Chapter 255, Greed
In the open space in front of the north gate of Datong City, more than 30 large cars with four horse-drawn carriages are neatly arranged.
More than 100 men and women holding long guns, long knives, long swords, bows and arrows, machetes and other weapons, wearing leather armor and iron armor surrounded the whole convoy, and their vigilance was very strong.
In the motorcade, several officials in charge of taxation are busy counting the goods and counting the value of the goods to collect the city tax.
The imperial goods tax rate is not high, 30 for one, but there are a lot of taxes. There is a city tax for goods out of the city, and there is a city tax for goods entering the city.
Compared with the two, the tax rate of Ma's Chamber of Commerce is about fifteen to one.
In the fleet, more than a dozen armored sergeants are carefully inspecting the goods to prevent contraband in the goods.
Although the relationship between the empire and the Yuanmeng Empire is much better, it is not one. Maybe there will be a war one day, so many items related to war are forbidden to be brought into the Yuanmeng Empire.
Of course, the same is true of the Yuanmeng Empire, which lists some important strategic materials as contraband and strictly prohibits the sale to the Sun and Moon Empire.
Metal materials such as iron essence and black iron, as well as medicinal materials useful for practice, are all contraband.
"Even in a safe city, they can maintain such vigilance. It seems that they have entered the state."
Ling Xiaolou looked around at the guards and nodded with satisfaction. Lu Lin's training during this period still had a certain effect.
He still has some impression of what this escort originally looked like. Although the strength and quality of the personnel are very good, these people's defense ability is really poor.
Even if there is no mole of the third master of the Ma family in this team, it is still a little unrealistic to guard the caravan with the ability of these people.
The Ma Chamber of Commerce has never had such a vicious incident of being robbed by horse thieves before. It can only be said that the Ma Chamber of Commerce is lucky and has nothing to do with these people.
Just like Lu Lin's confrontational training when training these people, Lu Lin and Li Jin and eight others can take down this caravan.
Over these guards, Ling Xiaolou quietly looked at the driver next to a carriage and sighed in his heart that the head of the trial case of Datongfu became the groom of the Ma Chamber of Commerce.
If this news is revealed, it will definitely cause an uproar.
However, Xu Limin doesn't care. Looking at his appearance, he is still very satisfied that he can become a carpriot.
It's just that Ling Xiaolou is a little worried about Xu Limin's driving skills. This genius won't drive the carriage into the ditch, will he?
The eyes crossed Xu Dacai, who was willing to be a driver. At the end of the convoy, there were several ordinary-looking middle-aged women.
These people's faces are full of simplicity, a sense of enthusiasm, and very easy to get along with.
They are chefs who cook for caravans.
Ling Xiaolou looked at a dull-looking cook and nodded slightly. This cook was Ma Xiaoxiao after changing her appearance.
Ma Xiaoxiao, with a beautiful face and a slender figure, suddenly became a dark and thin chef. This visual impact is still very shocking.
seemed to notice the gaze of Ling Xiaolou, or Ma Xiaoxiao had been paying attention to Ling Xiaolou, and noticed that Ling Xiaolou was looking over, blinking, and greeting Ling Xiaolou.
Ling Xiaolou nodded quietly and responded to Ma Xiaoxiao.
The reason why Ma Xiaoxiao pretended to be a cook is to find out why the Chamber of Commerce was looted three times in a row and suffered heavy losses.
After greeting Ma Xiaoxiao, Ling Xiaolou's eyes fell on the middle-aged man in the team who was accompanying the tax collector to count the goods.
The middle-aged man's face is gloomy, and his eyes are twinkling. It is the third uncle of the Ma family and the third uncle of Ma Xiaoxiao, who had previously clashed with him.
This time, the leader of the team is still the third master of the Ma family.
And Lingxiaolou's identity this time is the captain of a guard temporarily hired by the Ma family.
The Ma Chamber of Commerce has its own training escort, all of which are good.
However, the empire has strict regulations on the scale of private guards, so that the Ma Chamber of Commerce can hold only 100 guards.
In addition to the guards who need to stay behind, there are only 50 or 60 guards who can go deep into the desert.
In order to strengthen the defense of the Chamber of Commerce, Ma Xiaoxiao hired several idle escorts. Some are like mercenaries from previous lives.
Ling Xiaolou's eyes suddenly narrowed. At this time, the third master of the Ma family had a strong smile on his face and quietly stuffed a piece of paper into the hands of the small official who took inventory of the goods.
Ling Xiaolou repeatedly admired that the third master of the Ma family had the ability to make money and bribes, which was almost instinctive, and even he did not see the numbers on the silver ticket clearly.
However, with his ** silver ticket, the number should be one thousand taels.
Other officials also seemed to be aware of this and finally smiled on their expressionless faces.
"Please hurry up. It's almost noon." The third master of the Ma family accompanied him with a smiling face and urged carefully.
"Well, it's almost over here." The young official put away the account book and nodded and said.
"Thank you very much." The third master of the Ma family took out ten taels of snowflake silver from his arms again, stuffed it into the hands of the little official, and said with a smile, "It's a little small, please invite several masters to drink tea."
"Thank you very much, Third Master Ma." The little official didn't know whether he was performing or something. He took it over with a smile and put it away in public.
Ling Xiaolou understood that this was the hard money of several petty officials, and the money could be collected. Even if the governor of Datong came, he couldn't say anything.
The imperial officials worked very hard, and it has become a hidden rule to find some pocket money from the caravan.
Naturally, the leader of the caravan knows this, and the officials of Datong Mansion also know it and will not be embarrassed. After all, they still rely on these pete officials to do things.
solved the problem of the little official. Ling Xiaolou saw that the third master of the Ma family was like this and solved the sergeant of the border army.
The third master of the Ma family sent away the minor officials and sergeants and returned to the convoy. His majestic eyes glanced at the guards, drivers, cooks and others, and shouted in a low voice, "Everyone, you can go!"
"Yes!" Everyone agreed and began to get busy.
Ling Xiaolou told Lu Lin and Li Jin, who had also put on makeup, and saw the third master of the Ma family coming over arrogantly.
"What's the order of Third Master Ma?" Li Jin cleverly came forward to deal with this old man.
The third master of the Ma family hummed contemptuously in his nose, glanced at Ling Xiaolou and others, and said, "Your blood wolf guard is the smallest, and your strength is not so strong. You can take the work of our Ma Chamber of Commerce, but I'm all on the side, and you don't say anything?"
The third master of the Ma family can't help it.
Before the team left, several other escorts honestly sent filial piety money, but they didn't know whether this blood wolf guard was really stupid or pretended to be stupid, and they didn't send a penny. How could he feel?
"What does it mean?" Li Jin asked doubtfully, but his eyes inadvertently looked at Ling Xiaolou.
"Humph... Do you really don't understand or fake it?" The third master of the Ma family looked unhappy and said contemptuously, "In this case, you don't have to go to this escort mission."
"What does Third Master Ma mean? We have paid the deposit!" Li Jin's face looks ugly.
In order to prevent the idle escort from being unfavorable to the caravan, the Chamber of Commerce paid a valuable deposit before taking over the task.
When the escort mission is over, the deposit will be returned to the escort.
"Margin? I don't like your deposit. I just want to return it to you. The third master of the Ma family sneered.
"Master Ma, if there is anything to discuss, don't hurt your harmony." Ling Xiaolou said.
With a roar, he exuded a terrible momentum, with a murderous spirit and a unique breath of martial arts masters.
The third master of the Ma family stepped back a few steps and his face was shocked. He also thought that the blood wolf guard was Jingyuan and his strength was average, but he didn't expect that the captain of this guard, the blood wolf, was actually a master of martial arts.
The third master of the Ma family looked at the blood wolf escort again, which was obviously very different from before. At least he did not dare to scold loudly or ask for benefits.
As a businessman, you must have a poisonous and spicy vision. The third master of the Ma family has a strong confidence in this. A martial artist is the bottom card to save his life outside the plug, and he can never offend him.
No one dares to joke about their lives.
"Lord Blood Wolf, this is my little intention. Please don't mind my recklessness just now."
The third master of the Ma family said and took out a silver ticket from his sleeve. Li Jin's eyes suddenly lit up, took the silver ticket directly with his hand and said, "Lord Blood Wolf, we have a lot of money, so naturally we won't care about you."
"It's just Third Master Ma who gave such a little snowflake silver. You don't regard our Blood Wolf as a begator, will you?" Li Jin said with an unhappy face.
The third master of the Ma family looked stunned, and his fair face suddenly turned a little blue. He was just polite. You should know that this 1,000 taels of silver ticket is privately owned by him, and the Chamber of Commerce will not reimburse him.
Originally, according to his idea, it should be the martial arts master's strict refusal, and then he faked to say a few words of praise and put away the silver ticket. This misunderstanding will be eliminated. Hello, everyone.
However, not to mention that he has lost 1,000 taels of snowflake silver now, this hateful guy is not enough. It's really annoying.
"Although my surname is Ma, this chamber of commerce belongs to my niece, and my annual wages are only 500 taels of snowflake silver, which is the limit I can take out."
The third master of the Ma family had a smile on his face and secretly scolded Li Jin for not knowing whether it was good or bad.
"Since Third Master Ma said this, we can't be unreasonable, so let's accept it reluctantly." Li Jin said with lack of interest.
"Lord Blood Wolf, the team has been cleaned up and can move forward." The third master of the Ma family was furious, and his gloomy face was very ugly. He squeezed out a few words and said.
"Hmm. Then let's go." Ling Xiaolou nodded reservedly and responded.
When the third master of the Ma family left, Ling Xiaolou's eyes narrowed into a gap in his resentful eyes and said, "After leaving the city, be careful. I guess this guy will be bad!"
Lu Linhu's eyes flashed with cold light and curled his lips and said, "As long as he dares to do it, I will destroy him!"
"That is, as long as he dares to be unfavorable to us, he will kill him directly." Li Jin echoed.
Ling Xiaolou looked at the chef Ma Xiaoxiao quietly and nodded and said, "Kill it!"
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