In order to be on the safe side and avoid startling the snake, Li Nai did not make adjustments to the personnel on today's merchant ship according to He Xi's instructions, and all the people who did not know the inside story were used. Under Li Qingyang's active inquiry, the captain also enthusiastically introduced to them about the owner and the situation of this trip to Qiongzhou.

The company that hired Li Qingyang was called "Fusheng", which was actually one of the branches under "Furuifeng", specializing in foreign trade commodities such as tea, silk, and porcelain. In the past, these goods were mainly sold to Westerners, and they needed to be traded across the sea to distant Manila or Batavia, although they were lucrative, but the risks of long-distance voyages were not small, and one was not careful. However, since the emergence of Shengli Port, a free trade port with zero tariffs, the trading place of these foreign trade commodities has begun to gradually move to Qiongzhou Island, and "Fusheng" has four cargo ships regularly passing between Guangzhou and Shengli Port every month, and there are at least thirty or forty commercial banks with such a scale of operation as "Fusheng" in the two Guangxi areas, among which almost all the commercial banks involved in maritime trade are more or less related to Haihan.

Li Qingyang is from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, where water transportation is convenient, and he can probably make up how much trade will be brought by so many commercial houses, and the relevant information was not mentioned in the report sent to Nanzhen Fusi before, it seems that there is indeed some problem with this Jinyi Wei organization in Qiongzhou, either it is blind or it has been bought by the Haihan people. However, Li Qingyang felt strange that the ship departed from the Pearl River wharf almost empty, and there was almost no cargo on board except for the necessary supplies, and he couldn't help but ask the captain this question.

The captain did not suspect him, and explained to him the trickiness of it. Since the "Fusheng" trading house only engaged in pure export business, and the return trip was almost empty, the government often charged the ship according to the value of the goods on board before it left the port.

Now some commercial houses have found a way to circumvent this method of taxation, that is, to transport goods from Panyu by land first, depart from Guangzhou empty, and then load them at the local wharf in Panyu and go to sea. Although this is a little troublesome, a shipload of goods can save at least two or three hundred taels of silver after deducting the land freight of these dozens of miles, which is also a large amount over the years. The corresponding goods transported into Guangdong from outside are also handled according to the same gourd, and the goods are first unloaded in Lijiazhuang and then transported to all parts of Guangdong by land. In this way, one entry and one exit are combined, and the tax evaded by the goods smuggled in and out of Lijiazhuang must be calculated at least 10,000 taels of silver.

Of course, not all commercial banks are qualified to do this, and in fact, only "Fu Ruifeng" and several related commercial houses can adopt this kind of tax evasion method. Because Panyu County's only large-scale freight terminal directly connected to the Pearl River is within Lijiazhuang's sphere of influence, and since the battle of Lijiazhuang last year, the local militia has divided a radius of ten miles into Lijiazhuang's private territory, controlling all the traffic arteries, even the people of Panyu County have to say hello first if they want to go in to do business, and naturally there will be no tax collectors to go to the wharf next to Lijiazhuang to collect trade taxes.

When Li Qingyang heard this, he couldn't help but interject and asked: "Does the government not care? Even if the county government can't manage it, the state government can't manage it, right? Panyu is only forty miles away from Guangzhou City, so can the big men in the city turn a blind eye to this kind of thing?"

The captain smiled and said: "You are not a local, how do you know how powerful the big proprietor of Lijiazhuang is!" Last year, the bandit leader Liao Dabi besieged Lijiazhuang with five or six thousand people, and the defenders of Guangzhou City did not dare to take it lightly, and the Panyu County Ya also turned a blind eye to this matter. Besides, the officials and men in charge of the yamen do not receive red envelopes for filial piety during the New Year's holidays, and they have a lot of money in their pockets, so they don't care whether they can collect the taxes or not. ”

"It's really a moth!" Li Qingyang clenched his fists, and such a thought flashed silently in his heart. Although Dongchang Fanzi should be responsible for the corruption of the investigating officials, he has already decided that when he submits a report to the Nanzhen Fusi afterwards, he must sue these local officials for inaction! There is no doubt that this part of the tax revenue that should have gone into the state treasury ended up in the pockets of the Ming profiteers, Haihan people, and corrupt officials, and he really could not sit idly by and watch this kind of illegal behavior become a reasonable deposit in the Liangguang area.

Although he knew that the captain was not the owner, Li Qingyang still couldn't help but say: "Such an illegal thing, as a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, if you don't report it to the government, why do you want to get involved? That Haihan people collude with illegal businessmen and evade taxes, which is really hateful!"

"Illegal? Hehe, young man, I don't know how law-abiding people die!" The captain said with a slight mockery: "Do you know how many people died in various prefectures and counties in the past few years due to the famine and civil unrest in Guangdong?

"There are a large number of victims, and it is difficult for the government to take care of it for a while, so it is inevitable that it will ......" Standing in Jinyiwei's position, Li Qingyang naturally wanted to speak for the government. The disaster situation in Guangdong in recent years is not a secret, and there are quite a few official documents sent by the Guangzhou government to Nanjing asking for assistance from grain, grass, and silver, but the specific situation of the people killed and injured is certainly not true, but the situation that the captain said is more credible.

"The government can't save it, but the Haihan people have saved it!" The captain interrupted Li Qingyang's words and said: "I, Song San, escaped from Zhaoqing Mansion last year, and if I hadn't met the relief point run by the Haihan people on the way, I probably wouldn't have survived until now! There are at least thousands of people like me who can only save their lives by relying on the relief of the Haihan people, and I don't know if they did illegal things, but I will definitely remember that my life was saved by them!"

"In that case, why didn't you go to the Haihan people as immigrants?" Li Qingyang continued to ask.

"At that time, I had a fever, and the Haihan people said that it was easy to infect others, and although they gave me medicine, they refused to accept me as an immigrant. Song San laughed at himself: "After I got well, I joined the current owner, and after I went to Sanya with the ship, I realized that I was really blessed...... This is also my life is not good, and I can't complain about others. ”

"The Haihan people recruited so many immigrants from Liangguang, could it be that all of them were settled in Yazhou?" Li Qingyang asked with a frown. He had previously thought that the Haihan might have trafficked migrants overseas to sell them as labor, but now that seems to be the case.

Song Sandao: "That's not true, the territory controlled by the Haihan people is not only in Yazhou, but the local people in Sanya are the most concentrated." According to my observations, there are at least 350,000 people in the area. ”

Li Qingyang asked: "I heard that there are only a few hundred Haihan people, but how can they feed such a large number of people? If they don't have enough food and clothing after they go, what is the difference between being a disaster victim in Guangdong?"

"The situation in Guangdong can't be compared with Sanya. Song San shook his head disdainfully and said: "There are two seaports under the rule of the Haihan people, and the prosperity is better than that of Guangzhou, and there are no idlers in the local area, as long as people can move, they can find things to do in the local area, and the income is far higher than that of Guangzhou." ”

"Prosperity is better than Guangzhou?" This is the first time Li Qingyang has heard such a specific evaluation from someone who has been to Sanya, and he immediately became interested: "Third Brother Song, can you tell us in detail how this Sanya prospers the law?"

Song Sandao: "There are two seaports in Sanya, one is Shengli Port and the other is Sanya Port, Shengli Port specializes in all kinds of exquisite utensils and specialties produced by Haihan, and Sanya Port is a place for foreign merchants to trade in the local area. The Haihan people do not charge taxes on the goods transported by foreign merchants, so many merchants regard Sanya as a distribution center for goods. The two ports are both wide and deep, can accommodate 100 large ships to berth, and all kinds of cargo loading facilities are complete on the wharf, and the loading and unloading of goods in the local area is at least twice as fast as that of the Pearl River wharf! Haihan people are honest and trustworthy in doing business, and have sufficient capital, and there is no need to carry cash to the local area at all, they can exchange huàn good silver tickets in Guangzhou, and when the transaction is completed, they can return to Guangzhou to exchange huàn cash. With such convenience, what firm wouldn't like to deal with them?"

Song San said and took out a stack of negotiable coupons from his arms and handed them to Li Qingyang: "I don't have large silver tickets, but there are still some negotiable coupons." This negotiable coupon was issued by the Haihan Bank, and one yuan was exchanged for one or two official silver, so there was no need to go out with cumbersome silver money in the local area. ”

"What if someone doesn't accept it?" Li Qingyang took two and looked at them carefully, he had heard similar rumors when he was in contact with the local person in charge the day before, but he didn't expect this rumor to be true.

"The Sanya area can only use negotiable coupons, and no one will accept the silver!" Song San said with a smile: "There is no need to worry that this thing will become invalid, even if you go back to Guangzhou, you can also take it to the Haihan Garrison Office in Guangzhou to exchange it for huàn into silver taels." ”

"Privately issuing treasure money is equivalent to minting private money, a capital crime!" Li Qingyang added another crime to the Haihan people in his heart.

Of course, Li Qingyang only slandered this kind of thing in his heart, and he would not say it to a guy like Song San, whose political attitude was obviously inclined to the Haihan people, who knows if he has a door on his mouth, if it leaks out, it will be troublesome.

"The Haihan people distribute this kind of ...... locally This kind of negotiable coupon, the Yazhou government just asked?" Although he knew that there might be some problems with the local government over there in Yazhou, Li Qingyang still wanted to confirm it again from the insiders.

"Yazhou Official's Mansion?" Song San sneered and said: "Yazhou Official's Mansion is not the same, you have to look at the face of the Haihan people to do things, the officials and masters in Yacheng are now all supported by the Haihan people, who would not know how to raise and raise more of this?

"Sure enough, he is in the same stream with the Haihan people!" Song San's words have undoubtedly confirmed Li Qingyang's previous conjecture, and the situation seems to be more severe than he expected, and the local government has gone beyond the Cheng dù of cooperating with the Haihan people, but directly obeys the orders of the other party! Although this kind of thing sounds incredible, judging by the various information obtained now, Li Qingyang thinks that it is still very likely that Song San's statement is true.

"Since the Haihan people have no one to control in the local area, isn't the local lawlessness?" Li Qingyang continued to ask.

Song San shook his head again and again and said: "Then you are exactly wrong! The laws and regulations formulated by the Haihan people are far stricter than those of the Ming Dynasty! If you commit a crime in the Ming Dynasty, you still have the opportunity to file a lawsuit, and if you commit a crime in Sanya, as long as there is confirmation, you will be immediately arrested and sent to hard labor! Under the rule of the Haihan, no one dares to commit a crime lightly!"

"What? They actually legislated on their own and set up a private court? This is simply ......" Li Qingyang was stunned for a moment, and he didn't know how to evaluate the Haihan people's behavior of exceeding the rules.

Li Qingyang found that from what he learned so far, except for the fact that the Haihan people did not raise a flag to rebel and seal the territory, they had done almost all other illegal things. Illegally organized population migration, issued private currency to set up its own bank, evaded taxes and smuggled goods, bribed officials and people, and set up private courts in disregard of the royal law...... Li Qingyang didn't even need to use his brain, with the information he had now, he could easily collect ten and eight major sins for the Haihan people.

Of course, Li Qingyang is not a fledgling newcomer, he also understands that the law of this world is to see who has the biggest fist, whether it is illegal or not, this matter is not up to him as a small brocade cloth Wei Baihu, even if he is finally convicted, whether he can punish these rampant Haihan people, that is not something he can control. Since they have the ability to control the land of a state, and even develop their power to Guangzhou, it shows that this group of people is by no means easy to follow. When I went to Sanya, I am afraid that the difficulties I would have to face to complete the task would be much more than expected.

Fortunately, the first step was safe, and he chose such a proper disguise identity, and met such a talkative captain. Li Qingyang secretly made up his mind that he wanted to take advantage of the time on the road to get some useful information out of Song San's mouth. After living in Sanya for a few months and collecting comprehensive information, he tried to report to the imperial court and ask soldiers to exterminate these Haihan rebels.

Li Qingyang was silently planning the future course of action, when he suddenly found that the boat had slowed down and slowly turned towards a fork in the river. Li Qingyang was stunned and asked, "Third Brother Song, why do you want to stop the boat here?"

"Loading!" Song San pointed to the wharf by the river in front of him and said, "That is the Lijiazhuang wharf, our ship is going to load the goods here and then go to Sanya." ”

Li Qingyang came back to his senses at this time, Song San did mention this section before, after the empty ship departed from Guangzhou, he could load the goods in Panyu, and he could escape the tax collection of the imperial court. Thinking of this, Li Qingyang couldn't help but paced to the side of the ship, looking at the cargo wharf that was said to have been built by Zhang Luo, a Haihan man.