Summary of the previous chapter: After careful consideration, Ma Xiaoquan decided to abandon the training ground project. At the same time, he continued to develop the project of the merchant gathering place in the fiefdom given to him by the emperor. However, he encountered difficulties just after he started investigating...
The tall, thin and wretched man glanced at Ma Xiaoquan and felt that he had seen Ma Xiaoquan somewhere before. He seemed to have some impression, but for a while he couldn't think clearly.
"One person, one tael, no one allowed to enter..."
"Yi Liang? You are robbing!" Bei Mingxue said angrily.
"Robbery? Hey, little girl, you're right, I'm just robbing, stop talking nonsense, either pay the money to go in, or get out right away!"
"You!" Bei Mingxue took a step forward, but was pulled back by Ma Xiaoquan.
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled, took out four broken pieces of silver, and handed them to the tall, thin and wretched man, "Brother, here, here are four taels of broken silver."
The tall, thin and wretched man's eyes flashed, his face immediately changed, and he laughed and said: "Why do you need to scold me if you do this already? Okay, you can go in."
Ma Xiaoquan nodded and pulled the three girls into the door.
After getting some distance away from the gate, Bei Mingxue finally couldn't help it anymore and threw Ma Xiaoquan away. Bei Mingxue put her hands on her hips and said: "Really, it's so annoying. Ma Xiaoquan, why did you stop me just now? I really want to beat that guy to death."
Guy!"
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled: "I want to beat him up more than you do, but Bei Mingxue, the purpose of our trip is not to beat people up, we are investigating."
Dongfang Qingxue nodded and said, "Yes, sister Beiming, you can't forget how you promised Ma Xiaoquan on the way here."
Bei Mingxue puffed up her mouth and murmured: "Of course I haven't forgotten it, but I feel very uncomfortable. Why would such a person appear in the territory that the emperor rewarded Ma Xiaoquan? It's really annoying..."
Ma Xiaoquan said: "I have just taken over this place, and I am not familiar with many of them, so...well, I will come here often to find out the news these days."
...
The three of them talked as they walked and came to the door of an archway.
There were a group of businessmen gathered downstairs. Everyone formed a circle and didn't know what they were doing. Ma Xiaoquan was curious, squeezed left and right to get into the crowd, and saw two tall and thin official servants standing in the center of the crowd.
The two official officers were of well-proportioned figure, dressed in purple-red, and each wore an official hat on their head, with long gilt belts tied under the hat.
"The factory guard from Dongchang?" Ma Xiaoquan looked at the two people's clothes, and his heart suddenly tightened. Why is the factory guard from Dongchang here?
The two factory guards looked around, and one of them said in a strange tone: "I have an order to arrest you, Your Excellency. The Emperor is going to get married soon. I have been ordered to arrest you, businessmen, and come here to check on you businessmen. If anyone comes in with anything suspicious,
All their property will be confiscated. In addition, all merchants doing business here will be required to pay a protection fee of ten taels of silver per day, without any error..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd immediately exploded. Some people said dissatisfiedly: "Father, I'm afraid this is a bit inappropriate. We are all businessmen who come to the capital to do business. We abide by the law and pay every penny of what we should pay. Even
We didn't say anything about the inexplicable entrance fee at the door, but you have to give us an explanation for these ten taels of silver, right?"
"Yes, I run a small business, and my daily income is not enough for ten taels. How can we do business after paying ten taels?"
Another factory guard shouted: "Shut up, this is an order from the arresting master. If you have the ability, go to the arresting master."
"You can't do this...it won't let anyone live..."
"Yes, yes, if I don't give an explanation today, you can't leave..."
Seeing that a war was about to break out between the two sides, the sound of drawing swords suddenly came from behind the crowd. Everyone stopped suddenly and turned to look back. They saw dozens of Dongchang factory guards getting ready to go, looking at the crowd seriously, each one
The factory guards held sabers in their hands and stared at the merchants in front of them like greedy wolves.
"Huh!" Among the crowd, the two factory guards pushed and pushed them out and said loudly, "I am here to tell you that the state-owned legal family has family rules. From now on, we are the ones here."
This is a key inspection place in the East Factory. If you want to do business, just get ten taels of silver every day. If you don't want to do it, get out as soon as possible!"
A middle-aged man walked out from among the businessmen and retorted loudly: "National law? Do you still have national law in your eyes? Don't think that we don't know that the emperor has given this gathering place to the deacons of the Ma family. If you Dongchang intervenes, you are not afraid of the deacons."
Are you angry, sir?"
As soon as this man mentioned Ma Xiaoquan's name, the two leading factory guards who were shouting were stunned. The two looked at each other and said: "What's the matter? This is a special situation. The emperor is about to get married. Don't you think so?"
Don’t you know? Isn’t the emperor’s security no better than that of his little butler? Shut up, if anyone talks nonsense again, all property will be confiscated immediately and thrown into jail!”
As soon as the threatening words were spoken, the scene immediately became quiet.
"Hmph." The two leading factory guards nodded with satisfaction, pointed to the northwest, and said: "There is a statistics point there. You should obediently hand over the money now. If you don't know the situation, please keep your words to yourself.
Come, no one is allowed to leave today, we will check you one by one, and if you don’t pay, you will have to walk around without food!"
After that, a group of factory guards left proudly.
"It's too much. Doesn't this stop people from doing business?"
"If I don't do it, if I don't do it, if I don't do it every day, I can earn at most one tael a day. If I don't do it, won't it cost me my life?"
"Let's go, let's quit..."
"Hey, it's ten taels a day, so let's pay it. If it doesn't work, we won't do it here. There is a gathering point in Beijing. Although the place is smaller and the site is not good, it is still much better than here.
, at least we don’t charge any money..."
...
Ma Xiaoquan was nestled in the crowd, and he heard the businessmen's conversations clearly.
Walking out of the crowd, Ma Xiao looked sad. Li Qinghan stepped forward and asked: "Just now..."
Ma Xiaoquan stretched out his hand to signal not to speak yet. Li Qinghan understood and nodded.
When several people came to a remote place, Ma Xiaoquan said: "The matter is basically clear. It should be the old guy Wei Jinzhong who is responsible."
Dongfang Qingxue said: "Ma Xiaoquan, what should I do? Wei Jinzhong is the arrester of Dongchang and is also responsible for the security of the capital. He is using the name of ensuring the safety of the emperor's wedding. If he does not stop it, it will not take long for this territory to be destroyed."
No one comes to the wasteland..."
Bei Mingxue said: "Yes, Ma Xiaoquan, please think of a way..."
Ma Xiaoquan dragged his chin, thought for a moment, and said: "You are right. If we don't stop it, this land will really become a wasteland. Well, Wei Jinzhong, Wei Jinzhong, you are so ruthless, you actually want to drain the bottom of the cauldron...
...Hmph"
...
In the evening, all the factory guards in the East Factory began to inspect the merchants one by one. If they found anything wrong, they immediately confiscated everything. For a while, there were constant quarrels and curses.
However, their arms could not hold their thighs, and these angry businessmen were all suppressed by the factory guards of the East Factory without making much noise.
