The canal is not wide, and the boats going up and down are next to each other in order to walk in an orderly manner, and if there is a slight irregularity, it will be crowded.

Therefore, regardless of the official ship or civilian ship, they all act in a proper manner, otherwise they will delay everyone's truth, and they will not be able to do it soon, so why bother.

The wharf is much wider than the river, but there are more boats here, the vermilion big ship is in the way when it stops there, but there are still many passing ships to get over, no wonder it is congested, Wang Tong rode on a horse and looked at it from a distance, the river surface that can be seen upstream and downstream is full of boats, and he can't see the appearance of the side.

This is also a strange scene, there is nothing left and right, the training of the recruit training camp has been on track, Wang Tongsuo's surname is beating the horse and going over there to see what is going on.

The riverside warehouses are densely populated, and all kinds of people are very busy, and there are many idlers who can eat floating food and find recreation, but there don't seem to be too many people concerned about the congestion of the canal, and they are all busy with their own things, which is clearly the meaning of being strange, and no one thinks it is rare.

When I got to the river, I dismounted, and saw more clearly that around the big vermilion boat, there were more than a dozen sampans sliding back and forth, and on the boat stood an errand man dressed in black and with a square hat, beckoning the passing ships to go to the big boat.

In front of the bow of the big ship there was a large wooden pole inserted into the water, and there seemed to be a ring-like pattern on the wooden pole, and two men squatted on the shore, shouting from time to time:

"High!" "Low!"

At every shout, the servants could be seen jumping over, and then the men on the boat who came over would take out the silver taels and the like with a smile on their faces, and hand them over, ship after ship.

Look again, the official ships and civilian ships are almost the same, and then look at the messengers after receiving the silver, turn around and go to the shore, there is a place for a tea shed on the shore, but this side covers the unclear, the officers in and out, presumably to pay money or something.

After watching it for a long time, Wang Tong was still confused, I don't know why, there are tax cards on the canal, but Tianjin does not, the north is in Tongzhou, the south is in Linqing, and this vermilion ship is what to pay attention to.

Wang Tong thought about it, turned to Ma Sanbiao and said:

"Sanbiao, go and call the shopkeeper of the Xingcai Inn, and say that the official wants to ask again."

On the west side of the city, Wang Tong lived here when they came, and the shopkeeper and the guy of the Xingcai Inn were also acquaintances, Wang Tong stood on the side and watched the boats coming and going, as if he was an ordinary knight who had never seen the canal.

The officers who jumped onto the ship were not good-tempered, and during the time when the innkeeper had rushed over, the officers had beaten and scolded the people who came and went to the ship four times, and several times they threw people directly off the ship, and it was only then that the idlers who were scattered to watch the excitement laughed, and it was commonplace to look at it.

Xingcai Inn is not far from here, the innkeeper is sincerely afraid to come, these shopkeepers are all eyebrows-eyed characters, the former Jinyi Wei lived in the city not much stronger than a dog, but as soon as this Wang Qianhu came, he made several big things, whether it was sprinkling money or killing the head of the boat on the street, it was awe-inspiring.

And this young master is also generous, around the first month is the time when the business of these inns is the coldest, but this Wang Qianhu's shot has made the inn earn the silver that can only be earned in the peak season.

Besides, this shopkeeper has also seen the "Hongmen Banquet" that violently beat the brocade guards, this master's methods are really unusual, and there is no mistake in serving carefully.

After coming, he wanted to kneel down and kowtow to say hello, but Wang Tong stretched out his hand to stop him, wearing civilian clothes, Wang Tong didn't want to alarm others, but just asked:

"What the hell is going on on the river?"

"If you go back to your lordship, this is Gonggong Wan checking the entrained goods of the ships coming and going."

Hearing the other party's answer, Wang Tong was stunned, and then reacted, when he wanted to open a southern goods store with Zhao Jinliang and his family, he talked about it, and the grain was transported from the south to the north, which was completely for the country, without the slightest benefit, but this Grand Canal is currently the most convenient transportation route between the north and the south, and the special products from the south are trafficked to the north, and the profits are much higher than those sold in the south.

For example, the bamboo that Wang Tong saw in the Tianjin Jinyi Health Bureau, but there are many checkpoints along the way for the trafficking of civilian boats, and if all the taxes are paid, no matter how high the profit is, it must be pasted in.

However, the cao boat is exempt from inspection and tax exemption, and the goods are transported by the cao boat without worrying about these taxes and fees, and the safety surname is also guaranteed, as long as you give some small money to the soldiers on the boat.

In the year of Hongzhi, the official ship has been destroyed and eliminated a large number of ships, and the later shipyard could not build a few large ships because of the incompetence of the officials of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Labor.

The largest flat-bottomed ship transporting grain is 800 stones, the government allows to carry two percent of the goods, these are not required to pay taxes, the south and the north sell the profits, there are these two percent of the goods, it is naturally worth the back and forth transportation, but the wealth is moving, since the profit is so big, who does not want to carry a little more, the more goods you bring, the more you will naturally earn.

Hearing this, Wang Tong nodded and said:

"This kind of inspection is a ...... for the country"

Wang Tong's evaluation made the shopkeeper on the side almost laugh, and said with a stiff face:

"Lord Wang, do you know that this father-in-law has a nickname...... Called '10,000 enemies', he has been here for a few years, after the first year of inspection, he was fined and confiscated, and in the second year, he did not dare to entrain, but not more than 20%, this 10,000 father-in-law said that you passed, either to pay silver or confiscate goods, even if you transport to Beijing is unprofitable. ”

Wang Tong shook his head, this is also a way to make money, but it is too dark, originally he also thought about the idea of setting up a card on the canal to collect taxes, but he didn't expect someone to do it in front.

"Since the deduction is so ruthless, why are these boats still entrained, and why don't they stop which boats, I think there are also civilian boats!"

"I was fined and detained, and when the time comes, I can earn a few taels from the goods, which is better than nothing, and this ten thousand father-in-law is not every time I come out, there is always the ship pondering to take advantage of this loophole, those who don't stop, my lord, you can see what's going on if you go to the river, that's all incense burners on the bow of the ship, burning incense associations, the bow incense is big in our Tianjin Wei face, with this incense, who will care."

It's no wonder that the bow incense is so arrogant, so big, there is this relationship, and I don't know how much money I can make every day, so I am naturally arrogant.

"My lord, my lord, this small ship of porcelain is the goods on Linqing, and the taxes have been paid clearly, not entrainment, you look at it, you look at it all the time."

The sound of the argument below attracted everyone's attention, watching a medium-sized boat stop in the middle of the river, and a middle-aged man in a satin robe at the bow of the boat was explaining loudly.

Originally, everyone was used to this inspection of the entrainment, and when I heard someone shouting, everyone was interested, and they all looked at it.

The three servants had already jumped aboard, and the middle-aged man took out a few pieces of paper from his bosom and pleaded:

"A few masters, this goods are delivered to the Wang family warehouse in front, and they are not to be transported to Jingshi, the tax payment documents and the road guide before leaving are here."

Before he finished speaking, the papers were snatched away by the officer on the other side, tore them to shreds, and threw them into the river, shouting:

"Thief bird, you say it's a merchant ship, it's a merchant ship, if everyone on this river says it's a merchant ship, the grandfathers can't do it anymore, and they still want to fucking do it!"

As soon as the middle-aged man saw that the voucher was torn, he was immediately in a hurry, stepped forward and looked at it and wanted to cry, but was kicked by another officer, and kicked directly into the river, the canal is not deep, and it can't drown people, but the weather is still cold and inevitably suffers some crimes, and a boatman jumped down and took the man to the shore.

The rest of the sailors did not dare to do anything, and hurriedly docked the ship in front of the big ship according to the arrangement, and one of the officers who was crouching there did not look at it, but shouted aloud:

"High!"

Several of the officers pushed away the men and went straight into the cabin, and after a few glances, they shouted:

"Ten percent of the smuggled porcelain will be fined, the goods will be confiscated, and the fine will be five hundred taels of silver."

Wang Tong glanced at the person beside him, and the shopkeeper on the side sneered and said:

"My lord knows why the ten thousand rice is called ten thousand enemies, the more serious he is, the more he will not let go, and he hates it very much, if he continues to toss like this, this Tianjin Acropolis will let him finish tossing sooner or later."

The middle-aged man who was kicked into the water squatted there trembling, but he ignored himself, and urged the boatman to report the news, how did the people on the boat take out the five hundred taels of silver, and the servants were not ambiguous, and took out the porcelain one by one and smashed it at the bow of the boat.

Seeing that Wang Tong didn't want to look at it anymore, but he couldn't manage it but hesitated, the grain eunuchs were responsible for the transfer and storage of this grain, and it was also their duty to check and prohibit entrainment, and there were also rules and punishments from their grain supervision bureau.

The idlers watched the excitement and gathered more and more, and the few servants threw a piece of porcelain, and the people on the shore shouted in unison, if there was no middle-aged man crying anxiously, this atmosphere would look like a festival.

Wang Tong and the others were just about to turn their horses and leave, but they saw that from the other side, a wealthy gentry wearing a foreign suit and several entourages hurriedly arrived in a crowd, presumably the owner of the inn not far away.

The rich member walked in quickly, and when he came to the river, he turned his head and looked at it at random, just in time to see Wang Tong who was about to turn around, this member was stunned, but he stopped, hesitated, and shouted:

"It's Master Wang Tong over there!!"

(To be continued)