The war in the state of Jianzhou is getting heavier and heavier, and the silver spent by the imperial court is like flowing seawater, and what makes Emperor Hongyuan even more anxious is that the rain in the spring of this year is not enough, and the roads north of the Huai River in the Qinling Mountains have shown signs of drought, and even the spring plowing has been delayed.

Emperor Hongyuan put pressure on the Ministry of Households, and must allocate another two million taels of silver from the tax for the purpose of pacifying the prefecture, and another one million taels to deal with the matters of water diversion and drought control, spring plowing and seedling raising, and persuading agriculture and mulberry to be advised.

The emperor once made it clear that the bottom line of the imperial court was that the drought in Heungbuk Province gave King Wook and Goguryeo an opportunity to take advantage of the history, and it must not be repeated.

The tax revenue of the great industry is not more than the grain tax, the Ding tax and the commercial tax, the grain tax is all reflected in kind, the commercial tax is mostly reflected in kind, the service industry without the real thing is reflected in money, and the Ding tax is the population tax, which is reflected in money.

With limited arable land and limited population, the grain and food taxes cannot be increased significantly unless the tax rate is raised.

The only thing that can be found is the commercial tax.

Commercial taxes can be levied on a wide range of activities, all activities that do not derive the value of labor from farming, and the most squeezed amount of them is the tariff on port trade. The tariff rate is "one out of ten", 10,000 pieces of silk pass through the imperial court, 10,000 pieces of porcelain pass through the imperial court, 10,000 stone tea pass through the imperial court and 1,000 stones, exports are the same, imports are the same, these physical tribute taxes can be quickly discounted after entering the equalization of the institution, enrich the treasury.

As the second largest foreign trade port after Haizhou, Binzhou must quickly rebuild its trade order.

It doesn't matter if Yeefung is gone, as long as the trade channel is reopened, I am not afraid that there will be no commercial banks to re-expand the import and export market, and the market will recover, and the tariffs will naturally continue.

Xue Chunyue and Zhuang Kang were ordered to clean up Zhang Yi's poison and reorganize the Jingnan Province import and export trade market.

At present, King Xi will never let Xue Chunyue monopolize the power, but King Xi's camp has always lacked business power, so where can he temporarily find a team of businessmen who will benefit him?

Xue Huijin knocked on King Xi's door at the right time, first sent a bribe of 10,000 taels to Song Yaozhi, and then invested in the purchase of several businesses in Luo'an, which was directly given to Song Yaozhi's grandson, the second-in-command of Luo'an City, Song Zhenyuan, the young Yin of Luo'an Mansion, which can be described as full of sincerity.

While Xue Huijin was anxiously waiting for King Xi's reply, Song Yunming, a member of the Song clan, quietly arrived in Binzhou and lived in Xue Huijin's other garden, Ruixingju.

Xue Huijin thought that he had done it seamlessly, but Xue Peiqi, Yin of Luo'an Mansion, got a glimpse of it from Song Zhenyuan, who didn't know the traces.

As the son of Houmen, Xue Peiqi grew up in the grandson of the king of Changxing since he was a child, and he has always been pretentious, lonely and arrogant, and disdainful Xue Huijin's perverse, treacherous and treacherous. And Xue Peiqi also inherited a view of chastity from Xue Chengming, in his opinion, they were once the vassals of King Xu, and they should only be loyal to King Xu, even if the master is defeated and throws to Gaozhi, he can't surrender to the enemy and be a slave with two surnames, so he has hatred for Xue Huijin, but he is helpless.

Xue Chengming was defeated in the political dispute, was relegated to Honglu Temple, and later King Xu fell, the benefactor was imprisoned, but also lifeless, the heart of the fight has long been defeated, recently I saw Haizhou Xue family implicated by King Xu, almost bankrupt, a mother's brother Xue Chenggui lingering sickbed, about to die, not only gave birth to a bit of sympathy mentality, the early years of the battle of will also disappeared. He is over half a hundred years old, and he has nothing to worry about, but now he is only worried about Xue Peiqi's marriage, so he sent a letter to his family and the names of various ladies in ten days and a half months, so that he could choose one person to marry and pass on the lineage.

Xue Peiqi has a hindrance, he has no intention of men and women, and the fall of King Xu, he was implicated, he did not meet talents, he was demoted, and he was even more young Xue Huijin villain, and so on, which made him depressed and difficult to dispel.

On this day, the spring was just right, and Xue Peiqi wanted to dress up and go out of the city to go out of the city, first, to inspect the people's conditions, and secondly, to entertain the mood. When he went out, Changxing came with another letter, but he couldn't persuade those words, and he didn't have time to take a closer look at it, so he casually put it in his arms and rode away.

Luo'an is the capital of the former dynasty, hundreds of years of operation make this place prosperous, the people of Fufu are abundant, and the city is deep and thick, high-rise buildings stand in a forest, a big country weather, all the way out of the city is full of traffic, shoulder to shoulder, come to the outskirts of the city but see the boundless, flowers and butterflies dance, think that they are the head of the local government, the pride arises spontaneously, can not help but gallop up.

Unconsciously arrived at the Luo'an Grottoes, the former dynasty of the whole country to worship the Buddha, the Buddha is prosperous, as the capital of Luo'an naturally has a lot of Buddhist relics, just like the grotto in front of you, it is the previous dynasty to dig the power of the whole country, it lasted for hundreds of years, stretches for two or three miles, lies on both sides of the Yishui, is very spectacular.

Now that spring is coming, there are many people who come to worship the Buddha, and there is a lot of hustle and bustle.

Xue Peiqi didn't believe in the gods and Buddhas, but since he came, he couldn't help but be vulgar, so he invited a few sticks of incense and burned incense to a place where there were few people.

After the Buddha worship, he turned to leave, and only after walking a few steps, he heard someone behind him stop him, "Sir, but you have dropped something?" ”

Xue Peiqi turned around and saw that it was a handsome woman, followed by a few maids and grandmothers, the woman's dress could be called elegant, but looking at the dress of her servants, it was by no means an ordinary person, so she stepped forward and asked, "Miss is polite, but you are shouting?" ”

"Sir is polite, exactly." As he spoke, he called a maid to hand over a piece of paper, and continued, "Please see if it is the gentleman's belonging." ”

Xue Peiqi took a look, and then touched his arms, and sure enough, the letter sent by his father when he was about to go out was casually put into his arms at that time, and he didn't want to let it go and fall out.

He was about to thank him, but when he saw that several maids were all covering their mouths and laughing, he suddenly remembered that there was a portrait of a woman mixed in the family letter, which was sent by his father to ask for his opinion, and wanted to be a matchmaker for him.

It seemed that he had been mistaken for a lover or a prodigal son, so he laughed at himself, thanked him and turned away.

There are more and more people who come to the grotto to worship the Buddha, Xue Peiqi felt that the hustle and bustle was too much, so he went to the stable and led the horse to leave, and he was a city parent official, and it was always inappropriate to leave alone without informing the subordinates where they went.

After walking four or five miles, he suddenly saw a magnificent carriage in front of him that seemed to be stuck in the mud, but the horse pulling the carriage was gone, and a woman and several servants were anxiously waiting for rescue.

He rode over and asked, "Dare to ask Miss but you need help?" ”

The woman turned around, and it was the woman who had just returned the faith.

"It turned out to be you, it was really fate."

The woman smiled slightly, calmly, "It turned out to be a gentleman, it was not a big deal, the horse pulling the cart was frightened by the artillery battle, and ran wildly, and the coachman cut off the reins for fear that I would be injured, and now the horse has gone somewhere, and the carriage is stuck in the quagmire." ”

Xue Peiqi looked up at the sky, a little worried, "It's not too early to see that it's not early, this place is nearly twenty miles away from Luo'an City, even if you send someone back to move the rescue soldiers, why do you have to wait until dark when you come and go...... If the young lady doesn't give up, how do you think it will be used in this horse-drawn cart? ”

The woman was slightly surprised, and didn't know how to reply for a while, probably surprised that a strange man she had met for the first time was so bold in helping, and she didn't know whether she was friend or foe.

Several maids and grandmothers also became alert, and a girl who looked like a personal maid tugged at the corner of her young lady's clothes, and shook her head anxiously. This man gave them the horse, didn't he want to go all the way? So what's the matter!

Xue Peiqi raised his lips and smiled, but he had already turned over and dismounted, stuffed the reins into the coachman's hand, and then turned to the woman and said, "Miss, don't worry, I won't be with you in the future." There is a small inn not far in front, I went there to find the shopkeeper to bring a letter back, and asked the family to send someone to pick it up. In the next man, there will be no danger, but Miss You, you are surrounded by women, it is better to go home early and say goodbye. Then he turned to leave.

The woman hurriedly shouted, "Thank you Mr. for your help, dare to ask where the gentleman's house is, and after the little girl returns home to show her parents, she will ask her parents to send someone to thank you!" ”

Xue Pei continued to walk without looking back, waving his hand without saying a word.

"Your horse, sir...... I, how do I return it? ”

"It's just a horse, it's not enough for Miss to worry about."

This is...... Don't want it?

Seeing that he was determined to help, and that she needed it herself, the woman said no more, and told the coachman to re-tie the bridle, pull the carriage out of the mire, and pack his belongings.

Before leaving, the woman glanced at the man's back again, and a few peach blossoms faintly appeared on her face.

When Xue Peiqi was waiting for the personal guard Xuexun to send a mount in the small inn, it was the end of the Shen period, the sun was setting, and night was about to fall.

Xuexun walked a few steps and found that his master didn't follow, so he hurriedly turned back, "Young master, it's not too early, don't forget the appointment between Hou Shizi of Jingyang and your Zuichun Garden tonight." ”

Last year, Meng Chun was also a small inn on the outskirts of the city, he had a time with Yi'an Chunfeng, and there was no contact since then, I don't know if she is okay at this time......

Xue Peiqi has always thought of Yi'an from time to time recently, especially such a familiar scene, which is simply a reappearance of the case.

"Young Master?"

Xuexun urged again, Xue Peiqi finally came back to his senses and rode away.

After walking more than ten miles, Xue Peiqi, who had not eaten a drop of water all day, felt a little thirsty, so he left the official road and went around to a green bamboo forest to find a stream to drink. It's so hidden that unless you take a detour, you'll hardly be discovered.

Rich people can always find a good place to hide, Xue Peiqi smiled, handed over his mount to Xuexun, and went to the stream to drink.

The stream was clear and sweet, his heart was happy, and when he got up to leave, he suddenly found a woman's figure not far away, rolling up her trouser legs and carrying a bamboo basket.

The figure of the man was like ...... Like her maid, Ying'er?

It's my own crankiness again! Yi'an was imprisoned in the deep palace, and her maid naturally stayed by her side, this place was Luo'an, hundreds of miles away, how could it be her! Besides, a first-class maid like Ying'er would come to this wilderness to wash clothes in person!

Xue Peiqi shook his head, picked up a handful of stream water and poured it down, making himself sober!