Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 226 Unhappy Retribution
The Basil Manor, which had always been quiet, suddenly became noisy again.

The convoy of the Igor family swaggered into the courtyard of the manor, and instantly turned the elegant garden with blooming flowers into a chaotic temporary military camp:

Glittering swords lined up on the marble benches, shouting Igor recruits lined up under the command of the captains, the statue of the goddess in the center of the garden temporarily assumed the function of the flagpole, majestic The majestic Shuangfengling military flag fluttered in the wind beside the goddess' fair and flawless arms.

The servants of the Basil Manor did not dare to accuse this group of rough wastelanders of burning pianos and cooking cranes as insulting to gentlemen;
On the contrary, they were busy carrying hay and feeding the horses brought by Frostmaple Ridge as fast as they could.

What's interesting is that there are only a small number of pack horses in the Igor family's convoy, and most of them are horses collected from the wilderness to make temporary guest appearances——

——Coupled with three carts full of standard weapons and fully armed pioneer soldiers, the servants of the Basil Manor couldn't help wondering whether your Igor family came to Beijing to report on their duties or to fight with others?

However, it has to be said that at the moment when troops are preparing to attack the forest robbers, the armed configuration of Igor's convoy is completely suitable for the situation.

Witnessing the majestic military appearance of Shuangfengling, the old butler of the manor who panicked because his master was kidnapped and the guest was poisoned, finally calmed down and rekindled the fire of hope for this rescue mission.

Now, before the team set off, he was finally disseminating information about the forest robbers to the senior officials of Shuangfengling.

"So, you already knew that these bandits were not human?" Xia Houyan stood in the gazebo in the center of the garden, and kicked the extremely ugly green head with sharp fangs on the ground with the tip of his boot.

"Yes..." The old housekeeper nodded awkwardly, "This group of forest robbers were originally trolls living in the Sunset Forest, and there should be no human members among them..."

"Then why didn't you say it before, and kept it from everyone?" Xia Houyan crossed his arms suspiciously.

The old butler faltered and mumbled his words.

A clear voice sounded outside the gazebo:

"Is it because of the 'tolerance tax' thing?"

Everyone raised their heads and found that it was Belgrade, the elf mage, who walked into the gazebo under the guidance of Master Laurie while wiping his hands.

"Master Belgrade!" Xia Houyan hurriedly raised his head, "Katerina... is my sister okay?"

"Master Igor, don't worry." Belgrade hurriedly said, "Although the poison of 'Jianshan Chuang' is strong, it spreads very slowly, and at least I, in Belgrade, am a descendant of an elf who deals with plants...don't worry , with me here, Miss Katerina will be fine for at least five or six days."

The senior officials of Shuangfengling in the gazebo breathed a sigh of relief.

The elf mage Belgrade originally planned to go north with the Frost Maple Ridge convoy and return to the Stardust Protectorate located in the east of the empire;
As a result, after casting Katerina's life-sustaining "Ice Slumber", Master Laurie had an idea and called Begrade over for expert consultation:
Master Laurie believes that an elf mage must have a deeper understanding of plant poisoning.

And after Belgrade gave Katerina emergency treatment, his confident declaration at this time obviously confirmed Master Laurie's judgment——

——Of course, it also highlights the incompetence of Master Laurie.

I don't know how many times these days, Xia Houyan had a strong idea of ​​"changing the chief mage for the territory" in his mind.

"This is good, this is good..." Knight Commander Cousins, who had followed Katerina for a long time in Eagle's Rest, was obviously the happiest person on the scene after hearing the good news, "Fortunately, Master Belgrade You are here, and you have bought time for the eldest lady..."

Under the leadership of the lord, all the colleagues in Shuangfengling bowed to the foreign aid of the elves.

"My 'Ice Sleep' is also very important..." Only Master Laurie muttered aggrievedly, "And I also used the 'Achilles Magic Cube' to shake people over to help..."

No one listened to Master Laurie at all.

"Since I have more time, I would like to know more about this group of trolls and robbers..." Xia Houyan stared at the embarrassed old housekeeper for a while, then turned to Belgrade, "You said 'tolerance' What's the tax'?"

The elf mage glanced at the old housekeeper with disgust, and said in a deep voice:
"Master Igor, you probably don't know yet... In the central plains of the empire, all non-human creatures living within the territory of human nobles are obliged to pay a high tax to the local lord in order to obtain the 'great Human Tolerance'..."

Begrade gritted his teeth and was filled with righteous indignation at the end.

"Are undead considered 'inhuman creatures'?" Xia Houyan asked on a whim, and after being casted by the crowd, "You want to collect the ghost's tax?", he cleared his throat and said in embarrassment, " Master Belgrade, you continue to say..."

Belgrade snorted coldly:
"The social atmosphere of human beings in the empire discriminates against non-human races such as elves, trolls, and orcs, and the lords of the empire want to collect taxes from non-human races...For many years, alien rebellions in the empire have often been The government forced the people to rebel due to the levy of the tolerance tax! Our Elf Queen, the reason why we are committed to building a protectorate is precisely to make the vast number of elves escape the clutches of the empire's taxes! Hmph, trolls and robbers... If this shit is related to' Tolerance tax' does not matter, I will write the name upside down!"

"Mr. Butler, please tell me." Xia Houyan turned to the old butler who was sweating profusely, "Should this master be called Begrade or Dragbe?"

Under the gaze of everyone, the old butler finally couldn't bear the pressure, and began to narrate with his neck shrunk.

The whole incident was not expected, it was really caused by the "tolerance tax"!
The fat Earl of Hallardine is as stupid and stupid as he looks:

When the woodland aristocrat inherited the title 20 years ago, the Earl's small treasury was still full of gold coins, antiques and gems accumulated by the Hallardine family for generations;

However, Earl Hallardine, whose life style has always been extravagant, has become more and more indulgent after inheriting the title. He not only eats, drinks, prostitutes and gambles, but is even obsessed with the hallucinogenic drug "Shadow Dust", which is a specialty of the Western Empire...

God is sorry, the small country of Halladayne and Spring Leaf Town are not a land of plenty with rich products and huge taxes. After a few years, the country's financial surplus has been squandered by the Earl of Halladayne!

And counting on Earl Hallardine, who has always been good-faced, the prodigal son turned around and reformed...

...obviously impossible.

Like any veteran gambler, the earl had only one thought in mind at the time:
I want to recover my losses and make a comeback!
According to the empire's regulations, there is an upper limit on the tax rate levied on human residents, and Earl Hallardine, who is eager to fill the financial hole, puts his hope of making money on non-human residents in a hurry.

In today's imperial metropolis, non-human races are already very rare, but the country of Halladin is a country in the forest surrounded by ancient forests - in the sunset forest, there are many ancient elves and trolls. The Horde, has always been at peace with the human inhabitants of the town.

So ten years ago, with a swipe of his pen, Earl Halladine decided to impose a "tolerance tax" on the non-human races in the sunset forest!
What's even more insane is that the tolerant tax rate proposed by Earl Halledine is three times the standard prevailing in the empire...

This kind of behavior of exhausting the pond and fishing can only make Xia Houyan wonder if the creditors were rushing to press the debts at that time.

In the beginning, the collection of the "tolerance tax" went smoothly: Facing the soldiers of the country who came to collect the tax with a lotus halberd and a sword, although the non-human tribes in the forest were reluctant, they still had to give away their savings. superior;

With this extra income, Earl Hallardine continued to live his favorite luxury life with satisfaction.

But the good times didn't last long. Two or three years ago, sporadic elf tribes protested against the excessively high tolerance tax rate, and even refused to pay the tax as a demonstration, but they were quickly suppressed by the Earl's troops. ;

The real change happened in the middle of last year.

The largest tribe of forest trolls in the sunset forest, the "Enziai" tribe, finally raised the banner of rebellion because they couldn't bear the heavy tax burden. They were hit head-on by the Enziai tribe, who were familiar with the forest terrain and had an exceptionally large population of trolls, and drove them out of the Sunset Forest.

Therefore, from the middle of last year to the beginning of this year, the army of Halladin and the troll tribe in the sunset forest have actually been in a fierce game of encirclement and counter-encirclement. Both sides had their own casualties, but the tense hostility and racism and revanchism that permeated the country became more and more intense.

In the summer of this year, the trolls of the Enziai tribe suddenly learned to use the sap of the Viper Sword Cedar to concoct the "Sword Cedar Creation" poisonous arrows, and finally gained an overwhelming advantage on the front line:

As an ancient native race, the forest trolls with amazing eyesight and outstanding shooting skills were originally fighting at home. The reason why they could not defeat the not-so-elite Hallardine private army was mainly because their weapons and armor were at a disadvantage;

The birth of the "Jianshan Chuang" poisonous arrow completely broke the balance of the battlefield: the trolls in the Sunset Forest not only wiped out nearly half of the Earl's army in one go, but even began to take advantage of the peak trade season to send troops to plunder the Sunset Avenue. The traveling caravan, as revenge for the humans of the empire——

——Of course, many of the losers are actually demon businessmen...

Who do you ask to reason with this matter...

The above-mentioned nonsense incidents finally turned into a tragic road closure that blocked Shuangfengling's journey northward.

The attack on the Basil Manor and the kidnapping of the Earl of Hallardine are actually the result of this series of racial conflicts:

As early as a few days ago, the forest trolls threatened to seek revenge on Earl Halledine. At that time, the Earl didn't pay much attention to it. But by coincidence, it happened on the day when Lord Frost Maple Ridge was having a banquet. A brutal decapitation by the trolls of the Enziai tribe...

The official Xiahou really just appeared in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Due to the collection of high taxes, the trolls in the territory rebelled", this matter is quite shameful no matter how you look at it, so Halladayne has always declared to the outside world that the road closure of Sunset Avenue was caused by forest bandits. Master Begrade, who is an inhuman race, explained the truth with one word.

After listening to the old butler's faltering narration, Xia Houyan's nose was crooked.

Co-authored this whole farce, all because of the corrupt old bastard Halla Dean's life style and self-defeating blind tax collection!

Everyone in Shuangfengling looked at the old butler of the manor with extremely unkind eyes.

Cavalier Commander Cousins ​​simply slapped the table and cursed:

"I fucked up your mothers, Halla Dean's idiots! You have caused these shitty things yourself, and you must be responsible for the poisoning of Miss Katerina!"

The old housekeeper wept bitterly:
"Who knew things would turn out like this at the beginning... whoever the lord of the empire doesn't collect taxes..."

"Tax collection is not a problem, it's a fucking problem to collect taxes and lead people to revolt!" Xia Houyan swung his crowbar bitterly, and knocked a big hole in the jade pillar of the garden gazebo, "Tax collection is so delicate. Things, being done by this old bastard Hallardine to such a rough job! Pooh! What a fucking embarrassment!"

Everyone in Shuangfengling recalled the scene of the rest area next to Route 66, and couldn't help but feel a little bit sad:
If you want to say that the tax collection is "delicate", then who can compare with you...

"Anyway, that's what happened..." The old butler was broken, wiped his tears with the back of his hand, and said cheekily, "Now your sister has also been poisoned by 'Jian Shan Chuang'. If you want to get the antidote, no matter what No matter what, we have to kill those forest trolls..."

Xia Houyan sneered:

"Very good. Then let me declare first: these forest trolls hurt my people, I will ask them to settle the score, but I only care about the antidote, as for the fate of your Earl Halladayne... It is not with us Frost Maple Ridge has nothing to do with it!"

The old housekeeper opened his mouth in fear, but he didn't dare to say any words of intercession after all.

Begrade said in a deep voice:

"Master Igor, since the situation is like this, please forgive me for not being able to help this time...Although it is wrong for the forest trolls to attack and hurt people, it is also caused by the oppression of Earl Hallardine! As a descendant of elves, I am Belgrade , we must not do things that in turn help humans and harm non-human races."

Xia Houyan nodded, and patted Begrade's shoulder gratefully:

"It should be like this—Master, you have helped us a lot by healing Katerina. This time we are going to suppress the bandits, so you can just stay in Chunye Town..."

Begrade nodded reservedly, then gave the old butler a hard look, and walked out of the gazebo with his hands behind his back.

As soon as the elf mage left, Alice Comstock walked quickly into the gazebo from the courtyard, and said solemnly:

"My lord, all the troops brought by our family have been assembled, and the weapons and armors have been distributed... In addition, there is also a group of local soldiers provided by the Earl of Halledine, and they are now temporarily under our command."

"Very good, let's start to suppress the bandits!" Xia Houyan slapped the table angrily, "Remember to put the local soldiers at the forefront when marching, to block the arrows!"

"Not only at the front, but also on the flanks, lest the trolls sneak attack from the side of the road." Cousins, the Lily Knight of the Empire, reminded solemnly, "It is best that there are no casualties in our territory. , must make full use of it!"

Master Laurie said in his heart that it doesn't matter what race he is, as long as he was born in the poor country of Halledine, he is really bad luck...

(End of this chapter)