Yongdu City is still standing tall, but now he has changed owners.

Wang Zunzhi stood at the gate of the city, looking at this once majestic city that had just experienced the poison of war, and his heart was really full of emotion.

Large sections of the moat have been filled, the flowing river has been cut into one stagnant pond after another, and on the city walls, you can clearly see the dents of different shades everywhere, and the city towers are gone, only some broken walls and some blackened but still stubbornly probing into the sky of the beams and rafters. Half of the brick wall is isolated in it, and it seems that a gust of wind can completely blow it down when it is already a little shaky.

The thick gate, which used to divide the inside and outside of the city into two worlds, was now a large hole, one of which leaned crookedly against the hole in the gate, and the other was simply dragged out and leaned against the wall, and there was a big hole in it, and the whole gate was distorted and deformed.

Wang Zunzhi didn't see many Ming soldiers, but saw some people wearing the uniforms of Thunder Army officers with empty hands, leading a team of ordinary people to clean up the debris everywhere, some people were busy working on the city wall, and the brick wall that Wang Zunzhi saw just now was quickly knocked down by these people holding a pillar. Trolleys were pushed down from the city, loaded with cleared building materials, and piled up in an orderly manner on top of the clearings. Others, wielding hoes and shovels digging through the clogged moat.

"Why is there no one to guard it?" Wang Zunzhi asked with some confusion.

Cheng Xiaoyu smiled: "What is there to guard?" The war is over. These people work, and we are all paid in the Ming Dynasty, and they are not working in vain. ”

"Give back the money? Isn't it hard labor? ”

"Wang Cunzheng, it seems that you are still very unfamiliar with our Daming policy!" Cheng Xiaoyu laughed: "In Daming, there is no such thing as hard labor, no matter what the imperial court wants to do or how many people are needed, it will have to be paid." Generally speaking, some merchants contracted a certain thing from the imperial court, and the imperial court paid them, and then they went to find people to do this thing. It's a good idea, things are done quickly and well, no one wants to be lazy and slippery, and the longer the construction period, the less money I make. ”

"And what's going on with these Thunder Army officers?" Wang Zunzhi asked again.

"This, at first glance, is the handwriting of those merchants, they are not familiar with life here, how can they find people? Someone will believe in them! They must have found the military, and the military provided them with some officers, these people are all old people from Yongdu, and there is naturally no problem in recruiting some people to work. And they're more trustworthy to the locals, aren't they? This is the easiest way to do it. Cheng Xiaoyu seems to be very familiar with these things, mainly the same thing, he has done it in Tiger Prison, Danyang, Xingyuan and other places, and he was one of the participants at that time.

"The imperial court is not afraid that these officers will take the opportunity to stir up trouble?" Wang Zunzhi was a little shocked.

"What's so scary? There are so many garrisons inside and outside this city? What do you think can happen? No one is a fool, and someone will do something that clearly has no future? It's better to be an honest officer and make a little more money. Besides, these Thunder Army officers are still in detention, and they still don't know their future, so if you do a little more and leave a little good image, you may not be able to get any benefits in the future, don't you say? Cheng Xiaoyu explained.

Listening to Cheng Xiaoyu's words, Wang Zunzhi was a little confused, this is completely different from his previous concept, the court requisitioned the people to do things, and actually paid for it? This subverted his perception.

"Don't you understand?" Cheng Xiaoyu said triumphantly: "I didn't understand it at first, but later one of my superiors told me about the Tao here, he is an old man. He said that if the people have money to earn, the people will have passion, and only when they earn money will they have food to eat, and they will have peace of mind when they have food, and they will naturally not make trouble when they are stable. This is a tried-and-true way to calm down a place, and the common people always have to spend the money they earn, they want to buy things, then the money will flow back into the pockets of the merchants, and the merchants need to pay taxes to the court, and the court does this, so that the money is earned outside, and some of it is still returned to the treasury, but the things are done satisfactorily. ”

"That's really the way!" Wang Zunzhi nodded, although he didn't understand it well, he always felt that it was this reason.

"There is a saying in Daming, let the money flow, this thing is useful, otherwise, it will be too hard to wipe your butt!" Cheng Xiaoyu laughed. Of course, this is only applicable to the Ming Dynasty now, and after all, there must be only the Ming Dynasty, and paper money is the currency in circulation.

A group of people stepped into the city, there were a few Ming soldiers guarding the city gate, although Cheng Xiaoyu was wearing a Ming army uniform, he still honestly took out his waist card and handed it to them, and then pointed out what Wang Zunzhi said to them, and the group entered the Yongdu City without hindrance.

Just like outside the city, inside the city, it is exactly the same hot scene. The houses near the city walls, which had been almost destroyed in the fighting, are now being cleared. Occasionally, you can see a few intact houses, but now they have become shops, and there are not many goods in them, basically for food and family daily use.

The merchants who followed the Ming army to fight around had already figured out what the common people needed most after a big war.

Obviously, the shops were doing very well and were full of people. As Cheng Xiaoyu said, the first thing ordinary people do when they earn money is to buy everything they need for daily life.

"Now that no one in Yongdu City has come to collect their taxes, these merchants can make enough money." Wang Zunzhi had some regrets.

"Want to collect taxes?" Cheng Xiaoyu laughed, "They don't dare to borrow their courage." These businessmen now declare a month's sales to the tax department of the imperial court for a month, and then pay taxes to the imperial court according to these, and if you dare to evade taxes, you will be punished with bankruptcy, and you will never want to be in this business again. ”

"Self-declaration? Isn't that a deception? I sold for a thousand taels and insisted that I only sold a hundred taels, who knows? Wang Zunzhi said unconvinced.

"People who think like you are now regretting it!" Cheng Xiaoyu sneered: "Control from the source, you buy the goods, you have an account book, you buy the goods from that workshop, and the other party also has an account book, right?" Our Daming tax department is ruthless, the audit is called a terrible, some people in our tiger prison did this at the beginning, and now, ah, they all go to the mine to mine. So our businessmen in the Ming Dynasty are honest, who wants to spend their lives for this money? ”

Wang Zunzhi listened silently, and only after a while did he say: "Sure enough, it is different from our Great Qin. ”

"Of course not." Cheng Xiaoyu smiled, "So now Daqin has become a Da Ming." ”

"By the way, Brother Cheng, you are a soldier and have never done business, how can you be so clear about these things?" Wang Zunzhi asked with some curiosity.

Cheng Xiaoyu sighed and patted his leg, "General Ma said that he would ask the master to give me a pair of prosthetic legs, so that I could still fight on horseback, but I didn't dare to think like this, if I can't become a soldier, I will lose a leg, and I will naturally not be able to do farm work, so I will think about doing business in the future, so during the time of recuperation, don't you just inquire about these things all day long?" There are many merchants on the left and right sides of the Shuanglian City, and these things are easy to inquire about. In the future, I will have to raise a woman and a baby! Promise Liu Kui's things, we have to do a good job, not to mention what wealth they can enjoy, how can we let them have food and clothing? So, we have to find a way to make money. ”

"You're such a good man who values his word." Wang Zunzhi looked at him with admiration, "Actually, if you don't admit this, no one will say anything about you." ”

Cheng Xiaoyu changed color: "Although I haven't read any books, I still know a little bit about being a man, Liu Kui could have killed me at that time, but he spared my life, when he was dying, he told me this, and I also promised it personally, and what I promised will naturally be done." If I die on the battlefield, it doesn't matter, since I am alive, then I naturally have to do things well. ”

"Well said, Brother Cheng, I have made up my mind for your brother." Wang Zunzhi patted Cheng Xiaoyu on the shoulder and said: "Brother, it is not easy to live in the city, even if Liu Kui's family is still alive, it must be difficult for orphans and widows to be in the city, if you persuade them to come to our Huangnishan Village, with me to take care of you, brother, you will be less worried in the future." ”

"Let's talk about it, find someone first, recognize the door, and talk about things slowly in the future." Cheng Xiaoyu said: "By the way, how to go in Sanyuanli?" ”

"I'll take you!" Wang Zunzhi said a few words to the people who accompanied him, asking them to leave first, but he took Cheng Xiaoyu to another street. "It's quite far from here. Liu Kui's level was not low before, and he could lead thousands of cavalry to fight alone, but he couldn't compare with a small miscellaneous fish like me. They live in Sanyuanli, which can be regarded as a relatively wealthy neighborhood in Yongdu City. It's just that after the big war, everyone was the same, unless it was the real rich and noble, there would be some privileges. ”

"This is really troublesome Wang Cunzheng, delaying your business." Cheng Xiaoyu was a little embarrassed.

"What is this? It's a trivial matter, and you can't talk about it! Wang Zunzhi said with a smile.