Chapter 50, the Eight Directions Wind and Rain Meeting Qiongya (4)

E: Two days ago, I had a bad stomach, vomited and diarrhea, and caught up with the continuous overtime at night, so I stopped for a while, and apologized.

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Smoke billowed and flames soared into the sky. The sound of cracked wood was endless.

The scorching heat rushed in front of him, scorching it so much that passers-by could barely get close.

The Chen Ji cloth shop in Bopu Port is now bathed in a bright flame.

Seeing that one of the most profitable shops under his name gradually turned into ashes, Boss Chen, who was so anxious that he jumped to his feet, had to drive his men, while trying his best to water and put out the fire, and at the same time hurriedly rescued the inventory goods that had not yet caught fire, and moved the cloth and silk to the street and piled them up.

Idlers and spectators who came to see the fire from all over the world were three floors outside the fire for a while, blocking the street, which was not very spacious. However, based on the general thinking of the Chinese people of "each sweeps the snow in front of his own house, and does not care about the frost on the tiles of other houses", everyone is standing on their hands, talking about each other, and there is no one in a hundred who is willing to lend a hand to help fight the fire. And Boss Chen and the guys from Yiyu Cloth Store are anxious to become ants on a hot pot...... There are also the owners and men of several shops in the surrounding area, who are also worried, as if they are facing a great enemy.

-- According to the general experience of the people of the Ming Dynasty, due to the dense number of houses in the city, the fire in the city was often a large area as soon as it burned, and it was by no means just a disaster for Chen Jibudian's family. But in the face of such a skyrocketing fire, any amateur is helpless for a while.

At this time, the professional firefighting team finally arrived

“…… Jingle Bell let one let one let one let us go to put out the fire."

With the crisp copper bell and the shouting of a strong man, the newly established fire brigade of Bopu Port this year pulled several human-powered water hose trucks and struggled to squeeze through the crowd along the way, and finally arrived at the fire scene. The owners of the surrounding shops were overjoyed and came forward to applaud - similar to the dress of the fire brigade in later generations, these seventeenth-century firefighters recruited and trained by the Senate of the Travelers also wore orange-red long-sleeved jackets, bright helmets painted red on their heads, and yellow armbands on their arms.

Although due to technical limitations, their equipment is a little shabby, and there are no powder or foam fire extinguishers, let alone high-pressure water cannons and fire trucks with ladders. Even because of the limited funds, there were no animal carts, so they could only rely on manpower to drag the manual pumps mounted on several board trucks to run around, but they were regular professionals, and with their arrival, the onlookers around the fire were also relieved.

However, this 17th-century fire brigade has a completely different peculiarity from later generations in that the back of each fireman's uniform is embroidered with a large word "tax" - yes, in the system of the Senate of the Lingao Travelers, the fire brigade is hung under the tax authority

As to why the "relevant departments" so strangely allowed a group of tax collectors to make a cameo appearance in the fire brigade, see below to find out.

-- Seeing that the firefighters had arrived, several owners of other nearby shops seemed to have a backbone all of a sudden, and hurriedly came up, smiling and greeting, and some people were courteous to bring herbal tea and other things, and some even wanted to treat them. The big-shouldered and round-waisted fire captain dismissed their hospitality with a righteous face, saying that it was urgent to put out the fire at the moment, and then, in the flattery of the shopkeepers and friends, he led his men to spray water vigorously on the roofs and walls of every shop around Chen Ji Bu's shop, trying to ensure that the dancing flames would not spread to the shops around the fire.

Strangely, the firefighters turned a blind eye to the Chen Ji Bu shop, which was on fire at this time, and did not even pour a water hose on the flames.

However, the owner of the cloth shop that caught fire vaguely guessed why this was -- I saw that the anxious boss Chen first sighed with infinite remorse, and then changed his flattering face to greet him, took out a stack of circulation scrolls printed by the "Australian government" from his sleeve, and asked several "officials" of the fire brigade to laugh. But the leading captain hurriedly shirked it: "...... Don't do that, boss, we don't take bribes."

Then, the "thief tax officer" who played the guest role of the fire captain changed his expression to a businesslike expression, took out a small black book from his pocket and opened it in public, and then pretended to be worried and said, "...... I said Boss Chen, according to the records of the tax department, from the beginning of the fire tax to the present, you have not paid a dime in the circulation of the bill, and now the fire is burning, what are you going to do? ”

As soon as Boss Chen heard this, he felt that his cloth shop seemed to be saved, and he didn't dare to be stingy anymore, so he hurriedly took out more circulation rolls from his sleeve and asked the fire captain to laugh. This time, the upright fire captain immediately accepted it, but then said with a smile: "...... Okay, Boss Chen is really a law-abiding person, I have received the fine for illegally occupying the road with these cloths piled up on the road in your store, and I will help you transfer it to the person in charge of that piece later, and by the way, I will give you a proof receipt, no need to thank me, but what are you going to do with this fire?

Boss Chen, who was already a good man, became angry when he heard this bastard's words: This money is for you to pay fire tax, why should you use it as a road fee? Besides, I'm just piling up the goods on the street for a while, so why do I have to pay for it? This thief is really vulgar and unliterate, and he has no benevolence, so he has to change to a crying voice and beg for mercy, "...... Officials, the little ones know that they are wrong, and all the mistakes are the fault of the villain, but the villain's shop is still burning, I beg you, all the officials, please do well, and save the fire of my little shop."

Although this Boss Chen was crying blood, this thief tax collector who played the guest role of the fire captain seemed to be born with a heart of hard heart - I could only hear him sigh and replied unhurriedly, "Boss Chen, it's not that we don't put out fires, the purpose of the Senate's taxation has always been to take from the people and use it for the people, and since we have collected the money, then we must do something-you see, aren't we spraying water on the surrounding shops that have paid fire taxes?" Obviously saving it, but you haven't paid a dime of fire tax since it opened, we are really not good to save, if you save your store now, everyone will learn from it in the future, usually don't pay the debt, and cry to beg for help when it comes to the end, where can I collect taxes? ”

Hearing that the other party had already said it so clearly, Boss Chen didn't bother to argue, "...... Let's talk about how many circulation volumes. Master Ben confessed this time."

Who knew that the other party seemed to be determined to see death and not save him, so he just continued to hit him haha: "...... Heck, how much tax should be charged, and I'm not the person actually in charge of handling it, so where can I make it clear for a while? Otherwise, Boss Chen, you should hurry up now, hurry up to the tax department, pay all the tax arrears and late fees, and then open a certificate. As long as you have a proof of tax payment, I will definitely help you put out the fire."

This kind of insincere officialdom cliché suddenly blinded poor Boss Chen - what kind of bad idea is this? Now run over and queue up to stamp and pay the tax, and then run back with the certificate? After such a long time, his shop must have burned to ashes

Suddenly, Boss Chen, who had been proud of his family's talent and was quite arrogant, finally weakened his legs, knelt down towards the little official he had always looked down on, kowtowed again and again, and banged his head on the cement pavement, "...... Please, sir, save the life of a little dog, this shop is not mine alone, and there are many old people in the clan who have the capital to participate in the shares. Now that I've burned down, it's not enough for me to lose my life."

“…… Hmph, I really don't shed tears when I don't see the coffin, Boss Chen, when we asked you to pay fire tax in the past, you didn't pull out a dime, not only did you hide more flexibly than a mouse, but even incited your guys to play against taxes, and now you know that you want to come to me? Sue sù you, it's late"

The fire captain stood leisurely in front of the raging fire, looking at the crying Boss Chen with contempt, and was about to spit on him, but suddenly remembered something, and quickly stopped, "Ahem, in short, I will say a word, no one who has not paid the fire tax will not be put out of the fire." You can do it yourself."

In this way, the newly opened Chen Ji cloth shop in Bopu Port for less than a year was slowly burned to ashes in the flames and smoke, while a heavily armed fire brigade watched from the sidelines, just struggling to pour water around the fire. to ensure that the surrounding shops do not catch fire......

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A middle-aged man with short shaved hair, a jumper, and dressed as a "naturalized citizen" stood on a dark street corner somewhere far away from the fire, and watched from a distance this absurdity, which often appeared in the American news in later generations, fully proving the "inferiority of capitalism", and could not understand this:

“…… Alas, it's hateful that just because of the tax payment, he dares to see death to the dignified gentry and not save him, this thief is really an overseas barbarian, and he doesn't even understand the most basic truth of respect and humility The soldiers of the Great Tomorrow don't know when they will be able to recover this place, and the people of Qiongzhou will be a good man."

Just when this loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, who was deep in the nest of the enemy, sighed in his heart for a long time, he finally waited for the old and young who came to connect. Both of them were dressed in traditional Ming Dynasty clothes, the old guy was quite energetic, but the young man with a tender face was limping, as if he had a leg problem, and he also had scars on his face and hands, and he was vigilantly looking around all the way, as if someone would come out at any time and he couldn't get by.

After the middle-aged man recognized each other, he hurriedly leaned over, and after greeting each other a few words and matching the pre-agreed incision code, he said to the old and young man complainingly, "...... Didn't I already say in the letter, the Australian thieves summoned the barbarians from all over the world to gather in Lingao, which seems to be detrimental to the imperial court. Please send some more people from above to find out the news. Why did you two send you from above? Do those old men take this seriously? ”

“…… Look at what you said, the news that the Siyi fleet will be in high school has long been spread on the ground in Guangzhou, and even the governor has been alarmed, how can he send the two of us over? There are at least 100 spies sent by the Yamen gangs from all walks of life."

The old man smiled and replied, "...... But in order to prevent people from talking too much and leaking the rumors, we didn't go all the way, so as not to be wiped out by the thieves and minions in case we were exposed, and I also instructed that even if we arrived at Lingao, the teams should not contact each other, as long as we were in each other, our team had fewer people and fewer errands, as long as we could collect some useful information and bring it back, it would be a great achievement......"

“…… I see. The middle-aged man nodded a little unwillingly, as if he was quite frustrated that his superiors looked down on him so much, but finally sighed helplessly, "...... And what about this posterior leg? I don't think I've really sent a cripple here?"

“…… Hey, where can this be? Speaking of which, this kid doesn't have a long memory, he begged for a beating, and as soon as he came ashore, he was beaten by a thief."

The old man angrily struck the young man on the head, "...... Before coming here, he had been instructed by thousands of times, saying that Lingao had strict rules in this place, and told him not to urinate in the open. But I didn't pay attention, he took off his pants and pulled them everywhere on the side of the street. So the Australian public servant immediately rushed up and beat him violently...... It's a good thing they didn't ask us to check the household registration paper, otherwise we would be sifting through the sand and doing hard labor......"

“…… There's no way, the guards of the Australian thieves are really tight......" the middle-aged man sighed, "...... Let's find a place to stay with me......"

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At the same time, in the private seat on the second floor of a restaurant somewhere one street away from the fire, Comrade Li Wei, a "real-Australian" negotiator wearing a suit, was also holding a small white porcelain wine cup, admiring the Chen Ji cloth shop that was gradually turning into ashes in the flames, and at the same time teased Wen Desi, one of the three giants of Linggao in front of him, "Mr. Wen, the way your fire brigade fights the fire is really interesting."

“…… Alas, what can be done? At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it became a habit for businessmen not to pay taxes, and they would be laughed at if they paid taxes according to the rules. In order to correct their erroneous thinking in the shortest possible time, we sometimes have to take some drastic drugs......

Wen Desi sneered a little embarrassedly, but cursed the guy in charge of collecting the fire tax hundreds of times in his heart: Why don't you set fire early and don't set fire late, but set fire at this time? Others are embarrassed to be thrown into Java, but you are even more powerful, and you are thrown to Australia in one go

-- Speaking of which, although from the very beginning, the Senate of Lingao Travelers fully drew on the experience of our party's early base area construction, and worked hard to develop production in state-owned enterprises and state-owned farms, so as to improve its own hematopoietic capacity, instead of only scavenging and sucking blood from the people. But as time went on, the towns and cities in the base area began to prosper day by day, and taxation became necessary, even if only for the purpose of recovering money and establishing a tax concept.

You must know that if a country fails to establish in the minds of its citizens the concept that "only death and taxation cannot be escaped" and form the golden rule that "taxpayers are responsible for paying according to law", then the country will be equivalent to being abolished -- it must not learn from the old Chiang who lived by printing money during the War of Liberation, and even Chairman Chiang, who had a cramp in his brain, did not forget to exploit and loot among the people while printing money wildly

But the agricultural tax in the countryside is just that, but the commercial tax in the town is not so easy to collect - after all, compared with the ultra-low commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty, which is similar to the ultra-low commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty, the low commercial tax in the A Dynasty does not mean that the burden on the merchants of the Ming Dynasty is light, and the routine filial piety that needs to be given to each yamen can often make the merchants bankrupt, but this money is basically not in the official government, and it is all intercepted by private individuals, and the treasury is still so poor that it can run rats). The businessmen of this year refused to pay even the commercial tax of the "thirty taxes and one" of the Ming Dynasty, and even the wealthy businessmen with a little status were ashamed of paying taxes, and would rather bribe officials than pay taxes according to the regulations.

Moreover, the merchants at the end of the Ming Dynasty were also full of the spirit of resistance to the imperial court, and various anti-tax groups emerged in an endless stream

Therefore, the matter of collecting commercial taxes in Lingao sounds simple, but in fact it is bloody and tear--the small officials who collect taxes will have a big fight at both ends in about three days, and all newly opened shops, if the boss has a little bit of a background, basically have to show a stick and knife fight to let the other party know the rules. The most tragic thing is that there is a boxing gym, and several groups of tax collectors have been beaten to the north, and the strictest time, the Senate of the traverser even had to mobilize the army and push the cannon into the street to intimidate those die-hard merchants, so that the commercial tax can be reluctantly collected.

In the eyes of the travelers, this kind of blind and violent taxation not only has a bad social impact, but also has a high cost, and it is really not something that can be sustained for a long time by paying a lot of errands, injuries and medical expenses and pensions every time.

But on the other hand, even if the cost of taxation is high, you can't indulge merchants in tax evasion, otherwise it will quickly become accustomed to nature, and eventually like the current Ming court, the treasury is so poor that the Jiangnan rich are so fat, but the imperial court just can't collect taxes from Jiangnan.

Therefore, after experiencing several riots caused by violent taxation in a row, the people of the Senate of Lingao Traversal learned from the pain, brainstormed, and finally learned from one of the three giants at the end of the ancient Roman Republic, the Crassus consul who suppressed the Spartacus slave uprising, relying on arson and firefighting in the city of Rome to make money, and finally became the "advanced experience" of a generation of huge wealth, and decided to try to introduce a fire tax in Lingao County.

Specifically, it was to seize some local natives of the Ming Dynasty who were engaged in private firefighting team trading. Then, while forming a government-run fire brigade under the name of the tax authority, the fire tax was apportioned to each merchant in an open and open manner. In order to save the cost of taxation, the new tax will no longer be collected from house to house, but let the merchants voluntarily come to the tax department to pay, as for the consequences of not paying the tax...... Well, it seems that no one saved it after it caught fire?

Hehe, if you just think that, you're naïve. The lower limit of the traverser's discipline in some respects is absolutely beyond your expectation: if any merchant insists on not paying taxes, then the "relevant authorities" will send the most loyal and reliable elite troops, organize arson drills for his shop from time to time, send someone to set a fire if there is nothing to do, and then let the fire brigade watch over just in case (to prevent the fire from spreading, and burn the whole street to the ground) - in the conspiracy of several large merchants to incite a boycott and storm the senate, After being pre-defused by the death threat of the Senate special combat team, the forced taxation that had caused the chickens and dogs to jump again and again became the voluntary payment of taxes by everyone.

Of course, after the harmonious atmosphere of this faction of "tax glory", it is not without a few discordant notes. For example, this Chen Ji cloth shop in Bopu Port is a tough bone of non-violence and non-cooperation. Boss Chen, who opened the store, seems to have had experience in fighting fires, not only digging a well in the yard, but also placing a large fireproof water tank in front of the storehouse, which has reached the highest standard of fire prevention in the late Ming Dynasty. The spies sent by the Senate lit a fire in his shop several times, but they were unsuccessful. It also made the rest of the businesses on the street also affected badly, and they hesitated to pay the fire tax.

However, after the Senate ruthlessly dispatched the weapons of the final battle and threw the "Molotov cocktail" Molotov cocktail at the Chen Ji cloth shop, this long-term tax arrears nail household finally burned up, and perfectly achieved the warning effect of killing chickens and monkeys......

However, at this time, His Excellency Wen Dehei, sitting in the restaurant and watching such a scene from a distance, was not at all happy -- not only because this matter was so undisciplined that it was really not worthy of public boasting and celebration, but also coincidentally let the "real Australians" who came from Australia see it clearly, and looking at the whispering and smiling faces of these "Australians", it was really a shame to be thrown into the southern hemisphere

- Although no matter which group of people travel through the plane, the minimum level of discipline in dealing with the natives of the plane is very low, such as the eastern coast of South America, which betrayed the Indian rebels who fought side by side with the Spanish kingdom in order to reach an armistice with the Spanish kingdom. China and the United States in North America also fanned the flames and provoked wars among European countries in order to make war profits. Even the newcomers to the real Australians have brutally enslaved the Australian Aborigines, forcing them to work in the mines...... But the fire brigade's part-time arsonist, just like the navy's part-time pirates and the police's part-time robbers, still belongs to the category of things that can only be done but not said, and now they have become the laughing stock of visitors, which makes people feel a little embarrassed.

“…… Ahem, it's a pity that you have seen such an unsightly scene. But I don't think we're sitting here here to watch such a trivial fire."

Looking at the strange appearance of the "True-Australians", Wen Desi had to cough and divert the topic, "...... Mr. Levi, I don't know what your views and requirements do you have about the proposal we just proposed? ”

“…… Is it to let more than 100 of us give up the base in Australia and move to Lingao with COSCO Stars? ”

Levi smiled playfully, folded his hands together, and rested under his slightly stubble chin, "...... How so? It's not impossible for us to move here, after all, we are tired of seeing the desolate wilderness of Australia, and the hard life of wanting nothing and only gnawing kangaroo meat is indeed quite difficult. It is also a good thing to be able to return to the roots and return to the embrace of the motherland.

But the problem is that for the world's only 10,000-ton modern sailing ship in our hands, as well as the remaining more than 4,000 tons of alloy steel and modern machinery on board, there are more than 100 of us, including many highly educated experts in biochemical (biofuel synthesis), metal smelting and mining...... What kind of price are you willing to offer for such a tangible and intangible wealth that is nowhere to be found in this time and space? ”