The theft of spices from official ships caused a big wave in the imperial court, and the Son of Heaven was furious and ordered the Liangzhejiang Road Transit Division and the Criminal Division to strictly investigate the case.

The investigation of the case took two months before it was concluded, and according to the results of the investigation, the former governor of Mingzhou, the former magistrate of Yinxian County, the general judgment of Mingzhou, and the shipping envoy of Mingzhou Port were all held responsible.

Nearly 100,000 yuan of Zhang's family property was confiscated and confiscated and handed over to the imperial court, and the six uncles and uncles of the Zhang family who participated in the case, except for Zhang Qilin, who committed suicide, the remaining five brothers were all sentenced to death, and the 54 members of his family were all demoted to lowly status and exiled to Lingnan.

The investigation of the imperial court had nothing to do with Fanning, and he and his companions began a month-long study tour.

There are two kinds of study tours, one is to study in other places, which belongs to the category of academic exchanges.

The other kind of study tour is to go deep into life and investigate various socio-economic phenomena, which is a bit like social practice.

For students who are about to participate in the imperial examination, the latter type of study tour is more important.

This is because there is an important topic in the imperial examination, the countermeasure question.

The solution is to express one's own views on various major political events or social life, which requires students to go deep into life and learn to think independently.

This study tour of Wuxian County School, academic exchange in other places is only a part, and more importantly, students must go out of the school gate and go deep into the ridges to understand the people's suffering.

In the room, Fanning said to the eight companions: "The countermeasures for solving the test are generally close to the characteristics of each state, I took a look at the previous Pingjiang Prefecture to solve the test countermeasures, and praised the king accounted for 40 percent, agriculture and shipping accounted for 3 percent, business encouragement accounted for 2 percent, and other miscellaneous items accounted for 1 percent. ”

Dong Kun raised his hand and asked, "Senior brother, is the focus of our study tour on countermeasures?" ”

Fanning nodded, "Countermeasures account for forty percent of the imperial examination, which is the top priority of the imperial examination, I consider that the nine of us will be divided into three groups, and we will go to various parts of Yin County to investigate farming, shipping and commerce, and after returning to Wu County, we will share the content of the investigation." ”

As soon as Fanning's words fell, Mingren immediately smiled and said: "We have contracted the business side, we have experienced it personally, and we guarantee that it is deeper than others." ”

"Not only is it deeper, but it's also broader in scope, bigger in geography, and richer in content." Mingli is complementing their business opportunities.

Fan Ning glared at their brothers fiercely, and said, "Let's discuss it ourselves, how to form a team, let's start today." ”

The crowd soon reached a consensus that Fan Ning, Mingren, and Mingli were in charge of the commercial investigation, Su Liang, Duan Yu, and Lu Youwei were in charge of the shipping investigation, and Dong Kun, Lin Hong, and Li Dashou were in charge of the investigation of peasant taxes.

After lunch, the nine of them went their separate ways.

The reason why Li Dashou was not allowed to follow Mingren and Mingli was that Fan Ning considered that Li Dashou's family was originally a big businessman, and it was of little significance for him to investigate business again, so it was better to let him calm down and understand the Qingmiao Law.

Anyway, Li Dashou has a good relationship with Dong Kun and Lin Hong, and with Li Dashou's strong support, Dong Kun and Lin Hong, the two children of official eunuchs, will not suffer much when they go to the countryside.

Fanning's investigation was also strongly supported by Wang Anshi, who sent three experienced scribes to accompany them on various inspections, although he focused all his energy on cleaning up the Zhang family's property.

"Under the surname He, the petty official just calls me He Wu."

The scribe who accompanied Fanning's group, surnamed He, was a scholar, not tall, thin, wearing a soap-colored short, and his face was shrewd at first glance, he was a tax official and was very familiar with the business of Mingzhou.

When Akihito and Akiri heard that the guide in front of them had actually worked as a tax collector, their attitude towards him immediately became very enthusiastic.

"My name is Mingren, he is Mingli, and I hope that He Guanren will take more care of our two brothers."

He Wu was also surprised by their brother's appearance, they actually looked exactly the same, which was rare.

He laughed and said, "Don't worry, the two petty officials can rest assured, it is my duty to take care of the three of them, and I will let the three of them complete the investigation satisfactorily." ”

Where are the Akihito brothers satisfied with investigation, the genes of doing business have been deeply rooted in their bone marrow, and as long as it is profitable, they will never let it go.

Akihito whispered a few words to He Wu, and He Wu was stunned, "You two want to buy pearls?" ”

"I heard that there is a pearl black market here, ordinary people can't find it, and they can't get in if they find it, can He Daguan do me a favor."

The pearl black market is actually a market for tax evasion, pearls belong to jewelry and jewelry, the tax rate is relatively high, some merchants will trade secretly, evade the tax officer, not only pearls are cheap, but also high quality, and the profits are also large.

The Akihito brothers have long investigated that a fine pearl is sold at a jewelry shop in Pingjiang Mansion, and the profit is fifty percent, and if it is sold in the capital, the profit will be doubled.

However, the taxes are also very large, they have to pay taxes once in Mingzhou, and they have to pay taxes again in Pingjiang, and 20% of the profits are gone, and if they want to make a little more, they must escape these two taxes.

He Wu was a little embarrassed, he was a local and had been a tax officer, of course he knew where the black market was, and he also knew the people inside, but what if he was known by the county magistrate?

He looked at Fanning in embarrassment.

Fanning did not object to the idea of the two cousins, the best way to investigate business is to do it yourself, and tax evasion itself is the most profound knowledge in business.

To write a high-level countermeasure article, if you don't go deeper, how to get it, Fanning himself wants to experience it himself.

As for safety, Fanning tilted his head slightly, and glanced back from the corner of his eye, and a black figure was thirty paces behind him.

Fan Ning smiled at He Wu and said, "Please ask He Guanren to take us to see it, and I will explain it to him on the county jun's side." ”

Seeing Fan Ning's expression, He Wu nodded, "Okay!" I'll take you there. ”

．．．．．．

The pearl black market in Mingzhou is completely different from what Fanning imagined, there is no market, it is just an ordinary family, and a batch of fine pearls is stored at home, and you have to be introduced by an acquaintance to find here.

The only special thing was to trade in cash, and for this transaction, Akihito and Mingli each brought three hundred taels of silver, that is, six hundred taels of silver, and about a thousand high-quality Japanese pearls.

In Pingjiang Mansion, it can be sold for 1,000 taels of silver, and the profit is 400 taels of silver.

If it was a normal transaction, they would first have to pay 10% tax in Mingzhou for this sale, and then sell it to a jewelry shop in Pingjiang Mansion and pay 10% tax, and their profit would only be 240 taels of silver.

This is still a lucrative pearl business, if it is an ordinary small commodity, the profit itself is very low, although the commercial tax is only three percent, that is, three percent, but according to the value of the commodity tax, one in and one out, it is six percent tax.

In the end, there are only a few points left in the profit, which shows that the tax burden on small businessmen is actually very heavy.

A thousand pearls were placed in two small wooden boxes, each pearl wrapped in a small piece of cloth, and He Wu took them out of the pearl black market.

Akihito and Mingli were not worried about how to bring the two boxes of pearls back to Binh Giang, although there were five or six tax cards along the way, and merchant ships had to show proof of tax payment before they could be released tax-free.

And they have a study tour certificate issued by the county school, the tax card will not embarrass them, the road is unimpeded, the key is to carry the box from the black market back to the county school in Yinxian County, if the inspected tax officer encounters, temporary spot checks, it is a bit troublesome.

And at this time, the role of He Wu was revealed.

Fanning followed all the way, and also thought all the way, tax evasion has existed from ancient times to the present, and the appearance of invoices is an effective means to deal with tax evasion.

In the Song Dynasty, there were no invoices, but there were already documents similar to invoices, such as tax payment certificates, which proved that the goods had been taxed in a certain place and that there was no need to repeat the tax along the way.

Generally speaking, after the goods are delivered to the buyer, the tax payment certificate is invalid.

Can the tax payment certificate be considered as an invoice and handed over to the buyer to keep it as the basis for legal purchase, so as to plug a big loophole.

Like the thousand pearls of Akihito Mingli, they can't get a tax payment certificate, and the store buys it privately, and once it is found, the store will be fined and risk going bankrupt.

In this way, the store will not dare to accept such goods from unknown sources easily, and tax evasion will be greatly reduced.

A unique social practice, so that Fan Ning gained a lot, if the imperial examination countermeasures in the future to the commercial tax, he can make a fuss on the invoice, maybe he can really write a high-level countermeasure essay.