Chapter 312: New Sea Pavilion Crisis

Ji Mo and Li Yaoguang became anxious when they heard this.

Li Yaoguang dropped the limp brush in his hand, took Ji Mo and left. Li Qifeng was also worried, so he quickly settled the three little ones and told Aunt Qiu and the others to take care of them. He also hurriedly got up and followed without even having time to put on his cloak.

When the four of them hurriedly rushed all the way from the back to the front of Xinhai Pavilion, Gu Qing and Yu Meixue were blocking the gate with hundreds of Xinhai Pavilion employees to confront the newcomers.

Li Yaoguang and Ji Mo stepped forward quickly, and Ji Mo stepped forward to block the three people.

Li Yaoguang hurriedly held the hands of his aunt and Gu Qing, and asked in a low voice, "Aunt, Sister Gu, what's going on?"

The two looked very unhappy. Yu Meixue took her niece's hand and pointed at the person who came and said in a low voice, "Here to collect taxes."

Li Yaoguang: "Collecting taxes? Didn't they come here yesterday? Didn't we just give them some money?"

"Ha!" Gu Qing sneered, "That's right! It's not just yesterday. Be good, let me calculate it for you. All these exorbitant taxes have been imposed since half a month ago..."

Seeing that Ji Mo, a man and the host, went out to negotiate with the people in front, Gu Qing was able to catch his breath and had the chance to pull Li Yaoguang and count on his fingers at her in angrily.

"The last one who came was from the Ministry of Revenue, the one who came yesterday at noon was from the Fire Prevention Bureau, the one who came yesterday afternoon was from the Road Bureau, and the one who came this morning was even more outrageous. It was from the Ministry of War. They said that there are many people in our Xinhai Pavilion, many of whom are not in the army, and they are afraid that there are hidden households. They want to conduct a thorough investigation and collect the population tax at the same time."

"Population tax?" What the hell!

Li Yaoguang also understood the tax collection system of Dajing, and felt very puzzled when he was charged with taxes from the adult population.

Seeing Li Yaoguang's surprise, Gu Qing laughed and made some sarcasm.

"You were also shocked. It's unexpected, right? Are all these government officials in the court crazy? Aren't they destroying their own foundation?"

"Shh, Sister Gu, be careful with your words."

Ji Mo seemed to be talking to the visitor, but in fact he was multitasking and paying attention to the conversation behind him.

After hearing what the three said, Ji Mo's eyes darkened. Although he didn't care much about money, Xinhai Pavilion was opened by his beloved girl for her friends and interests, so he had to protect it for her.

Looking at the group of people in front of him again, Ji Mo suppressed the coldness in his eyes and gestured to the leading official to let him take a step forward to talk.

"Sir, I am an old friend of the Minister of War, Chen. I'm afraid it's inappropriate for you to come to my Xinhai Pavilion with such a large force, right?"

The visitor raised an eyebrow, "Master Chen? Who are you?"

Seeing that the other party's attitude had softened a bit, Ji Mo bowed to him and said, "I am the owner of Xinhai Pavilion."

After he finished speaking, Ji Mo cast a look towards Gu Qing and Li Yaoguang. The two of them understood instantly and quickly signaled Lu Qing to offer the benefits.

Lu Qing did not dare to delay and hurriedly turned to the accounting office. Seeing this, Li Qifeng became worried and followed him.

Soon the two of them came together, with Li Qifeng guarding next to them. Lu Qing was holding a tray with a plate of silver, ten taels each, a total of twenty.

When they got closer, they stood beside Ji Mo. Ji Mo raised his head to signal Lu Qing to serve him, and said politely, "This lord must be very tired after leading the brothers to work. This is a small token of my appreciation. I, Xinhai Pavilion, invite you and the brothers to have tea."

The other party and even the dozen or so soldiers following behind him immediately showed joy in their eyes.

The leader waved his hand and told his confidant to collect the silver first. When Ji Mo asked to let him have a word with him, the other party was not vague at all. The two were led to the reception room by Lu Qing and Li Qifeng. The rest of the people were arranged by Li Yaoguang, Gu Qing and Yu Meixue, and they were asked to entertain them well. Only then was Xinhai Pavilion able to resume normal business.

After settling all these, Li Yaoguang, her aunt and Gu Qing sat down in the private room behind the reception room, and then they heard the conversation of Ji Mo and others in the front reception room.

"My Lord, what's going on recently? The frequency of tax collection is probably a little off. And wasn't the tax collection the responsibility of the Ministry of Revenue before? How come every government office is collecting taxes now? It's so chaotic. Don't your Majesty and the court care?"

The other party got the benefit, and after sharing some of the two hundred taels with his brothers, he could get at least one hundred taels himself.

It was a pity that his annual salary was only twenty taels. All his former belongings were left in the old capital, and he had to start over in the new capital, which was really difficult. However, his salary was decreasing year by year, and sometimes he could not even get it, or what he got was simply useless. He did receive tributes from his superiors, and he could make some money in some unconventional ways, but the world was in a bad state now, and his gray income was also decreasing year by year.

How did he get a hundred taels of silver in an instant, without a trace of fakeness? This official from the capital was in a good mood and didn't mind talking about it with Ji Mo.

"Haha, Master Ji, you don't know that His Majesty and the court are busy with important matters right now. General Shen cannot be summoned. I'm afraid that the north is... ahem, His Majesty has therefore made arrangements for the court. At the grand court meeting yesterday, the court was once again in turmoil. Many officials in the government offices retired, some were reassigned, and some were reassigned. Our Lord Chen is also too old to take care of things.

The newly arrived Duke of Han supervised the Ministry of War and pointed out that the emperor's decree said that there were not enough soldiers to recruit, there was a shortage of men, and there was not enough money to pay the taxes to make up for the shortfall. In order to ensure the overall situation, he set aside the Ministry of Revenue under the charge of Prime Minister Qin and made up the tax shortage on his own.

No, I have no choice. You have so many people in Xinhai Pavilion, and the higher-ups are afraid that you may have hidden households, so, hehe..."

With the closure of Qijitang, he was cut off from news and information, but this was probably not going to work. He had to go back and spread out all these arrangements, lest he be in a passive position when a crisis came. He was even more afraid that troubled times would come again and he would not be able to protect the people he wanted to protect.

Ji Mo pondered in his mind, but looked surprised.

"Sir, this is not right. There are many big merchants in Dajing, and even in Xinjing, there are big merchants with servants everywhere. Why don't other places have these names? Only our Xinhai Pavilion?"

Humph! What do you mean you can't do anything about it? It's just to protect yourself. And that old mad dog Zhou is hiding! How could he think of that?

"Sir, I, Ji Mo, am also an honest businessman. My Xinhai Pavilion follows the rules in doing business and pays taxes to the country honestly. As Dajing people, we have no choice but to cooperate with the court and show understanding. We contribute to the country and we pay.

But it's only been a few days, and they've already collected road taxes, fire prevention taxes, and even the night incense. It's one thing to peel off layer after layer of skin, but now they're saying that we're hiding from the government and asking us to pay a head tax. This is really outrageous.

My lord, we at Xinhai Pavilion never buy or sell slaves, we only hire workers. There is no such thing as hidden households. The servants have already paid once at home. Isn't it against the rules to collect again?

Sir, how can the court convince the public with such an injustice? Not to mention how long has our Xinhai Pavilion been open? Without sufficient foundation, even if the business is good, no matter how thick the skin is, it can't withstand such repeated stripping. Do you agree or not?"

This man still had a conscience and smiled rather embarrassedly. Seeing Ji Mo's tough attitude, he softened for the sake of money.

"Haha, well, Mr. Ji, if there is any, I can't tell you..."

Ji Mo understood immediately and winked at Li Qifeng beside him. Li Qifeng also understood immediately. Not long after, he found Lu Qing and brought a plate of silver worth 100 taels. He placed it on the table between Ji Mo and the other party without saying a word.

After Li Qifeng left, Ji Mo pushed the tray forward and said, "Please give me some advice, sir."