"Nine hundred coins, the price of food is too high!"
In a house, several people were wearing cotton clothes, but the styles of the clothes were complicated and intricate. You could tell at a glance that they were carefully made. In terms of value, I'm afraid it's more valuable than ordinary silk clothes.
I have to say, these businessmen really know how to play. Lao Zhu decreed that they were not allowed to wear silk and satin, so they worked hard on cotton.
The person who spoke was exactly one of them. He had a fat head and a thick palm with 20% thick fat on the top and bottom, just like a white-flour bun with five short chopsticks stuck on it.
And he was holding this short finger, hugging a singer, and groping her waist.
"Yes, the Royal Grain Industry collects 900 coins. We must receive at least 950 coins, otherwise those mud-legged people would definitely rather sell to the Royal Grain Industry than to us." The other one was dressed similarly. But the thin old man said, "If we collect the grain for 950 cents, the price of grain will be only 300 to 400 cents in April and May next year, and we will not be able to make much money. In addition to transportation and storage, we will It’s almost like doing it for nothing!”
"It is indeed too high. You said that the highest price of food in the Royal Grain Industry last year was only 830 yuan. Why did it rise so much this year?"
As soon as these words were spoken, other people looked at this person one after another, and no one knew the reason.
Seeing this, the man laughed dryly, coughed, and asked, "What should we do? Are we still going to collect this food?"
"What? Shopkeeper Shen, don't you want to collect the grain?" the thin old man said with a smile, his eyes full of greed.
Shopkeeper Shen's face darkened. If he doesn't accept it, then won't his share of food be divided among you? Although the price of nine hundred and fifty coins is high, it is not like the bad old man said that there is no money to be made, it is just less.
Besides, shopkeeper Shen specializes in the grain business. If he doesn't collect grain, then next year I'm afraid he will be squeezed out of this business by these people, right?
Shopkeeper Shen smiled and said, "Of course I have to accept it..."
"Okay." The fat merchant suddenly raised his hand, "We have been friends for several years. There is no need to test it like this. Since everyone wants to harvest grain, what about the price?"
"Nine hundred and fifty cents is really too high. I thought it could be lower, like nine hundred and ten cents." The thin old man said, stroking his beard.
Shopkeeper Shen was stunned for a moment and asked without thinking, "What if the people don't want to sell?"
"That's your own business. We always do business at high and low prices based on our ability. If you have the ability, we don't have any objection if you lower the price to 900 yuan." The fat merchant glanced sideways at Shopkeeper Shen. .
Shopkeeper Shen couldn't afford to offend this person, so he could only grit his teeth and endure his ridicule, nodding and saying, "Okay, then let's each rely on our abilities!"
As traders traveled from village to village, people slowly sold food to them. Of course, most do. Some merchants whose bids were too low aroused the excitement of the people, and the people sold the grain to the Royal Grain Industry. Even if the price was ten or twenty cents lower, and the grain had to be transported to the county, the people were still willing!
Of course, people are not fools and will do things that will cause them great losses. You must know that one stone of grain is twenty cents less, and twenty or thirty stone of grain is five to six hundred cents less. This is not a small amount of money for the people.
But the common people will not suffer a loss, because merchants have higher requirements for food, and the price is usually lowered.
...
Taxation Department, the new chief is Zhou Fook.
He was originally a commander of the navy. Of course, he was only a small patrol inspector before. He was only appointed urgently because he came to the tax collection department.
Originally, Zhu Biao wanted to designate the head of the county tax collection department as Cong Qipin.
But Handu thought that if this was the case, there would only be a seventh-grade county magistrate in a county. Then wouldn’t the head of the tax collection department have to be subordinate to the county magistrate? If this is the case, I am afraid that the Taxation Department will often be interfered by the county government. The Taxation Department is responsible for collecting taxes and cannot be manipulated by officials at the same level.
And taxation is so important that it cannot be interfered with in any way. Therefore, Han Du insisted on reporting to Zhu Biao and set the head of the taxation department at the same level as the officials of various prefectures and counties. At the same time, the taxation department was not under the jurisdiction of the local yamen and was only under the direct jurisdiction of the taxation department at a higher level.
It is conceivable that any local chief official will be very unhappy with the appearance of a yamen in his jurisdiction that is not under his jurisdiction and has direct access to Tianting.
Zhou Fu didn't care whether the county magistrate wanted to see him. He himself was not very interested in the county magistrate. Even when he came here, he calmly moved into the tax collection office. Even the county magistrate, a local official, had no interest in visiting him.
Even if the tax collection was imminent and the county government needed help, Zhou Fu had no intention of visiting the county magistrate in person. He only sent a tax collector to inform him.
The tax collector who was sent soon came back alone, with a hint of anger on his face.
Before the tax collector could speak, Zhou Fu put down his tea cup and asked, "What? Are you angry at the county government?"
"Sir, they are going too far!" Du Ding is also a member of the Navy. Although he and Zhou Fu did not know each other at first, since they are both Navy Masters, they naturally became a little closer to each other and did not talk too much. Many barriers.
Faced with such blunt words from the tax collector, Zhou Fu just smiled and said, "What? The county government refuses to send someone to help?"
"Yes!" The tax collector nodded aggrievedly, "Sir, not only did the county government refuse to send government servants to help us, they also ridiculed me. They said that since our tax department is responsible for collecting taxes, we should collect the taxes ourselves. What kind of heroes are they asking for help? My lord, do you think they are speaking in human language? Our tax department and your lord are only six people. For such a big county, it will only take us so many years and months to collect taxes. ?”
Zhou Fu was not as anxious as the taxman. He listened and said with a smile: "The county magistrate is taking his anger out on you for not going to see him. Maybe we have cut off their financial resources and left them with no choice. The resentment of taking away the people's wealth and anointing. He is the seventh rank, and I am also the seventh rank. Why should I go to see him? Why don't I see him come to see me? I won't go!"
"My lord just won't go! They can't control us anyway, so we won't see what he can do!" The taxman was also very angry. Originally, according to his idea, he would go to the county government to report it, and the county government would send officials over, and everyone would work together to collect taxes. Unexpectedly, he was ridiculed.
"What are you talking about?" Another older tax collector scolded him, then turned to Zhou Fu and said, "Sir, how can we collect taxes without the help of the county government?"
Zhou Fu smiled slightly, put down the tea cup in his hand, stood up and pulled on his official uniform. The five men under his command smiled and said: "What is there to worry about? Without the butcher, can I still eat pigs with hair on them? Everything remains as usual. I will inform you that the middle gate will be opened tomorrow and tax collection will begin!"
"yes!"
...
The next day, the sun just rose!
According to the hour, the taxman came to the gate and opened it, rubbing his eyes that had not slept all night.
Originally, the taxman didn't think anyone would come here so early, but the moment he opened the door, he was stunned and forgot to even open the door.
Even the taxman couldn't help but rub his eyes and looked again. A large group of people, standing or sitting in front of him, were all looking at him.
"You, you are..."
"Don't you have to pay taxes? I am the grain chief, and I brought the villagers to pay the taxes." A tall, energetic old man said to the tax collector with a wrinkled face.
The taxman hesitantly pointed to the old man in front of him and asked, "Are you the grain chief?"
"Of course, we are the grain chiefs of the three villages of Shitou, Shigang and Liangshui." The old man thought that the taxman was suspicious of him, so he pointed at the six people behind him, "They are from these three villages, and they followed us to pay taxes. .”
"You, are you here to pay taxes? Are you all grain chiefs?" The taxman has not yet reacted.
"Of course, we all are~"
"Not only the grain chief, but also the li chief is here..."
"Didn't you say that you will pay taxes at the Taxation Department this year? You also said that you need to use treasure banknotes to pay taxes. Look, little brother, we even brought treasure banknotes..."
The old man was a little anxious. Paying taxes was no small matter. If something went wrong, how could he go back and explain to the villagers?
"Pay taxes? Oh, yes, you pay taxes here!" The taxman finally came to his senses and quickly invited happily: "Everyone who pays taxes, please come in!"
The taxman ran all the way into the yamen and shouted inside, "Come out quickly, the tax-paying grain manager is here!"
The other tax collectors and Zhou Fu inside had already heard the commotion at the door. Now when they heard this roar, the tax collectors looked at each other, wondering what was going on.
But a smile suddenly appeared on Zhou Fu's face, and he said to the tax collectors: "Why are you still staring blankly? Why don't you hurry out and start collecting taxes according to what we have prepared?"
"Oh~ yes, sir." Several tax collectors ran out quickly.
The five tax collectors quickly moved out the prepared long cases from the side room. Then the yellow books, pen and ink, and tax payment vouchers specially made by the Ministry of Household Affairs were placed on the long case one by one.
Five tax collectors, each in his place.
The taxman at the front shouted to all the grain chiefs: "Get in line, come one by one. Come on, where are you?"
"From the six villages in Zhongli." This person quickly replied.
The taxman muttered, "Six villages in Zhongli...we have found them. You have a total of twenty-four hectares and thirty-six acres of land, and you need to pay grain...a total of eight hundred and twelve dollars." Four hundred and ninety-seven articles, do you think the number is correct?"
"Yes, yes, exactly!" Liang Chang smiled so hard that his mouth stretched to the back of his head. Even the people following him were all smiling.
These people were sent by each village. Their purpose was to follow the grain chief and the village chief and see them complete the tax payment with their own eyes.
As for how much each household in each village needs to pay, they have already calculated it in the village. Now I heard that the total was exactly the same as their total, so I was naturally very happy.
