Ji Yan silently listened to Wang Ding's explanation, and understood some of the circumstances of the coins in this period, so he no longer embarrassed the two officials, and beckoned a guard who followed him from afar, and asked him to take a large string of cloth coins and hand them to the officials at the door. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info When the two officials saw it, their faces changed suddenly, they glanced at each other, knelt down and kowtowed together, and said in fear: "The little official came to see my king, I didn't know that the big king was here, please forgive the little official for having no eyes." ”

Ji Yan glanced at Wang Ding in surprise, and the latter said in a low voice: "The cloth coins brought by the guards have royal markings, and the officials naturally know them, coupled with my king's extraordinary bearing, they will recognize you as the son of heaven." ”

After Ji Yan let the two officials get up, he said coldly to them: "This king is here to observe the people's feelings, and he must not make a noise, otherwise he will not be spared." ”

The two officials agreed to their promises, and one of them secretly ran to the side of the market when Ji Yan and the others were not paying attention.

Accompanied by Wang Ding, Ji Yan walked slowly towards the market, thinking that maybe he could make a fuss about the difference in coins in various countries, and it shouldn't be too much of a problem to make a little money, but he couldn't figure out a clue for a while, so he let go of this stubble first, and looked around the market.

The whole market is made of thick wood, and the internal layout is very similar to that of the farmers' market in later generations, divided into many areas, each area sells different goods, some sell fresh goods, some sell dry goods, some sell handmade products, some sell agricultural products, some sell furniture and farm tools, and even sell slaves...... All kinds of items, divided into categories. It's just that there are not many people selling things now, even fewer people buying things, there is no crowd of people and gongs and drums, only the occasional sound of bargaining, which makes people feel that this is not like a market, but like a village in the countryside, only the building of Nuoda is silently telling its former glory, which makes Ji Yan sigh.

In addition to these sparse people who buy and sell things, there are also many people wearing official uniforms who are walking around and patrolling, and it seems that there are more people than people who are buying and selling.

"What do these people do?" Ji Yan pointed to these walking people and asked Wang Ding.

Wang Ding said as he walked: "The market has various management personnel, and the highest management is the market, which is in charge of the market's governance, political punishment, measurement, and prohibition; The subordinate pledgee is responsible for assessing the price of goods, slaves, cattle and horses, weapons, and rare things in the market; Jia Shi is responsible for identifying the goods so that they are reasonably classified and the price is fair; The shop is responsible for collecting the shop tax, excise tax, quality tax, fines, and municipal housing tax in the market; He was responsible for proclaiming the existing decrees and promulgating the relevant penalties and prohibitions. Inspectors are responsible for inspecting the market and arresting violators of the ban, as well as those in fancy dress, peeping, and carrying strange items; The perpetrator is responsible for imposing various penalties on the offenders arrested by the supervisor. ”

"The market is divided into different types according to the different goods, and each store has a chief, who is in charge of the decree of the store, displays the goods in the store, collects the excise tax of the store, and is in charge of the precept of the store."

Ji Yan secretly smacked his tongue when he heard this, he couldn't imagine that the market management in this era was so fine, and it seemed to be more standardized than the farmers' markets in later generations.

Wang Ding continued: "It's just that today, there are very few traders in the market every day, and the government can't afford to support too many managers, so various management personnel have been streamlined and merged a lot, such as the secretary of the inspector who has the responsibility of the director, and the boss who has also taken on the responsibilities of the hostage and the housekeeper. ”

Listening to Wang Ding's explanation and looking at the huge space of the market, Ji Yan's mind flashed: With only a slight change, this ready-made building can be turned into a large residential area for commercial and residential purposes, and wouldn't it be able to accommodate a lot of people? The low mood can't help but rise.

At this moment, a public service officer with a torture staff in his hand came over and stopped in front of the two of them, and asked fiercely, "What are you doing?" ”

Ji Yan said in a deep voice: "What else can you do when you enter the market?" It's either selling or buying! ”

This public service officer has no eyesight, and he can't see the identities of the two, of course, the people who enter the bazaar are basically Chinese or affiliated farmers, and it is impossible to have any identity. He continued, "The two of them have no goods, they don't look like merchants; Walking around the market, looking around, and not looking around, but not like a buyer. What exactly do you do, tell me honestly, otherwise you will blame the ruthlessness of the company's subordinates. "After speaking, he took the torture rod in his hand for a round, and it was a big idea to beat you without discussion.

Ji Yan couldn't help but be happy, this Nima is really interesting, you have to look at the money when you enter the door, and you have to be interrogated when you come in to shop, I'm afraid you will have to be arrested and beaten up if you don't say a word, this is the market? This is better than the casino rules of later generations, right? With such a business attitude, even if the Zhou Kingdom is very good and powerful now, I am afraid it will be prohibitive, not to mention that it is only a dying twilight country.

Seeing this situation, the guards who followed from afar immediately rushed over, took out the bronze sword on his body and put it on the shoulders of this Siji, so frightened that his legs were weak, and he almost sat down on the ground, his face was blue and red for a while, and he said in a trembling voice: "Wait, what do you want?" ”

A personal guard said coldly: "Hugh is noisy, get out of here immediately!" ”

Ji Yan shook his head at the guards and whispered, "Let him go." ”

The two guards withdrew their bronze swords and retreated behind Ji Yan, their eyes glaring at the priest fiercely, and their eyes were full of warnings: You kid be careful.

Ji Yan arched his hand to the Si Ji who was at a loss and said: "The subordinates don't understand the rules, and I hope the Si Ji will forgive me." Contemptible people come here just to walk around, take a look casually, and will never affect the market order, and ask the inspector to be accommodating. ”

This Si Ji can see it now, this young master is not an ordinary person, otherwise how can there be such an arrogant guard, it is better to borrow the slope to get off the donkey and let them look around to finish the matter. He straightened his crumpled collar and regained a bit of the unique aura of a government official: "This department sees that you, a little Langjun, are still knowledgeable, so I will allow you to take a look at it casually, but you must not make any other moves." ”

Ji Yan nodded slightly, and was about to walk forward with Wang Ding, when several public service personnel surrounded him, and one of them said loudly: "Yo! Do you want to go wild here because there are two dog minions? You have to figure it out, this is a kingdom city, directly under the jurisdiction of the local government, no matter who you are, you have to follow the rules when you come here. ”

Ji Yan stopped the guards who wanted to rush out and do something, and said in a deep voice: "What are you going to do?" ”

"According to the law, those who plot wrongdoers shall be given twenty lashes and a rod out of the market." This person said fiercely, and at the same time exchanged glances with several men holding whips and canes around him, and forced towards Ji Yan and the others.

Ji Yan didn't laugh angrily: "Hahaha, it's really an official faction!" It was the same bird thousands of years ago. ”

The public who came around all showed doubts on their faces, what did this little Langjun say? What kind of style did the official family do thousands of years ago? But no matter what you say, after catching a meal and cleaning up, you will naturally be honest.

Ji Yan saw the situation and knew that he couldn't be good, so it was better to simply show his identity, his face sank and he continued: "Tell you to come over, this king wants to see what kind of bull fork character this is, and turn a good market into this field." ”

When everyone heard this, they knew that it was the Son of Heaven who had arrived, and they were all shocked, and they knelt down to meet them in a hurry, and the crows knelt in circles.

At this time, an obese middle-aged man in his forties hurried from a distance, knelt down from a distance and shouted: "Weichen Wang Peng, see my king." I don't know that my king is coming, and the ministers have not come away to greet him, please forgive me for the sin of neglect. ”

Ji Yan looked at this middle-aged man with beautiful clothes and fat head and big ears, and said in a deep voice: "Your name is Wang Peng?" What's in charge here? ”

"Qi Yu my king, Weichen is the city here."

"Good. Get up! ”

After getting up, Wang Peng quickly stepped forward and said: "Enlighten my king, the land of the market is dirty and dirty, and it is really not suitable to stay for a long time." My king, please. With that, he stretched out his hand to guide him, and a flattering smile appeared on his face full of fat.

With Wang Peng's guidance, Ji Yan took Wang Ding to the front of a house next to the market, and there were more than a dozen bays in a row, and it was estimated that this should be the market management office. Walking into the largest room in the middle, Ji Yan found that there were a lot of desks arranged inside, and some desks were also placed with some bamboo slips and silks and other things, this should be the desk, but there was no one empty, it was estimated that Wang Peng asked them to avoid it in advance.

Wang Peng let Ji Yan and Wang Ding to the two main seats side by side, and then came to the front of the two, lifted the brocade robe, knelt down dignified and said: "Weichen meets my king, queen." ”

Looking at Wang Peng who was kneeling on the ground like a pile of fat meat, Ji Yan was very worried that he would never be able to get up again, but he was not in a hurry to let him get up, and asked coldly: "I don't know what the relationship between Situ Wang Xu and you is?" ”

"Enlighten my king, Situ is a micro-minister Meng Bo."

Ji Yan nodded slightly and continued, "How long have you been a city here?" ”

"It should be thirteen years."

"What are the traders who come here on weekdays? What is the daily tax income? ”

Wang Peng thought for a moment and said: "When Weichen just took over, there were more than 10,000 traders who came here every day, tens of thousands of taxes and coins, thousands of skins and horns, and sometimes rare and exotic game was sent to the chef. As for the ...... later," he said here, he stopped suddenly, glanced up, glanced at Ji Yan, and quickly lowered his head.

Ji Yan didn't speak, and sat back and waited for him to continue.

Sweat began to emerge from his forehead, slowly burrowing into the corners of his eyes like a reptile, making Wang Peng extremely uncomfortable, but he didn't dare to reach out and wipe it. He stopped and waited for the Son of Heaven to ask questions, so that he could explain a thing or two before talking about the situation so that he would not appear too inferior, but the Son of Heaven didn't ask, which made him anxious, and after a long time he continued: "Later, the number of traders gradually decreased, and the taxes also decreased. ”

"How much less?" Ji Yan's voice became colder and colder.

The sweat on Wang Peng's forehead became more and more violent, and gradually flooded: "It is difficult to have hundreds of traders every day, and occasionally even one person; Tax coins are also hard to come by, and when there are thousands, the skin and horns and bones are almost extinct. Speaking of this, he hurriedly explained, "The reason for this situation is mainly due to the sharp decline in the domestic population in recent years, and the people are getting poorer and poorer, and there is little money to buy goods here." ”

Ji Yan had expected it in his heart, so he was not too surprised, he looked at Wang Ding, and Wang Ding nodded slightly to confirm what Wang Peng said.

Wang Peng, who was lying on the ground, looked at the young man from the corner of his eye, and found that there was no color on his face, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: What is Lao Tzu anxious about? Not to mention that Situ of the local government is his uncle, let's just say that this young son of heaven who has never asked about state affairs, how much can he know about things like market merchants? What concept does he have of the amount of tax? Lao Tzu is really worrying!