Ruan Xi exchanged pleasantries with the businessman and then led him to Zhu Qiyu.
The businessman bowed his hands and saluted: "I have met my brother, Tian Huiqing."
Zhu Qiyu smiled and returned the courtesy: "My little brother Liu Yu, I have taken the liberty to invite you. It's rude and disrespectful."
The tax collector and the defenders placed several sets of tables and chairs at the city gate for rest. Zhu Qiyu greeted Tian Huiqing with a few polite words and invited Tian Huiqing to sit down and talk in detail. He Yi, Lian Gang, Wang Yue, Gao Yao, Ruan Xi and Shu Liang sat at the same table.
Zhu Qiyu was the first to ask: "May I ask, brother, how much commercial tax do you have to pay in total when transporting goods from the south to Beijing?"
Tian Huiqing smiled bitterly and said: "Forget it, there are seven bank checkpoints on the Grand Canal. I transported goods and paid ten taels of commercial tax and one tael of ship tax at Shangxinhe Banker Checkpoint.
After passing the remaining six currency checkpoints, there is no need to pay the commercial tax again, but the ship tax has to be paid once for each currency checkpoint. I paid one or two each time.
You also saw the 21-tael commercial tax just now.
The total cost of collecting silk from Suzhou is eighty taels; and transporting it to Beijing requires a total toll tax of thirty-eight taels.
I sold these pieces of silk at a loss of four taels each. After working hard for a long time, all the money was earned by the court. "
He Yi asked curiously: "Shouldn't the commercial tax at Shangxinhe Chaoguan be one in thirty?"
Tian Huiqing asked back: "The banknote in the capital should be thirty tax per one, but look at how they actually collect it?
Since the Tumubao Incident, the situation in the DPRK has been in chaos, with either Tartar invasions or civil unrest in the interior everywhere.
To put it bluntly, if you think about the situation in the capital, the Holy Emperor may have lost some control over the place. "
Ruan Xi quickly advised: "Brother, be careful what you say. This may violate taboos. If someone with intentions reports it, wouldn't brother be in trouble?"
Tian Huiqing smiled and said: "That's not true. In fact, I arrived in the capital in March, but I just stayed with relatives outside the city.
From the respectful return of the emperor to the mutiny last month, I have heard about all the major events that have happened in the past few months.
If nothing else, I think I know a thing or two about the temperament of today's Holy Emperor. As long as we discuss current affairs like this, His Majesty will not cause trouble for me, a humble commoner. "
Zhu Qiyu asked again: "Brother Tian has been in Beijing for several months, so why did you choose to go to the city today to sell silk?"
Tian Huiqing smiled and said: "I have no choice. I can't stand it anymore after waiting for a few months. Let's sell it at a loss. If I don't sell it, I will transport it back and I will have to pay seventeen taels of tolls on the way. If I go to Beijing to sell it, it will cost Pay twenty-one taels of business tax.
For the price difference of four taels, there is no point in going all over the place. "
"Brother Tian chose to use the newly minted silver coins of the imperial court to pay taxes. Is this silver coin already used in such a wide range?"
Tian Huiqing replied: "I've been going to the city recently, especially the Jietian Building in Mingyufang, which is a well-deserved news sea in the capital. I often sit there all day long.
These silver coins are all exchanged at Jie Tian Lou. Not to mention, this Jie Tian Lou has a great background and great magical powers. No matter how much gold, silver and jewelry you have, he can exchange them for silver coins of equivalent value.
The silver coins in his treasury seemed endless. "
Zhu Qiyu nodded with understanding. I understood. The man in front of me sat in Jie Tian Tower all day long. He was obviously a rich man with a rich family. As for selling silk, it was either to experience life or to check the market. It is also possible that he just found a reason to go to Beijing to understand the changes in the situation in the DPRK.
So Zhu Qiyu asked again: "May I ask Brother Tian, what do you think of today's court situation? What do you think of today's Holy Emperor?"
Tian Huiqing shook his head: "It can be seen that the current emperor obviously really wants to revive the Ming Dynasty, which is completely different from the kind of muddle-through life like Xuanmiao.
There is a huge difference between Emperor Gongrang and Emperor Gongrang, who has great intentions but little talent.
But how difficult is reform, how difficult it is to expand territory!
I was in a hurry to sell all the silk in my hands and go home. I was also sure that reform was coming and the sea ban was about to be lifted.
The opportunity to make a fortune has come, and I have to start making preparations to participate in overseas trade. "
"Brother, are you going back to Nanjing to make preparations, and then go to Hangzhou and Fujian to develop business?"
Tian Huiqing shook his head: "No, no, no. Although I live in Nanjing, my family roots are in Qingzhou, Shandong. What I want to do is sea trade in Shandong."
"Oh? Brother, why are you more optimistic about Shandong?"
Tian Huiqing smiled and said: "Today's emperor will definitely choose a place in the north to build a base. But the people of Shanxi have been offended by the emperor.
In the Gyeonggi region, Renmiao, Xuanmiao, and Gongrang have been run by the emperor for decades, and their influence has become entangled and pervasive. If the Holy Emperor wants to completely control the capital, it cannot be achieved in three to five years.
There is only one King of Lu in Shandong. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the kings of the past dynasties have not valued Shandong very much, let alone given any preferential treatment.
Shandong Province can be said to be a land without one.
Why did the current Holy Emperor insist on promoting himself from King Yin to King Qi before ascending the throne? In addition to the fact that King Qi is a first-class king, which sounds a hundred times better than King Yin, there is another most important reason.
That is, before the Holy Emperor ascended the throne, he had already taken a liking to Shandong and was preparing in advance to build Shandong into a basic market. "
Zhu Qiyu looked at Tian Huiqing in surprise. As expected, opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared.
Soon He Yi, Lian Gang, Wang Yue, Gao Yao and others also joined the discussion. The more everyone chatted, the more enthusiastic they became. Tian Huiqing became more and more frightened.
The knowledge and conversation of the four young people in front of them are obviously many times higher than those of their peers. They are so talented that the blind eye can see.
Tian Huiqing made a brief summary in his mind: a handsome young master, with four talented young men who were not inferior to those in the Imperial Academy, and two eunuchs who at least had worked in the palace.
There is no young feudal king in the capital now.
Just when a few people were chatting away in a lively manner, the tax collector started shouting again.
Everyone followed the sound and saw more than thirty rough men pulling dozens of handsome horses to enter the city, but they were stopped by the tax collector.
The youngest Wang Xian sighed: "What a handsome horse, I don't know how much money I have to pay in taxes."
He Yi smiled and said: "Not necessarily, maybe foreigners came to pay tribute to the horses. Under normal circumstances, tribute horses do not need to pay taxes."
Sure enough, as soon as He Yi finished speaking, he heard the tax collector shout loudly: "What tribute horses, you are from the Jianzhou Guard, not a kingdom like Korea or Annan.
I only know that those kingdoms canonized by the Ming Dynasty are eligible to pay tribute. Which of your two commanders are you eligible to pay tribute to?
Besides, I have never heard of where Jianzhou Guard is. "
No one else had any reaction when they heard Jianzhou Wei. Only Zhu Qiyu stood up and took a few steps closer to look at him carefully.
Just now the tax official mentioned two commanders, so it seems they should be Li Manzhu, the commander of the Jianzhou Guard, and Dong Shan, the commander of the Jianzhou Left Guard.
Dong Shan is not a peaceful master. This guy once secretly attached himself to North Korea and accepted the position of central secret envoy conferred by North Korea. Forget it, they also gathered tens of thousands of Jurchen tribes and attacked Liaodong many times.
The fifth-generation ancestor of this old slave, Nurhachi, was already a big wild boar with backbones on the back of his head, abnormal jumps, and rampaging around during the Zhengtong and Jingtai dynasties.
Just as Zhu Qiyu was about to tell which of the two leaders was Dong Shan, he saw one of the rough and strong men stepped forward and shouted at the tax collector:
"I, Dong Shan, am the governor and magistrate conferred by the Emperor of Heaven, the commander of the Jianzhou Zuowei, and have guarded Liaodong for generations. I came to Beijing this time to contribute my talents and thank the orthodox emperor in person for mediating the internal disputes of the Jianzhou Zuowei.
If you, a little tax collector, obstruct us, won't you hinder the holiness of His Majesty the Orthodox Emperor?
I advise you to get out of the way quickly, otherwise you will get into a lawsuit and you will have to walk around in pain. "
When the tax collector heard this, he said angrily: "Which Tatar came out of the deep mountains and old forests. Now Emperor Jingtai is reigning. Your orthodox emperor has abdicated long ago."
Zhu Qiyu shook his head: Is this Dong Shan deliberately looking for trouble? He really can't even tell the difference between Zhengtai and Jingtai? But it is not necessarily true. It is clearly recorded in the history books that at least many Mongolians cannot distinguish between the era names of Zhengtong and Jingtai.
But it doesn't matter anymore. None of Dong Shan and his descendants can live. I'm going to use an enhanced version of the Liting Sweeping Acupoint. Dong Shan, Li Manzhu, and Fancha will all die.
There is no need for Nurhaci, Huang Taiji, Dorgon, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong to come to this world again.
As for the Jianzhou Guards, Jianzhou Left Guards, and Jianzhou Right Guards, the original Jurchens naturally wanted all of them, and then they were all replaced by Han soldiers and generals, with three princes each leading one guard to rule the Jurchens together. All ministries.
(End of chapter)
