Chapter 684: Hu Shang rebelled

As the military recruited more than 1,000 stone of civilian ships on a large scale, a large number of Hu merchants were stranded in Yangzhou. Many Hu merchants who were doing business in Guangzhou also rushed to Yangzhou, waiting to get their ships back. The great cannibals, Sogdians, Persians and merchants from Southeast Asian countries gathered for more than two months, which made more than 10,000 Hu merchants staying in Yangzhou.

These Hu merchants mainly gathered in the area of ​​Beicheng City, Yangzhou. They did nothing every day, and the various taverns were filled with Hu people who were drinking and inquiring about news.

In a wine shop called Western Camel outside Taipei City, nearly a hundred Hu merchants gathered here. The wine shop was filled with people. The wine seller was like a butterfly and peddling the grape wine they had just shipped.

Hu merchants gathered in groups at the table, drinking and talking about the news obtained from various channels. Hometown and making money will always be the focus of their topics.

As time goes by, anxiety and dissatisfaction are piled up in the hearts of Hu merchants, and their voices are getting louder when talking. They usually encounter various unfairness when doing business, and are released with the fumigation of alcohol.

"Brother Basang, how could you pay a tax of 300 guan for your goods? I only paid a tax of 100 guan in Guangzhou, and my goods are much more valuable than you!"

"Impossible!"

A bearded man screamed in surprise, "How could you only pay a hundred coins? Your goods are jewelry!"

These are two Sogdian businessmen who do business in Baghdad. Their hometown is in Samarkand. They are neighbors, one is called Basan and the other is called Layer. Recently, the price of silk in the Baghdad market has soared. The two thought about buying goods from Datang. Of course, they would not come empty-handed when they traveled thousands of miles. One bought a lot of Egyptian cotton, and the other brought a lot of jewelry. Layer, who brought jewelry, went to Guangzhou, and Basan, who sold cotton, came to Yangzhou. The price of cotton cloth in Yangzhou is higher. If nothing unexpected happens, they will each return to their country and meet in Baghdad.

But an accident happened. Their ships were temporarily requisitioned by the Tang Dynasty military, causing them to stay in the Tang Dynasty. When Layer found out that their ships were requisitioned to Yangzhou, he rushed from Guangzhou. He just arrived today and met his fellow villager Basang in Yangzhou.

The conversation between the two Hu merchants gradually attracted the attention of other Hu merchants. Everyone gathered up and asked Layer in a lingering manner, "How much is the value of the goods if you pay a tax of one hundred chunks of money?"

"I brought two thousand guan coins of goods. When I filled out the taxes at the Maritime Bureau, I honestly filled out two thousand guan coins."

"Didn't they revalue you?" a businessman asked with some jealousy.

Layer shook his head, "I have a tax bill for Dashi. I will show them. If I can understand it, I won't know it. Anyway, they won't ask, and I will pay the tax for two thousand guan."

"Are you sure you only paid a tax of one hundred chunks?" another man asked in confusion.

"Yes, I only have to pay a tax of one hundred yuan for twenty taxes."

"Allah! What's going on? Why does Yangzhou need ten taxes and one tax!"

Someone shouted, and it seemed like a nest was blown up in the winery, and someone shouted: "It is obvious that the court has rules to fill in the value of the goods according to the tax form of Dashi. Why did Yangzhou revalue it? It's very high? I didn't make that much money at all!"

"Yes! According to their valuation, it is actually seven taxes and one tax, and the tax is too high."

"It's not that the tax is high, it's that they are collecting taxes randomly, so they can ask them for advice!"

"Let them find them!"

The merchants regarded profits as their lives. Excessive taxes infringe on their profits. At first, they had no choice but to accept them. They secretly scolded the Tang Dynasty for being unscrupulous and actually raised taxes quietly. But when they suddenly realized that Guangzhou was still 20 taxes, a kind of deceiving anger suddenly arose.

There was a chaotic gang in the wine shop, and more than 100 Hu merchants ran out of the wine shop and rushed to the Maritime Warehouse yamen.

The tariff income in the middle Tang Dynasty was divided into two types: land and sea. The land was generally collected by border troops, and military expenses were often directly charged, which would lead to repeated tax collections according to different garrisons. Therefore, after Li Qing'an took office in Anxi, he established a tax department in several major cities in Anxi, and the Anxi Political Affairs Hall collected taxes, prohibiting the army from collecting them.

The maritime trade tariffs were collected by the municipal ship envoys, and the Maritime Trade Department was established in Yangzhou, Mingzhou and Guangzhou respectively. After the Wu King Li Lin occupied Jiangnan, overseas trade tax became an important source of finance for him. In order to facilitate management, he abolished the Mingzhou Maritime Trade Department and merged it into Yangzhou.

Yangzhou Shibo Yamen is not far from Taipei City. It is a large building with a large square at the entrance. Generally speaking, it is just a management yamen. There are tax collectors in each port for tax collection, but in the end, all taxes must be remitted here.

More than a hundred Hu merchants rushed to the front of the yamen and were immediately stopped by several yamen runners guarding the gate. "This is a major yamen, so you can't wait to cause trouble!"

A fluent Chinese Hu Shang shouted: "Call you officials out, we have something to ask."

Just then, Yu Shi'an, the judge of the Yangzhou Maritime Warehouse, walked out of the yamen. He saw a group of Hu people outside shouting, and came out and asked, "What's wrong?"

The yamen runner hurriedly said, "Judge Yu, these Hu merchants are causing trouble."

"make trouble?"

Yu Shi'an's face immediately sank, "What's the matter?"

Seeing that the official was quite like a high-ranking official, the Hu merchants shouted, "What is the trade tax of the court? One ten or one twenty or one twenty?"

Yu Shi'an showed a look of embarrassment on his face. Of course he knew how much it was? The court had already sent a certificate from 20 taxes, but the patrol commander Yang Xunwu refused to change it. He still wanted to collect taxes according to the ten taxes set by Li Lin, and lied to the Hu merchants that the court would not change the tax for the time being.

Yu Shian has always been worried that things would be exposed. Yang Xunwu did not enter the account and store the excess taxes, but were stored elsewhere. Yu Shian knew Yang Xunwu's meaning very well, because there was a huge difference between the taxes in the account and the taxes in the actual warehouse.

Yang Xunwu wanted to make up for the differences before the court formally investigated. If the court did not find out for a long time, it would be possible to collect one day. This is to take advantage of the chaotic period of the change of new and old in the court to take advantage of a loophole in the time difference.

Unexpectedly, these Hu Shangs started to make trouble today. Yu Shian didn't want to care about this matter, so he bit the bullet and said, "I don't know about this matter, I want to ask."

After saying that, he turned around and quickly walked into the yamen. When he walked past the Intermediate Court, he happened to see Yang Xunwu, and he stepped forward and said, "Envoy Yang, there is a group of Hu merchants outside making trouble, saying that we will collect more taxes from them, so go and have a look!"

The patrol commander Yang Xunwu was tall and fat, about 60 years old. He has served as the Yangzhou patrol commander since the eighth year of Tianbao and has been to this day.

The civil strife of the imperial court that lasted for several years made the Jiangnan region in a state of out of control for a long time. Without the power supervision of local officials, local officials mainly rely on their ambition to govern the country and cultivate themselves and pacify the world, and the saints' teachings of etiquette, righteousness, integrity and shame come from self-restraint. Some officials can restrain themselves, but many officials are also swallowed up by greed.

This Yang Xunwu is the latter. He has been in the position of the market envoy for a long time. A large amount of tax money passed by him. He himself didn't know how much he had swallowed, but one thing was an ironclad fact. In the past five years, he had never paid a penny to the court. He used the inconvenience of canal transportation to store the tax money in the underground warehouse, but it was only three million guan, which was a huge difference from the five million guan in the account. Moreover, the accounts could not be changed, and the accounts were reported to the Ministry of Revenue every year.

The upper beam is not straight and the lower beam is crooked. He is a big greedy person, and the tax collector below is a small greedy person, and the market messengers are rotten from top to bottom.

Yang Xunwu has been very nervous these two days. He originally thought that if it really didn't work, he would flee to Southern Tang. Unexpectedly, news came just now that the Southern Tang was destroyed, causing his last path to be cut off.

Now that the Caohe River has been cleared, the canal transportation is about to resume, but the three million guan in the warehouse will have to be transported for at least one year. As long as the tax collection continues, he can use the new account to make up for the old account and gradually modify the future account books. But the problem is that he is already sixty years old this year and has been working on the seat of the Maritime Manufacturing Commission for seven or eight years. Will the court ask him to continue doing it?

He was upset these two days, but Hu Shang also came to cause trouble for him. He was about to go out when he suddenly felt a move in his heart. Isn’t this a great opportunity? He waved his hand and said, “Don’t pay attention to them and close the door!”

"Empress, this is not good!"

Yu Shi'an advised him: "Let's tell them that the tax is now levied according to the old tax law and has not been changed yet. I will change it later."

Yang Xunwu's face suddenly turned cold, "Can you explain this clearly? These Hu people care about your new tax pharaoh tax law. They want you to return the tax money. Can you refund it? Judge Yu, don't be stupid. The best way to deal with these Hu people is to ignore it. The more you explain, the more complicated things will be. Force yourself to death. If you want to say it, I don't care anyway!"

After saying that, he snorted heavily, turned around and went into the room. Yu Shian had no choice but to sigh secretly. Yang Xunwu didn't care about this, he couldn't even care about it.

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The gate of the Maritime War Office was closed, and the yamen runners who were standing at the door just now had no idea where they had gone. However, at this time, there were no more than one hundred people in the Yamen Square, but more than a thousand Hu merchants gathered. More Hu merchants came from all directions, and various news met among the crowds in the square.

It has been confirmed that the imperial court sent a document to Yangzhou a few months ago, ordering the Maritime Trade Bureau to restore 20 taxes and collect taxes according to the value of the goods on the large food tax bill. However, the Yangzhou Maritime Trade Bureau did not implement it. They still collected taxes according to the standard of 10 taxes and one tax. In addition, they deliberately valued the value of the goods, which caused huge losses to the Hu merchants.

The Hu merchants were angry. They kept shouting in the square: "Repay my tax money!" They waved their tax bills in their hands, but the gate of the Maritime Bureau was still closed and no one came out to reply.

From noon to afternoon, and from afternoon to night, no officials came to answer the demands of Hu merchants. At this time, more than 10,000 Hu merchants gathered in the square, and the torches in their hands formed a sea of ​​people. There were countless people watching the fun, shouting and cursing sounded throughout the night sky. Someone pulled out his sword and waved it in the air. The anger began to boil, and the situation was approaching the edge of out of control.

But at this time, no official from the Maritime Bureau came out to answer. Perhaps someone thought it out, but they were all frightened by the crowd of people shouting. At this time, a crack opened and a small official came out tremblingly. The square suddenly became quiet, and more than 10,000 pairs of angry eyes stared at the thin official.

"Everyone... go back!"

The official stuttered: "Envoy Yang has left long ago, and all the high-ranking officials have left!"

The silence was as quiet as before the storm came, but the overwhelming shouting and roaring sounds drowned him, "Let's tell me! Call out the person and come out!"

The little official was frightened by the deafening shouts, and his legs became weak. He turned around and fled. His escape finally caused the long-established volcano to erupt. The overwhelming Hu Shang rushed up the steps and opened the door. He rushed into the Maritime Office like hot magma. He beat and smashed, and all the rooms were smashed. The account books and documents were thrown into the yard. Thousands of tax money that had not yet been in the warehouse were robbed.

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But what the Hu merchants didn't want these thousands of guan. They wanted to get their taxes back, which were tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of guan. The underground kuobao was finally discovered by them. Unfortunately, the kuobao was built with huge bluestone, and the gate of the kuobao was partitioned by huge stones weighing ten thousand pounds and could not be opened at all.

Hundreds of people prying iron rods and smashing stones, and the huge stones remained motionless. At this time, someone lit the main hall and the attic burned. Under the strong night wind, the fire became stronger and stronger, with thick smoke rolling and flames surging. The fire quickly affected the entire Maritime Warehouse. The Hu merchants were so scared that they rolled and crawled out. Many people realized that they had caused a disaster and fled in all directions. Some Hu merchants who participated in the arson were even more frightened and fled out of Yangzhou overnight.

The fire in the Maritime Warehouse alarmed the entire Yangzhou city. Jiangdu County, Yangzhou County, and 30,000 troops stationed in Yangzhou all came to put out the fire. Fortunately, there was a small river behind the Maritime Warehouse, with water supply. The fire was finally extinguished after two hours. At this time, most of the entire Maritime Warehouse had been burned down, with broken walls and burned roof beams still radiating blue smoke.

It was not until the fire was put out that the officials of the Maritime Bureau gradually came to the scene. The Maritime Commander Yang Xunwu couldn't stand the stimulation and fainted. After being awakened, he burst into tears and cried to the sky, "The account book was destroyed and the money treasury was robbed. How can I explain to the court!"

Everyone was full of sympathy for him. Soon, the magistrate of Jiangdu County reported to him a great news. Although the account book was destroyed, the money warehouse was safe and the stone door of the warehouse was not opened.

Yang Xunwu rolled his eyes, and he couldn't stand the blow, and fainted again. The scene was in chaos. He just put out the fire, but now he was saving him.

But at this moment, many subordinates unexpectedly discovered that all the officials of the Maritime Bureau had arrived, but the judge Yu Shi'an was gone.

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Yu Shi'an, the judge of the Maritime Warrior Department, left Yangzhou City at dusk. He had to leave. At dusk, he left the Maritime Warrior Department through the back door.
To be continued...