The person who came was dressed in a brocade robe, short in stature, with a thin face, and looked quite capable. His eyes were shining, his brows were tightly locked, and his face was unhappy.

"I'm just here to buy horses in the north, so it's not a crime, right? I was accompanied by several merchants. Why did you invite me here alone? ”

Yuan Xi looked at the information submitted by his subordinates, showing the name of the person in front of him.

"Lu Fan, the word Ziheng, a native of Runan, once avoided disaster Shouchun, and was an official in Huainan."

Yuan Xi raised his eyes and looked at the person in front of him, his beard was very short and disorganized, although he was not as tall as the northerners, but his body and limbs were very strong, and he was obviously not powerless.

The man said: "Even so, but when Yuan Shu was called emperor, a certain person had already left Shouchun, if the adults want to condemn me in this place, please forgive me for not admitting my guilt." ”

Yuan Xi smiled: "You are a guest from Jiangdong, how dare I condemn you?" ”

Lu Fan said: "Then why invite me to come today?" ”

Yuan Xi said: "Collect taxes." You are buying horses in Youzhou, that is, selling horses in Youzhou. No matter who sells you a horse, it is a horse from Youzhou, and I, as the chief official of Youzhou, have the right to collect transaction taxes. ”

Lu Fan said: "Transaction tax? Unheard. ”

Yuan Xi said: "As long as there is a sale, it is a transaction." Between buying and selling, it is the time when value is generated. Where value increases, tax revenues arise. Horses are worth 100 yuan in the grassland, 3 gold in the Central Plains, and 10 gold in Jiangdong, of which the value is accumulated, and I will take its value-added tax. ”

Lu Fan said loudly: "Ridiculous? Where is this claimed? When I buy a horse, I am looking for a farmer to buy a horse, one is not a horse that you set, and the other is not a horse that you feed, how can adults collect taxes? ”

Yuan Xi said: "It is the people on my land who raise horses, and under the protection of my Youzhou government, they can raise horses with peace of mind." This is all taxed as well. ”

Lu Fan frowned, rubbed his chin with his fingers, looked gloomy, thought for a while, and said, "How much tax does the adult want to collect?" ”

"Twenty percent of the transaction value."

"How can that be?"

"Exactly."

Lu Fan left angrily. Yuan Xi took a sip of hot tea with peace of mind, called Tian Chou over and said, "Keep an eye on them, I don't care if he wants to buy a horse, but if he doesn't pay taxes, he won't let him go." If necessary, the people's army could detain the horses he had bought. Forget if I can't see anything else, buy a horse? How can you hide it? ”

Tian Chou said: "Why does the second son have to collect taxes from him? If there is a tax, it will inevitably lower the price of buying horses, and then it will be the horse breeders who will lose. ”

Yuan Xi said: "Horses are an important resource, and horses in Youzhou cannot be sold to outsiders casually. In this land east of the river, I am accustomed to using boats, and I suddenly came to buy horses, do you still want to let horses go to fight in the river? ”

Tian Chou said: "The second prince suspects that he bought a horse, and there is fraud in it?" ”

Yuan Xi said: "The princes who are most short of horses now can't take Jiangdong's turn." ”

Tian Chou was shocked and said, "Could it be Cao Cao?" Cao Cao just went down to Xuzhou, and then took Wancheng, attacked everywhere, and domestic rebellions broke out, which was the place where troops were used. ”

Yuan Xi said: "I heard that the relationship between the Sun family and Cao Cao is good, and they fought against Yuan Shu as the emperor together, and Sun Ce also sent people to Xu Du to receive the official position of the Han Dynasty. Cao Cao wouldn't have thought of coming to me to buy a horse, but in the name of Sun Ce, it was not unusual at all. ”

Tian Chou said: "If this is the case, how can you let him buy a horse and go back?" It is better to send troops to stop them. ”

Yuan Xi said: "This won't work. First, even if we don't sell him horses, Cao Cao can still go to the northwest to buy horses, it's just a big deal to spend a little more money. Second, every wealthy family in Youzhou raises horses, and if we don't let them sell them, we will cut off their financial routes, and they will hold a grudge against us. When the time comes to sell secretly, we will lose even more. It's better to collect taxes first. Tian Yu of Yuyang, I have already instructed him to intercept Yuyang's journey to Ji County, and stop anyone who transports horses. Then spread the news that Jiangdong was going to buy a horse, and exaggerated it. In this way, the price of horses will definitely rise, and we will have to collect more taxes. ”

Tian Chou laughed dryly and said, "Second son, you still keep making bad moves." ”

Yuan Xi said: "This Lu Fan is not a person waiting to be killed, we must always pay attention to their actions. ”

After Lu Fan said goodbye, he went straight to an inn in Ji County, and the southern merchants who came to Youzhou with him shook their heads when they heard him say this. They came to buy horses every year, and the trading volume was very small, and it was only this year that Lu Fan was added, which caused trouble.

Lu Fan also knew that he had touched the interests of others, so he promised to compensate everyone for the difference, which appeased everyone.

One of the merchants said: "Every time in the spring, the price of the horse will rise, and we will take advantage of this season to enter the horse, that is, when the price is low." According to past experience, although the horses in Youzhou have poor endurance and are not large, they are better because they have fewer diseases and have strong adaptability to the south. Therefore, the price is cheap and good. Now that he has been added by this chief official, the price advantage is gone, so it is better to find another buyer. ”

Another said: "Looking for another buyer? It's not easy to say, we finally got here, and then turned to other places, and this time was missed, and the price rose in the middle, and the loss was unknown. ”

Everyone said yes, these are old businessmen, and they will not come so far to buy horses without a certain capital. However, around the end of the year, and at this moment of snow jamming, this kind of thing happened, which really made people unable to advance and retreat, and was in a dilemma.

In the end, Lu Fan said: "Everyone, this Youzhou Thorn History is really greedy, knowing that we want to buy a horse, he offered a high price, obviously wanting to fill his pockets." If we each go to negotiate with someone, we will inevitably fall into the trap and be asked by the merchants who sell horses in Youzhou. It is better for everyone to join forces, advance and retreat together, and force the people of Youzhou to reduce the price of horses. How is it? ”

A person next to him said: "This is a good idea, gather all the horse dealers in Youzhou together, and whoever has a low price will buy whom, and let them bid internally." Anyway, we just huddled together and advanced and retreated together. ”

There is also a humanitarian: "I also want to release the news that Youzhou Thorn History is going to collect taxes, so that everyone can know that it is not that we are lowering the price, but it is really a last resort." If they want to hate, they will hate this Lord Yuan. ”

The inn is a small courtyard and the front hall is an open hotel. While drinking the scalded wine and chatting, everyone rejoiced and felt that the road in front of them was wide again.

Soon a man lifted the curtain in the store, entered the room with the cold breeze, and said, "It's great that everyone is here." Under is the Zuo Sima of the Assassin's Mansion, Lu Fang. ”

Lu Fang casually gave himself an official name, regardless of whether it was appropriate or not, and continued: "Lord Assassin Shi has an order to turn a post house in the south of the city into an exchange for auctioning horses. All the buying and selling of horses takes place there, so that everyone can get together and negotiate the price. The Jockey Club will auction one horse at a time, and the highest bidder wins. Finally, the government issued an approval document for the horses, and only those who received the approval were allowed to be transported out of Youzhou, otherwise they would be confiscated and confiscated. ”

After Lu Fang finished speaking, he turned around and left.

The merchants are also old rivers and lakes, and they hate Yuan Xi's blow.

"This dog officer!"

"Dude, you've drunk too much......"

Lu Fan called some people back to the room to continue to discuss countermeasures.