After a few rounds of drinking, because he was going to Yongcheng to see Zhixian in the afternoon, Du Zhongxiao ordered the wine to be withdrawn.

After drinking a bowl of sobering soup, Du Zhongxiao said to Wei Tao: "A few days ago, there was a case of murder on the street in the state, and the deceased was a public man from Yongcheng, surnamed Lu, known as Lu Yuhou. Have you ever heard of this person? ”

Wei Tao arched his hand: "Back to work, most of the public officials in the county know each other, and this Marquis Lu Yu has also met a few times." ”

"Then let me ask you, is he familiar with the idlers in the county? Is there a mix of daily life? ”

Wei Tao thought for a while and replied honestly: "I haven't heard that this person is mixed with any characters in the rivers and lakes." However, he is a relative of a wealthy tooth maker in the county, and he has a lot of contacts. The tooth man was very wealthy, and all kinds of people had dealings. ”

Du Zhongxiao asked, only to know that Yongcheng is close to the Bianhe River, the business is developed, and there are quite a few large merchants who make a fortune by the river, and the Yaren surnamed Ma is one of them. This tooth man has been doing it for a long time, has a strong capital, does all kinds of business, and has a lot of money.

Guilds and tooth people were the two keys to commerce in the Song Dynasty, which were very different from the business model of Du Zhongxiao's previous life. For merchants who live in one place, the government is mainly governed by guilds, whether it is tax collection or distribution and buying, most of them are suppressed through guilds. As for the merchants from other places, it is mainly through the tooth people. When the goods are sold to a certain place, they do not sell them themselves, but through the tooth man, or find customers, or let the tooth man underwrite the sale.

The identity of the tooth people is special, and they are connected to the government on the one hand, the merchants who sell goods on the other, and the buyers on the other, which is the core of commerce. Some wealthy and powerful people monopolize a certain trade in a certain place and make quite a lot of profits. Du Zhongxiao read "Water Margin" in his previous life, and if Zhang Shun didn't see it, the fishermen would not dare to sell the fish, so this is the truth, only when the tooth man arrives can he set the price.

Neither the guilds nor the Yaren were self-organized by the people, but had a close relationship with the government and were a tool for the government to manage commerce.

Du Zhongxiao asked in detail about the situation of the person surnamed Ma Ya, and couldn't help frowning. It turned out that this tooth man was not only rich and powerful, but also had a close relationship with the government, and many idlers in Yongcheng County, and even the yamen officials, were inextricably linked with him.

Seeing that it was not early, Du Zhongxiao got up and said to Wei Tao: "I'll go to the county seat to visit the magistrate, you can prepare here, if the county is not convenient, maybe I will have to rest here with you." The inspection village and the county town hold both sides of the Bianqu, and there are people on both sides to manage it. ”

Wei Tao sent Du Zhongxiao all the way to the ferry, and said goodbye.

On the boat, Du Zhongxiao looked at the endless boats coming and going on the river, and said to Chai Xin beside him: "You send someone out to check the details of the people surnamed Ma Ya who are talking about Shicai." Remember, don't expose your hiding, which makes people wary. Otherwise, things will not be easy for us to do in the future. ”

Chai Xin agreed, discussed with Confucius Jin Shuzhao, and sent a clever public man to investigate. This is the person brought by Jin Shuzhao, who used to investigate cases often and has rich experience.

After crossing the Bianhe River, He Kun, the magistrate of the county, had already brought officials and others outside the city and welcomed Du Zhongxiao into the city.

When the county government branch guest sat down, Du Zhongxiao explained the routine, and finally said: "A few days ago, there was a big case in the state city, and the bitter master is a public man surnamed Lu here of yours, can the county know about this matter?" ”

He Kun arched his hand: "The county has received an official letter from the state, asking us to find out the identity of the surname Lu and report it." This surnamed Lu has a clean net worth, but the state wants to find out his whereabouts in the past few years, and it took some time to go back. ”

"Oh, a public person, what things have you handled over the years, especially what official duties you have gone to the state city, is it still difficult to check?"

He Kun sighed: "What happened a few years ago, the county is so simple, where can I remember it so clearly." I had to ask one person to ask the past, and there were many people who asked, and I was afraid that someone would remember it wrongly, so it was difficult to do. ”

Du Zhongxiao was silent for a while and did not speak. It is said that the transfer of official documents in the yamen should be recorded, and what things, when, and by whom they should be sent must be remembered clearly. However, the county is a small place, and it is not clear whether it will be so strict. Du Zhongxiao was an official at the beginning, and he didn't know much about the actual affairs of the official office, so it was difficult to directly question the place.

As for more detailed matters, He Kun, the magistrate, is not clear. Autumn grain in the countryside, commercial taxes in the towns, ships coming and going on the Bianhe River, there are things almost every day, and it is impossible for him to focus on such a small thing. The murder did not occur in the county seat, the county just helped to understand the situation of the deceased, and it was enough for a public official to do enough paperwork.

After talking about miscellaneous things, He Kuncai said: "It is autumn now, and the last time Cao Mi is offered, there are many boats coming and going on the river. Every day, because of the lack of food and clothing between the boat guards and the slender man, or because of disputes over goods, I don't know how much chaos there is. Cheng County Lieutenant is at the wharf outside the city every day, and most of the county's officials are transferred there, especially inadequate. When you are engaged in it, you can go there more often on a daily basis to resolve some disputes. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "In the affairs of Caoyun, there are envoys who patrol the river, so why should the local government interfere too much." We just need to take care of the place and don't let the villagers get into trouble. In the land of a county, how can you take care of everything? ”

He Kun sighed: "That's what I said, but many things can't be separated so clearly. There is a wharf here, and many merchants from Jingxi Road buy and sell here, and do business with the boats on the river. They have enough money and a lot of manpower, and when something happens, they are often widely implicated, and dozens of archers in the county, Ding Zhuang, can hold down the bullets. It's not a big case, it's hard to come forward to inspect the village, and it's hard to get tight in the county. ”

The amount of rice transported to the capital by the Bianhe River every year is 6 million stones, which is a grain item for official transportation, and the boatmen use sergeants, and the slender men have both soldiers and people's employees. In order to save costs, he was paid very little, and as a compensatory, they were allowed to transport smuggled goods by official ships. That is, the official ships transported rice, all of which were loaded with eighty percent of official goods, and the remaining two percent were used by boatmen to transport smuggled goods. The business value alone is enormous.

Many of the boats from Jianghuai were traded in the Yongcheng area, and the goods from Jingxi and Jinghu went north to the capital, making the business in this area particularly busy. Dozens of ships transporting grain are often connected together, and if there is a dispute, it is not at all something that a county town can resolve. Inspect the village to manage local security, and do not interfere in commercial disputes with ships on the Bianhe River, and Du Zhongxiao's role is to coordinate the two sides.

Du Zhongxiao asked about the business situation on both sides of the Bianhe River, and couldn't help frowning, things were much more complicated than he originally thought. The scale of commercial activity involved in the official boats alone is very large, and with the private merchant ships on the river all night long, the area is very prosperous.

However, the prosperous commercial places did not make much profit, and the imperial court built several field affairs here, and the commercial taxes were directly withdrawn. This is a completely different situation from his previous life, where the local government bears the burden of governance, but it does not benefit from it, and it is very difficult to govern. For example, the security force, Yongcheng is equipped with more than 70 archers according to the specifications of the large county. The burden of raising these archers is in the county, but most of them serve the transportation on the Bianhe River, and there is no benefit. The idea of using the means of the past life to stimulate the local area in the face of prosperous business is not practical at all.

I sighed secretly in my heart. After these days of understanding, Du Zhongxiao has understood that the business model of this era is completely different from his previous life, and it is not the same as what he learned in history books, and he is facing a completely unfamiliar situation.