The main purpose of Jin Million's visit to Beijing this time is naturally to meet his eldest son-in-law, and by the way, try to see if he can greet the youngest daughter who is the imperial concubine in the palace

In the rules of the Ming Dynasty, a concubine of the level of Concubine Jin Xian, as soon as she enters the palace, it is equivalent to cutting off family affection with Huijian, and almost all involvement outside the palace must be severed, unless there is a great special grace to go out of the palace to save relatives. Therefore, although Jin Million is the name of the country, he has lost all contact with his youngest daughter. As the saying goes, once you enter the Hou Gate, it is as deep as the sea, but in fact, the Hou Gate is far from the palace gate, and it is as deep as the sea when you enter the palace gate.

As the nature of a businessman, of course, Golden Million will not enter Beijing empty-handed. Salt can't be sold indiscriminately, so he started his old business as a Hui merchant, trafficking tens of thousands of taels worth of tea to Beijing, and making some money by the way. It is estimated that on the return trip, I will have to transport some northern specialties such as medicinal herbs and furs to Yangzhou.

Gao Changjiang, who traveled with him, was also a Hui merchant, and he was a fellow villager with Jin Million, who had known each other more than ten years ago, but lived in Hankou, another important commercial town upstream. This time, Gao Yuanwai happened to sell tea into Beijing, and after visiting the gold million in Yangzhou, they left together.

When I arrived at Chongwenmen, there were naturally guys of all sizes who went to pass through the customs to pay taxes, and Jin and Gao rested in the pergola here, but they heard the guys rushing in and shouting "detained".

At this time, Jin Million and Gao Changjiang both stood up, their goods were all tea, and they didn't know whose goods were detained by the customs.

"The goods of the master and the master Gao passed through the customs together, and they were all detained." The guy said helplessly.

Gao Changjiang frowned and said, "What's going on?" There is no lawlessness in us. ”

That guy is also a clever man, so he inquired and understood. "I heard that Mr. Lu, the tax ambassador who took office last year, took the method of joint sitting. Take 30 as a group, and pass the test in batches. Supervise each other within a batch, and if there is tax evasion, this batch of 30 will sit together. It's just in this batch. There was a Shandong businessman who was found to have concealed the goods by the tax customs, so the master's goods were also affected. ”

"How can it be!" Jin Million couldn't help but shoot the case.

Gao Changjiang calmly persuaded: "Brother Jin don't worry, I'll go and take a look." The goods are guaranteed to be safe and sound. With that, he stepped out of the pergola, and his entourage hurriedly caught up, and Jin Million followed.

The tax officer behind the public case raised his eyelids and glanced at Gao Changjiang, who was confident, and the golden million standing with him. The voice was very indifferent: "You two are together? The fine is 6,000 taels of silver, how do you plan to pay it? ”

Six thousand taels! This is not a small amount, it is worth the entire property of two or three ordinary rich families. The senior member argued: "How can there be so many? It's not that we are hiding the goods! ”

The official said impatiently: "The rule of this division is that after sitting together, the tax will be fined twenty taels, and you should have paid three hundred taels of tea tax." Is it wrong to pay a fine of ten times the silver to six thousand taels? If you can't pay it, you will take the tea to fill the number, and if you dare to be verbose, you will detain all the goods! ”

This batch of tea is the most valuable goods today, with a total price of 30,000 or 40,000 taels according to the market price of Beijing. Other merchants can only buy and sell 1,800 taels at most, and see the two largest merchants arguing with the tax customs. also watched from afar with a hint of luck, hoping to get rid of the fine.

In any case, Gao Changjiang and Jin Wan glanced at each other, although they were very rich, rich to the point that ordinary people could not imagine, but they couldn't throw six thousand taels into the water like this.

Gao Changjiang said to the official again: "This batch of tea is to be divided into parts and sent to Deng Shilang of the Ministry of War and Yao Fu Yin of Shuntian Mansion, can you be accommodating?" ”

Lord Deng, the right attendant of the Ministry of War, and Lord Yin Yao of Shuntian Mansion have a close relationship with Gao Changjiang, and Deng Shilang was a classmate of Gao Changjiang when he was young, and he was also sponsored by the Gao family to complete his studies and catch the exam; Yao Fu Yin and Gao Changjiang have been in contact with each other since their parents. …,

Gao Yuanwai personally entered Beijing this time. The main task is to walk around with the two big players. No matter how close the relationship is, if you don't move around, it will be weakened sooner or later.

In terms of property, the big salt merchant of Jin Million is far more than the high-ranking outsider, but after all, he has only made a fortune in the past ten years, and the time is still short. The foundation is also insufficient. The scholars he sponsored had not yet become famous, only a few of them were scattered everywhere, and the most closely related Ding Yunenvoy had fallen.

So Jin Million looks at it, among his officialdom connections, the most promising one is a certain son-in-law who fell from the sky, operating an imperial concubine, how many people in the world can do it? Sometimes he even thinks that this is the compensation of various gods, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for his childlessness.

Otherwise, when he heard his son-in-law say what kind of silver he wanted, Jin Million immediately said that he would go to Beijing to discuss in person, and unconditionally supported it.

But in Gao Changjiang's eyes, although the son-in-law of Jin Million is not small, it is still a lot worse than his connections. Is there a comparison between a five-grade with no background and two important positions and three grades?

Poets and officialdom are two different things, as for Jin Million's claim that his son-in-law has the ability to reach the sky, high-ranking officials have repeatedly scoffed at him - this must be Jin Million's boasting for the sake of face.

Along the way, in front of Jin Million, he still has a lot of prestige in front of his own high self-esteem. After all, it is an official-based society at the moment, and he Gao Changjiang has deeper connections in the officialdom, and he has a reputation for showing off his talents, so of course his status is high. As for the golden million, the national abbot is a fictitious title, what actual power does the concubine of the dynasty have?

Seeing that Mingli in the pergola confirmed his conjecture. It's all idle to run a newspaper, so what is the situation of Lord Li in the court? couldn't help but say a few words of jokes, which made Jin Million unhappy, but he didn't know how to refute it.

didn't mention it, but said that when he was punished, Gao Changjiang naturally felt that he should come forward to say the item, and moved out two third-grade officers.

When the official heard the names of Deng Shilang and Yao Fuyin, he looked up at Gao Yuanwai again, and said sarcastically: "The capital is full of eunuchs, if everyone reports two names can be accommodating, can this division still collect taxes in this Chongwen Gate?" ”

The person who can act as a servant in the world's first fat shortage yamen in the Chongwenmen tax customs can also open up the joints of the powerful, and naturally will not be moved by the two third-grade names.

It's really easy to see the king of Hades, and the little ghost is difficult! The senior official couldn't hold his face, and he didn't continue to entangle with the officials, and said angrily, "Where are you Shangguan?" I'm going to see you! ”

The official pointed to an alley in the northeast, and Gao Changjiang led the golden million to ask to see the ambassador, and after bribing the menzi with ten taels of silver, he was able to enter the yamen of the tax department.

The two of them had inquired before and knew that the surname of the ambassador of this tax division was Lu. It's just that when Ambassador Lu saw them, his attitude was even colder than that of the officials outside, probably because there were too many people who came to see him for intercession.

The senior official reported the origin of the name, and once again brought out the two backgrounds, lest the other party not believe it, and said: "If it is difficult to believe, I will wish to take the goods..."

Ambassador Lu interrupted Gao Changjiang, "What if you believe it, what if you don't believe it?" There is no difference here in this official! What if the powerful are in front of them? You must know that there is no justice and selflessness, do you think that this official will show favoritism out of fear? ”

The senior staff was surprised, a little Jiupin, and dared to say such a tough thing? Why are the rules of officialdom here in Beijing different from those in other places? He could only speak: "Lord Lu's temperament is admired in every way, but please think twice." Moreover, the method of sitting together is unpopular with the people, and it is not necessarily a good idea. ”

Ambassador Lu said expressionlessly: "This official is entrusted by the imperial court, he does not dare to slack off for a day, he will live up to the emperor's favor last year, and he will be able to collect taxes in full, how dare he have private indulgence?"

The law on the taxation of joint sittings is indeed issued by the official and is effective. If you have any objections, you can appeal to the Ministry of Households, and you do not need to distinguish with the officials here. If nothing else, just step down! ”…,

At this point, Gao Changjiang was really speechless, turned his head and gave Jin Wan a look, and had no choice but to go out.

Jin Million thought about it for a while, out of prudence, and also knew the depth of the capital, so he did not point out his identity as the national abbot. In his mind, after seeing his son-in-law first, it would be safer to find out the situation and then make a calculation. Even if you pay the fine first, if you really have a way, you can return it to yourself, so why waste time here.

The two of them turned around, and just walked to the threshold, they suddenly heard the shouting from behind: "Wait! ”

But when he saw that Ambassador Na Lu looked up and down at the gold million, he asked with a different face: "This person in front of him is a foreign gold officer in Yangzhou?" ”

"Exactly." Jin Million nodded.

Ambassador Lu's face, which was still cold a moment ago, bloomed in an instant, got up from his seat to greet him, and saluted: "It turns out that he is really a member of the gold, and he has admired his name for a long time." Why didn't Fang just report it, and the water almost washed away the Dragon King Temple! ”

Just now, Gao Changjiang only reported his name, and did not mention Jin Million, so Lu Da had this "complaint".

Jin Yuanwai said: "How does Lord Lu know the following? ”

Ambassador Lu laughed heartily a few times, "Envoy Li Yuan sent a message, saying that there is a man surnamed Jin who has recently entered Beijing, and he ordered me to pay more attention in the past two days, and I don't want to miss it." ”

Gao Changjiang was stunned by Ambassador Lu's transformation, then woke up and couldn't help but ask: "The envoy Li in the mouth of the adults is Li Xujiang, the son-in-law of Brother Jin?" What kind of envoy is this? ”

Ambassador Lu nodded and said, "Yes, this is the newly built envoy of the Cultural Propaganda Academy. If the morning report is on the name of the Li Yuan envoy, why is there such a misunderstanding, the strict law is nothing more than human affection, the face of the Li Yuan envoy, the official will not do the official position, but please rest assured! ”

The senior officer went out of the tax branch office in a trance, and led the convoy from the tax customs to Chongwen Gate in a trance. He has never figured out why the sum of two third-grade officials is not as good as a fifth-grade Li Xujiang? Isn't that boasting all the way of the golden million nonsense?

Jin Million was much more sober than Gao Changjiang, and secretly sighed, this son-in-law of his own family can be a character anywhere, and he has to take it! Today is a big face for myself. (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )