A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 50 Silver Scales
Wang Dou and the others entered from Nanguanbao City. When entering the pass, the sergeant guarding the pass checked the badges of Wang Dou and the others, and said in a low voice, "Wang Dou?"

He seemed to think of something, looked at Wang Dou carefully, and then waved for Wang Dou and others to enter.

After passing through Guancheng, in front of you is Ying'en Gate, the southern gate of Zhoucheng. On the city wall stands a tall tower. Near the gate, there is also a tall archway with three characters "Politics and Education Square" written on it.There are many memorial archways in Baoan City, and archways like this are everywhere.

There are a lot of people entering the city, especially the households who transport grain into the city to pay for food.Wang Dou and others also entered the South Street of Zhoucheng.

Compared with Jingbian Fort, Dongjiazhuang, and Shunxiang Fort, the city of Baoanzhou is naturally much more prosperous. Qingshiban Street is lined with signs of hotels, inns, and groceries, and there are many more beautiful things that cannot be seen in other forts. Girl, let a group of country bumpkins be dazzled.However, the streets are full of refugees and beggars, which reminds us of the current unrest.

Baoanzhou city is divided into two corners and six squares, with three streets in the east, west and south.The Bao'an state government is in the city of Xunyu, and the Beihuang warehouse is also in the state government.Among the few people, Gao Shiyin was the most familiar with Zhoucheng, and under his leadership, everyone headed towards Baoanzhouzhi.

At the intersection of South Street and East Street, there is a big market square at the intersection, with three big characters "Chengenfang" written on it.On the opposite side of the street, there is also a tall Drum Tower, called Wenchang Pavilion by the locals. The height of the building is nearly 30 meters. Standing on the upper floor, you can see the whole situation of Baoanzhou City.

Han Chao, Han Zhong, and Zhong Tiaoyang all looked at the Drum Tower, Wang Dou was also full of admiration, and Gao Shiyin said proudly: "This Wenchang Pavilion is dedicated to tell the time, but there is a new restaurant inside, and the food and drink tastes good. , adults, after the matter is over, I invite you to have a drink inside."

Han Zhong was very happy, he shouted: "Gao Man, you said that."

Gao Shiyin's eyes widened: "My boss, will I still lie to you?"

The few of them happily discussed what to eat later, while Wang Dou was attracted by a voice next to him.

But in a cloth shop next to it, a man was bargaining with the owner of the shop, and the two had been discussing for a long time.The man was nearly fifty years old, with a handsome face, three long beards, a square flat scarf, and a straight Confucian shirt. Although it was old, it was washed very clean. He looked like a scholar.

With a piece of cloth in his hand, he just asked the shopkeeper to make it cheaper.

The shop owner felt a little helpless: "Oh, Mr. Fu, my lord's cloth is already very cheap, and I want to buy it too. If you bargain like this, I won't make any money."

Mr. Fu just smiled and said: "Shop, if it is cheaper, Fu will buy it."

His voice is thick and magnetic, and it is very pleasant to listen to.

The owner of the shop was already thirsty, he shook his head helplessly, and said: "Well, since you are also a scholar, this cloth should be a penny cheaper, not much more."

Mr. Fu smiled and said, "Thank you very much."

He took out the money from his pocket, counted it very carefully, handed the money to the shopkeeper, and happily left with the cloth.

The owner of the shop looked at the leaving figure of the literati, sighed and said, "This Mr. Fu is also a student of our state school, why is he so shy?"

A few shop owners nearby said: "Old Sun, don't stand behind Mr. Fu. Mr. Fu is rare and honest. He never accepts money from students and does not go out to make money. Without these sources , He is a state student who studies Zheng, and the money and rice is only a few buckets a month, if he is not careful, how will he live?"

Several people sighed.

Wang Dou's heart moved, Mr. Fu, is Confucianism in Baoanzhou right?
He remembered that Xu Zhongjun, the defense officer of Shun Township Fort, had a good relationship with Zhou Confucianism Zhengfu Mingqi, could it be this person in front of him?
Seeing Mr. Fu, Wang Dou suddenly thought about the education of the children in Jingbian Fort. There are dozens of young children in the fort now, so it is time to find some gentlemen to teach them how to read and write.

……

Over there, Han Zhong, Gao Shiyin and the others finally discussed what to eat later. After checking the sky, Wang Dou took them to the Baoan Prefecture Yamen in the southeast of the city.

This Bao'an state government office was built during the Yongle period, and it has been going on for a long time. In addition to the ancient custom of officials not repairing the government office, it looks quite old at this time.There is a flat square in front of the state government office, and the bluestone floor on it is also worn out with potholes.

At this time, the square was full of people who came to accept silver. Some guards carried water, fire and wooden sticks to patrol back and forth in front of the state government office, and some strong men stood not far away with knives and guns to patrol.

Let Zhong Tiaoyang take care of the horses in the back, while Wang Dou, Han Chao, Han Zhong, Gao Shiyin squeezed over to watch.

I saw several silver cabinets under the steps of the state government office, and a few tables beside the silver cabinets, and a few small officials were holding silver scales, pressing the account letters of each household one by one. Register in the register, then weigh and exchange their banknotes, and finally issue their wallets, roll them one by one and put the wallets into the silver cabinet, and a small official will issue a receipt in duplicate. The tax bank has been paid.

Wang Dou saw the clues. When each household released the silver and exchanged it, there were about two types of wallets, one with white seals and the other with red seals.It seems that the poor and small households use white seals, while the gentry and large households use red seals.Those who use red seals seem to save a lot of fire and miscellaneous costs.Most of the people present used white seals, few used red seals, and most of the people who got red seals were stewards or domestic slaves of big gentry households.When they got the red envelopes, these people were very proud.

Han Chao looked at it for a while, and suddenly whispered next to Wang Dou: "There is something wrong with the silver scale."

Wang Dou was stunned, following Han Chao's explanation, he really saw the clues, and saw that the other hand seemed to be gently sweeping or holding the silver scales in their hands when the small officials were weighing and exchanging silver. , The weight of the silver on the scale immediately decreased a lot, and then the petty official yelled and cursed loudly, and the tenants in front of him were dumbfounded, so they had to pay more tax money.

And there seems to be something wrong with the Fama on the silver scale.

When such a situation occurs when a small official weighs the silver, the general solution is at a loss, and they only know that when they pay the silver, they are indeed short, and make up for it in fear.Some people knew that those petty officials were cheating, but they could only swallow their anger, with a bitter look on their faces, and did not dare to say anything.

Looking at their appearance, the officials just snickered at each other.

The officials were as slippery as oil, Wang Dou evaluated in his heart, according to his estimation, if the households paid a total of 100 taels of tax silver, and only tampered with this silver scale, these officials could embezzle up to seven or eight taels of money. How much, if the tax silver is tens of thousands of taels, how much is this?This phenomenon must be common in all parts of Ming Dynasty.

After all kinds of exploitation, the people's livelihood became more and more difficult, and the rule of Ming Dynasty was largely caused by these low-level officials.

……

Wang Dou took out his private household stickers and went to accept the silver. Gao Shiyin and Han Zhong immediately stepped forward and squeezed out a few private households for Wang Dou to jump in line. .Seeing the tall and burly faces of the surrounding people, the ragged people dared to be angry and dared not speak up.

At this time, the little clerk at the desk left suddenly, and then a middle-aged clerk came in. Wang Dou saw it and called out, "Uncle Qi."

It turned out that the scribe was none other than Qi Guan, the governor of Baoan Prefecture. At the beginning of the year, he had sold some state government land to himself with Jiang An, the head of Sangganli.Seeing Wang Dou, Qi Guan was also a little surprised, he said with a smile all over his face: "It turns out that it is the nephew Wang, and the nephew came to the state government today to pay for food?"

He looked affectionate. At the beginning of the year, he sold the land to Wang Dou along with Jiang An, and got some benefits, so he had a good impression of Wang Dou.

Wang Dou responded, and Qi Guan gave instructions to a small official next to him. The small official said that the silver scale that was not in his hand during the exchange was a trick, but then he said in a low voice: "Nephew, Uncle Shi can only do this. As usual, the subsequent consumption of fire and miscellaneous silver is indispensable."

Fire consumption and miscellaneous expenses have always been the small coffers and gray income of officials and servants in various places in Ming Dynasty. tax multiples.

Naturally, Wang Dou knew that the fire and miscellaneous expenses were related to the interests of many officials in the state government. Although Guan Qi was a bureaucrat, he did not dare to challenge such unspoken rules. of."

But Han Zhong and Gao Shiyin next to him were furious when they heard this. They were about to step forward, but Wang Dou stopped them with his eyes.

……

After Xie Yin said the exchange, Qi Guan gave Wang Dou a red-sealed wallet, and under the envious eyes of the surrounding households, Wang Dou threw the wallet into the cabinet and received the receipt.

Then he came to Qi Guan's side and whispered to him: "Uncle Qi Shi, please help me with something."

Speaking of gently putting a silver coin into his hand, Qi Guan pinched his hand lightly, feeling that there were about one or two silver coins in his hand, his eyes lit up.

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Old White Bull: This chapter is updated a little late, sorry.There is another chapter in the evening, which will be published before twelve o'clock.

(End of this chapter)