"Isn't the shop here just opened not long ago?"

"Yes, there is a record in the county government, and it was registered before the opening."

When the officials from the county government came in, one of them was holding a notebook, and two stern ones led the way. At the head of the shop, Xu He hurried out from the counter. It was not the first time he had been taxed. Seeing this familiar scene, Xu He He is much more familiar with the road than before.

But even so, he is still not particularly clear about the collection method of commercial tax.

After checking, the master book said: "Your shop has not been completed for half a year, and you will collect the tax next time."

When the chief secretary spoke, the rest of the yamen servants didn't say anything, turned around and followed them out, without taking money from their shop. When Zhang Fangyuan came back, the Yacha happened to go to the restaurant next door.

"Don't be afraid of them, nothing will happen if you ask for the money honestly." Zhang Fangyuan came back with lunch and saw that the little brother was still standing at the door staring at the yamen servant who had gone to another shop in a daze. He couldn't help but want to tease him, and reached out Pinch his face.

After holding the hot meal for a long time, his body also became warm, and the warm fingertips rubbed against his cheeks. Xu He came back to his senses: "But we didn't collect our tax money, and said that we will pay it in half a year."

Zhang Fangyuan nodded as expected, he was clear about tax matters, but seeing that Xu He was not very clear, he set up the meal and took advantage of the eating time to explain it to him in detail.

Commercial tax payment is different from poll tax, but the two do not conflict. Even if you pay commercial tax, poll corvee tax is still payable. It's just that if the businessman's family doesn't have a farm, then there is no need to pay land rent and grain production.

When the business tax of the court is less than 10,000 Wen per month, pay 50 Wen per month, collect once every six months, 300 Wen for six months, and 600 Wen per year; for those who earn less than 100,000 Wen per month, five hundred Wen; within 500,000 wen, 5,000 wen per month...

The commercial tax has been relatively easy in these years, and the imperial court is also enlightened. For example, if you set up a small stall in the city without renting a stall, and if you don’t sell it for a month, you will not be charged commercial tax. So Xu He didn't pay the commercial tax when he went to set up a stall to sell vegetables and lo-mei, so he didn't get in touch with this level of tax.

There are three businesses in their family, and now only the pork stall has to pay taxes for half a year, and pays 300 Wen for half a year, but now it has been transferred to Chen Si, and the business tax money is naturally borne by them.

Xu He whispered: "But how does the yamen know how much the shop earns? If you report to the lowest one, you can pay less."

Zhang Fangyuan laughed: "If the imperial court is not careful about collecting money, how could it allow the merchants to conceal the income. For places like the meat market and the vegetable market, the county government has already estimated the prices of those merchants, and hastily calculated. In order to make a profit, except for the surprisingly hot business, they are all collected according to the lowest level of business tax."

"The shops outside are also divided into grades. There are those who pay at the level of 100,000 yuan, and those who pay at the level of 500,000 yuan. Reconciliation of the books."

Xu He chewed the vegetables, swallowed and asked, "Then how much does our shop here pay?"

"Our shop is small, and it is based on five hundred per month. The master bookkeeper has already said it when we went to the government office to register. If the tea shed is not in the city, it is paid according to the lowest rate. Unless the business is booming, the increase will generally not be raised."

Xu He breathed a sigh of relief, but luckily he didn't pay a few thousand a month in taxes, otherwise he wouldn't be able to pay all the money.

However, he was puzzled again: "You said that the yamen collects commercial tax every six months, if those shops only opened for three or five months and then closed down, and the yamen didn't even have time to go to collect the tax, what should we do?"

Zhang Fangyuan said: "If the business tax is collected every month, the manpower of the yamen will be overwhelmed by busy people. There was a time when the tax was collected quarter by quarter, but it was still too busy, so I chose to pay it every six months. Back, so that the county government can take a breather, and the merchants will not find it so troublesome. If you see that the government office suddenly collects merchant taxes month by month, it means that the government office or the imperial treasury is empty, there is no money, or it is about to build something Kind of like fighting."

"As for the treatment you mentioned, when you open a shop, you have to go to the county government to register. There is a record of what the shop is called, what kind of business it does, and when it opened. Merchants that have just closed down have to go to the county government to make a record of the business tax payment, otherwise they will always hang in the government office, and if they want to open a shop again in the future, the government office will not approve it."

"In addition, if future generations want to enter the official examination, they will go to check and find that there are commercial taxes in the file that have not been filled, which may affect their official career. From childhood, they will check the files, and they will be given merit only if there are no bad records."

Xu He clicked his tongue. He always knew that the status of the merchants was not high, but these years the peace and prosperity have improved. The emperor issued an edict allowing the descendants of merchants to take the imperial examination, but the management of merchants is still very strict. At first, he only heard a little about it. Zhaocai realized it deeply.

"The imperial court's laws and regulations are very strict, but there are still many people who break the law and discipline, and many things are unclear." Zhang Fangyuan put the food into Xu He's bowl: "But in case our descendants are promising, we can We should not take advantage of the loopholes in studying and taking scientific examinations, and pay taxes honestly."

Xu He very much agrees that this kind of management is for the sake of the children, and one cannot put the cart before the horse and ruin the children's future, making the children lose their livelihood before they are born.

He had principles in his heart, but they also had a lot of business tax money, and they had to pay six thousand dollars a year. His heart was throbbing, and Xu He suddenly said sadly: "If you have a son and send him to study early, you can take the exam later. Juren will not have to worry about the high tax."

Zhang Fangyuan laughed: "Don't you still reprimand me for not being enterprising and pinning your hopes on the children? This is also a change of mind for you?"

Xu He pursed his lips. At that time, he didn't know that doing business would be so difficult. He only looked at the rich and rich people's clothes and food, but he didn't know that there were layers of buckles behind them.

"Forget it, I still earn a lot of money and save before the child is born."

After saying that, he regained his morale and prepared to rush to the door after dinner to yell at customers.

The shop owners on this side of the Tianjie couldn't bear the face to invite customers at the door, and only hired clerks went there. There were no clerks in their small shops, so they could only act as the boss and clerk at the same time.

The autumn rain fell for less than half a month, and the county government was busy collecting land taxes and commercial taxes, and when the weather was bad, the people cursed and the county government officials complained.

There was a heavy rain in the summer of one year, and the corn was harvested early, but the rice was suffering, and the rain washed away and smashed a lot of rice. The rice is not as full and large as in previous years, and most of them are empty shell rice.

10% of the mass production has to be handed over to the government. The total production is already small. Even if the food handed over to the government is only 10%, the remaining food is only enough for the family to eat. If you want to sell the food in exchange for some money for living expenses I'm afraid that few families can do it, and it's almost nothing for a year.

Farmers are also worried from the beginning to the end of the year. They are busy planting seeds in spring, fearing that their seeds will not be good, so they have to look around to buy them. Finally, the spring plowing was over, and the yamen sent people to urge them to pay the head tax. Those who had no money borrowed money and paid the tax to prepare for the autumn harvest. Owe more and more money.

Many times I feel that life is hopeless, but I still swear a few words about living day after day and year after year. After all, everyone has suffering.

Zhang Fangyuan and Xu He went back from the city and went to the tea shed for a stroll. When they returned, they saw Fei Lian in the village.

It's not unusual for people from the same village to see each other. It's just that the two have often seen each other when they return to the village. It's been a long time. Even if the academy is on holiday, it won't be so long, let alone it's not a holiday.

The academies in the city usually have five or eight days of busy farming leave during spring plowing and autumn harvest, so that the scholars from the villages can come back to help the family, but now that they have paid the grain production, the busy farming leave has long passed.

"Don't you two know? Fei Lian doesn't go to the academy anymore."

It seemed that the couple was surprised to see Fei Lian many times, so some villagers who went to the field enthusiastically pulled the two of them to chat.

Zhang Fangyuan was even more surprised when he heard the words than when he saw Fei Lian: "Why don't you go to the academy?"

The rural examination is held every three years, and the time to leave the rural examination is still early. How can a scholar like Fei Lian who can't stay in the village come back before the rural examination, and there is no need to prepare for the examination.

The folks said: "At first, the Fei family got a few acres of fertile land from the imperial court. They thought they could rely on the fertile land to have a good harvest, but in the end they encountered rain disasters and suffered terribly. It was too late to get the land after completing the formalities, and it was too late for the crops to go to the ground. , The growth itself is not good, how can we live in the rainstorm. This time, there is more land, and more grain production is paid, and the harvest is not good, life is hard."

Zhang Fangyuan said directly: "It means that the Fei family can't afford to pay for their studies, so they call them back to work?"

"I guess that's the way it should be. In short, if you ask the Fei family, it means that you won't go to the academy to study." The villager said: "Then Mrs. Fei is still very proud. She thinks that Fei Lian is good at writing, even if he doesn't spend time in the academy, it won't affect the rural examination. .”

Zhang Fangyuan shook his head, although Fei Lian could receive 2,000 Wen a month for being a scholar, but the money might not be enough for his education expenses.

In fact, poor scholars do not spend much money on reading other than pens, inks, papers and inkstones. Moreover, these scholars will find some jobs in the city, which greatly reduces the burden on the family. At most, the loss of a middle-aged man Ding only helps the family earn money to do farm work.

But Fei Lian was different. Mrs. Fei was strong and aggressive, she raised Fei Lian well since she was a child, not only giving him as much money as possible and not letting him do farm work.

Zhang Fangyuan already knew about these things, and he probably learned about the rest from his mother-in-law. Liu Xianglan loves to come to look for Xu He, and every time he comes to Bi Tifei's family, he can always hear both ears.

Hearing that Fei Lian spent more money than before after being selected as a scholar, maybe he felt that he had a monthly salary to get, or it might be that he had set up a list of scholars and started to eat well and dress well. If it is just an ordinary peasant household, the monthly money is enough for the family to live a good life, but it is not enough for a scholar to spend in the city.

The couple had seen in the shop how well scholars spent money, and if Fei Lian did the same, the family would definitely owe money.

However, Xu He felt that since he was born in a peasant family, he knew that life was not easy, so he shouldn't be so rampant. However, under the influence of other people from superior families in the academy, he thought there would be some changes.

Farewell to the folks, the two drove the carriage home, Zhang Fangyuan said again on the road: "You don't know that the poor become rich, and they spend money very quickly. If you didn't manage the family and hold the money, the money you sold for the fragrant dew earlier I also spend money recklessly, so I don’t want to do business to earn more money.”

"I'm not as good as you say."

Zhang Fangyuan raised his hand and touched the back of Xu He's hand: "I mean it."

"You just want to turn a corner and say that I robbed you of all the money."

"Why, I paid it on my own initiative, which is much more proactive than paying taxes."

The two were frolicking in the carriage, before they reached the yard, they saw a man standing at the gate of the yard holding a basket and rubbing his fingers at the same time, his two willow leaf-like eyebrows frowned, as if there was something wrong Embarrassment.

Xu He frowned: "Why is Second Sister here?"

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