Updated: 2012-10-02

Chapter 575 Bevel Protection Fee

After thinking for a long time, Master Tian Si couldn't figure out who might be the masked man with a mysterious identity and a hoarse voice. Lian'er also knew that this matter was too urgent, so she changed to a relaxed topic and talked to Master Tian Si about the things on Junshan, such as who got married, who had a child, etc. The atmosphere on the scene gradually became relaxed.

"Second Master, since Miss Lian'er is back, how should I deal with the family of Boss Chen in Shuibiao Town?" Just as Master Tian and Lian'er and Tan Zong were chatting, a big man walked in and asked in a deep voice.

"I dared to touch Lian'er, so I was so impatient." When Master Tian Si's eyes flashed with fierce light and said to the man gloomy, "Don't leave any one, sink them all into Dongting Lake to feed the fish."

Hearing this, Tan Zong frowned slightly, and he wanted to kill people at any time, and to destroy Boss Chen's entire family. It seemed that the bandits in Dongting Lake were really not ordinary cruel.

Boss Chen's death is indirectly related to Tan Zong. Tan Zong didn't want to watch Boss Chen's family encounter an unexpected situation, but how could he save Boss Chen's family without doubt? For a moment, he really had no good idea.

"Fourth Uncle, since Lian'er is fine, and that Boss Chen is dead, then it's better to let all the family go. It can be regarded as accumulating good deeds and showing the kindness and righteousness of our Junshan." Just as Tan Zongmin was thinking about a solution, Lian'er suddenly spoke and said to Master Tian with a smile.

"Liang'er, these people dare to touch you, that is, they don't take our Junshan seriously. Only by killing these people can they be scared and dare not be malicious to me Junshan anymore." Tian Si Master knew that Lian'er was weak-hearted, so he said to her.

"Fourth uncle, although this is the Li Er, today is the day when Lian'er escapes danger, so it is not suitable to kill animals." Lian'er smiled slightly when she heard this and looked at Tian Si Master with a smile.

"They are lucky and meet you." Master Tian Si shook his head helplessly when he heard this, and then said to the big man, "Tell those people that if it weren't for Lian'er's plea, they would wait to see that boss Chen."

Hearing this, the big man bowed to Master Tian Si and strode out.

Tan Zong didn't expect Lian'er to come forward to save Boss Chen's family, and his opinion of Lian'er couldn't help but change. Although this little girl looked willful, she was very good in her heart.

"Second Master, there were people from the Cao Transport Department in front of him and people from the Yueyang Prefecture Office quarreled to collect the berth protection fee from passing fleets. A fleet to Changsha Prefecture was stopped there and could not move." Not long after, another big man came in and reported to Mr. Tian in a deep voice.

"Delivery fee?" Tian Siye began to look a little surprised, and then said to Tan Zong and Lian'er with a smile, "It seems that the people in the River Door and the Government Office are really poor and have even started the idea of ​​the river dormitory to collect the money."

"What is this berth protection fee?" Lian'er, who had been in Dongting Lake for more than ten years, couldn't help but ask curiously.

"If a flood comes, the court allows the local government to collect certain taxes from the people in order to maintain the embankment and take them from the people for the people." Tian Siye explained to Lian'er with a smile, "In Siye's impression, except for a heavy rainstorm that caused the flood in Dongting Lake more than 20 years ago, and several prefectures on the edge of Dongting Lake levyed the embankment protection fee from the people, Dongting Lake has been in good weather for more than 20 years and has never encountered floods, so the government has not charged this fee again."

"Last year, Huguang had a severe drought. What reason did they charge this fee?" Lian'er suddenly felt strange when she heard this and asked suspiciously.

"It didn't rain a lot the day before yesterday." Tian Siye was in Dongting Lake for many years, and he was clear about the tricks. He said with a smile, "The water level of Dongting Lake has dropped a lot due to the drought last year. Due to the surge in the heavy rain the day before yesterday, it has impacted the embankment. The government may charge embankment protection fee in the name of strengthening the embankment."

"Not only that, I'm afraid they will also ask the court for the cost of repairing the embankment in this name." After saying that, Master Tian Si seemed to remember something and added another sentence.

"It's so shameless. Are they not afraid of the imperial envoy's crime of disturbing people's livelihood?" Lian'er immediately understood and said in surprise. It turned out that the people in the government took advantage of the natural disaster to make money, and they were simply disgraceful.

"If they were afraid, they wouldn't do this." Master Tian Si smiled and shook his head, "Not to mention the protection of officials in the officialdom, but to say that they have such a high-sounding reason, will the imperial envoy stop them from building the embankment? Maybe by then the embankment that was originally fine will become something."

"Siyi, do you mean they will make trouble?" When Master Tian said, "The dam that was fine was also something that happened", Lian'er's eyes showed a look of shock. Doesn't this mean that those guys were going to destroy the dam!

"And once something happens to the embankment, even the imperial envoy cannot take on this responsibility. Therefore, it is better to have less than more things. The imperial envoy may turn a blind eye, close one, and just live by. After all, this is a daily matter in the local area, so he is not easy to interfere." Tian Siye nodded and agreed with Lian'er's statement.

Lian'er was stunned. She never expected that those people were not only brave but also crazy. In order to pursue selfish interests, they ignored the lives and death of the people. Once the embankment of Dongting Lake broke, it would cause thousands of people to suffer disasters, live in a place to live, and be displaced.

Tan Zong was drinking tea there quietly. Tian Siye was right. Local governments often try their best to pursue their own interests and try every means to gain personal gain. This is an extremely common phenomenon.

There is a saying that says it very vividly, "Three years of Qing magistrates, 100,000 snowflakes." Even a honest magistrate can receive 100,000 taels of silver in three years, let alone those corrupt officials!

"Second uncle, is this embankment fee collected by the river or government office?" After finding out the origin of the embankment fee, Lian'er pondered for a moment and asked suspiciously. It is logical that only one person should collect it, but how can two companies compete for it now?

"Usually, things on the river should be managed by the river yamen." Tian Siye was clear about the interests of the river yamen and the local government yamen. After picking up a teacup and taking a sip of tea, he said slowly, "But our place is special. Dongting Lake is too big and involves affairs in the surrounding areas. Therefore, it is jointly managed by the river yamen and the local government yamen. Generally speaking, the river yamen manages the water transportation affairs, and the local government yamen manages the surrounding public security. If the embankment needs to be repaired, the local government yamen and the river yamen jointly submit to the court to request the court to allocate silver."

"In other words, both of them can charge this berth protection fee!" Hearing this, Lian'er understood. No wonder the people from the Hedao Yamen and the people from the Yueyang Mansion Office both charge the berth protection fee here. It turned out that there was a problem of overlapping powers.

To put it bluntly, when encountering things like collecting taxes and asking the court for money, the River Door and Yueyang Prefecture Office scramble to take over the power of these things. When encountering dam breach and dam quality problems, the River Door and Yueyang Prefecture Office will definitely turn the blame on each other, shirking each other's blame and procrastinating.

"Huguang area has been affected by the disaster. Where can the people still have money to pay this berth protection fee? The official will definitely exempt Huguang from the taxes in the past two years and allocate money from the Ministry of Revenue to protect the embankment." Lian'er pondered for a moment and looked at Tian Siye, "They may not be able to collect this berth protection fee for a long time. Since this is the case, why do they still have such a stalemate?"

Tan Zong, who was sitting there drinking tea casually, couldn't help but sneer in his heart when he heard this. It was obvious that the river yamen and Yueyang Mansion were not drunk. The purpose of doing this was just to find an excuse to make money. The targets of collecting the berth protection fee were definitely not those people, but businessmen passing by Dongting Lake. There were a lot of oil and tricks here.

Taking a land tax checkpoint investigated and dealt with in the past two years as an example, the tax silver handed over to the court on the open account, only about ten or twenty taels of tax silver per day, while the secret account they left for private inquiry, the tax silver per day was as high as hundreds of taels, which means that almost 80% of the tax silver was embezzled by the tax officials.

After hearing this, Emperor Ping of Qing couldn't help but be furious and ordered a thorough investigation of the borers. As a result, more than a dozen people, including the Chief of the Commissioner, lost their heads. The finger of the matter was later pointed at the capital. There was evidence that the master behind the nest case was in the capital. Unfortunately, nothing could be found out next, so he had to close the case and leave it alone.

A land tax checkpoint can greed for so much money, which makes those corrupt officials "corrupt" one after another, and cannot be killed. What's more, the taxes on the waterway where the waterway is busy. Since there were some strong and powerful caravans in the past, the amount of funds for waterway taxes was far more than the amount of funds on the land, which brought rich profits to those corrupt officials.

"Girl, do you think those people in the government don't know this. The so-called berth protection fee is just an excuse. Their target is actually the caravan passing by Dongting Lake." Sure enough, when Mr. Tian saw Lian'er having this question, he explained to her with a smile, "There will always be a day in the famine in the Huguang area, and it is unknown when the berth protection fee is received."

"These people are so hateful." Lian'er raised her eyebrows when she heard this, and she seemed to hate these frivolous things in the government.

"It's not because of this drought. Last year's severe drought caused the income and expenditure of the yamen to plummet. They had to find ways to make money." Master Tian Si said disdainfully, "Even if they don't want money, they should respect the people above. Otherwise, why should those people above protect them and ensure that they are safe in the place."

"Those people above?" Lian'er nodded thoughtfully, knowing that the Siye of Tian was referring to the officials of various ministries in the capital. If there were no protection from those people, how could these officials in the local area do anything wrong in their respective jurisdictions?

Tan Zong was drinking tea quietly. It was inevitable that this trip to Huguang, a group of officials were poured out in the local area. But I don’t know if the shelterers in the capital could be found out. This depends entirely on what Emperor Ping means.

"Second Master, the people from the Hedao Yamen have started fighting with the people from the government office." Just as the Si Shi Yamen and Lian'er were chatting, a big man hurried in and said in a deep voice.

"Are you fighting?" Master Tian Si was slightly stunned when he heard this, and then smiled and said to Tan Zong and Lian'er, "Let's go, let's take a look at the fun."

As he said that, Mr. Tian Si got up and led Tan Zong and Lian'er to the bow of the boat. Although there was friction between the river yamen and the Yueyang government office, overall, the well water did not interfere with the river. It was really rare to tear the face and fight like this.

When he arrived at the deck of the bow, Tan Zong saw a fleet of ships parked not far ahead. Two ships were crossed on the water surface in front of the fleet, blocking the fleet's way. Judging from the flag, one was a ship from the Changsha Canal Transportation Department and the other was a ship from Yueyang Prefecture.

On a merchant ship at the forefront of the fleet, two groups of people wearing the clothing of the soldiers of the Cao Transport Department and the costumes of the Yueyang Mansion were fists and fight into a group. Although both sides were carrying swords, no one dared to draw swords and face each other. If the sword was used, the situation would be serious. If the imperial envoy had a bloody conflict before the imperial envoy came, it would be a reason to cause trouble for them.

The caravans on the ship saw that the Cao Transport Department and the Yueyang Government Office had started fighting, but they were not able to stop them. They just stood aside and tried to dissuade them. Now the two sides were fighting hard. If they stepped forward to stop them, they would cause dissatisfaction among the fighters, and they would be suspected of being dissatisfied and offended the person by accident.

Seeing that the people on the merchant ship were fighting lively, the two ships from the Cao Transport Department and Yueyang Government quickly approached him and prepared to board the ship to help his companions. The people on the two ships pointed at each other and cursed, and the situation was in chaos.

Seeing this, the bandits from Dongting Lake on Tan Zong's boat looked at the scene in front of him with great enthusiasm. If it weren't for the Fourth Master of Tian, ​​someone might have started to whistle. This kind of dog bites his dog's mouth is the most willing to watch.

Seeing that the ships from the Cao Transport Department and Yueyang Government Office were about to approach the leading merchant ship, a merchant ship sailed out of the middle of the fleet and quickly moved closer. A young man in white in Yushu Lingfeng stood proudly at the bow of the ship, and behind him were a few middle-aged men who looked like merchants.

"Second Young Master Qian!" Tan Zong recognized the young master in white at a glance as the second young master Qian he had met in Wuchang Mansion. No wonder he was so imposing. Tan Zong deliberately looked at the second young master Qian and seemed to say to himself.

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Chapter completed!