"Have you heard? If you don't pay your taxes, you will go to jail. ”

Li Yuanwai in the east of the city came out for a stroll after breakfast, and when he met Zhong Yuanwai, who came back with a birdcage, he couldn't help but speak.

The two of them sold flour and buns, and the two shops were less than ten zhang apart, but Zhong Yuanwai resolutely refused to buy flour from Li Yuanwai, so angry that Li Yuanwai blackened his face when he saw Zhong Yuanwai.

Zhong Yuanwai didn't expect Li Yuanwai to greet him, so he didn't squint at the past.

"You're an old man." Li Yuan scolded.

Li Yuanwai walked over, reacted, turned around to talk, and heard Zhong Yuanwai reveal his scar again, he immediately turned his face, and the two quarreled in a few words, and the more noisy they became, the more fierce they became.

At the same time, there are many people who meet and greet them on the topic of paying taxes, and everyone in the city talks about taxes, some of them are sad that life is worse than death, and some of them say that they deserve it.

…………

Ying Tianfu vacated two wings as a place for household officials to collect taxes, and after the first day, not a single merchant entered the door, and the officials secretly teased: "It seems that the prison cells are not enough." ”

The officials drank tea for a day, and the more they drank, the less confident they became, so someone came to Zhou Ping's table and arched his hand: "Lord Zhou, look at this ......."

In the huge capital, no one took the initiative to pay taxes, in case Long Yan was angry and blamed, they were the first to bear the brunt, and they had to find a way. Otherwise, a few people led the team to collect it.

Zhou Ping shook the folding fan, his expression was relaxed, and said, "Don't worry." ”

In the past few days, he has broken two pairs of boots, what businessman has not seen? These people don't cry when they don't see the coffin, as long as they arrest some people, everyone is afraid, haven't they seen the officials who have been sent to prison, and their families crying and begging him to collect money?

Another humane: "Lord Zhou, what if Yang Ge Lao blames him?" ”

We don't have as much experience in tax collection as you, but we don't know Yang Rong less than you, and this pavilion elder is very powerful.

Zhou Ping still shook the folding fan lightly and said, "Don't worry." ”

"......" There is no way to communicate, and several officials sighed.

…………

"My lord, there is no one who goes to pay taxes in Tianfu." Fanzi secret report.

Zhang Ning smiled and said, "Isn't it normal that no one goes?" "Hell if someone goes.

Fanzi didn't understand, and said: "Then ......" Since you know that no one is going, why did you let me stay there for a day? Poor people in the household department, one by one they are suffering.

Zhang Ning didn't explain, and said, "You go down." ”

After Fanzi retreated, Zhang Ning sent someone to call Jiang Wenju. Half a quarter of an hour later, Jiang Wenju's expressionless face appeared in front of Zhang Ning and saluted, "My lord." ”

Zhang Ning didn't talk nonsense, and said, "Did you find out?" ”

"Twenty-four have been checked, which ten industries are the largest, and we still have to check again, and we won't be able to rank them until tomorrow."

In the land of the hidden dragon and crouching tiger in the capital, there are really a lot of industries under the names of the relatives of the eunuchs and emperors, in addition to these, there are also some huge rich, these people themselves have no official status, and there are no children in the clan who take the official career, but they can run the businessmen well.

Zhang Ning confessed two days ago that he wanted a list of the top ten shops with the largest scale and the most money. Two days have passed now.

Jiang Wenju was meticulous in his work, Zhang Ning said that he wanted the top ten, so he eliminated the famous shops in the capital, excluding those with official backgrounds, and checked all the rest, and then ranked the amount found.

"How many are there?" Zhang Ning said. He was curious about how many famous shops there were in the capital, and the wealth of these people was very likely astronomical, and if the emperor needed silver one day, he would find an excuse to copy one or two to solve the problem.

"There are fifty-one families in total, thirteen of the east families have children, eight of the east families are the princes of the domain, six are nobles, and only these twenty-four are white."

The vassal king also did business? Zhang Ning remembered an article he had read in his previous life, saying that Zhu Chongba had too many children and grandchildren, and he was not allowed to make a living to support the family, so that in the late Ming Dynasty, some children and grandchildren were not as good as the people. It seems that there are many children and grandchildren, and it is true that some of them are living in poverty, but there are also people who are very capable and have become invisible rich.

Zhang Ning said: "Submit the list tomorrow afternoon." ”

"Yes, sir." Jiang Wenju said.

Zhang Ning motioned for him to step aside, and he saluted and left.

…………

This night, I don't know how many people couldn't sleep at night, and finally survived until dawn, and rushed to Ying Tianfu to see if anyone took the initiative to come over to pay taxes, but saw a sea of people in front of Ying Tianfu, all looking at yesterday's notice.

Two more officials squeezed through the crowd and posted a notice.

"Hurry up, what's written on it?" Some people shouted, they were in a hurry, there were too many people, and they couldn't squeeze in front. This is literate, and the illiterate are more anxious and eager to know what is written on it.

One of the people who was close to the notice was a little literate, read the notice, and said, "This is for the recruitment of the tent man, and the condition is ......."

Recruiting Mr. Ledger?

Twenty-five to fifty years old?

Have at least three years of demerits?

After a few breaths of silence, someone sighed: "Strange things happen every year, especially this year, how can the government use it to recruit tents?" ”

"It's used to check the accounts." Someone pointed to yesterday's notice and said, "Didn't you say to bring the account book and pay the tax?" ”

Really. Immediately, there was a lot of discussion, and the government specially recruited people from the people in order to collect taxes, which shows the determination.

Many businessmen listened to the discussion, and then looked at Ying Tianfu, only to feel that there was a big mouth engulfing them.

…………

Another day passed, and still no one went in to pay the tax, and the officials of the household department were so anxious that they couldn't do it, and after a few people quietly discussed, they came to Zhou Ping and said: "Lord Zhou, it can't go on like this, there is no way to give money to Yang Ge Lao, and it is against the holy will." It's better for us to take the initiative and take people to collect them separately. ”

The states and counties collect land taxes, and they have always been collected by the officials on the fields, so how can any farmer go to the yamen to pay taxes? If the people don't dare to enter the yamen when they have something, how can they dare to enter the yamen to pay taxes?

"Nope." Zhou Ping said: "Elder Yang Ge specially confessed that he wanted Shang Jia to come over and pay the tax himself." ”

"Alas!"

"How is that possible?"

"Lord Zhou, you can be flexible."

A few officials, you say a word to me, just to persuade.

Zhou Ping said: "It's not early, let's get here today, you adults go back first." ”

"Lord Zhou, tomorrow is the last day of the three-day period, if not a single copper plate is confiscated, we will have no light on our faces." One person persuades from his own point of view.

Zhou Ping said calmly: "It's okay. "You think it's easy to collect taxes at home, but it's a big mistake, it's hard to collect taxes at home, not only to see the faces of businessmen, but also to be sneered at by these people, and it is more likely that you can't collect money.

Zhou Ping was born in a poor family, and after 20 years of middle lifting, he finally got to the outsider, but he didn't want to be sent to collect taxes from the merchants.

That's good now, hehe. He thought to himself.