Swallow Back

Abolition of monopoly rights and thorough implementation of free trade are rare, but not unique.At least a few pilot cases have been carried out within the Oda family, such as Hashiba Hideyoshi in Yokoyama Castle-he was still called Kinoshita Tokichiro at that time.

But not even tax?

It's too unbelievable.

No matter what kind of commercial means the ruling class adopts, the ultimate goal is always to increase income.

Due to the lack of administrative power, the traditional guardian daimyo generally do not like to collect taxes, but directly grant monopoly rights and charge high gift money.A small number of emerging forces with a longer-term vision will crack down on the monopoly of buying and selling exclusively, promote the development of trade, and then profit from the steady stream of taxes.

Now Changdao Yuanzheng Temple neither engages in monopoly operation nor collects "public service money", so what benefits can monks get?

Is it really impossible to serve the people wholeheartedly?

Liu Yun couldn't help looking at the Buddhist temple built with yellow mud walls and thatched roofs in the middle of the fishing village. He nodded thoughtfully and said, "No wonder, the village is rich in fishing products, but the temple is so simple. That's why."

Monk Qingsheng looked very happy and excited when he heard this, and raised his head and said: "Our monks of Yixiangzong don't just know how to sit and recite Buddhist scriptures, but want to make the people live and work in peace. As for the idea of ​​making money, we have never thought about it .”

When he said this, although the monk Qingsheng was stepping on the muddy ground with bare feet, his body was dripping with sweat and covered with dust, he smiled openly, as if he really had attained the Tao.

At least, they are much more similar to those "eminent monks and great virtues" who live in a simple way in Kyoto.

Liu Yun made an expression of admiration, and nodded respectfully.Then he frowned and asked in doubt: "However, no matter how economical it is, monks always have to eat, Buddha also needs sesame oil to worship, and there are repairs to the temple... Where do these expenses come from?"

"Monks can support themselves." Monk Qingsheng stretched out his hands and said proudly: "You have also seen that our monks of Yixiangzong will work together with the common people, and naturally there will be a harvest. Then, of course, the common people will also give alms! However, everyone is voluntary and never forced. In order to prevent someone from forcibly apportioning the distribution, the masters of the Long Island Yuanzheng Temple also made it clear that no matter what kind of occupation the nearby disciples live in or how much money they have, they can donate at most one-tenth of the silver money each year. , it is extremely pious. If it exceeds this number, we will return it."

"That's it! It's really admirable." Liu Yunzuo suddenly realized, and concluded: "So, if I buy seafood in this village, I only need to pay the price I just said, and I can ship it away directly. There is no need to do any extra procedures...is that right?"

"Yes!" Monk Qingsheng nodded firmly: "That's it! Doing business on the territory of Yixiangzong will definitely make you feel at ease!"

"Okay, okay..." Liu Yun was silent for a moment, and then said: "Let me go back and think about it. If I want to, I'll bring the horses and horses, prepare enough money, and come directly to deliver the goods."

"Then wait for the good news." Monk Kiyomori smiled friendly, and said intimately: "Does Mr. Kojiro live in the machiya next to the Ganshoji Temple with his female relatives? It's nearly an hour's journey on foot. Come here." You should have experienced it when you were in the village...the villagers will deliver a batch of goods later, why don't you take our hitchhiker together?"

"No need..." Liu Yun politely refused: "It just happens to be an outing, the scenery by the sea is pretty good."

"Understood." Monk Qingsheng bowed and made a gesture of seeing off the guests: "Then enjoy it slowly."

Then he turned back and continued to lead the villagers to work in full swing.

During the time when Monk Qingsheng was chatting with Liuyun, several fishing boats docked on the shore seemed to have finished unloading their cargo.

The old and weak women and children in the village are still humming cheerful folk songs, cleaning, sorting and tidying up diligently.

And the young and middle-aged man did not rest, just sat on the beach and took a few breaths, pulled each other to stand up, folded their palms together in a circle and yelled three times, then carried the net on their backs vigorously, and boarded Get in the boat, take the oars, sing a high tune and go out to sea again.

The middle-aged monk named Qingsheng stood at the bow of the boat, commanding calmly while taking care of sailing.

Except for his bald head and monk robes, he looked no different from the ragged and disheveled fishermen.

But obviously, this Qingsheng monk is the core of the whole village.

It is conceivable that all men, women and children must have shown a different mental outlook from this era because of his existence.

……

Liu Yun turned and left the small fishing village, returning to the gravel road.

While pacing slowly, he looked at the surrounding scenery aimlessly, with a slight thought on his face.

Two women followed closely behind.

The girl Akiyama Rinko was still cautiously lowering her brows and obediently, raising her head from time to time and looking forward quietly, looking at Liu Yun, and then immediately lowered her head in panic, as if she didn't know anything outside her body at all.

As the captain of Taimanin, Asahime Igawa finally has some brains.Along the way, she stared at Liuyun's back and thought over and over again. After hesitating for a long time, she finally opened her mouth and asked in an unconfident tone: "Master Sasaki! The fishing village I saw just now is a safe paradise that I have never seen anywhere in Fusang." .But the real situation is probably not as simple as it seems, right?"

Hearing this, Liu Yun felt a little surprised, stopped in his tracks, turned around and said with a smile, "You actually saw it too? Not bad, it seems that you have been following me for a long time, and you are quite diligent."

Ms. Jinghe's cheeks turned red immediately, her eyes drifted away, she forced herself to calm down and coughed, and immediately explained: "Actually... I didn't see anything. It's just that after all, I have been following Mr. Sasaki for a long time. Seeing your reaction, I can understand it a little bit." Guess a little bit of your mind."

"Hmm..." Liu Yun looked in the direction of the fishing village, stood with his hands behind his back, nodded slowly, and said calmly, "I can see a lot of abnormalities at a glance."

"Ah——" Ms. Jinghe shook her head with a look of disappointment on her face, and sighed quietly: "Oh, I just wanted to be happy, thinking that I finally saw a good place in Fusang where the people can live and work in peace, but I didn't expect there to be something strange in it Excuse me, what abnormalities did you see?"

"This—" Liu Yun was a little surprised, looked sideways, and teased, "I haven't even given the reason yet, yet you believe my judgment so easily, even denying everything you see with your own eyes?"

"Judging from many things that have happened before, I think your judgment is trustworthy." Ms. Jinghe's tone was very firm without any hesitation.

Liu Yun smiled when he heard the words: "You are not afraid of being cheated..."

Ms. Jinghe also laughed in surprise: "Is there anything on me that is worth lying to you?"

Liu Yun smiled unabated, and shook his head: "Of course I have - at least I should treat myself... Cough, it's nothing."

He wanted to say "At least you should have some confidence in your appearance."When the words came to his lips, he felt that he was not respectful enough, so he held back.

"actually……"

Ms. Jinghe opened her mouth, but only the first few syllables came out, and the following words were completely inaudible.

"Huh?" Liu Yun was puzzled.

"It's nothing..." Ms. Jinghe turned her face away, and suddenly changed her tone of seriousness: "Master Sasaki, you haven't explained it yet. What is wrong with what you saw in the fishing village just now?"

"Heh—" Liu Yun didn't answer, just turned around and walked forward, and said at the same time: "We still have to walk for half an hour to reach the machiya, you can think about it carefully."

"Hmm..." Ms. Jinghe looked to her teammates at the side to get some hints and help: "What do you think, Rinko?"

But at this time, the girl Akiyama Rinko was quietly staring at Liuyun's back, and she suddenly noticed Miss Jinghe's eyes again, hurriedly looked away, and responded incoherently and incoherently: "I...I have no objection, captain... Captain, you can decide."

This team member is really useless in terms of intelligence.

Ms. Jinghe had no choice but to follow Liuyun on the road while racking her brains and meditating.

After walking for a while, she still couldn't figure it out. Liu Yun reminded: "You have lived in my territory for a while. Think about the difference between the people of this fishing village and the people of the Sasaki family. What are the similarities? Then think about the differences in the natural environment and governance of the two places."

"Oh--"

Following this line of thought, Ms. Jinghe thought about it for a long time, and finally realized: "I understand! The small fishing village just now is close to Ise Bay, and can produce expensive goods such as sea bream, sea cucumber, and big lobster. We have also seen that the output is definitely sufficient. Then they can trade freely, and they are exempted from public service money... From this point of view, they should live a relatively rich life anyway! But judging from the size and clothes, the fishermen are better than Sasaki The people in the village seem to be even poorer. So, where does the money from selling seafood go?"

"Children can be taught!" Liu Yun said happily: "There are also houses. The houses in the fishing village just now are obviously inferior to those in Sasaki Village. And the fishermen work much harder than Sasaki Village."

"Understood." Ms. Jinghe nodded vigorously, and then became a little frustrated: "Could it be that all the words and deeds of that monk Qingsheng just now are pretending?"

"Not necessarily." Liu Yun shook his head slightly: "At least I don't feel any sign of lying. There should be other factors."

"In that case..." Ms. Jinghe said firmly: "You must find out what kind of tricks the monks of the Yixiangzong are playing! Please tell me what to do? I will obey all orders."

"If I'm not mistaken—" Liu Yun said slowly: "As long as you continue to play the role of a businessman, you will know something. But you will definitely encounter danger...Look at the high-quality seafood in Long Island. Lian, but I haven’t heard that the seafood merchants in Daminato and Tsushima can’t keep working, there must be some reason for it.”

In fact, Liu Yun is very afraid of trouble. When encountering problems before, he was too lazy to use his brain and mainly relied on hard cutting.

There is nothing that cannot be dealt with with one knife; if it is not possible, then two knife.

But in today's situation, it is obviously impossible to solve it by force, and it is rare for him to show his ability to see things in detail.

At this moment, the seaside is just the beginning of spring and the season when the green shoots are newly blooming. Seeing Liuyun, the cloud is calm and the wind is breezy, and the posture of holding the wisdom beads, she unconsciously moves slightly, and the corner of her mouth bends in an arc unconsciously. .

But Akiyama Rinko suddenly gave an unconscious "hmm", then quickly lowered her head, not daring to speak.

At the same time, the long knife transformed by Iori made a subtle hum in its sheath—of course, only Liu Yun could hear the movement of this spiritual world.

Chapter 196 Master Sasaki Will Never Live Up to His Trust

Liuyun left the fishing village where he "lived and worked in peace and contentment", and went around a few neighboring villages, and what he saw and heard was mostly the same.

He pretended to choose, and finally returned to the village at the beginning, found the master Qingsheng monk, and claimed to buy a large amount of seafood.

Monk Qingsheng was very happy and kindly introduced the way of carriage, horses and boats.

This is very necessary.After all, Long Island is located on an isolated delta, and outsiders can only come in by ferry, and it is impossible to bring their own transportation.And the ferry boats are all under the control of Yixiangzong, so they have to hire someone to help get them out, and arrange for them outside in advance.

So Liuyun and his party finally came to the central business district of Long Island.

What I encountered was still a friendly and harmonious scene.

Within an area of ​​[-] steps long from north to south and [-] steps wide from east to west, there are seven small streets with a width of five to two and a width of four to six meters.There are hundreds of shops in the market, and they are not very large. There are no magnificent high-rise buildings as far as the eye can see, and they are all self-employed individuals operating exclusively with single doors.

The most remarkable thing is that there are only three or five stores and ten or twenty guys.

The crowd is bustling and busy, but there is only such a big place in total, no matter how much it is, it will not be much.

In terms of scale alone, this place is not as good as the Uesugi family's Echigo Naoetsu port town.Nothing compares to Kyoto.

But only the atmosphere in the street market can be praised.

In other places, the patrols maintaining law and order are vicious and defiant, walking sideways like crabs.It is also commonplace to take advantage of merchants' oil and water in Naka's important places.Even in the eyes of many daimyo, this is the regular income that the town should have.

Correspondingly, when the common people see official personnel, they are all trembling with fear, walking on thin ice.If you can hide, you can hide, and if you can't hide, you just nod your head and think of a way to deal with it.

As for the intrigue between buyers and sellers, thieves who steal sheep and fish in troubled waters, and charlatans who are swindled and deceived... let alone mention it.

however--

The business district of Long Island Wishing Temple is completely different.

There are also monks holding sticks to maintain order, but they don't mean to show off their power at all. They just perform their tasks quietly, without any unnecessary disturbing actions, and greet passers-by with a smile.

The townspeople are not afraid of these monk soldiers at all.You don’t need to give way quickly when you meet someone along the road. Occasionally, when you pass by, you just bow and apologize and smile.

There is an unimaginably friendly atmosphere between merchants and customers.

Even bargaining is done with a smile and a soft voice.There is basically no case of such scorching spittle spattering quarrels in other places.

Therefore, there is no deafening annoying noise.

In terms of perception, it is much better.

Liu Yun walked slowly on the street, looking around with great interest, sometimes bowing his head in thought.

Asaji Jinghe followed behind him, and whispered in his ear: "If I hadn't been with Master Sasaki, I would have thought that this place in Long Island was the most beautiful place in the world. It's weird."

This silly girl seemed to care too much about Liu Yun's words.

She stood among the crowd, clenched the handle of the knife, and acted very cautiously.The more smiling the surrounding townspeople were, the less she dared to relax.

Akiyama Rinko's brainless girl is much more natural.

Fortunately, there are so many people coming and going in a hurry, few people pay special attention to strangers.

But after all, it is not a solution.

Liu Yun had no choice but to gently pull Miss Jing He's arm, try to comfort and explain a few words, and finally calmed her down.

Rinko Akiyama followed closely behind. Seeing this, her expression was tense, her feet were in a daze, as if she would never go on the road.

In order to avoid getting lost in the crowd, Liu Yun stretched out his other hand.

……