Tao and Heaven

Chapter 40: Wars Continue, Plundering Merchants

It was almost noon and Gu Wen had just finished breakfast when he heard crying and wailing coming from outside the mansion.

When he walked out, he saw a merchant with a big belly and a round face from the opposite door hugging the official's thigh and crying. There was a large group of yamen runners and officials around him who were constantly moving things from his house, as if they were going to confiscate his property.

After asking his servants to find out, he found out that the Market Exchange Bureau was collecting taxes again, specifically from merchants, called portal tax.

The City and Trade Department is a commercial taxation agency, and is also responsible for managing all the taxes of all merchants. The head of the department is the Deputy City and Trade Commissioner. There are eight people in the City and Trade Department, all of whom are small officials with low positions but great power, and they are the wild beasts that can control the merchants.

As for why they wanted to confiscate property, it was because the tax collectors also needed to supplement their family income.

Gu Wen curled the corners of his mouth. He knew that Daqian was doomed, but the disease always worsened faster than he imagined.

At noon, after collecting taxes from the door opposite, the tax collectors came towards Gu Wen's house again.

Gu Wen walked out of the mansion leisurely, and Qin Mian and Rong Leng, leading the palace guards, followed closely with knives in hand. The friction of armor and heavy footsteps immediately made the murderous collection team become friendly.

Especially Qin Mian and Rong Leng, from their aura to their eyes, they are not ordinary imperial guards, they are all fierce soldiers who have returned from the border army.

Even if Daqian was in a bad state, the troops stationed on the border still had basic combat effectiveness, otherwise they would have been killed by the barbarians long ago. Sometimes Gu Wen admired the border troops, who could have defended for so many years despite being dragged down by such a bad court.

The leading deputy envoy of the city trade changed his ferocious face in the morning, lowered his eyebrows and smiled, "Hey, Master Wen, good afternoon."

"Where is it? Are you here to confiscate our property, sir?"

Gu Wen asked calmly. There were three steps at the door. He looked down at the other person. Because he was here to collect money, his face was not in a good mood, at least not smiling.

However, they didn't know that the slightest emotion affected Lingyun, and his dark pupils seemed to contain boundless pressure, making the tax collectors even more breathless.

A rabbit weighing eight kilograms is a meal for an eagle, and a rabbit weighing eight hundred kilograms can swallow an eagle.

If you want to kill enemies across species, you have to gain weight. Officials are indeed the natural enemy of merchants, but not all of them are high-ranking officials. The deputy envoy of the city trade is an eighth-rank official. He is one of the few big merchants in Longqiao, and the other party can't grasp him.

Furthermore, the armored and knife-wielding guards behind Gu Wen were also a bit scary.

"How dare I." The deputy envoy of the city trade was ashamed. He took two steps forward and took out a silver ingot, and whispered: "Master Wen, I will follow your orders. Please be kind."

He also had to bribe me.

Gu Wen was quite amused, but he would not really accept it and use it as a handle against him. He pushed the silver back and said, "My lord, just follow the rules. I will fully cooperate with the court."

The deputy envoy of Shiyi heaved a sigh of relief immediately and thanked him repeatedly in a low voice. He was not a short-sighted person.

One has to be careful when begging for food in Bianjing, especially for an actual executor like him, because you don't know if the other party is a royal relative. But the deputy envoy of the city knows the other party's identity, a well-known big merchant in Bianjing.

Although he was not a high-ranking official in the capital, he could not commit fraud against him, not to mention that the other person had imperial guards in his house.

But one has to follow the rules, because it is the emperor who is asking for money, and all the wealthy people in the city have to give it, including the prime minister.

He took out the document and read:

"When a holy ruler comes to power, the country is at peace and the people live in peace. Merchants gather gold and silver without knowing the suffering of the people. Today, disasters continue, foreign enemies are rampant, and the front line is in a tight spot. We should share the country's worries. All merchants, big or small, will be taxed 30%. If a house has more than ten doors and windows, an additional five taels will be added for each door and window, with no upper limit."

Gu Wen's brows twitched, and even he couldn't keep a straight face anymore.

He knew that the court was here to collect money, and he also knew how brutal the court was, but when it really came to this, he still wanted to curse.

Even the damn doors and windows have to be taxed, why don’t you go to heaven?
You know, ancient mansions also pay attention to ventilation and light, especially the mansions of dignitaries, which have many doors and windows, and even the garden walls have windows. If he really wants to make a complete count, Gu Wen estimates that he may have to pay more than a thousand taels.

When tax collectors entered the palace, each of them was followed by servants and maids to prevent them from stealing items.

This time, the tax collector did not dare to take advantage of the situation like he did this morning. He checked the records honestly and did not take a single needle or thread.

Finally, the deputy envoy of the city trade informed the result with a guilty conscience: "Wen Hou, the total is 1,200 taels. I can give you 1,000 taels. What do you think?"

He planned to give Gu Wen some face, perhaps they would be able to interact with him and need his help in the future.

Gu Wen shook his head and said, "No need for that, sir, please handle your business as usual."

The deposit was 4,500 taels, 1,200 taels were deducted, and 3,300 taels remained.

After all the outsiders left, Gu Wen and Jiang Fugui were in the room. The latter cursed and pointed to the sky without mentioning any names, but everything was self-evident.

At this moment, countless people shouted that God had no eyes, but they were not cursing God. Outside Qianjing County, countless eyes were cast towards Bianjing, and inside Bianjing, countless people were looking towards the imperial palace.

He is being pointed at by thousands of people and is wanted by tens of thousands of people. I don’t know how long he can hold on.

After taking a few sips of tea, Gu Wen said calmly, "We are not the ones who should be anxious."

The processes of founding dynasties varied greatly, and the experiences were different, but the scenes of their demise were eerily consistent.

The upper and lower classes were extravagant, so they plundered the people; when the people were about to revolt, they plundered the merchants. Now that the Shang Dynasty had come to power, the next step would be that it would be difficult to suppress the rebellion, and power would be delegated to various places, and the princes would rise up.

The situation on the front line is tense, and even the Hu cavalry that have infiltrated the interior cannot be driven away. If they take root in Zezhou County, it would be equivalent to entering the interior of the country in the previous life.
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Zezhou County.

The smoke of war penetrated the earth and the sky. The civilians pushed the catapults stuck in the mud. Huge rocks lit by grease flew over their heads, passing through one army meat grinder after another. In the firelight, there seemed to be countless terrified, angry, and crazy faces.

Boom!

The huge rock fell on the city wall and created a gap, but it was like a stone falling into the waves and was instantly drowned out by the countless sounds of fighting.

In Zecheng, the largest city in Zezhou County, deep in a mansion.

The prefect of Zezhou County was tied to a chair. A hand reached out from the darkness, pinched a black insect and put it into his nostrils, followed by a series of shrill wails.

The next day, the prefect of Zezhou County surrendered to the Hu people, and countless aristocratic families turned against them.

There was continuous good news from the front line in Bianjing. Every day, officials would rush back from outside the city on horseback, shouting how many enemies a certain general had killed.

I don’t know if it’s because the people at Daqian Post Station have high quality, they still have the energy to shout after traveling such a long distance.
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Water room.

Gu Wen was looking at the bill. Last month, the water room earned 8,000 taels, excluding the cost of miscellaneous expenses including wages, which was 1,000 taels. At the same time, a bill for one year's water was sold yesterday, half the price for one year, which was 5,000 taels, adding up to 12,000 taels.

He raised his pen and wrote a stroke, flowing like flowing water, and earned ten thousand taels!

Jiang Fugui, who was standing by, looked at Gu Wen's handwriting, which was definitely not pretty, and praised it endlessly, "Excellent! Excellent! It's really wonderful."

Gu Wen smiled and said, "What's so wonderful about it?"

"A hand worth a thousand taels of gold, a stroke worth a thousand taels of gold!"

Jiang Fugui was also a rare talent for writing. The two looked at each other and smiled, and everything was self-explanatory.

If merchants like them only received fixed wages and commissions, they might not even be able to maintain a comfortable life, just like officials in the imperial court. If they were not greedy at all, a sixth-rank official could only ensure that his family would not go hungry.

Gu and Wen had never been reluctant to embezzle the royal palace's income, and the word "loyalty to the emperor" did not exist in their dictionary.

Of the two thousand taels of fat meat, Gu Wen took one thousand five hundred taels, and Jiang Fugui took five hundred taels. Seeing this, the latter shook his head and said, "Oh, no, I didn't do much, just give me a hundred taels as a token of my appreciation. This money didn't come from the wind, an ordinary family only makes ten taels of silver a year."

Longqiao starts making money from a thousand taels, which is the ultimate in extravagance and decadence.

And they are just servants serving the powerful and wealthy, and it is always the powerful and wealthy who really make money and spend money.

Gu Wen said with an ambiguous smile: "There are indeed many things that need you to do."

"Then I will ask for the reward after the matter is done."

I have 4,500 taels in deposit, I found 1,900 taels, and there are 5,600 taels left. Leave this message and your wealth will come to you!

Dragon Bridge at night.

There are no ordinary people coming and going, and all the dignitaries and nobles gather here.

A carriage stopped, and Qin Mian, who was driving the carriage and wearing armor and holding a knife, landed first, then slightly opened the curtain and said respectfully: "Master Wen, we have arrived."

A pair of deep eyes shot out from the shadows, and then Gu Wen, dressed in black, completely in line with the court's regulations for merchant attire, stepped down from the carriage.

The guests coming and going, the numerous merchants, the beautiful people in the Qingguan, all cast countless eyes on Gu Wen.

There are countless nobles in Longqiao, but few of them can have followers holding swords, and wearing armor is unheard of.

But Gu Wen received such treatment. Even the ministers in the court did not dare to say that they could have sword-wielding imperial guards to protect them in Bian Jing. What a blessing from heaven this was.

Even if only he knew that this was more like a chain than protection and majesty.

The whole place was silent, and then the waiters from all the major restaurants ran out, vying to invite Gu Wen.

Gu Wenlongqiao's reputation is at its peak. He can unite many brothels to crush the black merchants in the tooth market with just one word. Without the fate of the top dignitaries, he is the real Longqiao Qiansui. This is a nickname called out by those who are busy with things, but it has never been called wrong.

The top dignitaries will never give up. They want it all, both money and fame.

Zhao Feng spent hundreds of thousands of taels every year and was known for his integrity.

Gu Wen walked into Qianfeng Tower. Since it was work, he had to keep a record to let Zhao Feng know that he had entered Qianfeng Tower.

The brothel servant came to his senses and shouted, "Marquis Wen, your Excellency has come to Qianfeng Tower!"

(End of this chapter)