1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 432 Lawless
In order to be on the safe side so as not to startle the enemy, Li Nai did not adjust the personnel on the merchant ship today according to He Xi's instructions, and all the people he used were people who did not know the inside story.Under Li Qingyang's initiative to ask, the captain also enthusiastically introduced to them about the owner and the situation of the trip to Qiongzhou.

The firm that hired Li Qingyang was called "Fusheng", but it was actually one of the subcolons of "Furuifeng", specializing in foreign trade commodities such as tea, silk, and porcelain.In the past, these commodities were mainly sold to foreigners, and they needed to be transported across the sea to the distant Manila or Batavia for trading. Although the profits were huge, the risk of long-distance voyages was not small.However, since the emergence of Shengli Port, a zero-tariff free trade port, the trading place of these foreign trade commodities has gradually moved to Qiongzhou Island. "Fusheng" has four cargo ships that pass between Guangzhou and Shengli Port regularly every month, and similar There are at least [-] or [-] commercial firms with the scale of "Fusheng" in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, and almost all of the commercial firms involved in maritime trade are more or less related to Haihan.

Li Qingyang comes from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions where water transportation is convenient, and he can probably figure out how much trade volume so many commercial firms will bring, but the relevant information was not mentioned in the report delivered to Nanzhen Fusi earlier. It seems that this There are indeed some problems with the Jinyiwei organization in Qiongzhou. Either they are blind or have been bought by the Haihan people.However, what Li Qingyang found strange was that the ship departed from the Pearl River Wharf almost empty, except for the necessary supplies, there was hardly any cargo on board, so he couldn't help asking the captain this question.

The captain didn't doubt him, so he explained the tricks to him.Since a firm like "Fusheng" only does very pure export business, the return journey is almost empty. In order to collect taxes, the government often charges according to the value of the goods on board before the ship leaves the port.

Now, some commercial firms have found a way to bypass this taxation method, that is, to transport the goods to Panyu by land first, depart from Guangzhou with empty ships, and then ship them to the local wharf in Panyu to go to sea.Although it is a bit troublesome to do so, but deducting the dozens of miles of land freight for a shipment of goods, at least two or three hundred taels of silver can be saved, which is not a small figure after many years.Correspondingly, the goods transported into Guangdong from outside are also processed in the same way. They are first unloaded in Lijiazhuang and then transported to various parts of Guangdong by land.In this way, adding up one entry and one exit, the tax evasion of goods smuggled into and out of the country through Lijiazhuang must be calculated in at least ten thousand taels of silver.

Of course, not all commercial firms have the conditions to do so. In fact, only "Furuifeng" and several related commercial firms can adopt this method of tax evasion.Because the only large cargo terminal in Panyu County that directly leads to the Pearl River is within the sphere of influence of Lijiazhuang, and since the Lijiazhuang battle last year, the local militia has designated a radius of ten miles as Lijiazhuang's private territory, controlling all traffic arteries, Even the people from the Panyu county government had to say hello first if they wanted to go in to do business. Naturally, no tax collectors would go to the wharf next to Lijiazhuang to collect trade taxes.

Hearing this, Li Qingyang couldn't help but interjected and asked: "Don't the government care? Even if the county government can't manage it, the state government can manage it, right? Panyu is only forty miles away from Guangzhou city, don't the elders in the city turn a blind eye to this kind of thing? "

The captain smiled and said: "You are not a local, so how can you know the power of the big boss of Lijiazhuang! Last year, the bandit leader Liao Dabi led 6000 people to besiege Lijiazhuang. No one asked, but the Haihan people fought with the militiamen on Zhuangzi for two days, beating these bandits to death and fleeing. Now there are hundreds of militiamen stationed in Zhuangzi, who do you think doesn’t have eyes? How dare you provoke them so easily? Besides, the officials in charge of the yamen don’t miss the red envelopes during festivals and festivals, and they have a lot of money in their pockets, so they don’t care whether the taxes can be collected.”

"It's really a moth!" Li Qingyang clenched his fists, and such a thought silently flashed through his mind.Although Dongchang fanzi should be responsible for the corruption and breaking the law by the detective officials, he has decided to sue these inaction local officials when he submits a report to Nanzhen Fusi afterwards!There is no doubt that this part of the tax revenue that should have gone into the national treasury ended up in the pockets of profiteers, Haihan people, and corrupt officials in Ming Dynasty. He really couldn't sit back and watch this illegal behavior become a reasonable existence in Guangdong and Guangxi.

Although he knew that the captain was not the owner, Li Qingyang still couldn't help but said: "As a citizen of Daming, it's fine if you don't report to the government for such an illegal matter. Why do you still participate in it? The Haihan people colluded with unscrupulous businessmen to evade taxes. Fu, it's really hateful!"

"Illegal? Hey, young man, people who abide by the law don't even know how they died!" The captain said sarcastically, "Do you know how many people died in the famine and civil unrest in Guangdong a few years ago? The government couldn’t provide food for relief, and didn’t let the people go out to escape, and couldn’t put down the banditry. At that time, the people who died of starvation, sickness, and robbers were all law-abiding citizens!”

"There are so many disaster victims, it's hard for the government to take care of it for a while..." From the standpoint of Jin Yiwei, Li Qingyang naturally wanted to speak for the government.The disaster situation in Guangdong in recent years is no secret. The Guangzhou government has sent a lot of official documents to Nanjing asking for food, grass and money assistance. However, the figures on the official documents must not be taken as the truth about the specific casualties among the people, but what the captain said The situation is more believable.

"The government couldn't save them, but the Haihan people managed to save them!" The captain interrupted Li Qingyang and said, "I, Song San, escaped from Zhaoqing Mansion last year. I probably lost my life until now! There are at least tens of thousands of people like me who rely on the relief of the Haihan people to save their lives. I don’t know if they did illegal things, but I will definitely remember that my life belongs to them. Saved!"

"In that case, why didn't you join the Haihan people as immigrants?" Li Qingyang continued to ask.

"I had a fever at that time, and the Haihan people said it was easy to infect others. Although they gave me medicine, they refused to accept me as an immigrant." Song San laughed at himself: "After I recovered, I joined my current employer. After going to Sanya with the boat Only then did I realize that I am really unlucky... This is also my bad fate, and I can't blame others."

"The Haihan people recruited so many immigrants from Guangdong and Guangxi, are they all resettled in Yazhou?" Li Qingyang asked with a frown.He previously thought the Hai Han might be trafficking migrants overseas to be sold as labor, but that doesn't seem to be the case now.

Song Sandao: "That's not true. The territory controlled by the Haihan people is not limited to Yazhou. It's just that the people resettled in Sanya are the most concentrated. According to my observation, there are at least [-] to [-] people there."

Li Qingyang asked: "I heard that there are only a few hundred people in Haihan. How can they support such a large number of people? If they don't have enough food and clothing after they go there, is it any different from being a disaster victim in Guangdong?"

"The situation in Guangdong can't be compared with Sanya." Song San shook his head disdainfully and said, "The two seaports under the rule of the Haihan people are more prosperous than Guangzhou, and there are no idlers there. You can find things to do locally, and the income is much higher than in Guangzhou.”

"Prosperity is better than Guangzhou?" This is the first time that Li Qingyang heard such a specific evaluation from someone who has been to Sanya, and he immediately became interested: "Song Sange, can you explain in detail how Sanya is prosperous?"

Song Sandao: "There are two seaports in Sanya, one is Shengli Port and the other is Sanya Port. Shengli Port specializes in all kinds of exquisite artifacts and special products produced by Haihan, and Sanya Port is a place for foreign merchants to trade locally. The goods transported by foreign merchants do not charge transaction taxes, so many merchants regard Sanya as a cargo distribution center. Both ports have wide ports and deep waters, which can accommodate hundreds of large ships. At least twice as fast as the Pearl River Wharf! Haihan people are honest and trustworthy in business, and have sufficient capital, and they don’t need to carry cash to the local area at all. They can exchange for bank notes in Guangzhou. After the transaction is completed, return to Guangzhou to exchange for cash. That’s it. Convenience, which business firm would not like to deal with them?"

As Song San said, he took out a stack of currency notes from his pocket and handed them to Li Qingyang: "I don't have large bank notes, but I still have some currency notes. These currency notes are issued by Haihan Bank, and they can be exchanged for one yuan. One or two taels of official silver, you don’t need to go out with cumbersome silver money in the local area.”

"What if someone doesn't accept it?" Li Qingyang took the two sheets and looked at them carefully. He had heard similar rumors when he was meeting with the local person in charge the day before, but he didn't expect this rumor to be true.

"The Sanya area can only use circulation coupons, and no one will accept the cash!" Song San said with a smile: "There is no need to worry about this thing becoming invalid. Even if you go back to Guangzhou, you can also take it to the Haihan Guangzhou Office to exchange it for silver taels."

"Issuing precious banknotes privately is equivalent to minting private money, a capital crime!" Li Qingyang added another crime to the Haihan people in his heart.

Of course, Li Qingyang was just slandering in his heart, and would not say this to Song San, a guy whose political attitude was obviously inclined to the Haihan people. Who knows if he has something to say, it would be troublesome if it leaked out.

"The Haihan people issue this kind of... this kind of circulation coupon locally, and the Yazhou government doesn't ask?" Although he knew that there might be some problems with the local government in Yazhou, Li Qingyang still wanted to confirm it from the insider. once.

"Yazhou government?" Song San sneered and said: "Yazhou government also depends on the face of the Haihan people. The officials and lords in Yacheng are all supported by Haihan people. Who would not know how to praise them?" What? Their own money is stored in Haihan Bank!"

"Sure enough, you are colluding with the Haihan people!" Song San's words have undoubtedly confirmed Li Qingyang's previous conjecture, and the situation seems to be more serious than he expected. The local government has gone beyond the level of cooperation with the Haihan people, but directly obeyed orders to each other!Although this kind of thing sounds unbelievable, judging by the various information obtained now, Li Qingyang thinks that what Song San said is very likely to be true.

"Since there is no one to control the Haihan people in the area, isn't the area lawless?" Li Qingyang continued to ask.

Song San repeatedly shook his head and said: "Then you are exactly wrong! The laws and regulations formulated by the Haihan people are far stricter than those in Daming! If you commit a crime in Daming, you still have the chance to go to court. If you commit a crime in Sanya, as long as there is convincing evidence, He will be arrested and sent to hard labor immediately! Under Haihan's rule, no one dares to commit crimes easily!"

"What? They actually made their own law and set up a private court? This is simply..." Li Qingyang was stunned and at a loss for words, not knowing how to evaluate the behavior of the Hai Han people.

Li Qingyang found that from what he had learned so far, the Haihan people had almost done all the illegal things except that they didn't set up a flag to rebel and sealed off the territory.Illegally organizing population migration, issuing private coins to set up banks, evading taxes and smuggling goods, buying officials to fish meat and common people, ignoring the king's law and setting up courts... Li Qingyang didn't even need to use his brain. With the information he now has, he can easily give The Haihan people listed ten and eight serious crimes.

Of course, Li Qingyang is not a fledgling rookie. He also understands that the law of this world is to see who has the biggest fist and whether it breaks the law or not. Whether these rampant Haihan people can be punished is not something he can control.Since they have the ability to control a state, and even develop their influence to Guangzhou, it shows that this group of people is by no means easy to deal with.Going to Sanya this time, I am afraid that the difficulties needed to complete the task will be much more than expected.

Fortunately, the first step was taken safely, choosing such an appropriate cover-up, and meeting such a talkative captain.Li Qingyang secretly made up his mind to take advantage of the time on the road to get some useful information out of Song San's mouth.After living in Sanya for a few months and collecting comprehensive information, I will try to report it to the imperial court and ask soldiers to wipe out these Haihan rebels.

Li Qingyang was silently planning his next action plan when he suddenly noticed that the boat slowed down and turned slowly towards a fork in the river.Li Qingyang asked in astonishment: "Brother Song, why did you stop the boat here?"

"Loading!" Song San pointed to the pier by the river in front of him and said, "That's the Lijiazhuang Wharf. Our ship is going to load the cargo here before going to Sanya."

Only then did Li Qingyang come to his senses, Song San did mention this point earlier, after the empty ship departs from Guangzhou, it can be loaded in Panyu, so that it can avoid the imperial court's tax collection.Thinking of this, Li Qingyang also involuntarily walked to the side of the ship, looking at the freight wharf that was said to be built by Haihan people.

(End of this chapter)