Tongguan is the throat of entering Luoyang from all over the country, there are many merchants, and the customs inspection is tight, so the time required for customs clearance is also extremely long. The shopkeeper of Yunguan Building, where Qiu Yizhi and others stayed, was Zhou Cineng, Zhou Cijing's brother, who had always been old in doing things, and sent the second runner in the store to wait in line before the gate the night before.

Therefore, Qiu Yizhi and others did not get up early that day, and only at the time of Chenpai, under the leadership of the shopkeeper Zhou Cineng, drove the carriage and horse all the way to Tongguan.

The tall walls of Tongguan loom in the early morning mist. This wall is said to be five or six zhang high, the wall has built a very large three-storey watchtower, and the wall extends to the north and south sides again, and the cliffs on both sides are connected as a whole.

Countless merchants had already gathered in front of Tongguan, winding into a giant snake, slowly wriggling on the dusty ground. Some vendors who saw business opportunities were busy pushing carts full of melons and fruits and snacks, like parasites on the body of a giant snake, shuttling back and forth among the crowds.

Because the shopkeeper of Yunguanlou had made preparations early, Qiu Yizhi and the others did not line up honestly at the end of the line, but walked all the way along the waiting line, until they walked to the dozen or so idlers who were standing or squatting, and only then replaced these shopkeepers who had already been arranged to occupy a place and squeezed into the line.

If it weren't for the seven or eight tall guards brought by Zhou Cijing from the Guangyang City main store in the team, there must have been people in the back who would have pulled out their fists to "invite" them to go back and line up according to the rules. However, although this group of people did not dare to move, their mouths began to curse, and the team suddenly became agitated.

Seeing this, the soldier who was responsible for maintaining order in front of the pass took a spear and walked lazily to the place where the incident occurred, chewing something in his mouth, and said vaguely: "What are you yelling about? What's yelling? On a hot day, can't you stop it? Look at the sweat of Lao Tzu! ”

Someone in the team complained: "Official, someone is cutting in front of you!" ”

The soldier spat and said, "What team?" What to cut in line? Don't you businessmen know how to count? There were thirteen people here just now, and now there are still thirteen people, where is the person cutting in line? ”

"Official! We didn't say that it was the dozen or so people in front of us who cut in line, don't you have three hundred taels of silver here? With that, the crowd burst into laughter.

The soldier's face turned red, and after a while, he scolded: "Fuck, do you want to rebel? Who said that? Stand up for Lao Tzu! Of course, no one took the initiative to admit it, and the soldier laughed again, "Okay, anyway, it's always in your bunch of people, so don't pass the test today, go home and sleep!" Then he took his spear and drove them out.

When the team saw that he really came to catch up, they were afraid that they would not be able to pass the customs today and miss the trip, so they immediately quieted down.

Zhou Cinneng walked to the soldier's side at this time, and said with a smile: "Wang Tou, it's not easy for everyone to come and line up early in the morning, your boss is merciful, forget it!" So saying, he took out a piece of silver from his sleeve and stuffed it secretly into the hand of the king.

The soldier took the silver, checked it, and found that the weight was not light, so he stuffed it in his pocket, raised his head and said to the team: "If it weren't for the face of Shopkeeper Zhou, none of you would have thought about it today!" ”

Although the two of them took bribes and bribes in a small way, they were already discovered in front of everyone's eyes, and scolded in a low voice:

"Shameless, swagger!"

"Can he also be called an official? That is, a sesame mung bean's little Wang Ba! ”

"Wang Ba? I think the Wang Ba in Luohe is much more expensive than him! ”

……

The soldier surnamed Wang took the real advantage, and the increasingly ugly insults in the ranks were not heard, and he walked to the shady place under the wall and sat down, armed with his spear.

Qiu Yizhi was quite disdainful of this practice, but he sat on his horse and looked forward, there were less than two hundred merchants in front of him, and there were more than two or three thousand people lined up behind him, and he was relieved to think that he could pass the pass quickly.

Not far away, the guards of Tongguan checked the identities of the personnel one by one, counted the goods, and collected customs duties according to the head and the value of the goods. There are also special personnel responsible for inspecting prohibited items, and if there is smuggling pig iron, salt, gunpowder and other goods, it will be punished as smuggling. If it is longer than the official sword, let it stay outside the customs, and if it is short, you can carry it with you into the customs.

Qiu Yizhi glanced at his Western Regions treasure knife, the blade seemed to be an inch and a half longer than the official knife, and he couldn't help but be a little panicked in his heart, so he asked He Jiugong in a low voice: "Jiugong, my treasure knife, don't let them confiscate it!" Do you want to hide in the car? ”

He Jiugong looked like he didn't care, and said with Erlang's legs crossed in the half-lying wheel: "It's okay!" Even if Childe brings the Green Dragon Glaive Knife today, he can still enter the pass! ”

After half an hour, the team had slowly moved to the front of the pass under the guidance of Zhou Cineng.

This week, Cinneng seemed to be very familiar with the soldiers guarding the pass, and before they came up to check, he had already stepped forward, clasped his fists and said: "Yo! Today is President Ruan Qian on duty here! It's a hot day, it's really hard! ”

Mr. Qian, surnamed Ruan, was very arrogant, and sat comfortably on the rattan chair without getting up: "This is not the shopkeeper of Zhou!" Why do you have time to come to me today? You see, I have a lot of people here, and I don't even have a cup of tea. ”

Zhou Cineng hurriedly stepped forward and handed over a paper bag, and said: "Mr. Qian is really too bitter, this little filial piety is not a respect, so I should buy some tea for Mr. Ruan Qian." ”

The surnamed Ruan took the paper bag, his right hand sank down in an instant, knowing that the paper bag was not filled with silver but gold for one for ten, and sat up from the rattan chair as soon as he straightened his waist, and said with a smile: "What are the words of the shopkeeper Zhou, this group of brothers under my command all rely on the help of nearby merchants to survive, otherwise they will not have to drink the northwest wind one by one by relying on the military salary of the imperial court that is punctual and inaccurate?" ”

Zhou Cinneng also shook his hand and said: "Mr. Qian's words are serious, you and I are friends, this is just a little courtesy." No, the little one doesn't have something to ask for today. ”

Ruan Qian's eyes narrowed into a line, and he pointed to the team of carriages and horses behind Zhou Cineng with a smile and said, "What the shopkeeper Zhou said is this team of people?" Do you want to pay a few less tariffs? ”

Zhou Cineng hurriedly said: "Mr. Qian misunderstood. This is not an ordinary businessman, our big boss is inside, this is to go into Beijing to walk around, donate an official to do it! ”

When Ruan Qian heard this, he hurriedly left Zhou Cineng and walked to the front of the convoy, but he didn't know which car the boss of the Zhou family was sitting in, so he only waved ahead and said, "I don't know that the boss of Zhou is here, and the little one will say hello to you." ”

Although Zhou Cijing's status as a businessman is low, after all, he is used to seeing high-ranking officials and dignitaries, and he doesn't care about such a trivial official surnamed Ruan, so he lazily got out of the cool car, and only said "Please take care of Mr. Qian", and then went back again.

Ruan Qian always listened to it and said with a smile: "Since Zhou Da is in charge, then these people should be regarded as going to Beijing to take the exam, and the accompanying pen, ink, paper and inkstone do not need to be checked again, only each person will collect two taels of silver poll tax!" ”

This little Qian always spoke, and the big and small soldiers of Tongguan no longer had to be uninteresting and had to check the goods carried by Qiuyi, and the treasure knife on his waist that sharpened iron like clay also passed Tongguan without danger.

Zhou Cineng, the shopkeeper of Yunguan Building, sent the group out of Tongguan all the way, and then went back to do his business.

After passing the test, Qiu Yizhi breathed a sigh of relief and asked He Jiu fairly: "This little Qian always has so much power?" In a word, we were exempted from so many taxes. ”

He Jiugong drove the car and said with a smile: "That's not how the accounts are calculated. Do you know what the rate of this tariff is? ”

"Thirty taxes one." Qiu Yizhi has seen that his father-in-law and master have taken care of the military affairs of Youyan Dao for a year or two, and he also knows a little about this financial and tax affairs.

"Not bad. The goods we brought on this trip were worth about three thousand taels of silver, and at the rate of thirty taxes and one hundred, we had to pay a tax of one hundred taels of silver. But when the customs clearance was passed, the gold that the shopkeeper Zhou gave to the thousand total had to be eight taels, and the silver had to be eighty taels, and we were twenty taels of silver cheaper inside and out. However, although this cheap silver is not much, it is much less troublesome when clearing customs, and it is not something that can be bought for a mere twenty taels of silver. He Jiugong explained.

Qiu Yizhi said: "Ruan Qian always got eighty taels of silver for nothing, and we saved twenty taels of silver for nothing, but this court lost one hundred taels of silver......

"Alas. This can't be said either, now the court has no money, and those who are officers still have to eat empty salaries and deduct military rations. This surnamed Ruan is an officer, and he will not be short of money, but those who are soldiers under him are not sure. The eight taels of gold he took today, let alone take three taels to honor the peak, three taels to his subordinates, and the ones that fell into his pocket were only two taels and two taels! "He Jiu is fair.

"Then he can do it, our team of people has passed, he can easily earn twenty taels, and if there are five teams, he will have a hundred taels a day." Halfway through Qiu Yizhi's speech, he lowered his voice and said, "Don't hide it from Jiugong, when I left Guangyang, my father-in-law, King Youyan, was happy and gave me a monthly increase, which is only fifty taels of silver per month." I have to go back and tell my father-in-law that I can't be compared to a mere gatekeeper, right? ”

He Jiugong said with a smile: "Childe is the future of ascending to the altar to worship generals, how can this little Qianzong be compared with Childe?" But then again, there is also such a saying in this: 'In the next life, I don't want to be a marquis of ten thousand households, but I am only willing to take care of the Tong Pass', which is really a fat shortage! ”

"Hmmm! This surnamed Ruan can be in such a position, I don't know how many doors he has gone and how much filial piety he has sent! I'm not as good as him. How many are there in Wanhu? I don't have that blessing! There was some resentment in Qiu Yi's tone.

"If you want to say that this surname is Ruan, it is not completely unrelated to Gongzi." He Jiugong looked at Qiu Yizhi's puzzled eyes and said with a smile, "Mr. Zhong Li, the chief strategist of Youyan Palace, has a secretary named Ruan Wenyuan, I don't know if Gongzi knows him?" ”

Wasn't it the Ruan Wenyuan sent by Master Zhongli to review the Tianzun Sect classics with him? Qiu Yizhi thought so in his heart, but said in his mouth: "Well, there is such a person, and he is just a nodding friend in the next place." ”

He Jiugong bowed his head and said, "That's right." They are cousins within five suits, maybe when this Ruan Qian was planning this door-guarding errand, he also asked Ruan Shuban to borrow money! ”

When Qiu Yizhi heard this, he was not only surprised that everything in the world was closely connected, but also surprised that He Jiugong, a businessman's entourage, was so well-informed, and he was stunned for a long time before he sighed: "Jiugong is really good ears!" ”

He Jiugong said unconcernedly: "What's so strange about this, we businessmen are in danger, if our ears are not sharp and our tongues are not long, we will be bankrupt long ago!" ”