Riding and Slashing

Chapter 215 Heavy Taxation
Ulrik squinted his eyes and shook his head, stretched out his hand and pressed it, signaling for several people to listen to him.

"Baron Leon, based on your achievements in Fort Eagle Claw, Fort Eagle Claw should have been your legal territory. Of course, that's what you deserved. This is not a reward."

There is nothing to discuss about the fief of Eagle Claw Fort. It was conquered by Li Ang, and no one has any objections.

But killing thousands of Jatu people, taking back the fallen land, and forcing the Ravencrow Kingdom to apologize and retreat, it would be unjustifiable not to award such credits.So everyone knew that the king had something to say, and no one said anything.

"Originally, I should have promoted you to Earl as a commendation, but you took back Changhe Town a few days ago... Frankly speaking, considering your qualifications and age, taking charge of Eagle Claw Fort and Changhe Town at the same time will cause a lot of unnecessary troubles. dispute……"

Ulrik shook his head while speaking: "So I let you choose for yourself, do you want a higher hereditary title, or do you want more fiefs?"

The king was indeed candid when he was sober.

A young lord in his twenties has made relatively great achievements. It is normal for a general king to have such considerations.

If there are too many seals, in case this young man makes more contributions in the future, what will he use to make contributions?
But everyone present knew that Ulrik might not actually be thinking about this issue...

"Your Majesty, can I choose this myself?"

Li Ang smiled and showed typical villain symptoms, and squinted at Godric: "So, I can be an earl?"

The greedy look was undisguised and looked annoying, but the king smiled: "Of course, you won it yourself."

"Count? Hmph..."

Godric snorted dissatisfied.

"Aha, it's not easy to be an earl..."

Li Ang glanced sideways at Godric, smiled triumphantly, and then covered his face with a grin, it seemed that his wound would hurt when he smiled.

"Since that's the case, I think it's possible to discuss it this way... Godric, I heard that your daughter is already in Eagle Claw Castle. I plan to let you be transferred to be the Chief of Military Affairs of the Northern Region, and be transferred from White Hart Castle to be the lord of Eagle Claw Castle. And Li Ang, you will be promoted to earl and serve as the Chief of Eastern Military Affairs. Changhe Town will become your territory, but you have to give up Eagle Claw Castle. Malbert, you will take over White Hart Castle as a reward for your father's achievements ..."

Ulrik's smile deepened: "That's why I said this matter needs to be discussed. This is also to resolve your conflicts... Li Ang, do you have any objections?"

Exchange the prosperous and affluent Changhe Town with the destroyed Eagle Claw Fort, and he can also be promoted to Earl. If outsiders are to judge this matter, the king is indeed very fair to Li Ang.

As for Godric, Changhe Town was once cheated by traitors in his hands, so he was transferred from White Hart Castle to Eagle Claw Castle for some punishment, and it seems that there is no problem.

And Brennus was meritorious for leading troops to suppress the rebellion, but the duke had already reached his peak and could not confer rewards, so conferring his son to White Hart Castle was considered a meritorious service.

This arrangement is indeed very fair on the surface.

But the problem is that this is not resolving conflicts, but intensifying them...

This arrangement seems to be good for all three parties, but in fact it will inevitably lead to struggle among the three parties.

Li Ang tilted the corner of his mouth towards Godric, with a very obvious mocking look: "Your Majesty, of course I have no objection."

"Godric?"

King Ulrik turned to his brother-in-law.

The bridge of Godric's nose twitched a few times, and a fierce look appeared in his eyes: "Hmph...no objection, it's fair...but Your Majesty, I want to sue Earl Leon for not repaying the debt!"

The lord turned his head and glared.

"This is your private matter, and it will be resolved privately... Since you have no objection to my arrangement, then it's decided..."

King Ulrik prevented Godric from collecting debts in public, then nodded in satisfaction and stood up to prepare for the end of the meeting.

"Wait...Your Majesty, can I speak?"

Malbert shook his head feebly and stood up. Originally, he was a simple person who received the award in place of his father, so the king didn't ask him.

But in fact, he is the representative of the Duke of Brennus, and of course he is qualified to express his opinions at the round table...

"You said."

Ulrik seemed quite amiable now.

"Your Majesty, with my strength, I'm afraid it will be difficult to defend White Hart Castle..."

Malbert's eyes kept flicking left and right. Obviously, he didn't feel that he couldn't hold back, but he didn't want to get involved in the conflict between Li Ang and Godric.

Now that he saw the Noldor elves appearing in Leon's guard, Malbert could naturally realize that anyone who dared to take over White Hart Castle would be in danger—anyway, it was normal for humans to die at the hands of the Noldor elves ...

"Then you can learn from Li Ang and get some Noldor mercenaries to increase your military strength. Alright, that's it!"

It seemed that Ulrik obviously didn't care whether Malbert was in danger or not. He probably would have been happier if the three parties fought, so he directly terminated this 'negotiation'.

Li Ang was expressionless, Godric was angry, and Malbert was frowning.

A few hours later, the royal decree was officially announced.

Baron Li Ang was promoted to the Earl of Changhe Town and also served as the Chief of Military Affairs in the Eastern Region.

Baron Godric became the lord of Fort Eagle Claw, and the village of Biglen, a subordinate village of Fort Eagle Claw, was given to him. At the same time, he also served as the chief of military affairs in the northern region-there is no strong lord in Beibu Bay today, and it should indeed be arranged in this way.

Lord Malbert is named White Hart Castle.

After completing the imperial edict, King Ulrik met Li Ang alone in the lord's hall.

"Earl Leon... No matter what conflicts you have with Godric, I hope you will restrain each other so as not to affect the safety of the kingdom..."

Ulrik kept looking at Li Ang's swollen face, as if he was considering whether to make peace for the two of them.

After all, this kind of public brawl and slap in the face can easily turn into a life-and-death duel for the nobles, and it is very likely to lead to a war.

Discord between two powerful nobles is a good thing for the king, but if a civil war breaks out because of this, it will not be safe. The king didn't bring many people...

"It's all small things... just small things, just a little dispute over money, Your Majesty."

Li Ang rubbed his face and shook his head sensiblely.

"I'm afraid it's not just a small dispute? I heard that you used to be inseparable from Godric's daughter, but now that there are so many beauties around you, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the two of you to get along... You'd better return the Return the dinars to Godric, and you are not short of money..."

King Ulrik sighed. After hearing this, he seemed to want to control the situation. He probably felt that the situation could not escalate before he left...

Hearing Godric say that Li Ang is a prostitute, and seeing two stunning beauties appearing beside Li Ang, the king certainly understood that it was definitely not just about money.

This is both a relationship issue and an economic dispute, coupled with the mutual dominance of the occupied territory, it is obvious that the conflict between the two is already extremely intense, and a war may break out at any time...

Although the king didn't care about their enmity, he certainly didn't want to be involved in the battlefield before he left.

"Your Majesty, of course I will try my best to restrain myself. As you can see, I didn't fight back today! But I really can't pay him back that money... Sigh..."

Li Ang also sighed: "I was trying to make up [-] dinars and return it to you first! Your golden seal is not in Changhe Town..."

The lord covered his face and looked up at Ulrik pitifully.

Ulrik twitched his face twice, and it seemed that his words were blocked.

"I do have to take that money with me...but whatever, restraint! I'll go and talk to Godric too."

It seems that compared with the hatred between the lords under his command, the king obviously cares more about the one hundred thousand dinars...

I don't know how Ulrik talked with Godric. Anyway, after the talk, he immediately set off to return to Sarleon City on the same day, and he also took away the [-] dinars that Li Ang had prepared in advance.

There is a feeling of running all night.

Lord Malbert also couldn't wait to leave Changhe Town.

——It seems that everyone is worried that there will be a fight in Changhe Town.

But Li Ang and Godric are toasting at the Longhe Express headquarters at this time...

"You beat too hard, didn't you tell me not to hit your face?"

Li Ang was still rubbing his nose, and the redness on his face hadn't disappeared.

"Isn't that just convenient... Cough, besides, isn't it more effective? The king also said that I hurt your dignity, and worried that you would assassinate me..."

Godric looked at Leon's wound and smiled: "Are you sure Malbert is willing to abandon White Hart Castle?"

"He is an extremely smart guy. Back then he was not even willing to enter Changhe Town, let alone White Hart Castle now... He must know that no one in White Hart Castle will listen to him. Stationing troops in White Hart Castle is equivalent to To provide you with free labor, he comes to collect taxes every quarter at most symbolically. Anyway, tax collection also gives him a sum of money every year, and dividends also give him a sum of money every year, so why not just exchange it for shares? You don't have to take any responsibility..."

Li Ang raised his glass: "The east is safe now, and the king won't bother us for the time being. At worst, we can collect more taxes. Maybe we can live a peaceful life for a while."

"I can also retire... From now on, I will live in Biglen Village, watching the inner sea of ​​Lion Lake every day, fishing and hunting, that is really a day I dream of..."

Godric raised his glass and touched Leon.

……

A few days later, the tax officer of the Kingdom came to Changhe Town and informed Li Ang of the amount of taxes that the territory needs to pay to the Kingdom.

The fiefs of the lord will pre-determine the amount of tax to be paid to the country. This is an obligation that the lord must fulfill.

Anyway, it's the lord's own territory, so it doesn't matter what disasters you want, as long as you pay enough taxes to the country...

Changhe Town is not a pioneering land. Of course, there is no preferential policy of tax exemption for one year, and Mai Xiangling also needs to pay taxes to the kingdom from this quarter.

However, the specific amount of national tax to be paid for each lord's territory will not be publicly announced, because each lord's fief has different circumstances, and the Sarleon Kingdom will separately set the amount of payment for each lord's fief.

For territories with the same population size, the territory in the hinterland security area has to pay full tax; while the border needs to be prepared for war, and the tax can be deducted from the war preparedness-not tax exemption, but actually has to pay tax, but the military defense expenditure is used to offset on-the-spot deduct a part.

For example, when Godric was in White Hart Castle, the annual tax payable was about [-] dinars, but the actual tax paid was usually only [-] dinars, and most of the tax was deducted by the city defense construction. .

On the whole, the tax amount will be adjusted every year according to the specific situation, and the ratio will not be too fixed.However, in principle, a collection range will still be matched, which will generally be matched according to the population. The annual national tax is between one and two dinars per capita.

Some deductions are made in the border areas, a little less is deducted in the famine areas, and some losses are added. In the end, what falls to the national finance is basically about one dinar per capita.

The national taxes of various countries are almost in this range.

But Li Ang's territory is far beyond this range...

"...Mai Xiangling will be merged into the jurisdiction of Changhe Town, Earl Li Ang, the annual tax amount of your territory is tentatively set at 15 dinars...the tax payable this season is 75000 dinars, please Earl Li Ang Finish the season's tax bill by January."

After reading a long paragraph of clichés and nonsense, the tax collector of the kingdom announced a terrible tax amount to the lord.

The quarter here actually refers to each harvest season, which is usually two seasons a year, namely April and October, and half of the tax amount is completed each quarter.

Normally, the latest period for tax payment is July and January of the following year - both sorting and shipping will take time.

In other words, from now on, Li Ang will pay 15 dinars to Sarleon City every year, and it will start from this October.

You know, the entire eastern region, including White Hart Castle and Fort Brave Shield, actually paid only 20 taxes last year...

In fact, the tax amount of 20 yuan in the eastern region is not high. The entire eastern region has a population of more than [-] people, on average, one dinar per person per year, which is a normal national tax amount.

But now, the tax required for Li Ang's direct jurisdiction is too high.

Although the jurisdiction of Changhe Town is large, it belongs to Li Ang's territory. In fact, there are only the urban area of ​​Changhe Town and the surrounding farms, Maixiangling, and Fletcher Village.

The lords in other places in the jurisdiction did not pledge allegiance to Li Ang, and Li Ang could not control them...

There are only more than 8000 residents living in Changhe Town, and there are more than 6000 people in the farms around Changhe Town. The current population of Mai Xiangling is close to 1000, and Fletcher has less than [-].

In addition, there is a remote Fort Darkfalcon - that place is regarded as a pioneering territory, and there is no need to pay national taxes within a year...

In other words, the territory belonging to Li Ang has an actual population of less than 3 people, but it has to pay 15 yuan in taxes every year.

There is a five-fold difference between 5 dinars per capita and 1 dinar per capita.

But the lord accepted it calmly - the king would set him a higher tax, which was expected and a normal operation.

It's understandable for big eaters.

However, what Li Ang didn't expect was that he was not the only one who borne such a heavy tax.

Not long after the tax officer left, Malbert came to Changhe Town.

Lord Malbert did not formally take over White Hart Castle, he did go to White Hart Castle himself, and then immediately returned to Changhe Town to find the lord to discuss a deal.

"You mean, you want to trade White Hart Castle for my business in the northwestern part of the kingdom? Is that what you mean or what your father means?"

Li Ang looked at Malbert in surprise.

He didn't expect Malbert to have such a keen sense of smell, and he made such a determination after only going to White Hart Castle.

"Of course I meant it. After all, White Hart Castle is my fief in name..."

Malbert smiled, and turned his head to look at various positions in the lord's hall.

"Don't worry, there is no one else here. Malbert, this is not a trivial matter, are you sure you want to do this? I must first declare that those casinos and entertainment venues are not easy to manage. Besides, those shops are out of my microphone After Xiang International, the business may not be so good."

Li Ang spoke truthfully to Malbert, and he always told the truth when talking about specific business.

Moreover, it is really difficult for ordinary nobles to make such a decision to abandon a well-built castle. Malbert's mind is indeed quite flexible.

"I understand these. What I want is not the signboard of Maixiang International. My family has enough influence in the northwest region. I will use the family's signboard. What I want is only those stores that have become a habit for customers to go to. That's all."

Malbert nodded.

"Exchange a territory like White Hart Castle for some shops, are you sure you want to do this?"

Li Ang took another look at the movie king. Starting from customer habits, acquiring existing stores and then establishing his own family brand in the region, this is already a market merger with modern business thinking.

His attitude towards Malbert is now more serious than that of the king.

"I know my own weight, Lord Leon. I can't control those Noldor elves, and it's hard to resist the attack of the Bacchus Empire...Staying in White Hart Castle can only be fearful every day, so it's better to change to some more real ones." Stuff. I have visited most of the casinos run by Maixiang Company in the northwest of the kingdom, and I know that they must make more money than I did in White Hart Castle."

Malbert did not act this time, and spoke sincerely.

"But the king and the House of Lords will not agree to this transaction... Malbert, you should understand the king's intentions."

Li Ang shook his head lightly.

"Of course I understand, I can even see that you and Lord Godric are acting together..."

Malbert smiled: "You guys acted so well, you almost fooled me too. I didn't realize it until I arrived at White Hart Castle."

Li Ang pursed his lips and said nothing. He could tell that he was actually beaten. Malbert deserved to be a born actor.

"My lord Li Ang, to be honest, I don't dare to take White Hart Castle. It's not just about military strength... Do you know how much tax the king sets for White Hart Castle? Fifty thousand dinars per year! What about White Hart Castle? The total number of people is only [-], how can I collect so much tax?"

Malbert spread his hands and did not mention acting again.

"White Hart Castle also charges such a high tax? That's the frontier!"

Li Ang was also shocked, White Hart Castle is also 5 dinars per capita?
(End of this chapter)