Yesterday it was cloudy when I entered the city, but today the sun came out, and the sky was as blue as a wash.

Compared with Xi'an, the streets of Yanbei City are not wide enough, and the streets are deserted, and some shops are not even open.

"It must be too cold, so people don't want to go out at home." Fang Fei looked around, Yanbei City also has a palace, even if it is not as prosperous as Xi'an, it will not be too deserted.

Shen Tong shook his head: "The people will not come out to work because it is cold, only those who do not worry about food and clothing will hide at home in the daytime to roast the fire." ”

This is also true, Fang Fei occasionally comes to the shop to help, and several of her own shops will open no matter how windy or rainy.

"These shops are not open, it's not that they didn't open today, but they're closed?" Fang Fei couldn't believe it, there were too many shops closed here, she counted, on the street in front of her, there were four or five more closed than open.

No wonder the streets are so deserted.

Mrs. Jiang bragged, she said that it was good outside the gate, there was a lot of traffic in Yanbei City, and ordinary people also wore big sweaters. When the river surface freezes into ice, it will catch up with the big set on the ice on the river surface, and the big set is the whole winter, and when the spring flowers bloom and the ice melts and the snow melts, the big set will disperse, and when it freezes in the next year, the big set will be put up again. Alas, the slave is curious to death, and she can still catch the market on the ice, so she really wants to see and know, but now she knows, she made it all up blindly. ”

Yanbei City is the most prosperous town outside the Guan, and it is all deserted here, who will be idle to catch a market on the ice.

"Mrs. Jiang didn't talk nonsense, I also heard of the ice market in Yanbei, where there are people who sell skins, seafood, and old ginseng and medicinal herbs." Shen Tong said.

Fang Fei came to the spirit all of a sudden, Mrs. Jiang didn't deceive people, so is the ice market really there?

She turned around and ran to a shop, a sturdy lady was about to close the door, and when she saw a little girl running over, the lady stopped and asked, "What does the little sister want to buy?" ”

"Auntie, let me ask, have you caught up with the big gathering on the river this year?" Fang Fei asked.

The eldest lady looked her up and down, and asked in surprise, "The little eldest sister is from Guannei?" Not a local, right? ”

"Yes, yes, I'm from Kannai, and I'm here with my family." Fang Fei said.

The eldest lady looked at the street, the street was at a glance, there were only two people standing on the side of the road, and the eldest lady sighed and said: "No wonder you don't know, what is the big set on the river, there are no two or three years ago, this year, only people like us who have old people and small tows still stay here to open shops, and those who have the ability have already fled." ”

"Escape?" Fang Fei was very sensitive to this escape word, which was not a good word, her eyes widened, and she asked, "Where to escape?" Why do you want to run away? ”

The eldest lady pulled her neck and looked down the street again, but there were still only two people on the side of the road, and then she said: "The timid fled to the gate, and the bold went further." ”

"Further? Where's that? Is there anything farther away than outside the gates? Fang Fei looked ignorant.

Seeing that the child was not pretending, the eldest lady stretched out her finger and said, "North." ”

Fang Fei was so frightened that she covered her mouth, the north side outside the gate, that was the place of the Tartars.

"Why do you want to escape, isn't Yanbei good?" Fang Fei asked.

"Of course Yanbei is good, we have treasures here, when King Yan was in the past, there was no place more rich than ours here, skins, old ginseng, snow clams, mountain goods, those people in the customs have to spend a lot of money every year to procure, at that time, this street was selling skins and selling medicinal materials, and they came and went were merchants in the Guannai, alas, which is like now, these things dare not be sold." The eldest lady said.

Fang Fei became more and more curious: "Auntie, tell me quickly, why don't you dare to sell it, my family still wants to open a shop in Yanbei." ”

"If you have a backer in the official mansion, then open it, if not, don't open it as soon as possible, let's go quickly", the eldest lady wanted to close the door, Fang Fei simply stepped in with one foot, and the eldest lady couldn't close the door if she wanted to, so she simply told the truth, "Now it's not as good as before, when King Yan was in the past, only the official tax was collected, thirty draws one, and then there was a metropolitan governor, in addition to the official tax, but also to add military tax and firewood tax, which is according to the shop, like my family, a shop that sells mountain goods, the annual military tax and firewood tax are fifteen taels each, a total of thirty taels, The Mid-Autumn Festival and the New Year will each collect five taels of labor and military tax; If it is those shops that sell skins and medicinal herbs, the military tax and firewood tax are twenty-five taels each, a total of fifty taels, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is ten taels each, and the pawnshops in the silver building will collect more. The people who rushed to the market on the river, because they were doing business from the south to the north, the government decided that they made the most money, so they were taxed according to the pawnshop of the silver building, and their shops could only be opened for half a year, and most of the people could not even earn tax silver, who would dare to do that kind of business. ””

Fang Fei opened her mouth wide in fright, my God, fortunately Wang Shuangxi and Azhi didn't come, if they heard that there was such a heavy tax, they would have to be so frightened that they would close the shop and become bandits.

"Little girl, let's be honest, my shop is going to be closed in the next few days, in the past two years, a few merchants often came to me to buy mountain goods, so they can still hold on, and now their business can't go on, even with my shop can no longer be opened, can't be a family without eating or drinking." The eldest lady finally said.

Seeing Shen Tong, Fang Fei repeated the words of the eldest mother, Shen Tong and Lu You were also taken aback, this year, two taels of silver can feed a large family to eat and drink for a whole month, small businessmen can't earn much silver in a year, such a high tax silver, no wonder businessmen want to leave their hometowns, the rest are old and weak women and children, and they can't walk if they want to, so they can only hold on.

Before coming to Yanbei, Shen Tong didn't expect that the huge Yanbei City was now an empty shell, with money and no money, as long as there was no backer in the government, everyone who could run ran away.

Back at the official post, Xu An also came back, and he told Shen Tong that there were really no idle gangs in Yanbei City, and the idle gangs had to eat protection money, and they had to rely on the merchants who opened shops to support them, and the merchants were gone, so they had no money to take them.

"There is a man named Lu Sanye, who used to be the biggest idle gang leader in Yanbei City, last year Lu Sanye took a group of subordinates to his cousin, and entered the Black Bear Village to be the second master, the main thing in the city is his youngest son, named Ke Yi'er, Ke Yi'er has dozens of idle gangs, collecting small money on the street, and there is no scenery of the year for a long time, I want to come to Lu Sanye to leave a way back for himself, so I let Ke Yi'er stay in the city."

Shen Tong narrowed his eyes slightly, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Yes, Mrs. Jiang is right, out of the customs, whether it is a decent martial artist or an idle gang in the city who collects protection money, most of them are connected to bandits, and we will meet this tomorrow."