When the sky gradually appeared in the afternoon, the carriage entering the city appeared again, and then the big man who checked the ticket saw Xie Kun again, and directly said lukewarmly, "get on the car", and stuffed the two paper carts handed by Xie Kun into the leather bag on his waist, Xie Kun also bowed, and then picked up Qian Baimo and sat in the carriage.

After a while, there were about 20 people sitting in the waiting car, and the ticket checker symbolically roared, "There is a ticket on the bus, and the outdated ticket is ruined." Then he walked to the carriage and said hello to the coachman. The coachman drove forward with a wave of his boots.

Since the carriage uses a camel horse, although the strength of this camel horse is comparable to that of an oxen, its speed and endurance are inferior to that of ordinary horses, so this carriage specially designed to transport people in and out of the city is only slightly faster than ordinary people running.

After driving for nearly half an hour, the carriage came to the post station next to the city gate, Xie Kun and Qian Baimo got off the carriage and walked less than ten meters, when they saw a flag with the word "tax" written on it, and then a man in a black tax service uniform walked closer, looked Xie Kun up and down and asked, "From the outer city?"

"Yes. ”

"Follow me here to register. As he spoke, the tax servant man took Xie Kun and the two to the table under the "tax" banner, and then the man sat down and opened the booklet on the table, picked up the pen and asked, "Where did it come from, what is it called?" ”

"Tianling County Yunshan sent Lu Youren, this is my junior brother Mo Youren. ”

"Tianling County, Lu Youren. The tax collector muttered as he registered the names of the two of them, and said without looking up:

"What are you doing. ”

"Visiting an old friend. ”

"Visiting relatives. What's your name?"

"In the city, the priest of the temple is the Taoyoulan Taoqinist. ”

"Tao Youlan. After Xie Kun finished muttering to himself as he said the tax servant man, he squinted at Xie Kun and said, "Take out your sword and I'll take a look." ”

When Xie Kun heard this, he immediately pulled out the long sword on his waist, and then put it on the table respectfully with both hands. The tax collector then picked up the long sword and flicked the sword, weighed it, and finally looked at the name on the sword, then put the sword back on the table with disdain, and then picked up the short sword and looked at it casually before throwing it on the table and saying, "20 copper coins per person entering the city." ”

As soon as the tax man's voice fell, Xie Kun skillfully counted out 45 copper coins from his waist and put them on the table, and then said honestly: "This is 45 copper coins, and 5 copper coins are the official who worked hard to buy tea and drink." ”

"Hmm. After the tax collector looked at the extra 5 copper coins, his face improved slightly, and he took out two pieces of tax paper and a brush from under the table and put them on the table; ”

Xie Kun first picked up the brush and looked at it, then put it down and took out 8 copper coins from his waist and put them on the table, and said honestly: "This official, we can't use such a fine pen with thick hands, and there is also a ghostwriting by Lao Guanye." ”

"Well, okay. After glancing at the 5 copper coins, the tax man said in a soothing tone: "The eldest master also often teaches us to be happy to help the people, and seeing that you are also an honest person, I will help you fill it in." As he spoke, the tax servant man picked up his own brush next to him and filled in the names of the two on the tax paper, and then took out a seal from under the table and stamped a conspicuous red seal on the place where the name was, and then handed the two tax papers to Xie Kun and said: "Put it away, you have to check it when you go out of the city, if you get it off and break it, you have to make up 50 copper coins for one." ”

Xie Guan Ye reminded. Xie Kun said and carefully folded the two pieces of tax paper and put them in his arms, and then he and Qian Baimo successively took the two swords on the table back into their scabbards, and finally Xie Kun bowed to the tax servant man for a word or two, and then led Qian Baimo towards the city gate.

When he arrived at the city gate, Xie Kun took out the tax paper and gave it to the city servant who was guarding the city, and the city servant glanced at the name of the tax paper, and asked Xie Kun and the two to pull out the name on the sword, and then handed the tax paper back to Xie Kun.

After entering the city, Qian Baimo asked curiously: "How can the city tax here be so high, and it is not a special business tax, and the Xiaoyang Empire's personal business tax or road maintenance tax is only 5 or 6 copper coins each time it enters the city." ”

"This is not a personal tax, but a quack tax. ”

"Jianghu tax?" Qian Baimo heard for the first time that there was still this tax, and he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then hurriedly asked: "This Jianghu is not a business, why do you need taxes?"

"It's not a tax on the proceeds of buying and selling, it's a security money that people in the rivers and lakes must pay to enter the city. Xie Kun said, his face couldn't help showing a look of disdain and contempt, Qian Baimo probably understood the truth when he heard this, and said: "Because the tax for people in the rivers and lakes to enter the city is particularly high, it prevents those young people in the rivers and lakes from entering the city, and if these people sneak into the city and are arrested, the government is not afraid that there will be any complaints and wrongful arrests;

Regarding Qian Baimo's explanation, Xie Kun nodded approvingly and said, "That's right, that's exactly the case." ”

"Oh. After a doubt in his heart was solved, Qian Baimo asked again: "I know if you give the tax officer more money, but why do you want the tax officer to sign it?"

"Because there's something wrong with that pen. ”

"Pen?"

"Hmm. Xie Kun said and looked down at Qian Baimo and said: "The young master has been using the latest ink hard brush, so I don't understand the doorway in this retro soft brush, the soft brush refill hair given by the tax servant is empty, which makes the soft brush unable to gather ink, as long as you use a little force, the brush will be scattered, and you can't sign at all, and writing a piece of tax paper is equivalent to you spending an extra 20 copper coins." ”

"Not really. It was the first time that Qian Baimo heard that there was such a thing, and he looked up incredulously and said: "The hearts of these tax servants are too bad, and they even set up a bureau here." ”

"It's not deliberately set up by the tax collectors. Xie Kun chuckled disappreliantly: "This is originally a test of the cultivation of the people in the rivers and lakes, before the Dou Xiu Association appeared, the people in the rivers and lakes did not have a clear standard for the understanding of the fighting spirit and the division of the realm, so he came up with this method of the brush test, who can use this kind of brush to write better and bigger, it means that his cultivation is more proficient and profound." Over time, it has continued to this day, and the tax officer took out the brush, originally to test my cultivation, as long as I know that my cultivation is insufficient, I will let the tax officer ghostwrite, and I happened to have 8 copper coins left, so I simply gave it all to him. ”

After listening to Xie Kun's explanation, Qian Baimo's understanding of the structure of the rivers and lakes gradually became a little clearer, and then he heard Xie Kun say: "Let's go to Qianzhuang to get some copper coins first, and then go to a better restaurant to eat." Saying that, Xie Kun took out the simple map bought by the beggar from his arms, confirmed the next direction, folded it again, put it in his arms, and led Qian Baimo towards the nearest money village shown on the map.

After walking about four or five hundred meters, Xie Kun saw the "Yaohai Money Village" The flag, so he pulled Qian Baimo into the money village, took out 2 bills of exchange of 100 copper coins for 2 strings of copper coins, and then took Qian Baimo to a secluded alley next to him, first handed over the two strings of copper coins to Qian Baimo, and then untied the sword and the wide belt, found a small knot from the inside of the belt and opened it and turned out a small hole inside, and then took a string of copper coins in Qian Baimo's hand, untied the knot, poured the copper coins into the small hole while handing them through the cloth, and after a string of copper coins were poured in, Xie Kun reversed the belt and after confirming that they were all solid with his hands, he took the second string of copper coins and put them into the belt as usual, and finally re-tied the knot around the waist。

"It turns out that this is what the old entanglement looked like. Seeing Xie Kun magically pull out a copper coin from his belt to show off, Qian Baimo looked at Xie Kun like an idiot and asked: "Uncle Xie, since there is money here, why do you need to use a bill of exchange, just use silver coins to exchange the bill, and save you to bring so many copper coins, Uncle Xie, you are at this age, you should not take good care of your waist." ”

Xie Kun, who suddenly wanted to show off his multi-functional entanglement, was suddenly speechless, until a moment later, Xie Kun, who was a little more than a god, threw the copper coin to Qian Baimo and said: "The pass you said is a new finance that has only been issued in the past ten years, and only a dozen counties in the three empires are trying out this new finance, and the southeastern counties are led by the patriarch faction and insist on using the old finance, so naturally there can be no such thing as a pass." ”

"Old Finance?" Because the place where Qian Baimo lived and practiced since he was a child was a pilot county for the new finance, he couldn't help but ask after hearing that there was another finance: "Then what's going on with this old finance?"

"Well. Xie Kun just has rich experience in the rivers and lakes, so naturally he can't explain the theoretical and structural things, so after thinking about it, he explained with his own experience: "I don't know if it's too deep, the specific point is that the money you make in Yangyue City can't be directly used in Yuyang City; the money earned in Yangyue City must be deposited in the money bank in Yangyue City, and then cashed in the bank branch in Yuyang City with a bill of exchange; unlike the new financial pass, as long as it is in the pilot area, you can cash it casually." ”

"Can't you use it directly in other places?" After listening to Xie Kun's explanation, a vague financial structure slowly emerged in Qian Baimo's mind; "I see, through the control of bills of exchange, the old finance ensured the stability of foreign investment, and second, locked the outflow of local capital, and formed a gold-absorbing gluttonous beast that could not be swallowed in the regional economic chain formed through the industrial joint guarantee of the southeast counties, no wonder the southeast counties have been able to maintain the status of the richest county in the mainland no matter what they encounter for thousands of years." ”

"What do you want?" Xie Kun on the side saw that Qian Baimo looked like an old man contemplatively, smiled and kneaded Qian Baimo's little face with both hands and said, "Now that we have money, Uncle will take you to a good meal." ”

As soon as Xie Kun said to eat, Qian Baimo, who was already hungry, suddenly felt unbearable hunger, and ran towards the street with Xie Kun's hands; "Hey, wait for me." Xie Kun saw that he was afraid that Qian Baimo would be hungry and crazy, so he hurriedly followed.