Jiangdu City is sixty miles away from the waterway of Yangzi County, and if it is an ordinary walking speed, it will take ordinary people three hours to walk. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

However, by ferry, it is much faster, and it only takes an hour.

Near the Jiangdu City, you can see people walking on the road from Jiangdu to the city outside the city, and on the canal, large and small boats come and go neatly on the canal.

The city wall of Yangzhou is tall and magnificent, about three zhang high, rammed earth is the heart, bluestone is the wall, extremely solid, there are imposing imperial court guards on the city wall, day and night to maintain the security of this city.

The sluices of the canals under the city walls were all wide open, making it easier for people to come and go for trade.

Even the things that were levied on the ground were recorded by someone on the shore and taxed according to their value. As long as it is not a prohibited item, it is basically checked a little and a sign is issued that reads "Permission to enter the city", and the cargo on board can be disembarked.

There are more famous merchants, which directly save this trouble, and the goods printed with the name of the merchant are directly cleared, and then the commercial tax is reported uniformly according to the season.

Tariffs are also one of the important revenues from the canal, and as long as customs offices are set up at several important ports along the canal, the annual taxes collected are enough to support nearly one-fifth of the revenue of the national treasury.

Another major income is also taxes, which come from the salt-producing lands along the coastal areas of the south of the Yangtze River, and the weight of the taxes can support almost half of the annual income of the entire imperial court.

Longcheng Jiangdu Feihuo still has some impressions, "A few years ago, Jiangdu was far from being so prosperous!"

"Oh, have the Spitfire brothers been to Jiangdu?" asked Pony with some curiosity, "Look at you like this, you seem to be very familiar with the Jiangnan area!"

"No, it's just that I passed by by boat every year many years ago, so I have some impressions!" Feihuo said indifferently, he did only have a slight impression, but he also didn't remember it very clearly.

"That's right, this Jiangdu used to be very prosperous, but it really became the current situation five or six years ago, when Emperor Pingwu ascended the throne, because of the improved taxation, so that the circulation capacity of the Grand Canal is stronger!"

"I want to hear about it!" Feihuo was a little interested in these, and he was more willing to listen to these mundane things than the fights and killings in the rivers and lakes.

"20,000 guan a day, you know, the annual tax of the imperial court is only 50 million guan!" Xiaoma did not joke, but was quite in awe, "And this Yangzhou alone accounts for almost half of the world's tax revenue, almost all of which rely on the advantages of this Jiangdu and the adjacent Grand Canal!"

"No wonder, there will be a saying that if you take over Dragon City, you will control half of the wealth in the world, so it has attracted the heroes of the world to come one after another, ready to get a piece of the pie!" "Feihuo is still a little incomprehensible, "Since the revenue power of the canal is so strong, why does the imperial court want to transfer the operation rights of the Grand Canal, isn't this equivalent to giving one-fifth of the world's tax revenue to ordinary people?"

"There's a reason for that!" Pony said in a slightly lower voice, "Would you like to hear what I think?"

"Madame Pony is very witty, I would like to hear what you think?"

Xiaoma nodded, and then whispered: "This Grand Canal is indeed a golden waterway, every year Luojing's grain is transported from this waterway, and most of the spices transported from the Western Regions are also sent from Luoyang to Jiangsu and Zhejiang!"

"Every year, when the tax is at its highest, the customs revenue of the entire waterway accounts for almost forty percent of the revenue of the state treasury, but these revenues do not necessarily go into the state treasury!" said Madame Pony, pointing to the tax collector on the shore, "Look carefully at your tax collector!"

Flying Fire turned its head to the shore, and a few small officials were calling for tax collection, but some vendors did not let the tax collector collect the goods first, and collected taxes according to the value of the goods.

Instead, he secretly stuffed some coins to the little official first, although the stuff was extremely hidden, but Feihuo could see it clearly.

"They stuffed the silver and asked the tax collector to underreport the quantity of the goods, so that the silver that should actually fall into the treasury actually fell into the hands of the officials and merchants below!" Pony pointed to the shop on the street and said, "This local trading house is actually controlled by several large chambers of commerce, and it is also secretly colluding with the upper officials, tax evasion and smuggling, which is already a tacit thing!"

"Isn't that the same as the previous dynasty, there is no fundamental change, and the reason for the demise of the previous dynasty is not precisely because of social corruption and unclear politics?"

"Moreover, what is worse than the previous dynasty is that because the Taizu of this dynasty has invented something that makes this method of personal fraud easier!"

Xiao Ma said and took out a silver ticket on his body and said: "It is this thing, the previous dynasty did not have it, and the Taizu of this dynasty, not only good at strategy, but also a good hand at governing the country, the original silver and copper coins, because it is not easy to carry, so the bribery is restricted, and now, as long as you can take out this exchange of silver tickets, things are much simpler!"

"That's the case, I didn't know about this kind of thing before, because when I was born, I already had the silver ticket, and Mrs. Pony is really well-informed!" Spitfire couldn't help but admire, although nominally this pony still belongs to the category of enemies, but he talks eloquently, without the slightest sense of mind, compared to the Tang Sect, it seems to be much simpler.

"Jiangnan's salt tax has always been controlled by Emperor Pingwu's second son, King Wu, but Jiangnan is the territory of the Jinghai Gang, and it is common to sell salt privately, which also makes the imperial court lose a lot of silver taels!" Mrs. Pony did not shy away from her gang at all, and told Feihuo about this "secret" that was not a secret.

Feihuo frowned and said, "You say this about the Jinghai Gang, is it really okay, you are also a member of the Jinghai Gang, right?"

"I'm just eating in Jinghai, with my talents, I can't make a living where I want to go, but Jiangnan is a good place, I don't want to leave!" Pony smiled evilly, "Brother, do you know why?"

"Could it be because there are so many girls in Jiangnan?" Feihuo asked tentatively.

"That's right, it seems that the Spitfire brothers are really like-minded, and they hit the nail on the head as soon as they say it, and it is precisely because there are so many girls in Jiangnan that I can't bear the spring color of Jiangnan!" )