The front and back of the wooden fence of the river are jammed with large and small boats, and even the shadows of long boats are laid on both sides of the river, and the river suddenly narrows at this point, as if it has a blocked blood vessel.

Countless people are pouring onto the wharf, and many others are jumping directly along the adjacent boats to the shore, where a row of wooden houses for offices and goods are piled up, surrounded by hundreds of people. Seeing that those people were accompanied by merchants, boatmen, and even merchants in silk cloths, all of them were blushing and shouting, and many of them were so excited that they smashed the house and kicked the door.

"The customs clerks are in charge of the inspection of ships, the valuation of goods, the registration of tax books, the handling of tax silver, every matter is a professional work, without more than ten years of practice, there is no way to be competent, just like the officials of the yamen, changing people, that is, two eyes are black."

"There are eight scribes in Taipingguan, and only two are assigned to Xunhuan. The amount of taxes and silver required by the imperial court was so high that it could not be coped with at all, so the supervisory committee had to add additional scribes, and now there were seventeen ......."

"The scribe still has to rely on the teller to calculate the tax and silver accounts, rely on the patrol to get on the ship for inspection, and there are more than ten or twenty helpers behind a scribe, and the Hun Huan factory is just a sub-gate, and it has hundreds of people, not counting the people under the commissioner of the department. There are many people, and if there are more people, more money will be spent, and more silver will be spent, so the merchants will say, 'Passing the money customs is like passing through the ghost gate', even if the nominal tax rate is set at a low level, the money customs are all about cutting as much meat as you have. ”【1】

On the south bank of the river, looking at the lively scene opposite, Li Xian seemed to be introducing, and seemed to be emotional, Peng Xianzhong next to him nodded again and again, he felt it personally.

"There is such a tax in front of the businessman, not only raises the price of goods, but also increases the risk, so that you businessmen have no way to calculate profits and losses, can only estimate trafficking, and only after the goods are sold can you know how much you can earn, so people who do not have a certain amount of capital dare not do business."

Li Xian said this, Peng Xianzhong continued: "If you have capital, you can't settle down, my old man can see clearly, thirty years ago, in the area of Yingde Qingyuan and Yangshan, there were dozens of people who went to Hunan with our Peng family, but now, except for two or three, the others have failed, and most of the new ones will be like this." Unless it is an imperial merchant and an official businessman, but sometimes out of the territory, the imperial merchant and the official merchant will also be exploited by their own people, hehe...... There is a saying in our businessman, which says that if you earn for a while, you can't earn for a lifetime. ”

Peng Xianzhong sighed again: "The old man has one of the greatest wishes in his life, that is, the rivers and seas are exhausted, and the land can be ......."

He was talking about the smooth flow of business, and Li Xi sneered: "This is a more difficult wish than changing the dynasty." ”

"It's impossible to be irrelevant, but it's possible to weaken it, so that our business will be much better. Before, I suppressed the scribes and didn't let them stretch out their hands, but I couldn't grasp them after all, and now in this situation, there should be a chance. ”

Li Xian motioned to Peng Xianzhong: "You can go, remember to come forward when the fire is ready, and then you have to grasp the proportions." ”

Peng Xianzhong nodded, followed by Tao Fu, he was going to act as Li Shi's eyes and ears, with a reluctant face, Li Shi looked at him, and hurriedly showed his face.

"Why do you count our empty ship down as if we were going up on a heavy ship!?"

"What do you owe!? I didn't care about it before! This is the first time I've shipped goods to Guangzhou! ”

"I'm not a happy silk, it's an ordinary white silk! You give me an estimate of the value of the wedding silk that only exists according to the New Year's Festival, what kind of truth is this! ”

There was a bang outside the door, and the clerks inside the door turned pale.

"What's going on? Are these guys all crazy? ”

"Wouldn't you just pay more money, pay early, and then don't think about going home for the New Year?"

"Just point to that money for the New Year, isn't it too ruthless?"

"A while ago, Yang Chun made a mess, and then it was Li Banxian who came to make trouble, and now he is good, patting his ass and leaving, leaving us to be so neatly organized by Jiang Zan, if the knife is not ruthless, we have to cut our own flesh."

"Where's the patrol! Not here yet!? ”

The scribes were also noisy, and at this time they heard the sound of the board pumping meat outside, mixed with messy screams.

"It's coming, it's coming...... It's coming. ”

The scribes wiped the sweat from their foreheads, glad that it was their patrol who had rushed over to savior the Lord.

Outside the door, dozens of patrolmen waved wooden sticks, beating the crowd like a tide, and seeing that the people surrounding were about to disperse, another group of people wearing "patrol" uniforms appeared.

"What are you doing!? People are just talking, why do you do it? What about being an official messenger!? ”

Liu Xingchun showed up, but he brought a serious inspector from the inspection department, and when he shouted like this, the patrol officers were stunned and weak, and they were immediately pushed back by the crowd.

"Come out and talk!"

"Don't hide from rats! Ping, those spirits on our ship! ”

The crowd shouted again.

With a creak, the door opened, and at last a scribe with a pale face poked his head out cautiously, and several hands behind his back quickly pushed him out.

"That...... Don't make trouble, let's celebrate the New Year, make money with harmony, and leave after paying the money. ”

The scribe pointed to the wooden gate on the river in the distance and said that there were all boats parked there, which were only allowed to be opened and closed the next day.

What responded to him was a pile of miscellaneous items, and even spittle stones, and he was still smiling, but a citrus was hit on the door of his head, and the anger that the scribe had been holding back for a long time also burst out.

"You thin-skinned duck eggs! Death! The court wants to collect money from you, and you dare not give it! ”

He roared at the crowd.

"If you don't pay, don't think about this New Year's Festival! Weigh yourselves! ”

With a bang, he closed the door and went back to the house, and the crowd rushed up, pushing the patrolmen against the house.

"Come out and talk ——!"

"Talking ——!"

Many boatmen in the crowd shouted, and some of the companions also began to meet at the signal of the merchants, and suddenly the voices of the people were unified, and the whole Hun Huan could be heard clearly.

"Those scribes aren't going to make a fuss, are they?"

In the tax factory hall, Li Wei frowned and asked.

"It has nothing to do with us if something happens, and we can use them as stepping stones when the time comes."

Jiang Zan sat upright flipping through the book, his face unshocked.

"I'd better go check it out."

Li Wei was always at ease.

"Stop! You just can't hold it back! What did you do last night? Someone complained to the inspection here, saying that you broke into someone's Zhuangzi at night and reported your name, isn't it? ”

Li Wei snorted and stopped: "Just go and take a look, it's not a big deal." ”

Jiang Zan slapped the book on the table: "Do you still think this is Xuzhou?" It's okay not to be killed on the spot! I'm going to be killed, I don't even look at it! You say you, you clearly have a skill, you have to learn from those grassy people to do things, rely on your ability, what can't you do as an official!? ”

Li Wei was trained to hang his head, and he didn't dare to be angry, seeing that Jiang Zan should have a lot of weight in his heart.

"Big brother, you are so uncomfortable just being an idle official, I don't want to be a ......"

Hearing him mutter, Jiang Zan snorted: "Feel free!" If you want to be more comfortable, you have to exchange for being uncomfortable! ”

He pointed to the noisy place outside and said, "For example, how do you solve the matter outside?" If you're not an official, can you solve it? ”

Listening to the noise of thousands of people outside, Li Wei also sighed.

"Calm down, everyone! Calm down! If something happens like this, it won't solve the problem! ”

Seeing that the row of houses was being pushed to a creak, and those patrolmen were about to be crushed into sardines, a voice sounded high-pitched in the crowd, it was Peng Xianzhong.

"Yes, yes, let's discuss, don't make a big deal, do you have the consciousness to come out and speak?"

A few other voices with a Hunan accent chimed in.

After a while, a group of merchants gathered, and in line with the efficiency of the businessmen's business, they quickly reached an agreement, and then Peng Xianzhong and several merchants became representatives and entered the room where the scribe was.

"Will the scribe budge?"

Duan Hongshi's voice sounded, Li Shi hurriedly saluted, the old man was dressed in dust, and it seemed that he had just returned to Zhuangzi and ran here.

"It's hard to say, but with Peng Xianzhong and Xiang on the desk, it should be very certain."

Li Xi replied that this is actually a bottom-line issue. Jiang Zan asked the scribes to make up for the losses of the whole year, and even cut more meat, the scribes were pressed for a few months, and as soon as Li Xi withdrew, their morale suddenly rebounded, and they should not think about paying for themselves, but all from the merchants. As for the businessman, the customs fee was a little lower before, and he developed some psychological habits, but now he has suddenly increased several times, and he will definitely not be able to stand it.

This is the collision of the bottom line, the scribes are used to playing the spokesperson of the court, and they have not yet learned to compromise, the businessmen want to compromise, but the price given by the scribes is too penetrating, and at this time, the bottom line of the two sides cannot be touched, so it is time to find a third party.

As soon as the words fell, Peng Xianzhong and his party were pushed out of the house, and the patrol seemed to have received an order, and began to push the crowd outward again.

"So...... The drama has to be played downward, and the estimate before being a teacher should be right. ”

Duan Hongshi hurriedly took the credit, and Li Shi looked at him and smiled.

Peng Xianzhong spread his hands sadly and angrily at the crowd, and several other businessmen also shook their heads and sighed.

"These can't feed the dogs! Pull them out! ”

It was like a boatman's man shouting, the boat gang that came and went to Lianjiang was a poor man, and he lived by earning some strength and money, and he had to pay all kinds of miscellaneous taxes, and the money for the ship's materials was even more heavy, and now the scribes had to double the collection, and they were the worst offenders.

As soon as the boatman shouted, everyone responded, and Hula rushed forward again, and dozens of patrolmen could not stop him, and the row of wooden houses creaked and shouted again.

"Beware of stoned ......"

Liu Xingchun shouted outside the crowd, but as soon as the words fell, there was a bang, and the wooden house was forced to crack by the crowd, and several patrolmen fell in.

"Nothing about us! It's all set by Commissar Chiang! ”

Seeing that he was about to be overwhelmed by the crowd, a scribe finally shouted.

(To be continued)