Guazhou City was still cold in January. However, Guazhou City had been renovated. It no longer looked like it had been bombed, and Guazhou City had regained some of its prosperity.
After Du Qi seized Gua State City, his soldiers had already swallowed up Gua State in a short period of time, seizing the entire Gua State. After Guazhou came under Du Qi's rule, everything was quickly adjusted. Although Du Qi had taken Guazhou City, he did not continue to attack the Tang dynasty's Shazhou, Suzhou, and other places. Instead, he paused his troops.
On one hand, he needed to continue adjusting Guazhou. On the other hand, he was waiting for news from Tianzhu. The most important thing was that Li Jing's family was still in the Tang dynasty and had not been sent to Guazhou yet. He needed to wait.
On this day, Du Qi was in the barracks where the army was fighting. He was writing a book at a fast speed.
Du Qi was now living in the barracks.
After all, it was convenient in the army.
Although Du Qi was now in Guazhou, he was not very busy other than writing a book. After all, there were not many government affairs. Even if there were government affairs, the most important ones were about governing Guazhou. Only a small amount involved the rear.
The current governor of Guazhou was Pei Changqing.
He was directly transferred from Rouyuan County.
Although Pei Changqing was young, he was very good at handling government affairs. Pei Changqing was also very capable. If Pei Changqing did not know the details of the Tang dynasty spies in Rouyuan County, he would not have been able to destroy them so easily.
With Pei Changqing, Du Qi was even more relaxed.
While Du Qi was busy, a soldier came in and reported, "Your Majesty, there are many merchants outside the barracks asking for an audience."
Du Qi ordered, "Invite them in."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The soldier received the order and immediately went to arrange it.
Not long after, about 30 people entered the barracks and bowed to Du Qi. They were all excited when they saw Du Qi. After all, they were all merchants of Xia Xia. To be able to see Du Qi was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Du Qi nodded and said, "Is there a reason why you came to see me together?"
One of the slightly plump men stepped forward and bowed to Du Qi again. He was in his early forties, and his sideburns were graying. However, he was dressed rather luxuriously.
The middle-aged man bowed again to Du Qi and said, "Your Majesty, this commoner's name is Zhou Zhiyu."
Du Qi nodded.
He waited for Zhou Zhiyu to continue.
Zhou Zhiyu continued, "This time, we have come together to have an audience with His Majesty. The matter is very simple. It is about the issue of paying taxes after doing business. Before that, Guazhou belonged to the Tang dynasty. The Tang dynasty and Xia Xia signed an agreement that Guazhou City's merchants would be exempted from paying taxes and would not be taxed. But now, Guazhou belonged to Mr. Xia. Under such circumstances, do we still enjoy the preferential treatment of being exempted from taxes when we do business in Guazhou? "
At this moment, everyone turned to look at Du Qi.
There was anticipation in their eyes.
For merchants, the exemption of taxes alone was not a small amount. The bigger the business, the more money they would save. For some small merchants, the tax reduction was not much. But for small merchants, the business was not large. Although the tax reduction was not much, it had a great impact on small merchants.
After hearing this, Du Qi's expression was calm.
Regarding the issue of taxes, after Du Qi seized Guazhou, he had already discussed it with Shangguan Yi and the others. It was just that he had not officially issued the decree at that time. After all, he had not taken over all of Guazhou at that time.
Right now, he had just taken over all of Guazhou, and everything was still being adjusted. He did not expect that as soon as he adjusted, a group of merchants would come together to inquire.
Du Qi looked around at the crowd and said, "Guazhou belongs to Mr. Xia. Then, everything in Guazhou will be arranged according to Mr. Xia's laws. The merchants of the Xia Kingdom have to pay taxes when they should. "
As soon as he said this, a look of disappointment appeared on the faces of the merchants because there was no tax discount.
They could not be exempted.
Some of the merchants even had a different idea. Instead of the current situation, it would be better for Guazhou to remain in the hands of the Tang dynasty. They would be able to get more benefits.
However, it was just a thought because it was impossible for Mr. Xia not to send in troops.
Du Qi did not care about the merchants' thoughts and continued, "Since Guazhou has just surrendered, I have decided that for three months from today, the merchants who originally did business in Guazhou will not pay taxes according to the previous rules. After three months, they will pay taxes as usual. No matter if they are merchants of the Tang dynasty or of Mr. Xia, they will be treated equally. "
"Your Majesty is wise!"
When Zhou Zhiyu and the other merchants heard this, they immediately beamed with joy.
No matter what, there were still three months. During these three months, they could still be exempted from taxes.
Du Qi glanced at all the merchants present. The reason why he had discussed with Shangguan Yi and the others to exempt taxes for three months was actually to stabilize these people. At the same time, it was also to buy time for Pei Changqing.
As long as Pei Changqing had a firm foothold in Guazhou, if these merchants were to stir up trouble, they would be directly taken down.
Du Qi said, "Is there anything else?"
Zhou Zhiyu took the initiative to say, "No."
The others also shook their heads.
They came to see Du Qi to discuss the matter of business tax. Now that Du Qi had given an answer and was willing to give another three months of tax exemption, everyone was relieved.
Du Qi continued, "Since you have nothing else to say, I will now say something. In Mr. Xia's territory, the status of merchants is quite relaxed. On the one hand, Mr. Xia does not despise merchants as much as the Tang dynasty. On the other hand, Mr. Xia's business has brought great help to Mr. Xia's rise. "
"That's why the status of merchants in Mr. Xia is no worse than that of scholars."
"But I want to say one thing. That is, you are used to everything in Guazhou now. Don't take it for granted. After three months, the taxes that should be paid will be paid according to the law. "
"If there are violations of law and discipline, the law will be merciless."
Du Qi said, "I hope that you can still be merchants with your heads held high and your chests held high. You can do business in an upright manner. Not the reputation of merchants will be tarnished because of tax evasion and so on. I don't want such a situation to happen. "
Zhou Zhiyu said, "Your Majesty's earnest teachings will be remembered in our hearts. Your Majesty, please rest assured that we are merchants in Mr. Xia. Although we can't open up new territory for Mr. Xia, we can do our best to do our own things well. "
The rest of the people spoke one after another.
Their faces were filled with an expression of duty-bound responsibility. Although they were merchants, gentlemen made money in a proper way. They made money within the scope of the law and had never committed any tax evasion.
The most important thing was that Du Qi said the most important thing, that was, the status of merchants in Mr. Xia was quite high. It was because of their contributions to Mr. Xia that merchants had the status they had today. If the status of merchants was affected because of one or two people and caused them to be despised, then the loss would definitely outweigh the gain.
Du Qi nodded and said, "It's good that you understand. Well, go do your own things. Do your work well and do it steadily. "
Everyone nodded and took their leave.
After these merchants left, Du Qi directly informed Pei Changqing about the tax exemption for merchants. He asked Pei Changqing to continue the tax exemption for three more months according to the current arrangement, and then the tax collection would begin in three months.
After the matter was notified, Du Qi continued to write his book.
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