Poor Family Chapter 929

  Chapter 929 Playing tricks

  At dusk, Li Yanqing's team arrived at Canji Town, about 50 miles away from Chengdu County, and then there were endless rice fields. Li Yanqing immediately ordered the army to camp in the town to rest.

The army had simple marching tents, and soon set up a barracks in the open space outside the town, but Li Yanqing was quite interested in the town. Taking advantage of the gap between the camps, he brought Hu Qing'er and two personal soldiers along with him. Walk slowly to the town.

  The town of Silkworm is actually not too small, but rather scattered. There are large paddy fields between the east of the town and the west of the town. Li Yanqing's garrison is in the east of the town, but the bustling town is in the west of the town a few miles away.

However, there is also an inn, two taverns and a grocery store in the east of the town. At this time, it was not completely dark yet. Li Yanqing saw a courtyard with the gate open, so he walked in and saw an old couple in the courtyard who were weaving bamboo ware .

   "Does the government want to buy bamboo?" The old man warmly greeted him.

  The old man spoke a pure Sichuan accent, but he could still understand it. Seeing that the bamboo wares were well woven, Li Yanqing smiled and said, "I can buy a few more, but can I have a bowl of water first, old man?"

   "Old woman, go and pour water!"

  The old woman got up to pour water, and the old man took out some bamboo stools and warmly asked them to sit down.

   "According to the official accent, it should be a northerner!"

   "I am from Xiangzhou, Hebei."

   "No wonder he grows so tall."

  The old man took another look at Hu Qing'er who was wearing tight armor and said with a smile: "It's relatively rare for a girl to join the army."

  Hu Qing'er's face turned cold, she didn't like others to make fun of her joining the army, Li Yanqing chuckled, and changed the subject, "Does the old man weave bamboo ware for a living?"

  The old man shook his head, "The bamboo weaving is just to subsidize his son's household. Farming is too hard, and life is stressful!"

  At this time, the old woman came out with a pot of water and several large bowls. She smiled gently at Hu Qing'er, and continued to weave bamboo ware.

  Hu Qing'er quickly poured a bowl of water for Li Yanqing, Li Yanqing took a sip of the water from the bowl, nodded and said: "The water quality is good, very sweet."

   "The well water here is very good, drink it slowly, there is plenty of water in the pot!"

  Hu Qing'er went to find the old woman to choose bamboo wares, but Li Yanqing casually chatted with the old man.

   "I see that the land here is fertile, the water source is abundant, and the products are also rich. How can life be difficult?"

"Hey! The tax is too heavy. In addition to the land tax exemption money, there is also anti-golden military expenses. Each person has a head of money. There are six people in our family, and we have to pay six dollars a year. And now we are talking about the full amount, which is quite For the previous eight guanqian, at least four big fat pigs were needed to pay for the military expenses against the Jin Dynasty. I heard that the military expenses of Shaanxi Road are all on our Bashu, and life is hard!"

  Li Yanqing was silent for a moment and asked: "Is the salt and tea at home expensive?"

"Salt tea wine has always been very expensive. Now I go to the mountains to pick wild tea, but I am not allowed to sell it. Wine is also not allowed to be sold. If I make fruit wine for drinking, I will go to jail. Salt is useless. Salt costs several hundred renminbi, so I have to save some.”

  At this time, Hu Qinger picked up more than 20 bamboo wares, the soldiers paid the money, and followed Li Yanqing back to the camp with the bamboo wares.

   "Old man, you were talking nonsense just now. That young man doesn't seem to be an ordinary person. That girl is his entourage. I can see clearly that even the helmet is made of silver."

  The old man regretted that he said too much, but he still insisted: "It doesn't matter, everyone knows what I said, and it's not a secret!"

   Having said that, he still hastily closed the door and gave the old woman a wink, and the two packed up their things and hid in the back room.

Li Yanqing returned to the camp almost silently. It was the first time he heard that there was a tax item of anti-golden military expenses. Each person had a consistent amount of money every year. Chengdu Fulu had a population of five million, so at least five million dollars was collected every year. Last year, the Chengdu government handed over 6 million guan to the Jinglue government, that is to say, except for the anti-gold military expenditure, other taxes were only one million guan. Is this possible?

Land tax, household tax, business tax, exemption money, not to mention the salt, tea, wine, sugar, pig iron and other daily necessities monopolized by the government. The monopoly income of these daily necessities alone is at least 10 million yuan. Where does the money go up?

  Li Yanqing has already realized that this incident may be the handle of Zeng Xiulin.

  At noon the next day, Li Yanqing's team arrived in Chengdu County. Dozens of officials, including the magistrate Zeng Xiulin, the general judge Xu Qingwei, the transshipment envoy Zhang Ji, and the capital commander Hong Zhaonian, went out of the city to welcome the Sichuan-Shaanxi economic envoy and King Li Yanqing.

Zeng Xiulin was about sixty years old, tall and fat, energetic, with a smile on his face anytime and anywhere, and he was very good at controlling the topic. From the gate of the city to the government office, he was almost the only one talking, and the other officials just brought With a polite smile, no one interrupted Zeng Xiulin's words.

   This also shows Zeng Xiulin's strength. In Chengdu Mansion and even Chengdu Mansion Road, he always said what he said.

  Everyone sat down in the government office, Li Yanqing pointed to Zhao Kai and introduced with a smile: "This is our Shaanxi Road Transit Envoy Zhao Shijun, everyone must know him!"

  Everyone showed embarrassment on their faces, Zeng Xiulin laughed dryly and said, "Shijun Zhao met Bole again, congratulations!"

  Zhao Kai snorted coldly, "Zeng Zhifu's care for Zhao, Zhao has always been engraved in his heart."

  The smile on Zeng Xiulin's face finally couldn't hold back anymore, he quickly changed the subject and asked with a smile: "What is the purpose of Li Jinglue coming to Chengdu this time?"

"three things!"

  Li Yanqing smiled slightly and said: "The first thing is my normal inspection. As the envoy of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Economic Strategy, I am ashamed that I have only come to Bashu Third Road until now. This time I mainly visit everyone."

  Everyone laughed and said: "I was saying that when Li Jinglue arrives, he must be punished with three glasses of wine as punishment for not coming to Bashu for a long time."

  Li Yanqing smiled and waved his hands, "Thank you for your kindness. If I have the chance, I will punish myself with three drinks to make amends. However, I am afraid that I am on business and cannot drink. Next time I have a chance!"

   "The second thing about Li Jinglue is."

"The second thing is about the local Xiang army going to Jingzhao for a month of training. As you all know, I don't care too much about Bashu government affairs. This is what the officials mean. They asked me to focus on the military. Army training is a task I must complete this year, there are 8,000 troops in Chengdu Fu Road, how about it, give the other two roads a lead!"

   Zeng Xiulin is actually not interested in military training. Since Li Yanqing admits that he only cares about the military and not politics, Zeng Xiulin has to give Li Yanqing this face. If he refuses directly, it may be difficult to discuss the next topic.

  And this time Li Yanqing only led five hundred female soldiers to the south, which invisibly made him relax his vigilance.

Thinking of this, Zeng Xiulin nodded, and smiled at Commander Hong Zhaonian: "Since it is the task that Li Jinglue is going to complete this year, of course we must support it. Commander Hong can arrange it! Send the Xiang Army to Jingzhao Mansion in a few days. Try to come back before the Chinese New Year."

   "I understand the humble job, and arrange it immediately."

  " Li Yanqing smiled again: "Anyway, the army will **** money and food northward these days, and it happens to be training in Jingzhao Mansion. "

  The hall was immediately silent, and after a while, Zhang Jicai, the transshipment envoy, smiled wryly and said, "To tell the truth from Li Jinglue, the matter of money and food is a bit difficult!"

  Li Yanqing glanced at Zeng Xiulin coldly, "Prefect Zeng, it is already October, but the money and food for the first half of the year have not been sent to us yet, how long does your government plan to delay?"

Zeng Xiulin said with a dry smile: "Li Jinglue doesn't know something, we are very embarrassed about this matter, because the Song and Jin Dynasties negotiated a peace, the imperial court thought it was unnecessary to transfer all the money from Bashu to the northwest, and now the imperial court is arguing about this matter fiercely, we want to wait until there is a conclusion We will depart later."

   "I have never heard of the reduction of money and food. The officials have never told me that the Song and Jin Dynasties can reduce military expenditures. Could it be that the prefect Zeng received the imperial edict from the officials?"

   "The official order has not been received, but the Supreme Emperor's order has been received, asking us to halve the supply of money and food to the Northwest Third Road."

Li Yanqing was stunned, "********* Xiulin nodded, "Although the Supreme Emperor has abdicated, he is still guiding the emperor to govern the country, and our local officials dare not disobey his will. Please Li Jinglue understand us." difficulty. "

Li Yanqing pondered for a long time and said: "Let's do this! You first send me the money and grain for the first half of the year, and then I will ask the officials for instructions. Let's follow the official order of the officials. I can accept it, Prefect Zeng, this plan is not too much!"

  Zeng Xiulin bit his lip and said: "How about I give half first, and owe the other half, and wait until the government's order arrives."

  Li Yanqing shook his head, and continued to bargain: "The Song-Jin negotiation is in May, so you must give all the money before May, and you can give half of the money after the next two months. Even the emperor can't violate the Song-Jin agreement!"

   "Okay then! It's settled like this. First **** 2.5 million coins and 500,000 shi of grain to Jingzhao Mansion, and we will follow the court's arrangement for the rest."

  Zeng Xiulin is still confident. He believes that in this matter, the officials will definitely not be able to compete with the Supreme Emperor.

   "Then we'll make a deal!"

Li Yanqing got up and said with a smile: "My army rested for a long time, and will continue to patrol Zizhou Road tomorrow morning. I will trouble the prefect Zeng to arrange the money and food. I will try my best to go on the road in these two days. It is almost the Chinese New Year, but I still owe military expenses. It's been a little unstable."

   Zeng Xiulin smiled happily: "No problem, I will make preparations today and tomorrow, and I will be on the road the day after tomorrow at the latest. Eight thousand troops will go to Jingzhao Mansion for training by the way."

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end