Li Jinniu walked over and said to these strange men, feeling glad that he was temporarily free from his wife's bombardment.
"Li Baihu, my surname is Qi and my given name is Chunnian. I come from Xujiazhuang, Xinghua County. Our village owner sent us here to ask Li Baihu to be a bridge to discuss some cooperation matters with the imperial court... I wonder if I can join the government.
Discuss in detail?"
The leader, Qichunnian, a twenty-six-year-old young man with a delicate face and gentle temperament, looked at Li Jinniu with a smile.
"Daddy, I'm hungry!" At this time, Li Jinniu's 6-year-old daughter ran over, hugged his hand, and continued to make a fuss with tears.
"Ling'er, stop making trouble!"
Li Jinniu's face looked very ugly. He raised his right hand and was about to slap her down. However, facing the little daughter he loved most, his heart was as sharp as a knife. After all, he couldn't do it. He only felt that he was useless and extremely useless.
"Little sister, come to uncle."
Qichunnian took out a piece of compressed biscuit from his pocket, tore open the wrapping paper, squatted down, waved to the little girl, and handed the biscuit over.
The little girl ran over with her short legs, took the biscuit, stuffed it into her small mouth, and moved her jaw rapidly, making sounds like "click" and "um".
"Eat slowly, be careful not to choke."
Qichunnian patted her little head and reminded her with a smile.
Seeing that my sister had something to eat, my two brothers, both over ten years old, also came over. Their throats kept swallowing, and they also wanted to eat this kind of food, but they couldn't take it from their sister, so they could only watch helplessly.
Xiang Qichunnian, this great uncle.
But there were no more compressed biscuits. Qichunnian took out ten silver coins from his inner pocket and said to several subordinates beside him: "Go and buy a hundred pounds of rice and noodles, a few pounds of fish and meat, and what's the price?"
There is a jar of wine, and I will buy the rest of the things until all the money is spent."
"Yes, boss."
After taking the money, several subordinates went out.
After a while.
Some of the subordinates were carrying whole bags of rice, some were holding a whole side of pork thighs, and some were holding a large fish in their hands, as well as a large can of vegetable oil, several kinds of vegetables, and a large jar of local apricots.
Flower wine, 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 jumped for joy, rubbing their little hands from time to time with expectant eyes.
Liu Yueniang took the initiative to greet these distinguished guests, showing great enthusiasm and doing a lot of housework.
Li Jinniu was the only one who felt ashamed and wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl in. He also wanted to forcefully reject this kind offer that was like charity, but it was impossible to do so.
When lunch is ready, a large bowl of meat, a large plate of fish, and a large jar of wine are placed on the table. Facing this table of good meat and delicious dishes, not to mention the three children, even Li Jinniu himself can't help but wolf it down.
Standing up, Jinyiwei Baihu's tall image could not be maintained at all.
I was eighty-nine times full after eating.
Li Jinniu slowed down his eating speed, regained his posture befitting his status, took a sip of wine, and said: "I have heard about Xujiazhuang. It is said that one can earn ten thousand gold per day and be as rich as one's country. I don't know how many people envy you. You said you are from Xujiazhuang."
, I believe it tentatively, but what is your purpose of specifically looking for me, a poor member of the Jinyiwei family, what are you trying to do with me, what kind of cooperation are you looking for? You can tell me, as for whether you agree or not, this meal can't decide it.
."
Li Jinniu made his attitude clear, or in other words, his principle that he would not be easily bribed.
"Don't worry, Li Baihu, this is definitely a win-win situation."
Qichunnian made a gesture with his eyes, and several subordinates left the table immediately. Some went to watch outside the courtyard gate, and some said hello to Liu Yueniang and asked her to take the child aside.
In the end there were only two people left at the dinner table.
Only then did Qichunnian take out a palm-sized tape recorder from his file bag, put it on the table, pressed the play button, and said: "This matter will be started by the new county magistrate from Xinghua County."
Greedy, trying to plot against me, Xujiazhuang..."
About an hour later.
"What you mean is that your Xujiazhuang no longer wants to pay taxes to the government, but wants to pay taxes directly to His Majesty, and is willing to bear the losses in the tax payment process, and send all the money to the capital to pay taxes indirectly.
Change to direct tax payment?" Li Jinniu asked.
"Yes, Xinghua County is not far from the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. If you use river transportation to pay taxes directly to the central government, there won't be much loss. If that doesn't work, you can open a sea channel directly from the coast to Tianjin, and the loss will be even lower. If possible, transportation to Xujiazhuang will be possible within this year.
54,000 shi of tax grain and 10,000 taels of tax silver will be sent directly to the capital. From now on, the annual tax amount will not be less than this."
Qichun Nian Road.
"Direct taxation is a good thing for the court and your Majesty, but how can the local officials agree? If everyone in the world pays taxes like this, what will the local officials eat and use? They will definitely object with all their strength and think that they have broken the rules and offended.
What can all the officials in the world do even if His Majesty agrees?"
The experiences and encounters in the past few years have allowed Li Jinniu to see how powerful the civil servants are. At least in the Jiangnan area, the emperor's imperial edict has long been of no use. The civil servants can do whatever they want. This has become the situation in Jiangnan.
In one day, even the emperor's personal soldiers like him have no deterrent effect. If you want to starve to death, you will be starved to death.
Therefore, he is not very optimistic about Xujiazhuang's direct tax plan.
"Li Baihu, the taxes that Xujiazhuang pays now are really nothing to the court, and there is no need to offend local officials. However, we in Xujiazhuang know that the court is in difficulty and its finances are exhausted. It has been unable to make ends meet for many years. In recent years, natural disasters have occurred frequently.
There are Tartars entering the customs from outside, rogue bandits from inside, and the situation is corrupt. The most fundamental reason is that the tax revenue has been reduced and the finance has long been bankrupt."
Qichunnian said: "The imperial court has no money and your Majesty is in a tight situation, so nothing major can be done. Our Xujiazhuang owner Xu Yuan, although he comes from overseas and has not received much favor from the emperor, is also eager to serve the Ming Dynasty and is willing to contribute to this disaster-ridden country."
We are trying to do our little bit to help the country in difficulty, so in addition to paying taxes directly to the central government, our village owner is also willing to lend 1 million silver dollars, equivalent to one million taels of silver, to His Majesty the Emperor to alleviate the court's difficulties."
"There is no time limit for the return of this one million taels of silver, and it is interest-free. The court can return it slowly."
"Of course, Xujiazhuang's only condition for lending this money is that local officials cannot harass Xujiazhuang's operations and cannot be greedy. Once any conflict breaks out with the government, I hope that your majesty can stand on a fair and just basis and properly handle the situation."
When dealing with this matter, we at Xujiazhuang just want to do our business and do not have any evil intentions. I hope your Majesty will understand clearly."
Qichunnian revealed his core purpose.
Lend money to the court!
In other words, it was lending money to the emperor.
And they are very generous, the first batch is 1 million taels, no interest is required, and there is no time limit for repayment. You can pay it back whenever you want, which is equivalent to a debt of gratitude between relatives and friends.
Li Jinniu thought for a moment and did not agree immediately.
Although he knew very well that His Majesty the Emperor was very short of money, he also knew that this was a great opportunity to make a contribution. Once he acted as a bridge intermediary and facilitated the completion of this loan, he would definitely be Jian's hero in the Emperor's heart and would definitely be appreciated and rewarded by the Emperor.
Reuse.
It's just that Xujiazhuang was so generous, throwing away more than a million taels of silver without blinking an eye, without expecting the court to repay the money. Only a fool would believe it if there was no conspiracy! Once this caused a huge disaster, he would become
The biggest sinner, he was the first to be arrested and questioned. The court would not spare him. The emperor was the first to kill him!
How to choose?
Should I agree or not?
Seeing his hesitation, Qichunnian leaned into his ear again and said in an inciting tone:
"Li Baihu, doesn't it feel good to be hungry? Doesn't it feel sad to be bullied by civil servants and ignored by His Majesty? The opportunity to make meritorious deeds is right in front of you. If you help His Majesty, who is so short of money that he tries to find ways to save money every day,
, brought millions of taels, what do you think your status will be in the heart of the emperor? The civil servants bully you, don’t you want to give them some color? The court will not pay you, I, Xujiazhuang, sponsors you 1,000 silver dollars every year for activities.
The number will increase in the future. If you are really worried about your family's safety, you can send one of your sons to Xujiazhuang. We have ships leading overseas. In a really critical moment, it is not difficult to flee overseas."
"What are you still hesitating and worrying about? Do you, Li Jinniu, still want to go on in these days when pigs and dogs are no better than dogs? You are not the only one we can find for cooperation. If you really don't want to, I will leave immediately. There will always be someone who agrees to cooperate.
people."
Qichunnian stood up, said no more, and made a gesture to leave.
"etc!"
Li Jinniu slapped the table and stood up, his eyes were red, and he glared at him: "Don't leave, I will do this!"