Rome must fall.

Chapter 363: Skyrocketing Summer Taxes

Alakosia said, walked forward, opened the wooden box in the wooden box, and respectfully and carefully took out something.

"This is a statue of the goddess Danu! It was carved by Chief Maximus himself, based on the goddess Danu who had appeared in his dreams many times and given him enlightenment. I was asked to bring it to you, the sage, in the hope that the goddess's glory can also shine on the Iron Core Tribe!"

Podmochi took the statue with half respect and half doubt, and looked at it carefully: this is a half-meter-tall wooden female statue. The woman in the statue has her hair tied up high, wearing a wreath of oak branches, and wearing a simple white dress with delicate folds, which falls naturally like flowing water. Her white and smooth left hand holds a pottery bottle filled with water on her left shoulder, and her right hand stretches forward to sprinkle the mud in her hand. Her figure is graceful and upright, noble and elegant, her face is kind and peaceful, her deep eyes are slightly lowered, gazing at everything in the world with pity, and the corners of her smiling mouth give people gentle care...

The more I look at Bodamochi, the more familiar and sacred he feels...

He hurriedly placed the statue respectfully on his seat, took a few steps back, and bowed to it devoutly.

Seeing this, Alakosia continued, "We have built several temples to the goddess Danu in our territory of Nyx. Almost all the people of our tribe go to the temples to pray, and they highly respect the druids who guard the temples..."

Bodamochi stared at the statue, his mind churning with thoughts.

Druids believe that there are many gods and elves in nature, but they respect holy stones and holy forests more. This is more because gods are unknowable and unimaginable, while rocks and forests are real. They believe that touching and praying to holy stones can get the protection of gods, and that forests are the home of gods. In fact, they use holy stones and holy forests as a bridge to communicate with gods.

The exquisite, sacred and majestic statue in front of him gave Bodamochi an inexplicable impulse: This is the goddess Danu! We are like her because we were created by her! And she is perfect because she is a god, superior to mortals! And she is kind and compassionate because she created all things, hoping that humans and nature can coexist harmoniously...

Bodamochi took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "It seems that I need to take some time to travel to the Nix tribe."

Sfeili was stunned and asked in surprise: "Sage, you are going to Knicks in person?!"

Bodamochi looked at him and said firmly, "Travel and study are necessary practices for us druids. I am ashamed that I haven't done so for many years. This time, I will take the opportunity of friendly exchanges with the Nix tribe to visit the Danu Temple there and exchange and learn with the druids there. I just wonder if the Nix will allow me to go?"

The last words were obviously addressed to Alakosia.

Alacosia, who was also surprised, immediately came to his senses and responded excitedly: "I think our leader Maximus must welcome the sage Podamochi to visit the tribe!"

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At the end of September, the golden fields of the Nix tribe had turned gray and black, and the wheat in the threshing floors of each village had been collected into the barns. Every household was immersed in the joy of the harvest, and laughter was everywhere.

In the main hall of Ophidili, Maximus was listening to the report of Cornelius, the chief of the finance department: "…This time, our finance department received a total of ### kilograms of wheat as summer tax, and ### kilograms of flax."

"### kilograms of wheat! The land tax collected this year is six or seven times more than last year!" Maximus smiled after hearing this.

"Chief, this year not only has the number of farmlands in the tribe increased greatly, but the harvests are even better than last year, so the tax revenue has exceeded our Ministry of Finance's previous estimate." Cornelius said softly, "The Ministry of Finance's granaries in Snotia, Westenia, Ophidilla... are already full, and there is still a small amount of wheat that has no place to be stored. We are asking the construction team to speed up the expansion of the granaries."

Maximus obviously knew about this. He said calmly, "How much is the small amount of wheat that is left?"

"About... about one-sixth of the wheat is left with nowhere to store it," Cornelius replied in a low voice.

"The Finance Department is a department that pays the most attention to data accuracy! A small part?" Maximus sneered and criticized in a stern tone: "Are you the head of the Finance Department with such a sloppy attitude? No wonder you failed to accurately estimate the yield of the wheat fields and built fewer granaries. As a result, so much wheat is now piled up in the open air. What if it rains heavily and the wheat gets moldy? Will you pay for it then?"

Cornelius was silent, not daring to make an excuse. Volenus bravely interrupted and said, "Captain, the Ministry of Finance failed to accurately estimate the amount of summer tax. It is... our Ministry of Agriculture's responsibility!"

Vorenus looked at Maximus who remained expressionless and said apologetically: "Although the weather has been good this year and the wheat is growing well, we have judged in advance that it will be another bumper harvest.

But... after the tribe's territory expanded, the population increased greatly, from more than 11300 households and more than 47 people to more than 000 households and more than 52 people. The farmland also increased greatly, from nearly 900 acres to more than 194500 million acres. The population and land increased several times, but the number of staff in the Labor Department did not increase much.

In order to estimate the field yield in advance, they need to go to each town, village, and field to observe and calculate carefully in order to obtain more accurate data.

But we have too few people in the Finance Department. It is already difficult to complete the investigation of the wheat fields in the Ophidilla area. The situation of the wheat fields along the Kupa River can only be completed by several agricultural deployment workers stationed there. There are also many wheat fields along the Kupa River. It is impossible for them to complete such a large amount of statistical work alone. Therefore, they can only focus on Todlido, and the situation of the wheat fields in Snowtia and Westney relies more on last year's statistics.

But after the autumn harvest, we found that the people in these two towns harvested much more grain than we expected. Their average yield per mu reached 100 to 140 kilograms—"

"This is at least 20 kilograms more than last year's agricultural output!" Maximus exclaimed with some emotion.

Volenus was relieved and spoke louder. "Our Ministry of Agriculture has sent people to conduct an investigation. We found that the main reason why the per-acre yield of the people in these two towns has increased so much this year is that they have become more skilled in farming. They plow the land deeply, remove weeds and debris very cleanly, apply fertilizer very fully, and carefully select the wheat harvested last year with full grains..."

"What is the yield per acre in Ophidili?" Maximus asked with interest.

"The average yield per mu is about 100 catties." Volenus said without hesitation, "It is to catties more than their previous years. The village chiefs have taught the tribe farming techniques seriously and responsibly. The tribe members are studying very hard. And because they have acquired so much new land, they are working very hard in farming...

Unfortunately, there are not enough farm tools, oxen, and manure. I believe that there will be greater improvements in these areas by next year, and the yield per mu will be able to increase by then.”

After hearing this, Maximus nodded with a slightly relieved expression.

Volenus took the opportunity to say, "Chief, our Department of Agriculture made a mistake in estimating the harvest of farmland this time. The northern territory was only completely stabilized a month ago, and our Department of Agriculture was busy investigating the farmland conditions in Ophidilla at that time. We really couldn't spare any manpower to go to the northern territory. We also heard that some villages and stockades were destroyed after the war there, so we thought that the farmland there would not have much harvest. And at that time, I thought that we had just acquired that piece of land, and it was unlikely that we would ask the tribesmen there to pay taxes so soon.

But in fact, it may be because the main purpose of the Yapods invading the northern territory was to obtain food, so they basically did not destroy the farmland there. Moreover, although the northern territory is not large, the farmland is relatively fertile. The key is that the chief executive of Silinus actually made the tribesmen in the northern territory pay taxes, and the taxes paid were not small...

In short, this was a mistake made by our Department of Agriculture, which resulted in the fact that the amount of food handed over by the tribesmen exceeded the initial estimate, catching the Ministry of Finance off guard."

Cornelius looked in astonishment at Volenus who bowed his head to admit his mistake. He did not expect that this old man, whom he often resented, would speak for him at this time.

Maximus thought for a moment and said in a deep voice: "The lack of personnel is not only in your agricultural department, but also in other departments. Last time you plundered the tribal school and recruited so many students, Kephisophon was anxious with me.

This time, don't even think about expanding your department. Even if I agree, there is no one. It will take time for tribal schools to train students who can do things. In short, you have to find ways to do your best. I don't want the same mistake to happen again next time!"

"Yes, leader!" Volenus and Cornelius bowed in response at the same time.

Cornelius went on to explain: "Captain, we have obtained the consent of Cecrops, the governor of Ophidalia, to temporarily store the remaining grain in the vacant houses in the east camp, thus ensuring the safety of the grain.

Lord Capito has sent a lot of additional manpower to the construction team. In a month, two more large granaries will be built near Ophidilla, which will be more than enough to store the grain."

(End of this chapter)