Struggle in the early Tang Dynasty

As soon as the words fell, the faces of the two became happy one after another. After looking at each other, they resonated with each other in their hearts, because Guo Ye's words were obviously reminding them that it was time to reward them for meritorious deeds.

Suddenly, the two men stood respectfully with their hands down, and expressed their opinions in unison: "Wish to share your worries for adults!"

Guo Ye waved his hand with a smile, and said: "If you have meritorious service, you will be rewarded, and you will have a good general; if you don't reward meritorious service, you will bump into ghosts on the road at night. In this way, from now on, Mingren will temporarily take the post of Yangzhou Biejia, but he will also be the governor of Yangzhou The position of the prefect of the prefecture is to be in charge of the big and small affairs of the government. Waiting for the time when the Ministry of Officials evaluates and promotes every year, I will nominate you, and you will officially take up the post of Yangzhou Biejia."

"what?"

Chen Jitao was elated, and said excitedly, "My lord, are you serious?"

Guo Ye spat: "Can this kind of thing be a joke? Don't worry about Changsun Yumo, this kid doesn't put his mind on the job of not being a driver at all. Waiting for him to come back from Tubo, he probably will Returned to Chang'an. That's the deal."

Seeing Guo Ye's decision, Chen Jitao was deeply moved. Grandma, she has been in the governor's mansion in Yangzhou for so many years, but she has not been promoted. This time, she won the prize with the right person, and she was promoted within a few months. What a shame! Eat meat with wolves, eat shit with dogs.Betting on Guo Cishi is the right bet!

Then, Guo Ye looked at Chen Lang again and said: "Chen Lang, I know that you are not interested in officialdom, and it is entirely a coincidence that you can sit in Zhechong Duwei's Mansion for me. In this way, you continue to sit in Yangzhou Zhechong Duwei's Mansion for me, And the Slender West Lake land has become ownerless, so let your salt gang take over. However, you salt gang must hand over [-]% of the money collected from taxes to the government office to enrich the treasury of the governor's mansion. .how?"

"Haha, this feeling is good!"

Chen Lang grinned and said, "Hehe, Inspector Guo really hasn't forgotten about our Salt Gang. It's true that we've always been outstanding and hardworking. It's reliable. This matter is reliable. I, Chen Lang, thank the Inspector here. Your lord has come true."

Guo Ye waved his hand lightly again, and said: "Don't be so polite, I said before that I will never treat people who work for me with sincerity. If I don't reward people for their merits, wouldn't it be a shame? Broke your hearts, and also smashed my golden signboard of Longxi Guoye?"

tuk tuk tuk~~

There was a knock on the door one after another, and Zhang Jiujin, who was in charge of guarding the door, sent a message: "Lord Inspector, Yangzhou Salt Transport Envoy Guan Jiujiuguan, Lord Guan, is asking to see you in the flower hall."

Guan Jiujiu?

Guo Ye was slightly taken aback, and thought to himself, it's been a long time since I saw this old sour scholar.

Suddenly, he thought that this year's customs is approaching, and it is also a good time for the salt transport government to collect salt taxes from major salt farms and collect salt taxes to escort to Chang'an.

Could it be that this guy came looking for me for this?

Immediately, he rushed to Chen Lang and Chen Jitao to get up and say goodbye: "Okay, you guys go down first."

The two should claim that they were, and pushed the door out one after another. When the door opened, Guo Ye shouted at Zhang Jiujin: "Jiujin, you go to the flower hall to see Master Guan here."

After giving the order, I remembered that it should be dinner time at this time, so I told the idle Wang Bajin, "Bajin, go tell Mrs. Xiuxiu, and tell her to make some small dishes from Sichuan. , and then soup pot old wine. I want to have a few drinks with Mr. Guan in the study."

"Got it!"

Wang Bajin's joyful voice came from outside the door, and he shouted while running, "I'm going to find Mrs. Xiuxiu right now, my lord, please wait for a while."

Chapter 806

The two people in the study had a drink with each other and listened to the wind outside the house.

In a blink of an eye, the sky was dark and it was night. Wu Xiuxiu boiled five cups of wine and Guo Ye and Guan Jiujiu drank them all.

After drinking enough, Guo Ye remembered the purpose of Guan Jiujiu's visit today, and asked, "Okay, it's time to talk about the business after talking about the nonsense. You are looking for me today, but is it because of the salt tax collection that is approaching at the end of the year?"

hiccup~

Guan Jiujiu puffed out her chest and hiccupped, touched her cheeks that were hot and flushed after drinking, and said with an embarrassed smile: "My lord, forgive me, the student lost his mind after drinking."

Guo Ye waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter, let's get down to business."

Guan Jiujiu nodded and said: "Exactly, the last time the students were ordered by the adults to dismiss the guards recruited by the Zhang family in the Yanyun Yamen. Now it is almost the end of the new year, and they need to come from all the major cities in Yangzhou. The salt field and the major salt merchants collect salt tax, and it seems that the current staff of the Salt Transport Yamen is not enough. So the students came here this time because they want to second some people from the adults to deal with emergencies."

Guo Ye nodded slightly. In order to let Guan Jiujiu completely control the Yanyun Yamen, he had come down to disband all the salt transportation guards recruited by Zhang's privately, which numbered several thousand.

According to the establishment of Dingmu set by the imperial court, only 500 people are reserved in the Yanyun Yamen.

Although with the demise of the Zhang family, both the big and small officials in the salt transport yamen, as well as the 500-member salt transport guards, have all changed their direction and were completely gathered by Guan Jiujiu.

However, Yangzhou has nearly dozens of large-scale salt farms approved by the government alone, not to mention nearly a hundred other small and medium-sized salt farms.Moreover, there are countless salt merchants holding government salt imports, there are hundreds of them.

The Yangzhou salt tax is collected from these hundreds of major salt farms approved by the government, as well as from these hundreds of salt merchants.

If there were only 500 guards, even if all the officials of the Salt Transport Yamen were sent out to collect the salt tax, they would be stretched and they would not be able to handle it at all.

Moreover, the owners of these salt farms and hundreds of salt merchants are all cunning and cunning merchants. Although the official salt is huge profits, they all want to pay a penny less in salt tax, so they often like to evade taxes, and even secretly make fake account books to Coping with the matter, trying to get away with it.

Otherwise, with the prestige of the Zhang family in Yangzhou, they would not have been forced to recruit thousands of people privately to expand the salt transport escort team.

Of course, the Zhang family also planned to use the gimmick of expanding the recruitment of the Salt Transport Guard to reduce it to their own personal armed forces and thugs.

Now that the end of the new year is approaching, and the busiest time for the Yanyun Yamen is approaching, it is also reasonable for Guan Jiujiu to borrow someone from him for emergency help.

Immediately, he nodded and said: "It's okay to borrow people. I will inform Liu Zhenxuan tomorrow and ask him to send you 1000 people from Zhechong Duwei's residence to help you collect the salt tax."

Guan Jiujiu was overjoyed when he heard the words, and thanked again and again: "Your Excellency is wise, with the 1000 people dispatched by Captain Liu, it can be regarded as a great help to the students."

Guo Ye raised his hand again and said: "Don't be too busy thanking me, you just need to pay Yangzhou salt tax before the end of the year and collect it without a penny, which is the best thanks to me. Also, after the New Year's Eve Afterwards, I will allow you to recruit another 500 people in the name of the Yanyun Yamen, and the salary and money will go to the account of the Yanyun Yamen, and I will report this matter to the court later, it should not be a problem."

Guan Jiujiu couldn't calm down now, the establishment of five hundred salt transport yamen guards, and the real establishment approved by the imperial court to allow official food, this is not a small number, it is a big deal.

And this is completely a great benefit from adults to buy people's hearts.

As long as you allow yourself to expand the guard team, isn't that just throwing [-] places into your own hands and letting yourself decide?

At that time, how many people will fight their heads to get in?As long as you enter the guard, it means you have a long-term meal ticket, and it is a meal ticket from the imperial court.

Apart from Guan Jiujiu's excited expression, his rosy face became even more rosy, and he thought happily in his heart that he just fell in love with a little widow two days ago. Well, isn't this little widow throwing herself into her arms and letting herself be at the mercy of her?

At this point, he is so beautiful~

"Cough cough..."

Guo Ye interrupted Guan Jiujiu, who was full of lewdness, with two clear coughs on purpose. How could he fail to see that Guan Jiujiu's eyes were shining lewdly?

Immediately, he calmly knocked sideways and woke up again: "Old Guan, the Yanyun Yamen is in your hands, so naturally everything is up to you. However, you have to pay attention to some things. There is no harm in following the rules. Mo was stunned by certain things for a while, and finally went too far! Can you understand what I mean?"

Although the last sentence was spoken quite casually, to Guan Jiujiu's ears it was like thunder rolling from the sky, as if he had been enlightened.

Guan Jiujiu groaned inwardly, it's really over, the adults have spotted such sneaky thoughts.

Immediately, he smiled awkwardly again, and gave a thumbs up to compliment: "Sir, you really have a bright eye, and the students really have nothing to hide in front of you. Hehe, the students will definitely remember the teachings of the adults, and will never embarrass the adults. of."

Hearing Guan Jiujiu's statement, Guo Ye smiled heartily and said, "Don't be so nervous, Lao Guan. I'll always be at ease when you do things. Well, it's getting late, hurry back and rest, tomorrow Liu Zhenxuan will dispatch those 1000 people to come and find you."

Guan Jiujiu let out a hey and hurriedly stood up, gently stroked the official robe on her body, turned around and walked towards the door of the study.

As soon as he walked to the door, he stopped suddenly, turned his head and asked, "Sir, should we follow the example of the Zhang family in this year's salt tax, intercept some of them secretly, and then escort some to the Chang'an household department?"

Guo Ye was slightly taken aback after hearing this, and began to think...

Finally, he suddenly raised his head and refused righteously: "Old Guan, the salt tax has always been the foundation of filling the national treasury. It is not my private property, Guo Ye. We can't take this kind of money. Moreover, the Tang Dynasty seems to be strong now. The national treasury is empty, so we can't keep the money. Besides, this year is our first year in Yangzhou. Do you know how many pairs of eyes are on Yangzhou in Chang'an? No, no, no, this kind of money must not be handed out, if you do, you will be caught. As much as you want, you can’t withhold half a penny without permission and send it to the Chang’an household department for me, do you hear me?”