Wang Dou and a few people entered from Nanguan Fort City, and when they entered the customs, the sergeants guarding the pass checked the waist cards of Wang Dou and several people, and whispered: "Wang Dou? ”

He seemed to think of something, and looked at Wang Dou carefully a few times before waving his hand to let Wang Dou and the others enter. ”

Han Zhong was very happy, and he exclaimed, "Gao Man, this is what you said. ”

Gao Shiyin's eyes widened: "Will my old Gao still lie to you?" ”

The few of them happily discussed what they would eat, and Wang Dou was attracted by a sound of talking next to him.

But in a cloth shop next to it, a man was bargaining with the owner of the shop, and the two had been discussing for a long time. The man was nearly fifty years old, with a clear face, a long beard, a square scarf, and a straight shirt.

He had a piece of cloth in his hand, and he just asked the shopkeeper to make it cheaper.

The shopkeeper was a little helpless: "Alas, Mr. Fu, this cloth is already very cheap, and I also want to buy it, if you bargain like this, I won't have to make any money." ”

Mr. Fu just smiled and said, "Shop, if it's cheaper, Fu will buy it." ”

His voice is rich and magnetic, and it is very pleasant to listen to.

The shopkeeper was already dry-mouthed, he shook his head helplessly, and said, "Okay, seeing that you are also a scholar, this cloth will be cheaper than a penny of silver, no more." ”

Mr. Fu smiled and said, "Thank you." ”

He took out the money from his pocket, counted it very carefully, handed it to the shopkeeper, and went away happily with the cloth.

The shopkeeper looked at the figure of the literati leaving, sighed and said, "This Mr. Fu is also a scholar of our state, why is he so shrunk?" ”

A few shopkeepers next to him said: "Old Sun, don't line up Mr. Fu in the back, Mr. Fu is a rare incorruptible, never accepts money from students, and does not go out to make money." It seems that the small poor households use white seals, and the large gentry households use red seals. The use of red seals seems to have a lot less fire consumption and miscellaneous expenses. Most of the people present used white seals, very few used red seals, and most of the people who got red seals were stewards or domestic slaves of large gentry families. When the red envelope was obtained, these people were all proud.

Han Chao looked at it for a while, and suddenly whispered beside Wang Dou: "There is a problem with the silver scale." ”

Wang Dou was in a daze, with Han Chao's explanation, he really saw his eyebrows, only to see that when those little officials were unraveling the silver and weighing, the other hand seemed to gently sweep or pinch the silver scale in their hands, and the weight of the silver on the scale was immediately much less, and then the little officials shouted and scolded, and the people in front of them were dumbfounded, so they had to pay the tax and silver.

And the Fama on the silver scale also seems to have a problem.

When the small officials weigh the silver, they are generally at a loss, and they only say that they are indeed less when they pay the silver, and they are sincerely afraid to make up for it. Some people knew that those little officials were cheating, but they could only swallow their anger, with a bitter face, and did not dare to say anything.

Looking at their appearance, the little officials just snickered at each other.

The officials are as smooth as oil, Wang Dou assessed in his heart, according to his estimate, if the households pay a total of one hundred taels of silver, and only do their tricks on this silver scale, these officials can embezzle as much as seven or eight taels, if the tax silver is thousands of taels, how much is this? This phenomenon must be common in all parts of the Ming Dynasty.

After all kinds of exploitation, the more the people's livelihood suffers, and a large part of the rule of the Ming Dynasty is bad for these low-level officials.

……

Wang Dou took out his household stickers to pay the silver, Gao Shiyin and Han Zhong immediately stepped forward and squeezed out a few households for Wang Dou to cut in line, Wang Dou was about to speak, the two were already squeezed out, and Wang Dou had to line up. The ragged people around them dared to be angry but did not dare to speak when they saw the tall and tall appearance of several people.

At this time, the registered clerk in front of the table suddenly left, and then a middle-aged scribe sat in, Wang Dou looked at it and shouted: "Uncle Qi Shi." ”

It turned out that this scribe was the secretary of the security prefecture, Qi Guan, and at the beginning of the year, he had sold some state officials to himself with Jiang An, the governor of Sanganli. Seeing Wang Dou, Qi Guan was also a little surprised, he said with a smile on his face: "It turned out to be Wang Xian's nephew, and the virtuous nephew came to the state to pay for grain today?" ”

He looked affectionate, and at the beginning of the year, he sold land to Wang Dou with Jiang An, and he got some benefits, so he had a good impression of Wang Dou.

Wang Dou responded, and Qi Guan gave an order to a small official next to him, and the little official did not do anything with the silver scale in his hand when he said it, but then he said in a low voice: "Virtuous nephew, Uncle Shi can only do this, according to the example, the next fire consumption and miscellaneous silver are indispensable." ”

Fire consumption and miscellaneous expenses to the Ming Dynasty officials and officials in the small treasury and gray income, the early Ming Dynasty fire consumption per bucket seven he, one stone seven liters, to now, these fire consumption and miscellaneous expenses have been equivalent to the positive tax, and even in some places is several times higher than the positive tax.

Wang Dou naturally knew that this fire consumption and miscellaneous expenses were related to the benefits of many officials in the state government, although Qi Guan was a secretary, he did not dare to challenge such unspoken rules, he said: "The little nephew understands that he will not make it difficult for Uncle Shi. ”

However, Han Zhong and Gao Shiyin next to them were furious after hearing this, and the two were about to step forward, but Wang Dou stopped them with his eyes.

……

After the silver was cleared, Qi Guan gave Wang Dou a red sealed silver bag, and in the envious eyes of the surrounding households, Wang Dou threw the silver bag into the cabinet and received the receipt.

Then he came to Qi Guan's side and whispered to him, "Uncle Qi Shi, please help with something." ”

Saying that, he gently put a piece of silver into his hand, and Qi Guan gently pinched it in his hand, feeling that the silver in his hand was about one or two, and his eyes couldn't help but light up.

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Old White Bull: I'm sorry for the late update for this chapter. There is one more chapter in the evening, before twelve o'clock.