The Song Dynasty court imposed a low tax on merchants carrying loads and walking around the streets. However, as long as they were merchants, the government would need to register. There was no handling fee for registration, but it would be included in business registration in the future. Of course, this was the Song Dynasty. Even if you don’t register, there would be no “people’s urban management” who jumped out to beat you.

However, the imperial court had a loophole in its policy of setting up stalls along the street. This loophole originated from the good welfare of the Song Dynasty. There were too many holidays for officials, which caused some people to take advantage of loopholes in official vacations and set up stalls on holidays. As a result, even the identity of merchants was not required, and taxes were not required. For example, these slippery Jews who were stumbled upon when they were in trouble, obviously discovered this loophole and immediately exploited it.

After walking a few steps, Zhao Xing found more and more acquaintances in the team. The Jews obviously do not have the "decent" consciousness of the Chinese. Even the four Jewish elders such as I Yu came out. This guy earned tens of thousands of yuan in property every year, but he actually stood in the team and sold his hats.

Zhao Xing raised his horse whip and pointed at An Yu. He was about to make fun of him. When the latter saw Zhao Xing, he had no intention of dodging at all. Instead, he raised the hat in his hand to Zhao Xing like a show, and shouted: "Dalang, my wife has made a flower hat. Look, it is only inlaid with big pearls on the top to sell it for five stakes. Only Dalang can set off such a hat here. Do you buy it?"

"Ha..." Zhao Xing laughed dryly. Just at this moment, Su Shi was calling him, giving Zhao Xing a reason to keep pace. He made an angry look, grimaced at An Yu, and urged the horse to run towards Su Shi.

There were hawking sounds everywhere outside the castle, and it was mixed with the unique "singing call" of the Song Dynasty. Su Dongpo had to say to Zhao Xing with a loud voice: "Li Ren, why did you soon become Heducao City near you? I think it's time to set up a tax customs?"

There is a wharf next to Zhao Xing's castle. In recent years, as the equipment in the dock area has become more and more perfect, many acquaintances have borrowed Zhao Xing's wharf to load and load goods. Of course, they also paid some rent to Zhao Xing. There are more merchants coming and going. Although Zhao Xing prohibits setting up stalls nearby, he cannot control the place a little far from the castle. At present, some small vendors have spontaneously set up stalls not far from the ferry, and people in the castle often sell their own goods there. After a while, it has become a spontaneous market.

This spontaneous market was called "Caoshi" and "Hedu" in the Song Dynasty. Perhaps because "Caoshi" is mostly located near the river ferry, the latter name is given.

"I was just going to ask, how much was the transaction tax in Hangzhou last year?" Zhao Xing rushed to Su Shi and asked.

Gao Qiu was responsible for the municipal taxation. He answered without blinking: "There are 1,238 Caoshi Hedu in Hangzhou. Last year, a total of 82,173 transaction taxes were collected, 228 documents, making it the first in all prefectures and a first-class prefecture."

"There are only 1,238 places, so many, and I have collected 80,000 guan. Is it the number one in each state? No?" Zhao Xing was unbelievable. Hedu, Yecaoshi, and collected 80,000 guan. Each market only has dozens of guan taxes every year, which is pitiful.

"There are not many Caoshihedu in Hangzhou, but not as many as Mizhou. There are 1,834 places there. There are a lot of taxes of 80,000 yuan. Yanshan County guards a large salt farm, which only has 37,438 yuan and 426 yuan a year. Among the states, the one with the least tax is Lucheng, which is only 501 yuan a year." Gao Qiu replied.

Didn’t it mean that the Song Dynasty had heavy taxes? Why did counties with tax revenue of hundreds of liters throughout the year appear?

Zhao Xing looked at Gao Qiu in disbelief: "So, is Hangzhou the state with the least grass market?"

"It's not too small. There are 3 Jiufangcao City on Fujian Road, 3 Hedus on Guangnan East Road, and 285 Fangchang Hedus on Guangnan West Road. These places are not as good as Hangzhou."

"Stop teasing, you must be joking. Including Guangdong and Guangxi, Guangzhou Maritime Co., Ltd., Caoshi is 288 in total? There are only three roads in Fujian, you must be joking with me."

Su Dongpo had already sunk: "Don't talk about things about leaving people and other states."

Zhao Xing understood that those places were remote, and local officials must have concealed a lot from the court - but this was also the answer Zhao Xing wanted to tell Su Shi.

Other prefectures and counties are hiding spontaneous grass markets in various places, or they are unwilling to spend so much energy to manage the Caoshihedu, which has only a few dozens of yuan a year; or they are willing to put the people in a relaxed environment - so why should the Hangzhou government make the people so uncomfortable?

Su Shi just said that he wanted to establish a tax customs here in Zhao Xing. Zhao Xing's rhetorical question was actually a vague hint, suggesting that Su Dongpo should not spend so much effort. A market collects dozens of taxes every year, and also sends yamen runners to maintain order and keep inspecting them. If it is not done well, setting up tax customs is just a cheap yamen runner, letting yamen runners act as a blessing to oppress small merchants, and at the same time ruin the reputation of the government... If you have that energy, it is better to listen to the songs and write poems!

Su Shi thought that this was the case, so let's listen to the opera. He shook his head, ignored Caoshi, and led the officials into Zhao Xing's castle, and then led the officials directly to the Jasmine Pavilion on the hillside. Well, every time he walked to the Jasmine Pavilion, Su Dongpo would frown. It was not that he was dissatisfied with the words Cai Jing wrote, but that he was not convinced by Cai Jing's character. However, he couldn't refute Zhao Xing's face, so every time he saw the two words Jasmine, he only frowned and didn't speak.

At today's banquet, the officials' families came earlier than the officials. They were already sitting there shaking their heads and whispering. As they walked, the incense clothes emitted a strong fragrance, mixed with the jasmine fragrance all over the mountains, as if a fragrant Buddha had become a garden.

When Su Shi and the others sat around the stone pavilion, a young and handsome young man walked up to the stone pavilion and began to recite the opening lyrics: "It is said that the traitors are treacherous and follow the slander, and they send the foolish men and others to become angry;

If you say that a loyal minister has to bear the title of grievance, you must cry even if you are unfaithful.

Talking about ghosts makes the feathers feel furious;

Discussing the resentment of the boudoir, sending the beauty to the green and miserable red.

Saying that the heads of the men is upright makes the men happy;

Talking about two sides of the circle makes the husband ambition.

Talk about Lu Xiang Qingyun's way, and sending talented people to focus on the books;

In the Frost Forest and the Sun ascend to heaven, teach hermits to learn Taoism as if they were a beginner.

The words of children's fortune make poor families angry;

Talking about being unfaithful will make the traitor embarrassed.”

After singing this recitation, he sang a fat narration and continued: "Dear guests, sirs, today we are performing "Ningyu Guanyin" for you. Please listen to me and say slowly..."

At this time, Chen Yiyi Susu brought Liao Xiaoxiao to Zhao Xing and sat down. Cheng Azhu was still in confinement and did not show up, so Yiyi sat next to Zhao Xing. Liao Xiaoxiao sat behind Zhao Xing, but she put her head on Zhao Xing's shoulder and put her body on Zhao Xing's back, pressing her tightly against Zhao Xing's back as if she was hung on Zhao Xing's body.

This opera troupe was a contribution of Liao Xiaoxiao. She went to the capital to show off to her sisters; when she came back, she brought the opera troupe to show off to Hangzhou officials.

The man on the stage was singing lines. Liao Xiaoxiao leaned into Zhao Xing's ear and introduced in a coquettish voice: "This little man is called Kong Sanchuan. The "Ningyu Guanyin" he performed today is not his best. His best is "The West Chamber of Palaces". Officials, should he continue to perform "The West Chamber of the Legend"?"

Zhao Xing didn't have time to answer because he saw Cheng Shuang wink at him anxiously. He stood up and walked to Cheng Shuang without noticing, and asked without looking back: "What's wrong?"

Cheng Shuang replied in a low voice: "A person came to the capital, saying that the palace gave some rewards to the master and the teacher..."

At this moment, the play in the stone pavilion started. While everyone's attention was on the stage, Zhao Xing quietly called Su Shi and welcomed the people sent from the capital with him.

Empress Dowager Gao, or the people in the palace, gave it strange this time. First of all, the person who came was not a eunuch, but a young man who was not famous in the royal family. When he saw Zhao Xing and Su Shi, he said nothing and stuffed them a bunch of things. Without waiting for the two of them to thank them, he bowed his farewell directly.

The reward for Su Shi was the four treasures of the study. Although Su Shi was still rewarded by Tianning Festival after leaving the palace, which surprised him a little, but it was not surprising, because on this day of Tianning Festival, all officials in the capital would receive a reward.

The gift I gave to Zhao Xing was a bit strange. Su Shi pointed to a wide mouth, long neck, long belly, and an open bottle cap on the bottle. There was a glass bottle with a glass handle on the side of the bottle and said, "The warm water cauldron is given to the married princess in the palace. How could he give you these things?"

Zhao Xing nodded: "This is not for me, this is for Princess Lezhi. She married in Vietnam, and the one she married was the Vietnamese prince Li Yuan you have ever met."

After saying this, Su Shi understood everything. The palace was trying to downplay Princess Lezhi's existence, so of course he refused to explain it clearly. But why didn't you give these things before Zhao Qin'er got married?

"Teacher, before the festival, I gave a gift in the palace in your name, and some of them were given to my younger brother - the toys from today, which was probably given to me by now," Zhao Xing continued to explain.

Su Shi quickly stopped: "Stop talking, we won't talk about this topic anymore. Let's go back to watch the show."

Zhao Xing raised his hand and said, "Teacher, please."

Su Shi was stunned at first, and immediately understood, and he walked out of the living room.

This family member of the Zhao family came on Zhao Xing's loach boat. He also came with a batch of goods, which were covered with waterproof buffalo paper - a kind of paper made of wooden oars treated with sulfuric acid.

Kraft paper is a feature of the loach boat. On the one hand, it is for anti-counterfeiting, and on the other hand, there are some other reasons...

A black cat shape was drawn in the upper right corner of the kraft paper posted on one of the boxes. Zhao Xing slowly walked to the box and gently lifted off the kraft paper.

Kraft paper is double-layered and can contain some letters from the shippers of goods. The corners of such kraft paper are marked with marks, such as this letter with a black cat shape, which is a secret letter.

Zhao Xing tore open the envelope, and there was a piece of paper the size of a palm inside. Only two words were written on the front, which was his personal name: Jia Yi.

Zhao Xing nodded gently, turned over the paper and wrote a few sentences on the back in a fly-headed small regular script.

The censor who said that people in Hangzhou like to eat Dongpo pork was Jia Yi who hated Su Shi to the core.

Yang Zuren told Zhao Xingguo about the situation, and Zhao Xing immediately asked Ma Mengde to investigate in the capital. Now the investigation results are here.

Jia Yi was Cheng Yi's disciple. After Cheng Yi was driven out of the capital, he became the leader of the Luo Party. From then on, he spared no effort to find all opportunities to attack Su Shi. At first, he said that the good man Wen Yanbo was Su Shi's general backstage, and said that Su Shi formed a party with Wen Yanbo and recited poems. Wen Yanbo was so angry that Wen Yanbo asked to retire. Su Shi was apart from the capital to avoid Jia Yi. But Jia Yi still refused to give in. He insisted on bringing this person who insulted his teacher to justice, and he did not hesitate to destroy the entire country for this purpose.

The back of the letter paper reads Jia Yi’s recent updates.

After Jia Yi's method of turning black and white was discovered by the emperor, the young emperor originally planned to deal with it, but the good man Lu Gongzhe thought it was not appropriate to deal with it. He said: Jia Yi is still a righteous person, but he slandered the ministers too fiercely. This is the essential work of the censor, and the emperor should not be too nitpicking.

This passage is translated into modern language, meaning: "Jia Yi is a gentleman who is distorted by black and white, because he did not fabricate it out of thin air, but only made conscious excerpts of the facts, so he needs to protect it."

With this interference from Lu Gongzhi, Jia Yi was not demoted. But Jia Yi then decided to repay Lu Gongzhi: He said that Lu Gongzhi was the general backstage of Su Shi's evil deeds, and that this man was old and stupid. The court should be dismissed or demoted to punish Lu Gongzhi's crimes... Now, the court is making a big fuss about this matter.

After reading the brief reports, Zhao Xing tore the note into pieces. He raised his hand and the broken paper floated like a flower.

In fact, this secret letter does not need to be so sneaky, because it is full of public content. But Zhao Xing asked Ma Meng to do this to cultivate the other party's intelligence awareness. Maybe one day, when he really uses the secret letter, the loach stack along the way will not make a fuss.

At this moment, there were faint singing sounds in the wind in the distance, and the sound of dramatic gongs and drums. Zhao Xing slowly walked out of the house, with his hands behind his back, thinking while walking.

After walking a few steps, he bumped into Jin Buer head-on and was guarding the roadside. The boxer was old and no longer followed Zhao Xing to rush around. He retreated and served as the coach of the inner courtyard, while the Xiao brothers were responsible for the safety of the outer courtyard.

"Is there anything wrong?" Zhao Xing asked.

Jin Buer bowed and replied: "Dalang, it seems that another thief has come in. Not long ago, a Cheng clan's servant went to the west of the fort to play. When he heard someone knocking on the cellar door from inside, he shouted, and the sound inside stopped immediately."

Zhao Xing thought for a while and asked, "What kind of goods are stored in West Fort? When will it be put into storage?"

Jin Buer obviously knew Zhao Xing's temper and had done a thorough investigation in advance. He huddled and introduced in detail: "The goods at the west end were ivory. They were delivered to the west of the fort two days ago. The goods there were not sold, so the cellar door has not been opened since they were put into the warehouse. Yesterday, the patrolman passed by there, and I asked, and he said that no abnormality was found.

Dalang, because the west of the fort are all important things and people are not allowed to go there, so I found out that abnormality is still unknown. I also asked the man named Cheng, who came from Jiangxia, was a relative of the Jiangxia Cheng tribe. His surname was Huang Xing. He was following the construction of the Tielu Fort on the mountain behind Master Wang. He took a fancy to a local woman. Today, he wanted to take advantage of everyone's attention to the song and asked the woman to go to the west of the fort fort to have a tryst. The middle of the way he heard the sound of smashing the door in the cellar door, so he urgently reported..."

On the west side of the castle is Zhao Xing's key defense area, where there is no one living there, and the front of the castle wall is sorted into a plain without any barriers. In this way, if someone walks around that area, you can find it from afar. This area is dedicated to storing goods that are not prone to decay and need to be preserved for a long time, such as African ivory, Burmese gems, gold and silver. Usually, people are prohibited from walking, and the monitor stands on the four-story castle wall platform. When someone is approaching, he will make a warning. Those who do not listen to the warning will be allowed to be killed on the spot.

Huang Xing was obviously a fool and didn't even choose a date. If you choose such an uncovered flat land, the most you can do is to hold hands and what else can you do when you go to this place?

Zhao Xing's gossip interest was aroused by Jin Buer's topic. He did not ask the little thief who had been locked up in the cellar for two days, but instead asked excitedly: "That guy... today is the day of Tianning Festival. Everyone in the fort went to watch the song and dance. How could he lead people to a place where there are fewer people?

It’s just a matter of hiking in places with fewer people. There are too many places in the fort. There are too many places in the flowers and woods. Where can I go to the fort to do? What are you doing when I go to the fort? By the way, who is the woman he dated? Is she beautiful?”

Jin Buer looked embarrassed, and he bowed his hands and replied: "Dalang will know that Huang Xing and the woman are both here."

Huang Xing is a 16 or 17-year-old baby. He is very strong and is obviously a little taller than his peers. It seems that Zhao Xing's students have been infected with tall people. They have been studying with Zhao Xing for a few years and are immediately a little taller than their peers. Seeing Zhao Xing coming, Huang Xing bowed and said, "My nephew has greeted his uncle."

Zhao Xing nodded and looked at the girl beside him. When he saw the other person's clothes, Zhao Xing understood that this girl was not from the castle, but probably a farmer girl near Hangzhou. She was covered in plain white, had a few buns of hair tied with ribbons, a pair of new high heels under her feet, and a bright ruby ​​ring on her hands.

The women in Zhaoxing's mansion were infected by a bit of modern aesthetics. Of course, perhaps because they were afraid of trouble. All the women in the castle, except Liao Xiaoxiao, were also interested in tying their hair into various patterns according to the hairstyle of the Song Dynasty. Most of the other women learned from the leisure of women in the Tang Dynasty - a shawl with a head, and no jewelry was worn on their heads, but the hairpin ropes that tied their hair were extremely gorgeous.

The woman was also wearing a bun, and the small accessories on her body showed traces of the fashion inside the castle. It can be seen that Huang Xing often gave gifts to the other party. It is possible that even the silk on the other party was given by Huang Xing - this is also a common problem for men in the castle. Because Zhao Xing operates sea trade, the men in the castle often take a sailboat to bring some private work. In addition, Zhao Xing likes to reward the goods not very good-looking to his family. As a result, the men in the castle have developed the habit of using small overseas things to please women.

This woman is from outside. Although outsiders are not prohibited from entering the castle, at least Zhao Xing should have permission. Huang Xing took the woman into the castle without permission. No wonder he wanted to go to a place with few people.

However, the woman was not at all stage frightened. She stood behind Huang Xing. Although Huang Xing tried her best to cover up, she looked at Zhao Xing calmly. When Zhao Xing looked at her, she also looked at Zhao Xing with good eyes.

"Tell me, what's going on?" Zhao Xing asked.

Huang Xing bowed and replied: "Uncle, I brought Sanniang here to play. When I heard a knock on the door inside, I yelled and the voice stopped immediately. I told the guards on the city wall that they brought a dog, and the dog barked straight into the house, which means there was indeed someone in the house."

When the matter came to an end, Huang Xing was not panicked. He answered calmly, hoping that Zhao Xing would forgive him for taking people into the castle privately because of his contribution to discovering the bad guy.

Huang Xing's mother was from the Cheng tribe of Jiangxia. As a relative, he came to join Zhao Xing, hoping to learn some knowledge from Zhao Xing and get a new background in the future. Because he is from the Cheng tribe and most young people have the same hobbies, his companions who are guarding the gate acquiesced to bring people into the castle, which makes him pass the layers of levels without any danger.

Zhao Xing seemed very calm to his explanation. He nodded slightly and replied: "Very good! I found an abnormality and immediately report it, reflecting his own family's awareness - go to the housekeeper to get a reward of five jin of money."

Huang Xing was happy and Zhao Xing continued: "If you have merits, you will be rewarded, and if you have mistakes, you will be punished: if you have no permission, you will be expelled from the castle according to the law. All those on duty today will also follow this regulation, and will not be left behind and will be expelled."

Huang Xing's face was dark, and he wanted to defend himself. Jin Buer waved his hand and several people had already raised him and left the scene. The girl also followed in panic, asking for advice from Huang Xing's servants on the road.

Zhao Xing looked at their far away backs and whispered to Jin Buer: "The rules cannot be broken, but there are feelings outside the law. Tell Chen Zhipo, let her propose marriage to the daughter's house on behalf of Huang Xing's parents. I will give her a betrothal gift. When she gets married into the fort, she will immediately send the couple back to Jiangxia. In addition, the people on duty today are allowed to take outsiders into the fort, no matter what the reason or how many people there are, they will be sent back to Jiangxia Cheng clan."
Chapter completed!