I'm really not the carpenter emperor

"This matter, you have to give an explanation!"

Kou Shen rolled his eyes when he heard the words, and thought to himself that this is the new policy of the imperial court, and the supervisory department takes over the power, you think this is something your own senses can intervene.

"Since I went to Hirado to trade, my Li family's boat has never been taxed so heavily!"

"Just one docking tax is several times more than last year's entire tax payment. What kind of thing is the supervisory department, dare to do this?"

"On the way here, I also saw that Tiqi demolished Sanyuanfang Academy, and a bunch of students gathered at the door, crying and crying, what is it like!"

"It's only been a few months. Has this Ming changed?"

Li Dan was born as a rough man, and he didn't talk about etiquette, Kou Shen frowned when he heard it, and felt a headache when he thought that it was still the work of the supervisory department.

These days, there have been more than one troubles caused by businessmen caused by the supervision department.

"Captain Li, the imperial court has issued a new policy. The canal tariffs will be increased by [-]%. The supervision department is specially set up to investigate the collusion between officials and businessmen..."

After listening to him, Li Dan sneered a few times.

"Specially investigate the collusion between officials and businessmen, thanks to the imperial court can figure it out!"

"What should we do about this matter? Master Fu, you have to give me an explanation. I have a hundred or so boats under my command, but they are still waiting at the pier to deliver goods to the Hirado clan!"

"The business over there has already been negotiated, and it's stuck here. This matter will never end!"

"What did you ship?" Suddenly, Kou Shen asked.

"35 boats of white sugar, five boats of Qinan, thirty boats of musk, six boats of buckskin..." After finishing speaking, Li Dan asked:

"Why are you asking this?"

"With such a large amount of goods, it will be troublesome if it comes to the supervisor." Kou Shen stood up and said, "The 280 taels of docking tax is probably just the beginning."

Hearing what Kou Shen said, Li Dan also realized the seriousness of the matter.

The [-]% increase in tariffs does not change much for ordinary small businessmen. They have fewer goods and fewer ships, and many of them can't even get quotations, and they can't charge much more.

But for a maritime merchant like himself who wants to do large-scale overseas trade, this tax is on point.

I often have to go to sea for trade, and I charge this every time. Isn't this the same as blatantly stealing money?

Chapter 45 The Death of Wei Liangqing

After all, it was a matter of money in his own pocket, so Li Dan could only listen patiently.

This time, the supervision department wants the Li family to pay taxes, in addition to the tax introduction, there are three other types and countless small types.

First, the ship tax.

As the name suggests, this is a tax levied according to the size of the hull, and must be paid regardless of the north-south water transportation or export business.

This time the Li family returned to Daming to transport and sell goods to the Hirado clan of the Wa Kingdom, and what they had to pay was the export ship tax.

The standard of the supervisory department is that if the width of the boat is less than [-] feet, [-] taels of silver will be collected, and if it exceeds [-] feet, an extra [-] taels of silver will be charged for every extra foot.

Second, price tax.

This is an ad valorem tax levied by the supervisory department based on the value of the goods, and the Li family needs to pay the import price tax.

After the goods arrive in Suzhou, the Supervision Department will send people to check, and the tax will be levied according to the value of the goods. The tax rate was originally [-]%.

After Zhu Youxiao issued an imperial decree, it was directly raised to 5.00%.

Third, additional taxes.

Luzon had been reduced to a colony during the Wanli period, and it was a trade transshipment point between the West and Ming Dynasty. The Hirado Domain of the Japanese Kingdom also gathered cargo ships.

Ming maritime merchants shipped silk, tea, and porcelain to Luzon and the Hirado domain to sell to overseas merchants, earning a high price difference.

Luzon has nothing worth shipping back to the country for sale. Maritime merchants often return home with empty ships, resulting in the government not being able to collect import price taxes.

But the Wa Kingdom is different. Whether the Li family transports goods from Daming to the Wa Kingdom for sale, or brings the Wa Kingdom goods back to sell from the Hirado Domain, they can make huge profits.

In addition, silk and porcelain are very popular in the West, and the prices are high, so it is relatively easy for maritime merchants to make money.

Therefore, since the first year of Tianqi, the Supervision Department has imposed an additional import price tax, and the method is even more simple and rude, directly charging 180 taels for each large ship and 80 taels for small ships.

After hearing this, Li Dan's face turned pale, and he suddenly stood up and said:

"Based on this charge, my Li family has not earned any money from this shipment, so I have to pay so much tariffs first?"

As he said that, he suddenly turned his head and looked coldly, and said, "Master Fu, you can't decide this matter, can you?"

Kou Shen nodded helplessly, and sighed: "Captain Li, listen to the old man's persuasion, you should pay the tax you should pay."

"The backstage of the supervisory department is in the supervisor of ceremonies, so it's not so easy to mess with!"

"Inspector of Rituals? If I remember correctly, Wang An is the one who is in charge of the Supervisor of Rituals, right?" After saying that, Li Dan snorted coldly and walked away in a huff.

Although this trip did not solve the problem, it was not in vain. Li Dan made it clear about the ins and outs of the matter and why the Supervising Department stared at him.

In Wei Liangqing's eyes, feelings are like a big piece of fat!

Why don't you just come and fight, if you dare to snatch food from the tiger's mouth, you won't be able to survive!

……

Six days later, merchants were busy at Suzhou Wharf.

At noon, a group of tyrants and riders came.

Knowing that the Li family is very powerful, ordinary officials avoid the Li family's fleet, but Tiqi has found the right purpose and came straight to the Li family's fleet.

Facing the vicious Tiqi, Zheng Yiguan had no fear, and said, "Uncle, Fangou is here!"

Li Dan seemed to have a plan in mind, he smiled slightly and said: "One official, don't worry, we will see a good show."

On this day, the sky was gloomy and windy.

Walking on the road with Tiqi, Wei Liangqing found that at this moment, it was raining lightly in the sky.

He frowned, looked at the crowds gathered on both sides, and thought that this was not a good omen.

"What are you looking at?" A Tiqi threateningly said, "What does it have to do with the tax collection of the supervisory department!"

When we got to the pier, there were more people besieging the street, and even the people from the fleet looked at it maliciously.

Someone was sitting on the bow, sharpening a sharp knife one by one.

This bizarre situation made the Tiqis a little nervous. They secretly held the sharp knife at their waists and winked at each other.

Wei Liangqing and his party managed to reach the Li family's fleet, but the crowd had already blocked the way back, and the shouting and cursing became more and more intense.

Seeing Li Dan, Zheng Yiguan and others standing on the bow of the boat more than ten steps away from him, Wei Liangqing wiped off his sweat and bravely walked over.

Unexpectedly, when they arrived at the side of a cargo ship of the Li family, a strong man with a knife jumped out and blocked the way.

From the looks of it, it should be the servant who went to sea with the Li family.

He only heard him say: "Today's human condition is so good, isn't the Supervising Department afraid of the anger of the public and cause chaos?"

Wei Liangqing regretted that he didn't bring too many people, and was also afraid of accidents in his heart, so he answered vaguely and continued to walk towards Li Dan.

The man didn't chase after him, he just folded his arms around his chest and stood behind watching the Tiqis pass him by.

After a while, a scholar among the people gathered in the rear shouted loudly: "Fangou followed Quan Xie, deceived the saints, and raised taxes for no reason!"

"The people's hearts are like this today, why don't you report the news according to the facts, and ask the emperor to show mercy!!"

Seeing the scholars mixed in the crowd, confusing the audience, the Tiqi were even more annoyed, one of them turned back, walked towards the scholars and said loudly:

"What does today's matter have to do with scholars? It has been a practice since ancient times to collect taxes from businessmen. How dare you bother the Holy Son of Heaven to ask questions!"

Another Tiqi turned around and said: "Where are the scholars? If you dare to say a lie again, you will lock them up and go down to prison. I'll see if you still dare to make noise!"

In addition, there were two other cavalry who directly drew out their sharp knives at their waists, intending to use the back of their knives to beat the scholars who followed closely behind.

"The Supervising Department will check the goods, and get out of the way quickly!"

Seeing this scene, Li Dan standing on the boat smiled coldly.

Check the goods?It's beautiful to think about.

The scholars who had colluded with the Li family's fleet in the early days were also very daring because of the strong wind today, so they rushed up directly and scuffled with Tiqi.

The Tiqi didn't expect that the scholars had planned this time, intending to resist the imperial court.

A scholar with his sleeves folded, furious, rushed out from the crowd, and snatched the sharp knife from Tiqi's waist.

Seeing this, the rest of the scholars rushed forward one after another.

At this moment, there was a loud thunder in the sky, causing even more chaos. The fleet of merchants in the pier also took advantage of the situation to join in, chasing and beating Tiqi everywhere.

A scholar put a knife on the neck of a Tiqi, and asked, "Did the emperor's decree be deceived by that Wei Yan?"

Na Tiqi didn't expect that the scholar would dare to really oppose the imperial court. He was frightened for a moment, and subconsciously replied: "It's not the emperor's will!"

Hearing this, the scholar stabbed Tiqi to death with a knife, and shouted: "It is not the emperor's will to increase the tariff, it is all because of Wei Yan's obstruction!"

"Everyone beat up the dog together!"

The scholars heard the sound and responded, shouting and swarming up.

There were only a dozen Tiqi, but the scholars did not know how many gathered. Seeing this, they were all shocked. Some jumped into the water to swim away, and some ran into the merchant ship in a panic, and were directly stabbed to death by Li Jiading.

Wei Liangqing turned around and was about to leave, but the strong man from before caught up a few steps, slashed his head with a knife, and died immediately.

The rest of the Tiqi were also frightened and fled in all directions, either dead or injured.

The Suzhou Wharf was in chaos until it was getting late, and there was a sound of gongs in the distance.

Hearing the sound of the gong, the scholars retreated suddenly.

Not long after, a group of officials arrived, and they were all shocked when they saw the mess on the ground and the corpses of more than a dozen Tiqi in various states.

No one thought that charging a little more tariffs would lead to a scene where tax collectors were murdered in the street.

Chapter 46 The Son of Heaven

In the middle of the night that day, the scholars and fleet gathered around the Suzhou Wharf dispersed one after another.

Kou Shen, the magistrate of Suzhou, was terrified when he heard about this incident. He knew that Li Dan was the only one who could make such a big deal.

Kou Shen wandered around in the yamen, not knowing what to do.

At this moment, another official ran back in panic, panting and said:

"It's not good, many people have surrounded the supervisory department!"

"I can't handle it anymore..." Kou Shen slumped on the chair with a look of panic on his face, "What is Li Dan going to do!"

"Did he think that if there was such a commotion, the court would withdraw the New Deal? This is adding to the chaos!"

A poor man stepped forward and said, "Grandfather, what should we do now?"

"The subordinates have already sent out all the servants they could send, but the group of scholars shouted so loudly that many Qingpis also rose up to make trouble. The government office is short of manpower."

"Why don't you... go and find Wucheng soldiers and horses?"

Kou Shen immediately shook his head, "I'm afraid that [-]% of the soldiers and horses will not be able to protect themselves at this time. If you have it, go and transfer all the servants you can call back to the government office."

Without even asking why, he nodded and turned around to leave.

After he left, Kou Shen shook his hands and took a sip of tea, taking a deep breath.

Now the Suzhou government is in chaos, and the government office alone can't stop it. All I can do is to ensure that the government office is not lost, but I can't go too far.

Suzhou supervised the si yamen, and the rebellious Qingpi and the scholars rushed in, lifted a Tiqi corpse covered in chaff, and threw it into the river.

Seeing Tiqi's corpse going down the river, the scholars cheered and hugged each other to celebrate.

The Li family's fleet also burned the boats that the supervisory department docked at the wharf to convey information, and destroyed all the driving stickers, letters and other things in the supervisory department's official office.

There was chaos in the city, and soldiers and horses were dispatched to maintain order, but it was only a drop in the bucket.

The scholars knew that Tiqi was from the north and was not used to water. They captured Tiqi from the supervisory department and threw them into the river on purpose.

A Tiqi who was thrown into the river struggled to reach the other side of the downstream. After getting up and looking at the surrounding environment, seeing that the city of Suzhou was already in flames, he felt even more frightened.

He thought for a while, then jumped into the river, carried a small board and went down the river, and only dared to go ashore in a remote place.

Then Tiqi hired a small boat with the scattered silver he had with him, and fled to the capital overnight.

……