"The shop here has just opened, right?"

"Yes, the county yamen has a record, and it has been registered before opening."

When the county yamen servants came in, one was holding a booklet, and two stern ones led the way. Xu He hurriedly walked out from the counter. It was not the first time he was required to pay tax. Seeing this familiar scene, Xu He was like driving a lightweight chariot on a familiar road than before.

[轻车熟路 qīng chē shú lù: lit. to drive a lightweight chariot on a familiar road (idiom); fig. to do sth routinely and with ease; a walk in the park]

[衙门 yá men: government office in feudal China]

But even so, he was still not particularly clear about the collection method of commercial tax. After the official registrar checked, he said: "Your shop hasn’t been opened for half a year, so wait until the next tax payment to collect it."

The official registrar spoke, and the rest of the yamen servants didn't say anything, they turned around and followed the official registrar out, without taking money from their shop.

When Zhang Fangyuan came back, the yamen servants happened to go to the restaurant next door.

"Don't be afraid of them, nothing will happen if you give them the money honestly." Zhang Fangyuan came back with their lunches and saw that the little ge’er was still standing at the door staring at the yamen servants who had gone to another shop in a daze. He couldn't help but want to tease him, and reached out to pinch his face.

After holding the hot meal for a long time, his hands became warm, and the warm fingertips rubbed against Xu He’s cheeks. Xu He came back to his senses: "But they didn't collect our tax money, and said that we will pay it after half a year."

Zhang Fangyuan nodded as expected, he was clear about the tax matters, but when he saw that Xu He was still not very clear, he set up the meal and took advantage of eating time to explain it to him in detail.

Commercial tax payment was different from poll tax, but the two didn’t conflict. Even if you paid commercial tax, you still had to pay poll tax and corvee tax. It was just that the businessman's family didn't have a field, then there was no need to pay the rent for the field and agricultural tax.

The commercial tax set by the court was, for those who had income less than 10,000 copper coins a month would pay 50 copper coins per month, they paid the tax once every six months, 300 copper coins in six months, and 600 copper coins a year; if the income less than 100,000 copper coins a month, the tax was 500 copper coins per month; if the income less than 500,000 copper coins, the tax was 5,000 copper coins per month...

In recent years, the commercial tax had been relatively easy, and the court was also open-minded. For example, if you set up a small stall in the city without renting a stall and if you didn’t open the stall for a month, you wouldn’t be charged commercial tax.

So Xu He didn't need to pay the commercial tax when he went to set up a stall to sell vegetables and lo-mei, and he didn't get in touch with this kind of tax.

There were three businesses in their family, and now only the pork stall had to pay tax for half a year, it was 300 copper coins for half a year, but now the stall had been transferred to Chen Si, and the matter of money for the tax was naturally their responsibility.

Xu He whispered: "But how does the yamen know how much the income of the shop is? If you report the lowest one, you can pay less."

Zhang Fangyuan laughed: " If the imperial court is not careful about collecting the money, how can merchants conceal their income. For places like meat markets and vegetable markets, the county government has already estimated the prices and calculated the profits of those merchants. Except for the surprisingly hot business, they are all collected according to the lowest level of commercial tax."

"The shops outside are also divided into grades. There are those who pay at the level of 100,000 copper coins, and those who pay at the level of 500,000 copper coins. If the merchant says that his income has not reached the level set by the court, he can take out his own account books to check."

Xu He chewed the vegetables, swallowed it and asked: "Then how much we should pay for our shop here?"

"Our shop is small, it’s 500 copper coins a month, the official registrar has already said it when I went to the Yamen to register. The tea shed is not in the city and the payment is based on the lowest level. If the business is not in full swing, generally it will not increase."

Xu He breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he didn't have to pay tax of several thousand copper coins a month, otherwise he would not be able to pay it.

However, he was puzzled again: "You said that the yamen collects commercial tax every six months, if those shops only opened for three or five months and then closed down, and the yamen didn't even have time to go to collect the tax, what should they do?"

Zhang Fangyuan said: "If the business tax was collected every month, the manpower of the yamen would be very busy and suffer a crushing defeat. There was a time when they collected the tax quarterly, but they were still too busy, so they chose to collect it every six months, so that the county yamen can take a breather, and the merchants will not feel so troublesome. If you see that the yamen suddenly collects commercial tax monthly, it means that the yamen or the court treasury is empty, there is no money, or they are going to build something or there is a war."

[人仰马翻 rén yǎng mǎ fān: to suffer a crushing defeat (idiom); in a pitiful state; in a complete mess]