The commoners who lived near the western city gate of Yong County discovered a strange matter these few days.
Usually, there wouldn't be many people passing by. In fact, most of the time, the city gates weren't even open. However, there was a huge commotion at the foot of the city walls.
At first, they thought that the officials had nothing better to do and wanted to repair the city walls because they had too much money to spend. Later on, they heard that they wanted to build a 'shopping mall' or something like a 'business district'.
They didn't know what exactly a shopping mall or business district was, but they roughly understood the meaning.
The newly appointed provincial governor drew a large circle on the western city wall, planning to build a row of shops here. As for why they didn't build on the streets and insisted on surrounding the city gates, they attributed it to the provincial governor having a mental problem.
Yong County already had a market square, and it was enough for the commoners to use daily. Why did the provincial governor want to waste manpower and money to build a bigger one? If this wasn't a mental problem, what was?
But thinking about it carefully, it couldn't be said to be wasting manpower and money. After all, not only were the commoners not asking for money this time, those who came here to work could even receive 20 copper coins a day.
That was 20 copper coins. To the commoners who only relied on farming for a living, it would take them a long time to earn it. This was like a copper coin falling from the sky. Coincidentally, it was the slack season now. If they didn't want to do such a good job, they would be as crazy as the provincial governor.
For a period of time, the doorsill of the Yong County government office would be trampled by people every two days. The people who came were all commoners who wanted to work on the western city wall. After registering at the government office and being led by a bailiff, they would be able to receive 20 copper coins on the same day.
The officials didn't reject any commoners who wanted to work. They would take in as many as they came. There was no helping it. The construction period was tight, and the tasks were heavy. Those shops had to be opened before the New Year. Right now, there were only three months before the New Year. In other words, they would need at most two months to finish the work. Otherwise, from the officials to the bailiffs, everyone would be punished.
It was said that this was the idea of the newly appointed Provincial Governor Chen. The commoners were happy that they could earn money during the slack season, but the officials of Yong County didn't dare to say anything. They could only secretly curse that Provincial Governor Chen in their hearts. They had seen superiors who liked to cause trouble, but they had never seen one who could cause trouble like this …
The officials and bailiffs of the workshops were responsible for supervising the construction of this project. Because they didn't have enough manpower, they had to borrow people from the other branches.
Apart from the workers, the officials of the Household were also having a hard time.
They didn't know what was wrong with Provincial Governor Chen, but he wanted them to keep all the merchants in Shuzhou as much as possible. This wasn't like supervising the construction of a house. Without a silver tongue and perseverance, it was impossible to do this kind of work …
A bailiff of the Bureau of Revenue had just sent off a caravan. When he walked back to the city gate, he pursed his lips, which had become dry from talking too much. He couldn't help but curse in a low voice, "Provincial Governor Chen, damn it …"
As soon as he raised his head, he saw a guard at the city gate looking at him. He exchanged glances with the guard and shook his head, saying, "Provincial Governor Chen has racked his brains for the sake of the commoners of Shu Province — I wonder if his mother's health is good …"
…
Yong County, east city gate.
A group of merchants stopped outside the city gates. The leader of the group, a rich man, turned around and said to a bald man behind him, "Brothers, thank you for your help along the way."
The bald man waved his hand and said, "There's no need to thank us. If you want to cooperate in the future, you can look for us. You know how to contact us, right?"
"I know, I know." The rich man nodded and said, "When we return, we will look for you brothers."
The bald man nodded and waved his hand, saying, "Alright, see you later!"
"Brothers, have a safe journey!"
After bidding farewell to the others, the rich man looked at the city gate of Yong County and couldn't help but smile.
Ever since the Fringe became easier to travel, they had to save a lot of money.
According to the merchants they met on the way, the bandits in Shu Province had been completely eradicated. They no longer had to worry about all the goods and money they had spent so much effort to travel from the Qi Kingdom to Shu Province. In the future, they could travel boldly on the road to Shu Province.
From the Fringe to Shu Province, the people were good and the road was good. Whenever he saw the bald man, he would feel a sense of familiarity.
This sense of familiarity immediately disappeared when he saw a man in a government uniform walking towards them.
They could hide from the Kingdom of Qi, but they could not hide from the Kingdom of Jing. Shuzhou was a place that they could not avoid. The tariff here was so strict that it was enough to make many small merchants shrink back.
"Sir …" The rich man smiled apologetically. Just as he was about to speak, the officer quickly walked over with a smile and asked, "Are you merchants from the Qi Kingdom?"
The rich man's heart skipped a beat when he saw the officer, who had always been cold and expressionless, reveal such a terrifying smile on his face.
There must be something wrong with this unusual situation. This officer was smiling so brightly. It seemed that they were in big trouble this time!
He was nervous and said, "Sir …"
"Hey, don't be so polite. Come in, come in …" The officer's smile became even brighter as he led them into the county. The rich man was even more nervous.
Whether it was in the Jing Kingdom or the Qi Kingdom, the government always set up checkpoints to collect taxes. The Qi Kingdom severely suppressed business. The tax rate was two out of ten. As for what was two out of ten, it was also decided by the officials. Therefore, in the Qi Kingdom, it was very difficult to do business without an official background.
Ever since the reform of the Jing State's tax laws, under the condition that agriculture was stable, merchants weren't suppressed as much as they were in the Qi State. Instead, they were guided and encouraged to a certain extent. Therefore, more and more merchants from the Qi State were willing to do business in the Jing State.
Of course, the people of the Qi Kingdom in the Jing Kingdom was different from the people of the Jing Kingdom in the Jing Kingdom. Merchants in the Jing Kingdom paid one out of twenty taxes. They had to pay one out of ten taxes. Of course, it was still more cost-effective than in the Qi Kingdom …
When they arrived at the official warehouse, the officer gave him a list after checking the goods.
He was already used to this process. The list contained the total number of goods and the taxes they had to pay.
The officer's attitude just now made him very nervous. He guessed that the tax laws in the Jing Kingdom had been changed again. He was afraid that this trip would be in vain …
However, when he saw the taxes at the bottom of the list, he couldn't help but be stunned.
In the Qi Kingdom, the government would value the goods and then convert them into silver. They would deliberately raise the price of the goods to increase the taxes of the merchants.
In fact, the government everywhere did this. The only difference was that each was more black-hearted than the other.
However, the number written on the list was more than half of what he expected.
He had always paid more taxes. This was the first time that he encountered a situation where he paid less taxes.
There was a trap, there must be a trap somewhere.
Thinking of the officer's attitude, he was even more certain.
This was a test. It must be a test. If he was greedy and pretended not to know about this and tried to deceive them, he might lose both his life and money this time!
He looked at the officer and said with a serious face, "Your Excellency, we didn't hide any goods. These few carts are all we have. There's no problem with the valuation on the list. But the taxes, the taxes … Your Excellency, could it be … I mean, could it be possible that Your Excellency made a mistake in the calculation?"
Looking at the officer's expression, he didn't wait for him to speak. He immediately said, "Of course, Your Excellency, please don't misunderstand me. I absolutely didn't mean to criticize Your Excellency. Please don't blame me …"
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