Chapter 530: It may not be the snake that scares the grass

Regarding the agricultural tax on the field, these eunuchs were naturally instructed before leaving the capital, and they also knew the importance of it, and the biggest difference between the Eastern and Western parties was the importance of the field tax and the commercial tax.

Although it is said that the emperor now trusts the eunuchs and the internal security military attachés, but the civil officials and the system have not stopped, and there are now more high-quality officials in the Western Party, and it is already quite annoying that the tax collection function is not in their hands, if they catch the handle of the tax supervisors, they will definitely not give up, the alliance was when both sides were suppressed, and now it is to quarrel over the spoils.

Lu Li stayed comfortably in Fucheng every day, and he didn't want to go to the countryside grange or something like that, for the first month, every day in Fucheng ushered in the send-off, the wine banquet continued, and he got a lot of oil and water, but after a period of time, he didn't want to enjoy such a majesty. I began to worry about how to show my merits, how to make my merits visible, in fact, it is very simple, you collect more taxes, then you must stand out, and there will be better appointments and dispatches when you return to the capital.

Of course, the resistance of each tax supervisor is very different, and the closest few people who have a relationship with Rui Xiaosan, some were photographed in Jinan Mansion, and some were photographed in Jining, these places are rich places, as long as the tax is increased by one or two percent in the past, it is a great amount.

In the eyes of everyone in Beijing, it is naturally outstanding and praised, Lu Li is very ruthless in the face of these people on the one hand, and racking his brains on the other hand, thinking about how to collect more taxes.

The Jinyi guards are all from some martial arts backgrounds, and they can't come up with ideas about wealth, but when the tax supervisor arrives in a certain place, some local shabby households always come to take refuge, and the tax supervisor can't do everything himself, so he always has to find some helpers, just like the helpers in the yamen.

Lu Li's subordinates have a character from the master of money and grain, when he was with someone in the county order, because the means were too black, he committed a crime, although he was lucky not to die in prison, but after he came out, he had a bad reputation, but no one dared to use him, the master's name is Qiu Baolai, a native of Shanxi, and his bad reputation is not false, but this person is indeed very shrewd, when the tax supervisor came to Cangzhou Mansion, he had not yet recruited people, but he saw that the benefits must be a lot, and he took the initiative to come and take refuge.

It's always good to be the first to do something, this Qiu Baolai is very valued by Lu Li, a eunuch in the palace, how to know about the outside money, grain and taxes, it's not that this master will handle it for him again, and in the past few months, he has really become more and more trusted.

On the day of the Double Ninth Festival in the twentieth year of Jiajing, Lu Li drank some wine at the banquet, and said that he was too tired, and returned to the mansion arranged for him by the Cangzhou prefect and was stunned.

"Master Lu, seeing that you are a little depressed, I wonder if there is a small place to share your worries?"

Although the eunuchs are a little physically disabled, they like outsiders very much when they are normal people, this Master Qiu's Lord Lu's title is particularly pleasing to him, hearing this title, even if Lu Li frowned, he still raised his head, showed a smile, and said:

"This official came to Cangzhou, but he didn't open the situation for a long time, and he always felt ashamed of the trust of the saint, but in this small prefecture and county, the commercial tax is still about to be exhausted, can it only be done like this?"

"Lord Lu, loyalty to the country is really admirable."

Master Qiu over there routinely flattered, and then said:

"Lord Lu, the taxes of this Cangzhou Mansion are not inferior to those of Tongzhou, Baoding, do you know why?"

This kind of question and answer is not the question and answer between the emperor and Lu Bing in the study in the Jingshi, those two people are extremely smart characters, say one sentence and know ten sentences, Qiu Baolai here sells a pass, but Lu Li over there is a dumbfounded look, I don't know what Qiu Baolai is talking about, but I can hear it, the big head of Cangzhou Mansion is definitely not on the commercial tax, I can't help urging Master Qiu repeatedly, telling him to explain quickly, that Qiu Baolai saw that he had achieved the purpose of attracting Lu Li's attention, and hurriedly said with a smile:

"In the taxes of this mansion, there is still a place where gold is hidden that has not been dug up, can Lord Lu know the saying of '100 acres of cotton fields, pawnshop money village'?"

Money and pawnshops have always been the most profitable in the shops, the cotton field of 100 acres have been compared with these two shops, it can be seen that the degree of its money, this is also the status quo of the three northern provinces, whether it is the north or the south of the Yangtze River, the cotton textile machines around the country, are huge production capacity, the demand for cotton is also huge.

However, even if a large number of grain fields in the three northern provinces have been converted into cotton fields, there is always a huge gap between the output and demand of cotton, and this situation of short supply has caused the price of cotton to rise all the way.

Hearing Qiu Baolai say this, Lu Li's eyes quickly lit up, but then he was deflated, Lu Li sat on the chair and scolded angrily:

"Net out of such bad ideas, the production in this field can't be moved, when you go out of Beijing, whether it is Gonggong Rui or the old scholars, they are all instructed, saying that this supervision is to keep an eye on the merchant factory, Tian Fu doesn't have to care about him!"

Master Qiu smiled, listening to this style, he knew that Lu Li's mind was already moving, and the next step was how to persuade him, and at the moment he took a few steps towards Lu Li, although Lu Li was sitting there, his head poked forward, and he looked quite attentive.

"The adults of Jingshi should be sympathetic to the people's livelihood, for fear of hurting the people of Limin, but a small word of disrespect, and the world is changing too fast, the situation is already very different, out of this city, what are the fields of the small people, the land of Mancangzhou, that is, the industry of four or five families."

The concept of cotton gentry is indeed unfamiliar to the eunuchs who have been in Beijing for a long time, for them, even if they have planted land when they enter the palace, they are also the kind of people with small doors and small households, knowing a few landlords, it is only an industry of hundreds of acres of land, where do you think of what it looks like to be annexed now.

"Whether these cotton fields are produced or traded, they are all large quantities of silver exchanges, but they have nothing to do with local shops, they are all merchants from the north and south who take the silver to buy and buy, and adults can get an idea on this."

Lu Li said with some hesitation:

"How can we touch such a strong power? Besides, this kind of practice has no tax collection at all, and commercial taxes can't control this piece! ”

"My lord, where is this commercial tax, this is clearly the arrears of the field, an acre of cotton and an acre of grain income is more than ten times, but it has always been to pay the grain tax, if this gap is filled, 10,000 acres of cotton field is the adult's gold field, and the wealth and gold and silver are all from it!"

"But how to collect it, I'm alone here, how can I compare with those wealthy families?"

"Lord Lu, those cavalry lords stationed in Cangzhou Mansion with you are exactly the basis for showing the prestige of the imperial court! With their majesty, what are we afraid of? ”

Having said this, Lu Li's wine was completely gone, and he stood up excitedly, slapped the table heavily, and said with a smile:

"It's really you, I'm afraid that our family is the first credit among my colleagues, and when I earn this credit, I will definitely not treat you badly, okay, you and I will sum it up in detail, the soldiers and horses of Cangzhou Mansion can't let them be idle, anyway, our family is also leading the will to come out to supervise taxes, and we have to move for me!"

This Master Qiu smiled and nodded, Master Qiu had long coveted the wealth of those cotton gentry in his heart, and when he was a county commander that day, he was caught by someone and sent directly to prison because of his dirty relationship with the cotton gentry.

How many cotton gentry are in a house, there is no need to go to the government to check the documents and files, a house will not exceed twenty people, the so-called landlord squires in the past, a house is no less than hundreds or thousands, but in a short period of time, there are only these people who are qualified to be called squires.

It's just that when Lu Li went to the prefect's yamen to ask, the people in the yamen, who had always been polite to them, began to be asked to look at him with an incredible expression, and the attitude of being obedient to words also became sloppy, since the tax supervisor came to Cangzhou Mansion, he had never encountered such a scene, and he was obviously asking about the little official, and after a while, the prefect and the same acquaintance came over, although they were full of smiles, but between the words they were asking Lu Li why he wanted to check the cotton gentry.

This battle also frightened Lu Li, I thought it was just a few landlords and squires, and I checked it, but it actually alarmed the prefect and the officials at the same level, it was really a trivial thing, and he hurriedly arranged a few words out of the yamen, he walked on the street with a few entourage, this Cangzhou Mansion is also a good restaurant, thinking about the past pastime, by the way, check whether the restaurant has any outstanding taxes.

The people who followed Lu Li were all military attaches of Jinyiwei, and the two sides were talking and laughing on horses, without mentioning what happened inside the prefect's yamen, but after leaving the yamen three streets, the Jinyiwei on Lu Li's left whispered:

"Someone seems to be following us?"