(Recommended reading: The next afternoon, Li Hongyu's fishing boat stopped at a simple dock in a fishing village in Zhenjiang, and Aunt Mei led Miss Zhao and him to find the village chief of the fishing village.

"I've seen the eldest lady."

The head of the fishing village was a middle-aged man in his forties and fifties, and after sending his men out, he solemnly bowed to Miss Zhao.

Li Hongyu, who was standing behind Miss Zhao, was slightly stunned, but he didn't expect that the village chief, like Aunt Mei, would be Miss Zhao's person.

Maybe he wanted to drag Li Hongyu into the water, so this time Miss Zhao didn't avoid him when he met the village, anyway, he would soon know Miss Zhao's identity.

"Miss, he is the henchman of the gang leader, and he is also the head of his subordinates, he was injured in a conflict twenty years ago and was arranged here by the gang leader."

Aunt Mei opened her mouth to explain the identity of the village chief to Miss Zhao, "The gang leader is worried that someone will be unfavorable to the gang, so he let the subordinate head of the family hide in this small fishing village, and the subordinate is in Yangzhou City to inquire about the news of the gang. ”

"Thank you, I saluted you on my father's behalf." Miss Zhao's face was overjoyed when she heard this, and she bowed to Aunt Mei and the village chief, never expecting that her father had secretly arranged a follow-up move.

In fact, when she was painting the boat, it was Aunt Mei who took the initiative to see Miss Zhao and showed her identity, Aunt Mei had seen Miss Zhao before, but Miss Zhao was not clear, and later left Yangzhou City with Miss Zhao.

Originally, there was nothing to do with Li Hongyu, but Miss Zhao is currently in a precarious situation, which can be described as difficult, and she needs help from the outside world, in this way, Li Hongyu, who saved Miss Zhao, fell into Miss Zhao's sight, and Li Hongyu, who has a group of superb archery skills, is definitely not an idle person, and she will definitely be able to use it in the future.

Therefore, Li Hongyu suffered an unwarranted disaster, and was kidnapped by Miss Zhao in a daze after being incense, and he couldn't identify himself, so he only followed depressedly, ready to wait and see what happened, and find a chance to get out.

"Miss, this can't be helped, this can't be helped.

Seeing this, Aunt Mei hurriedly stepped forward to help Miss Zhao up, and said in a loud voice, "You are going to kill your subordinates." ”

"Helper?" At this time, Li Hongyu, who was behind Miss Zhao, came back to his senses and couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Are you from the Cao Gang?" ”

Li Hongyu's face was full of surprise, in Yangzhou and even in the Jiangnan realm, the only person who can be called the leader of the gang and has a close relationship with the third son of the Salt Merchants Association is Yang Xiaotian of the Cao Gang, could it be that Miss Zhao is Yang Xiaotian's daughter Yang Li'er?

As far as Li Hongyu knows, Yang Xiaotian has two sons and a daughter, the youngest of whom seems to be about the same age as him, and the two sons are already adults working in the Cao Gang.

After Yang Xiaotian and the Lu couple were arrested, Yang Li'er and her two elder brothers were not in Huai'an, and they would definitely not sit idly by and watch the two of them be arrested, so Li Hongyu had only heard the names of Yang Li'er and her two elder brothers, and did not know them.

"This is Miss Yang of the Cao Gang!" Aunt Mei was not surprised that Li Hongyu guessed Yang Li'er's identity, and introduced Yang Li'er to Li Hongyu with a smile, she knew that Li Hongyu was a smart person, and she would be disappointed if she couldn't guess these at this time.

"Li Gongzi, our gang leader was killed by the dog officials of the imperial court and imprisoned in Huai'an, and now the Cao gang is panicked and has frequent infighting, so I implore Li Gongzi to help us rescue the gang leader and his wife."

Saying that, Aunt Mei bowed her hand to Li Hongyu and pleaded solemnly, it was obvious that with her current strength, she could not rescue Yang Xiaotian and the Lu family.

"Dog officer?" Li Hongyu couldn't help but flash a wry smile at the corner of his mouth when he heard this, if he didn't guess wrong, the "dog official" in Aunt Mei's mouth should refer to him.

"The emperor sent Yangzhou to make money through overseas trade!"

Aunt Mei thought that Li Hongyu didn't know who she was talking about, so she gritted her teeth and explained, "I originally thought that he had won the battle in Liaodong and was a man who stood up to the sky, but now it seems that he is an out-and-out sinister villain, who has fallen into trouble for our Cao gang through the skirmish in the casino!" ”

"Collecting money?" Li Hongyu's brows suddenly frowned, this is a bad rumor, so he pretended to be puzzled and asked, "Overseas trade is a commercial matter ordered by the emperor, once it is opened, it will benefit the country and the people, and the people will benefit a lot, how can there be such a thing as collecting money?" ”

"Look at you as a gentle and very smart person, how can you be confused by this trap in front of you, how can it be so simple to do business overseas?"

Aunt Mei couldn't help but open her mouth to explain to Li Hongyu when she heard this, "Now is not the time of Yongle Ye, the fleet of the Three Treasure Eunuchs is invincible across the sea, which makes the pirates retreat and avoid it, and now the ships of the Daming Coastal Defense Station cannot sail far at all, how can a bare customs department deal with the attacks of those pirates?" ”

"Presumably Li Gongzi also knows that there are many people along the coast who violate the imperial court's ban on the sea to do smuggling business at sea, how can they be caught with their hands tied up if they have so much power?"

Saying that, Aunt Mei sneered and said coldly, "If someone buys the so-called overseas trade quota, then in the future, the people of the Customs Department will definitely collect money from those people on the grounds of preparing for overseas trade, and then they will have to cry without tears!" ”

"Li Gongzi, the old man also heard about this matter, and it is rumored in the market that this is the imperial court's move to collect money from the people.

”

At this time, the village chief also opened his mouth and said to Li Hongyu, "Think about it, the Ming Dynasty has banned the sea for more than 200 years, and suddenly it has to do business with those overseas vassals. ”

"Village chief, there are some rumors in the market that are not credible, overseas trade is definitely a lucrative business!"

Li Hongyu pondered for a moment when he heard this, and realized the seriousness of the situation, even the people in the fishing village thought that the Haiwa trade was a trick of the imperial court to cheat money, and then said to Aunt Mei, "Boss Mei, you must have heard of the abundant profits from smuggling!" ”

"It is precisely because of the huge profits from overseas business that those smugglers will never sit idly by and watch the imperial court rob their business, and will definitely do everything to obstruct it."

Aunt Mei bowed slightly when she heard this, agreed with what Li Hongyu said, and then frowned and said, "Because of this, the overseas trade of the imperial court is not credible, and now that officialdom is corrupt, those smugglers will definitely buy those officials of the Customs Department, and then this overseas trade can only end without a problem!" ”

"The imperial court has thought of this, so last year it added Enke, and selected those tax officials subordinate to the emperor from among the people, and strictly prohibited corruption.

”

Li Hongyu was silent for a while when he heard this, and he had to say that Aunt Mei's statement was reasonable, and the Customs Department was now in a difficult situation at home and abroad, but he was not ready to admit defeat easily, and looked at Aunt Mei Zhengse and said, "Now the imperial court is in urgent need of funds to deal with the affairs of various parts of the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor does not want to increase taxes, so he can only start from overseas trade." ”

"Don't want to pay more taxes?" Aunt Mei immediately sneered when she heard this, "Who increased the mining tax, causing the people to make a living and complaining." ”

"Boss Mei, you should know that with the prosperity of commerce, commercial tax is an important tax of the country, but the low commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty is rare in all dynasties."

Li Hongyu saw that Aunt Mei mentioned the commercial tax, and immediately opened his mouth to argue, "At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu was sympathetic to the people's feelings and set the commercial tax at thirty taxes and one, and then the Son of Heaven successively lowered the commercial tax, is it really reasonable for the prosperous and wealthy south of the Yangtze River to be so low?" ”

"Boss Mei, do you think that with such a low business tax, it is the people or the businessmen who benefit?" Saying that, Li Hongyu asked in a deep voice, "The treasury of the imperial court is empty, the commercial tax cannot be increased because of the opposition of the courtiers, and the emperor does not want to increase the agricultural tax, so what can I do if the mining tax is not opened?" ”

"Miss, the meal is ready, please eat with Miss Li and Gongzi Li."

Aunt Mei frowned slightly when she heard this, looked at Li Hongyu with some surprise, and didn't understand why Li Hongyu, who was a businessman, wanted to speak for the imperial court, and before she could speak, the village chief had already taken the lead in speaking, ending the debate between the two.

At this time, Li Hongyu also realized that he was a little out of shape, so he was not ready to argue with Aunt Mei anymore, after all, Aunt Mei was in a different position from him, and she looked at things differently.

Due to the limited ingredients in the fishing village, the meals prepared by the village chief naturally cannot be compared with Yangzhou restaurants, but they are also full of chicken, duck and fish, which is very rich.

Li Hongyu hadn't eaten much on the boat in the past two days, and now he was already hungry, so he took care of himself and pulled the food into his mouth, even if he wanted to escape, he needed physical strength.

Unlike Li Hongyu, Yang Li'er has no appetite, after all, Yang Xiaotian and the Lu family are still in prison, life and death are uncertain, how can she swallow the food?

"Miss Yang, people are iron and steel, if you want to rescue Gang Leader Yang and Mrs., you must take care of your body."

Li Hongyu saw that Yang Li'er looked haggard, and he felt a little unbearable, so he opened his mouth to comfort, "As far as I know, Lord Qincha is not the kind of person who is arrogant and unreasonable, and he must not be mean to Gang Leader Yang and his wife. ”

In fact, Li Hongyu was not a comfort to Yang Li'er, because Yang Xiaotian and the Lu family were treated preferentially, and they were not locked in a damp and dark prison, but were placed under house arrest in a small courtyard in the backyard of the governor's yamen, and they were not restricted except that they could not leave the courtyard gate.

Li Hongyu naturally did not want to make the relationship between the two sides too bad, and the so-called "leaving a line for doing things" is the reason why we can see each other in the future.

It's a pity that the outside world doesn't know about this matter, so Yang Li'er thought that Yang Xiaotian and the Lu family were suffering in prison.

"Hmph, that dog official dealt with our Cao Gang with great fanfare just because of a skirmish in the casino, and you still say that he is reasonable?"

It's okay that Li Hongyu didn't mention this matter, Yang Li'er suddenly raised her eyebrows when she heard this, and forcefully arranged the chopsticks in her hand on the table, and stared at Li Hongyu with a little redness in her eyes and shouted, "What benefits did that dog official give you, why do you speak for him everywhere?" ”

As soon as these words came out, Aunt Mei and the village chief, who were whispering outside the door, couldn't help but look at Li Hongyu, Yang Li'er was right, Li Hongyu had been defending the court from the beginning, and he was also helping Lord Qincha speak.

"Miss Yang, she is also from the Huguang clan, so she naturally believes in Lord Qincha." Li Hongyu had already been prepared, smiled slightly and replied in an orderly manner, this kind of township party concept was deeply rooted in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and he, as a native of Huguang, naturally wanted to defend the Qincha.

"You're all a raccoon dog!" Sure enough, Yang Li'er didn't doubt Li Hongyu's words, glared at him coldly and got up to leave, tears flowed down her cheeks the moment she turned around.

Although Li Hongyu didn't see Yang Li'er crying, he keenly noticed the tears that fell on the ground, and couldn't help but shake his head helplessly, secretly expressing his apologies to Yang Li'er in his heart, he didn't want to hurt Yang Li'er, everything can only be said to be providential.

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