He was wearing a green official robe, with a pattern that was different from the previous Sihu officer's robe. It was obvious that he had officially assumed the position of county magistrate in Ningyuan County.
Lu Fang narrowed his eyes slightly, walked to the door and looked directly at Liu Mao.
Liu Mao looked up at him outside the door, and then chuckled, "Nephew Lu Xian, you're fine!"
A smile hides a knife.
As the saying goes, you are not afraid of tigers and wolves sitting in front of you, but you are afraid of being knifed in front of others.
Such people are often more difficult to deal with.
Lu Fang was too lazy to make excuses with him and said directly: "President Liu County Cheng is here. I don't know why?"
Liu Mao smiled and said, "I first came to Ningyuan to take up my post. I assisted the county magistrate in governing the county and was in charge of taxation, population and other matters. I came here, of course, to congratulate my nephew Lu Xian, and to take the officials with me.
The officials are here to register Bestore. As the brother of the county magistrate, nephew Lu Xian should set an example for us Ningyuan merchants, right?"
It turned out that this was what I came for.
Can Liu Mao really go to great lengths to find fault?
Does he still think that his good store is planning to evade taxes?
It is true that there are many businessmen with backgrounds who do this, but Lu Fang has never had such an idea.
My elder brother is the county magistrate of Ningyuan, so there is no reason not to support Lu Liang's work.
He nodded and said: "Liu County Cheng does what he wants."
Liu Mao waved his hand and led two minor officials into the room. He just stood still and said, "I have to perform official duties now. Please come back later!"
Lu Fang's face suddenly sank.
This is the busiest time for Bestore, and Liu Mao wants to clear the place?
If he was really asked to clear people out, he and Lu Liang would be embarrassed.
He said: "Liu County Cheng, you are just registering and making a list, there is no need to clear the place, right?"
Liu Mao still had a smile on his face, "It's too noisy and it will inevitably be inconvenient. I ask for your understanding, nephew Lu Xian."
The two petty officials never dared to raise their heads to look at Lu Fang.
"Yeah?"
Lu Fang chuckled and said: "My good-quality store has just opened. The most it can do is check out my item list. Is it worth such a fuss for Liu Xiancheng?"
Liu Mao narrowed his eyes slightly, "My nephew, are you going to teach me how to handle official duties?"
In fact, he originally just heard that Lu Fang's shop was open and came over to see if he could find out anything wrong. But now, seeing that the business in Lu Fang's shop is so good, he feels unhappy.
When he came to Ningyuan, he originally wanted to bring Lu Liang down, so he didn't mind giving Lu Fang a hint of power.
As long as Lu Fang is still doing business, it will be under his jurisdiction. If things are done according to the rules, even Lu Liang can't say much.
Lu Fang stopped talking and looked at Yu Yuanwei next to him.
Yu Yuanwei understood, stepped forward and said: "I have never heard that registration requires clearing."
He was very fond of this student Lu Fang, and since he was here, he would not fail to stand up for Lu Fang.
Liu Mao was stunned and said: "May I ask your Excellency?"
I vaguely guessed Yu Yuanwei's identity, but felt that it shouldn't be.
Yu Yuanwei was a retired Hanlin scholar. Even if he was Lu Fang's teacher, wouldn't he personally show up for the matter of Bestore?
But then, his face turned a little ugly.
Yu Yuanwei said: "Old man Yu Yuanwei."
Even a Hanlin bachelor who has become an official is still respected as a great god in Jingnan County!
You must know that the prefect of Jingnan County is only on the same level as the Hanlin bachelor.
He actually came to support Lu Fang.
Liu Mao quickly raised his hands to Yu Yuanwei and said: "Liu Mao, the Prime Minister of Ningyuan County, has met Bachelor Yu."
He dared to provoke Lu Fang or even Lu Liang, but he would never dare to provoke Yu Yuanwei.
Yu Yuanwei waved his hand, "I have already become an official, so I cannot be called a bachelor."
It doesn't look very good on the face.
Liu Mao was a little sarcastic and said: "It's because the lower official was rude. Since Scholar Yu said not to clear the place, then..."
He looked at Lu Fang, "Nephew Lu Xian, please take out the purchase list and show it to me!"
He really didn't have the courage to continue talking to Yu Yuanwei. If he had known that Yu Yuanwei was here, he would not have come over.
Now I feel quite regretful.
At the same time, it's a little dignified.
Yu Yuanwei's love for Lu Fang was beyond his expectation, which was not a good thing for him or Pan Kui and others.
No one wants to have multiple Hanlin bachelors in the other side's camp as backers, even those who have already become officials.
Lu Fang nodded to Chen Youxi at the counter.
Because everyone was waiting and watching at the moment, Chen Youxi was at leisure.
She took out the bill of goods written by Marco Polo from the counter and handed it to Liu Mao with a cold face.
Even at Liu Mao's age, when he saw Chen Youxi's appearance, his eyes could not help but flash with surprise. He even couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Lu Fang.
After taking the bill of goods from Chen Youxi, I wanted to see if I could find any faults, but I was dumbfounded.
The characters on the manifest are crooked and twisted, and they are not Chinese characters at all.
Marco Polo couldn't even speak Chinese, so it was naturally impossible for him to write Chinese characters. The cargo list he wrote to Lu Fang at that time was all in Makasi script.
"this……"
Liu Mao frowned and said, "Is this a purchase order?"
Lu Fang raised his eyes and said: "I purchase all my goods from overseas Makasi merchants. The orders he gave me are naturally in Makasi. Is there any problem?"
Liu Maodao: "But... how can we understand this? How much will the expenditure be at that time, it will not be up to you, nephew, to decide? How will we collect taxes?"
"hehe."
Lu Fang chuckled and said, "Don't those merchants in Tanzhou who deal in overseas goods also pay taxes normally?"
He has already asked those merchants in Makasi. Most of them cannot write Chinese characters, and when doing business with Tanzhou merchants, they also use Makasi to invoice.
It's just that there are minor officials in Tanzhou City who understand foreign languages.
This is a loophole in Ningyuan County. Because before, no one did overseas commodity business in a small place like Ningyuan County.
Liu Mao hit a soft nail and said: "I will apply to the state government to send officials who can understand Makashi."
Lu Fang raised his eyebrows and said, "Then I would like to thank Prime Minister Liu on behalf of the Ningyuan folks."
"Walk."
Liu Mao placed the purchase order on the counter, raised his hands to Yu Yuanwei, and left with the two clerks.
I can’t even understand the purchase order, and I’m still checking it out.
Lu Fang was also sweating slightly in his heart.
Unexpectedly, Liu Mao would come over so quickly and target his own good store.
Before, he thought that Lu Liang was the magistrate of Ningyuan County, but there were actually some omissions in the purchase order.
Because I didn’t have an idea of the price of things like Golden Monkey Milk Candy at that time, I just asked Marco Polo to write the name and weight, but not the price.
That is to say, Liu Mao can't read Macassian, and Yu Yuanwei is here to control the situation, otherwise it would be really troublesome.
When the time comes, Liu Mao insists on grabbing Lu Fang and saying that he intends to evade taxes, but he has no way of explaining it.
These days, there are many ways to evade taxes. But if you are caught, the consequences are quite serious.