the torture room is still a scribe after all, does it work to make the silver for him?" ”

"It doesn't necessarily work, but it can't be left untouched."

"What do you mean?"

Han Xiufeng looked at him like an idiot and asked, "Brother Pan, has your family never been in a lawsuit?" ”

"No, the yamen is open to the south, don't come in if you have no money, who wants to see the official, I think there is a lot of money!"

"That's it, the scribe of the torture chamber may not be able to do anything, but he can do bad for you! All the confessions and case files submitted to the government were all transcribed by them, and deliberately changing the word can kill people, and if you have the heart to help change the word, you can also save people's lives. ”

"So domineering!"

"It's so domineering," looking at his suspicious look, Han Xiufeng gave an example: "There was a murder case in a place, two people fought because of a quarrel, the one who provoked was killed, and the one who was provoked wanted to save the life of the one who beat the person, so they gave some silver to the clerk of the torture room."

The murder case should be reported to the government office, and the government should be reported to the department, and the department should be reported to the superintendent, and then the superintendent should report to the criminal department. ”

Pan Er exclaimed: "My good man, this is really domineering, it's really not good if you don't do it well." ”

Han Xiufeng couldn't help but think of what his uncle Han Yucai said before his death, and muttered: "If you want to make money, the money from the criminal name is the best to earn, otherwise there will be no 'get into a big lawsuit, as long as you get a lot of money, you can win and not lose'." But there are gods in the head, and if you do too much for lacking virtue, you will eventually be punished, so no matter whether my uncle or me, I never write letters to people, and I never make this kind of money. ”

"But you're not the porter who wants to help the Sichuan Gang."

"It's different, I'm saving people and not harming people, besides, I'm very familiar with the big head, I've helped me carry things over the years, and I've never asked for money, but now he's in trouble, I can't see death without helping."