Pawn Crossing the River

Sikong Cuo stretched his body and looked up at the bright moon.

The moonlight is nice.

He remembered an allusion from a Confucian sage, called "The Moon Seals Ten Thousand Rivers". It is said that one moon hangs high in the night sky, but countless moons can be seen in the rivers and lakes of the world, and countless moons eventually end up in one moon.

Jinling Mansion is surrounded by a river on one side and a lake on the other. There are countless moons.

At this moment, a subordinate came to report that the goods had arrived.

Sikong mistakenly responded, ordered his subordinates to light the lamps, and then strode out.

This is a remote compound. Strictly speaking, it is also within the scope of the city within the city, but it is somewhat different from the shantytown. The roads here are very wide, allowing convoys to drive in and out.

At this time, there was a fleet of vehicles outside the compound. There were about twenty vehicles, all lined up out of sight. They were all two-horse four-wheel vehicles, and they were covered tightly with tarpaulins, because most of them were compacted here. It is a dirt road instead of the bluestone road in the old city, so each carriage will leave deep or shallow ruts. From the depth of the ruts, it can be seen that the weight of the goods loaded in the car is quite heavy.

The steward of the convoy jumped out of the first carriage at the head, holding an angry wind lantern, took out a document from his arms, confirmed that the address was correct again, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

The transaction from Songjiang Prefecture to Jinling Prefecture was really good. The distance was short and the consignor was generous. The only drawback was that the consignor vaguely revealed that there were some problems with this batch of goods and it was best to avoid Daomen Shipping. They have been doing this business for a long time. They have seen many such things, and they know it well and don't take it seriously. Nowadays, the world is peaceful, there are few robbers blocking the road, and there is no risk. The government and Taoist sects have become the biggest risk. Fortunately, he arrived smoothly and he didn't have to worry about anything.

In fact, according to the rules, these bulk goods must undergo strict inspections when entering the city, not only to check for smuggling, but also to check for dangerous goods. However, those who work in this field have a close relationship with the city gate. There are twelve gates in Jinling Mansion. As long as you are willing to spend money, there is always one gate that can open the joints. The goods can go through the gate with the joints opened, which can save a lot of interrogations.

After entering the city, the major warehouses were inspected again, so the city within the city gradually became a place for the distribution and turnover of goods. This kind of remote warehouse located in a city within a city is so commonplace that it is nothing.

The next step is to hand over the goods. Once the money and goods are paid, the transaction is concluded.

After paying the peace money, you can go to the surrounding brothels for a night of fun. You can also have a good rest and drink some wine in the next few days. This life can be regarded as enjoyable.

With this thought in mind, the steward saw Sikong Cuo at a glance and confirmed that he was the person in charge here, so he took the initiative to greet him. Before he could speak, he handed over a paper flue-cured cigarette from the West and waited for him. After taking the ground into his hand, he immediately lit another match and waited to light it for him.

Sikong Cuo took the lit cigarette but did not put it in his mouth and asked, "Did you not suffer any trouble from those Taoists when you entered the city?"

The reason why we ask the Taoist sect instead of the imperial court is because the Taoist sect has mastered a considerable part of the functions that originally belonged to the imperial court. In the previous Wei Dynasty, although there was a city shipping department, due to the lack of maritime trade, the so-called city shipping department was somewhat decorated. the meaning of.

However, at that time, Daomen, which was still divided, had already begun to develop sea trade. In addition to West Daomen opening up trade routes to the Western Regions, South Daomen, Dongdaomen, and Beidaomen successively opened up maritime trade in the South China Sea, East China Sea, and North Sea. At that time, the Confucian sect was known as the largest landowner, while the Taoist sect dominated more than 90% of the maritime trade business and owned the most powerful fleet in the entire East. Therefore, the dispute between Confucianism and Taoism was also called the battle between sea and land.

In this case, after Daxuan replaced Dawei, he had to rely on Daomen for taxation and other matters of sea trade. Although the predecessors of Daxuan's royal family and nobles were Beidaomen, the bulk of sea trade was Dongdaomen and Nandaomen is today's Taiping Road and Zhengyi Road. Just like setting up a navy, without the cooperation of the Taoist sect, it would be difficult for the Daxuan court to achieve anything, so the two sides reached a compromise. The Taoist sect separated half of the fleet, mainly warships, and handed it over to the court, which was the predecessor of the three major naval divisions. , and the imperial court handed over the power of sea trade taxation to Daomen for management.

The Maritime Trade Taxation Department was established by Shibotang in Daomen, responsible for taxation, statistics, postal services, port dredging, inspection, etc. On this basis, Daomen enjoys tax exemptions or tax reductions. Except for the maintenance expenses, all annual taxes are turned over to the imperial treasury.

This is also the biggest difference between the Taoist sect and the Confucian sect. The Confucian sect is hidden behind the scenes. Confucian sect disciples enter the court as officials and control the government. The imperial court is the Confucian sect, and the Confucian sect is the imperial court. Confucianism claims to be the emperor of heaven and earth, but in fact it is manipulating the emperor wantonly. As long as he is obedient, rules with respect, and leaves all government affairs to the courtiers, he will be touted by Confucianism as an eternal sage. If he does not like it at all, he will fall into trouble If he dies or dies in a fire, he will be labeled a coward and a tyrant after his death. Later, the conflict between the royal family and the Confucian sect became extremely acute. The royal family even did not hesitate to introduce the Taoist sect's forces to check and balance the Confucian sect, and consecrated five great Taoist sects headed by Tianshi. Even Xu Wugui, the earthly master of the Taoist sect, was originally from the Wei royal family. This gave the Taoist sect an opportunity to defeat the Confucian sect.

Taoism learned from the Confucianism's mistakes and adopted a cooperative attitude. Everything was laid out clearly and the division of labor was clear. After deciding on their respective division of labor, the Taoist sect will not interfere with the imperial court, and the imperial court will not interfere with the Taoist sect. There has not been much conflict over the years.

Before these goods entered the city by land, they first traveled by sea, and then transferred from sea to water. The sea route was under the control of the Taoist Gate. During this process, the Shibo Hall had to review and register it before releasing it. Therefore, Sikong Cuo asked this question.

When he asked, the steward took out a few pages of documents: "I spent some peace money and just went through the motions. The deacon and the Taoist priest didn't pay much attention to it, so they randomly checked two carriages. The procedures are all here, and there are a lot of them." ”

Sikong Cuo took the document, glanced at it casually, and focused on the seal of the Shibotang Maritime Trade and Taxation Department. He said with a hint of sarcasm: "Just going through the motions, perfunctory, that's good."

When the steward heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous in his heart. Could this be the Taoist priest of the Taoist sect, coming down to investigate openly and secretly?

Fortunately, Sikong Cuo didn't say anything more and ordered: "Unload the goods."

The steward said hello, and the carriages began to enter the courtyard one by one. At this time, many lamps were lit in the courtyard, which was brightly illuminated. One carriage entered, one was unloaded, one was taken out, and another was entered, and so on.

There were also some guys in the warehouse who lifted up the tarpaulins on the carriages. They were loaded with large wooden boxes, which were very heavy and even four strong men might not be able to lift them.

However, the clerks in these warehouses are all very strong, and only two people can easily lift the boxes.

Sikong Cuo smoked all his cigarettes and opened a box at random. There were glass bottles inside. He stretched out his hand and took out one. It was about three feet tall and about the thickness of a young man's arms. The glass was at least two inches thick. It had a metal base and was tightly sealed. Well, the liquid inside has not leaked at all, and the liquid is soaked in something that looks like ginseng and some kind of embryo.

A smile appeared on Sikong Cuo's face: "Very good."

The steward also saw it and couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"

Sikong glanced at him mistakenly, as if looking at a dead person, and replied: "This is a 'gift'."

"Whose gift?" the steward asked subconsciously.

Sikong Cuo twitched his lips: "It's a gift from the gods."

The steward laughed dryly, not knowing how to answer the question.

Sikong Cuo suddenly smiled and said: "It's actually the best ginseng medicinal wine. Canning it like this can help preserve the medicinal power. It can be transported from Liaodong to Jinling without paying taxes. It can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars. Isn't it a gift from the gods?"

"It turns out to be ginseng." The steward suddenly realized.

Sikong Cuo had no intention of explaining more. He held up the so-called "gift" and waited for the unloading of the truck to be completed.

About an hour later, all the carriages were unloaded, and wooden boxes were piled up in half of the yard. The steward rubbed his hands: "Is it time to settle the balance?"

Sikong Cuo nodded, waved to one of his subordinates, and ordered: "Let's sort it out."

The subordinate nodded and looked at the steward with a fierce look.

At this moment, the steward of the motorcade felt something was wrong and turned around to escape, but it was already too late.

Sikong Cuo's subordinate stretched out his hand to pinch the steward's neck and lifted him up with the strength of one arm.

Then he exerted force with his five fingers and directly broke the steward's neck.

Sikong Cuo still held up the cylindrical glass bottle, concentrating on admiring the "gift" inside, turning a blind eye to the scene in front of him.

As the lights flickered, other drivers were also brutally slaughtered. No one was spared, and they didn't even make a sound.