The low and dilapidated city walls, the dry moat, and the dust that constantly flutters on the official road, constitute the suburbs of Quzhou City, starting from Luzhou, this road passed through Changzhou, Hezhou and Guang'an and other places, Wu Shaogang's expression is becoming more and more severe, he knows very well that after the baptism of war, Tongchuan Fu Road, it is unlikely to be prosperous and prosperous in a short period of time, the people and farmers are still struggling on the death line, Fuzhou County Yamen needs to make great efforts to make the people basically stable, But the withering situation he saw along the way still made him unacceptable to the mentally prepared. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Not only Wu Shaogang, but even Lu Xiufu, his face became unsightly.

There are scattered liquor shops outside the state, and it seems that business is very poor, and there are few customers, and it is almost impossible to sustain themselves.

Wu Shaogang stopped in front of a dilapidated liquor shop two miles away from the state capital, and the time was close to noon, and he planned to enter the state city after eating a full meal in the wine shop.

It is said to be a wine shop, but it is actually an earthen embryo house, and a wooden shed is temporarily built on the vacant land outside the house, and a shabby-looking but clean table is placed in the shed.

Wu Shaogang and his party were ten people, each of whom was riding a horse, and the formation was not small.

An old man with white hair came out of the house, and after seeing Wu Shaogang and the others, his expression was a little surprised and shrunk.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are a small shop here, and we don't have anything good to entertain...

"Old man, if you have anything to eat, even if you bring it up, we are passers-by, and we can enter the city after we are full."

As soon as Wu Shaogang's words fell, Yuan Shichun took out a half-run copper coin from his body and put it on the table.

The old man saw the copper coins on the table, and he couldn't believe it, so he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

Wu Shaogang motioned to Yuan Shichun and handed the copper coin to the old man.

Yuan Shichun picked up the copper coin on the table, walked in front of the old man, and put the copper coin in the old man's hand.

Only then did the old man react and speak while refusing.

"I don't need so much, I don't need so much, thirty dollars is enough...

Everyone knows that copper coins are worth more than Jiaozi, Yuan Shichun took out half of the copper coins, which is full of 300 yuan, and they are a group of ten people, which is 30 yuan per person, which is obviously not enough to eat and drink in the restaurant, but in small wine shops and small inns, it is indeed a bit much.

Small inns and small wine shops, guests are unlikely to order food, only what to eat.

However, each person has three cents, and ten people have thirty cents, so they shouldn't be able to eat anything, which shows that this old man is honest, and he is indeed doing a small business, in order to be able to barely make ends meet.

Wu Shaogang came all the way and specially instructed Yuan Shichun to eat and drink in the small wine shops on both sides of the official road, and give as many copper coins as possible, so that at least he could temporarily help these wine shops barely maintain.

The small liquor shops on the side of the road are run by ordinary people, and their whole families are counting on the profit of the liquor shops to survive, and if the business is not good, it means that the whole family will be cold and starving.

Yuan Shichun waved at the old man.

"This is the meal money paid by the young master of my family, the old man accepts it, and quickly brings the wine and food...

The dishes were quickly served, all home-cooked, and the meat dishes were mainly pickled meats, and each plate was hearty.

The sake can only be said to be average, it may be locally brewed, the taste is spicy, and the taste is very bad.

Wu Shaogang didn't care so much, and the food was very delicious.

Interestingly, Lu Xiufu also eats very deliciously, and when he drinks, he tries not to show his expression.

Needless to say, Yuan Shichun and the others are simply gobbling up.

After the table was full of dishes, the old man watched from the side, constantly rubbing his hands, for fear that Wu Shaogang and his party would not be satisfied.

I'm afraid the old man didn't expect that the coarse tea and light rice on the side of the road could still deal with these people who seemed to be unusual, the old man had a lot of experience, and he was quite able to recognize people, and when he saw Wu Shaogang and others at the first glance, he felt a strong sense of nobility.

To say that the surrounding areas of Quzhou, including the entire Tongchuan Fu Road, have not been completely stabilized, and there are bandits robbing everywhere in many places, and the Zhuangding Minshe, which was famous all over Tongchuan Fu Road, was also suppressed by Liu Quan, turned underground, and gradually evolved into the nature of bandits.

Under such circumstances, it is unlikely that businessmen will be able to move around Tongchuan Fu Road, after all, it is a luxury to make money under the premise that safety cannot be guaranteed.

This group of people seems to have traveled a long distance, and they can arrive in Quzhou safe and sound, obviously they have the ability, so that the bandits hiding in remote places do not dare to act rashly, how can such a person be a businessman.

Half an hour later, the old man no longer looked at Wu Shaogang and his party, and looked in the direction of the city.

When Wu Shaogang just put down the bowl, a group of people appeared on the official road, and a noisy voice came immediately.

When the old man saw this group of people, his face changed significantly, and his body even began to tremble slightly.

A big man in a public uniform with a meaty face walked up to the old man, didn't say anything, and stretched out his hand.

The copper coin that Yuan Shichun gave to the old man just now was put into the house, and at this moment, the old man should have no money.

The old man trembled and reached into his arms, took out two banknotes, and handed them to the big man.

Judging from the color of the banknotes, Wu Shaogang concluded that this is a hundred jiaozi, and two are two hundred jiaozi.

From the price quoted by the old man, Wu Shaogang and his party need 30 copper coins to eat, which is equivalent to 120 Wen's Jiaozi, and this time the Jiaozi of 200 Wen was actually pasted upside down, it may be that Wu Shaogang and his party gave 300 copper coins, so the old man gave 200 Wen's Jiaozi.

As for the identities of these people, Wu Shaogang can guess without introducing them, these people should be public officials in the yamen, of course, those followers are not public officials, they are just miscellaneous people temporarily summoned by the government.

These people appeared in small liquor shops outside the city, collecting taxes on commerce.

Dahan looked at Wu Shaogang and his party, and then at the old man, clenched the Jiaozi in his hand with his left hand, and slapped it with his right hand.

"Old thing, do you want to rebel, that's it..."

The old man's body could not withstand the slap of the big man, so he staggered back a step or two, and sat on the ground, with blood stains already appearing at the corners of his mouth.

"Official, there's really not much...

The old man didn't expect to be beaten at all, and he kept telling forgiveness and justifying himself.

The big man waved his hand, not looking at the old man sitting on the ground at all.

"Go into the house and search it, and if you find the money, see that I have broken down the bones of your old thing..."

As soon as Dahan's words fell, the old man on the ground had already tried to stand up to stop him, but unfortunately he was kicked by Dahan before he could stand up.

The old man lay on his back in agony, unable to get up again.

All this happened in front of him, but Wu Shaogang's expression was unusually calm.

Lu Xiufu's eyes were already bursting with anger, if he hadn't followed Wu Shao to Quzhou City, he would not have been able to witness such a cruel scene.

Yuan Shichun and the others looked at Wu Shaogang, without Wu Shaogang's order, they would not have done it.

Without waiting for Wu Shao to speak, Lu Xiufu had already stood up, walked to the old man's side, and prepared to help the old man up.

"What are you doing here, in broad daylight, are you bandits...

Lu Xiufu may have been extremely angry, and his speech trembled a little.

Dahan looked at Lu Xiufu who rushed over, and there was a hint of a smile in his eyes.

The old man on the ground, despite the blood stains on the corners of his mouth, pushed Hideo Lu hard.

"Guest officer, this matter has nothing to do with you, sir, it really has nothing to do with them...

The big man laughed on his back, squinted at Lu Xiufu, and spoke quite arrogantly.

"I'm not looking for you, but you're looking for yourself, do you think you have nothing to do, don't worry, I'm going to look for you soon...

A miscellaneous man rushed out of the house with a copper coin in his hand.

When Dahan saw the copper coin, the smile on his face became more obvious, and this kind of smile was nondescript no matter how you looked at it.

The old man who was helped up by Lu Xiufu had no blood on his face.

"Old thing, what is the fate of resisting the government, I don't need to say it, but I'm in a good mood today, I don't want to make a big fuss, you see how this matter is solved...

The big man was obviously talking to the old man, but his eyes were looking at Lu Xiufu.

Wu Shaogang's face was still calm, but his eyes became cold, this big man was not stupid, he was obviously thinking about taking out money, and the big man knew that the old man didn't have any money, so he made up his mind from Lu Xiufu, who was in the early stages.

This big man must have been a public official in the yamen, and he was responsible for collecting taxes.

The imperial court exempted Tongchuan Fulu from agricultural taxes for three years, but did not exempt from commercial and trade taxes, that is to say, those engaged in commercial and trade activities still have to pay taxes, but Wu Shaogang issued an order not to levy commercial taxes for the time being, and wait for Tongchuan Fulu to stabilize in various places, and then discuss the method of collecting commercial and trade taxes.

Quzhou's approach is obviously the opposite.

One of the biggest questions is where the collected trade taxes will end up.

Since Tongchuan Fulu does not levy trade taxes for the time being, the money and grain collected by the local government will not be recorded in the accounts, and the final result of not recording the accounts is that all the money and grain will go into the pockets of individuals.

This is an obvious sucking of people's blood and drawing ointment.

If such an atmosphere spreads, Tongchuan Fulu should not think about stability at all.

This can't help but make Wu Shaogang think of the bandits that are prevalent in various parts of Tongchuan Fu Road, it is rumored that the common people have a very good opinion of bandits, far stronger than the opinion of government officials, because bandits under the banner of robbing the rich and helping the poor and defending the country, generally do not bully the weak people, and the officials are just the opposite, aiming at the weak people, and in the face of those powerful people, they are nodding their heads.

The situation that appeared before us has already explained everything.

Lu Xiufu didn't speak directly, and also looked at Wu Shaogang. (To be continued.) )