"The pigweed and green vegetables sold by the common people are still subject to tax, and the same is naturally true for those merchants who actually bring the goods. It's okay if they have an old relationship with the prefect or the county magistrate, but if not, they will also be exploited or even blackmailed .”
Liu Rong did not like reading like her brother. Instead, she had the ambition to be a man and wanted to be a woman.
In addition, the folk customs in Dazhao are open and women can also take charge of the family business, so she is actually the successor of the martial arts school chosen by her parents.
This is why she has martial arts skills and is very familiar with Mingzhou's taxation.
She mentioned before that her martial arts school also does escort business.
Sometimes they are transporting goods for merchants, and sometimes they are hired by merchants and goods who come to Mingzhou to do business.
So she had clearly seen those scribes exploiting merchants. You have to give them money to buy the way, right? You have to pay taxes, right? If your attitude is even worse, the officials may even detain all your goods and say they are stolen goods!
As for the dirty tricks, aren't these officials the ones who have the final say?
There was once a businessman who hired one of their martial arts masters. Because he had some pretty good fox skins in his goods, he was extorted from them by an official who wanted to flatter his superior.
"How can this not make sense? How can the land of Mingzhou become like this? What does his prefect Zhou Zhiyuan do for food?"
Li Cifu was concerned about people's livelihood, and was heartbroken to hear Liu Rong's words.
However, Liu Rong did not rush to mention the prefect, but continued:
"Over time, it is said that outside merchants no longer enter Mingzhou, and all local merchants in Mingzhou have also declined. As long as there are no old businessmen, they almost all live a tight life and are ready to close their shops at any time. The merchants are still In this way, it is even more difficult for ordinary farmers, especially in the past two years, Mingzhou has also seen a large-scale corvee..."
"Corvee?"
Feng Xi patted the invisible big black pot on her back and said on the spot:
"What are they going to build? Build a mausoleum or a coffin for me?"
Liu Rong: "?"
Although she had already experienced the princess's way of speaking in the eldest princess's mansion, she was still a little confused when she heard "mausoleum" and "coffin".
Emperor Sheng De even raised his hand to hit a certain unlucky thing, but his son-in-law had quick eyesight and pulled the unlucky thing away at the same time as he stretched out his hand.
"It's not about building mausoleums and coffins, but building government offices, various villas, official residences, and several Wangjiang Towers for enjoying the scenery and listening to music..."
Liu Rong paused and said again:
"As mentioned above, Princess Zhaoming is likely to visit Mingzhou in the next two years. These are specially prepared for the princess..."
Feng Xi: "?"
"Prepared for me? Then they built a palace for me! Why build an official palace? Do you want me to be an official? And Wangjiang Tower..."
Raising his hand to smooth the hair of the little phoenix beside him, Qi Xiao finally sighed:
"Miss Liu, may I ask whether those villas and Wangjiang Tower have been idle, or..."
Liu Rong clearly heard the implication of Qi Xiao's words, and then she shook her head and said:
"As far as the folk girl knows, officials and wealthy people often have banquets in Wangjiang Tower. As for Zhuangzi, which is more private, I only know that there is a hunting village that is often visited by nobles..."
After hearing what Liu Rong said, what else did Emperor Sheng De and others not understand?
These so-called places prepared for Princess Zhaoming's tour were actually places where officials and wealthy officials had fun, and Princess Zhaoming in Shengjing was nothing more than a tiger skin.
"What a crime, what a crime! To repair so many places in two years, how many corvees will be required and how many weak people will be harmed!"
Looking at Li Cifu with a painful look on his face, the smart Liu Rong gradually realized that what he had heard before was wrong, or that it was impossible for them in Mingzhou to understand Princess Zhaoming in Shengjing.
And when she looked at this crazy look, she didn't seem to be like the princess who the officials said only wanted to have fun and always tried to find ways to ask them for money.
So she let go completely and said something even more amazing.
For example, the civilian husbands who were drafted were not regarded as human beings by the government at all. It was common for them to eat straw and chaff, and they even had to wear tattered clothes to work in the winter.
If you are lazy, you won't even be able to eat the paste, and you will have to be beaten by the officials in charge.
In just one corvee she went to see, no fewer than thirty civilians died.
"Even the martial arts masters in our martial arts school who are in good health can sacrifice half their lives after going to the corvee. But if you want to avoid this corvee, you only needed five or six taels of silver per person in the past, but now it costs more than ten taels... "
As the government imposed excessive taxes and levies, Mingzhou became increasingly lifeless.
And the more lifeless it becomes, the more the government will impose excessive taxes, because the prefect and the county magistrates have said that they have to pay taxes to Princess Zhaoming!
What do the people know?
All we can do is tighten our belts and live one day at a time.
"Not only are the common people dying, but the martial arts gym of the daughter-in-law's family is also struggling. At the beginning of the year, all the martial arts masters were dismissed. You know, Qingquan County, where our family is located, has always been under the rule of Song Qingtian, the only master in the five counties. The county magistrate is protecting us.”
The topic returned to the Liu family again, and Liu Rong's face became paler, even to the point of sadness.
It turned out that among the Mingzhou officials headed by the prefect Zhou Zhiyuan, Song Yichun, the magistrate of Qingquan County, was a rare honest official. Therefore, Qingquan County was able to retain some vitality even in the recent years of extortion and extortion.
But such an outlier not only displeased the prefect and the officials of the other four counties, but also displeased some members of the wealthy family who originally stayed in Qingquan County and were accustomed to bullying the weak and tyrannizing in the past.
Among them is the Deng family, the largest family in Qingquan County, known as the Deng family who is iron-clad by the county magistrate Liu Shui.
The Deng family made their fortune by doing business and currying favor with the powerful. Because everyone in the family is very good at judging others and has some cleverness that ordinary people cannot match, their family wealth is ranked among the best in Mingzhou.
"Deng Bing, the member of the Deng family, had long been dissatisfied with Mr. Song, so he tried his best to find someone to catch up with the prefect of Zhou, and sent his two daughters, who grew up like flowers and jade with golden spoons in their mouths, to the Zhou Mansion. The second daughter was given to the Zhou Mansion. The prefect will be a concubine, and the younger daughter will be a concubine to the prefect’s eldest son.”
Feng Xi: "?"
Very good, he is a person who can fawn over, and he is also a cruel person.
"From then on, the Deng family began to run rampant in Qingquan County, causing trouble for Mr. Song everywhere, and even helped the prefect to set up cards and collect taxes. Among them, the eldest son of the Deng family became a disciple of the prefect, so the third son of the Deng family, Deng Baochang, has always been responsible for these things. And this Deng Baochang He is a playboy and a very seductive woman, but when a commoner girl went out with her, he fell in love with her at first sight and wanted to force her to become a concubine..."
Hearing this, Rao, as calm as Qi Xiao, couldn't help but frown.
