Chapter 8

Guangzhou Prefecture of Tang Dynasty

Because it is the place where the guardians of a government office are located, the government office covers a huge area. However, over the years, the place is also the place where the prison sentences are sentenced, which shows the cold and cold atmosphere of the prison. Even in this Lingnan area, which is as warm as spring every day, it is still impossible to hide the unique cold and cold atmosphere of the lawsuit.

However, the first banquet for the new Guangzhou Governor Cui Po after taking office was chosen to be such a surprising place.

With the palace lanterns and countless flowers, the front yard of the government office where the guests were decorated with guests was finally happy. Although it was still strange, it was considered unsatisfactory after all.

One hour before noon, the invited guests had arrived here in the Cambodia letters, but the one who welcomed the guests at the government office was Lin Kuo, the Guangzhou Biejia, who had been dating many of them recently. Behind him, most of the young and young boys were responsible for guidance. I think it must be the people in the customs temple.

"Second brother, what medicine is the governor selling in this gourd? He really can't think of it when he was having a banquet at the government office. It's fresh and fresh, but it's a bit too unlucky!" In front of the government office, a 40-year-old man in a light-faced shirt asked Lin Kuo quietly while bowing to the ceremony.

"Dingyuan, don't talk nonsense!" Lin Kuo shouted softly, and turned his head slightly. Seeing that the young men in the customs temple were all welcomed to the distance, he lowered his voice and said, "Fourth brother, today is extraordinary. Please keep in mind the words "listen more and less"; furthermore, no matter what request the governor made during the meal, even if you want to lose all your wealth, you must not say the word "no". Otherwise, if you kill yourself, you will be your brother.

Even if you are close, you can't protect you." It turns out that this man in the light-coated group shirt is the cousin of the same clan of the Lord Bie Jia. He also lives on maritime affairs. He specializes in the porcelain business between Silla in the near-shore. Because Lin Bie Jia takes care of him, he is also agile and lively. In just a few years, his business has become bigger and bigger, becoming the leader in the offshore trade in Guangzhou City. The leading figure in the Tang merchants is like today's scenes.

Seeing that the second brother was talking solemnly, Lin Dingyuan put away his laughter and thoughts, bowed his hands slightly, and then calmed his face and walked slowly into the yamen.

"Uncle Lin, you are here too, please go here." Lin Dingyuan looked in a voice, then Zhan Yan smiled and said, "You shouted "Uncle Lin, what an old man is not old. Yesterday, the genius Yan Wenguang entered the customs temple. I still thought it was this little bastard who deceived me. I didn't expect it to be true. Just look at the actions of the genius, Brother Wu was the four words "Give up the children a good idea"!"

"Uncle Lin is a ridiculous! Please, here, in Guangzhou City, who doesn't know that Brother Jing Wen, the eldest son of the Lin family, is a famous 'magic'. When doing business, his mind is very flexible and he is quite as good as Uncle Lin's back then. We are so idle people who dare not compare." As he led the way forward, Wu Wenguang flattered and said that although he had only entered the customs temple for more than a month, he had made a lot of progress in his personal craftsmanship.

After looking at Wu Wenguang, who used to travel in Zhangtai, Lin Dingyuan laughed and said, "I have only been a month since I joined this customs temple. I really made you Uncle Lin look at me with admiration." After praising him, he lowered his voice and asked, "Did you know what kind of regulations does Lord Cui have during today's banquet?"

"This, Uncle Lin, you are really making things difficult for me. Lord Jun went north to Chao, Zhang, Quan, and Fuzhou some time ago. It took only two days to turn around. My nephew had also met with everyone. Where can I know what my thoughts are?" Wu Wenguang said with a wry smile on his face.

"What kind of duties does the Customs Temple where the nephew works?" Lin Dingyuan was not surprised by this answer, so he followed up and asked.

"According to the matter arranged by Lord Jun over the past month, this customs temple is supposed to be the place where the imperial court unified the overseas trade of the southeastern prefectures, which is probably to check for "ban" and collect "sea taxes"." Wu Wenguang's casual words shocked Lin Dingyuan, and then asked further: "How to collect this sea tax? Can you tell me?"

Shaking his head, Wu Wenguang replied: "This envoy has never mentioned it. He just heard that this time the four coastal eleven states in the southeast were launched at the same time."

"What a big deal!" Lin Dingyuan muttered in his heart and walked two steps without saying a word. Seeing that he had already reached the seat, he stopped and smiled at Wu Wenguang: "Nephew, are you still recruiting new people in your customs temple? If you have the chance, you will also recommend Jing Wu. Although this boy is a fool, he is very skilled in this Silla language. If this matter is done, Uncle Lin will be able to accept his feelings."

Seeing that Lin Dingyuan, who had always regarded him as a playboy, was so soft-hearted that Wu Wenguang really enjoyed it. After saying that he did not dare to give in, he said that he should do his best. After leading him to the seat, he surrendered to help somewhere else.

A moment before noon, all the good guests with various strange moods had arrived, and they sat down according to their seats, while looking at the surrounding scenes, chatting with each other. Among the beautiful guests in the courtyard, there were mostly white robes, long beards and dark-skinned Lions. There were also many foreign merchants in other countries such as Silla and Linyi. On the contrary, there were only a few more than ten merchants in the Tang court. Only from this situation can we know that the Tang Dynasty's maritime trade was dominated by foreigners.

As everyone speculated, time passed quickly. Noon was approaching, and a long laugh was heard. In the gaze of attention, a young official who had just passed the imperial hall in the yamen walked out of the official hall and stood slowly under the plaque of "Diligence and Affairs". His tall figure set off his handsome appearance. Everyone felt a lit up in front of them, and couldn't help but say in their hearts: "It's such a good manners!" If it weren't for the crimson official uniform that marked his identity, I'm afraid that everyone who had never met him would be unable to believe it. The person in front of me was the new governor of Guangzhou.

In fact, Cui Po's fourth-rank official rank, he could not wear third-rank furry clothes, but since the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong, in order to demonstrate the majesty of the local prefecture chief, he had the saying of "borrowing furry", which means that fourth-rank official could borrow third-rank furry clothes as his clothes, and then pay back when he returned to Beijing to recitate his post. This furry official robe was exquisitely made of materials and delicate workmanship, which added three points of official power to Cui Jun out of thin air.

"Since I took up my new position, I have been busy with miscellaneous things and have been delayed for two months before I could meet you. It is really rude. Now I take this opportunity to drink a banquet and punish myself for three cups to redeem the crime of negligence." After saying with a smile, as he shouted "Wine comes", Di Shi, who had been waiting with the Yanei, then brought the plate and served the cup. After Cui Po drank three cups in a row, he waved his hand and shouted loudly: "Come on a banquet, serve wine!"

In the next half hour, Cui Jun hovered with the seats like a butterfly. He had already mastered the information of today's guests and exchanged greetings and drinking one by one. Especially when facing many foreign merchants, the governor even based on the greetings of the native language of foreign races he learned in recent days. After all, this thought was not in vain, and the guests in the yard were all very happy, and it also dissolved the uneasy and suspicious atmosphere in the yard. It seemed that the guests were very happy.

"Mr. Cui is indeed a pillar of the country. What is even more rare is that he is so beautiful. I have such a wise and wise man who has such a son-in-law. I can't help but admire him! It's a pity that when Cui Jun's wedding and the crown ceremony, the envoys were all unable to bow to congratulate him because of the emperor's fate. I hope that the envoys will be punished for this." His sharp voice and baby-like skin, needless to say, the person who says he must be Huang Siwen, the envoy of the inner court, Guangzhou, and Eunuch Huang is undoubtedly.

"I dare not be a father-in-law like this!" Cui Po had decided to take action against this person, so he was very polite. He bowed his hand slightly, and turned a blind eye to the invitation to drink from Eunuch Huang, and walked towards the farewell table.

Eunuch Huang was holding the inner court's sign and inspected the ship at will. During this period, he was very proud of his reputation. Although the previous governors were very respectful to him, the merchants who were held in his palms did not dare to offend him at all. He had never been so coldly treated. Besides, in this hall, his face turned from red to white, and then turned from white to blue. When this round of change was over, Eunuch Huang, who was watching the public, could not bear this breath. He slapped the staggered wine cup in his hand onto the table, got up and shouted, "Let's go!"

In the silence of the yard, I saw that Eunuch Huang was surrounded by two young officials and was already walking to the government office, but I saw that the governor who had a warm face had just now said coldly: "Let's go? Now the Japanese official still has a place to rely on Eunuch Huang, so please stay for it. Come on! Please ask the envoy Huang to return to sit down."

"Cui Po, what do you mean? I was the first envoy to take office with the Neifu Temple. You, a little governor of Guangzhou, can't care about me! Now you put me back to the yamen. For the sake of the princess and prince consorts, I will not care about you. Otherwise, in front of the emperor, the emperor will have to do with you..." After not waiting for the shock and anger of Eunuch Huang to finish his words, one of the four guards who had come with him had already moved forward. Under Cui Po's eyes, he drove away two scared little officials, blocked his mouth tightly, and decided.

This sudden change made the courtyard more and more sensational. The melting atmosphere disappeared just now, and everyone stared at the governor who had already regained the high-level yamen.

"A little bit of family shame makes everyone laugh. Please don't be surprised," Cui Po said warmly after laughing, but just looking at everyone's nervous look, I think his comfort words are really limited.

"Brother Chuanzheng, how about it! Brother Yu said it right! This Lord Cui is really extraordinary. According to the custom of the governor, this old thief Huang is probably going to be retribution this time." Wu Wenguang, who was full of excitement in the courtyard, said in a low voice to Fan Chuanzheng.

"Old Huang thief, you have today too." Seeing that the old man was so angry that his father was so angry, Fan Chuanzheng was still talking, and he only stared at the old man Huang with his fire-breathing eyes, hoping that he could step forward and kill the thief.

"Today, the people who were feasted are all the leading figures of my maritime merchants in Guangzhou. I have no other intention to invite everyone. On the one hand, I want to meet you so that I will not be able to see each other in the future and lose etiquette. Secondly, I want to take this opportunity to announce the official establishment of my Datang Customs Temple."

When he heard the three words "customs temple", the courtyard where the needle was just falling was suddenly filled with slight waves, and the merchants became more and more focused and listened.

"I just had to mention this customs temple before I talked about this customs temple, but I had to mention this Huang Eunuch." After a moment of words, Cui Po turned his head and said to Huang Gong Envoy: "Huang Siwen, you are a castrated dog who pretends to be worshipped by the inner court. You are greedy and bribery and exploited. You dare to investigate and ask for maritime merchant ships. Those who have a slight rebellion will often force the ships to be detained in the name of the inner court. What you do is not only to be ashamed of the emperor, but also to hurt our court's dignity. The crime is so great that it is difficult to tolerate the laws of the court, and it is even more difficult to calm the anger of the scholars and commoners in Guangzhou. Come! Push this thief out of the palace and behead him!!!"

With this sharp shout, the yamen runners who had been waiting for a long time rushed over. In the horrified eyes of the people in the yard, Huang Siwen, who had been sank on the ground, heard this, was dragged out of the yamen. With three golden gongs, a yamen runner with a red scarf on his waist, took a big head back with a tray.

After glanced at the head, Cui Po smiled slightly and said to the guests who were all over the yard: "Customs Temple, as the name suggests, is where our Tang Dynasty manages maritime affairs. Specifically for trade, it is responsible for checking in and out of sea ships, collecting merchant ships and promoting overseas trade. From now on, the merchant ships between the southeast coastal states will be taken over by the Customs Temple. Anyone else will no longer do it. In other words, as long as the merchant ships entering and leaving the temple are inspected and paid the sea tax in full, they can pass through the coastal states of our Tang Dynasty without any obstacles!"

At that time, the Tang court's maritime affairs were not managed uniformly, so many seamen were exploited, and the amount of money was even more different between the states and prefectures. In fact, it was the most stumble for merchants in trade. At this time, I heard Cui Po say this, and I realized that this was indeed a good policy.

"Mr. Governor, I don't know how to collect the sea tax?" Samarkand, an impatient merchant of the big food, asked a question that everyone was very concerned about.

"The precious goods such as silk and porcelain are subject to 10 taxes, while the other goods are subject to 15 taxes," Cui Po replied lightly.
Chapter completed!