My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 141 It seems that your head is not as hard as my knife!
However, Yang Laosan, who was immersed in fantasy, did not notice at all that the look in Li Sanyang and others' eyes when they looked at him had become different.

That look was as if he was looking at a dead person.

You should know that when this tax collection team was just formed, it received a clear order from the East Palace:
When collecting commercial taxes, merchants must be persuaded to pay taxes voluntarily.

If persuasion fails, tough measures will be taken.

If anyone dares to resist and intends to evade taxes, half of their goods will be seized as taxes and fines.

The most serious situation is that merchants refuse to pay taxes, or even maliciously slander the court and hinder tax reform. The solution is the simplest and most direct!

That is:
kill!

After killing him, all his goods must be confiscated as a warning to others!
In Li Sanyang's eyes, the current situation is obviously the last case.

He clearly remembered the last words Li Ruolian conveyed:

Let’s see whether the heads of those who resist taxes are harder, or the knives in the hands of the Ming Dynasty tax army are harder!
Coincidentally, this was the first store they inspected today, and they didn't expect to encounter such a thing.

However, it is also a good opportunity to make an example of someone to scare the monkeys, so that those businessmen who try to evade taxes can see the power and ability of their Ming Dynasty tax army.

But this "chicken" cannot be slaughtered at will. After all, more and more people are watching the excitement at this moment. If they act rashly without explaining the matter clearly, they will also cause a lot of trouble themselves.

Thinking of this, Li Sanyang turned slightly and suddenly noticed that the rice placed outside the door seemed to be mixed with some rice grains of strange colors.

He walked forward with steady and oppressive steps. Every step he took was like a heavy hammer hitting the ground, causing the people watching around him to subconsciously take a step back.

There was no way. Although the surrounding people were angry, they still did not dare to stop the Jinyiwei.

After all, the Jinyiwei have a bad reputation.

Li Sanyang didn't care what the people around him thought. He just reached out and grabbed a handful of rice, and gently fiddled with the rice with his slender and bony fingers.

The rice grains in my hands sparkled with different lusters in the sunlight, some were dull and some were slightly yellowish.

There are even some moldy and rotten ones
Li Sanyang frowned slightly, forming a shallow groove, and then waved to the two Jinyiwei beside him, indicating that they should move the pile of rice to the street outside.

The two Jinyiwei received the order and moved quickly, picked up the rice bag and walked out with big strides.

Seeing someone carrying something out, the onlookers subconsciously took a step back, but did not disperse, still watching intently.

The crowd was talking again.

"What are these Jinyiwei doing? Why are they actually moving rice?"

Someone complained softly.

He spoke in a very low voice and looked around from time to time, as if he was afraid of getting into trouble.

Someone else continued:

"Who knows? These days, anything can happen. Who knows? Maybe these people are really here to steal food!"

"Jinyiwei are stealing food? Aren't they afraid of bringing shame to the imperial court?"

"Hey! Do these people still have any shame?"

Listening to the whispers and insults from the people around him, Li Sanyang was not angry.

He walked out of the shop with his people still calmly, and ordered people to bring out two baskets from the house and put them aside.

The basket was made of thick bamboo and had some burrs on the edges.

The people around were all confused when they saw this scene. They looked at each other and whispered to each other, completely unaware of what Li Sanyang was going to do.

Just rob the food, why did you bring out two baskets?
Yang Laosan was even more confused, his eyes wide open.

Li Sanyang did not explain and directly instructed his men to pour all the rice they had just moved out into the basket.

In an instant, white rice rolled down like snowflakes, filling two baskets.

Some rice grains rolled down through the cracks and bounced a few times on the ground.

When the people around saw this, they suddenly opened their eyes wide, with expressions of disbelief in their eyes.

"What on earth are these officials doing? Why are they dumping rice on the streets?"

"I don't understand. What's this about?"

"I don't know either. Is he deliberately showing off that we can't buy rice to piss us off?"

"These lackeys deserve to be cut into pieces!"

"Shh, keep your voice down, this is the Jinyiwei."

Just as everyone was complaining, someone suddenly shouted:

"Wait, look at the color of this rice, it doesn't seem right!"

The person who spoke had an extremely clear and loud voice, instantly breaking the noisy discussions.

When everyone heard this, they all looked closely.

As soon as he saw it, his eyes widened instantly. He saw that among the white rice, there were actually many rice grains of strange colors.

A bolder man took a step forward.

This man was tall and strong, with a full beard, and looked quite courageous.

He stretched out his hand and grabbed a handful of rice, took a closer look, and couldn't help but exclaimed:
"What's going on? Why is there so much moldy rice in here?"

As he said this, his eyes widened and his face was full of shock and anger.

At the same time, the rice had been completely poured into two baskets. Once spread out, the quality of the rice could be seen at a glance.

Among them is not only white rice, but also old rice of unusual color and rice grains that are obviously moldy.

When Yang Laosan saw this, his heart skipped a beat, he panicked instantly, and his face turned pale.

Beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his forehead like beads that had broken off a string. His legs became so weak that he almost couldn't stand.

He was just about to make a move and secretly took a few steps back, but was glared at fiercely by Li Sanyang's hawk-like eyes, and shrank back like an eggplant hit by frost.

At the same time, the surrounding crowd was in an uproar.

"What's going on? How can this rice be adulterated?"

A woman holding her child was stamping her feet in anger.

"Exactly. Look, there are even moldy ones. This shop is so unscrupulous! Food is so precious these days, and they dare to do such a wicked thing!"

An old woman couldn't help but curse.

"Bah, profiteer! I was just speaking up for him, how blind I am!"

A thin man shook his head with a look of disdain on his face.

"Damn it! I was wondering why the rice I bought from him tasted wrong. Turns out it's been adulterated all along!"

Seeing the people pointing their spears at him, Yang Laosan felt ashamed.

At this critical moment, Li Sanyang finally took action. He waved his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet, then pointed to the Yang Family Rice Shop behind him and said loudly:
"My fellow countrymen, I am a newly appointed centurion of the Ming Dynasty's taxation army, responsible for collecting commercial taxes."

"I'm sure everyone saw what just happened, didn't they? Now, let me explain to you what exactly happened."

"This Yangji Rice Shop only has 3,000 dan of grain in its warehouse, but in reality, they've secretly stockpiled a full 1.6 million dan of grain throughout the capital."

"According to the latest business tax regulations of the imperial court, they need to pay 700,000 taels of silver in business tax."

"We are all following the rules of the court and have absolutely no intention of taking anything by force!"

When these words came out, the people around were stunned:
What? One million six hundred thousand dan? That's a lot of grain!

A child tugged at the edge of an adult's clothes and asked in a naive manner:

"Dad, how much is 1.6 million shi?"

The adult was also shocked. After thinking for a long time, he still didn't understand. He could only shake his head to indicate that he didn't know either.

"That's not right. This shop has only been selling two stone of grain every day these days. Once they're sold out, they say they're sold out. If they really have so much, why would they limit the quantity?"

Suddenly at this moment, someone in the crowd asked again.

Before Li Sanyang could explain, someone started cursing:
"Hey, you're stupid! This profiteer must be hoarding the goods and waiting for the price to go up!"

When everyone heard this, they suddenly realized.

But then, he became even angrier!

"This profiteer is so wicked! The Ming Dynasty is currently plagued by natural disasters, yet they're still trying to profit from the national disaster. They truly deserve to be chopped into pieces!"

"He's hoarding so much food, yet he refuses to sell it to us, and even adulterates it. This guy deserves to die!"

"What a profiteer!"

In an instant, everyone was filled with righteous indignation and began to blame Yang Laosan.

When he saw this scene, Yang Laosan no longer had any hope of luck and was completely panicked.

The next second, he hurriedly grabbed Li Sanyang's arm, holding it tightly with both hands, as if grasping at a life-saving straw, and begged:

"Sir, I know I was wrong. Please forgive me this time! As for the 700,000 yuan in sales tax you requested, give me some time. I'll figure it out right away and give you an answer within three days, okay?"

At this moment, Yang Laosan was really scared. He knew very well that if these people were forced into a corner, they might rush up to rob the rice shop and then kill him.

He had to save his own life first, and then go to the boss behind the scenes to plead for mercy and see if he could raise the 700,000 yuan in business tax.

Even if he couldn't get everyone together, he had to run away quickly.

Anyway, since this happened, he probably can't stay in the capital anymore.

But he didn't know that in Li Sanyang's eyes, the 700,000 yuan business tax was no longer important.

Because of what he just did, all the grain in this rice shop will be confiscated.

Likewise, his life will be 'confiscated'!
So, when he heard this, Li Sanyang just raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a meaningful smile.

"Sorry, it's too late!" Yang Laosan was confused.

"Too late? What does that mean?"

Before he could come to his senses, he heard Li Sanyang continue to shout loudly:

"Everyone! Please bear witness. Today, this unscrupulous merchant not only evaded taxes and adulterated grain, but also misled the people, falsely accused the court, and obstructed commercial tax reform. This is a heinous crime!"

"According to the latest imperial court regulations, anyone who commits such a crime must be executed immediately!"

When the people around heard this, they instantly fell silent, thinking to themselves:

What's going on? Is this going to kill someone?

Although everyone is happy to punish unscrupulous businessmen, this is too sudden!
Yang Laosan widened his eyes with a look of disbelief.

Not
Didn't he just admit his mistake? He was even planning to ask his boss for money to pay taxes, so why did he want to kill him?
It’s just a small thing, is it that serious?

Just as he was stunned, he saw two armored soldiers behind Li Sanyang suddenly stride forward, and the heavy footsteps made the ground tremble slightly.

The two soldiers pulled him aside, held down his arms, and forced him to kneel on the ground.

Immediately afterwards, a Jinyiwei stepped forward and drew out his Embroidered Spring Sword with a whoosh. The sword flashed in the sunlight, and a chilling feeling was overwhelming.

Until this moment, Yang Laosan's mind was still confused.

And in the next second, with a flash of cold light and blood splattering, a head rolled to the ground.
Then the corpse fell to the ground helplessly, and the blood instantly dyed the rice grains that fell on the ground red.

Until his death, Yang Laosan never understood what had happened.

Because from the time he was sentenced to death to the time his head fell to the ground, it was only ten seconds, and he had no time to react at all.

Looking at the heads rolling on the ground, Li Sanyang sneered in his heart:
It seems that your head is still not as hard as my knife!
At the same time, the people around were so frightened that they dared not breathe and watched the scene with horror on their faces.

They could never have imagined that he would kill someone in the blink of an eye just after he said he wanted to.
Even if they really want to kill someone, shouldn't they lock him up first and then execute him later?

How can you kill him just like that?
Facing the horrified expressions of the people around him, Li Sanyang remained calm and then slowly said:

"Everyone! From today on, this store will sell food at normal prices. You can buy as much as you want, there will be no limit!"

"If we discover food adulteration or mold again, the court will definitely take action for us!"

"Also, the capital's current food reserves are very sufficient. There is no food shortage. These are all false news spread by unscrupulous businessmen."

"It's to cause you panic so they can sell the grain at a high price!"

After saying that, he pulled over a guy next to him and said:

"Listen carefully! Move all the food out of the warehouse immediately. If you continue to pass off inferior or adulterated food as good, you'll be in danger of losing your life!"

The man had been frightened out of his wits by what had just happened. Only after being asked this question did he come to his senses and said tremblingly:

"Don't worry, sir. I know what to do!"

Li Sanyang released the waiter and called over two Jinyiwei, ordering:
"Go and have the Five Cities Military Command come and collect the bodies. Then go back and tell Lord Li that all the grain in Yang's Rice Shop has been confiscated. Have him send someone to take over the shop."

The Ming Dynasty's tax army was only responsible for collecting taxes and killing people, so the matter of collecting corpses was naturally left to the Five Cities Military Affairs Department.

And since the charges have been established, the 1.6 million shi of grain under the name of this shop naturally belong to the imperial court.

However, the imperial court is not unreasonable. It only wants food, and this shop still belongs to the boss behind the scenes!
But there is a prerequisite, that is, he must have the courage to come and claim it!

If you don't have the courage, then this shop will have to be "taken care of" by the court first.

Afterwards, the two Jinyiwei took the order and left.

Immediately afterwards, Li Sanyang didn't even look at the corpses on the ground or the people around him, and led his men straight to a nearby pharmacy.

The owner of this drug store had been watching the commotion from the side and was so frightened that his calves were shaking and his legs were as soft as noodles that he almost couldn't stand.

After all, the scene just now was so scary. A living person was gone just like that.

So, when he saw Li Sanyang and his friends walk into the store, the shopkeeper opened the warehouse without saying a word and prepared to let them inspect.

Are you kidding? The last person who resisted paying taxes lost his head and all his goods were confiscated. He doesn’t dare to commit suicide, so he should just pay the taxes honestly!

But Li Sanyang ignored the shopkeeper's hospitality and was too lazy to even step into the warehouse.

The shopkeeper's heart skipped a beat when he saw this, and he became even more panicked.

Wouldn't this group of people also want to kill him?
He didn't resist taxes!

Thinking of this, the shopkeeper hurriedly took out the account book from the counter and handed it to Li Sanyang:
"Sir, I keep a record of every purchase I make. Just look at how much tax I should pay. I'm very clear about it and I will never evade or evade taxes!"

Li Sanyang didn't even glance at the account book, but just waved to the Jinyiwei behind him, and the Jinyiwei immediately handed him a piece of rice paper.

There were a few lines of small characters written on the rice paper, and a lot of seals were stamped on it.

What it roughly means is that the shop has paid the business tax and can sell goods normally.

This is what is called a tax payment certificate.

Li Sanyang handed the tax payment certificate to the shopkeeper, and then said in a gentle tone:

"Don't worry, boss. We are not unreasonable people. The boss just now resisted the tax and tried to incite the people. That's why we took ruthless action."

"As for those of you who run pharmacies, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has issued an edict that during years of famine, pharmacies and clinics are exempt from tax, so this time the tax will be waived."

"However, from now on, when you receive goods, you must pay taxes according to the court regulations. We will come to inspect them later."

Although business tax was to be collected from all shops, the Ming Dynasty was currently in the midst of a famine, and many doctors spontaneously went outside the city to treat the victims and donated a large amount of medicinal materials.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang slightly modified the business tax rules, that is, in years of famine, pharmacies and medical clinics are all tax-exempt.

When the owner of the drugstore heard this, he felt both grateful and frightened.

He was grateful that the court was considerate of the people's feelings, which was worth his previous donation of medicinal materials.

I'm worried that something might happen. What if another group of people comes to collect taxes? Should I pay or not?

Li Sanyang saw what he was thinking and comforted him again:
"Boss, don't worry. After we give you the tax payment certificate, your shop will be registered and no tax will be collected until the famine is over."

"The herbs in your store are also tax-free. If anyone dares to arbitrarily impose taxes, just come and find us!"

Then, the owner of the drugstore saw someone outside the door who seemed to be copying the name of his drugstore, probably registering it.

When the shopkeeper saw this scene, he no longer had any doubts and hurriedly expressed his gratitude.

But Li Sanyang just waved his hand and turned away with everyone.

Looking at Yangji Rice Shop, even though there was a dead body lying at the door, it still couldn't stop people from buying rice.

Although murder is quite scary, the person killed was an unscrupulous businessman who adulterated grains, hoarded goods and raised prices. This kind of thing does not seem so scary.

After all, this kind of person deserves what he gets.

Moreover, once the unscrupulous merchants were dead, rice would be supplied in unlimited quantities and without adulteration. The people would benefit and naturally had nothing to be afraid of.

In this way, with the first tax collection in the morning, the Ming Dynasty tax army collected 1.6 million shi of grain for the court, which was equivalent to more than 4.8 million taels of silver.

At the same time, similar scenes were playing out all over the capital.

Because there were more than 10,000 shops of all sizes in the capital, Zhu Cilang dispatched a Ming Dynasty tax army of nearly 2,000 people.

It seems that there are not enough people, but you have to know that they are not going to fight, but to collect taxes.

Most merchants are sensible and pay taxes based on the cost of goods.

Therefore, except for Li Sanyang's team who killed people, the other teams were relatively normal.

At most, we would encounter some tax resistant people, and then confiscate half of the goods.
But that’s it!
There is also a group of people who, although they appear to be obedient and willing to pay taxes, deep down they still have different ideas.

Ah!
The people we are talking about here are none other than the noble lords of the Ming Dynasty.

Near noon, the Duke of England's mansion was filled with noise and a large group of nobles gathered there, making a lot of noise.

Moreover, the Duke of England has nowhere to hide this time. After all, everyone knows that he has been in the capital recently. If he turns everyone away at this time, how can he maintain his dignity as the most noble man in the Ming Dynasty?
So, the Duke of England received them this time.

Among these people, some paid the business tax obediently, but felt aggrieved and wanted to ask the British public if they could pay less or not pay it in the future.

Some people have not paid taxes yet, but have lied to the Ming tax collectors, saying that they need a day to prepare the money and ask them to come back tomorrow.

The Ming Dynasty tax army did not make things difficult for them. They just recorded the situation and agreed to collect the tax again the next day.

After all, the prince had previously instructed that it would be fine as long as the business tax was paid in full within three days.

Of course, if you don’t pay within three days, they will have to resort to force!
At this moment, this group of nobles gathered at the Duke of England's mansion to discuss with the Duke of England what to do.

After all, the goods tax had already been paid when the goods were shipped, so why is there a business tax now?

If you calculate it this way, a batch of goods will have to pay 40% tax. Isn't this cutting into their flesh?

Take grain for example. When purchased from the south, one stone of grain costs about one tael of silver. Taking into account transportation costs, labor, and commodity taxes, it costs about one tael and five cents to transport it to the capital.

Originally, this stone of grain could be sold for three taels of silver, which would be enough to make a profit of almost half.

As a result, the imperial court now wants to collect business tax, which means the profit will be reduced again.

All in all, the profit from one stone of grain is only one or two taels of silver.

The original profit was one liang and five qian, but now it has become one liang, which means the profit has been reduced by one third. Who can bear this?

"Duke Ying, please tell me, what's going on with the court? Why are they collecting taxes twice? Do you think we can survive like this?"

"Exactly. We paid the goods tax before, but now we have to pay the business tax. Isn't this going to kill us?"

"Most of us old nobles don't have any jobs and rely on our shops for a living. How could Your Majesty and the Crown Prince do this?"

"Duke of England, could you please ask His Majesty to exempt us from tax? Otherwise, if we continue like this, we really won't be able to survive!"

For a moment, the nobles were talking one after another, complaining and grumbling, which made the Duke of England standing in front of them feel buzzing in his head.

At this moment, the Duke of England really regretted meeting them.
(End of this chapter)