A convoy of Han merchants drove from Qingcheng to the city gate.
You need to queue up to enter the city, but there is no need to bother going out of the city. There are not many people leaving the city, and you can leave the city directly when you reach the city gate.
"Dad, I really didn't expect it to go so smoothly. In less than a day, all the goods we brought were sold." The young man driving the truck said excitedly to the middle-aged man next to him.
The first time I came to the grassland, the business went so smoothly, I couldn't hide my joy.
The middle-aged man took a puff from the pipe and puffed the smoke out of his mouth, saying, "I never expected that Qingcheng would really be owned by the tiger-character flag and become a place for us Han people."
The doubts I had about the Tiger-Character Banner's conquest of the Tumote Tribe before I came here disappeared completely. Only when I saw it with my own eyes did I understand how powerful the Tiger-Character Banner was.
In his heart, he no longer dared to treat Tiger Flag as an ordinary business name.
"I didn't expect that business here in Qingcheng is so easy. Dad, when will we come here again?" The young man turned to the middle-aged man while driving.
Where he could make money, he wished he could stay here every day.
The middle-aged man banged the cigarette pot on the shaft of the car a few times and said, "It's time to celebrate the New Year. Let's just do this this year. We'll talk about it after the New Year."
Although he did not reply directly to the young man, he also expressed his attitude that he would come to Qingcheng again.
"Oh! Oh!" The young man used a whip to lure the animals back to the roadside, and then said to the middle-aged man, "It's a pity that the taxes on merchants in Tiger Character Banner are too harsh. In the Ming Dynasty, the court rarely collected taxes from merchants. Tax, Tiger Flag, as a business in our Ming Dynasty, should understand the difficulties faced by our businessmen and should not charge this business tax."
He had never paid any business tax before, so he felt a little uncomfortable about paying business tax to Tiger Character Banner seriously.
Even though I made a lot of money in Qingcheng this time, I still feel that this business tax should not be paid.
"The Ming Dynasty did not pay commercial taxes, but when traveling across the state and government, if there was a tap, the total money would be much more than the commercial tax collected by the Tiger Flag." The middle-aged man used a broomstick to clear the pipe pot. There's tar in it, he said to the young man.
The young man driving the bus said: "The tax we paid in the past was collected by the local government, but Tiger Flag is just a business. They blatantly collect business tax. This is a treasonous thing."
"So what if we collect commercial taxes? Ming's laws can still control the grassland!" The middle-aged man snorted, then held the mouth of the pipe in his mouth and blew on it. When he found that it was ventilated, he threw away the pipe in his hand. Slender broom branches.
The young man choked.
He also knew that the imperial court had no control over the grassland, but they worked so hard to transport the goods to Qingcheng, but they had to pay a large sum of money to the Tiger Flag as business tax, which made him feel uncomfortable.
After all, Tiger Flag doesn't have to do anything. As long as people wait in the tax office, they can get money from passing merchants for free.
In his opinion, this is easier to do than any other business.
The middle-aged man put away his pipe and pot, looked at the young man driving the car, and said, "Don't think too hard. On the grassland, the tiger flag is the court here. If we really don't pay them commercial taxes, our business will be ruined." It can’t be so smooth, and we also made a lot of money on this trip. Once we sell the leather goods we pulled in the car, we can make another profit.”
After traveling all over the country for so many years, he sees things more clearly than his own son.
During this trip to Qingcheng, he had already earned the amount of money he usually earned in half a year. Not to mention paying such a small amount of business tax, he was willing to pay twice as much.
"It's strange to say that we passed by so many forts along the way without encountering a single checkpoint. We saved a lot of money," the young man said.
The middle-aged man looked back at Qingcheng behind him and said, "Just wait and see, within a few years, this place will flourish. In the future, more and more merchants will come to Qingcheng to do business."
In the past, the biggest difficulty in doing business on the grassland was that it was too dangerous. This danger came not only from the horse bandits on the grassland, but also from the herder tribes living on the grassland.
Now that the Tumote tribe has been conquered by the Tiger-Character Banner, the lives of Ming merchants who came to Qingcheng for business have been guaranteed, which allowed him to see opportunities for Qingcheng to become prosperous.
"Father, your thinking is too simple. How could the imperial court give the tiger-character flag this opportunity? Let's see, sooner or later the imperial court will take action on the tiger-character flag. Let's try to come to Qingcheng more times before the imperial court takes action." The young man said.
He is not optimistic that the Tiger Flag will be able to gain a foothold on the grassland.
Compared with the Tiger Flag that occupied Qingcheng, he believed that the Ming Dynasty was more powerful.
"Drive well and go home early to celebrate the New Year." The middle-aged man was unwilling to talk about what happened between Daming and the Tiger Flag, and urged his son to hurry up and get on his way.
This father and son are just a microcosm of the Ming Dynasty businessmen who came to Qingcheng.
As the father and son return to the Ming Dynasty, more and more people will know about the situation in Qingcheng, and at the same time, more Ming businessmen will be attracted to Qingcheng to do business.
Liu Heng, wrapped in fur, rode a horse on the streets of Qingcheng.
As the New Year is approaching, the Chinese New Year atmosphere in Qingcheng has become more and more obvious. Every household has begun to post Spring Festival couplets, and even some Mongolian families have also learned to post Spring Festival couplets.
Originally, there were some differences between the Mongolian New Year and the Chinese New Year. Many Mongolians completely looked down on the Chinese way of doing things. However, since the Tiger-Character Banner conquered the Tumut tribe, many Mongolians began to learn from the Han people.
"Many merchants from the Ming Dynasty came to Qingcheng this year. When these people go back and spread the news about Qingcheng, I believe Qingcheng will be more prosperous in the coming years." Li Shuheng, who was walking on the street with Liu Heng, said.
Liu Heng looked at the shops open for business on the street and said: "We must ensure the safety of Ming merchants who come to Qingcheng. Only when the road from Daming to Qingcheng is safe and smooth will merchants be more willing to come to Qingcheng to do business." .”
"Don't worry, proprietor, our cavalry is patrolling along the road, and the forts along the way have also been notified. They can solve the food problem and provide accommodation for the merchants coming from the Ming Dynasty." Li Shuheng said.
Liu Heng nodded and urged the horse to move forward.
Horseback riding is prohibited in Qingcheng City. Even Omubuhong, the lord of the Tumut tribe, is not allowed to ride a horse on the street. The only people who can ride horses in the city are those with the Tiger Flag.
So when pedestrians on the road saw someone coming on horseback, they immediately understood that it was someone carrying the Tiger Flag, and they all hid on the side of the road to let the horses and riders pass first.
tread! tread! tread!
The rapid sound of horse hooves came from a distance.
Soon, several riders appeared in the sight of Liu Heng and others.
"It seems like something has come to visit again, we should go back." Liu Heng said to Li Shuheng with a smile, then turned the horse's head and walked back.
