The taxes of the imperial court and the salaries of the old men of all sizes are calculated in silver, and the official silver cannot be taken out for use, that is, the official silver is allocated for the green camp or disaster relief, and it must be broken or recast before it can be used.

In short, almost all of the copper plates used on the market are used.

However, the Qing Dynasty lacked copper, and only Yunnan produced copper in so many provinces, so the imperial court strictly prohibited the private minting and sale of copper coins, and the copper utensils or musical instruments used by the people could not exceed five catties, and the violators were punished!

Li Defu, the shopkeeper of Li Ji Copper and Tin Bank, did not dare to kill the privately minted copper coins, but the folk have the tradition of using bronze utensils, especially the incense burners, candlesticks, copper basins and copper mirrors used by large households, whether there are more than five catties of the imperial court, it can be said that this is a matter that the people do not sue the officials and do not hold accountable, and the money is melted into copper without permission.

So there was a shortage of copper before, and Li Defu would find a place to sell copper money privately.

But now it is not as good as before, the Beijing money minted by the Beijing Bureau and the copper minted by the provinces are getting less and less, and more and more lead is added when casting, and some money can even be broken when it falls to the ground, and it is not cost-effective to obtain copper by selling copper money privately as before.

At present, 100 catties of copper on the market have been sold for 15 taels of silver, and 16 or 7 taels of good fineness, and this year, the Yunguan who released the copper into Beijing not only has Yunnan copper in good condition, but also only offers 12 taels of 100 catties of copper, which cannot be bought even in Yunnan, where copper is produced.

Following the people from Yunnan into the cabin, lifting the straw mat, looking at the pieces of copper ingots in the cabin, Li Defu was ecstatic!

"Shopkeeper Li, you are an expert, you can know what my copper looks like at a glance, and you also know how many catties there are. It's not too early, what about the silver ticket, bring the silver ticket and let your people carry it to the shore. ”

"Okay, I'll be relieved to see it." Li Defu took out a stack of silver tickets from his arms and said with a smile: "Master Tuesday, you order, all the silver tickets of the 'West Number', a total of 1,200 taels." ”

"It's only 1,200 taels, only to buy 10,000 catties!"

"Master Tuesday, we are doing a small business, besides, you are in such a hurry, I am not prepared at all, I am not afraid of your jokes, even this thousand two hundred taels is a patchwork. If you don't hurry to leave, even if you stay in Ba County for another three days, I can eat more. ”

"I have to leave the day after tomorrow, and I can't delay a day. Forget it, I'll sell you 10,000 catties today, and if I get the money tomorrow, I'll sell some to you, but I can't be here, be careful to sail the 10,000-year-old ship, we have to change places. ”

"Okay, okay, you take the silver ticket, I'll call someone to carry it."

As soon as Shopkeeper Li's voice fell, there was a scolding sound outside.

"Yamen business, be honest with me!"

"I was ordered by the eldest master to search for the robbers, what are you doing, you still have a murder weapon, do you want to rebel, don't you hurry up and put down the knife!"

"I ...... We are also officials, don't blame me for being rude if you dare to take another step forward! ”

"Dare to pretend to be an official and take it!"

"Dare to pretend to be an official and kill your daring turtle son......"

Guan Zhutou and Jiang Liu came prepared, the momentum was violent, there were many people, the twenty or thirty people waved sticks and swarmed up, several officials from Yunnan and several chiefs of Zhouzhi County were suddenly beaten and rolled all over the ground, and those porters of the tea gang did not dare to disobey the orders of the officials, and honestly squatted on the ground and did not dare to move.

Li Defu was so frightened that his legs weakened, and he collapsed in the cabin with a plop.

Zhou Ye was also stunned, and stupidly watched Guan Zhutou and Yu Youfu open the curtain and get into the cabin.

"Isn't this the shopkeeper of Li Ji Tong Tin Shop, what are you doing here when you are not at home at night?" Guan Zhutou pulled him aside, and grabbed Zhou Erye's shoulders again: "Who are you, do you have a household registration card?" ”

"I ...... I ......"

"What am I, what am I, what do you ask!"

Zhou Ye relieved himself and hurriedly took out a handful of broken silver: "This poor master, I am a businessman who came from Guizhou to do business, and I am not free during the day, so I asked Shopkeeper Li to come to the boat at night to discuss business, but I didn't expect to alarm you." This is a little bit of my heart, you take it. ”

"Talk about business, what kind of business?"

Guan Zhutou was about to pick up the broken silver, Yu Youfu suddenly raised his head and said: "Guan Bantou, what they are talking about is not ordinary business, these are all copper, and there are official pokes on the copper ingots, all of which are official copper!" ”

"Official copper!"

"Well, I don't believe you."

"You turtle son, you dare to resell official copper, and you still want to make labor and management turn a blind eye, don't you want to burden Lao Tzu and want Lao Tzu's life! Brethren, come in a few more and take these two down! ”

……

Han Xiufeng not only didn't get on the boat or even go to the riverside, but just stood on a high place and waited until Guan Zhutou asked the monkey to pass the word.

After everyone got the stolen goods, Han Xiufeng finally breathed a sigh of relief, explained a few words to the monkey, and then took Pan Er straight to Chaotianmen.

There is a small public house in Chaotianmen Urn City, the previous several chief bookkeepers took this place as an official office, and now the Tao master bookkeeper dragged his family to take office, and it was neither convenient to live here, so he went to the big extinguishing pool to rent a private house to live.

Rushing to Weng Cheng in the dark, Master Tao was sitting in the hall reading at night, and his old servant Zhao Bo was standing and waiting. The candlelight is shaking, if you change your outfit and put a big knife on the side, it really looks like Guan Gong at first glance.

Hearing the footsteps, he saw clearly that it was Han Xiufeng, and Master Tao immediately put down the book and asked, "Brother, is the matter done?" ”

"It's done, everyone gets the stolen goods." Han Xiufeng was not polite, sat on the chair on the left side of the public case, took the tea brought by Uncle Zhao, forced the excitement and smiled and said: "This time, the courage of the Yunguan is not one or two points, and he actually chartered a boatload of Yunnan copper, which is estimated to be 30,000 catties. The shopkeeper of Li Ji Copper and Tin Store is not small, not only dare to buy but also buy tens of thousands of catties, but we were arrested and seized 1,200 taels of silver tickets! ”

Isn't it for the silver to be an official for thousands of miles, Tao Zhushu was overjoyed and asked eagerly: "What about the silver ticket?" ”

"Take it, take a look." Han Xiufeng handed over the silver ticket, and continued: "This is just stolen silver, Shopkeeper Li wants to save his life, and this bit of silver is probably not enough." ”

Tao Zhushu looked at the silver ticket and became happier the more he thought about it, and couldn't help laughing: "What my brother said is extremely true, how can 1,200 taels be enough, if you don't say anything, you have to take another 2,000 taels!" ”

"It's up to you, Second Master," Han Xiufeng smiled, and continued: "There is too much copper on the ship, and it can't be moved for a while, so it's not good to be seen like this, I asked Guan Bantou to find someone to hold the boat over, and take care of it on the spot at the dock outside the city." ”

"Well, that's the safest thing to do."

"And then the bold transport officer didn't come forward, it was his family members who were arrested just now, one of them should be his younger brother, and when they arrived, we had to give them some color to see, only when we got their signed confession, we could go and clean up the bold transport officer."

Master Tao thought that the opportunity to make a fortune was rare, and he couldn't help but look up and smile: "Don't worry, brother, the next things will be left to me, see how I treat them obediently, and see how I let that bold transport official honestly pay for the silver." ”