With Meng Yi's help, the tax yamen's statistical work on all the shops in the city went smoothly.
Coupled with the relationship between Zhang Liang and Ran Fang, the shopkeepers were very cooperative and paid all the taxes they should pay without any intention of cheating.
Because of this incident, Zhang Liang finally had a formal excuse to go to Ran Fang.
Although he left here for only a few days, when he came back again, he felt a sense of vicissitudes of life.
The guard at the door greeted him with a smile as before, which gave him a little comfort.
As soon as he walked through the door, he met Liu Bang who was returning from doing errands. The two looked at each other and both smiled.
"Brother Zhang, why does it feel like a long time has passed since we haven't seen each other for just a few days?"
"Welcome back!"
With such polite words and Liu Bang's deliberate look, Zhang Liang immediately understood what he meant.
He responded with a smile: "That's right."
"We haven't seen you for a few days, but Brother Liu looks radiant."
"I heard that your lady has come to Xianyang these days, congratulations."
As soon as he said this, Liu Bang also smiled sheepishly.
He has a very good relationship with Lu Pheasant. Although Lu Pheasant married him, she did not have any airs in her behavior and was very kind to him.
Therefore, when he learned that Lu Pheasant had come all the way to find him, he was still a little shocked, but he did not spread the matter around.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Liang knew about it. It seemed that Zhang Liang really cared about him.
"haha, yes."
"She just came here and was a little acclimatized, so she stayed in a yard to recuperate."
"Are you here to see my lord today?"
Seeing that Liu Bang did not continue to talk about his wife's intention, Zhang Liang stopped asking further.
He smiled, nodded, and replied, "Yes."
"The tax office affairs have been settled in the past few days, and I will have time to see you, sir."
"Besides, Miao Yutang lives next door to my courtyard. I would like to ask you what you think."
Liu Bang nodded and pointed in a direction to indicate where Ran Fang was.
Then, he and Zhang Liang walked in the direction of Ran Fang.
Ran Fang was also a little surprised when he saw Zhang Liang.
"See my lord."
Zhang Liang walked up to Ran Fang and bowed politely, just like when he was a guard.
This represents his attitude. No matter where he is, he will always do things with Ran Fang in mind.
Seeing this, there was no surprise on Ran Fang's face. He put down the bow and arrow in his hand, sat on the stone bench nearby, and then said, "Okay, there's no need to be so polite."
"Just tell me if you have anything to do."
Seeing that Ran Fang's attitude was the same as before and he didn't think that his identity had changed and he was alienated from him, Zhang Liang felt relieved.
He first told everything that had happened in the past few days, as well as what happened between him and Sang Hua to find Meng Yi. He did not hide everything in detail.
Finally, he mentioned that Miao Yutang lived next door to him.
"In your opinion, is it possible that His Majesty did this intentionally?"
"My subordinates have investigated and found out that Miao Yutang has been living here. It is impossible to say that he did it deliberately, but I can't guess whether His Majesty has any deep intentions."
Ran Fang thought for a moment and remembered that during the auction, the attitudes of the three families were so incomprehensible.
But at the same time, he also knew that these people's means of making money had been cut off. How could they give up?
And as far as he knew, after their salt ponds were acquired by the imperial court, every family was still thinking of ways to get them back.
But now they are doing business in Xianyang City, which is a bit confusing.
However, in his opinion, Ying Zheng always had his own ideas in doing things, and nothing in the DPRK could escape his eyes.
Now that Zhang Liang is placed next door to Miao Yutang, it means that he must have discovered something.
"Just make your own decision on this matter."
"Now that you are also an official in the DPRK, you should use your own judgment when doing things."
Although these words were said in a distant manner, the meaning was very clear, that is, Zhang Liang's guess was correct.
But Ran Fang couldn't guess His Majesty's thoughts like this, nor could he provide any help. Zhang Liang had to do it himself.
"Well, I understand."
"I heard that your Excellency has allowed common people to become breeding farms. Can Brother Liu be busy enough to handle these tasks alone?"
Meeting his earnest eyes, everyone present understood that Zhang Liang still wanted to continue to follow Ran Fang.
Liu Bang didn't know whether it was intentional or not. He said, "Don't worry, I don't even need to do this."
"That Chang Yuanliang came here last time, and he was the one who mentioned this matter, so I left all these matters to him."
"It has been started in the past few days. It is said that he has some prestige in the village. There are many people who want to breed it at home."
"In this way, there will be no shortage of wool and duck feathers in this textile factory."
Hearing this, Zhang Liang's eyes obviously flashed with disappointment.
However, he soon came to his senses.
"So that's the case, then I'm relieved."
"It's just...since they can also make money by breeding, should we add some changes to the tax collection from the people?"
Hearing this, Ran Fang suddenly looked at Zhang Liang, which was really the reaction of a slave owner.
"They can only raise so many, how much can they sell for?"
"People in the village, unless someone has built a certain-scale breeding farm, they don't have to collect taxes in other cases."
"It must be a good thing for Daqin that the people can become rich. You should always think about how to help them instead of exploiting them all the time."
"There are also taxes on small shopping malls. Don't mention them for now. We'll talk about them later."
Zhang Liang came here this time for this matter.
The affairs of the small shopping mall were abuzz in the city, but no one mentioned the tax collection. As the second-in-command of the tax yamen, Zhang Liang naturally had to worry about it.
But because Ran Fang brought up the small business market, if he directly took people to collect taxes without Ran Fang's consent, he would probably offend Ran Fang.
But he didn't expect that Ran Fang wouldn't let him collect taxes.
Thinking of Ran Fang's previous request for Ying Zheng to cancel people's taxes and corvees, he felt that it was excusable.
"What about...the food court in the city?"
"Don't the merchants there also charge taxes?"
Ran Fang looked at him like he was mentally retarded, and couldn't help but wonder why he thought he was suitable for this job before.
"The merchants in those food streets are all established businessmen. How can ordinary people compare with them?"
"So, when you go to them to collect taxes, you can naturally include the income from the food court."
"As for the vendors along the food street, there is no need to worry about it."
