"Shanghai is here."

Lord Gu looked at the county government and felt a little complicated.

Yu Chunqiu said, "Master, let's settle down first."

Lord Gu nodded and said, "Okay."

The front hall of the county government office is the place to investigate cases, and the backyard is the residence of the magistrate.

The county magistrate and the lord are both natives from Shanghai County.

night.

The county magistrate and the lord arranged a simple welcoming banquet and invited Mr. Gu and Yu Chunqiu to have a meal, even if they got to know each other.

Yu Chunqiu could see that the county magistrate Bo did not take Lord Gu seriously, let alone respect.

Lord Gu smiled, didn't get angry, and had a good temper.

Yu Chunqiu couldn't bear it.

The county magistrate and the magistrate are the right-hand men of the magistrate. If they do not listen to the magistrate and work against the magistrate, then the magistrate's work will not be carried out.

The banquet ended.

The county magistrate and lord Bo left.

Yu Chunqiu asked: "Master, what are your plans next?"

Lord Gu is Yu Chunqiu's boss. Only when Yu Chunqiu knows the boss's intentions can Yu Chunqiu pay attention.

If Yu Chunqiu made his own decisions, he might have detrimented Lord Gu, and it would be a little more than worth the loss.

Yu Chunqiu is just a master, and his power comes from Lord Gu's trust. To put it bluntly, he is a tool man, similar to the eunuchs in the palace.

The eunuchs and the master both gain the trust of the boss and help the boss do things so that they can have the opportunity to exercise their power.

Lord Gu shook his head and said, "There is no plan. Shanghai is too complicated. I am old and don't plan to make trouble. After three years, I can retire and return home."

Yu Chunqiu knew that Lord Gu was stumbled in the officialdom, but he didn't expect his mentality to be so negative.

In trouble.

If Lord Gu doesn’t do things and doesn’t bother, then what’s the point of Yu Chunqiu staying with him?

Yu Chunqiu said: "Owner, what about the commercial tax? Will it still be charged?"

Shanghai's trade is more prosperous than Guangdong. Although it is a deformed prosperity, it is also a prosperity.

The former Jin Shang and Imperial Shang were replaced by the Thirteen dynasties in Guangzhou, but now the Thirteen dynasties are gradually banned by the trade in Shanghai.

However, Shanghai County collects very few commercial taxes every year.

Lord Gu sighed and said, "Business tax is not so easy to collect. If it could be collected, it would have been collected long ago. Why should we wait until now? Which of the big merchants in Shanghai does not have the support of gentry and powerful people? Those compradors cannot be provoked."

Yu Chunqiu said: "Owner, I want to give it a try."

Lord Gu was stunned: "You really want to collect commercial tax?"

Yu Chunqiu shook his head and said, "It's not that I want to collect commercial taxes, but that the yamen wants to collect it. The owner of the host, Shanghai is the Eastern Demon City. But if there is no money, the demon city is the real devil city, and it is hell. The owner of the host is old and is ready to retire. If the commercial taxes can be collected, you can also bring more money back."

Who doesn't like silver?

Lord Gu also likes money.

He was a little moved by Yu Chunqiu's statement.

Ideals? To make decisions for the people? To report to the court? These have nothing to do with Lord Gu. Or are the interests that are touching.

Lord Gu said, "Yu Chunqiu, you really want to try it, I won't stop you. However, you'd better not cause any trouble. Even if you cause any trouble, it has nothing to do with me."

It means that if there are benefits, I want it. If something happens, Yu Chunqiu will take the blame by himself.

He wants benefits but does not want to take responsibility. Mr. Gu really uses his skills to "seek profits and avoid harm" to the extreme.

Yu Chunqiu said: "Don't worry, if something happens, I will bear it alone."

Yu Chunqiu walked out of the yamen.

Lord Gu is the magistrate and can live in the yamen. Yu Chunqiu has to go out to find a house to live. It is already very late, so he can only wait until tomorrow to stay in the hotel tonight.

To be honest, Yu Chunqiu was very disappointed with Old Man Gu.

People like Gu seem gentle, who emphasize self-cultivation and good temper, but in fact they are afraid of wolves in front of them and tigers in the back, and dare not do things. They are just playing tricks to protect themselves.

If a person like him becomes an official, he will not act and is lazy to govern.

The clean officials who are lazy in government are more abominable than those corrupt officials who do things for the people.

...

Yu Chunqiu spent a month touching all the shops in Shanghai County.

There are so many shops and more than 90% of them have not registered in the yamen.

Collect commercial tax?

Who should I ask for?

There is no other way, so Yu Chunqiu can only come to collect it one by one.

Yu Chunqiu's actions of collecting commercial taxes angered many people.

Yu Chunqiu did not collect commercial tax randomly, but was collecting it strictly in accordance with the regulations of the yamen. For shops and businesses, that little commercial tax is just a drop in profit.

But.

Those businessmen just don't want to pay taxes.

French Concession.

In a magnificent dance hall.

Several old men are discussing.

"Mr. Cai, has your business paid taxes?"

"Where are you, Mr. Feng?"

"Brother Cai, Brother Feng, I don't know if you have paid taxes? I have paid commercial tax anyway."

"Brother Zhang, you actually paid the commercial tax? I know a little about the new magistrate Gu. Yu Chunqiu is just a master next to Gu Laoer, a dog. He is a young boy, so scared Brother Zhang?"

Zhang, whose business is big, is a ruthless person.

There are no kind people who can make a name for themselves in Shanghai. Kind people either carry the goods at the wharf and do the hardest and most tiring work, or they have become dead bones and floating corpses in the Huangpu River.

They didn't expect that the old man named Zhang actually paid the commercial tax.

The old man named Zhang picked up the teacup and said with a smile: "The yamen does not dare to come to the foreign concession to collect taxes, and will only bully us merchants outside the concession. The yamen is also a slut that bullies the weak and fears the strong. We have been working hard in Shanghai for decades, and it is not easy to make some money."

The old man surnamed Feng asked, "I wonder what Brother Zhang is going to do? If you pay the tax this time, you will have to pay the taxes constantly in the future."

The old man surnamed Zhang sneered: "I took my money, I was afraid that Yu Chunqiu would have lost his life. Be that little master! Killing an official may be in trouble. But if you want to kill a master, Zhang still has the courage to let Yu Chunqiu disappear and kill a chicken to warn the monkey. This is a warning to Gu. I have a thousand oceans. You can arrange the manpower."

The other old men looked at each other and nodded.

The old man surnamed Cai said: "I asked someone to contact the Qing Gang. It would be perfect for the Qing Gang to do this."

They are all businessmen, they are very particular about people. They do dirty work, so of course they won’t take action personally.

...

Yu Chunqiu took three people back.

The three are a family.

The young man is named Chen Dong, and he is his brother.

The girl's name is Chen Xin, and she is her sister.

The woman Chen Liu is the mother.

Chen Liu's husband is a dock worker. He died of illness and had no money to buy a coffin.

When Yu Chunqiu met them, Chen Liu was kneeling on the street, begging kind-hearted people to buy Chen Dong and Chen Xin.

Chen Liu's illiterate woman could not support Chen Dong and Chen Xin, so she sold them. When she arrived at the owner, she might be beaten and scolded, but at least she could survive.

Otherwise, you will only starve to death.

This situation in the Chen Liu family is not an isolated case in Shanghai.

Yu Chunqiu was not strong enough, and when he felt compassion, he brought them all back.

Anyway, there is still a lack of a person who cooks and washes in the house, so I call a housekeeper. As for Chen Dong and Chen Xin, they are just two children, how much meal can they eat? Just add two pairs of chopsticks.

Walk to an alley.

After walking through the alley and walking less than two hundred meters, it was Yu Chunqiu’s rented house.

Sudden.

Yu Chunqiu stopped.
To be continued...