Hearing this, Dong You nodded vigorously, and at the end he asked in a trembling voice: "Gentlemen... That being said... But as far as I know... Those Cao officials in the horse market are not better than the officials in the county government, they seem to be in a low position, but in fact they have a lot of power, most of them have a lot of money, and many of them are also involved with horse thieves and strongmen, in case... In case Old Man Zhao is really Cao Guan and the horse thief conspired to assassinate him, it depends on a few of you... How did you kill someone? Don't leak out and put yourself in there... As an official, I know very well the methods of these guys, and it is really murderous without blinking......"

Dong You's chatter made Zhao Yuan upset: "This is not your business, you just need to do what you should do, and you don't need to worry about anything else!" ”

A deep drink made Dong You shut up and shrink his neck, and at this time Zhao San came back, Zhao Yuan got up and came to the courtyard with him and whispered: "How is the situation?" ”

"Mashi Street is not far from here, only four or five miles away, and the official of Mashi Cao is a local squire nicknamed Bai Mian, named Bai Baoqi, who has been doing this business for more than 20 years... Uncle Zhao's business... Nine times out of ten, he did it..."

"Bai Baoqi? Lao Tzu wants to see if he is really white or false! Zhao Yuan closed his eyebrows slightly, and said angrily, and then he and Zhao San took Dong You to Mashi Street.

Mashi Street, the name of the street, is actually a small town fort, as far as the eye can see, several tall official courtyards, a few inns, the rest is stables, horses and traders, some small officials shout five and six, hang the official clothes back and forth to inspect, no matter who trades horses, must be sat by the official family, from which the Inca like merchants, so as not to sell good horses to Donglin and the Northern Barbarians.

"Master, this is the biggest trading vendor bill in half a day, you see!"

The white butler handed the morning horse transaction book to Bai Baoqi, who held the purple clay pot in his hand and smacked the tea: "It's only eight thousand taels... How can there be so little..."

Hearing Bai Baoqi's displeasure, the white housekeeper smiled: "Master, the animal husbandry tax system has been reformed, and some traders are afraid of harming their own interests, so they all suspend trading, and in the inn in front, there are at least six or seven batches of traders waiting to see the market..."

"These fine ghosts, one by one, only care about themselves..."Bai Baoqi scolded in a low voice: "Give the official to check on them, estimate the amount of silver from their merchants, and give them a reminder by the way, if they don't trade here, they will increase their tax and silver by five cents a day, and if they don't do it for three days, they will not be sealed by the official, so where will they go back!" ”

At the Gu Cong Inn, the merchants who came to sell horses gathered in twos and threes.

A fat merchant from Dongzhou poured two sips of wine, and with the strength of the wine, his face was full of indignation: "What kind of bullshit rules are this, the northern barbarians go south, and the entire northern Xinjiang is affected, this emperor lord ordered that the animal husbandry system should be reformed, but why is the commercial tax of horse sales still so high?" Why didn't the guarantee be lowered as rumored? ”

"Downgrade your fart!" The fat trader replied: "Yesterday I bought five old pack horses, which are all old horses for pulling goods, with a total of one hundred and eighty taels, but the tax and silver were paid thirty-five taels, what do you say is this?" It's even more ruthless than before the tax system was reformed... These Cao officials and officials are all seeds that only eat and don't pull... I can't wait to skin us naked..."

For a while, there were different opinions, but the innkeeper couldn't stand it, got up and said: "I said a few brothers, the difference between the government and the people, since ancient times, you still don't want to keep your mouth shut, no matter how much tax and silver you pay, you can make a small profit, if you provoke those officials, they will find a bad head, I'm afraid you don't even have these small profits!" ”

Coincidentally, as soon as the shopkeeper fell, two small officials of the horse market came in and saw these dog-like goods, and the fat traders quickly shut up.

"Shopkeeper, come to half a catty of Huadiao, a soup chicken, three catties of braised pork, two bowls of noodles, hurry up!"

One of them said to the vendors: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am waiting here to remind you that some people come here for a few days and do not pay taxes, which can take advantage of the benefits of the horse market, Lord Cao Guan has an order, from today onwards, anyone who does not do business for more than three days will not be subject to the official seal, if it is private, it will be dealt with according to the law, and then driven out of the horse market..."

For this, the merchants really dared to be angry and did not dare to speak, so they could only watch the two little officials eat and drink. It's just that the two little officials didn't pay attention, and in the corner where the two of them turned their backs to the corner, Zhao Yuan, Zhao San, and Dong You were eating noodles with their heads buried in their heads, and when they heard these words, Zhao San scolded in a low voice: "These dogs and beasts really treat themselves as things, and they the big eggs with the orders of the officials..."

Hearing this, Zhao Yuan glared at him, and let him rush to Dong You and said: "After eating, I will let Zhao San and you go to see Bai Baoqi, you have to find out his details to Lao Tzu... For example, where is his mansion? Who is in the family? ”

didn't think about the words, Dong You was directly frightened: "Gentlemen, that Bai Baoqi is the emperor of this horse market, I... How do I set his bottom line... In case of leakage, I..."

"Less nonsense! You are the counselor of Linxi County, and your status is one level higher than that of Bai Baoqi, so you should accept your former official posture! Under strong pressure, Dong You couldn't, so he could only obey.

The horse market trading officer fell into the room, Bai Baoqi searched for a long time, and set his eyes on the traders from Dongzhou, these people sold about 30 horses in this trip, and they were all good horses, and the transaction tax was a lot.

At this time, the white housekeeper came in and said, "Master, the counselor of the Linxi County Government asks to see you!" ”

"Linxi County?" Bai Baoqi was a little suspicious: "Did he say what he was doing here?" ”

"This counselor wants to find a good horse as a gift for Xia Jing..."

"Oh...."Bai Baoqi nodded: "Nacheng, you let him in!" ”

Outside the door, Dong You had already changed into a brocade silk suit, and Zhao San was dressed in a black guard suit, looking quite imposing, before entering the house, Zhao San whispered: "Lord Dong, think about your baby..."

Dong You shuddered when he heard this: "Understood, understood!" ”

The white housekeeper welcomed Dong You into the house, and Bai Baoqi had already ordered someone to serve fragrant tea.

"Dong You, the counselor of the lower Linxi, came to meet Bai Caoguan!" Dong You was humble and humble, which made Bai Baoqi feel very comfortable.

"Don't dare, don't dare, in terms of official position, this Cao official should still call you an adult!" Then, the two sat down with a smile.

After some words, Dong You made Bai Baoqi fluttering, and even made Bai Baoqi have a like-minded good impression, seeing that noon was approaching, Bai Baoqi said: "Counselor Dong, if there is nothing else, you can come to the small mansion to rest, there are several good horses in the stable of this Cao Guanfu... Counsellors can be carefully selected..."

"So good, so good!" Dong You laughed, and immediately took out some silver tickets from his sleeve: "These are the intentions of this official..."

Bai Baoqi glanced at it, took the silver ticket, and immediately led Dong You and Zhao San to walk towards Baifu, on the way, the two took the same car, Zhao San and Bai Butler followed, but Bai Butler looked back frequently, Zhao San frowned slightly, and said, "What's wrong with you?" ”