activa-t Chapter 305: High Price Flour
Chapter 305: High Price Flour
An old man sitting at another table heard Ye Jintang and his group talking about the price of flour and couldn't help but say, "You gentlemen are from other places, right? You don't know that even if the flour is shipped in from outside, it can only be sold for three cents per pound after paying taxes."
"Old man, if I remember correctly, the tax on wheat is very low, and some places even exempt it from tax. I wonder how much tax Yunliang needs to pay."
Ye Jintang was a businessman in her previous life and was very sensitive to taxation. Before opening a shop in the capital, she had specially studied the taxation of the Tianqin Kingdom. In this regard, Emperor Jing was a benevolent monarch and the national taxation was not high.
"Wheat worth 100 wen in other places only needs to pay 15 wen in tax, but it costs wen to transport it to Yunliang. Wheat is hard-earned money to begin with, and with such a heavy tax, merchants can only raise the selling price."
Taxation is unified across the country. How could Yunliang, a remote small county, be so bold as to secretly increase taxes? If this were to reach the ears of Emperor Jing, he would be beheaded.
"Old man, was Yunliang taxed so heavily in the past few years?"
"Well, it has been like this for more than ten years."
"Did no one report this to the state government?"
This is a county, and there must be many people who don't have farmland. With such high food prices, ordinary families cannot afford it.
The old man shook his head and said no more. He was afraid that he would offend people if he continued.
Ye Jintang saw that the old man had something to hide, so she didn't ask any more questions and left with Xiao Mo and the others.
They did not return to the camp immediately, but sat together in the carriage and discussed the price of flour.
"The price of flour in Yunliang is really too strange. We need to investigate it carefully."
Ye Jintang's sixth sense was very sharp. Even though a pound of flour was only a copper coin away from its price, it could not stop the accumulation of small amounts. There were many people in Yunliang City, and anyone who was alive had to open their mouths to eat every day. After accumulating for more than ten years, the extra silver from flour alone would be an astronomical figure.
"Let's start the investigation directly from the county government office. As long as taxes and silver are involved, this matter will never be resolved peacefully." Xiao Mo's face was gloomy, and he wished he could immediately arrest the county magistrate and interrogate him.
Only then did Ye Jintang realize that they had entered the territory of Ningchuan Prefecture. Since Xiao Mo was named King of Qin, all the taxes in Ningchuan Prefecture belonged to him. If they were stolen by others, it would be his loss.
"It just so happens that the road is blocked by heavy snow and we can't leave. It's just right for us to check Yunliang's account."
"But we don't need to go to the county government office first. We can find the answer naturally if we take a look around the county."
They were all strong men, and they would attract a lot of attention when walking on the road, so they temporarily split up.
Xiao Mo and Ye Jintang were together, and the guards stayed far away and did not follow them.
There was heavy snow falling from the sky and there were few pedestrians on the street. Before the two of them had walked for an hour, many snowflakes had fallen on Ye Jintang's hair and body.
"Why don't you go back to the carriage and rest while I look around."
"It's nothing, just a few snowflakes."
Ye Jintang smiled indifferently at Xiao Mo and continued strolling with him on the street.
The two walked for a while and met an old man selling charcoal on the side of the road. He was quite old and his hair was whiter than snow.
"Uncle, why don't you go home on such a snowy day and sit on the roadside freezing?"
The old man looked up and saw the two outsiders. He rubbed his hands and face before speaking.
"I was hoping that since the weather was cold, I could sell more charcoal so that I could have a warm winter."
At this point the old man smiled helplessly and continued, "I am old. I have no strength left after pulling this cart of charcoal down from the mountain to the county. I am sitting on the side of the road to take a break. I will have to push the charcoal along the street to sell it later."
"I see. I wonder how much a pound of charcoal costs."
"I made this with top-quality ebony wood. It took me several months to make this cartload. If you two like it, I'll sell it to you at 3 cents per pound."
Xiao Mo and Ye Jintang looked at each other in bewilderment. Three cents per pound of black steel charcoal could be said to be very cheap. The black steel charcoal they bought in other cities some time ago cost more than ten cents per pound.
"Old man, how can your black steel charcoal be so cheap? You have been busy for several months just to burn this cart of black steel charcoal. I am afraid you can't even earn one or two taels of silver. How can you support your family?"
Ye Jintang knew a little about how to make charcoal in ancient times. It was a hard job and most people could not endure it. The old man went to the mountains to make charcoal at his age, which showed that his life was very difficult.
"Hey, in our Yunliang County, except for food, everything else is extremely cheap. If I can earn one or two taels of silver, my family won't starve to death."
"This is strange, why is food expensive while everything else is cheap?"
"You two are from other places, right? You may not know that our Yunliang is located in a remote area, and the resources are not abundant. We just barely get by, and we spend very little on weekdays."
"I sell black charcoal, but I can only sell one cart of it in a winter. I can't sell more than that. In this case, the county magistrate wants to make money, so he can only increase taxes on grain. He wants to increase taxes on black charcoal, but if he does, I won't burn it next year, and he won't make much money."
"But food is different. We can't just not eat."
"Yes, even if food is expensive, everyone still needs to eat."
"Old man, are there no people in Yunliang who are causing trouble? There is a prefect above us. If we report it to the prefect, there will always be someone to take care of it."
The old man waved his hand.
"It's useless. Ningchuan Prefecture is very large. The nearest Baoshan City is a 10-day walk away. No matter how serious the trouble here is, the prefect of Baoshan City will not care."
"Besides, it's not just Yunliang that's like this, other counties are like this too. Those officials are like evil ghosts. They just strangle the common people by the throat and make us dare not resist."
The old man was not afraid of offending the county magistrate despite his age, and told Ye Jintang and Xiao Mo everything he knew.
It turns out that the reason why only grain is expensive in Yunliang County is because the entire county is too poor. If other things are expensive, the people are likely to rebel. Now only grain is expensive, the county magistrate has silver to take, and the people can still have food to eat and will not starve to death. It can be seen that the county magistrate knows how to control people.
As for those slightly larger cities, naturally it is not just food that is expensive.
No matter whether it was the county magistrate or the prefect, they all used their own unique abilities just to make money.
It is truly a disaster for the common people that there are so many corrupt officials in such a poor land.
The two men talked with the old man for a while, and before leaving, they asked the guards to buy all the charcoal from the old man and send it to the camp, as a way of thanking the old man for telling them the news.
The old man never expected that he would meet a distinguished person while sitting on the roadside to rest, so he hurried forward to pay his respects.
"Thank you, gentlemen."