Zhao Erlang and Qiu Wu moved quickly, not to mention the government officials and soldiers, even the merchants who ran away first were all rounded up by them.
This caused quite a commotion on their side, with both discussions and tax collections happening, and yet the nearby Xie County remained oblivious.
In the biting cold, unless necessary, who would venture out?
Especially to a place so far from the city gates.
Zhao Hanzhang also realized that this place was quite a distance from the city gates, so she summoned the government official for questioning, "Taxes on merchants are typically collected at city gates, docks, and crossings. Why are you collecting on the official road?"
The government official broke into a sweat again, and after moving his mouth twice, he said, "These merchants are cunning and took a detour to bypass the county town."
