On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 468 Exploitation and extortion of bribes

In accordance with the instructions of his father Cui Che, Cui Yanzong appointed the veteran general Wang Dangwan as the general manager, and he left Liaodong with his family and returned to Jinyang to report on his duties.

At this time, his brother Cui Qiji was also preparing to leave, but Cui Qiji had his own opinions on the way to return to the court.

After hearing Cui Qiji’s idea, his childhood friend Li Mi objected:

"As the saying goes, scholars, farmers, industry and merchants are well-ordered, and the status of the prince is so noble. Now that he has been ordered to enter the court, how can he pretend to be a merchant along the way? If it spreads, wouldn't it make people in the world laugh at him?

"Even if the Crown Prince is concerned about safety along the way, just bring more guards. Please think twice."

Li Mi was born into a noble family, so he naturally looked down upon traders.

In his opinion, Cui Qiji, as the dignified prince of King Yan, had to disguise himself as a merchant to avoid danger when walking in the Eastern Sui Dynasty. This would also make people laugh at Cui Qiji for being timid.

Of course, Li Mi would not explain this clearly. Li Mi clearly expressed his opposition to Cui Qiji's return to Jinyang as a merchant.

Cui Qiji helplessly explained:

"Xuan Sui is too worried. Now that the world is at peace and thieves are gone, how can I worry about meeting bad people on the way?

"It's just that when I was young, my father once taught me:

"'Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it.'

“‘The people are the water that carries and capsizes the boat, and the people in charge are the boat that crosses the water.

"'Only by going deep into the people can we know the pros and cons of politics, and can we protect our country, our country, and our country.'

"My father has been collecting commercial taxes for some time now. The reason why I disguised myself as a merchant is to take the opportunity to inspect and see the impact of this commercial tax on people's livelihood."

As soon as Cui Qiji finished speaking, Du Ruhui couldn't help but cheer:

"What a saying, 'Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it!'"

He helped Cui Qiji persuade Li Mi:

"Pu Shanggong, what the prince said is reasonable. Even if this matter is spread in the future, people in the world will only praise the prince for understanding the sentiments of the people."

During the reign of Yang Jian, Li Mi inherited the title of his father Li Kuan and was the Duke of Pushan. Later, he defected to his senior brother Cui Che and was given the title of Duke of Pushan. The Eastern Sui Dynasty, which claimed to be the orthodox Sui Dynasty, had to recognize it. Only then did he have Pushan.

A nickname for monkey.

"In this case, the prince cannot pretend to be a hawker and act like a big merchant. Only when he comes and goes is he escorted by a caravan to ensure safety."

Li Mi has obviously been convinced by Cui Qiji's words. Now he is just worried about Cui Qiji's safety.

The two grew up together since childhood. Cui Qiji is the future heir of the Cui Group. Once he takes over the family business in the future, Li Mi's future will naturally be bright.

But if something happened to Cui Qiji, Li Mi would not have an easy life in the future.

Du Ruhui echoed:

"What Pu Shanggong said makes sense, please accept it."

At first, Cui Qiji really wanted to be a peddler and experience the hardships of the small traders, but after some persuasion from the two of them, he finally decided to put his own safety first.

"Just do what you two want."

The next day, Du Ruhui prepared a batch of goods for Cui Qiji. After everything was settled, Cui Qiji asked Du Ruhui to handle the Xuzhou government affairs. Li Mi, the military commander in Xuzhou, asked his personal guards to pretend to be merchant guards and set off north with him.

Princess Nanyang and Cui Qiji were sitting in a carriage. Since their aunt and mother-in-law Yang Lihua sent a letter to Princess Nanyang, the relationship between them has become more harmonious.

Yang Lihua didn't say anything else, she just warned Princess Nanyang that now that she was a mother, she had to think about Cui Bader's everything.

This family fortune will eventually fall to Cui Qiji. No matter how much Cui Che dotes on Cui Badger, Cui Qiji still has to choose the third generation heir.

What if Cui Qiji hates his eldest son because of their bad relationship as husband and wife, and decides to abolish the eldest son and establish a younger son, and abolish the direct descendant and establish a concubine?

This sentence can be regarded as awakening Princess Nanyang. From then on, no matter whether there was any resentment in her heart, in the eyes of outsiders, they were just a husband and a wife.

Cui Qiji ran frequently to Princess Nanyang's yard at night.

Sitting in a carriage with the two of them was a Xi tribe woman holding a baby girl in her arms.

This woman is the daughter of Ahui Lusu. Ahui was pregnant and gave birth to a daughter. The messenger traveled all the way to Jinyang to announce the good news. Cui Che was also very happy and immediately sent someone out to share the good news.

To Ahui Lusu.

On this trip north, Cui Qiji did not alert the local officials. He indeed passed various customs as a merchant.

Even though he was asked for bribes and made things difficult for him along the way, he did not reveal his identity. Instead, he secretly wrote down those tax collectors who ignored the law, and planned to report them all to his father when he arrived in Jinyang.

When the caravan arrived in Jinyang, Cui Qiji estimated the goods he brought based on the local market price in Jinyang and found that he could only make a small profit.

The root cause lies in the duplication of taxation by local customs.

Although Cui Che has repeatedly stated that no double taxation is allowed, there are policies from above and countermeasures from below. Tax collectors in various places did not repeatedly collect the 2% tax, but the tax collectors were just officers who would always pass on a small part when inspecting goods.

, summarize it as loss.

In fact, even if they themselves were corrupt, the more customs Cui Qiji had to go through, the fewer the goods, even if he didn't make a single transaction.

Some daring tax collectors openly demanded bribes, which was also an issue that made Cui Qiji angry.

If you don't send them away with money, these people will always use the excuse that there is a problem with the goods to prevent you from passing the customs. What's more, they will actually withhold the goods until the merchants are afraid of missing the trading time and cannot afford to delay, so they have to use money to clear the way.

.

"Husband, why should you be angry with the dead?"

Princess Nanyang comforted her by saying that in her opinion, those tax collectors and servants were no different from dead people, and there was no need to be angry with them.

Cui Qiji sighed:

"The thing I complain about is not this, but that in order to prevent tax collectors from exploiting business travelers, my father secretly sent spies from the Observation Department to monitor him. In this situation, I am afraid that the people in the Observation Department will also get a share of the profits. When I return,

After arriving in Jinyang, I must let my father take action to deal with them."

On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month in the first year of Zhenyuan, Cui Qiji, who had changed his outfit since entering the Taiyuan Basin, finally arrived in Jinyang before New Year's Eve.

There is convenient water and land transportation from Xuzhou to Jinyang. According to Cui Che's inherent experience, Cui Qiji should have arrived long ago, but he even arrived later than Cui Yanzong.

Cui Che was unhappy at first, thinking that his eldest son was being lazy and not taking his orders seriously.

However, after Cui Qiji explained, Cui Che turned from anger to joy, patted Cui Qiji on the shoulder and praised:

"It is a great comfort to my father that you have such a heart."

(End of chapter)