The gate made of blue bricks at the ferry tax gate was crowded with a long caravan, including a grain caravan, a salt caravan, and a horse caravan. The convoy and the horse team were planted with the flags of the various dart bureaus and the flags of the various merchants, but more of them were scattered horse gang merchants, who led three or four horses by themselves, mixed in the middle of the caravan, and the cattle had been waiting for a long time, because they had not drunk water for a long time, so they neighed restlessly from time to time, and those who were waiting to pass the customs had to pacify the cattle on the side, all this only made the ferry very lively.

And corresponding to the busy chaos of this pass is the roar of another group of people at the pass, those court tax collectors wearing uniforms, they either carry large knives at their waists, or hold tasseled guns in their hands, roaring from time to time, although there are not many of them, only a dozen people, but they wear red roofs and they stand here, but no one dares to break through the pass, or even dare to speak loudly.

Breaking through, that is a big crime to lose your head, now it is not the Ming Dynasty, a tax collector who dares to bully, now in the Qing Dynasty, no matter how small the official is, it is also an official, and it also represents the court, representing the law of the court. An irreverence, and it's useless if the head falls off. As for the few wooden stakes erected on the tax customs, and the heads that have long been rotted into white bones in several bamboo cages, it is a clear reminder to people that what will happen if they break through the customs.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the tax gate, a middle-aged tax collector with a small beard would stand majestically, shouting loudly at the chaotic caravan.

"Ten wen per cart of grain, thirty wen per cart of salt, and an additional fifty wen per horse for each horse, line up, don't crowd! Don't squeeze! ”

On the other side, a young, stocky tax collector yelled hoarsely at the men.

"Don't squeeze! Don't squeeze! What the hell, they're all yelling and! Pay the money quickly, and let you go when you pay the money! ”

Look at that look, there is a big look, if you don't pay the money, not only will you not be able to pass the test, but you will even kill someone.

A man who looked like a shopkeeper over there rode his horse forward and shouted.

"Official, why has the price risen again, how can there be more taxes and goods for a single horse? If it goes on like this, it won't let people live! OnePlus is 50 Wen, which is half a tael of silver......"

The tax collector rolled his eyes at him and exclaimed.

"Half a tael of silver? Is it much? What kind of business are you profiteers doing, can you hide from others, from my lord? If you don't tax the horses, won't you all sell them all to the south? It's all a gangster, the court is defeated, and it's not your scourge......"

In fact, the big guys know that these caravans are not businessmen, and their business is certainly not wool, but camel horses. They are all "going and not returning" and eventually these horses will be sold to the south and sold to the bandits in the south.

When the tax collector said this, there were already people passing through the border, perhaps because there were so many people that the pass was in chaos after a while.

The tax collector, though he was sturdy, could barely stand it, and quickly raised his whip and whipped it at those who were in a mess.

"Don't go up! Not allowed to top! Stand up for Lao Tzu! Otherwise, no one else will think about it, and no matter how messy it is, don't blame Lao Tzu's knife for not recognizing people. ”

Of course, it was very lively at the gate, and in the inn on the side of the ferry, there was an old scholar-like man, who sat there and seemed to be drinking tea, but he squinted at all this, and suddenly he shook his head and sighed on his lips.

"These profiteers......"

The servant standing beside him, listening to the old man's words, looked at him with a little pity, and then looked at the ferry as well. Looking at the chaotic caravans at the entrances, I couldn't help but wonder in my heart, what does the master mean by that? Of course, not everyone can understand this.

However, for Sun Yuqi, who was sitting at the ferry, he was originally the imperial history of the court, this time, because of the changes in the court, he was relegated to the local official, because the ferry was crowded, and he couldn't pass for a while, so he stopped here, originally just drank a few cups of tea and took a break, and then transitioned. But he never thought that this ferry would be so lively, and what he didn't expect was that the goods that passed through the customs were different. So the original rest became a long stay, and this stay was two days, and in these two days, he met a lot of merchants, and finally, from the mouths of those merchants, he knew what kind of business they were doing. I know why it's so lively.

The merchants who led the horses, what kind of goods were transported, it was clear that they were selling the horses to the south in the name of leading the horses. Sell to those southern bandits.

"Although these horses are only third-class horses, they are only worth eight or nine dollars of silver at most outside the mouth, and they are brought to the capital to break the sky, which is two taels of silver, but they are brought to the south, and the horses are collected at a price, even the worst and most worthless inferior horses can be sold for five taels of silver, and the transfer is five times the profit, not to mention, the cotton cloth, yarn, and mirrors in the south are all valuable things when they are transported back, and if you want to buy those goods, it is more cost-effective to exchange them for horses, and this trip down, you can earn a few years of ...... in the past."

Why did the bandits in the south collect horses at a price, not to buy horses for the army, and it was not the imperial court that suffered at that time. Those profiteers are in charge of so much, when did they have a court in their eyes, they only had silver in their eyes!

You can only see silver in the black eyes! As for what loyalty, what court. What does it mean in their eyes?

"You've sold all the horses, and when the time comes, how will you get the freight back?"

At that time, he reported the fire and inquired about the news from the profiteers.

"Hey, you always look at it as a sage book, what is that place in Qinghe? It happened to be on the side of the canal, and now there is no grain to transport to Beijing. When the time comes to throw the goods on the ship, what other horses are needed there? In this way, what was originally only worth one tael of silver can be worth seven or eight taels of silver if it is reversed, and even a fool can earn dozens of taels of silver after a trip......"

"Then how will the checkpoint of the imperial court be passed by then?"

"Hey, look at what you always said, it's not time to just take the silver and make a point, those officials only have silver in their eyes."

Thinking of the words he said when he chatted with that merchant yesterday, Sun Yuqi's heart suddenly swelled with anger. In his opinion, it was those profiteers who ruined the situation, if it weren't for the profiteers' enemies, how could the world of the Great Qing Kingdom be like this?

"Profiteers have misled the country!"

Yu sighed in his heart, Sun Yuqi's face was full of worry, at this time, looking at the hundreds of horses brought by the merchants crowded at the ferry, what he saw seemed to be the iron cavalry of the southern thieves, and the appearance of the northern expedition in the future.

Of course, he would not say anything at this time, and in his opinion, all this was entirely because of those profiteers, who were lured by the silver of the south and driven by profits.

"No, we must report this matter to the court, and we must not let those thieves rely on those profiteers to win the world!"

The reason why Sun Yuqi made such an exclamation is that there is no other reason, he is a native of Shanxi, and he naturally knows how the eight imperial merchants became imperial merchants, and naturally they also know how they have made great contributions to the Central Plains when the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains.

And what made Sun Yuqi even more distressed was that in addition to those profiteers, even those tax collectors who held the court's money were also in cahoots with those profiteers, and they were completely deaf, and they were allowed to send the horses to Jiangnan like this.

Although those horses were just inferior horses that could not be used by cavalry, they were not a good thing for the imperial court. He could accept these tax collectors to sell goods from the south to the north. After all, the common people also need tea leaves, cotton cloth and all kinds of goods from the south, but those horses are for the army!

"Fortunately, it's only a third-class horse now, if all the horses they transported over are good horses, then wouldn't the thieves in Jiangnan train cavalry in Jiangnan?"

When Sun Yuqi was thinking like this, he didn't know that at the small riverside ferry dozens of miles away, the horse gang composed of hundreds of horses had already passed from the private ferry crossing, carrying the goods all the way to the south, although there were occasional encounters along the way some Qing troops who set up checkpoints to patrol and defend, but all the way to dodge and avoid, plus to open the road with silver, it was also a safe arrival in Jiangnan Province without danger, and for Sun Laohei and his party, it was almost as soon as they arrived at Qinghe and arrived at the horse market of the Trade Bureau, The horses they brought with them immediately attracted the attention of the horse inspection officials.

"Yo, this is a first-class horse!"

Wu Qianxun looked at the horses brought by the caravan, his face was full of surprise, although hundreds of horses were sold to the trade bureau through various channels every day, but this was the first time he had encountered so many first-class horses, after all, these horses were sent from the north under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, those Manchu officials might tolerate inferior horses being trafficked to the south, but the first-class horses and second-class horses that could be used as war horses were trafficked to the south were extremely limited, and even had to be forced to consider buying horses from foreign merchants.

The horses trafficked by foreign merchants are not short horses outside the Guan, but Western breeds of tall horses, although the horses are very good, but after all, the number is limited, and the price is very expensive, so at most it is just a channel, in the end, it is still necessary to sell horses from Mongolia to meet the needs of the army and the people for horses.

"This official has good eyesight, these horses are rare first-class horses, look at this horse......"

Sun Laohei said triumphantly that the reason why he avoided the tax inspection card all the way was because these horses were first-class horses that could be used as war horses. If it weren't for this relationship, there would be a need to hide in Tibet along the way.

"Even if it's the worst one brought by the villain, it's a first-class horse, official, not to mention that this horse is rare to see in Jiangnan, even in Beijing, in the Manchu Dynasty, it's not easy to see a good horse like this!"

Sun Laohei was telling the truth, because when Qing Lu bought horses from Mongolia, he would also cause first-class horses to become privately owned for various reasons, and they were sent to the horse farm or the army, and they were often second-class horses that entered the army, and first-class horses like this were naturally rare.

"Official, you see, of the 207 horses, there are 83 first-class horses, and the rest are first-class horses, and 136 of them are mares at the right time......"

When he said the word mare, Sun Laohei's face had a flattering smile, in order to be able to negotiate this business, he could be said to have made a bloody investment, first-class horses are worth money, first-class mares are more valuable, and correspondingly, first-class mares are more difficult to get, in order to get these mares, he has worked hard, and the reason why he is willing to spend these efforts is also simple - he doesn't want to be like other people, just one of the thousands of horse dealers, he wants to meet some big people through these first-class mares. Meet some of the adults here.

"You mean, there are 136 mares!"

couldn't help but gasp, Wu Qianxun looked at these horses in horror, those eyes suddenly lit up, now Jiangbei, there are many horses, but there are not many good horses, and there are even fewer mares, and the first-class mare is almost zero, there is no mare, which means that Jiangbei can only continue to buy horses, with mares, Jiangbei can establish its own horse farm, and then breed war horses.

"Yes, sir, as long as the price is right, I will bring more horses next time, even if it is a first-class mare like this, as long as I have the goods, I can enter Mongolia and exchange it for you!"

Sun Laohei's tone was tentative, and he didn't talk about money, but only about goods, he said this, so that Wu Qianxun couldn't help but look at him a few times, and then understood his thoughts, this person is probably not just here to sell horses, he must have more ideas.

Monte ...... Could it be that he wants to change horses directly from Monti? He wanted more goods, but he wasn't necessarily willing to pay for them.

As an official of the Trade Bureau, Wu Qianxun had naturally seen all kinds of horse dealers, and he also knew that they had different purposes for coming to Jiangbei, so when he heard him say this, he immediately said with a smile.

"All this is naturally easy to say, as long as there are good horses, the Trade Bureau will naturally buy them at a high price, and when the time comes, you just have to take the silver ticket to purchase the materials......"

As the procurement official of the Trade Bureau, Wu Qianxun did not give him any reply, but just quietly instructed his subordinates to inspect the horses, and for one of the members of the horse gang, Xu Zi was surprised when he received a stack of papers.

"Uncle, this, why is this all paper?"

"Xuzi, you know a bear, this ticket is called a silver ticket, in Jiangbei this thing is as good as silver, let's take this silver ticket, we can buy whatever we want, otherwise, a few hundred taels of silver can not be carried on the body all day long, the silver ticket is hidden, these days, Sun Laohei wants to talk to them about a big business, when the time comes, we will not earn a star or two points of hard money, this business is negotiated and we will be developed......"