In the Song Dynasty, There Was No Law or Order.

Chapter 175 Heavy Taxes and Levies, Meeting Tian Chang on the Road

Just when Zhao Zhen was obsessed with novels and couldn't extricate himself.

Zhao Jun has already taken advantage of the spring breeze to head south.

It was late January, which is equivalent to February or March in the solar calendar. The spring was bright and the sun was shining brightly.

The canal boat went southward along the Bianhe River, galloping all the way.

Zhao Jun stood on the side of the ship and looked around. The Bianhe River is one of the main channels of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It is 20 meters wide and has a lot of ships coming and going.

Therefore, in order to prevent collisions, everyone will keep a certain distance and not dare to get too close.

On both sides of the bank, there are wilderness farmlands, villages, and swaying willows.

Because the speed was too slow, almost moving at a tortoise speed of more than 10 kilometers per hour, Zhao Jun quickly lost interest in continuing to see the scenery and returned to the cabin to rest.

In order to pass the time, he brought a lot of books, not the Four Books and Five Classics, but short talk books that existed in the Song Dynasty.

Although novels were not very popular at that time, he wrote few good works and not many novels. But the novels at that time were often mainly about strange things and legends, and some were about detective suspense and the like. They were quite curious and could be read reluctantly.

It's a pity that Zhao Jun couldn't bring out the notebook, but he didn't dare to bring it out. After all, he was running around, traveling to and from various places. He was carrying a notebook everywhere during the journey. It would be uncomfortable if he bumped into something and fell.

So he could only leave the notebook in Bianliang. Although Zhao Zhen was not a good emperor, he knew the importance of the notebook. Leaving the notebook in the palace was the best choice.

The cabin was bumpy, but Zhao Jun was from the south and had never been on a boat when he was a child, so he didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He read novels to pass the time.

About four hours later, around three o'clock in the afternoon, the boat sailed into Ningling.

Bianliang is not far from Yingtianfu, about 150 kilometers, and can be reached in basically ten hours. Ningling is located northwest of Yingtian Mansion, belonging to Jingxi East Road, and its location is later Ningling County, Shangqiu City, Henan Province.

As one of the water transport transfer stations between Bianliang and Yingtianfu, Ningling, in addition to providing local commodity transactions, mainly provides the function of parking ships overnight and supplying supplies.

At this moment, the wharf was full of ships. The watercraft did not stop and went directly past Ningling, all the way to Yingtian Mansion.

Ningling provides overnight services for passing ships, which are usually merchant ships sailing from Bianliang after 10 a.m. Zhao Jun’s canal boat departs early, at around 7 a.m., and should arrive around 5 p.m. Yingtian Mansion, there is no need to stop here.

But just as his ship was preparing to pass by, a speedboat came quickly from the small dock of the pavilion on the river bank. There were seven or eight tax collectors in official uniforms on the boat, all of them looked fierce, and stopped the boat.

The ship was forced to stop.

This place is still more than 200 feet away from the branch canal extending from Ningling in front of us. Even if we have to pay taxes, we have to wait until Ningling Pier. Unexpectedly, these people stopped the boat in advance.

The drivers of Zhao Jun's ship are Jiang Dalang and the others. They are from docks and are skilled in maneuvering the ship, so it is naturally under their control.

At this moment, Jiang Dalang asked the people in the cabin to park the boat and look at the small boat outside.

"What's the matter, officials?"

Jiang Dalang asked expressionlessly. He actually knew what was going on. He relied on water transportation all year round to make a living, so why didn't he know the rules?

A tax chief on the boat scolded: "You are blind and can't read? We are the Yingtian Fu Commercial and Taxation Institute Ningling Branch, and all merchant ships passing by must pay taxes."

Jiang Dalang said solemnly: "But there is no cargo on our ship."

"examine!"

shouted the tax chief.

"What happened?"

Zhao Jun came over at this time.

"The magistrate, it's Ying Tianfu Commercial and Taxation Institute Ningling Field Manager who has come to collect taxes."

Jiang Dalang replied.

"hehe."

Zhao Jun was amused and said, "You really know how to exact taxes and levies, how can Ningling get the job?"

Business was prosperous in the Song Dynasty, and there were regulations for taxation.

Based on major commercial cities, the Commercial Tax Institute, Commercial Tax Department, and Commercial Taxation Department are set up, and the tax booths in various regions are under the jurisdiction.

The problem is that the earliest tax regulations were only levied in major commercial cities. In any big city you passed through, you had to pay tax there, which was 2% of the total value of the goods.

Taking Yangzhou to Bianliang as an example, there are only seven collection points: Yangzhou, Chuzhou, Sizhou, Suzhou, Bozhou, Yingtianfu and Bianliang.

In this way, the tax is approximately 14% of the total value of your goods.

If you have to pay a tax once in every county you pass through, there are more than 20 counties along the way, and you have to pay more than 40% of the tax. How can a businessman lose money?

After all, the cost of doing business in ancient times was inherently high and profits were not impressive. If coupled with high taxes, merchants will have to increase their selling prices if they want to make money, and in the end it will be the common people who pay the bill.

Therefore, it was stipulated that the tax rate should be basically maintained at around 10%.

It’s a pity that the regulations are regulations and they are not implemented at all in various places. Often, you will be taxed at least twice every time you cross a state, and there are many excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes, such as “Lisheng money”, “landed money”, “city regulations money” and “bridge money”. There is everything you need for “fighting money”.

By the time of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the tax rate had reached more than 30%, which seriously increased the burden on merchants.

Obviously, Yingtian Mansion set up a field in Ningling to prepare for the plucking of wild geese. At that time, Yingtian Mansion will have to pay a tax. It is estimated that in Yangzhou, the tax rate has far exceeded 10%, and is over 20%.

Jiang Dalang asked: "Do you want to drive them away?"

Zhao Jun pondered for a moment and said: "Let them come up, keep an eye on them, and prevent them from rummaging around. I want to see how they levy and expropriate."

"yes."

Jiang Dalang stuck his head out again and said, "You guys, come up."

He said putting down the ladder.

Soon the taxman below climbed up.

But before they could show off their power, they were all panicked.

Because they were shocked to find that there were people everywhere on the deck, with knives hanging from their waists, staring at them with evil expressions.

Jiang Dalang took out his waist card and said: "We are the imperial guards stationed outside and passing by here."

It turned out to be a group of thieves joining the army.

The tax collectors immediately felt relieved, but the leader did not maintain his domineering attitude at the beginning. Instead, he said: "Since we are brothers transferred from outside, we won't be embarrassed. We will just follow the usual practice."

The transferred troops stationed in the Forbidden City also often do business. It is normal for them to hide some goods in the cabins between trips. Everyone does not want to conflict, so the basic meaning is enough.

But Zhao Jun next to him pretended not to know: "Excuse me, officer, this is our first external transfer, but we don't know what the usual practice is."

The head taxman wondered: "Don't you have any from your superiors?"

"Sir, I'm resting in the cabin. Don't dare to disturb me."

"All right."

The leader said: "If you bring the goods, you can calculate it according to the price of the goods, whichever is 100. If you don't bring the goods, you will need two dollars for a boat of your size."

At that time, the starting point for taxation of goods was 300 cents, that is, if the value of goods exceeded 300 cents, a tax of 6 cents had to be paid.

Don't look at those big businessmen who carry goods worth tens of thousands of dollars every time they travel.

But it’s great for small and medium-sized merchants to bring hundreds or thousands of guan of goods. If the goods are calculated as 1,000 guan, the normal tax is 20 guan. If there is no goods on the ship, there is no need to pay, but there is a tax called Li Sheng Qian. , pay according to vessel size.

Zhao Jun's ship can be regarded as a medium-to-large size tank boat. Although it is not as good as the top tank boats, they still have to pay money. This is because they are the imperial guards transferred from outside. If they are merchants, they will have to pay more than ten strings even if the ship is empty.

Jiang Dalang looked at Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun nodded slightly.

"I've got an official to work with."

Jiang Dalang took out two strings of money from his arms and handed them over.

The taxman took it and said goodbye to him. When he got off the boat and was farther away, the leader said: "It's really unlucky. The big boat thought that a big customer was here, but I didn't expect that it was a boatload of forbidden troops."

After the tax boat had gone away, Jiang Dalang looked at Zhao Jun and said, "Zhiyuan, this money is exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes that should not be paid. Why should we pay them?"

Huang Sanlang on the other side also said angrily: "Yes, Zhiyuan, if you show the Zhiyuan seal and you don't scare them to death, why give in to them?"

Zhao Jun waved his hand and said: "Now that you reveal your identity, the news will spread throughout Yingtian Mansion in the blink of an eye. If the officials who have been involved have got the news, how can they check their evidence? Be honest and explore the situation first, and don't be too public."

"yes."

Everyone had no choice but to respond.

After paying the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, Zhao Jun returned to the cabin and the ship continued sailing.

Soon we approached the river in Ningling County.

Originally, if they had not had this delay, they would have passed smoothly.

But it was precisely because of the delay by the taxmen that a fleet of boats sailed out from Ningling's dock, fifty or sixty feet away, blocking the river in front.

This is obviously a merchant fleet, and the scale is not small. There are more than ten large ships, absolutely top wealthy merchants.

Jiang Dalang looked at the opponent's posture. If he didn't get in front of the opponent, it would take a lot of time.

So Jiang Dalang and the others immediately sent a signal to the other side's ship that had not yet entered the canal diagonally, instructing the other side to slow down and wait for their ship to pass by.

But it was still a step too late. Due to inertia problems, the other party's ship had already sailed out of the canal dock in Ningling and could not stop.

If they rushed over directly at this time, there would be a risk of collision, so Jiang Dalang and the others had to slow down the boat and were forced to stop in the river again.

The ship stopped, and the merchant ships came out slowly, like a car waiting for a traffic light while waiting for a traffic light, watching the car in front of it turn left and enter the main road.

Zhao Jun's cannon could only stop in place and had to wait for the other party to pass before it could follow behind and continue moving forward.

Jiang Dalang stood on the deck, raised his head and glanced at the sky, and cursed: "They have so many ships, it will probably take half an hour just to get out of the dock. Are these straight thieves really going to die if they wait a little longer?"

Huang Sanlang said: "Forget it, wait for now, don't disturb the Zhiyuan."

They had no choice but to continue waiting.

The merchant ships outside were still leaving, and they were obviously stuck in time preparing to go to Yingtian Mansion.

After more than ten minutes, Zhao Jun was bored in the cabin. He noticed through the window that the ship had stopped again, so he walked out of the cabin and asked the attendants on the left and right: "What happened again?"

The attendant replied: "It seems that there are merchant ships coming out of Ningling Pier in front of us, which happens to block our river channel. We can only stop and wait for them to pass."

"oh."

Zhao Jun got out of the room and walked to the deck to look out.

I saw that there were indeed a large number of merchant ships moving forward in the distance. Due to the narrow channel of the canal, they even blocked the ships coming from the opposite side. They had to wait until they all made a successful turn and approached the right channel before they could continue to pass.

Obviously, with the size of the merchant ship, it would definitely not be able to complete the journey in a short time. First of all, the speed of the large canal ship is slow and the turns are also slow. Secondly, the river is narrow, so we must be careful and not rush.

So Zhao Jun could only stand on the deck and look at the scenery. He looked at Ningling City in the distance. There were many vendors inside and outside the city gate, and it was quite prosperous.

At this time, a man on one of the merchant ships was looking around. Suddenly he seemed to see something, his face condensed, and then he immediately exclaimed: "Quick, stop the ship, stop!"

"Jiajun, do you want to stop the boat now?"

the servant asked.

"Stop the ship immediately and prepare the boat. I want to go to that ship!"

the man shouted.

The servant quickly went to tell the sailor in the cabin to stop the boat.

Soon a small boat was lowered from the canal. In the distance, Zhao Jun saw someone climbing a ladder to get off the boat, then boarding the boat and speeding towards him.

Only when Zhao Jun got closer did he realize that the man was actually Tian Chang, the boss of Tian's Tea.

Tian Chang rowed to the bottom of the boat, with a flattering smile on his face. He bowed his hands to Zhao Jun above and said, "Young old man Tian Chang, I have met Zhiyuan."

Zhao Jun leaned over and looked at him and said, "It turns out to be Tian Dadong's family."

Then he asked Jiang Dalang to put down the ladder and let people come up.

Although Tian Chang is an old man, he has been running around on the boat all the time, and his skills are actually quite strong. Ma Liu climbed up and said with a smile: "I didn't expect that the little old man was so lucky to meet Zhiyuan."

"hehe."

Zhao Jun smiled, then pointed in the distance and said: "The big boss's fleet is parked on the river. It is not good to block the river channel."

Tian Chang quickly said to the people rowing below: "Quick, let them go quickly, faster."

"Yes Yes Yes."

The boat below quickly sailed back to the big ship.

Soon the fleet in the distance resumed sailing and soon gave way to the river.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhao Jun asked Tian Changdao: "Is Dadong planning to return to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to collect tea?"

Tian Chang smiled and said: "Yes, I started my journey yesterday. I happened to have a business negotiation in Ningling, which delayed it until today. I originally wanted to rest at Yingtian Mansion today, but I didn't expect that I happened to meet Zhiyuan, so I hurriedly Come and say hello to His Holiness.”

As he spoke, he took out a jade pendant from his arms and said, "I came in a hurry, and I didn't bring any gifts. This jade pendant is an ancient jade I received in Ningling City. I came here specially to give it to Zhiyuan to express my feelings. "

"This is impossible."

Zhao Jun declined and said with a smile: "No wonder the business of Mr. Tian's family is so big and his people are so sophisticated. But it's a pity that no merit will be paid. I will only do things impartially and will not accept bribes. Let's forget it." ”

Tian Chang said quickly: "The villain knows that the Supreme Court is honest, but this is not a bribe, and the villain has no intention of asking the Supreme Court to do anything. This is just my wish."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "That's not okay. There is no friendship between you and me. It is really inappropriate to give a big gift to someone the second time we meet."

Tian Chang said with emotion: "The Zhiyuan is honest and upright, and he is really a model for all officials."

Zhao Jun smiled and said nothing.

He did not blame Tian Chang. The main reason was that gift-giving was popular in the Song Dynasty. If it was just a gift and no request was made, it would not be considered a bribe. Therefore, officials in the official circles at that time gave gifts to each other in this way.

But as the saying goes, it is not appropriate to accept gifts from others in Zhao Jun's position. Therefore, except for Lu Yijian and others who can accept gifts with peace of mind, they must not accept gifts from others even if they do not expect anything in return. One centimeter.

Seeing that Zhao Jun didn't speak, Tian Chang put away the jade pendant and said, "I wonder what the reason for Zhiyuan's trip is? If you are going to Yangzhou, the villains on this road are familiar with each other. They are willing to go all out for Zhiyuan and don't dare to neglect."

Zhao Jun wanted to refuse, but suddenly remembered that since Tian Chang was a businessman, he must know the transaction tax very well, so he asked: "Then do you know the transaction tax?"

Tian Chang said with a smile: "If the magistrate asks others, he will definitely not be able to ask anything. If he asks the old man, he is asking the right person. There is nothing that the old man doesn't know about water transportation from south to north. It's just that .”

"Just what?"

"I just want to know, what does Zhiyuan want to hear?"

He asked tentatively: "Is it all taxes on water transportation, or just the business taxes along the way?"

"I want you to know everything and tell me everything."

Zhao Jun looked at him indifferently and said: "Including where there are corrupt officials, and where there are people doing evil things along the way. Tian Chang, I know you are a pretty good person, so I asked you so straightforwardly. If the thing you gave is the same as If it doesn’t match what I investigated, I’m afraid we’ll have to discuss the state-owned sales and whether you can get the tea in the future.”

Tian Chang's face froze, and then he became ecstatic. He raised his hands and said, "Young man, you must tell the truth and never lie."

Brother Zhang Xian.

The time has come to avenge your brother!

Chapter 177/535
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In the Song Dynasty, There Was No Law or Order.Ch.177/535 [33.08%]