Chapter 788: A tiger lying on the road can still do something
"I heard that Hardman's taxes have increased again?"
"Who says it's not the case! At noon, I delivered two hundred kilograms of tobacco leaves to Lao Yufeng's shop in Gulou. When I passed the city gate and paid the tax, the shopkeeper's face looked ugly. Guess what? Five cents for five cents, an increase of three cents.
Divide the money!" The drunkard who spoke took two mouthfuls of noodles, then picked up the wine bowl and took a sip.
A guest at the next table couldn't help but said: "It's nothing if the cigarettes have gone up. The wine tax, cloth tax, silk, satin, and leather have all gone up! From today on, every hundred kilograms of wine will be levied seven coins of silver."
All the drinkers in the room were stunned for a moment when they heard this. Some people were surprised and asked: "Is this true?"
The man from before said: "The notices at the city gate are all out. When I passed by in the afternoon, many people gathered around to look at them and also listened to them."
Everyone was in an uproar when they heard this. Several of them, who had a little knowledge of the current situation, had a comment in their minds, "Grasshoppers after Autumn."
The current situation is like lice on a bald man's head. The Northern Navy has captured Shengjing and Jinzhou, and is approaching Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan; Shandong has already reached Wuding Prefecture, and even crossed the Majia River in the north and occupied Qingyun.
county seat.
At this time, someone said to the middle-aged man at the counter who was settling accounts: "Shopkeeper, won't the price of our wine also increase tomorrow?"
Shopkeeper Guan, who was picking up the abacus beads, smiled bitterly and explained: "Guan doesn't want to, but if the eighteen wine merchants in Chongwenmen all go up, we, a small business with small profits, will have no choice but to follow suit."
"I can't afford to drink wine or smoke tobacco. What do you think this is?"
Shopkeeper Guan was picking up the abacus beads while listening to everyone's discussion. He knew that this move of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was obviously to plunder the people's wealth again before withdrawing to the west. It only made the people at the bottom in front of them suffer, and the tariffs were added one after another. In the end,
It will all fall on them.
At this time, a waiter from the kitchen came over and whispered: "Shopkeeper, Wang Yongye is back."
"Oh? Where is the person?" Shopkeeper Guan raised his eyebrows, knowing that he should have some clues about what he was asked to investigate.
"He said there were many people here and he went back to the courtyard."
"Then you keep an eye on this side and I'll go back."
Shopkeeper Guan came out of the back door of the front room of "Changfa Hao", walked east through an alley, then walked along the first alley on the left, and finally came to a single-family two-entry courtyard at the end of the alley.
, this is his residence.
He just knocked on the door knocker twice, and the door opened halfway with a clang. The man inside was holding a lantern, and when he saw it was him, he quickly stepped aside and let in. When he quickly came to the main room, a man in his thirties appeared.
The thin man is waiting there.
"Shopkeeper, someone found it."
"Come into the house and talk."
The two of them entered the room and sat down, and the man said: "I first went to Xidan Archway in the morning, then ran to Sanli River at noon, and in the afternoon I went to Shuncheng Gate to find out everything."
Shopkeeper Guan calmly lit a cigarette for himself and said, "Let's talk about it."
"That person lives in Daxing. A few years ago, he worked as an apprentice at Xijiurutang Pharmacy at the south end of Xidan Archway. After completing his apprenticeship, he went to work as a clerk at a pharmacy called Guangshuntang in Sanlihe. According to the people at the pharmacy
, that man made money and often went to prostitutes outside. Within half a year, he contracted a heart disease and developed malignant sores on his body. The drug store was a serious business, and the owner could not keep such a person, so he was kicked out of the drug store two months ago.
Since he has lost his livelihood and is still sick, he dare not go home for the time being. He is currently doing watch on the street outside Shunchengmen."
"It's not easy to find out so many in one day." Shopkeeper Guan thought for a while and then ordered: "Well, you have to work hard for a few more days. Starting from tomorrow, keep an eye on him for three days to see what he does with him on weekdays.
human contact.”
"Look at what you said, can this be called hard work? Don't worry."
Having said that, the subordinate named Wang Yongye really couldn't figure out why his superiors were interested in a watchman named Lin Qing. But what he didn't know was that the superior in front of him was also full of doubts.
Of course, Wang Changsheng, the boss of the Northern Navy Intelligence Bureau, would never explain to them that this order actually came from Zhao Xin, who was thousands of miles away.
For Zhao Xin, he did not want to let Lin Qing grow bigger, and then one day there would be an "attack on Beijing City". Just like he forced the Manchu Qing to hand over the refugees from eastern Sichuan to him, the roots of the White Lotus Sect must be dug up, and the roots of the Tianli Sect must be dug up.
They all need to be dug up. And not only Lin Qing, but also people like Li Wencheng, Feng Keshan, and Liu Zhixie need to be found and then packed up and sent to Alaska!
On October 28, the fifty-ninth year of Qianlong's reign, Yonghe, who had finished his journey to Liaodong, returned to Tianjin with his companion Fuchashan, carrying a reply letter from the Beihai Navy.
After the two landed at Zhigu Pier, they used their guard badges to order two fast horses from the inn, and headed straight to the capital. When they saw the gray city walls of Beijing, it was already the last day of October.
Originally, everything went smoothly on this trip, but unexpectedly, when we arrived at the door of our house, something happened when we were passing through Chaoyang Gate.
Many people in later generations are familiar with the Chongwenmen tax gate that He Shen was in charge of. However, they did not know that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, all nine gates of the capital had tax gates. Not to mention bringing goods and luggage, you had to pay a tax of two cents when you entered the city to sell vegetables.
During the Kangxi period, Zha Siwei once wrote a poem to satirize: Nine gates collect taxes and one specializes in taxation, and the traces of horses and carriages are connected with each other. The envoys collect their own flowers and pay taxes, and go to court to plunder double coins.
The taxation agencies in the capital city of the Qing Dynasty were roughly divided into three areas. One was the Chongwenmen State Taxation Administration. In addition to Chongwenmen, its tax offices also included Marco Polo Bridge, Dongba, Haidian, Mujiayu, Shixi, Banbidian, Zhangjiakou,
There are eight in total; the second is the left-wing tax bureau, which is responsible for the taxation of Anding, Dongzhi, Chaoyang, Dongbian, Guangqu, and Zuo'an in the east; and the right-wing tax bureau is responsible for Desheng, Xizhi, and Fu in the west.
Taxation of the seven gates of Cheng, Xibian, Guang'an, You'an and Yongding.
As a bannerman who lives in the capital, Yonghe certainly knew that there was a tax on bringing luggage into the city. He thought that with the guard badge, half a drop of money would be enough, so he took the money from the horse bag. But he was taking the money.
While collecting money, the tax collector at the gate of the city saw that his and Fu Chashan's horse-bags were both bulging. Then he carefully looked at their clothes and horses.
Only five taels per person can be released.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Yonghe and Fuchashan were too lazy to argue, so they showed their guard badges with Manchu and Chinese characters on them and scolded: "Do you know who I am? Stare at you.
Dog eyes can see clearly!”
The tax collector glanced at it, and his heart suddenly trembled. But there was no reason to take back the water that was thrown out. Besides, as long as there is no emperor's order, let alone the sixth-grade bodyguard, even Prince Baylor, and the first-grade officers will take them.
You have to pay tax when bringing your luggage into the city.
He bowed respectfully first, and said with caution in his tone: "I didn't say that the two adults were going to the city, but the court has a system. Starting the day before yesterday, the tax code and the amount of silver levied in the nine gates of the capital have increased. The notice is here
It's posted over there, and the two adults can take a look. I'm also on an errand, so I ask the two adults not to embarrass me."
"this......"
Yonghe was speechless. He had no intention of reading the notice, and he didn't dare to let the other party check it. You must know that there were not only more than thirty mink skins in their saddlebags, but also several boxes of first-class ginseng from Changbai Mountain. They were all
Bought it at Beihai Trading Company in Shengjing City.
Speaking of which, since the Qing Dynasty lost Heilongjiang and Jilin, the price of leather goods and ginseng in the customs has skyrocketed. Although the Qing court adopted a tacit attitude towards maritime merchants going to Anping Port for trade, as long as they did not sell to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the price of goods
The tax is very heavy. Nowadays, a good sable skin in the capital costs as much as 20 taels of silver, and it is doubled in Jiangnan. And rare items like first-class ginseng cost as much as 500 taels of silver.
One pound.
When Yonghe and Fu Chashan saw mink fur and ginseng in the newly opened Beihai Trading Company in Shengjing, they were surprised. They did not expect that items that could only be enjoyed by the royal family and ministers in the past were openly displayed on the shelves for sale. Anyone with money could buy them.
They could buy it. Especially when they asked about the price, they were all tempted, thinking that if they bought some back to Beijing and then resold them, they would definitely make a fortune.
As a result, the two of them bought ginseng and mink skins with their travel expenses and the 500 taels that the Cha family had paid for their filial piety, and now they only had less than 20 taels left with them.
Yonghe was still hesitating, but Fuchashan next to him became anxious and cursed: "You bastard! Even if you have to pay taxes, why do you need ten taels?"
The tax collector whispered: "If you think it's too much, let me let the little man inspect the goods in the horse bag."
"How outrageous! Why don't you let me test it?" Fu Chashan raised the whip in his hand as he spoke. When the people behind him who were waiting to pass the customs saw it, they all backed away in fright.
Unexpectedly, the tax collector frowned and said: "There is a seventy-year-old mother in the house of a villain, and a baby waiting to be fed below. The whole family will point out the villain's errand. If he goes to the city without inspecting the goods and paying taxes, the villain will lose his job.
If we don’t say anything, the whole family will have to beg for food.”
Fu Chashan's face was livid with anger, but he didn't dare to actually slap him.
"Forget it, forget it. I'll give you ten taels."
Yonghe didn't want to make a big deal out of the matter, so he turned around and took out two silver ingots from his horse sack and stuffed them into the hands of the tax collector. The tax collector also knew that the guards in the palace were not easy to mess with, so he took the money and let them go.
The two entered the city and rode westward along Chaonei Street. When they reached the Dongsi Archway, they turned north and passed through Dengshikou to Dong'anmen Street. When they arrived outside Donghua Gate, it was already past noon. They walked toward the door.
After the guard on duty showed his waist card, after waiting for more than half an hour, he saw a eunuch hurriedly came to the door and said that the emperor had summoned the two of them to the Yangxin Hall for an audience.
When the two followed the eunuch to the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Yangxin Hall, they found that the Minister of Military Aircraft Dong Gao was also there.
"Slave Yonghe (Fuchashan), come to see the emperor!"
"Without courtesy, I will give you a seat. Master Dong will also sit down."
Jiaqing was very excited when he saw that his nanny brother had come back safe and sound. He winked at Zhang Jinzhong, the eunuch in charge. The latter understood, and when the two eunuchs brought the teapots to Yonghe and his wife, he asked everyone in the palace to
The eunuch retreated, and he stood guard outside the gate of Yangxin Hall.
Seeing that all the eunuchs were leaving, Jiaqing finally couldn't stand it any longer and asked anxiously: "Will this trip go smoothly? Is Taizu and Taizong's tomb in good condition?"
Yonghe replied: "Thanks to the Emperor Hongfu, everything is fine. However, only the Khan's Palace and the Shengjing Palace were damaged, and most of the residential buildings in the city were destroyed."
"I am ashamed of my ancestors!" Jiaqing looked a little depressed and his eyes were red. He had already learned about this from the secret agent's report, but now that Yonghe and Yonghe had confirmed it, he still felt sad.
As soon as he said these words, the three of them, whose buttocks had not yet warmed up, hurriedly knelt on the ground along the length of their legs and kowtowed. As the saying goes, "The Lord worries about his ministers' labor, and the Lord humiliates them to death." Jiaqing inherited such a mess as soon as he succeeded to the throne.
, no one would feel better if he changed it.
Dong Gao choked with tears and said: "I ask the emperor to take a closer look at the dragon body. There is still something that can be done, there is still something that can be done!"
Jiaqing sighed, picked up the handkerchief on the kang table, wiped the corners of his eyes, and said: "Master Dong, there is no need to comfort me. I know what the situation is now, you know it, and the civil and military officials of the dynasty also know it. I just can't understand it. In just ten years,
In 2008, our Qing Dynasty reached such a point that we could not even defend the land of our ancestors... That's all, you all get up and sit down. Yonghe, Fuchashan, please tell me about your journey.
Did you meet someone?"
"Hey! I will give it a brief summary first. If there are any deficiencies, please ask Fucha to fill in the details."
The two of them had discussed the matter in advance. When Yonghe saw Jiaqing nodding, he began to tell: "The slave and Fu Chashan arrived in Jinzhou by boat on the eighth day of October and disembarked from Matigou. The slave first saw Zhao Ni.
The official was a young man named Shen... On the night of the ninth day of October, the servants followed the man named Shen to Shengjing. The servants waited at the inn for two days before seeing anyone, but he was not a general under Zhao Ni.
Deng Fei was a man named Li Rui. This man was the chief of staff and the third-ranking figure of the North Sea pirates responsible for commanding the troops in Liaodong. The slaves showed him the letter written by Lord Dong, and he asked the slaves to
He went back and waited for a reply. After that, he waited for another four days. During this period, the man named Li took the two servants to see the Khan's Palace and the Shengjing Palace, and then went to three imperial tombs. On the fifth day, Li Rui
I received a letter from my slave and said that the reply was written in it. Because the matter involved confidentiality, I did not dare to open it privately."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After Yonghe said this, he took out the letter from his arms and presented it with both hands. Dong Gao on the side stepped forward to take it and pinched it with his fingers to confirm that there were no other foreign objects inside.
Just put it on the Kang table.
However, Jiaqing did not read the letter immediately, but asked in an unbelievable tone: "You said that you arrived in Jinzhou on the eighth day of October, arrived in Guangning that night, and then set off for Shengjing the next morning, arriving in the evening?"
"Yes. The man surnamed Shen and his two servants took a strange car. The car had four wheels and no oxen or horses. It was driven by a driver holding a ring of discs. The sound of the car was like a rumbling sound.
It was like thunder. The slave couldn't figure out what kind of magic the Northern Pirates used. The man named Shen said that he used some kind of machinery to replace the oxen and horses. The car ran very fast after getting on, and the slave and Fu Chashan were very dizzy. If it weren't for
The road was slippery in the snow and I was delayed for an hour at Xiaoheishan Station. I'm afraid I won't be able to reach Shengjing before dark."
Jiaqing thought for a while and asked: "Master Dong, did the Ministry of War mention any such strange vehicles in previous reports?"
Dong Gao pondered for a moment and replied: "It was mentioned in two memorials. Three years ago, when Zhang Jiagong led his army to fight against Zhao Ni in Ladolandai, he encountered a strange green-skinned and iron-shelled chariot. It is said that
It can run on its own without using oxen or horses, and can fire cannons as it goes. However, I have never heard of such ridiculous things, so I just thought it was because the general leading the team was confused and guessed that there must be someone pushing it."
"So how many strange cars like this does Zhao Ni have?"
"This...I beg your Majesty to forgive me!" Dong Gao kowtowed and said to himself, "I don't know! Even Fu Kang'an and A Gui can't understand him, let alone everyone in Neo-Confucianism."
"This matter has nothing to do with Master Dong, get up." After Jiaqing finished speaking, he looked out the window and pondered for a long time, and said: "There was something I couldn't figure out before, but now I understand it. No wonder every time the Beihai Pirates conquer a place, the first thing they do is...
The post road should be widened and leveled. With that kind of car, it can reach 350 miles in half a day. Alas! No wonder..."
Dong Gao instantly understood what Jiaqing meant, which was why the military supplies of the Beihai Navy could always be guaranteed. If you can run 350 miles in half a day, then it is 700 miles in a day. This is too scary, with this
With the logistical supply and the powerful weapons of the Northern Navy, let alone Fukang'an and Agui, it would be useless even if Fukang'an's father was alive.
"No one is wiser than your Majesty. However, I believe that Zhao Ni's car is only suitable for use in vast plains. It may not be of much use in rugged mountainous areas or places with crisscrossed rivers."
Jiaqing's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he nodded approvingly and said, "That's right. Master Dong, please help me see what the North Sea Pirates wrote in the letter."
Dong Gao stood up quickly, picked up the letter from the kang table, carefully tore open the envelope, took out the letter, opened it and glanced at it twice to make sure there was no insulting words in the content, and then he read in a deep voice:
"Mr. Zhue Lin, Jun Jian, we have tentatively agreed to the matters mentioned in your letter. It is appropriate for the negotiation location to be in Jinzhou Prefecture, which is convenient for everyone. The time is set before the end of the twelfth twelfth lunar month. If it is late, it will be invalid. I hope you will make preparations early."
, inform the negotiators in advance of their identities, the number of their entourage, and their arrival date to facilitate arrangements. Chief of Staff of the Northern Navy's Eastern Front Command, Li Rui. October 15, Xuanyuan 4491."