Zhao Dagui was very excited, thinking about the next step to buy the entire Zhao family's courtyard, change the rent to buy, and get a big courtyard with many warehouses like the Yao family, and recruit a few shopkeepers and men to really do business.

As a result, before he could figure it out, Consul Bafur spoke to him, and learned that the 52,000 yuan was not all his own, and that some of the money had to be used to pay taxes.

"Why, do you British people have to pay taxes to the government when you do business?" Zhao Dagui's face became very ugly, and he said to Consul Bafur unabashedly.

"How fresh, what country does people do business in other countries and don't need to pay tariffs?

That is, because the Qing government was unwilling to get involved in the business of foreigners, it adopted a consular guarantee system, otherwise before and after you delivered the goods, those officials would have to come to collect the money.

But it is not too late, Captain Kellett has all his souvenirs, and we will soon set off after the supplies have been purchased, and we must pay the duties before he leaves, or the trade will be regarded as shameful smuggling. Consul Bafur shook his head.

"Oh yes, we have a consular guarantee tariff. ”

Only then did Zhao Dagui remember that when the British went to the magic capital to do business, they did not go to the Qing court yamen to register the goods directly, but to declare customs to the local British consul, and then sell the goods, buy the return goods, and also report to the consul, and finally the consul paid the customs duties.

Whether it is as a traveler or a staff member of the consulate, Zhao Dagui should remember this crucial matter, but because this period of time is too inflated, he has forgotten about paying taxes at all.

"Tomorrow, I will go with me to see Gong Mujiu Daotai and pay this tariff. Bafur knows the businessman's opinion on tariffs and understands Zhao Dagui's mood now, but he has no intention of opening up about it.

"That's as it should be. Zhao Dagui nodded helplessly, but his mood instantly became very bad.

Bafur attached great importance to the first customs declaration work since the opening of the port, and asked Zhao Dagui to report the list of goods to be bought and sold and the price list as soon as possible, so as to file a tax return with the Modu Daotai Gong Mujiu on the Qing government's side.

This first customs declaration work has a very important symbolic significance, and it will certainly play a guiding role in similar work in the future, so he cannot ignore it.

Zhao Dagui carefully made the customs declaration form, and then met with Shopkeeper Li and others and Captain Kellett separately, and unified their statements on some things.

Captain Kellett was better, and the shopkeepers of the tea and freight inns such as Shopkeeper Li heard that they were going to meet directly with the Taoist Master and pay taxes, and they felt terrified, as if the sky was falling.

In the past, they paid taxes by looking for the officials of the yamen to pay, or the small officials of the yamen of the county magistrate, but now they rose to the level of the Taoist platform, and they all felt extremely frightened, and even regretted doing business with foreigners and causing great trouble.

Zhao Dagui has nothing to say, he can only say that the British consul will come forward to handle all the specific affairs, and the shopkeepers only need to show their faces in the past, and this is because the first customs declaration will be so grand, and when it comes to doing business in the future, everyone will pay foreign trade tariffs directly through the British consul, and there is no need to deal with people in the government.

Consul Bafur and the captain both wanted to complete the customs declaration process as soon as possible, and Zhao Dagui himself also wanted to finish it quickly and get the money steadily, so he quickly completed all the preparations, and then made an appointment with Gong Mujiu to go to the Daotai Yamen to handle the tax matters.

On the day of the customs declaration, led by Consul Bafur, the captain and Zhao Dagui went to the Daotai Yamen to deliver the post.

Everyone entered the Daotai Yamen and met Gong Mujiu, and at this time, something that Zhao Dagui had not expected happened.

"The grass people pay a visit to Lord Daotai. When Shopkeeper Li and a few others saw Gong Mujiu, they immediately knelt down and saluted to the platform.

"Well, excuse me. Gong Mujiu accepted the salute without being salty, but his eyes turned to Zhao Dagui: "Who are you, why don't you salute when you see this official?"

Zhao Dagui is embarrassed in his heart, he is coming today to pay taxes with the Daotai, it is best to bargain and reduce the tax amount by some of the best, but these shopkeepers kneel down and kowtow when they meet, so that their morale is gone, how to negotiate with others for a while, this is really a pig teammate everywhere.

Of course, this is just Zhao Dagui's own thoughts, and those shopkeepers have never thought that they have to argue with the high platform about the tax rate.

"Zhao Dagui, a student, is a native of Sanlipu in Pudong, this county, and is currently the comprador of the British Consulate.

Because the students are scholars, according to the court's tolerance for scholars, they can see the officials without bowing, and ask the adults to allow the small people to bow in accordance with the laws of the court, so as to show that our dynasty attaches importance to the seeds of reading. Zhao Dagui bowed his hand, bowed ninety degrees, and said politely.

For the sake of the elders of Gong Mujiu, it is no problem to bow down, but I want him to kneel and kowtow like the shopkeepers, but I don't want to think about it.

"That's it," Gong Mujiu's eyes narrowed slightly, his face sank like water, and he didn't know what to think, "It turns out that you are still a reading seed, but doesn't it mean that your child's fame was revoked by the county school?"

"It is true that he was reformed by the county school. However, students respect their teachers all their lives, and they will be under Confucius for a lifetime, and they will be under Confucius all their lives, and they dare not regard themselves as Confucius's disciples because of the reform of the county school.

Therefore, students still demand themselves with the high standards of Confucianism, regard themselves as scholars, and become adults to perfection. Zhao Dagui hugged his fists and said loudly.

However, his words were all arrogant and unreasonable, and in an instant, he caused more than 10,000 critical hits to the always elegant Lord Gong Mujiu, and it was the first time he knew that there was such a shameless person in the world.

"What a reader. After hearing this, Gong Mujiu felt that a sip of tea was about to squirt out, looked up and looked down, and stared at Zhao Dagui coldly.

Zhao Dagui lowered his head slightly, looking underground from a perfect forty-five-degree perspective, as if he didn't notice the anger of Lord Daotai.

"As far as you, who serve foreigners, I don't know how the master feels when he sees it, but in the future, I should read the sages and sages well, and I won't be strong for a while.

Today, we have to discuss business, so let's take a seat. ”

"Master Xie. Zhao Dagui breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Gong Mujiu had no intention of theorizing about whether to kowtow in front of foreigners, so he followed the captain and the shopkeepers and sat on the chairs that had been prepared in the hall a long time ago.

There is indeed a saying in the Qing Dynasty that scholars do not worship when they see officials, but that is only limited to scholars who have official merits above Xiucai, and when they encounter formal occasions such as county trials, they don't have to kneel, just stand.

However, this kind of grace will definitely not benefit Tong Sheng, who is not even a Xiucai, and even if he is a Xiucai, when he meets the magistrate in private, he usually has to kneel, and when he encounters a high-ranking official like Daotai, who is not much higher than the magistrate, he has to rush to kneel.

What's more, Zhao Dagui is still a former child who was expelled and famous, and he is not a legitimate scholar at all.

Gong Mujiu has actually heard of Zhao Dagui for a long time, knowing that he is the first Chinese recruited by the British consul, very respected, originally hoped that Zhao Dagui would kneel down and kowtow when he met, so that the British would understand that even if you recruit Chinese, their hearts will still be towards the government, but I didn't expect Zhao Dagui to be so uncooperative, and he didn't even want to kowtow.

Lord Daotai had the intention to give the British a dismount, and summoned his subordinates to drag the Zhao comprador who did not know the number of rudeness out to beat the fifty boards, but he was worried that Bafur would use various diplomatic regulations to talk about things and regard it as a provocation to the British government, so he could only swallow this breath in the end, but his impression of Zhao Dagui instantly became very bad.