As evening fell, all the shops in the county town closed. After noticing this strange situation, Yin felt that something was amiss.
"Fourth, the situation is a bit strange. The shopkeeper here also mentioned that in the evening, the shops along the road will close early, otherwise they will offend the evil spirits." Qingyan asked the shopkeeper of Linglong Pavilion, who mentioned that the shopkeeper who sold the shop to them had said this when they came to buy the shop.
What?!
Yin was completely bewildered. How could there be such a rule?
He stood at the window, looking at the scenery outside, wondering how much darkness was hidden under the night sky.
This place is very close to Mongolia, and those leaders have profited a lot from these shops.
“Those people will collect protection money here.” The Mongol leaders had made plundering a habit. Back when they hadn’t entered the pass, the Aisin Gioro family wanted to form an alliance with the Mongols, and had to turn a blind eye to the Mongols’ actions.
Now, those years have passed, but the Mongolian customs have been preserved, and the tradition of closing shops before sunset originated from this.
Protection money?
Every year, Mongolia received many rewards. Even Emperor Kangxi would often have headdresses made from jewelry by the Linglong Pavilion for the women there, and these would be given as gifts during festivals.
"Their lives are far too extravagant, even the royal family cannot compare," Yin sighed.
Every autumn, Emperor Kangxi would have a headache. If the rewards were too few, people would bring up the Empress Dowager, saying that he had been raised by her and that she was using his supposed kindness to blackmail him.
"Father Emperor gives so much every time, doesn't he know what kind of people these are?" She discovered that the Mongol leaders never wasted any opportunity to make money.
Before her was a ledger of social interactions given to her by the shopkeeper, which recorded mostly the headwear and jewelry demanded by the nearest Mongolian tribe.
From the simple headdresses they had before to the more exquisite ones they had acquired later, Linglong Pavilion had lost no less than tens of thousands of taels of silver. Even though they paid tribute on time every year, those people would still come to demand protection money under various pretexts.
Damn it!
She threw the ledger on the ground; it was the first time he had ever seen Qingyan vent her anger.
"My little darling..." He hoped that she would consider the dignity of the royal family and not lose her temper in front of the servants.
She pursed her lips, understanding his meaning, but she didn't want to compromise, nor was she afraid of those Mongolians. She didn't want to bear the loss of tens of thousands every year.
“They demand the most from Linglong Pavilion; other shops probably don’t have these problems,” Qingyan said angrily.
They clearly knew that Yin would directly restrain her, and even if she asked for more things, she could only suffer in silence under Kangxi's suppression.
"Little darling, we'd better figure out what's going on here first." Yin clearly changed the subject, hoping to make Little darling angry.
snort!
She turned her head away, her face flushed with anger. She felt that the lack of revenue from Linglong Pavilion was related to the actions of these Mongolian leaders. She didn't want her year's work to go to waste, with the final compensation going into the hands of those people.
"Fourth Brother, I will absolutely not send any more jewelry. During this time, I will arrange for the Linglong Pavilion near the Mongolian tribe to evacuate." She was truly furious.
He patted her back, gradually calming her down.
"Little darling, let's not retreat yet," he advised directly. "Father Emperor may need information from Linglong Pavilion."
Nowadays, Kangxi can only obtain accurate information about the Mongol tribes from the Yuelai Inn and Linglong Pavilion. It must be said that many of the servants that Kangxi once sent have already colluded with the leaders of the Mongol tribes.
Fei Yanggu would definitely follow Kangxi's arrangements, and she felt a little annoyed that she shouldn't have expanded the business.
Now, even though they have control of the business, they have to spend huge sums of money to gather information.
"Master, your servant has returned." As soon as Yin arrived at his lodgings, he specifically asked Su Peisheng to go outside and check. The doors and windows here were closed before sunset, and even the people in the county town did the same.
Just half an hour later, night fell, and he could only see empty streets from his window.
The shops across the street were closed, even the windows on the second floor were shut.
"Come in." He let Su Peisheng in, and the waiter who came to deliver hot water noticed that they had opened the window facing the street, so he quickly went over and closed it.
"Sir, you mustn't open this window. If you're not careful, your wife might be targeted by those bandits. This has happened to us several times already," the waiter said quickly, sounding worried about the people.
The man in front of me doesn't look like someone to be trifled with. The best approach is to be direct and clear.
"Why? I can't even open the window?" Qingyan was puzzled. Why couldn't she even open the window?
"Madam, women here are not allowed to show their faces at night. If they are spotted by the bandits, they will be taken away regardless of whether they are married or not." The waiter glanced around at the windows, thankfully not missing anyone.
The bandits are plundering women!
She looked at the waiter in surprise. Even married people were being taken away?
"Many people say that these bearded men are leaders of Mongolian tribes, and their husbands offer their wives in exchange for a lot of benefits." The waiter, noticing their attire, didn't seem short of money and warned them in advance not to cause any trouble in their shop.
Su Peisheng gave the waiter ten taels of silver and told him not to mention their situation outside.
Before the waiter went upstairs, the shopkeeper specifically mentioned that he must tell this group about Hu Zi in advance, because Qingyan's beauty might attract Hu Zi's attention as soon as they entered the county town.
He was even happier that these people were so generous, giving him ten taels of silver for just one piece of information.
After the waiter left, Qingyan frowned, thinking about the waiter's warning.
"A beard appeared here?" Qingyan was unaware of the meaning of the beard in this context. In spy dramas before the founding of the People's Republic of China, it meant bandits.
"They're bandits disguised as tribesmen. One of the leaders likes married women, and the men below, in an attempt to curry favor, attacked passing merchants." Yin was furious.
In the past, Han people thought that Manchus were unrefined, so Emperor Kangxi started to demand of himself the standards of Han people.
The leaders of the Mongol tribes did not act this way; they always followed their old habits.
"This..." Qingyan was dumbfounded. The common people didn't care about anything else. The Mongols and the royal family had a good relationship, so if they did something bad, the royal family would definitely back them up. "Father Emperor is taking the blame for the Mongols again."
As soon as she finished speaking, Yin's face darkened. She immediately activated her spatial video and discovered two or three men in black appearing on the street under the cover of night. A man with a lewd appearance approached them and said something. She had a bad feeling and quickly took out a disguise pill from her purse and swallowed it. Yin looked at her strangely. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
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