in2ebook Chapter 605: Have you paid taxes?
Chapter 605: Have you paid taxes?
Lin Xiaofan stood at the door of a wing of the inn. Not long after, he saw Pei Xi and Pei Sheng coming.
"Pei Xi, the Patriarch of the Pei Family, greets Lord Guanjun Hou. These are some small gifts I brought with me. I hope you will accept them."
Lin Xiaofan's eyes swept over Pei Xi's hands, which contained two jars of wine. They looked to be quite old and probably worth a fortune.
Looking to the side, Pei Sheng was also looking at him with a hint of embarrassment in his eyes.
"Meet Lord Champion Hou."
Pei Sheng was glared at by Pei Xi and hurriedly saluted. Although he was prepared in his heart, he was still surprised when he really confirmed Lin Xiaofan's identity.
"Brother Pei is being polite."
Lin Xiaofan walked up and patted Pei Sheng on the shoulder with a smile on his face.
"Do you know each other?" Seeing this, Pei Xi looked at Pei Sheng and then at Lin Xiaofan.
He couldn't believe that his son would know the famous Champion Marquis. And when did the two of them meet? The Champion Marquis had only been to Midnight City twice, and he left in a hurry the first time, so no one had seen him.
It can only be this time.
"We met once in the tavern yesterday," Pei Sheng explained.
"Please come in." Lin Xiaofan greeted the two of them. After all, they had brought valuable gifts, and it would be unreasonable if he did not treat them well.
"Patriarch Pei."
The servant at the side poured tea, and Lin Xiaofan said, "Yesterday, Pei Sheng also told me about the situation in the city. The Song family and the Gong family evaded taxes and oppressed the people. Is this true?"
Seeing Lin Xiaofan's serious face, Pei Xi was shocked and turned to glance at Pei Sheng. Why did this kid say anything?
Toppling the two families was his dream.
But when it comes to tax evasion, he has to be cautious. After all, it's not just the Song family and the Gong family who are doing this, but also the Pei family.
Moreover, he is the county magistrate. If the tax issue is investigated, he will be killed, and none of the three families will escape.
Pei Sheng felt the gaze from Pei Xi and spread his hands innocently. How could he have thought that Lin Xiaofan was the champion? If he knew, he would never mention this matter even if he was beaten to death.
If he really knew, he would have tried his best to build a good relationship with her yesterday.
"Haha, maybe that's the case. My son usually speaks without restraint, I hope Lord Champion Marquis will not take it to heart." Pei Sheng smiled and then drank water tactically.
"Hey, none of these big families are at peace." Lin Xiaofan shook his head slightly and also took a sip of tea. Seeing Pei Sheng's smile was a little stiff, he said:
"Patriarch Pei, I have no intention of targeting you. I took a walk around the city yesterday, and the people all said that the Pei family is great."
"As the magistrate of Ziye County, I usually help the people more. Maybe they remember me well." Pei Xi also continued, hoping to leave a good impression first.
"That's the best. Chief Pei, I am a righteous person and what I hate most is the people being bullied. Those two families must have done a lot of evil things in their daily lives, right?" Lin Xiaofan asked.
Hearing this, Pei Xi did not answer immediately and hesitated.
When Zhao Cang first took office, he also wanted to take action against the three major families. However, because the three major families were too powerful and they joined forces with the smaller families, he had no way to stop them.
Lin Xiaofan is the Marquis of Guanjun and the current emperor's absolute confidant. He might also want to take action against the three major families.
If he helped to destroy the other two families, he would be the one to suffer next.
"Lord Guanjun Hou, this is indeed true." Pei Sheng sighed slightly and spoke.
Pei Xi glared at his son, feeling annoyed at his recklessness.
This guy seems to be quite smart on weekdays, how could he make such a mistake?
But when he thought about it again, his face turned red, because he had figured out the way.
Lin Xiaofan asked this, which meant that he had already investigated it. If he still pretended not to know at this time, he would not be able to help the two families keep it secret.
And in Lin Xiaofan's mind, he was just a county magistrate who shielded the two families, which was equivalent to putting a hat on him for no apparent reason.
"Yes, I have heard it all the time. But the people never report it to the authorities. I asked my men to investigate, but they didn't find anything."
Pei Xi quickly added something and stated his position.
Lin Xiaofan smiled slightly. He knew exactly what the other party was thinking. However, since the other party had expressed his stance, it showed that the three major families were not united.
In this way, he could definitely bring up the matter of cooperation. After all, once the cooperation was reached, as long as the Pei family worked honestly, it would definitely be of great benefit to them.
He was afraid that Pei Xi was too cautious and would not agree even after he offered generous conditions.
"Patriarch Pei, you don't have to do this. I came to Midnight City this time with the emperor's order."
Hearing this, Pei Xi smiled, but a thousand thoughts were floating through his mind. The emperor ordered them to come, so what was the purpose of the emperor and the champion marquis?
"I don't know what the emperor's order is?"
Pei Xi asked.
Lin Xiaofan was not in a hurry to speak. He took a sip of tea before saying:
"Patriarch Pei, twelve years ago, Daqian had a total population of three million, and collected four million taels of tax silver every year. But now, Daqian has a total population of 2.4 million, but only 700,000 taels of tax silver go into the treasury every year."
"Of course, this is related to the fact that the Emperor Daqian exempted agricultural taxes for one year. But the commercial taxes are not reduced at all. Logically speaking, the tax should be at least two million taels of silver per year."
Hearing this, Pei Xi's heart tightened. The tax issue has always been his biggest worry. If it is discovered, considering the amount of corruption in their Pei family, it would not be excessive to execute all nine generations of the family.
In fact, he didn't want this riskiest thing when Kang Hong took office. After all, the Pei family was big and powerful, with countless businesses.
Moreover, after the agricultural tax was exempted, every household had money, which also promoted the industry under his control to make money. In this case, even if he did not covet the tax silver, the money he earned would not be much less than before.
But he is the county magistrate and the head of the Pei family. He is willing to put down such a large sum of money, but the other members of the Pei family are not willing to do so, and the other major families are even more unwilling.
Human greed is a bottomless pit, and they only think about making more money.
Even if he could convince everyone in the Pei family, he would never be able to convince other families in the city.
If the Pei family is the only one in Midnight City that does not tamper with taxes, then the other major families will be uneasy and join forces to target the Pei family. Even if the Pei family is rich and powerful, it will not be able to withstand it.
What should I do? Lin Xiaofan came with the emperor's order, how can I hide it?
Send money? Send beauty?
But the other party is the champion, so why would he care about the little thing he gave.
For a moment, even though Lin Xiaofan did not say anything against the Pei family and did not convict him, he became more and more afraid. The person in front of him seemed like a mountain, pressing down on him.