readx; Due to the military's large-scale collection of civilian ships of more than 1,000 stones, a large number of Hu merchants were stranded in Yangzhou, and many Hu merchants who were doing business in Guangzhou also rushed to Yangzhou to wait to get their ships back. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

These Hu merchants mainly gathered in the area of Yangzhou North City, and every day they had nothing to do, and the various wine shops were crowded with Hu people drinking and inquiring about news.

Outside the North City, nearly 100 Hu merchants gathered in a liquor shop called Camel of the Western Regions, and the liquor shop was full of people, and the orchids selling wine were shuttling back and forth among the customers like butterflies, peddling the grape wine that had just arrived.

The Hu businessmen gathered at the table in groups of three or five, drinking and talking about the news obtained from various channels, and their hometown and making money were always the focus of their topics.

As time passed, anxiety and dissatisfaction accumulated in the hearts of the Hu merchants, and their conversations began to grow louder, and all kinds of unfairness encountered in their usual business were released with the fumigation of alcohol.

"Brother Basang, how can you pay a tax of three hundred yuan on that bit of goods? I only paid a hundred yuan in taxes in Guangzhou, and my goods are worth much more than yours! ”

"Impossible!"

A bearded man cried out in astonishment, "How can you only pay a hundred, your goods are jewelry!" ”

These are two Sogdian businessmen doing business in Baghdad, their hometowns are in Samarkand, the two are neighbors, one is called Basan, the other is called Rayel, the price of silk in the Baghdad market has risen sharply recently, the two of them want to buy goods from the Tang Dynasty, of course, the journey will not come empty-handed, one bought a large amount of Egyptian cotton cloth, the other person brought a lot of jewelry, Rayel with jewelry went to Guangzhou, and Basan, who sold cotton cloth, came to Yangzhou, the price of cotton cloth in Yangzhou is a little higher, if nothing else, they each returned to China, There will be a meeting in Baghdad.

But the accident happened, their ships were temporarily requisitioned by the Tang Dynasty military, so that they were stranded in the Tang Dynasty, Rayer heard that their ship was requisitioned to the Yangzhou area, he rushed from Guangzhou, just arrived today, and met his fellow countryman Basang in Yangzhou.

The conversation between the two Hu merchants gradually attracted the attention of the other Hu merchants, and everyone gathered around and asked Layer in a gossiping manner, "How much is the value of the goods you pay in the tax of 100 yuan?" ”

"I brought 2,000 yuan of goods, and when I filled in the tax at the city department, I honestly filled in 2,000 yuan."

"Didn't they give you a revaluation?" A businessman asked with some jealousy.

Lajere shook his head, "I have a tax bill for Dashi, I showed them it, I don't know if I can read it or not, anyway, if they don't ask, I will pay the tax according to two thousand yuan." ”

"Are you sure you only paid a hundred dollars in tax?" Another asked, puzzled.

"That's right, twenty taxes one, of course I only have to pay a hundred taxes."

"O Allah! What's going on? Why does Yangzhou have ten taxes and one tax! ”

Someone shouted, and this time, it was as if a nest had exploded in the wine shop, and someone shouted: "Obviously, the imperial court has rules to fill in the value of the goods according to the tax bill of the big food, why should Yangzhou be revalued, and the valuation is very high, I don't make so much money at all!" ”

"Yes! According to their valuation, it is actually one of seven taxes, and the tax is too high. ”

"It's not that the taxes are high, it's that they are collecting taxes indiscriminately, and they are looking for reason!"

"Find them!"

The businessmen regarded profits as their lives, and excessive taxes encroached on their profits, so they could only accept it helplessly at first, and secretly scolded the Tang Dynasty court for being black-hearted, and actually quietly raised taxes, but when they suddenly found that it was also the Tang Dynasty court, Guangzhou was still twenty taxes at a time, and a kind of anger of being deceived suddenly arose.

There was a mess in the wine shop, and more than 100 Hu merchants ran out of the wine shop and rushed to the Yamen of the City Shipping Division in anger.

The tariff revenue of China and Tang Dynasty is divided into two types: land and sea, and the land is generally collected by the border army, which is often directly charged to military expenses, so it will become a loophole for the garrison to collect taxes repeatedly and repeatedly, so after Li Qing'an took charge of Anxi, he set up tax departments in several large cities in Anxi, and the Anxi political hall collects taxes and prohibits the army from collecting taxes on behalf of the army.

The maritime trade tariff was collected by the city ship envoy, respectively in Yangzhou, Mingzhou and Guangzhou set up the city of the shipping department, after the occupation of the south of the Yangtze River, the overseas trade tax became an important source of finance for him, in order to facilitate management, he canceled the city of Mingzhou, and merged into Yangzhou.

Yangzhou City Bo Si Yamen is not far from the North City, is a building that covers a large area, there is a large square at the door, generally speaking, here is only the management of the Yamen, the specific tax collection in each port has tax collectors, but in the end the tax money has to be remitted here.

More than 100 Hu merchants rushed to the yamen, and were immediately stopped by several officials guarding the door, "This is the important place of the yamen, don't wait to make trouble!" ”

A Hu businessman who was fluent in Chinese shouted: "Call your officials out, we have something to ask." ”

It happened that Yu Shi'an, the judge of Yangzhou City, walked out of the yamen, and when he saw a group of Hu people shouting outside, he came out and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

The official hurriedly said: "Judge Yu, this group of Hu businessmen is making trouble. ”

"Troublemaker?"

Yu Shi'an's face immediately sank, "What's the matter?" ”

When the Hu merchants saw that this official looked like a big official, they shouted, "How much is the trade tax of the imperial court?" Ten taxes one or twenty taxes one? ”

Yu Shi'an showed an embarrassed look on his face, of course he knew how much? Twenty taxes and one one, the imperial court had already sent a document, but Yang Xunwu, the envoy of the city, refused to change it, and still had to collect taxes according to the ten taxes set by Li Luan, and lied to the Hu merchants that the imperial court would not change the tax for the time being.

Yu Shi'an has always been very worried that the matter will be revealed, and the overcharged tax Yang Xunwu did not enter the account, but stored it elsewhere, Yu Shi'an knew very well what Yang Xunwu meant, because there was a huge difference between the tax on the account and the tax money in the actual treasury.

Yang Xunwu wanted to make up for the difference before the official inventory of the imperial court, if the imperial court did not find it for a long time, he could charge an extra day to count one day, which was to take advantage of the chaotic period of the alternation of the old and the new in the imperial court, and exploit a loophole in the time difference.

Unexpectedly, this group of Hu businessmen made a fuss today, Yu Shi'an didn't want to care about this matter, so he stubbornly said: "I don't know about this matter, I'm going to ask." ”

After speaking, he turned around and walked into the yamen quickly, and walked through the middle courtyard just to see Yang Xunwu, the envoy of the city, so he stepped forward and said: "Yang Yuanjun, there is a group of Hu businessmen outside who are making trouble, saying that we overcharge their taxes, so let's go and take a look!" ”

Yang Xunwu, the envoy of the city, grew tall and fat, about sixty years old, and he served as the envoy of Yangzhou since the eighth year of Tianbao, until today.

The civil strife in the imperial court for several years has kept the Jiangnan region in a state of loss of control for a long time, and without the power supervision of the magistrates, the magistrates mainly rely on their ambition to govern the country and cultivate themselves and the teachings of the saints of courtesy, righteousness and shame.

This Yang Xunwu is the latter, he has long been entrenched in the position of the city envoy, a large amount of tax money passed through his hands, he himself does not know how much money he swallowed, but one thing is an iron fact, in the past five years, he has never paid a penny of taxes to the imperial court, he used the excuse of inconvenience, so he stored the tax money in the underground treasury, but only three million guan, and the five million guan on the account There is a huge difference, and the account can not be altered, the account is reported to the household department every year.

The upper beam is not right, the lower beam is also crooked, he is a big greed, the tax collector below is a small greed, and the city is rotten from top to bottom.

Yang Xunwu was also very nervous in the past two days, he originally thought that if he really couldn't do it, he would flee to Nantang, but unexpectedly, news just came that Nantang had fallen, so that his last road was also cut off.

Now that the Cao River has been dredged, the Cao Yun is about to be restored, but the three million guan money in the treasury will be transported for at least a year, as long as the tax collection continues, he can use the new account to make up for the old account, and then gradually revise the future account books, but the question is that he is sixty years old this year, and he has been in the position of the city envoy for seven or eight years, will the imperial court let him do it again?

In the past two days, he was upset, but Hu Shang also came to make trouble for him, he was about to go out, and suddenly his heart moved, isn't this a great opportunity? With a wave of his hand, he ordered, "Ignore them and close the door!" ”

"Envoy, this is not good!"

Yu Shi'an persuaded him: "Let's tell them that it is now taxed according to the old tax law, and it has not been changed, and it will be changed in the future." ”

Yang Xunwu's face suddenly turned cold, "Can you explain this clearly?" These Hu people don't care about you, what new tax laws and old tax laws, they want you to return the tax money, can you get it back? Judge Yu, don't be stupid, the best way to deal with these Hu people is to ignore them, the more you explain, the more complicated things become, and you are forced to die, if you want to say it, I don't care anyway! ”

After speaking, he snorted heavily, turned around and went into the house, Yu Shi'an was helpless, he had to sigh secretly, Yang Xunwu didn't care about this matter, and he couldn't care about it.

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The gate of the Yamen of the City Department has been closed, and the officials who were still standing at the door just now have slipped away, but at this time, there are no longer more than 100 people in the Yamen Square, but more than 1,000 Hu businessmen, and more Hu businessmen are coming from all directions, and all kinds of news converge in the crowd in the square.

It has been determined that the imperial court sent a document to Yangzhou a few months ago, ordering the city to restore the twenty taxes and collect taxes according to the value of the goods on the large food tax list, but the Yangzhou City Shipping Division did not implement it, they still collected taxes according to the standard of ten taxes and one tax, and artificially valued, deliberately overestimated the value of the goods, which caused the Hu merchants to suffer huge losses.

The Hu merchants were furious, and they kept shouting in the square: "Pay me back my taxes!" He waved the tax bill in his hand, but the door of the city office was still closed, and no one came out to answer.

The time went from noon to the afternoon, and from the afternoon to the nightfall, there was still no official to reply to the demands of the Hu merchants, at this time the Hu merchants gathered in the square has exceeded 10,000 people, the torches in their hands are connected into a sea, and countless people have gathered around to watch the excitement, shouts and scolding resounded in the night sky, someone pulled out a knife and waved it in the air, the anger began to boil, and the situation has approached the edge of getting out of control.

But at this time, there was still no official in the city department to answer, maybe someone wanted to come out, but they were all frightened by the surging shouting crowd, at this time, the door opened a crack, a small official came out tremblingly, the square was quiet for a moment, and more than 10,000 pairs of angry eyes stared at the thin official.

"Everyone..... Let's go back! ”

The official stammered: "Yang Yuanjun has long left, and all the high-ranking officials have left!" ”

There was silence for a moment, like the silence before the storm, but then he was drowned out by the overwhelming shouts and roars, "Lies! Shout people out, come out! ”

The petty official was frightened by the deafening shouts, his legs weakened, he turned and fled, and his escape finally caused the long-accumulated volcano to erupt, and the overwhelming Hu merchants rushed up the steps, smashed open the door, and like hot magma poured into the city's yamen, smashed, smashed, all the rooms were smashed, the ledgers and papers were thrown out of the courtyard, and thousands of taxes were looted before they had time to enter the warehouse......

But what the Hu merchants wanted was not these thousands of guan, they wanted to get back their taxes, which were tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of guan, and the underground treasury was finally discovered by them, but unfortunately, the treasury was built with huge bluestone, and the gate of the treasury was blocked by a boulder weighing 10,000 catties, and it could not be opened at all.

Hundreds of people with iron rods, with stones, the boulder does not move, at this time, someone ignited the main hall, the attic burned, under the night wind blowing, the fire is getting bigger and bigger, the smoke is billowing, the flames are monstrous, the fire quickly spread to the whole city, the Hu businessmen are so frightened that they crawl out with a roll, many people realize that they have broken into a big disaster, scattered and fled, some of the Hu businessmen who participated in the arson were even more frightened, and escaped from Yangzhou overnight.

The fire of the city of Yangzhou was alarmed, Jiangdu County Ya, Yangzhou Prefecture, and 30,000 troops stationed in Yangzhou were dispatched to fight the fire, fortunately, behind the city of Bosi is a small river, there is a water supply, the fire burned for two hours and was finally extinguished, at this time, the entire city of the Yamen has been burned down for most of the time, the broken wall is ruined, and the charred roof beams are still curling with green smoke.

It wasn't until the fire was extinguished that the officials of the city department gradually came to the scene, and Yang Xunwu, the city envoy, couldn't stand the stimulation and fainted. ”

The crowd was full of sympathy for him, and soon, the Jiangdu County Commander reported to him a great news, although the account books were destroyed, the treasury was unharmed, and the stone door of the treasury was not opened.

Yang Xunwu rolled his eyes, he couldn't stand this blow even more, he fainted again, the scene was chaotic, just now it was to save the fire, now it is to save him.

But at this moment, many subordinates unexpectedly discovered that all the officials of the city department had come, but the judge Yu Shi'an was nowhere to be found.

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Yu Shi'an, the judge of the City Ship Division, left Yangzhou City at dusk, he had to leave, and at dusk, he left the City Ship Division through the back door.

He took off his official uniform, changed into ordinary clothes and came to the square, at that time there were more than 7,000 Hu merchants gathered in the square, everyone was emotional, roaring wildly, the whole situation was on the verge of getting out of control, he had already realized that the problem was serious, and he also understood why Yang Xunwu wanted to indulge Hu Shang to make trouble, he wanted to borrow Hu Shang's hand to destroy the account book, destroy the treasury, and destroy the evidence of his corruption.

He delayed the tax law and caused trouble among Hu Shang, at most he was dismissed, but if it was found out that he had embezzled taxes, he would lose his head, which was Yang Xunwu's cunning.

But the sense of responsibility made Yu Shi'an return to the city from the back door, at this time, Yang Xunwu had already left, and he and the last dozen officials put down the 10,000-pound boulder and closed the treasury.

This kind of treasury is the strictest anti-theft measure, and if you want to open the treasury, you can only use this anti-theft measure in wartime if you want to tear down the entire yamen, dig into the ground, and open the stone vault from the top.

After closing the treasury, Yu Shi'an immediately left Yangzhou City and headed north along the canal, he had heard the news that Li Qing'an was coming to Yangzhou.

Coincidentally, Yu Shi'an met Li Qing'an's personal soldiers on the way, and learned that Yu Shi'an had an emergency to find Li Qing'an, and his personal soldiers took him to the direction of the military-controlled area.

When the fire in Yangzhou was burning most vigorously, Li Qing'an was setting up camp about forty miles away from Yangzhou, and he was going to return to Yangzhou tomorrow, but the billowing smoke and faintly visible flames over Yangzhou City made his heart full of doubts, what happened in Yangzhou City?

He had already sent someone to inquire about the situation, waiting for an answer from his soldiers.

Li Qingan paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands behind his back, he came to Yangzhou this time for two purposes, one is to send troops to rescue the Bohai State, in fact, it is to clean up the Jianghuai officialdom, and the matter of rescuing the Bohai State has been temporarily concluded, but he has just begun to clean up the Jianghuai officialdom.

Now Li Qingan needs to find an entry point, although the corruption in Sizhou is clearly there, but after all, Sizhou is a small state, and it is relatively northern, and its influence is too small, so it is far less effective than using Yangzhou, Runzhou, Suzhou, and Changzhou to start with it.

But these big states are not immediately typical cases, to be honest, Li Qingan does not want to set off a monstrous wave in the Jianghuai officialdom, this is not wise, no emperor will kill when he comes to power, even Zhu Yuanzhang, who is the most ruthless murderer, will only start when he sits firmly in his seat a few years later.

Many times this is not the fault of the officials, the key system, when the court is chaotic and loses supervision, if he Li Qingan is too guarded, he can't help but stretch out his hand, he does not require the officials to be saints, but he asks the officials to follow the system and abide by the rules, this time he came to Jianghuai to establish a supervision system, not to investigate the guilt of the officials.

"General, someone has arrived!" Outside the tent came the report of the soldiers.

Li Qing'an was stunned, 'Human witness? What does that mean.

"Bring it in!"

Several personal soldiers brought in Yu Shi'an, the judge of the city's ship, and Yu Shi'an knelt down when he came in and said: "The criminal minister Yu Shi'an pleads guilty to His Royal Highness King Zhao!" ”

"What are your sins?"

"The minister has received a total of 11,000 bribes, this is the minister's list!"

Saying that, Yu Shi'an took out a list and handed it to Li Qing'an, Li Qing'an glanced at him, took the list, a total of five, time, place, amount, briber, etc., all written clearly, but Li Qing'an was stunned, all the bribers were the same person, Yang Xunwu, the envoy of Yangzhou City, was a superior who bribed a subordinate.

Li Qingan felt very strange, but he didn't ask immediately, but asked first: "Let me ask you, what happened in Yangzhou, why is it so hot?" ”

"Back to His Royal Highness, Yangzhou Hu Shang made trouble because of the overcharging of taxes by the city's ship, and burned down the city's ship."

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(To be continued)