Xianyu Infrastructure, I have a lot of troops in my hands

Qian Sihai lowered his head. He had been living a life worse than death these days. He knelt on the execution ground with a confused look in his eyes, watching the executioner spray wine on the butcher knife. He shuddered, and now he could finally be free.

In the trance, among the angry crowd, there was a smiling face that stood out. He looked carefully and found a familiar face and a familiar disguise technique.

It was the disguised old man Qian, his own brother, who caused him to be beheaded.

He was angry and tried to struggle to get up, but his strong body had long been drained of strength after being tortured for several days.

"money!!"

A flash of knife light appeared, and Qian Sihai's head flew up with an unwilling look on his face. Blood debt can only be repaid with blood.

Li Zheng, who was hiding behind Old Qiantou, poked his head out and asked, "Is that your enemy?"

Old Qian hummed dejectedly and turned to take him away. The execution at the vegetable market was still going on. Every time a human trafficker's head flew up, it was greeted with applause.

Later, the blood that washed the bluestone ground dyed the river red, but the villagers were not afraid and even praised the good work of cutting.

On the second day, Prince Yu's son Li Zheng was found. It was said that he walked to the gate of the yamen on his own and reported his identity. No one dared to neglect him and reported it quickly. Finally, after his identity was verified, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

That afternoon, good news came from the Cui family: Cui Can was found.

In the Xiangwang Villa, Li You sat at the top, drinking tea leisurely, while at the low table below, Li Zheng wolfed down a roast chicken.

The eldest princess Li Xi, who was standing by, looked very unhappy. She glanced at Li You and said, "Brother You, now that the people have been found, shouldn't we also return the Beggars' Sect's assets?"

"Aunt, the people of Kuaiji County have suffered from the Beggars' Gang for a long time. You and I both heard the thunderous cheers yesterday."

Li You said calmly that ever since he took over the yamen runners from Wu Daozhi and searched the Beggar Gang's assets, he found that none of the people in this gang were innocent.

The Beggars' Gang handles dirty matters for various families, including many false and wrongful convictions, forced purchases and sales, and oppression of decent families.

Even though he, the prince of Xiangwang, had seen a lot of filth and darkness in the world, he had to admit that there was a reason why the Beggars' Sect was so bold.

The beauties that my aunt had collected from all over the place, both men and women, some of whom were to be sent to Kang Jian. All of these were done by the Beggars' Sect.

Li You felt sick to his stomach at the thought of his aunt pimping for Emperor Qi. What was really disgusting was that many powerful people were involved.

Even his own father told him to stop. How much pleasure he had felt killing hundreds of people with his sword yesterday, and how aggrieved he felt now.

Li Xi saw the expression on his face and knew that what she had done was not pleasant to talk about. She lowered her head, wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, and cried, "Aunt, there is nothing I can do. Since the late emperor passed away, my brothers have ignored me. My fiefdom is good, but the salt tax and customs tax are all collected by the court."

"A year's Tangmuyi is not enough to maintain the expenses of the Princess' Mansion, and the emperor has ordered a maritime ban. There is less money and more people. We can only let the people below come up with some solutions." Li Xi cried sadly.

But Li You sneered in his heart. It sounded nice. Salt tax and customs tax were the foundation of the country. How could a mere princess want to lay her hands on them? In the final analysis, she was just greedy.

Market taxes were levied on merchants trading in the market, while customs taxes were levied on goods passing through checkpoints.

"Aunt, don't you still have city taxes in your hands?" Li You asked.

He asked a question even though he already knew the answer. The city tax here is also called commercial tax, which is collected based on large-scale transactions. The tax rate is 400 yuan per 10,000 coins, which goes to the government. The seller pays 300 yuan, and the buyer pays 100 yuan. It is called the loss tax.

The scattered assessment, that is, small transactions, is charged at 4%. The tax on customs, boats, mountains and lakes, salt and iron, and shops varies. These taxes do not seem to be much, but as the eldest princess' fief, she also has the right to increase taxes on her fief.

The purpose of granting the princess a fief was to allow the people to support her.

In addition to the taxes they paid, the people in the fiefdom also had to pay miscellaneous taxes levied by the superiors out of their limited conscience.

As the owner of the fiefdom, the eldest princess obviously has no conscience.

She did not think about the management of her fiefdom and only knew how to enjoy herself every day. As long as the people below could pay her money to support her romantic life, she never cared about the lower-class people who were struggling under the exploitation of cruel officials.

In terms of the control over Kuaiji County, Li You had reason to believe that Wu Daozhi, who had been demoted and dismissed, was stronger than Li Xi.

"Oh! You demoted Wu Daozhi, so I have no one left to use. Otherwise, just let him stay with me!"

Li You twitched his lips. He only found out later that Wu Daozhi was also one of Li Xi's lovers. But Wu Daozhi was a man of some means. When he was with Li Xi, it was unclear who was delaying whom.

The final result of the negotiations was that two-thirds of the Beggars' Sect's assets were returned to Li Xi, and the rest was to be retained and exchanged for silver. So many people were mobilized this time, both yamen runners and soldiers dispatched to help, so it would cost some money!

Even though Li Xi is a princess, her family has very little money. Some high-ranking members of the Beggar Gang have also escaped. The property they took away is not much, but it is not a small amount either. These people have to continue tracking them down.

The money was divided among the people below, and all parties were satisfied, except for the fact that Li Xi was injured.

After the eldest princess left, Bu Yu came to report that Cui Jing and his younger brother came to express their gratitude.

Li You paused while holding the teacup. "The Beggars' Sect's crime this time is really strange. I feel like after killing this guy, they all came back. Isn't this too much of a coincidence?"

Li Zheng, who was sitting below him, rolled his eyes when he heard this. "That man is only seeking revenge," he couldn't help but say.

During the days he was locked up in the house, he finally figured it out. Old Qian had kidnapped him just to overthrow the Beggars' Sect. When he was taken to watch the beheading that day, he further confirmed his guess.

Li You and Bu Yu looked at each other and said, "There is a real grudge. We did it once, but the other person has a knife in his hand."

"Where's Cui Can? That carrot head and I were separated on the second day. I thought I'd never see him again!"

Li You thought about the news Huang Ying handed over that day. The Cui family did nothing on the surface, but secretly promoted the destruction of the brokers' den. Now Cui Can was found the day after Li Zheng returned.

All this was too coincidental, and he wondered if the Cui family had known something from the beginning?

When the handsome man with a jade-like face, Cui Jing, appeared with Cui Can, who was obviously several shades darker, everyone was shocked.

"Haha..." Li Zheng was the first to burst out laughing, "Cui Can, how come you have become so black now, haha." He held his stomach and laughed until tears came out.

Cui Jing said helplessly: "Greetings to the two princes, my brother has suffered a lot, alas..." He didn't say anything else, but he said everything.

Bu Yu and Li You looked at each other and completely dispelled their previous thoughts. It seemed that this young man Cui was really sold. The poor child was so badly exposed to the sun.