Chapter 1735 Surrender
Mei's family, the weather is getting warmer now, which is perfect for going into the mountains to cut wood.
The Mei family is mainly engaged in the timber business. They have a large-scale furniture workshop and also do log trading business.
The territory of Anze Prefecture is full of towering mountains and undulating hills, and vast tracts of dense forests with towering ancient trees stretch as far as the eye can see. It would take several days to walk out of the forest.
However, being in the timber business does not mean you can cut down trees at will.
If ordinary people needed wood for their homes, they were allowed to go up the mountain and cut down a few trees. However, if they wanted to do wood business, they had to register with the government and get approval before they could go into the mountains to cut down trees.
And there are also some rules for felling trees. One must try not to harm young trees, and some large trees that have grown for hundreds of years must not be cut down. In fact, lumberjacks will not cut down such old trees. Everyone subconsciously has awe for such old trees, believing that these ancient trees have become gods and are protected by the mountain god. If they are cut down easily, they will anger the mountain god and it will most likely cause disasters, and they will probably lose their job.
The government does not give approval for nothing. The amount of tax to be paid is determined by the number of trees cut down.
The Mei family cuts down a huge number of trees every year, but the taxes they pay are less than one twentieth of what they should pay.
Even so, the Mei family had a lot of complaints and were very dissatisfied with the government. However, every governor was submissive and did not dare to say anything.
Whatever convenience the Mei family wanted, they would basically accept it without any objection!
Of course, the government treated the other two families the same way. The remaining families, big and small, who were attached to or followed the three major families, could always get a taste of the broth.
If not for this, the official finances of Anze Prefecture would not have been so depleted that there was not even a hundred taels of silver on the books.
He often had to borrow money from the three major families to pay salaries.
This loan is of course not for free, it has to be exchanged for something else, for example, this kind of approval document issued by the government.
Since the Mei family is going to start logging in the mountains this year, they naturally have to go to the government to get approval.
Without this approval document, foreign merchants would not purchase goods from them in order to avoid unnecessary trouble. Otherwise, if they were reported or discovered by the government, they would have nothing to say and all their goods would be confiscated.
Not only will they be searched, but they will also be fined.
A large fine of silver.
No one wants to take such a risk for no reason.
Although the Anze Prefecture government was looked down upon by the three major families from top to bottom, it was still a government office after all, and its usefulness could not be replaced by any family.
No matter how strong and powerful the family is, it won’t work!
The second wife of the Mei family first visited Qiao Xuan with generous gifts - anyone who wanted to take a roundabout way to save the country would always visit Qiao Xuan, the wife of the prefect, first when they had something to do.
The Mei family was somewhat wary of Shao Yunduan, as the gift they prepared was really generous, much more generous than any gifts they had given to other prefects in the past.
However, this was not what Qiao Xuan wanted, nor was this what Shao Yunduan wanted, so Madam Mei’s trip was doomed to be fruitless.
Qiao Xuan even refused to accept the generous gift she gave her and insisted that she take it back intact.
Mrs. Mei tried to avoid the question at first and refused to accept the gift, but Qiao Xuan insisted and she finally had to take the gift back.
This was the first time that a gift given by the Mei family was returned in this way.
It would be impossible for Mrs. Mei to say that she didn't feel aggrieved.
Qiao Xuan turned around and told Shao Yunduan about this, and said jokingly, "The Mei family has started to make moves, husband, please pay more attention these days. Whether this initiative can be successfully launched depends entirely on this."
Shao Yunduan smiled and said, "They can try to defeat those bandits in Hutou Village!"
(End of this chapter)
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