Sun Yueling squeezed under a cargo ship close to the shore, and saw many Ming officials and officials patrolling back and forth on the shore, and also boarded the ship to inspect the goods. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Sun Yueling was curious and asked Qi Liao, "What are they doing here?" ”

Qi Liao said: "This is to inspect the goods and determine the tax. This is where the Shuimen tax card is located near Tongzhou, and all caravans that are about to enter the capital from the south to the north must pay enough taxes here before they can continue to go north. ”

"No wonder it's blocked like this!" Sun Yueling sighed.

Sun Yueling saw that the group of officials had moved several boxes of goods down the ship, while the vendors who followed the officials had a sad face, and said vigorously "I have lost money" and "I have no profit now".

"What is this for?" He was even more surprised, did they have no money to pay taxes, so they had to offset them with goods?

"Daming commercial tax, thirty taxes one." Qi Liao continued, "These goods sent to Jingshi, in addition to paying 'city tax' and 'shop tax' all the way, also have to pay the so-called 'commercial tax'. This 'commercial tax' is difficult to define at all, and it is difficult to estimate from the actual cost and operating value of the goods, so it is taken every 30 to pay the tax. ”

"Oh......" Sun Yueling thought to himself, looking at the queue of dragons lined up in this canal, I am afraid that they are all waiting to pass the customs and bleed, and the geese will pluck their feathers.

He couldn't help but look at the ship behind him, only to see that this ship was also full of boxes of goods. Seeing that the ship in front of him had been carrying several boxes of goods, the merchant of this ship hurriedly instructed his men to stack up boxes of goods, and dragged a customs officer to talk behind a big tree by the water's edge.

Sun Yueling happened to be fine, wondering if he was going to bribe, and approached over there intentionally or unintentionally. Leaning diagonally behind a large tree, he poked his head out and glanced at it, and as he expected, he saw the merchant take out a few ingots of silver from his bosom and stuff them into the official's hand.

After a while, I saw that the official came to the side of the ship, and after pretending to inspect it, he said: "According to the inspection, the 28 boxes of high-grade silk of the Yang family in Suzhou Prefecture are not full, and there is no obstacle to the passage. ”

Sun Yueling couldn't help but be a little angry, this is really bribery and nonsense on the street, even a primary school student can see it clearly, and the goods on this ship are at least no less than sixty boxes.

"Isn't this talking nonsense with your eyes open?" Sun Yueling almost shouted loudly, but fortunately, the voice was not loud, but it was heard by Qi Liao on the side.

Qi Liao snorted coldly and didn't speak, obviously not surprised.

The two took the ferry with their horses, and after crossing the ferry, Sun Yueling said to Qi Liao: "It seems that there are a lot of smuggling and tax evasion traders in the Ming Dynasty?" ”

Qi Liao glanced at him and said, "What, you just found out?" After a pause, he said, "Do you know why this vendor stacks boxes of goods?" ”

Sun Yueling shook his head and said he didn't know.

Qi Liao said: "In this way, his goods can be counted by piles, instead of boxes by boxes, as long as there are no more than thirty piles, he does not have to pay taxes." ”

"Is it okay?" Sun Yueling felt angry and said, "This Ming official is too good at secretly operating, right?" ”

Qi Liao sneered and said: "My Ming Dynasty civil official group has always been like this, there are policies in the court, they have countermeasures, and they change the law to make money into their own pockets. This is just one aspect, and there are countless 'drifting', 'fire consumption' and the like, and it has long been strange. “

Sun Yueling sighed: "If you continue to be so corrupt and greedy, sooner or later the Ming Dynasty will consume these moths to death." He thought of the later Manchu invasion and the natural disasters in the southwest that led to the Liukou riots, and the imperial court could not come up with the money to counter the rebellion and provide disaster relief, and he couldn't help but sigh.

"If the Son of Heaven was in power, it would not be like this." Qi Liao couldn't help but sigh.

"Why isn't Wanli like this?" Sun Yueling continued to ask.

Qi Liao said: "During the reign of Wanli, the eunuchs in the palace were sent to various places to supervise the administration and collect taxes. Therefore, the rights of these civil officials were greatly monitored and constrained, and it was difficult for them to embezzle, take bribes, and take advantage of them, but the state treasury was also replenished, and the national strength was great, and they not only won the three major campaigns, but also took them from the people for the people, and greatly developed the livelihoods of all coastal areas. ”

Sun Yueling was surprised: "Is there no eunuch supervision now, and why should this be canceled?" ”

Qi Liao's face suddenly became angry, and he said hatefully: "This is the support of the Donglin Party." ”

"Huh?" Sun Yueling was taken aback, how could this be linked to the Donglin Party again.

Seeing that he was surprised, Qi Liao continued, and said: "Since the Donglin Party assisted Guangzong to ascend the throne, he completely abandoned and changed the policy of the Emperor of Wanli, not only canceled the 'salt supervisor' and 'mine supervisor' sent to various places, but also canceled the 'tea supervisor' and 'sea supervisor' that the Ming Dynasty relied on as the pillars, resulting in the treasury becoming increasingly empty, and the income could not make ends meet. ”

Sun Yueling seemed to be depressed when he heard what he said, and couldn't help but say: "The fourth brother seems to be very prejudiced against the Donglin Party? ”

Qi Liao snorted heavily between his nostrils, and said: "If it weren't for the Donglin Party, my Ming Dynasty would be able to extract a large amount of taxes from tea, salt, cloth, and maritime trade every year, which would be dozens of times the income of agricultural taxes. The move of the Donglin Party is simply a disaster for the country. ”

Sun Yueling didn't expect Qi Liao to have such a deep prejudice against the Donglin Party members who had always been respected in later generations, and he was also confused for a while, and he couldn't help but think that he was about to enter the Beijing Division.

After passing through Tongzhou, the two mortgaged the suburbs of Beijing at noon.

Qi Liao pointed ahead and said loudly, "We have finally arrived in Jingshi." ”

Sun Yueling looked up and looked ahead, only to see that in the distance of the sky, an endless gray city wall lay horizontally on the wilderness, faintly hazy, and only the vague outline of the city wall could be seen. Even so, you can also feel the vastness and magnificence of this huge city, like a real dragon, which has been lying there since ancient times, magnificent and magnificent, swallowing mountains and seas.

Sun Yueling worked hard and finally arrived in Beijing, and his heart was full of pride.

In front of him is the highest decision-making center of the Ming Empire, and everything he has will start from there.

He couldn't help but think of a classic line, patted his crotch and belly, and said loudly: "I've seen it, this is Luoyang, the capital of the gods." ”

seemed to feel that he had said something wrong, so he corrected it again and said: "I have seen it, this is the capital of the Ming Dynasty - Beijing City!" ”