"I am, who are you? What's the matter with me?"

Li Jinniu walked over and said to the strange men, feeling glad that he had temporarily escaped from his wife's bombing.

"Li Baihu, whose surname is Qi, is Chunnian, and comes from Xujiazhuang, Xinghua County. Our owner sent us here to invite Li Baihu to serve as a bridge to discuss some cooperation matters with the court... I wonder if I can go to the palace to discuss in detail?"

In the Qichunnian, the leader, a 26-year-old man with a delicate face and a gentle temperament, looked at Li Jinniu with a smile.

"Dad, I'm hungry!" At this time, Li Jinniu's 6-year-old daughter ran over, held his hand, and continued to make a fuss in tears.

"Ling'er, don't make trouble!"

Li Jinniu's face looked very ugly. He raised his right hand and slapped it down. But facing this little daughter he loved the most, his heart was as if he couldn't do it after all. He just felt useless and extremely cowardly.

"Little sister, come to uncle."

Qi Chunnian took out a compressed biscuit from her pocket, tore open the wrapping paper, squatted down, waved to the little girl, and handed the biscuit over.

The little girl ran away with her short legs, took the biscuits, stuffed it into her mouth, and her chin moved quickly, making a clacking and ummy sound.

"Eat slowly and be careful to choke."

Qichun Nian patted her little head and reminded with a smile.

Seeing that my sister had something to eat, both brothers, who were over ten years old, also came over and swallowed their throats and wanted to eat this kind of food, but they couldn't rob the girl of my sister. They could only look at the uncle Qichunnian.

But the compressed biscuits were gone, so Qichunnian took out ten silver dollars from his inner pocket and said to several subordinates beside him: "Go and buy a hundred kilograms of rice and flour, a few kilograms of fish and meat, and a jar of wine. Look at the rest and buy it until you spend all the money."

"Yes, boss."

After taking the money, several subordinates went out.

After a while.

Some of the subordinates carried a whole bag of rice, some held a whole pig's thigh, some twisted a big fish in their hands, and a large jar of vegetable oil, several kinds of vegetables, and a large jar of local apricot wine. They even moved back and forth several times - the purchasing power of 10 silver dollars is still quite high.

This scene.

The three children showed joy on their faces, cheered and rubbed their hands from time to time with anticipation.

Liu Yueniang took the initiative to greet these distinguished guests who came to her house, and she showed great enthusiasm and caused a lot of homework.

Only Li Jinniu felt ashamed. He wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl in, and he also wanted to refuse this kind of kindness that was like giving, but it was impossible to do it.

When lunch was ready, a large bowl of meat, a large plate of fish, and a large jar of wine were placed on the table. Facing the good meat and dishes at this table, let alone the three children, even Li Jinniu himself couldn't help but swallow it. The tall image of Jinyiwei Baihu could not maintain at all.

I ate eight or nine percent full.

Li Jinniu slowed down his eating speed and returned to his attitude that suited his identity. He took a sip of wine and said, "I have heard of Xujiazhuang. It is said that he can earn tens of thousands of gold a day, and it is rich enough to rival a country. I don't know how many people envy you. You said you are from Xujiazhuang. I believe it for now. But what is your purpose in finding me, the devastated Jinyiwei household, and what is your goal? What should I plan and what cooperation should I do? You can tell me. As for whether to agree or not, this meal cannot be decided."

Li Jinniu expressed his attitude, or rather, the principle that he would not be easily bribed.

"Don't worry, Li Baihu, this is definitely a win-win thing."

Qi Chunnian's eyes signaled, and several subordinates left the seat immediately. Some went to the yard to let the veil, while others greeted Liu Yueniang and asked her to take the child aside.

There were only two people left at the dinner table.

Only then did Qichunnian take out a palm-sized recorder from his file bag, put it on the table, press the play button, and say: "This matter starts with the newly-command county magistrate of Xinghua County, who is greedy and wants to plot against me, Xujiazhuang..."

About an hour later.

"What you mean is that your Xujiazhuang is not willing to pay grain to the government anymore, but wants to pay taxes directly to His Majesty and be willing to bear the losses of the tax payment process. A lot of money is sent to the capital, from indirect taxes to direct taxes?" Li Jinniu asked.

"Yes, Xinghua County is not far from the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. It is directly paid for taxes by the central government through the river transportation. There is not much loss. If it doesn't work, you can open a sea shipping channel and go directly to Tianjin from the coast. The loss is even lower. If possible, Xujiazhuang can transport 54,000 stones of tax grain and 10,000 taels of tax silver within this year, and the annual tax amount will not be less than this in the future."

Qichun New Year Road.

"Disclaiming taxes directly is a good thing for the court and His Majesty, but how could the local officials agree? If everyone in the world pays taxes like this, what should the local officials eat and what should they use? They will definitely oppose it with all their might and think that it has broken the rules and offended the officials in the world. What if His Majesty agrees?"

The experiences and experiences over the past few years have allowed Li Jinniu to see how powerful the civil servants are. At least in the area of ​​Jiangnan, the emperor's imperial edict has long been useless. Civil servants do whatever they want. It has become the sky in Jiangnan. Even the personal army of emperors like him has no deterrent power. If you want to starve to death, you can starve to death.

Therefore, he is not very optimistic about Xu Jiazhuang's direct tax plan.

"Li Baihu, the tax paid by Xujiazhuang now is really nothing to the court, and there is no need to offend local officials. However, we, Xujiazhuang, know that the court is in trouble now, and the finances are exhausted, and it has been under way for many years. In recent years, natural disasters have occurred frequently. Outside, there are Tartars entering the pass, inside, and bandits causing chaos, and the situation is deteriorating. The most fundamental reason is that tax revenue is reduced and the finances have long gone bankrupt."

Qichunnian said: "The court has no money and Your Majesty is in a difficult position, so no major matter can be done. Although our Xu Yuan, the owner of the Xujiazhuang, has come from overseas and has not received much favor from the emperor, he is also eager to serve the Ming Dynasty and is willing to do his best to do his best for this disaster-stricken country. Therefore, in addition to paying the tax directly, our owner is willing to give out 1 million silver dollars, equivalent to one million taels of silver, and lend it to His Majesty the Emperor to relieve the dilemma of the court."

"There is no return period for this million taels of silver, and interest-free, the court can return it slowly."

"Of course, the only condition for Xujiazhuang to lend this money is that we hope that local officials will not harasse Xujiazhuang's operations and will not be greedy and covetous. Once there is any conflict with the government, I hope that Your Majesty can stand on a fair and just stand and handle this matter properly. Our Xujiazhuang only wants to do business in full swing, and there is no plot or deception. I hope Your Majesty will be careful."

Qichun Nian expressed its core purpose.

Lend money to the court!

Or, it is to lend money to the emperor.

And he was very generous in his actions. The first batch was 1 million taels, without interest, and there was no repayment period. He could pay it back any time, which was equivalent to a favor debt between relatives and friends.

Li Jinniu pondered for a moment, but did not agree immediately.

Although he knew very well that His Majesty the Emperor was very short of money and knew that this was a great opportunity to make meritorious contributions. Once he acted as a bridge intermediary to complete the loan, he would definitely be a hero of Jian Zai's heart for the emperor and would definitely be appreciated and reused.

But Xujiazhuang is so generous, with more than one million taels of silver thrown out without blinking, and he doesn't expect the court to pay back the money. He believes that there is no conspiracy in it! Once this causes a huge disaster, he becomes the biggest sinner. He is the first to arrest and punish him. The court will not spare him, and the emperor is the first to kill him!

How to make a decision?

Do you want to agree?

Seeing him hesitated so much, Qi Chunnian came to his ear again and said in an inciting tone:

"Li Baihu, it feels bad to be hungry? Is it sad to be bullied by civil servants and ignored by His Majesty? Now the opportunity to make meritorious contributions is right in front of you. If you bring millions of taels to His Majesty who is short of money and save money every day, what will your status be in the emperor's mind? Civil servants bully you, don't you want to give them some color? The court will not pay you a salary. My Xujiazhuang sponsors you 1,000 silver dollars a year, which will increase in the later period. If you are really worried about the safety of your family, you can send a son to Xujiazhuang. We have ships leading overseas. When it is really critical, it is not difficult to escape overseas."

"What are you still hesitating and worrying about? Do you, Li Jinniu, want to live like this life that is worse than pigs and dogs? We can find more than one partner. If you really don't want to, I will leave immediately. There will always be people who agree to the cooperation."

Qichunnian stood up, said nothing more, and made a gesture to leave.

"etc!"

Li Jinniu slapped the table and his eyes turned red. He stared at him and said, "Don't leave, I'll do this!"

Cooperation was reached here.
Chapter completed!