Maotan River comes from the northeast, and when it reaches the outside of Yongzhou City, it is divided into two parts, and it circles around Yongzhou City, and then it converges into Yujiang River. The river water around the city is the moat of Yongzhou. The place where the Maotan River and Yujiang meet, it becomes the dock of Yongzhou. All the rare groceries from all directions flow to this dock, and they are loaded on a boat and headed straight to Guangzhou.

Although it was already winter, the willows by the pier were still as green as dripping, whispering the river bank with the breeze by the river. As the Shangyuan Festival approached, lights were hung on both sides of the road, illuminated and lit up the faces of pedestrians who were coming and going, as if they were dreamy.

Inside the Water Gate, not far from the city wall, is the largest restaurant in Yongzhou, Wangjiang Tower. The building is divided into two floors, rising from the ground, with flying eaves and brackets, and it stands out in the small Yongzhou city. Standing upstairs and crossing the city wall, you can see the charming scenery of the river outside.

On the second floor of Wangjiang Building, in a small pavilion next to the window, Xu Ping and Wang Wei were sitting opposite each other, with a few seasonal side dishes and a pot of wine in front of them.

“It’s not peaceful this year!”

Looking at the night, Wang Weizheng sighed in a low voice, his words full of impatience.

Xu Ping casually echoed: "Yes, since the beginning of the New Year, the Holy King of Jiaozhiyi has been invading the border and looting property and population. Cao Zhizhou sent people to negotiate, but they refused to give up. If this continues, if the court does not have thunder means, it will sooner or later cause a disaster."

Xu Ping had already found out clearly that Nong Zhigao didn't know where he was at this time, but the Nong surname was already quite powerful in Guangyuanzhou, and something was going to happen sooner or later. The Nong Zhigao rebellion happened during the Renzong period, but the Dangxiang in the northwest had not yet had any trouble. Di Qing, who grew up in the war, did not know where to join the army. The Nong Zhigao rebellion, which was purged by Di Qing, probably would have to wait for decades, and it was probably safe in recent years. So Xu Ping was not worried, just said it casually.

Wang Weizheng, who was opposite, could only smile bitterly: "Thunder means? Now Guangxi needs troops but no soldiers, no food, and the imperial court always wants us to calm down. Where can we get the Thunder means? There are more than 2,000 imperial guards in the territory, and we have to rely on his support. As long as there is no accident, it will be fine."

"These are not something that the officials are concerned about, but there is Cao Cao's prefecture anyway."

Xu Pingman didn't care about authenticity. Cao Keming had seen the world, so he must be able to deal with this storm.

"Depending on Cao Zhizhou, he must have money!"

After all, Wang Weizheng transferred money again. The situation is tense now, and Wang Weizheng dared not let Yongzhou ignore it. After all, he agreed to fill the gap in the money of the minister of Yongzhou. The transferee did not have the money and grain in his hand, so he could only allocate it from other states. The seven states including Guizhou, Liuzhou, Xiangzhou, Guizhou, Xunzhou, Wuzhou and Yulinzhou had a total of 3,800 trump cards and began to send it to Yongzhou one after another. This was within the power of the transferee to balance the finances of the route, although the states that allocated money were not satisfied, they still had to do it.

With money, Cao Keming came back alive. In order to prevent accidents, he brought his men to Yongpingzhai to guard the New Year. Yongpingzhai was separated from Jiaozhi, and the largest trading point between the Song Dynasty and Jiaozhi was the largest trading point between the Song Dynasty and Jiaozhi, and was surrounded by Tuzhou Mandong. Cao Keming had been in Yongzhou for many years and had great prestige among the natives and could borrow the power of barbarian soldiers.

At this time, the magistrate was not there, and the head of the Yongzhou city was Xu Ping.

After a year, the regular rewards were sent, and even the military funding of the warehouse was almost empty. Cao Keming sent troops and searched all the remaining money in the warehouse. Xu Ping could not afford the money. After hearing Wang Weizheng's words, he had to pretend to be stupid, just looking at the scenery outside the window without making a sound.

Seeing that Xu Ping did not answer, Wang Weizheng had to say directly: "The military affairs are dangerous, and a disaster may be caused in one thought. Yun Xing is in charge of the city of the city, so you must not let Cao Zhizhou lack money and food."

Xu Ping couldn't escape and turned around and sighed: "Cao Envoy, Curry, you went to check it out yourself, so you didn't stay in there. When is this? It's just that Qinghuang didn't accept it, it's still early to collect the summer tax, and the court has no money to allocate it. Where can I go to him?"

Wang Weizheng pointed to the dock outside and said, "Yongzhou is about to rush, so much goods must be transported from here every day. As long as you pay attention, the goods on the dock are all money and grain, it depends on whether you can collect them!"

"Take it down! As soon as Jiaozhi was in trouble, the valuable sources of goods such as gold, silver and cinnabar from the barbarian land had been cut off. How much is the goods shipped on the dock now worth? How much tax can it be charged?"

Wang Weizheng also knew this was the truth, but he couldn't let go and said, "No matter how many reasons you have, you can't make the Cao Zhizhou hungry! If something happens, I can't spare you!"

"What should you do if you want me? Do you want me to grab it?"

Wang Weizheng was silent for a while before looking up at Xu Ping and said, "Yunxing, I also heard that you did not get along well with Cao Zhizhou. You must not affect state affairs because of personal grievances!"

After hearing this, Xu Ping suddenly pressed the table, and after a while he let out a breath, he pressed down his anger: "Envoy Wang Cao, you are going to put me on the fire and roast me! Okay, Cao Zhizhou and I were not in love with each other. I don't know what he is for. It's very simple to see him dislike him. On the first day of my trip, I went to pay my respects to him. He sat under the tree and shook his fan, letting me bask in the sun for half an hour, and then didn't say a word afterwards. I am the imperial official, and I am not a servant of Cao Zhizhou. How can I swallow this breath?"

After hearing this, Wang Weizheng sighed in his heart and wanted to persuade Xu Ping.

Xu Ping did not let him speak, and then said, "Although I don't like him, since I entered Yongzhou City, the grain envoy can go and ask about any official business. When will I feel sorry for him? Cao Zhizhou wants to send troops, so I emptied the military capital warehouse. The soldiers brought out were not satisfied with the money and goods they gave me? Now all the warehouses in the state are empty there, and the subsequent support will not be able to pay for me even if I sell them!"

"How can you be emotional?" Wang Weizheng couldn't afford to pay. The money allocated by Hunan took several months to arrive, and he still had to soften his discussion. "If you are in Yongzhou, you always have to find a way, otherwise what is the use of the imperial court setting up officials?"

Xu Pingping regained his mind and nodded, "Okay! Speaking of this, we might as well calculate. Now the end of the year has just passed, and the two taxes are not expected. Yongzhou City is small, and the commercial tax per month is only 100 trump cards, so it is not enough to transport it to Yongping Village. The rest are prohibited items, but I don't care about those!"

The materials prohibited by Yongzhou are mainly salt, and other tea and wine are not allowed here. It is meaningless to produce gold, silver, copper and iron. Salt is mainly responsible for the transfer envoy, and the state only assists, and no benefits can be obtained from it. Moreover, salt profit is more sensitive, and it does not rise as soon as it rises. The materials prohibited by the Song Dynasty are mainly divided into two categories. One is represented by salt, because it is necessary for people's livelihood, which is actually a disguised head tax. The other is represented by wine, which is not necessary for people's livelihood, and it is barely considered a luxury tax. The Song people are already very clear about the difference between the two. The alcohol tax rises as it will do whatever it wants. As long as the total amount collected by the court increases, it will be successful. Some people oppose the answer. If it is expensive, you can't drink it. If you don't drink it, you won't die. The salt tax will not work. Once it rises, it will affect people's livelihood. Maybe you will be impeached by the imperial envoy.

After all, there is no formal war, and Wang Weizheng dared not raise the price of salt, so he said to Xu Ping: "Not mentioning salt benefits, there is great potential for other tea and wine in Yongzhou, so you can think of a solution."

"There is great potential? These Yongzhou cannot help but taxes cannot be collected?"

Wang Weizheng looked at Xu Pingzhi and shook his head.

Xu Ping had almost vented, and looked at Wang Weizheng and sighed: "Actually, there is no way. It's just that, it's not easy."

"Oh, what's the solution? Yunxing might as well talk about it."

This trick of playing hard to get is no good result when used on the superior. Xu Ping is really annoyed and has no such concerns.

"It's just to borrow money and money from the military fund and ministerial warehouses to return it to the public. Every state army has it. But Cao Zhizhou has never done these things. I didn't dare to move them for a while, not long after I first arrived."

It is very common for local business to subsidize expenses. Otherwise, given the strictness of the three central departments on local finances, every money and every property must be approved by the superiors, so local officials will not have to live.

Wang Wei was looking at Xu Ping and didn't speak for a while. Local business is a black hole. It can indeed supplement the local funding shortage, but it also made a secret for local officials to illegally make money, let alone compete with the people for profit.

Seeing that Xu Ping had been calm, Wang Weizheng slowly said: "What are you going to do?"

Xu Ping said: "This family sells wine, and it is also famous in the capital. So he first opened a restaurant in Yongzhou City and used my secret recipe to make wine to sell it. It was my free subsidy for the court."

After hearing this answer, Wang Weizheng's expression became more natural. He went to the capital to report his work and heard about the wine in the Xu family restaurant. Xu Ping was not a false statement.

Seeing Wang Weizheng nodding, Xu Ping said again: "In addition to wine and tea, the imperial court set a ban on sugar two years ago. I don't know that Yongzhou can't help it?"

"You can still make sugar?" Wang Wei asked curiously.

Xu Ping smiled bitterly: "What Cao Envoy said is that Sansi just bought my sugar shop and started to ban the sugar. How could I not?"

After hearing this, Wang Weizheng's face relaxed and said to Xu Ping: "Don't worry, except for salt, gold and copper, everything else in Yongzhou is not denied. I'll guarantee you!"

After running a sugar shop, there is a restaurant at home, and the family is very rich. Wang Weizheng underestimated Xu Ping, but he didn't expect that his family was a rich man. He would definitely look down on a little bit of profit, and local businesses can be done with ease.

After hearing this, Xu Ping felt relieved. What is this place? Guangxi was the sugar capital of China in later generations. In some years, the sugar produced in this place under Yongzhou accounted for more than 70% to 80% of China's total production, which is also ranked in the world. As long as it can reach one percent of the sugar production in later generations, it is amazing benefits, and it is more than enough to cover the entire Lingnan, Guangdong and Guangxi.
Chapter completed!