However, when Ruan Yuan's sixtieth birthday ended, Ruan Yuan returned to the official duties of the Governor's Court. On this day, Guangdong Customs Supervisor Da San arrived at the Governor's Court. However, Da San's visit this time was not for customs matters, but for customs matters.

Come and send a preface to Jiang Fan.

"General Ruan, Mr. Zheng Tang also asked me to write a preface to his book "The Inheritance of the Sinology Masters of the Guo Dynasty" by Mr. Zheng Tang, which was sent to the General System today. In fact, to be honest with the General System, I have a deep understanding of the Sinology scholars of the Guo Dynasty.

, I have always been very interested. This time I was able to watch Mr. Zheng Tang sort out the origins of various schools of Sinology one by one, allowing later scholars to have a glimpse of the traces of Sinology for more than a hundred years. I was really impressed by it. But now, Xiaguan

I'm afraid that the crudeness of this preface will overshadow Mr. Zheng Tang's masterpiece. Also, when the general manager was at Guangdong Customs, he also helped me to keep an orderly inventory of the Guangdong Customs' tariffs for the past two years. I would also like to thank you.

It is through the general system." It turned out that it was precisely because Ruan Yuan had supervised the Guangdong Customs for several months before Da San that Da San got acquainted with Ruan Yuan, and later met Jiang Fan, and they were officially married.

as a friend.

"Haha, Zheng Tang's book deserves a lot of thanks to Supervisor Da. Also, when I was at Guangdong Customs, I remade the account books for the new accounts in the past two years. Is it convenient for Supervisor Da to look at it?

Ruan Yuan also responded to Da San.

"Yes, I don't think that President Ruan is actually very good at arithmetic. I think these account books for the past two years are much more convenient than the old accounts from the Jiaqing period. Also, President Ruan is the acting supervisor of Guangdong Customs

For several months, it seems to my subordinates that I have not taken any money, and all the surplus from Guangdong Customs and commercial taxes has been transferred to the vassal treasury. The general is really a selfless person." Da San praised Ruan Yuan.

.

"What? I have only been acting as an agent for the Guangdong Customs for a few months, why should I still make a profit from it?" Ruan Yuan also laughed and said: "The commercial tax of the Guangdong Customs is for public use and has nothing to do with private individuals. Why should the supervisor say this?

?Is it normal for the supervisor to take some money from the customs duties and end up pocketing it for himself? "

"This... of course not, Mr. Ruan, the Guangdong Customs has been your agent for two months. How dare the people below make mistakes? They don't dare. I, the official,... I don't dare to go beyond the rules.

Huh?" Da San quickly laughed and said, but having said that, Da San's words are also true. Ruan Yuan has been at Guangdong Customs for several months and has clearly counted the accounts of Guangdong Customs for several years. If Da San really wants to abuse the public and enrich himself, the accounts

There will inevitably be a difference. As long as he is exposed and Ruan Yuan confronts him with his old account, he will inevitably be exposed by Ruan Yuan. Therefore, under Ruan Yuan's supervision, Dasan has no choice but to strictly restrain his subordinates.

"Haha, Supervisor Da, I didn't say anything wrong with you, did I?" Ruan Yuan also knew that he already knew a lot about the revenue of Guangdong Customs. Once what Dao Guang knew was inconsistent with what he knew, Da San was determined to get away with it.

Don't worry, he smiled at Dashan and said: "Actually, the Guangdong Customs has something to do. After all, I am just an agent and cannot provide long-term peace and stability. But you must understand that if you restrain the officials below, the excess tax revenue from the customs is only allocated to the customs for official duties.

There is no harm in supplementing the thirty small customs, but what we are worried about is that the officials under the customs actually transferred the surplus of the imperial state tax into their own pockets? The state tax can finally be used for state affairs.

It’s a good thing, but the supervisor should be aware of this.”

The so-called "Thirty Small Passes" were established by the Guangdong Customs in Guangdong at this time. At some of the passes outside Guangzhou, Western merchants' trade with China during the Qing Dynasty had been concentrated in Guangzhou for many years. However, Chinese merchants went out to sea to conduct inland sea trade.

Or trade to Southeast Asia is not limited to the first and second ports. There are thirty checkpoints under the Guangdong Customs to allow ships to sail. However, except for Guangzhou, the other checkpoints are far less than the Guangdong Customs in Guangzhou in terms of scale and income.

Because the salary of the officials is meager, it is inevitable that there will be bad rules. Ruan Yuan's words are also to let Dashan try to avoid using bad rules for personal use. So after hearing Ruan Yuan's words, Dashan immediately replied to him: "Yes.

Ah, Mr. Ruan is right when he says it. As long as a lower official is supervising the Guangdong Customs, he will not allow his subordinates to act arbitrarily."

"Well, I just have one more thing to do now. I hope Supervisor Da can help me handle it." Ruan Yuan also continued to Da San: "Last year we did arrest Ye Hengshu and his group of opium smugglers, but

In addition to them, it seems that there are quite a few smugglers who work in groups of three to five or more than ten people. Moreover, in terms of the total number of opium smugglers, these small traders together are actually more than Ye Hengshu.

There are a lot more people in the gang. I also want to send more green troops to punish the smugglers, so I also need various small offices to provide us with clues. If I am the only one in Guangzhou, won't it be difficult to handle these things?"

"Of course, when I go back today, I will tell all the checkpoints that if I find anyone smuggling opium, I will report it to the governor immediately. President Ruan, please rest assured." Seeing that Ruan Yuan was also willing to believe him, Dashan immediately agreed with Ruan Yuan.

suggestions.

Since Ruan Yuan took office, he has strictly investigated and punished the troops in the camp. For example, Wu Limao, a soldier of the Longmen Association, and others seized Liang Sheng and divided the loot from opium smuggling in the ship. Xie Tingke, deputy general of the department, Xia Xiufang, guard of the department, etc. remained silent and refused to report.

The division commander Zhan Xingyou, the commander-in-chief of the division, seized the opium, and the businessman, Chen Youguang, a fellow soldier, and others, obtained the stolen goods and indulged him. Zhan Xingyou was afraid of the law and took poison and died.

Huang Chengfeng obtained opium from an unknown shipowner, and the merchant and the department guard Zeng Zhengao concealed the sale and distribution of fertilizers... Deputy General Xie Tingke planned to send troops to the military base, department guards Xia Xiufang, Zeng Zhengao, and Qianzong Huang Chengfeng all planned to send to Xinjiang, and the reporter Sun Chaoan

Sent to the border to confiscate the troops...According to the West Fort, Xu Yachao's opium paste was obtained, Chen Yagui's opium was obtained, Lin Shaoxiu's opium was obtained from Huangpu Port, Xu Shixing's opium was obtained from Foshan Entrance, and more than 800 kilograms of opium was obtained from Macao Entrance.

There are many, and the cigarettes were destroyed in court by the minister Ruan Yuan... However, they are sold secretly in the offshore areas and cross into various provinces, so there is no guarantee that they will be gone...

Ruan Yuan and Da San worked together to eradicate opium, and gained a lot for a while. Many people who smuggled opium, and even middle- and lower-level officers in the green camp who assisted in smuggling opium, were all arrested. After Ruan Yuan's strict trial, most of them assisted

Officers who smuggled opium were severely punished, and Ruan Yuan also destroyed all the seized opium to prevent the opium from being poisoned outside. In the third year of Daoguang, a memorial jointly written by Ruan Yuan and Da San mentioned five times of coordinated smuggling by officers, and

Regarding the other five arrests of opium smugglers, Ruan Yuan was obviously doing his best to eradicate opium.

However, even so, looking back at Ruan Yuanqing's opium suppression campaign from the perspective of the entire South China Sea, it has to be said that all the efforts made by Ruan Yuan had little effect.

The sea surface of Lingding Ocean is very wide. There are hundreds of small islands scattered throughout the hundreds of miles of sea area. They spread out from the ocean of Macao all the way east. Apart from a few larger islands, these small islands also have islands.

The people have long made a living by fishing and planting potatoes. Many small islands are quite desolate, and there are also many mountain islands. Because most of the islands are mountainous, people are unwilling to live there. Since there are not many people, the government often

Turn a blind eye to these islands and let it go. In normal times, the government's lack of attention to Lingding Yang would not have caused disaster. However, the Lingding Yang waters in the early years of Daoguang were much different from those in the previous hundreds of thousands of years.

It’s different.

To the east of Lingding Ocean, there is an island called Lantau Island. Due to the high mountains and forests on the island, there is a lack of cultivated land, and there are only a few ships on weekdays. But these days, there is an unexpected Western-style ship under Lantau Island.

A ketch, this ship can only be considered average among British merchant ships, and it is nothing more than ordinary. Although there are occasionally one or two fishing boats on the sea, the fishermen don't care about this merchant ship at all, and few people can still

I realized that the ship had been staying on Lantau Island for two days and had not yet entered the inner ocean.

At dusk that day, the foreign ship remained motionless on the shore as before. But at this moment, the sailors on the ship started shouting. It turned out that a small boat was sailing rapidly on the east side of the sea hundreds of feet away.

Off-shore boat, a small boat with a slender body, a sail, and several people rowing on both sides. This kind of boat is called "fast crab boat" on the sea surface of Guangzhou. As long as the wind is favorable, the speed of the boat can be exceeded

Ordinary ships on the sea, even imperial ships, often cannot catch up.

Seeing that the fast crab boat was about to sail to the shore of the mountain island, the foreign ship also quickly began to unload the cargo. When the fast ship arrived at the island, nearly a hundred boxes had been unloaded on the foreign ship, and they were lined up on the seashore.

Passers-by also lit torches so that they could see each other at night.

"Are you here? Have you brought any money?" At this time, a man jumped out of the foreign ship and asked in the direction of the crab boat. Judging from his dress, he looked like a Chinese from the coast. It must be a British merchant ship on the coast.

Hire a translator.

"Here it comes! Isn't all the money here?" Several quick-footed people also jumped off the crab boat at this time, each holding sacks in their hands. Soon, several sailors who got off the boat opened a few boxes,

Pour the contents of the box into the sack little by little. The contents of the box are all black and are round balls. Even under the cover of night, there is still a faint fragrance.

"You guys should hurry up and bring up the money." The translator asked impatiently, "Also, when you came, did you see clearly that the officers and soldiers on the shore didn't follow you?"

"Don't worry, who are the officers and soldiers coming to Lantau Island?" The person at the front of the Kuai Crab boat smiled at the translator: "Brothers have found out that the nearest officers and soldiers here are in Xin'an County in the north. If they want to come over, they need to go south first.

You have to cross a river and cross a mountain to get to the land there, and change boats there before you can come over and see us. Who is willing to take such a troublesome road? What's more, our recent transactions have been

In the south of the mountain island, even if someone does come, it will be difficult to find it, right?"

"Then you should be careful. I heard that the governor here made a mistake again and asked the officers and soldiers to arrest people every day. I actually heard that two brothers on the shore went in." The translator still seemed to be wary of the officers and soldiers.

"Haha, just like those unlucky brothers, one or two out of fifty...at most thirty would be good." The people who got off the crab boat also laughed and said: "We all follow the old rules. After bringing the goods ashore,

, just find some other medicinal materials to cover the goods. There are some checkpoints from the government, but who of them has the leisure to check the goods a little bit for you. When you see a layer of medicinal materials on top, they will let you pass. In fact, many brothers now don't

After landing, we ran directly to the north. We didn't sell the bulk of this batch of goods in Guangzhou. We went to Fujian, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. People there thought that only Guangzhou had our kind of goods, so they were not prepared at all.

Our ship travels back and forth between Guangdong and Fujian. I heard that in the first half of the year, a few brothers took their ship all the way to Tianjin!"

"Tianjin? You can all run that far?" The translator listened to this man's words and couldn't believe it for a moment.

"Of course, what do you think? Everyone knows this stuff. Once you become addicted, you will never be able to get rid of it for the rest of your life. You will lose your money and have to smoke twice? Don't tell me, the latest news here is from Beijing.

Your Majesty, everyone is so good at this!" This man was talking about the opium sales, and he was actually very proud. After a while, more than a dozen boxes of silver were carried over by the people on the Crab Boat. Foreign ships can check boxes of boxes.

, seeing that everything was cash, he immediately sent his clerk to collect it and board the ship.

As soon as the silver and goods were finished, everyone on the foreign ship immediately retreated, and the Crab Boat continued to send more than ten sailors to carry back all the sacks.
Chapter completed!