Tie Qiu was not too scheming and had a straightforward personality. He immediately became angry when he saw someone dare to salute Yue Su. Seeing him raise his whip, Yue Su was afraid that he would make trouble here and affect the original intention of Weifu's private visit, so he quickly stopped him and said: "Tie Qiu

, Don’t be unreasonable, put down the whip quickly.”

"Yes." Tie Qiu reluctantly squeezed out a word through his teeth and slowly put down the whip.

When the man opposite saw this scene, he smiled disdainfully, snorted, and said: "You guys know each other, I can see that you are people of some status, but so what, on the territory of Songtao County, you can still tolerate this.

You are not allowed to act arrogant. The rules are the rules. Even if the emperor comes, he still has to pay the bridge tax. Boy, if you can't cross the bridge, pay the money quickly. If you can't, don't stand in front of the people behind you!"

"Since I'm here, of course I have to pass it. Please help me calculate how much money we have to pay in total." Yue Su said calmly. He said this, and he had already made up his mind. When he returns to Tongren, let's see what I do.

Treat you.

The man raised his eyes and asked loudly: "Is there anyone else in the car?"

"There are three." Yue Su answered truthfully.

"Thirteen people, eleven horses, and one cart, a total of seventy-eight coins." Unexpectedly, although this man was rude, his arithmetic skills were pretty good, and he quickly told the number.

Yue Su thought to himself, "A carriage, horse and carriage together is worth twelve cents. This guy is really good at counting. It costs seventy-eight cents for us to cross the bridge. There are not a few people passing this bridge in a day."

, it’s a considerable amount of income in total, but I don’t know who came up with the idea of ​​collecting the bridge tax.”

After asking Tie Qiu to pay the bridge tax, Yue Su asked: "Sir, I want to know, is this bridge tax collected by the county government?"

"Did you ask for this? Pay the money quickly and don't get in the way!" After the man finished speaking, he stepped aside.

Yue Su nodded and rode across the bridge. Shen Aoyue curled her lips and snorted: "The noble man of this palace is willing to be blackmailed by a group of ruffians. If I had been before..."

"You used to be just a young lady from a wealthy family. If you hadn't gone out with my husband, you would have been abducted and trafficked long ago for being so beautiful." Yue Su said disdainfully, and then added, "It's not too late to settle accounts after the fall."

After getting off the bridge, he saw an old man in front of him, hobbling with a cane and carrying a dagger on his shoulders. Yue Su had seen this old man crossing the bridge before, so he urged his horse up, went to the old man's side, turned over and dismounted, and said politely

: "This old man is so polite."

When the old man saw Yue Su riding a horse, he knew he was a rich man, but he didn't expect that this man was so polite and could even dismount after talking to him. The old man smiled kindly on his face and said: "You are so polite, young master. I don't know what to call him."

What's wrong, old man?"

"May I ask if this old man is from the local area?" Yue Su said politely.

"The old man is from Dawang Village, five miles away. His son is doing some small business in Songtao City. He received a letter a few days ago, saying that he bought a house in the city and asked me to live in it. He is busy with business, so I am alone.

People can go there on their own."

"Oh." Yue Su nodded and said, "I'm a foreigner here. I came here to visit friends. I just crossed the bridge and was asked for a bridge tax. The money is nothing, but I am very confused. I am too.

I am a traveler who has been to many places, but I have never seen anything like this, so I would like to ask a few questions. I wonder if I know the reason?"

"Sir, you don't know something. There are many tax collection places like this in Songtao County. From here to the city, there are five tax collection stations along the way, almost every town and every bridge.

You have to pay taxes. Even when you enter the city gate, you have to pay taxes." The old man said, shaking his head and sighing.

"Why is this? The imperial court doesn't have this rule. Could it be that the county magistrate here dares to privately increase tax items?" When Yue Su heard that there were so many tax traps on the road, he became even more angry. He said with suppressed anger.

"This tax is not collected by the county magistrate, but by the regular members of the city. I heard that this permanent member's relative is an official in the capital, and even the county magistrate has to be afraid of it. He blocked the road and set up traffic jams to collect the toll tax.

No one dares to care, no one dares to ask. Everyone can only pay the money honestly. If you don't pay, you can't even think about it. In the past, some people stubbornly refused to pay, but in the end they were severely punished and complained to the county.

, the county magistrate did not accept the case, and even when it came to Tongren Mansion, no one took the case. So everyone is silent now and pays the tax."

"Isn't this toll collected by the Yamen? Then why did I see a policeman standing there at the bridge just now?" Yue Su asked in confusion.

"Of course the clothes for the officer were lent to me by the county master. I heard that every month, the officer would donate them to me on a regular basis."

"That's what I said." Yue Su asked again: "Old man, do you know the name of this permanent member and where he lives?"

"Chang Yuan's nickname is Chang Xiu, but I don't know where he lives in the city because I don't go to the city often. I guess people in the city should know."

Chang Xiu! Yue Su remembered this name and said, "Thank you very much, old man. I am still anxious to meet friends, so I will take my leave now."

"You are welcome."

Yue Su got on his horse and continued on the road with Tie Qiu and others, heading all the way to the county seat. The situation on the road was as the old man said, Lanhe Town was only more than fifty miles away from Songtao County, but there were actually five tax traps on the road. Yue Su got on his horse and continued on the road with Tie Qiu and others.

Su endured his anger and paid taxes as usual, but he was thinking in his heart that if you dare to collect taxes from me, I will settle accounts with you. Everyone entered the city in the evening.

As usual, we checked into a smaller hotel, settled in the room, and everyone went to the front hall to have dinner.

When the food was ready, Yue Sugang was about to call the waiter and ask him about Chang Xiu. Suddenly, four burly men walked in from outside the door. The man at the front shouted loudly as soon as he entered: "Call you the owner."

Come out and pay."

When the waiter saw this group of people coming in, he trembled with fright and said quickly: "Our shopkeeper is eating in the back, I'll call him right away." As he said that, he ran to the back room.

After a while, the old shopkeeper came out. After seeing the big man, he nodded and bowed and said: "Mr. Chen, you are here."

"Nonsense, of course the day will come. Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. Hurry up and hand over the money for safety. I am in a hurry to collect it from the next house." The leading man said loudly.

"Mr. Chen, the business of the store was really slow last month. There were too few people staying at the store. Can you please be accommodating for a few days, otherwise you won't even have the money to buy groceries?" the old store owner said in a pleading tone.

.

"I'll accommodate you, but who will accommodate me? You don't know Mr. Wei's temper. If you can't pay this safe money on time, your little shop may not be safe." The big man said coldly.

"But, but... I really don't have enough money on hand now..." the old shopkeeper said pitifully. But before he could finish speaking, the big man said: "Then what you mean is that we can't do this today.

How about handing over the safe money?" After saying that, he picked up a chair next to him and looked at his posture. As long as the old shop owner didn't hand over the money, he was going to start smashing it.

"Wait... Mr. Chen, please wait..." the old shopkeeper said hurriedly. Then, he walked to Yue Su's table and said: "My dear guest, you have also seen that the shop is in urgent need of turnover. I don't know.

Can you pay the store money in advance?"

Yue Su had already seen what he meant. The so-called peace money must be what modern people call protection money. It seems that the ancient underworld is much more powerful than the new society. He didn't want to cause more trouble at this time, so he said:

"It's okay, the old gentleman just settles the account." After saying that, he gestured to Tie Qiu and asked him to pay the bill.

After settling the bill and paying, the old shopkeeper opened the counter, took out a bunch of money, and along with the store money he had just received, held it in front of the big man and handed it over.

The big man took it, counted the number, and said, "You know what you know, let's meet next month. Brothers, let's go!" After that, he led the people away.

When the big men walked away, the waiter, who was trembling just now, spat hard on the ground and cursed: "These bastards really eat people without spitting out their bones." He was filled with indignation, but the old shopkeeper looked downcast.

Walk towards the back room.

Yue Su took the opportunity to take over the conversation and said, "Little brother, what is this Ping'an Silver that these people are talking about?"

The waiter said angrily: "What safe money? It's obviously a robbery. If you don't give it, they will destroy the store."

"There are other things like this. These people are too arrogant. Don't you think there is no king's law in Songtao City?" Yue Su said deliberately: "I paid a lot of toll taxes along the way when I came here. I heard it's a common thing.

It was collected by the employee’s peripheral card. Could it be that he also sent someone to collect the Ping An money?”

"That's not true. Chang Yuanwai sets up cards outside the city to collect taxes, but he is not the most ruthless inside the city. The person who collects Ping An's money is Wei Yuanwai. I heard that his cousin is a censor in the capital. He is very ruthless.

Therefore, the regular members can't afford to offend the Wei members, so they can only collect tolls outside the city. But when it comes to being the most arrogant, these two are not ranked. The king's laws you mentioned are all designed for ordinary people.

Yes, we won't be around rich and powerful people at all, and the county magistrate is not allowed to listen to others." The more the waiter said, the more annoyed he became.

As soon as Yue Su heard that Chang Xiu, who set up the card to collect taxes, and Wei Yuanwai, who collected Ping An's money, were not the most arrogant people in the city, he immediately became curious and asked: "You said these two are not the most arrogant people, what about you?"

Who is the most arrogant person in the city? I just came from out of town, and I want to do some business here and buy some souvenirs. But I am not familiar with the place. If I don’t have the vision, I will offend the big people in the city. I am worried.

I can’t go back to my hometown.”

"You are indeed a businessman. You can think of it. The most arrogant person among us is Tian Yuanwai. I don't know what kind of person this Tian Yuanwai is. I only know that he is a big salt lord who specializes in selling private salt. He is ruthless.

, there is nothing he dare not do. Although Chang Yuanwai and Wei Yuanwai have people in the court, they are also afraid of Tian Yuanwai in Songtao City. Anyone who offends him will definitely not survive the next day."

"It seems that your Songtao County is really a mixed bag. I want to ask more. What are the names of Wei Yuanwai, Tian Yuanwai and Chang Yuanwai? Where do they live in the city? Haha..." Yue Su smiled heartily and said: "

Where they live, I can't even get close to them even if I'm killed."

Selling illegal salt has required house raids in all dynasties. It is the same crime as illegal mining in Yinjiang County. Of course, Yue Su cannot let it go.

"What you said is absolutely correct. The servants of these three families are very fierce. Didn't you see it just now? If you accidentally walk to the door of their house and people don't like you, maybe they are in a bad mood that day.

I may give you a good beating, but it will be in vain. No one in our city dares to approach these people’s mansions now.” Then, the waiter told Yue Su in detail the names and addresses of the three Songtao tyrants.

.Except Chang Xiu and Yue Su who knew about it, the other two were named Wei Gang and Tian Chong.

Yue Su kept it in mind and said, "Those of you who open a shop in the city have to pay Ping An Money. I, who travel all over the country to deliver goods, don't know if I need to pay. By the way, how much does your shop have to pay in a month? What's the rest?"

Is it enough to make ends meet?”

"Those who come from other places to do business do not pay. Wei Yuanwai also knows that if anyone comes to Songtao to do business by forcefully collecting money from out-of-town merchants, then the shops here will have to go out of business. It will not be of any benefit to him. As for having to pay

The amount of Ping An Silver depends on the size of the store. An average store will have to pay two to three ounces per month. Although this number is not small, it will not make each business unable to continue. All the shops in the city can only break their teeth.

Swallow it in the stomach, and business must go on as usual. A small inn like ours has a small profit, and even if we give up food, clothing, and monthly safety, there is not much money left. If the business is sluggish in any month,

We can't even hand over the safe money, so the old shop owner has to borrow it." Having said this, the waiter looked very helpless.

Yue Su nodded slightly, rewarded the waiter with a handful of coppers, asked him to go down, and then started eating.

After staying here for a night, everyone went back home early the next morning. Yue Su did not want to stay in such a dirty place for a moment longer. He had already made up his mind that when he returned to Tongren, he would punish these bullies and corrupt officials.

.

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****

Returning to Tongren Mansion, Yue Su was no longer in the mood to travel around. There were so many bastards under his rule. If things continued like this, the people would be forced to rebel if they didn't escape.
To be continued...