Daming Yinghua

Chapter 123
The moon is on the window lattice.

Before and after the Double Ninth Festival, the night air was already quite cold, and when people were quiet, they were hugging each other to fall asleep, but Mu Zaohua tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep no matter what.

On the other side of the room, Chen Sanni called her: "Sister Zaohua, aren't you sleepy? Then let's get up and count the money?"

"it is good!"

Mu Zaohua jumped up, but did not light the lamp.

Usually the lamp oil is distributed by Mr. Wu, the more generous Mr. Wu is, the more Mu Zaohua feels that he should be sensible and save money for Mr. Wu.

The two women gently poured the scraps of silver they had accumulated over the past four months to the ground.

There is a piece of moonlight there, shining brightly on the silver, and also showing their elation.

Chen Sanni said happily: "It's almost six taels! I can touch so much silver in my life."

Mu Zaohua annoyed her: "How old are you, you are in this life and that life. With Miss Zheng and Mr. Wu, we will have 60 taels, 600 taels, even my in-laws dare not underestimate us."

Chen Sanni said: "I don't want to get married. Although Miss Zheng said that if she gets married, she will be assigned other tasks. But I still want to be on special duty all the time. Look at me going down the river this time to fish for sacks and expose that or something. Miss Zheng gave me two taels of silver as a special rate for those who cheated on the insurance premium. My dear, the money in my little bag suddenly increased by [-]%."

As she spoke, she put the silver into the duffel bag, and just filled two, but fell back to the ground.

Appreciate it again.

Chen Sanni moved around, arranging more than a dozen pieces of broken silver into various patterns, shining like stars, she was delighted to see it.

Mu Zaohua has already collected and hid her five taels of silver.

Miss Zheng gave them one tael of silver every month, and they lived in a small tile-roofed house rented by Wu Bangde.

This time Mu Zaohua pretended to be a prostitute to find out Zhou Hu's bank notes, and he got a special rate of two taels.

Mu Zaohua turned her head, and said to Chen Sanni who was still staring at Yinzi with a smirk: "I thought your special salary would be more than mine, after all, you plunged into the bottom of the river, such cold water."

Chen Sanni said "ah", without raising her head, she said casually, "What is this? Miss Zheng told me that those girls in North Korea are even more powerful."

Mu Zaohua got on the couch, embraced the quilt, and asked curiously: "How can you create a powerful method?"

Chen Sanni said: "Miss Zheng said that the pearl-digging women in North Korea can survive in the icy sea for a long time without delay in digging pearls, but men can't. Although men are strong, they are not resistant to freezing. After those men marry their wives, they expect their wives to dig for pearls in the sea to earn money, so Sister Zaohua, take a look, what's so good about being married."

Mu Zaohua pouted.

She thought to herself, I still want to marry someone, but I can't tell you about the person I like, lest you laugh at me for daydreaming.

Mu Zaohua paused, then asked again: "Sannier, was Miss Zheng there when you went to Mr. Wu's place to receive the special salary?"

Chen Sanni said: "Yes, Mr. Wu and Miss Zheng praised me."

Mu Zaohua suddenly had a strange feeling in her heart. When she went to get the money, she also saw Zheng Haizhu sitting and drinking tea with Wu Bangde. In this way, the two talked for a long time in Wu Bangde's inner house.

"Sannier, do you think Miss Zheng and Mr. Wu are a good match?"

"Ah?" Chen Sanni was taken aback, then laughed, "How can a hostess fall in love with her shopkeeper? The opera troupe sings all the songs. A rich man likes a poor girl."

As Chen Sanni said, she finally yawned and picked up the stars in the moonlight.

"Sleep, sister Zaohua, Mr. Wu will teach us how to use a dagger tomorrow."

Mu Zaohua responded in the dark, turned over and looked out the window.

When Wu Bangde taught fighting kung fu, he would teach male and female intelligence officers hand in hand.

Mu Zaohua thought longingly, that means, Mr. Wu will also hold my hand.

I don't know if Mr. Wu also taught Miss Zheng in this way?

Only that idiot Chen Sanni would think that the descendants of famous generals like Mr. Wu are really just Miss Zheng's subordinates.

……

The two boat bosses who cheated on insurance were reported to the county government by Zheng Haizhu. After being punished with a shackle, Zheng Haizhu took Tang Ayuan and Zheng Shoukuan to deliver Chongyang cakes to the boatmen of various gangs one by one.

"Small case, where can I bother my acquaintance to help me investigate? Just relying on the news from the boat owner who doesn't want to be cheated, our trading company won't ask people to take advantage of it. So in the future, we still have to rely on the water. This is our shopkeeper Tang, he and my nephew have something to discuss with my elder brother in detail."

Zheng Haizhu finished speaking with a smile, leaving the shopkeeper Tang and Shou Kuan to inform the ship boss to help sell the shipping insurance share, and then went to do more important things.

She is going north with Wu Bangde.

In the past few days, the Hangzhou brocade and other goods sent by Mao Chengbei to escort arrived in Zhenjiang by water, where they were received by Zheng Haizhu.

The person who secured the goods was Xu San, Mao Wenlong's personal entourage for his son to run the business.

When Mao Wenlong took Zheng Haizhu away to the island in order to please Yan Siqi, Xu San was also there, knowing that Miss Zheng had a strong friendship with Yan Siqi and the Mao family.

Xu San had already followed Mao Wenlong to bet on the goods once before, bribed the navy in Dengzhou, and went to sea smoothly.

This time, however, it was not so comfortable.

"Miss Zheng, after boarding the boat on the canal from Hangzhou, the two big banknotes in Hangzhou and Suzhou, and any other tax cards that will pop up in every corner, will charge us almost 200 taels of silver. Come on, now Xu San and I When I saw those soap-robed tax collectors, my hairs stood on end, and I was never so cowardly when I followed Mao on guard against Jiannu Tartars."

By the Zhenjiang pier, Xu San took out the tax deed and complained to Zheng Haizhu.

Zheng Haizhu smiled reassuringly, and comforted him: "Doing business sometimes suffers more than war, you have to get used to it. Previously, Mao Shoubing had a survey and cooperation from the Ministry of War in his hand. You were not exploited that much during that trip, right?"

Xu San nodded: "Yes, the girl lent the 5000 taels of gold to the garrison that trip, and it was converted into 100 taels of goods. We bribed the navy in Dengzhou to let it go, and spent [-] taels of silver. This time not only Hang Jinhang Luo tea leaves, Mr. Chengbei also collected a lot of rice, and the boat we hired was even bigger. The tax collectors at the customs all valued the cabin based on the size of the cabin, and there was no official survey and cooperation to ask for release. We are at a disadvantage."

Zheng Haizhu signaled him to be calm, turned around and walked a few steps, calling for Wu Bangde to come over.

"Xu San, this is Mr. Wu, a man of great fame. Let's go to Liaodong together."

Xu San's eyes lit up, he let out a "ha", and said happily, "That's great, for a famous master, the court doesn't seem to collect taxes."

……

The ship set sail from Zhenjiang and arrived at Chaoguan, Yangzhou not long after.

The Guozijian turban on Wu Bangde's head was indeed useful. The tax collector saw it and saw that although Wu Bangde was only in his twenties, he was dressed luxuriously and looked good.

After leaving the customs, driving to the open river, Zheng Haizhu broke off a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake bought from a hawker at the Yangzhou Wharf, handed it to Wu Bangde, and said with a smile: "There are three banknotes in Huai'an, Xuzhou, and Jining ahead. , just this trip, you will get back the 300 taels you spent on the Guozijian. When the goods are sold, I will give you the bank notes."

Wu Bangde pursed his lips, he didn't make fun of it, and he didn't refuse. He just ate the sweet-scented osmanthus cake unhurriedly, while looking at the bustling scene of hundreds of boats on the canal.

For a person with his kind of heart, it is not difficult to hide the attitude of "just be happy".

Behind them, Mu Zaohua was coming out of the cabin.

Mu Zaohua and another male intelligence officer, Li Daniu, were brought north by Zheng Haizhu's name.

One is Zheng Haizhu's maidservant and the other is Wu Bangde's servant. Outsiders see it as the most common house of master and servant. When they leave the ship with better privacy and return to walk on land, they will not be suspicious.

After Mu Zaohua was hit by Zheng Haizhu, her heart was in full bloom.

The opportunity to practice is rare, but what makes her even more gratified is that she can walk with Mr. Wu.

"Miss Zheng, Mr. Wu, the cabins are all packed."

It was already past the beginning of the unitary year, it was very early at night in late autumn, the water on the deck was cold and cold, several people got into the cabin, ate the noodle soup prepared by the boatman, and then went to bed.

"Zaohua, I don't need this, you can use it."

Wu Bangde leaned out from his cabin and handed a Tang Pozi to Mu Zaohua.

Zheng Haizhu praised: "Hey, Zaohua's heart is so delicate, she even brought this with her."

Mu Zaohua blushed, took the Tang Pozi from Wu Bangde's hand, and quickly got into Zheng Haizhu's cabin, took out the same one, and explained: "The autumn in the south of the Yangtze River is cool in the north, and I'm afraid that the boat will be rough and frozen. girl and son."

Wu Bangde nodded to her kindly: "It's a good thing for an intelligence agent to be careful, you should go to bed earlier."

Silent all night.

Zheng Haizhu slept very well in the gentle embrace of the river.

Unexpectedly, when Chenshi arrived at Chaoguan in Huai'an the next day, the Confucian scarf on Wu Bangde's head would no longer work.

……

In front of the Huai'an Water Pass, there were voices of begging and cursing one after another.

Five or six tax collectors in soap robes jumped up and down, constantly reporting the tax figures that the cargo owners on board refused to accept.

"Don't accept? If you don't accept it, go to the Long Live Lord and sue me. Damn it, I'm fighting with you in the cold wind. Isn't it because of Wan Live's will, for the distribution of the Ministry of Households, and for the great Ming Dynasty."

Among the tax collectors, he seemed to be the leader, with a sallow face, a mouse beard, and a mouth full of buck teeth, and righteously reprimanded those who tried to resist.

When it was finally the turn of Zheng Haizhu's merchant ship, Mouse Beard's eyes lit up obviously.

This boat is not small, and the male and female servants on board are also neatly dressed and full-faced. They should be from decent and wealthy owners.

A big tax can be collected.

Mouse Beard and his little tax collectors jumped onto the deck in a hurry.

Xu San went up to meet him, and said with a friendly smile, "Master Tax, our young master is a supervisor of the Imperial College."

Mouse Beard raised his chin, glanced sideways at Wu Bangde who was standing behind Xu San with his sleeves behind him, and snorted.

"What's the matter? The supervisor of the Imperial College didn't study hard, and with a turban, he was entrained by profiteers?"

Mouse Beard's words are not groundless.

On the canal, some quick-witted merchants would observe the passenger boats on the water when they approached the bank pass. If they saw guests dressed as scribes and most of them were well-known, they would take the initiative to strike up a conversation, pay a few taels of silver, and beg them Move to your merchant ship.

Due to the rules of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, scholars with high reputations, even if they are only scholars, are exempted from land taxes and corvee labor, and they will also be released along with local currency customs cards.

However, in recent years, the national treasury has become more and more distressed. The Ministry of Households has simply implemented a quota payment system for banknotes in various places. No matter what goods are actually transported by the ships and how much, the silver handed over by the banknotes each year must not be lower than the quota.

Huai'an is not as prosperous as Yangzhou and Hangzhou, but Huai'an Chaoguan has to pay 8 taels of silver to the household department this year.

This figure, combined with the 12% ratio of corruption at all levels in Huai'an, means that the banknote customs officials will have to collect [-] taels of silver this year.

Ships with grain and military salaries cannot be accepted, apportioned tributes sent by the local government to various ministries in central Beijing cannot be accepted, private boats of serving officials cannot be accepted, and boats of noble gentry cannot be accepted, so they have to take the boats of ordinary merchants and take them ruthlessly?
However, in the past few months, there has been a lot of noise about Xiangjiao in Shandong, which has affected Chiyu, and there have been fewer passing merchant ships in Xuzhou and Huai'an Chaoguan.

Finally, after autumn, it became more peaceful and there were more boats.

The chief official of the Huaian Chaoguan did the math, your mother, in the last two months, you have to collect 500 taels of silver per day in order to complete the quota collection of the household department and the quota corruption of the boss at the same time.

Therefore, the low-level tax collectors like Mouse Beard are currently implementing the caliber that as long as they are not accompanied by Juren who went to Beijing to rush for the exam, they will still collect taxes from those who are single-handed and talented.

Therefore, Mouse Beard didn't pay any attention to Wu Bangde who came up to discuss, and just waved his skinny arm.

His servants immediately jumped into the warehouse, stretched out their heads and necks and reported: "The cabin is wide and full of goods, and the tax is 400 taels."

Xu San was shocked, and hurriedly stuffed the benefits into Mouse Beard's hand, and said in a daze: "Master Tax, this, this can't be done. The total cost of our goods is only 3000 taels, and 400 taels of tax money. Isn't it eight taxes? One? We Daming, when did we collect such a high tax, the tax master is not joking."

"Who are you kidding me!" Mouse Beard threw the small few taels of silver on the deck, and said sternly, "The imperial court is using money everywhere now, and if you don't take it out of your business pockets, do you expect money from the sky? Don't talk nonsense, if you don't pay the tax, don't even think about our Huai'an banknote pass. If you procrastinate and block the pass, even if you, the supervisor, can't be arrested, the rest of the people on the boat don't have the headscarves of the Imperial College. Let me spend the night in jail."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a young woman wearing an embroidered bijar and a gold-woven horse-face skirt, coming out of the passenger cabin and stepping onto the deck.

Zheng Haizhu stopped in front of the tax collector, bowed slightly, and said indifferently: "No matter how angry the tax collector is, he can't delay this boat to Jining."

Mouse Beard saw that the woman's head-to-toe outfit was even more luxurious than the Hu Ling straight suit of the young man next to him. When he opened his mouth to speak, two eyes shot over him, showing no sign of an ordinary woman's shrinking and dodging, and immediately suppressed his arrogance. Go for a few minutes.

He only asked in a cold voice: "There are too many boats going to Jining, why, are there any precious things about your boats?"

Zheng Haizhu said: "The boat is not expensive, but there are some things on the boat, the weight is not light."

She said, walked to the other side of the warehouse, and said to the tax collector who was still standing by the warehouse: "Little brother, open those fir boxes and see what they are."

The tax collector opened it suspiciously, then turned to Mousebeard and said, "Boss, it's lanterns."

Mouse Beard stared at Zheng Haizhu: "So what about the lanterns? Merchants who transport lanterns to sell still have to pay money."

Zheng Haizhu said nonchalantly: "These lamps are made by our family. We don't sell them, we only give them away. We will disembark in Jining, and then send the lamps to Luwang Mansion in Yanzhou to congratulate the princess on her birthday."

(End of this chapter)