"I am, who are you? What's the matter with me? ”

Li Jinniu walked over and said to these strange men, glad that he had temporarily gotten rid of his wife's bombardment.

"Li Baihu, surnamed Qi, named Chunnian, from Xujiazhuang, Xinghua County, our owner sent us here to ask Li Baihu to be a bridge to discuss some cooperation with the imperial court...... I wonder if I can go into the house to talk in detail? ”

Qi Chunnian, a twenty-six-year-old guy with a delicate face and a gentle temperament, looked at Li Jinniu with a smile.

"Daddy, I'm hungry!" At this time, Li Jinniu's 6-year-old daughter ran over, held his hand, and continued to cry.

"Ling'er, don't make trouble!"

Li Jinniu's face was very ugly, he raised his right hand, and he was about to slap it down, but in the face of this most beloved little daughter, his heart was like a knife, and he couldn't do it after all, he only felt that he was useless, and he was extremely guilty.

"Little sister, come to my uncle."

Qi Chunnian took out a compressed biscuit from his coat pocket, tore the wrapping paper, squatted down, beckoned to the little girl, and handed the biscuit over.

The little girl ran on her short legs, took the biscuit, and stuffed it into her mouth, her jaw moving rapidly, making a clicking and mmmmmmm

"Eat slowly, be careful of choking."

Qi Chunnian patted her little head and reminded with a smile.

Seeing that my sister had something to eat, the two elder brothers, who were over ten years old, also came over, swallowing constantly in their throats, and wanted to eat this kind of food, but they couldn't snatch it from their sister's hands, so they could only look at Qi Chunnian's eldest uncle.

But there were no more compressed biscuits, so Qi Chunnian took out ten silver dollars from his inner pocket and said to several subordinates beside him: "You go and buy 100 catties of rice and noodles, buy a few catties of fish and meat, and a jar of wine, and buy the rest of the things until you spend all the money." ”

"Yes, Boss."

After taking the money, several subordinates went out.

Not for a while.

Some of the subordinates carried whole bags of rice, some carried a whole side of pig thighs, some wrung a big fish in their hands, a large jar of vegetable oil, several vegetables, and a large jar of local apricot blossom wine, and even moved back and forth several times - the purchasing power of 10 silver dollars was still quite high.

This scene.

Let the three children show joy on their faces, cheer and jump, and rub their little hands from time to time full of expectant eyes.

Liu Yueniang took the initiative to greet these distinguished guests, who were very enthusiastic and pulled a lot of homely things.

Only Li Jinniu has a feeling of self-pity, he wants to find a crack in the ground to get into, and he also wants to refuse this kind of kindness like charity, but it is impossible to do it.

When lunch is ready, a big bowl of meat, a large plate of fish, and a big jar of wine are put on the table, and in the face of this table of good meat and good dishes, not to mention the three children, even Li Jinniu himself, he can't help but gobble it up, and the tall image of Jinyi Wei Baihu can't be maintained at all.

I ate eight or nine minutes full.

Li Jinniu slowed down his eating, resumed his posture in line with his identity, took a sip of wine, and said: "I have heard of Xujiazhuang, it is said that the daily income is ten thousand gold, and the wealth is rivaled by the country, I don't know how many people envy it, you say that you are from Xujiazhuang, I will believe it, but what is the purpose of you deliberately looking for me, a dilapidated brocade and a hundred households, what is the purpose of what do you want to plan from me, and what kind of cooperation do you want to do?" You can do your best, but as for whether you agree or not, you can't decide this meal. ”

Li Jinniu showed his attitude, or rather, the principle that he would not be easily bought.

"Don't worry, Li Baihu, this is definitely a win-win situation."

Qi Chunnian's eyes signaled, and several subordinates immediately left the table, some went to the courtyard gate to let off steam, and some said hello to Liu Yueniang and asked her to take the child aside.

At the end of the table, there were only two people left.

Qi Chunnian took out a palm-sized tape recorder from his file bag, placed it on the table, pressed the play button, and said: "This matter starts with the new county order in Xinghua County, who is greedy and wants to plot against my Xu......jiazhuang."

About an hour later.

"What do you mean is that you Xujiazhuang do not want to pay grain and taxes to the government anymore, but want to pay taxes directly to His Majesty, and are willing to bear the loss of the tax payment process, and send all of them to the capital, from indirect tax payment to direct tax payment?" Li Jinniu asked.

"Yes, Xinghua County is not far from the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, take the river to pay taxes directly to the central government, the loss is not much, if not, you can also open up a shipping channel, from the coast to Tianjin, the loss is lower, if you can, this year Xujiazhuang can transport 54,000 stone of tax grain, 10,000 taels of tax silver, directly to the capital, the annual tax amount in the future, will not be less than this."

Qi Chun Nian Road.

"Paying taxes directly is a good thing for the court and Your Majesty, but how can the local officials agree? If the whole world pays taxes in this way, what will the magistrates eat and use? They will do their best to oppose it, and think that they have greatly broken the rules and offended the officials of the whole world, and even if Your Majesty agrees. ”

The experience of the past few years has made Li Jinniu see how much energy the civil officials have, at least in this area of Jiangnan, the emperor's holy decree has long been useless, and the civil officials can do whatever they want, it has become the heaven of Jiangnan, even the pro-army of the Son of Heaven like him, there is no deterrent, and you can starve to death if you want to.

Therefore, he is not very optimistic about Xujiazhuang's direct tax plan.

"Li Baihu, the tax that Xujiazhuang pays now is really nothing to the imperial court, and it is not to offend the local officials, but we Xujiazhuang know that now the imperial court is in difficulty, the finances are exhausted, and it has been unable to make ends meet for many years, and in recent years, natural disasters have occurred frequently, there are Tartars outside the customs, and there are rogues inside, and the situation is erosive, the most fundamental reason is that the tax revenue has decreased, and the finances have long been bankrupt."

Qi Chunnian said: "The court has no money, Your Majesty is poor, so you can't do anything big, our Xu Jiazhuang owner Xu Yuan, although from overseas, has not received much imperial grace, but also eager to serve the Ming Dynasty, willing to do a modest contribution to this calamitous country, so in addition to directly paying taxes to the central government, our owner is also willing to take out 1 million silver dollars, equivalent to one million taels of silver, to lend to His Majesty the Emperor, a little to ease the predicament of the court." ”

"This million taels of silver, there is no return period, no interest, and the court can return it slowly."

"Of course, the only condition for Xujiazhuang to lend this money is that I hope that local officials will not harass Xujiazhuang's business, and must not be greedy and covetous, once any conflict breaks out with the government, I hope that Your Majesty can stand on a fair and just position and properly handle this matter, we Xujiazhuang only want to do business as we do, and there is no misconduct, I hope Your Majesty will see it."

Qi Chunnian said his core purpose.

Lend money to the imperial court!

In other words, it is to lend money to the emperor.

And the shot is very generous, the first batch is 1 million taels, no interest, no return period, you can pay it back whenever you want, which is equivalent to a personal debt between relatives and friends.

Li Jinniu pondered for a moment and did not immediately agree.

Although he knew very well that His Majesty the Emperor was very short of money, and also knew that this was a great opportunity for meritorious service, once he acted as a bridge intermediary to facilitate the completion of this loan, in the emperor's place, he would definitely be a hero of Jane's heart in the emperor's heart, and he would definitely be appreciated and reused.

It's just that Xu Jiazhuang is so generous, more than a million taels of silver, just thrown out without blinking, and he doesn't expect the court to pay back the money at all, if you want to say that there is no conspiracy in it, you can only believe it! Once this caused a monstrous disaster, he became the biggest sinner, the first to arrest and ask for the crime was him, the court would not spare him, and the emperor was the first to kill him!

How to choose?

Do you want to say yes or not?

Seeing that he was so hesitant, Qi Chunnian leaned into his ear again and said in an inciting tone:

"Li Baihu, the taste of hunger is not pleasant, right? It's sad to be bullied by civil officials and neglected by His Majesty, right? Now the opportunity to make meritorious service is right in front of you, if you bring millions of taels to Your Majesty, who is short of money and changes the law every day to save money and make money, what do you say will be your status in the emperor's heart? The civil servants bully you, don't you want to give them a little color? The imperial court does not pay you, I Xujiazhuang sponsors you 1000 silver dollars every year, and it will increase later, if you are really worried about the safety of your family, you can send a son to Xujiazhuang, we have ships to overseas, it is really a critical moment, it is not difficult to flee overseas. ”

"What are you hesitating about? In such a day when pigs and dogs are not as good as pigs and dogs, do you still want to live Li Jinniu? We can find more than one partner for you, if you really don't want to, I will leave immediately, there will always be people who agree to cooperate. ”

Qi Chunnian stood up, didn't say more, and made a gesture to leave.

"Wait!"

Li Jinniu slapped the table and got up, his eyes were red, and he glared at him and said, "Don't go, I'll do this!" ”

The cooperation was reached.