This kind of charging method is even worse than going to Beijing.
After all, it only costs two or three pennies to collect carriage fares in Beijing, in order to maintain the ground facilities. After all, the roads in the capital are paved with bluestone bricks. Renovations have to be started every few years, and these require money.
However, this is just a dirt road that was built when the town was founded many years ago, but they actually want to take away the carriages and horses. This is not a lie.
What's even more outrageous is that the capital does not charge pedestrians to enter the city. As long as they have a voucher for entry and exit and show it to the soldiers guarding the city, everyone will be allowed to go.
However, there is no need to look at the voucher here, after all, everyone is talking about the same place.
However, everyone who enters the city is charged a penny to enter the city.
This penny may not seem like much, but they don't earn much either.
Seeing such chaos, Chen Ke felt unhappy, but there was nothing he could do. He can't just pay money according to those people's rules.
However, while waiting in line, he did not forget to ask the young farmer in front of him who was carrying a basket of mulberries.
"Brother, I remember that we didn't charge money before entering and leaving the city? How come this town has started to collect money now?"
When the young farmer heard someone asking about this, he first glanced at the servants collecting money in front of him, and then turned around and glanced at the person asking the question.
He only looked at the young man with an appraising look. If the young man hadn't spoken in his hometown dialect, he would have almost thought that the young man was a foreigner.
When the young farmer saw that the young man was still dressed in a refreshing manner, he also said, "Brother, it seems that he has been away from home all year round. He hasn't been back to Anxi for a long time, right?"
Chen Ke nodded.
Then the young farmer sighed and said, "It's our misfortune. After a couple named Chen from Lulin Village expanded their business, they seemed to have used money to establish a relationship with the county. They only became It has improved the integrity of our town."
"This couple is obsessed with money. The heavy rains in the past few years only broke through the old earthen wall in the town. The town organized people to repair it, but the couple refused and insisted. Please outsource and ask everyone to donate one or two pieces of silver each. The people in the town are not rich and no one is willing to pay. The couple invited people from nearby villages to repair the city wall. After repairing the city wall, they said that the city wall was They built it, and if you want to pass through here, you have to pay, no matter whether you are in or out of town, leaving the town, or entering the town, they have to collect money."
"That's it. The people from the village who came to build the city wall were not given any money. They came to make trouble. In the end, the couple said that they were collecting corvees for the imperial court and they were obliged to do so. How could the imperial court do this? This kind of thing, this is not collecting corvee for the imperial court, I think this is clearly collecting corvee for themselves."
Chen Ke's heart skipped a beat when he heard that the couple's surname was Chen. Hearing that what they said was so ridiculous made Chen Ke even more angry.
He lowered his voice, but still couldn't hide his anger and said, "Didn't the previous Li Zheng in the town just care? What about the village elders in the town?"
Hearing Chen Ke talk about this, the man just sneered and said, "Those fellow villagers, now that they see this rich couple, they are helping the tigers. Anyway, they don't have to do anything and they can get dividends. Why not?" Woolen cloth."
Having said this, the man sighed again, "Lao Li Zheng saw how they were harming the interests of the villagers, so he went to the county to file a complaint. However, he was picked up before he even got to the county. , Lao Lizheng’s body was found three days later on the beach of Jinsha River by several women washing clothes.”
Speaking of this, the man just sighed, "The Chen family is big and powerful. The court can't control us at all. Even Lao Li Zheng can't compete with their family. What can we do? We can only admit defeat."
"Although I don't want to go to other places to sell these mulberries, but without the voucher, we can't go elsewhere, so if we want to sell mulberries, I can only come here." After the farmer said this, He just took up his own burden again.
At the same time, the team finally came to the farmer's turn. The farmer handed over one copper. Unexpectedly, the person who was registering suddenly said, "Two coppers."
After hearing this, the farmer immediately asked in confusion, "Didn't you get one penny before? Why are you getting two cents now?"
"That was before, but now the rules have changed. A common person who enters the city is one copper.
Boss, those of you who are selling things are not able to sell things because we provide you with a location in the town. What’s wrong with charging you two cents? "
After the words fell, the man just stretched out his hand, as if he was about to ask for money.
Seeing the other party's attitude, the farmer was obviously unwilling to accept it. He just shouldered his own burden and said, "I won't sell the head office anymore. Please give me back my penny."
But the man was more shameless than the farmer imagined.
"Give me money? Give me money for what? You've wasted so much of my talk. It's a good thing that I didn't ask you for tea money. Do you still want money?"
Then the man somehow suddenly saw the mulberries in the frame. There were not many mulberries produced every year, and they were naturally more expensive to sell. But he had a basket of mulberries here. He remembered that his wife liked to eat mulberries the most. , if he takes it to his wife to eat, she might be happy and give him a reward.
Therefore, the young man just changed his polite face and said, "You don't have to pay the entry fee if you don't want to, I'm interested in your basket of mulberries, and I want all the mulberries."
If these words were heard in the town, the farmer would probably be so happy that there was such a generous buyer. After all, everything was sold out at once, so he could go home early, right?
However, when I heard this man said that he would buy all the mulberries in his basket.
The farmer felt so worried that he was almost dying of worry.
"I'll give you nine cents for this basket. You gave me one cent just now, so I'll give you ten cents."
Upon hearing this, the farmer immediately picked up his basket and begged in a low voice, "Master, this is too little. A handful of mulberries in my basket is worth three cents, and there are at least a dozen mulberries in the basket." Hey, no matter what, you shouldn’t just sell it for nine cents.”
"Too few?" The boy raised his eyebrows displeased.
The farmer immediately whispered, "No, my wife is seriously ill. I even sold this basket of mulberries to her to hire a doctor in the town. If you do this, I can't even pay for the medicine."
"So you want to extort money from grandpa?" Unexpectedly, the farmer's explanation not only failed to arouse the boy's sympathy, but was directly distorted by the boy's meaning.
The farmer immediately shook his head, "That's not what I meant."
"I don't care what you mean. I'm going to buy your mulberry. If I say nine cents, it's nine cents. If you don't sell it, then all nine cents will be gone."
After saying that, the boy took out ten copper coins from the toll that everyone just paid and threw it on the road.
After saying that, he just asked the thugs on the side to carry the basket.
Seeing that the farmer refused to let go, the thugs dragged the farmer over and beat him.
The boy didn't notice it at all. He only said to the remaining boy, "Madam loves to eat mulberries. I will send them to Madam. You can continue to register here."
After saying this, he only motioned to a young man to accompany him and carry the basket of mulberries away.
The man selling mulberries was still struggling and screaming in despair.
"Chen Yuwen, you ***! One day, your family's money will turn into dirt..."
But before he could finish his words, the man's curses were blocked, followed by a series of punches and kicks.
Everyone seems to have been used to this situation, and they just like to join in the fun without even looking over there. At present, only the vendors who come to sell things have learned the lesson of the mulberry seller, and they just quickly put the goods in their baskets. All the bad things are on top.
They don't want to sell their things to the Chen family.
Although Chen Ke saw what happened to the young farmers, he felt indignant.
But firstly, he was no match for the thugs, and secondly, he had more important things to do, so he didn't want to cause trouble.
"Hurry up and hand over the three cents for travel expenses." The boy suddenly said to Chen Ke.
Chen Ke obviously knew that these boys were collecting money as they pleased, so he did not refute and just took out the three copper coins from his body.
Although people say wealth should not be revealed, Chen Ke did not show off his family wealth.
However, when these people looked at Chen Ke's baggage, there was obvious greed in their eyes.
After all, although Chen Ke's dress is not showy,
But he shouldn't be poor, especially if he accepted three copper coins from him. Most people would have started talking if they didn't want to be taken advantage of, but he gave it without saying a word. Therefore, he guessed that this man must have money in his pocket. ..
Maybe he was just like the rich young lady yesterday. Thinking of this, the young man just smiled at him and said, "You are not from the town, right? Do you want to stay? There is the largest tavern at the east entrance of the town. Accommodation is available there.”
Hearing what the other party said, Chen Ke just said thank you, but the boy said, "Thank you for what. I'll ask the guy to take you there."
After saying this, without waiting for Chen Ke to refute, he asked the waiter to lead him over.
Although Chen Ke didn't want this person to follow him, he couldn't refuse. Moreover, looking along the way, it seemed that this was the only inn in the town.
And just looking at this family, it seems that there is still something decent about it.
After passing through Caimen Huanlou, the waiter quickly introduced Chen Ke to this restaurant in the town.
However, although this restaurant is grand, there are not many customers inside.
And their language is mixed and mixed, and they can talk about anything.
The waiter led him directly to the shopkeeper.
"Is it better to be a guest officer or to stay overnight?" the shopkeeper asked.
Chen Ke really couldn't find any other restaurant where he could stay, so he could only say accommodation.
The shopkeeper then asked, "Where will the guest stay?"
Chen Ke was about to speak, but the waiter said for him first, "Of course distinguished guests should stay in a deluxe room worthy of their status! Why don't we arrange to live in Tianzihao?"
