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Chapter 924 – 920【Another Cheating One】

Chapter 924 920【Another cheating】

Zhang Pu, who has been in the business for more than ten years, finally failed to make it through this year.

Moreover, he did not die in winter when old diseases often recur, but in early summer when there is always no disease or disaster.

After discussion by the Ministry of Rites, the emperor granted him the posthumous title “Wen Duan”.

Seventy-five-year-old Qian Qianyi returned home after offering condolences to Zhang Pu, feeling rather complicated. Another old friend is gone, more and more in the past few years, there are friends and enemies, and I don’t know how long I can live.

Qian Qianyi lamented his years in Nanjing, but he didn’t know that his son was already anxious like an ant in Shanghai.

Shanghai County, in a rural mansion.

Xie Sanbin said to the two partners: “The imperial court wants to thoroughly investigate the tariffs, and the imperial envoy is on the way. The first batch of ports to be investigated are Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, and Dengzhou. , and the second and third batches.”

“Is there any problem with our account?” Xu Fan asked.

Xu Fan was the second son of Xu Xiake. As for his eldest son, Xu Qi, he was killed by Xu’s family slaves when the Datong Army recovered Jiangyin.

Qian Qianyi, Xie Sanbin, and Xu Xiake started a business together. The Qian family and the Xu family are in charge of supply, while the Xie family is in charge of overseas trade.

With Qian Qianyi going to Nanjing to be an official, and Xu Xiake recuperating at home all the year round, Xie Sanbin, Qian Ruyi and Xu Fan are now the ones who are really managing the business.

Xie Sanbin said: “Our account is definitely fine, but I’m afraid… the official store’s account will not match!”

Guandian is not a store, but a common name for an institution that collects domestic trade tax. Zhengde and Wanli launched Huangzhuang Huangdian, of which the Huangdian collected taxes and was not a royal shop.

The central official store is called Xuankesi, and the local official store is called Tongkesi.

In order to encourage commercial trade, Zhao Han no longer set up card tax collection layers, but only collected once at the starting point (special areas, there are tolls in the middle, collected according to the size of the ship, and land transportation is charged according to vehicles and livestock).

Take Shu brocade as an example, if it is to be shipped to Shanghai for export. Then, when leaving Sichuan, the shipping agent must pay half of the tax to obtain a commercial ticket, which states the type, quantity, and location of the goods. After arriving in Shanghai, these Shu brocades have to be inspected and paid at the Shanghai General Department.

If it is found by the inspection department that there is no commercial ticket, or the commercial ticket does not match the goods, the company license will be canceled immediately and a fine of ten times the smuggled goods will be imposed!

Qian’s family is in Changshu, and Xu’s is in Jiangyin. Although they are both close to Shanghai, the cotton cloth produced by the two families needs a commercial ticket to be transported to Shanghai. These commercial invoices clearly stated the information of the goods, and they were fully reported to the Shanghai General Department.

Coastal smuggling is easy to operate, but inland smuggling is not easy.

The General Departments are located in the traffic arteries, and you can go around quietly if you want, but the transportation costs will increase exponentially, and it is very likely that you will be inspected halfway. And bribing the officials of the general tax department is even more nonsense. The tax is paid in half at the starting point. For the goods shipped from Jiangyin to Shanghai, you have to bribe the officials of Jiangyin and Shanghai at the same time, and let the tax officials of the two counties make false accounts with you.

The farther the transportation distance is, the less likely it is to evade taxes. Being able to bribe Sichuan and Shanghai officials at the same time is considered awesome.

What’s more, the goods of these three companies are not only from Jiangyin and Changshu. The cotton cloth they produce is not enough, and they will buy other products, such as tobacco, porcelain, and tea from Jiangxi. Jiangxi merchants transport goods to Shanghai, and they must report, file and pay taxes at the Department of General Affairs!

If the Inspectorate cannot find out the customs and maritime problems, it will investigate the company that has been shipping goods to Shanghai for a long time. Company A, you ship goods to Shanghai every year, who did you sell the goods to? Oh, it turned out to be sold to Company B. Who did you sell Company B to? Finally, it was found that Company C, which was engaged in foreign trade, did not match the trade accounts of the three companies, so someone must be evading taxes or smuggling.

Qian Ruyi inherited his father’s good qualities. At this moment, he was coerced and panicked and said: “Why don’t we surrender to the Inspectorate. Our business company has only been evading taxes for four years, and it has not been involved in smuggling. You can let it go lightly.”

Xu Fan was a little moved, his father Xu Xiake knew the emperor. Qian Ruyi’s biological father, Qian Qianyi, was also a celebrity in front of the emperor. With the face of the two elders, and the act of surrendering himself, most of them are just fines, and the worst is the revocation of the company license.

“You can’t surrender yourself,” Xie Sanbin said with a sad face, “we also bribed the officials of the Shipping Department (customs), and we will definitely have our maritime trade license revoked. A maritime trade license is a white mountain of silver. We have a criminal record. Don’t even think about getting a license!”

After hearing this, Xu Fan hesitated again, he was really reluctant to part with the money.

However, Qian Ruyi said: “You have forgotten, how many powerful officials were beheaded and exiled when the country’s land administration was cleaned up a few years ago? The current emperor can’t rub the sand in his eyes, and the Shanghai Shipping Department must be investigated. Lose?”

Xie Sanbin still took chances: “Which maritime merchant does not evade taxes? Which maritime merchant does not bribe officials? If all of them are investigated and dealt with according to the regulations, and all their licenses are revoked, will they still be able to do maritime trade in the future? Without maritime trade taxes, the court will lose money every year. Tens of millions of taels of tax money. So, even if the emperor wants to conduct a thorough investigation, he will only deal with those officials. We are maritime merchants, and at most we will accept the punishment.”

“Indeed.” Xu Fan nodded.

Qian Ruyi said: “Since everyone has to accept the punishment, why don’t they turn themselves in? There can be a lighter punishment.”

Xie Sanbin shook his head and said: “We are the first to jump out of the gun, so we won’t be treated as a typical example? Besides, so many maritime merchants are involved, so we may not be found out. If we are lucky, we will not be found out. Saved a lot of fine money?”

“This statement is reasonable.” Xu Fan was persuaded, and he didn’t even want to pay the fine.

Xie Sanbin is an old fritter, bold in the face of the government, but timid in the face of the enemy.

He was originally the Minister of Taipusi of the Ming Dynasty, and was transferred to Shandong as an official during the reign of Chongzhen. It coincided with the uprising of the White Lotus Sect. This guy has been hiding in the city and passively avoiding the battle. He waited for the friendly army to win the battle before rushing out to grab the results of the battle. He made millions of taels of silver by suppressing the White Lotus Sect.

Historically, when the Manchu and Qing troops marched south, the former ministers of the Ming Dynasty discussed and formed a rebel army. Because Xie Sanbin had wiped out the White Lotus Sect in Shandong, he must know how to fight better than ordinary scholars, so Xie Sanbin was publicly elected as the commander of the rebel army. Xie Sanbin directly rebuffed: “The power is like pressing eggs, if you are not afraid of death?” (The Qing army fighting rebels is like stepping on eggs, are you not afraid of death?)

This kind of person, only with a knife on his neck, will he truly plead guilty.

Xie Sanbin and Xu Fan quickly reached a consensus. During the investigation of the customs by the imperial court, they paid taxes according to the regulations and did business obediently. If you are found out, you will accept the punishment, if you are not found out, you will escape disaster. As for the future situation, see step by step, if the investigation is strict, it will operate legally, and if the investigation is not strict, it will continue to evade taxes.

When Qian Ruyi returned to his hometown in Changshu, the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.

This guy got up the next day, called his son and said, “Secretly prepare the boat, and go to Nanjing for my father. If relatives and friends visit, they will say that I have a serious illness and it is inconvenient to see guests.”

Qian Ruyi took a boat all the way to Nanjing, met Qian Qianyi and explained the situation.

Qian Qianyi was horrified: “I didn’t receive any news in Nanjing, how did Xie Sanbin know that the Procuratorate was going to investigate the case?”

“I don’t know about the baby, maybe there is someone in the imperial court surnamed Xie.” Qian Ruyi said.

“He has a fart in the court,” Qian Qianyi trembled with fright, “Xie Sanbin can get the news in advance, I am afraid that many officials and businessmen in Shanghai will know about it, and the emperor will be furious about it. This is worse than maritime merchants evading taxes. serious!”

Qian Ruyi was even more frightened: “Then… what should I do?”

“I told you who the current emperor is, and told you to operate legally. Why are you greedy for those few tariffs?” Qian Qianyi asked.

Qian Ruyi said: “Father, there is more than a little tariff. Our family business is getting bigger and bigger, and we can save four to five thousand taels of silver every year.”

“Four or five thousand taels?” Qian Qianyi was about to go mad, picked up his crutches and beat him, “It’s just for four or five thousand taels, and it’s still divided among three families. One family can only get less than two thousand taels. For two thousand taels a year Yinzi, don’t you even care about your own father’s official position? I’ll beat you to death!”

“Father, father, stop beating…” Qian Ruyi scrambled away, saying as he ran, “Hurry up and think of a way, it will be too late to fight again!”

Qian Qianyi didn’t hurt his son, and he was dizzy from exhaustion. He held the table for a while and said, “Come on, follow me into the palace immediately, surrender yourself to the emperor, and tell everything you know!”

Qian Ruyi asked: “Xie Sanbin and Xu Fan, do you want to send someone to notify?”

Qian Qianyi was furious: “I will inform his ancestors, let them die!”

Forbidden City.

“Qian Qianyi brought his son to see him?”

Zhao Han didn’t understand for a while, he thought that Qian Qianyi was old and wanted to find an official for his son in the Imperial Academy.

After leaving the Qian family and his son out for a while, Zhao Han dealt with the affairs at hand before ordering them to be invited to see him.

The moment Qian Qianyi entered the palace, he knelt down and kowtowed, and crawled inside while kowtowing, crying, “Your Majesty forgive me, I have no way to teach my son…”

Zhao Han didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Get up, and talk if you have something to say.”

Qian Ruyi also knelt down, and said in a trembling voice, “Your Majesty, please forgive me. I only evaded taxes for four years. According to the shares of the company, I only evaded taxes of more than a thousand taels a year. It’s all… It’s all Xie Sanbin’s idea, he said goodbye All the trading companies evade taxes, and if we don’t evade taxes, we will lose a lot…”

“Tax evasion?” The smile on Zhao Han’s face disappeared, “Shanghai Shipping Department’s tariff?”

Qian Ruyi said: “Exactly, Your Majesty, please forgive me!”

Zhao Han said with a gloomy expression: “Calculating the time, people from the Procuratorate, the Ministry of Finance and the bank, I’m afraid they have just arrived in Shanghai right now? How did you know the news?”

Qian Ruyi said: “It was Xie Sanbin who told me.”

“Very good, great!” Zhao Han gritted his teeth.

As Qian Qianyi guessed, compared to customs corruption, the emperor was more angry about leaking the news. This is because there are ghosts among the court investigators!

Zhao Han suppressed his anger: “Tell me everything you know!”

Qian Ruyi hurriedly poured beans out of the bamboo tube, vomited out all the beans that were missing. Not much is known about this guy. He is mainly responsible for the supply in the company, and Xie Sanbin is responsible for evading customs duties.

But, he reported the second-in-command of the Shanghai Shipping Department. It is said that this man’s son is very ostentatious in Shanghai, and travels in extremely luxurious carriages. It is rumored that there is an orchid in his family worth five thousand taels of silver.

Zhao Han found that he could not get important inside information, so he said: “You go to the National Security Council to explain the case.”

Qian Ruyi opened his mouth wide: “National…National Security Council?”

Who doesn’t know, the National Security Institute is Jinyiwei!

(end of this chapter)