Thinking that Rong Lu might also be a traverser, Xiao Yungui was like a thorn in his back, and he felt a huge threat and pressure. Because he didn't know what the ability of this traverser was, but from the rumors that the Taiping King killed the king to the fact that the Shanghai knife would be exterminated in advance, and then to the strategy of Li Jin, these all told Xiao Yungui that this person was also familiar with this history. The reason why he did not cause any serious damage to the Taiping army was most likely that this person was subject to his young age and humble official position, and he did not have the power to do something bigger, or he was bound by the corrupt system of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and could not carry it out, but Rao still made Xiao Yungui feel very uncomfortable.

Xiao Yungui's face was solemn, and after pacing a few steps with his hands in his hands, he instructed Li Xuanji: "Order someone to go back to Suzhou to pass the order, and let Xi Wang Niang come to Shanghai as soon as possible." ”

Li Xuanji didn't know what King Xi was thinking, but seeing King Xi's solemn face, he knew that something was wrong, so he immediately turned around and went out to give orders.

Xiao Yungui turned back to Qian Jiang and said: "Please ask Mr. to temporarily enter the camp, this king will arrange someone to allocate a camp tent for Mr. to live in, and with six guards, in the next few days, we will first resume Shanghai commerce, and we will invite more rich businessmen and wealthy households in Shanghai to discuss the plan, and Mr. should give more advice." Qian Jiang got up and thanked him, and then followed the West Temple to leave the tent.

After Xiao Yungui was the only one left in the tent, he paced and muttered, "Who will this Ronglu be?" What did he want to do? ”

In the next few days, Xiao Yungui was thinking about this problem from time to time, but he had too many things in his hands, and he couldn't take care of them for the time being, and it was impossible for Xiao Yungui to discuss this matter with anyone else in this world except Hong Yun'er, so he could only discuss it after Hong Yun'er came to Shanghai.

On the second day of conquering Shanghai, Chen Yucheng had already swept away the remnants of the Qing army inside and outside Shanghai, Xiao Yungui ordered Chen Zhiming to guard Wusongkou, and Li Tianxi, Lu Shunde, and Zhao Shunping led 6,000 men and horses to attack Chongming Island. Chongming Island was once an important stronghold for the southward movement of the Hechun Division. After the defeat of the Hechun army, there were only more than 3,000 Qing troops left here to defend it, and the capture of Chongming could be regarded as a complete peace in Shanghai.

As for He Chun, Lai Zhenhai, Li Xinming and other captured Qing generals and officials, Xiao Yungui was in no mood to kill them, and he didn't even have the mind to interrogate them, so he ordered someone to escort them back to Suzhou and Zhang Guoliang and others to be imprisoned together, waiting for the prisoner Tianjing.

The treasury of the Shanghai County Yafu is empty, the money and grain are too little to be less, and the money and grain are all used by Wu Jianzhang to recruit soldiers, and this guy actually uses customs tariffs as collateral to borrow foreign soldiers from foreigners, and the countries will naturally not let go of this bad debt. Fortunately, Xiao Yungui raided the homes of Wu Jianzhang, Yuan Zude and other dozens of officials in Shanghai. A total of more than two million taels of money and food were taken out from these people's homes, which made Xiao Yungui very surprised. Even a mere Shanghai garrison received 80,000 taels of silver, which shows that Shanghai is really rich, and officials at all levels have filled their pockets.

Wu Jianzhang owed a total of more than 700,000 taels of silver to foreigners, and Xiao Yungui originally planned to ignore it. However, the ministers of various countries boycotted and demanded that Xiwang settle the matter on the grounds that he did not pay customs duties and promised not to damage the interests of various countries.

Xiao Yungui wanted to scold his mother. The Manchus got into some bad debts. But he had to bear it himself, but thinking that it was a big deal to be able to receive the customs duties as soon as possible, Xiao Yungui endured it.

After the Taiping army of Xidian captured Shanghai, through Xiao Yungui's efforts, it was not easy for the powers of various countries to acquiesce to the occupation of the Taiping army, if they could inherit the customs duties. For the Taiping army, it is beneficial and harmless. After all, among the five treaty ports, Shanghai has the largest share of trade, far surpassing Guangzhou, an old trading port, and its future prospects are limitless. The reason why Xiao Yungui acquiesced in the interests of the great powers in China. The bigger factor is the customs tariff, if this money bag is in the hands of the Taiping Army in the West Palace, Xiao Yungui will be like a tiger in the future.

Subsequently, Xiao Yungui sent Zhu Changlin and Wei Helin to negotiate this bad debt on behalf of the Taiping Army and the foreigners in the West Palace. Zhu Changlin and Wei Helin came from Shanghai, as early as the day of the defeat of Hechunbu, Xiao Yungui ordered people to send the two to Shanghai, he knew that Shanghai City, many foreign-related business negotiations are indispensable for two people.

After a fierce quarrel, the two sides decided to pay 570,000 taels of silver to the foreign bank for loans to various countries, and received assurances from the consuls of various countries to transfer the customs and customs duties to the Taiping army. In order to smoothly start the collection of customs duties, Xiao Yungui gritted his teeth and paid the loan from the seized silver, which can be regarded as settling the old account.

However, only half a day later, a note from various countries was sent to the base camp of the Western King, which was initiated by the British consul Ali Guo, which elaborated on the requirements of the chambers of commerce and foreign banks of various countries, and asked the Taiping Army to clarify the customs tariff rules and regulations. Since the war in Shanghai and the siege of the city by the Taiping army, the Manchu Qing Dynasty's customs operations in Shanghai have come to a standstill, and no one has collected customs duties for two months.

However, after the Taiping army captured Shanghai, if Xiao Yungui wanted to restore the operation of the customs and collect customs duties, the consuls and merchants of the great powers would definitely not be easy to comply. Although the consuls of various countries promised to pay customs duties to the Taiping Army in the future, but after half a day, the note came, and the consuls and businessmen of various countries understood very clearly, the Taiping Army wanted to collect customs duties, please clarify the details of customs duties, how to declare customs, how to pay taxes, and so on. If you want to take it, you have to take it all, so that you can be considered the same.

Xiao Yungui was also angry, his mother's group of white-eyed wolves wanted to do business on Lao Tzu's territory without paying taxes? This is definitely not going to work! Do you want customs tariff rules? Lao Tzu will re-formulate! Do you need customs duty regulations? Lao Tzu re-enacted!

Before the Opium War, foreign merchant ships arriving in Guangzhou had to be insured by investment banks, and all import and export taxes were paid by the merchants (i.e., merchants). After the war, the merchant system was abolished. In the 23rd year of Daoguang, the Sino-British "Five-Port Trade Charter" stipulates that "if the guarantor is abolished, the imported cargo ship will be guaranteed by the British (consul) officer"; It also stipulates the specific rules and regulations of the consular declaration system: after the British merchant ship is imported, the shipping plate, hatch list and declaration shall be submitted to the British consul at the port, and the consul will notify the customs of the size of the ship and the type of goods to be shipped according to these documents; When a British merchant ship unloads or loads its cargo, it should also notify the consul in advance, and "the British (consul) officer shall report it to the customs for public inspection". After the British merchant ship pays the tax bill, the customs will issue a red slip for duty payment. The merchant will submit the red slip to the consul for verification, and then the ship will be returned and the export order will be ordered. The Sino-British Five-Port Trade Regulations also stipulate that if a foreign businessman fails to comply with the consular declaration system, or commits cheating such as submitting a false manifest or opening a cabin without a license, the consul shall impose a fine on behalf of China. Article 12 of the Sino-British Humen Treaty also stipulates that smuggling cases should also be reported by the consul to the local officials "so that the local officials can arrest them." In the 24th year of Daoguang, the Sino-US "Wangxia Treaty" and the Sino-French "Whampoa Treaty" both made similar provisions on the issue of consular customs declaration and anti-smuggling.

According to the above provisions, not only was the Manchu government deprived of the right to approve the entry and exit of foreign ships into and out of Chinese ports. In addition, the right to go through the formalities for the entry of foreign ships and the right of customs to detect smuggling have also been stolen by foreign consuls. As a result of the introduction of the consular declaration system, the smuggling trade, especially opium smuggling, "flourished like a green laurel tree" and unscrupulous foreign businessmen "seized every opportunity without hesitation." Either the tariffs are evaded completely, or false declarations or settlements are used. Tens of millions of dollars less than the amount specified in the tariff provisions of the agreement.

Although at this time, there were no people and things like Hurd, the chief tax department of the Qing Dynasty, who harmed the interests of Chinese customs. In the fourth year of Jiaqing, the customs tariff set by the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Qing Dynasty was 855,000 taels for Guangdong Customs, 113,000 taels for Fujian Customs, 39,000 taels for Zhejiang Customs, and 42,000 taels for Jiang Customs (i.e., Shanghai Customs). This amount is based on declarations made by the respective customs officials. It was only about four-tenths of the total amount of the levy, and it was usually good for the Qing government to receive a tenth, most of which was coveted by local Manchu officials. This group is down to the patrolmen, officials, and soldiers. From customs officials, superintendents, prefectures and counties, governors and their relatives, friends, subordinates, and even officials of the DPRK and China, they took advantage of the institutional defects of the Qing Dynasty to collude with other countries to falsely declare the goods on the ship, evade taxes, and open up sources of profit for themselves.

Now that the largest corrupt group has been emptied by the Taiping Army, Xiao Yungui can reorganize the customs and establish the Taiping Army's own customs agency. The right to declare customs must be withdrawn, how can there be a strange thing to let businessmen from other countries go to the consuls of other countries to declare customs when their own countries collect customs duties?

Xiao Yungui convened more than a dozen Chinese compradors recommended by Qian Jiang, Zhu Changlin, Wei Helin, and Wang Libin in Shanghai to discuss the formulation of two institutional documents, the "Tariff Rules of the Shanghai Customs of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" and the "Regulations of the Shanghai Customs of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom".

For two days in a row, everyone discussed and discussed endlessly, stipulating them item by item, and Xiao Yungui perfected the rules and regulations based on some of his own experience in business tax evasion and tax evasion in later generations.

On this day, Hong Yun'er rushed back to Shanghai with Wang Libin, and she saw Xiao Yungui in the camp, this guy was shirtless and buried behind a thick stack of copywriters with a group of literati and Chinese compradors from foreign firms. Hong Yun'er was a little amused, and went forward to pick up a copy and read it, but it was a detailed record of the registration and declaration of the Qing court Shanghai Customs last year, as well as tax payment records, and inspection records. Seeing this, Hong Yun'er understood that Xiao Yungui wanted to formulate his own tariff rules, and couldn't help but laugh dumbly.

Xiao Yungui heard this familiar laughter, looked up, and sure enough, he saw Hong Yun'er standing at the door of the tent with a smile, and was overjoyed at the moment, and took a few steps forward and said, "Xuanjiao, you are here, I am so busy that I am dizzy." ”

Hong Yun'er walked over with a smile and picked up Xiao Yungui's coat and put it on him, and said in a low voice: "You fool, why do you need to do this kind of thing yourself?" If you have to handle this kind of thing yourself, even if you have three heads and six arms, you will not be able to do it. ”

Xiao Yungui's eyes widened and said: "I'm leading everyone to formulate customs tariff rules and regulations, and if I do it, I want to negotiate with foreigners, if I don't do it rigorously, those foreigners will find fault again." ”

Hong Yun'er covered her mouth and smiled: "Even if I am very strict, I can find faults, you don't understand the key." Look at the people you found, Zhu Changlin and Wei Helin are all domestic businessmen, are they familiar with foreigners? ”

Xiao Yungui frowned and said, "I also found more than a dozen Chinese who are compradors in foreign banks to help according to the list recommended by Wang Libin." ”

Hong Yun'er smiled faintly: "They are compradors in foreign banks, to put it bluntly, they are just doing errands, customs duties are related to the national tax law, it is a comprehensive and systematic thing, how can they make it up?" ”

Xiao Yungui scratched his head, no wonder he only felt more and more dizzy after the past two days, and it seemed that he couldn't find a clue because he was disorganized.

Hong Yun'er pulled Xiao Yungui to sit aside and whispered: "You are the king of the west, you just need to use the right people to do the right things, you don't have to do everything yourself, one person's liliang is limited, and the team's liliang is the biggest." You and I are actually not good at this customs tariff matter, and there are almost no people in our army who are good at it, so I suggest that it is more appropriate for us to hire foreigners to do it. ”

Xiao Yungui sighed and said: "This can't work, the tariff rules of your own country actually have to be set by foreigners?" ”

Hong Yun'er smiled lightly and said: "You think badly, after we ask the foreigners to sort out the tariff rules, we will decide whether to use it or not." People have hundreds of years of experience in customs and taxation, and the things that have been sorted out must be very complete, so please ask foreigners to sort them out, and we delete the terms that are unfavorable to us, or add the terms that are favorable to us, and then promulgate how convenient it is? I recommend a person to you, you look for it, if you can find this person, he will definitely work out the customs tariff rules will be very comprehensive. ”

Xiao Yungui asked, "Who is it?" ”

Hong Yun'er said slowly: "His name is Li Taitai and he is an Englishman. (To be continued......)