industrial lord

Chapter 57

As the weather gets colder, people's pace of life slows down.

Entering November, the Wesson leaders will be able to sleep if they are busy with one thing, which is paying rent and taxes.

Like other places, Weisenling collects rent twice a year, during summer harvest and autumn harvest. In summer, only grain is collected, and in autumn, various miscellaneous taxes and materials such as cloth are collected. Vegetables and meat are collected in turn on weekdays. Eggs, dairy products and firewood etc.

Starting from November 11, after Frederick arranged all the work, he and the tax officer Neuer patrolled the taxation work in the territory.

Frederick's father had always been ignorant of numbers, and combined all the farmers' taxes except the poll tax into the [-]% rent, which greatly facilitated the work of the tax officials.

On this day, the little master and the tax officer came to Pea Village to inspect the work.

At the beginning of the autumn harvest, the tax officials have selected several farmlands in the village to measure the average yield of oats, barley and various beans, and then calculate how much land rent to pay based on the number of fields on the lease.

Frederick called an elderly tax official, who had been in charge of the surrounding villages for many years, and asked him how the harvest was this year.

"This year's autumn harvest is a bit worse than last year's," replied the tax official. "There is less rain this spring and summer, and the oats are not as tall as last year's, and the beans are less."

Frederick asked about the data and calculated in his mind that the decrease was about 6%, which was barely acceptable.

The taxation work in the village has not changed for decades, and now it is going on in an orderly manner, and there is nothing special to deal with.

Employees of grain merchants weave through the crowd, asking farmers if they have grain to sell.

This year, the price of Wesson's grain is [-]% higher than in previous years. If it weren't for Wesson's syrup in exchange for grain, the supply of grain in the market is still sufficient, and the price increase must be more than that.

The rise in food prices and the influx of disaster victims were enough to cause Frederick to run away with a bucket.

Frederick watched here for a long time, and then went to a newly built village in the south with the team to inspect.

"Welcome the principal to Hongniba Pinewood Village!"

Thomas bowed slightly at the gate of the village, the angle was just right, and greeted the leader to get off the car with impeccable etiquette.

Frederick nodded slightly. He first looked around at the houses with brown-red walls and pointed roofs in the village from the height of the carriage, and then got out of the carriage and asked, "Is everyone living in houses now?"

Thomas immediately replied: "They are all living here. Although it is not very good, at least there is a place to shelter from the wind and rain."

Frederick looked around and saw that there were not many people in the village, only a few children ran past, so he asked, "Where are the people in the village?"

"It's all in the square." Thomas pointed to the direction behind him. "Sheriff Gunter is selecting militiamen."

Frederick nodded and said, "You settle down the others first, and I'll take a walk around the village."

There are a dozen people and several carriages who came to collect taxes. They will spend the night here tonight and collect taxes tomorrow.

Frederick originally planned not to collect taxes for the new village this year, but was immediately opposed by everyone.

The reason is simple. Collecting their taxes and registering them means acknowledging that they are from the Wessen Land, and reassuring these new arrivals.

Under this principle, how much tax is collected can be flexible.

Frederick came to the square in the middle of the village and saw more than 200 young and strong villagers gathered together, and the sheriff selected the militia.

At present, the village has a militia of 20 people, divided into 10 spearmen, 5 archers and 5 coachmen, who use round shields and short swords.

These militiamen receive 30 days of training every year during the slack season, and they are given subsidies such as tax-free farmland, which is quite attractive.

Frederick didn't expect to send the militia to the front line to fill in the line. These 20 people are a logistics transportation team, responsible for transportation during wartime.

Sheriff Gunter is in his 40s this year. He has a big shoulder, a round waist and a thick neck.

He got along with the villagers for a while, and he could tell at a glance who was suitable and who was not.

"Hozenploz!" Gaunt yelled, "What are you doing standing so far behind?"

Huozhenpluozi felt bitter. It is true that he can dance with guns and sticks. No male villager in the village can beat him in a one-on-one match, but he has quit now.

"Master Gaunt," he said aggrievedly, "I'm just a farmer, how can I be a soldier?"

Gunter sneered, he followed his father out of the mountains to hang out in the mercenary team when he was ten years old, and no one could tell whether he had martial arts or not.

"You don't have to be one if you don't want to." Gaunt had a weird smile on his face, "Just beat me."

Hozenploz's face immediately darkened. It is not a big problem for an old mercenary like Gaunt to kill ten ordinary villagers one by one.

Whether I can beat it myself or not, if I can beat it, is there any reason not to be a militiaman?

If he couldn't beat him, wouldn't he just send him up to be beaten?

Hozenploz shook his head hastily, and said in horror: "How can I compare with you, you can hit me from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain with one punch."

Seeing this guy like this, Gunter didn't force it any more, and said, "Forget it, then you won't have any part in tax cuts and allowances."

Then he looked at a female villager and asked, "Liher, how about being an archer?"

Liher also shook his head hastily and said, "Oh, master, it's okay if you let me cook, let me draw a bow and shoot arrows, aren't you afraid that I will shoot my own people?"

Gaunt felt helpless seeing her like this, and he didn't want to force it, lest someone think that he wanted to use his power for personal gain to do something, but he fell in love with a girl in the village, so he couldn't ruin his reputation at this time.

The two most capable fighters in the village did not do it, and Gunter could only let the strong and agile young men do it.

Many young people are considering saving money to marry a wife. The allowance of being a militiaman is not a small income, and there are quite a few people who sign up.

Gunn has enough 20 people and informs them to gather the day after tomorrow and start training.

After the militiamen settled down, the villagers dispersed quickly. Now it was getting late, and it was time to prepare dinner.

"Long time no see, Hozenploz." Frederick stopped an acquaintance in an alley where there was no one else.

Hozenpoloz was taken aback for a moment, and immediately bowed to greet the person who came, "Master Baron, I am very glad to see that you are still so healthy."

A smile appeared on Frederick's face, and he said, "You look good, you're not so thin anymore."

Hozenploz said respectfully: "All this is a gift from the master."

Frederick smiled and said, "I just gave you a chance, it's up to you how you live in the future."

"Go, take me to see where you live."

(End of this chapter)