At first, the Inspection Department sent people to intercept merchant ships by small boats to collect taxes, but after three or four breakthroughs, Yu Yongkai simply ordered the Longxiang regiment at that time to build four forts at the port.

From the fire crow cannon to the fire bird cannon and the fire eagle cannon, the power of the Hexi Town Fort has been continuously enhanced, and as long as someone dares to break through without consent, it will naturally attract bursts of artillery bombardment.

After several times, after the two merchant ships were beaten to pieces on the spot and their masts were broken, the passing merchant ships finally began to obediently accept the inventory and taxation.

Yu Yongkai kept in mind Liu Ximing's instructions that the purpose of taxation was not to make money, but to establish effective control and prestige in this area, so the standard of tax collection was not high.

Moreover, the Hexi Inspection Division is different from other inspection divisions, after repelling a water thief who is chasing a merchant ship, the past businessmen suddenly found that the people and horses on patrol can really protect the safety of the river, and there are more and more businessmen who come to make friends.

After establishing a relationship with the large and small businesses in the past, the commercial houses led by Su Yan intervened in a timely manner and began to build a series of inns, restaurants, shops, warehouses and other buildings in Hexi Town to provide services for the past merchants.

Therefore, although the population of Hexi Town has not begun to grow significantly, the living standards of the townspeople have improved a lot, and the atmosphere of the whole town is different from other towns under the rule of the Dameng Dynasty.

Now there are only warships, and when this period of time is over, and the village is financially well-off, it must be said that the second brother will order a batch of warships, and then the inspection department will be able to truly control this large section of the river, and then he will not have to worry about it every day, Yu Yongkai thought when he walked out of the big tent.

The large courtyard of the inspection department is facing the newly built port, and behind it is the camp of Longxiang Camp, the road and wharf in this area are all built with stone mortar, and on both sides of the port are newly built buildings such as the rich inn of the commercial house, and the rows of colorful glazed roofs look shining.

"Steward Zhou", Yu Yongkai walked to the dock with Zhang Jingliang and others and the ten personal guards that Liu Ximing had equipped for him, he recognized that the ships that had just docked belonged to the Longyi firm of Baoning Mansion, so he directly greeted Steward Zhou, who was full of gloom.

"Yu Inspection, what kind of wind is this, it actually alarmed your old man", Steward Zhou was majestic on the boat just now, but he didn't dare to take it big when he saw Yu Yongkai.

The boy looked smiling, but he didn't blink his eyes when he heard that he had given the order to open fire on the ships that had broken through.

Yu Yongkai tried his best to put on a kind face, "Didn't I hear that your elder brother is here, and the younger brother came to greet you, why, I heard that there was a problem on your ship?" ”

Steward Zhou nodded depressedly, "It's really stuffed with cold water, I don't know what's going on, this ship is leaking inexplicably, and I'm just building a new ship that hasn't been built for two years." ”

Yu Yongkai stood on tiptoe and looked at the two ships that stopped next to the dock, pointed to them and asked He Mingyuan, who was sent by the accounting office, "Mr. He, is it the ship of the Fuhua Firm over there?" ”

He Mingyuan is 38 years old this year, with a long face that looks like someone owes him a lot of money, he is the first group of homeless people recruited by Liu Ximing from the city, because he knows some words, he was selected to the account office, and later slowly rose to the deputy assistant of the account room with continuous hard work.

After the establishment of the Hexi Town Inspection Division, Liu Ximing began to send some management personnel to assist Yu Yongkai here in order to strengthen control.

He Mingyuan, as the assistant of the accounting office of the Hexi Inspection Department dispatched by Liujia Village, had to register with him for all the merchant ships coming and going, so Yu Yongkai consulted him directly.

He Mingyuan followed the probe and looked at it, nodded at Yu Yongkai and replied: "Good eyesight, it is indeed their ship, and that person looks like the king steward of the Fuhua Firm." ”

Yu Yongkai was quite polite to these stationed personnel, he did not continue to instruct He Mingyuan, but instead instructed his own soldiers: "Go to someone and invite that Wang steward over." ”

"Whoa"

After a while, the Wang steward of the Fuhua firm trotted all the way over, and when he saw Yu Yongkai's face, his fat face smiled and greeted: "Yu Inspection, we haven't seen each other for a few days, it's rare, I heard that you want to look for me?" ”

After speaking, he nodded to Zhang Jingliang, He Mingyuan, and Steward Zhou.

Yu Yongkai smiled and nodded, pointed to his boat and asked, "Steward Wang, I heard that something happened on your ship?" ”

Steward Wang's face was stunned for a moment, "Who else has an accident?" ”

Yu Yongkai, Zhang Jingliang and others looked at Steward Zhou in unison, and everyone felt a little strange at this moment.

"You're leaking too?"

Steward Wang's face was relieved, and he waved his hand again and again: "No, no, when I walked halfway, I don't know what happened, the mast of my ship was cracked, and for the sake of insurance, I let people dock here." ”

"It seems that these people are quite cautious", Yu Yongkai smiled and turned to Zhang Jingliang and said.

As soon as the words fell, his face instantly became cold and solemn, "Jingliang, notify the whole regiment to be on alert, and then transfer 101 to the dock to control these boats and the people on board." ”

The stewards of the two firms turned pale with fright when they heard this, and Steward Zhou shook the fat on his face, and shouted with a sad face: "Yu Inspection, we haven't done anything, don't use a knife at us old man." ”

Yu Yongkai tried to squeeze out a smile on his face, and comforted the two of them: "Don't worry if it's okay, wait until we check it, can you still believe my Yu Yongkai's character?" ”

Steward Zhou and Steward Wang glanced at each other, thinking of the practice of the Hexi Inspection Division during this time, the worries in their hearts were slightly alleviated, and now people are swordsmen and I am fish and meat, so we can only see what they do.

After about forty or fifty breaths, more than 100 soldiers armed with muskets and wearing red half-length waist armor came out of the compound of the Inspection Division, and under the leadership of a few officers, they went to various docks to keep an eye on the passers-by.

At this time, there were at least a dozen ships parked on the wharf, some were carrying goods, some were counting materials, and all of them were taken aback by the battle of the inspection department.

"Don't worry, someone in the town reported that there was a thief in the house, and the inspection department was just a routine inspection", Song Baoyi, the head of the 113 Tun, hurriedly appeased everyone loudly on the side, he had a good reputation for being conscientious because he dared to intercept Yu Yongkai, this time the Longxiang battalion was upgraded, and Zhang Jingliang specially asked him to the first regiment.

Yu Yongkai didn't care much about the riot at the wharf, waved his hand and motioned for the soldiers of the Longxiang Regiment to board the leaky ship of the Longyi Firm, and he took Steward Zhou and others to board the ship.

"Steward Zhou, you take us to see the leak, and send a few trustworthy people to gather all the people on the ship on deck."

"Yes, yes", Steward Zhou heard Yu Yongkai's order, and hurriedly nodded and called a few henchmen to count the personnel, and he himself walked in front to guide Yu Yongkai and others.

Yu Yongkai and others went through the cramped staircase to bypass the second deck full of goods and came to the bilge where the sailors usually stay.

"This is it," Steward Zhou walked to the back of the stairs and lifted the lantern in his hand to illuminate the place.

Yu Yongkai and Zhang Jingliang immediately leaned over and half-squatted to check the leakage point that had been blocked.

"This is man-made sabotage", Zhang Jingliang touched the surroundings of the leak point with his hand, and said to Yongkai categorically, "These traces can only be made out by chisels." ”

Yu Yongkai's face was calm and he didn't comment much, "Only this one?" He asked, turning his head.

Steward Zhou was in a panic before, only caring about letting people plug the leakage, but he didn't find that there were still these traces, thinking that someone was doing such things under his nose, his face suddenly became very ugly.

"Also, also, please come to the inspection."

Several other places are similar to what Zhang Jingliang said just now, there are traces of chisels, Yu Yongkai did not stay longer, and climbed onto the deck with everyone.

The soldiers of the thirty or forty Longxiang battalion were surrounding about thirty middle-aged men in sweatshirts in the middle of the deck.

"Steward Zhou, let's identify them, are these people all from your family's business?"

"Yu Inspection", Steward Zhou sweated profusely and beckoned a few henchmen to count the manpower, and replied after a while: "It's all my people." ”

Two of the people who were surrounded looked around, raised their hands and shouted, "Boss, it seems that there are two less." ”

"Don't talk the fuck", Steward Zhou was a little anxious, rushed up and shouted in a low voice, don't involve yourself again.

Yu Yongkai grabbed Steward Zhou's left sleeve, pulled him back, nodded at the two and smiled: "Don't listen to him, continue to say, if he dares to do something to you, then go directly to my inspection department to do things." ”