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Chapter 205 Inspecting Zhangjiakou

(PS: Let’s strive for two updates today, but not sure.)
Young Master Zhang turned out to be more greedy than expected, and most of the eight locust merchants were overjoyed at this moment. They decided that it was only a matter of time before they settled Young Master Zhang, and the re-prosperity of Zhangjiakou’s black market trade was no longer a dream. They discussed how much money should be spent to completely buy Young Master Zhang over, or to buy Young Master Zhang as a shareholder, and directly kidnap Young Master Zhang into his smuggling chariot. ——Of course, there are also one or two locust merchants who have learned that Young Master Zhang does not engage in conspiracies and schemes, and are uncomfortable with his reputation. They still have doubts, fearing that this is another trick of Young Master Zhang to deceive innocent locust merchants.

Of course, Fan Yongdou was among the suspicious locust merchants. Fan Yongdou, who had the closest and closest hookup with Jiannu, was extremely wary of Young Master Zhang from the very beginning. Therefore, no matter how greedy and money-loving Young Master Zhang is, or how harmless he is to humans and animals, Fan Yongdou dare not take it lightly, and the same is true of Wang Dengku, who was recruited by Young Master Zhang and involved in the musket theft case.It is precisely because of this that the eight major locust merchants still dare not confide in Young Master Zhang, let alone rush to pull Young Master Zhang into the chariot, but carefully pay Young Master Zhang to go west along the official road to the capital leading to Yanghe Must pass through Zhangjiakou for inspection, and at the same time discuss how to further test Young Master Zhang.

Next, let’s introduce the situation of Zhangjiakou. During the Ming Dynasty, Zhangjiakou was a fortress of the Great Wall. It is located in the northwest of Xuanfu Town. It is the throat of Xuanfu leading to Datong. Between the mountains is an extremely important pass of the Great Wall, but what really makes Zhangjiakou famous is the prosperous foreign trade in Zhangjiakou, which is the most prosperous in the north of the Jianghuai River.As early as 30 A.D., the 1970th year of Emperor Shizong’s Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty, Zhangjiakou opened the first horse market in the Ming Dynasty for trade with Mongolian tribes. The officials exchanged materials such as cloth cauldrons for horses, cattle, sheep and furs rich in Mongolian grasslands. In 40.00 AD, the fourth year of Emperor Muzong of the Ming Dynasty, Ida, the leader of the Tatars, surrendered and was entrusted with the title. Zhangjiakou was opened up as the place where the Mongolian and Chinese exchanges traded, allowing private firms to trade directly with the Mongolian tribes, and established Zhangjiakou’s prosperity for hundreds of years in one fell swoop. Basics——The Zhangjiakou border market has a huge trade volume, and even within a short period of one year after its opening, the price of war horses in the whole country of Ming Dynasty was lowered by 41%!And in [-] AD, the [-]st year of Wanli Emperor of Ming Dynasty, Laiyuan Fort was built on the north side of Zhangjiakou Fort to meet the ever-expanding trade in the border market. The Tatar tribes in the Qin and Horqin Grasslands were forced to change their trading ports to Zhangjiakou, and Zhangjiakou’s border market trade was more prosperous. According to historical records: there are thousands of tents in the dome outside Laiyuan Fort, row upon row of paving, merchants gather, and the world is the best. !
It is a pity that at the same time that one after another businessmen from all over the country flocked to the border market of Zhangjiakou with the dream of becoming rich in business, a hungry wolf with an appetite as big as a bottomless pit had already set its sights on this prosperous city. The border city that has been around for decades......

"It's a great place!" Young Master Zhang, who had an appetite as big as a bottomless pit, stood on the gate tower of Zhangjiakou's closed wall. He saw the densely packed yurts and cow and sheepskin tents outside the closed wall in the wind and snow, and saw those densely packed like ants standing against the wind. The Han and Mongolian merchants and motorcade porters who were hawking and shouting in the snow, Young Master Zhang couldn’t help but sigh with emotion, “It’s really a good place. When I was in Jimen, I thought that the border markets of Xifengkou and Gubeikou were already developed and prosperous. When I went to Zhangjiakou today, I realized what it means to sit in a well and watch the sky, and what it means to be arrogant."

"Damn it, if it weren't for you coming to Xuanda, Zhangjiakou used to be several times more prosperous than it is now." The eight locust merchants and all the Xuanfu officials present murmured together.Young Master Zhang waved his hand and called Liu Yongzuo, the magistrate of the Xuanfu, to the front, pointing to the border market and asked: "Master Liu, how do you manage so many merchants? And how are taxes collected?"

"Master Hui Xiantai, the Zhangjiakou border market is managed in this way." Liu Yongzuo explained respectfully and carefully: "The warehouses for storing goods in Zhangjiakou's various Han businessmen are all located in Zhangjiakou Fort, and the main trading place is in the north of Zhangjiakou. To Yuanbao, each Han Chinese firm shipped a batch of goods from the Zhangjiakoubao warehouse to Yuanbao for sale, and had to pay taxes according to the quantity of goods at the north gate of Zhangjiakou; When entering Zhangjiakou Fort, you have to pay taxes according to the quantity before closing the door, and at the same time accept the inspection of our Zhangjiakou garrison in the Ming Dynasty. In addition to temporarily storing goods that have been taxed, coming to Yuanbao for trading and trading also has another role to be stationed and managed. The army protecting the border city is necessary to close the fort gates to resist the Tatar cavalry who invaded the border city. This has another advantage, that is, it reduces the entry of Mongolian merchants, and even if there is a problem with Yuanbao, Zhangjiakou can The pass is safe and sound."

"What should we do if we encounter such a situation? If a company shipped a batch of goods from Zhangjiakou out of the customs and paid taxes, but did not sell them in Laiyuanbao and shipped them back to Zhangjiakou for storage, how would the taxes on these goods be handled? " Young Master Zhang asked.Liu Yongzuo replied respectfully: "Master Hui Xiantai, if you encounter such a situation, when the unsold goods are transported back to Zhangjiakou, you will make a note on the official document for paying taxes on this batch of goods, and we will ship these goods next time." Once shipped out of the customs, there is no need to pay taxes.”

"No need to pay taxes anymore?" Young Master Zhang smiled and said in his heart that if this happens, the tricks in the middle will become more complicated. No wonder there are policies and countermeasures.Although he understood that there was something tricky about it, Young Master Zhang was not in a hurry to get to the bottom of it. He just changed the subject and asked, "Then, are the goods stored in Zhangjiakou Pass by various Han merchants regularly inspected?"

"Master Hui Xiantai, of course you need to check regularly." Liu Yongzuo replied with a smile on his face: "In order to prevent unscrupulous businessmen from smuggling prohibited materials, the Zhangjiakou garrison not only strictly checks all kinds of goods entering and leaving the gate, the garrison generals and local Officials will check all kinds of goods stored in Zhangjiakou Pass City regularly and from time to time—as well as low-level officials, they will come to Zhangjiakou Border City every once in a while to carefully check whether there is any smuggling and tax evasion.” Speaking of this, Liu Yongzuo asked more respectfully. He said: "Lord Xiantai, if you are interested, the next official can accompany you to strictly inspect all kinds of goods stored by the major companies in Zhangjiakou."

"Forget it, don't need to be so troublesome, I trust you. Besides, I have to go to Yanghe to take over in a hurry. Time is urgent, so there is no delay." Young Master Zhang waved his hand seemingly magnanimously, and suddenly pointed to Yuan Lai Yuanbao said: "Well, I come to Yuanbao to take a look around. Zhangjiakou is just a warehouse, and there is a market. I have to go to the market to have a closer look."

"This kid really isn't simple." The Eight Locust Merchants, Liu Yongzuo, Zhangjiakou Deputy General Sun Shangzhi and others all sank in their hearts, knowing that the goods stored in the warehouse are easy to be faked and perfunctory, and the trading market is the easiest place to find problems—— Randomly finding out several hundred catties of private salt without official stamps is enough to make a firm's nerves hurt!But the notorious Young Master Zhang opened his mouth, and the civil and military officials in Zhangjiakou did not dare to shirk, they just respectfully led Young Master Zhang off the wall and led the way to Yuanbao for inspection.

Outside Laiyuan Castle, there are small merchants doing small-value trade. There are many merchants but the transaction volume is actually pitifully small. Of course, Young Master Zhang will not deliberately waste time, and led his personal team directly into Laiyuan Castle. After the inspection of the market on the commercial street where the big shops and merchants are located.After arriving at the scene, Young Master Zhang jumped off his horse and led his personal troops into a shop that specializes in selling tea bricks - Fan Yongdou's shop, looking around.The Mongolian businessman, who was buying tea bricks in the store, wondered who this handsome young man was, but after hearing Fan Yongdou's introduction, he knew that the young man in front of him was the one who killed the Karaqin Grassland and Horqin. When the blood flowed like a river in the grassland, Zhang Damowang, the Mongolian businessman was so frightened that he didn’t dare to buy tea bricks. Please come here, I have something to ask you."

The Mongolian businessman has been doing business in Han for a long time, and he can understand Chinese. Seeing that Young Master Zhang pointed at him, the Mongolian businessman didn't dare to run away. The tribal businessman, Ba Benmu, has met Mr. Zhang, Governor Xuanda of the Ming Dynasty."

"You speak Chinese well, do you often come to Zhangjiakou for business?" Young Master Zhang asked with a smile.The Mongolian businessman nodded in acknowledgment, and Young Master Zhang asked kindly, "How is the business? Are the goods from Zhangjiakou enough for you? Is the price suitable?"

"Go back to Governor, thanks to the Ming court, my business is pretty good." Seeing that Young Master Zhang is not as vicious as in the legend, the Mongolian businessman became more courageous, and honestly replied: "The goods here in Zhangjiakou are very sufficient. We can buy whatever we want, but the price of the goods fluctuates too much, and the price changes almost every time.”

Hearing these words from the Mongolian businessman, Fan Yongdou’s face turned pale—the Hongjilat tribe is a staunch supporter of Lin Dan, has an alliance with the Ming court, and has the right to buy legal goods from the border market, so there is no need to buy Zhangjiakou The accounts of the eight major locust merchants dare to tell the truth.As expected, Young Master Zhang asked: "The price of the goods has changed too much? How did it change? Rise or fall?"

"Back to the governor, sometimes it rises, sometimes it falls, but it rises more often." The Mongolian businessman also knew that his tribe is now in an alliance with the Ming court, so he said directly: "For example, this Jiangnan tea brick , the last time I came here, the price of each tea brick was still six cents of silver, only three months later, and now it has risen to nine cents of silver. 15 taels and one piece (16 taels per catty on an ancient scale)."

"It has risen so much?" Young Master Zhang was a little surprised, turned to Fan Yongdou and asked, "Shopkeeper Fan, why did your tea bricks rise so much? The price has increased by half in just three months, and the portion has decreased?"

"It's not your little mad dog's fault! Official tea has to be taxed and the cost is high. The tea bricks with a ration of one catty are shipped from the south of the Yangtze River, and of course they have to be depleted (the water evaporates). Private tea does not need to be taxed. Of course the price is low and the portion is sufficient!" Fan Yongdou roared in his heart, but he didn't dare to show it on his face, he just replied with a smile: "Master Hui Xiantai, the reason is this, tea is only produced in spring and summer, three months ago The price of tea is of course cheap, and the weather in autumn and winter is dry, so the consumption of tea will be great, so in winter, the price of tea bricks will increase, and the portion will be less. But please rest assured, Mr. Xiantai and this Mongolian guest official. When spring and summer come, the price of tea will drop."

"Is that so?" Young Master Zhang turned to the other locust merchants suspiciously and asked.Several locust merchants nodded together, and replied with an apologetic smile: "Master Hui Xiantai, that's exactly the truth." Only the Mongolian merchant was a little unconvinced, but considering that the eight most powerful locust merchants in Zhangjiakou were in front of him, and he was a The Mongols, Young Master Zhang and the Eight Great Locust Merchants are all Han Chinese, and finally swallowed some words back to their stomachs.

"Under special circumstances, just be patient." Young Master Zhang patted the Mongolian businessman on the shoulder with a pun, then turned to Fan Yongdou with a smile and said, "Shopkeeper Fan, since I'm here, let's check your business name by the way." Is it okay to purchase the tea brick official here and pay the tax certificate?"

"No problem, no problem." Fan Yongdou agreed without hesitation, and quickly asked the shopkeeper of the tea house to show the receipt and tax payment voucher to Young Master Zhang for inspection.Young Master Zhang has been an official for two generations, of course he understands that it is impossible to find out any real evidence in this kind of situation, he just flipped through it by the way and stuffed it back to Fan Yongdou, nodding very satisfied, commending Fan Yongdou's legal tax payment behavior, and finally He proposed to go to Fan Yongdou's warehouse to take a look, but Fan Yongdou dared not refuse, so he had to lead Young Master Zhang into the warehouse behind the tea house to check the tea bricks placed in the warehouse.And Young Master Zhang also put on a posture of deliberately finding fault very bluntly. As soon as he entered the warehouse, he pointed to a small boss who was watching the warehouse and said: "You, bring someone to give me the goods piled outside. Move it down, I want to see the goods buried inside."

"You are..." The ordinary-looking guy looked up and down at Young Master Zhang, as if he didn't quite understand why the high official in front of him asked him to carry the goods.Fan Yongdou hurried forward and shouted: "What are you still doing? This is our newly appointed governor, Xuan Da. Whatever he tells you, you do."

"Yes, yes." The head of the small team was so frightened that his whole body trembled, he bowed deeply to Master Zhang, and hurriedly led the other team leaders to carry the tea bricks in a hurry, while Master Zhang opened the innermost tea brick container, carefully Check whether there is a stamp number of the government on the tea brick.Taking advantage of Young Master Zhang's inspection, Fan Yongdou took a few steps back and whispered to Huang Yunlong and other locust merchants next to him, "The posture is not good. It seems that if there are some problems in the inspection today, he will not stop. According to the original plan Find a company that is not in the right direction and has problems with us, find out for him, and see how he handles it."

"Don't worry, everything is ready." Huang Yunlong replied in a low voice: "It's next to your cloth shop, a silk and satin shop opened last year. There is a batch of silk in the warehouse that has not been taxed. Just take him over there in a while. can be found out.”

"Do you have any background?" Fan Yongdou asked again.Huang Yunlong replied: "I heard that there is a relative who is an official in the capital, but he has never shown up, so it is probably not very reliable."

"Well, let him do it. But let's not take it ourselves, let Liu Yongzuo and Sun Shangzhi take it." Fan Yongdou nodded and ordered, and then stood back to his original place, while Huang Yunlong whispered in the ears of Liu Yongzuo and others.At this time, Young Master Zhang also stopped the inspection, clapped his hands and said with a smile: "That's right, there are government stamps on the innermost tea-bricks, Master Fan is indeed a law-abiding businessman of Ming Dynasty." He patted the head of the small team at the beginning, and said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, work hard, and put the tea brick back to its original place."

The guy in the squad leader agreed, and hurried to move the goods in a hurry.Young Master Zhang waved his hand and said: "My lords, shopkeepers, we don't have much time, let's just go out and look at a few random shops." Liu Yongzuo and others agreed with a smile, and while leading the way for Young Master Zhang, they asked: "Xiantai My lord, what kind of industry do you want to see again?"

"Of course it's the grain store, the silk store and the salt store. These three are the most prone to problems." Young Master Zhang replied casually.Liu Yongzuo, Sun Shangzhi and others agreed, and hurriedly led Young Master Zhang to the street, all the way to the area where the silk and satin shops were concentrated, and let Young Master Zhang inspect at will. Two silk and satin factories are next to each other, which one would Mr. Xiantai want to visit?"

"Fan Ji Silk and Satin Factory? Wu Ji Silk and Satin Factory?" Young Master Zhang glanced at the signboards of the two silk and satin factories, and said with a smile: "I just saw the tea shop of Fan Da shopkeeper, there is no problem at all, don't waste time now, go Take a look at the silk and satin shop surnamed Wu."

"I would like to abide by the constitutional order of Lord Xiantai." Liu Yongzuo, Sun Shangzhi, and others who originally planned to let Fanji silk and satin shop employees act as good citizens to report tax evasion and evasion behaviors were overjoyed. Dare to open Wuji silk and satin shop next door to Fan Yongdou, and shouted sharply: "Where is the shopkeeper? The government checks the account books and tax bills!"

"Come on, come on." Accompanied by a greasy promise, two young businessmen who smelled of alcohol, blushed and had thick necks, and were about the same age as Young Master Zhang ran out. One of them smiled and said to Sun Shangzhi: "Grassman Wu Erhua, I have met the General." As he spoke, the young businessman flicked his sleeves and dropped out a few bone Pai Gows.Another young businessman immediately jumped three feet high, grabbed Wu Erhua's neck and shouted: "You, Wu Erhua, who had his head cut off with a thousand knives, no wonder you won money from me, so you are cheating again!"

"Fart, who is cheating? I just heard the general call me, so I just put the dominoes in my sleeve!"

"Fart! Look at your own hand—you are still holding the deck of cards just now!" Roaring, a domino suddenly fell out of the belt of the young businessman who was filled with righteous indignation...

"Ma Jun, you son of a bitch, you've been messing around for a long time and you're also doing something—!"

(End of this chapter)