Wang Huaqiang couldn't help but interject: "Even if the Xue family is so cruel and cruel, and they use both grace and power, once they kill people like this in the territory of the Great Sui, and hang thousands of people's heads outside the city wall, will the government not care about it?" Second, this trade is managed by the government, and the government is also responsible for collecting taxes and something, so why did he become the head of the Xue family again? ”

Ma Laosan sighed: "Brother Li, you have to know that the emperor is far away here, and Liangzhou itself has been a place of fierce and brave folk customs since ancient times, and it is difficult to enforce the laws and regulations of the mainland here." ”

"The governor of Liangzhou set up by the imperial court in Liangzhou, and Guzang City in the west of the festival, are mainly used to defend against the Turks in the north and suppress the Qiang people in the south, and the troops are scattered, so that the Jincheng, where the county is located, has only two or three thousand officers and soldiers, and most of them are old and weak, far less powerful and brave than the guards of the Xue family."

"So whether it's the governor of Liangzhou or the history of Lanzhou Thorn, the requirement here is that as long as there is nothing to do. However, the imperial court really did not have the strength to deal with the bandits of all ethnic groups along the way, and even if there were several times when they sent troops to clean up, these bandits were far away at that time, waiting for the army to collect troops and then go and return. ”

"You have to know that the army of the Ludao Imperial Court has no benefit in this kind of purge, if you can't kill people, you can't make military merits, and you don't have any enthusiasm."

"But Xue Ju is different, he eats the trade rice on this road, so he is naturally most concerned about this. As his business grew and after eliminating the giant Kou Shalifei in this area, the imperial court also made him the governor of Jincheng County, and these guards under him were also organized into legal government soldiers, but the Xue family was responsible for all the military expenses. ”

"So Xue Ju can kill people and prisoners in the name of suppressing bandits. The mountain here is high and the emperor is far away, and the governor of Liangzhou doesn't care much about it. Because the Turkic threat in the north is much stronger than that of the Qiang. So he was happy to see that there was a powerful man here who could keep the peace of one party. As for the imperial court. Why not receive taxes from the Silk Road trade? ”

As soon as Mai Tiezhu heard this, he immediately said, "Boss Ma, didn't you just say that the tax rate is set by the Xue family?" Why do you say that the imperial court can collect taxes now? ”

Ma Laosan smiled slightly: "This is Xue Ju's strength again, it turns out that in order to guard against bandits along the way, and in order to be able to levy taxes on caravans traveling to and from the Silk Road, many checkpoints have been set up on this road, but if a large number of horse bandits are coming." These checkpoints can't be handled, if the caravan is robbed, there will be no return, and it is impossible to have money to hand over to the imperial court. ”

"But since there is Xue Ju, the road has become peaceful, Xue Ju became the governor of Jincheng, but also abolished all the checkpoints on the road, by him sent people to escort all the way, the goods in Jincheng at the price of the convert, as long as the money is collected thirty percent. As for the thirty percent of the money collected, it is divided into two parts, and the fixed tax rate handed over to the imperial court is one out of ten. And to the Xue family, it will be divided into two percent. ”

Wang Huaqiang said dissatisfiedly: "This tax is too high, you have to pay 30% of the tax for a business, so what else can you earn?" Are these businessmen willing to do the same? ”

Ma Laosan shook his head, and the light in his eyes became dimmed: "Brother Li, you must know that the Silk Road is a profitable business, as long as the carpets and wine of Persia arrive in Daxing, they will be more than ten times the profit, and the silk of my Dasui will be the same price as gold when it reaches the West, and it is far from making much money like the interstate trade in the mainland." ”

Wang Huaqiang also knew that there was a saying about Wanli on the Silk Road, so he was relieved and nodded.

Ma Laosan continued: "Instead of all the goods being robbed by bandits on this road and losing all their money, it is better to spend 20% of the profits to ask the Xue family to protect them, so that as long as the goods arrive in Daxing, they will still make a lot of money." Besides, if you can abolish the taxes collected at the checkpoints along the way, in fact, these caravans will take advantage of it. ”

"Over the years, the Xue family has become rich by relying on these taxes, and the court will naturally not care about his affairs when it has money, and it will also turn a blind eye to him spending money to buy Qiang people and bandits along the way. It is said that his strength is far more than the more than 1,000 soldiers in this city, and there are many people outside the city who are also under his command, and they are controlled by him, but they do not play the banner. ”

"Just like the more than 1,000 strong men who went to Hehuang last time to hunt down and kill the Tuyuhun horse bandit tribe, none of them were official soldiers in the city, and I heard that it was to avoid causing trouble between the two countries. After the most Lu Hou, Xue Ju went around the outside of the city, and selected more than a thousand knights from the Qiang tribe and Han bandits to do that, which shows that his strength has far surpassed that of this golden city. ”

Wang Huaqiang sighed softly: "After listening to so much, I think this Xue Ju is the soil emperor of this golden city, and everything in this area, whether it is business or settlement, you have to ask him to nod, and his power is greater than that of the county guard." Li has also traveled a lot of places, and he has also seen some powerful families, but none of them are as powerful as him. ”

Ma Laosan suddenly smiled: "I think Brother Li's body and bearing, should also be a hero, although Xue Ju is brutal, but in the face of the world's heroes are also wholeheartedly accepted, he once had a word first, if someone can beat him in a martial arts, or go through fifty rounds under him, then the guards on this Silk Road will not take a penny." ”

Wang Huaqiang was interested when he heard it: "Is this true? ”

Ma Laosan nodded: "Xue Ju has always been as good as a mountain, and he doesn't let go easily, but he will definitely do it after he says it, just like he said before that whoever dares to fight his caravan idea will destroy all people, Tuyuhun people don't believe in evil, what is the result?" The same is true of this martial arts competition, every year there are hundreds of heroes who come to the door to challenge, and none of them can survive. ”

Wang Huaqiang was shocked when he heard this: "It's just a martial arts competition, but you also want to take people's lives?" ”

The expression on Ma Laosan's face became solemn: "Yes, he is armed with full armor in martial arts, just like on the battle array, he fights to the death with others, and he will never tolerate mercy." In the past two years, there have been more and more capable people under him, and he doesn't have to fight in person anymore, and if he wants to compete with him, he has to fight a few of his subordinates first. ”

Wang Huaqiang let out an "oh": "What other powerful subordinates does he have?" ”

"Fufeng man Tang Bi, Zong Luohu, and Guzang Chang Zhongxing, all turned out to be the most fierce horse thieves in this Jincheng area, the first two were defeated after competing with that Xue Ju, and were impressed by his martial arts and threw themselves into his door, while Chang Zhongxing led the crowd to join Xue Ju after seeing Xue Ju destroy the Tuyuhun tribe."

Mai Tiezhu suddenly interjected: "Didn't Xue Ju want to kill people during the martial arts competition, why did those two people lose under him but save their lives, and they were still willing to die for him?" ”

Ma Laosan said: "The martial arts killing is aimed at those who don't want to be his subordinates, just want the Xue family to be a guard for free, and as far as I know, no one has ever gone through ten rounds under Xue Ju's hands, maybe he thinks that such a person is not even qualified to be his subordinate, so he shoots mercilessly." And these three people are all heroes, and they are willing to work for him, so naturally they will not kill them. ”

"In addition, Xue Ju's wife, Ju, is also fierce."

As soon as Mai Tiezhu heard that this woman was also fierce, he hurriedly asked, "How is this Xue Ju's wife and son fierce?" ”

Ma Laosan smiled slightly: "Xue Ju's wife, Ju, was originally a Hu person from the Western Regions. Her father gathered in the mountains and forests around the Qilian Mountain, and this Ju clan was also skilled in bows and horses, and his martial arts were strong, even if he was an ordinary man, more than ten of them could not get close to her. ”

"Xue Ju served as a guard for other caravans when he was a teenager, and when he passed through the cottage of the Ju clan, he was attacked by the Ju clan's troops. As a result, the two did not fight and did not know each other, Ju was good at making double knives and leather whips, and if they were far away, they were galloping, Xue Ju fought with her for dozens of rounds, and captured her alive, but he did not kill him immediately like he did with other bandits, but put it back. ”

The Ju father and daughter led the crowd to surrender the next day, and the Ju family became Xue Ju's wife, and the Ju family has been a thief on the Northwest Road for many years, and knows everything about the big and small bandits. Later, Xue Ju was able to successfully defeat the bandits, more than half of which was due to the credit of his wife. ”

Wang Huaqiang had experienced this incident back then, and when he thought of the Ju family's galloping on the horse, he couldn't help laughing: "In this border of Jincheng, there are such characters?" (To be continued......)

PS: Next shift, 19 o'clock.