Herald of Steel

The majority of the various goods entering Thesalie would not stay in the city but only be a transit for other cities, where the merchants would use the harbor to access the Diannu.

It was also primarily because of this that the sales tax collected in the city was so much, for it connected Zanzan city to the rest of the country.

Otherwise, there was no way a single war torn city could consume so much, for 25 million ropals could only go so far.

And hearing about the huge tax sales as well as the real origin behind it, Alexander would contemplate building a canal that would connect Zanzan City to the Diannu, thereby connecting his most industry part of the region to the entirety of Tibias through easy to transverse waterways.

After all, on average it was 13 times cheaper and 5 times faster to transport something by water than by land and so by building this artificial waterway, Alexander would be able to cut down on huge amounts of cost.

But he would quickly give up the idea when he would be given an estimate of 50,000 men requiring to work for a decade if not more to complete the 90 km canal he wanted, with a price tag of close to a billion!

That was impossible for the current him, for although Alexander of course had the capital, the required labor force would mean he would not be able to literally do any other civil infractures for ten years.

That was in no way feasible.

But he did not scrap the idea totally.

For such large canals did exist even in Adhania itself.

And even in his previous life, the Romans built many canals in the 30 km to 50 km range, while the Chinese Grand Canal dwarfed almost all the canals of the world combined at the time by being more than 2,000 km long.

But those took centuries and not tens of thousands but literally millions of workers.

So Alexander might think about the project once his territory became as prosperous as ancient China.

For now, though, the many merchants flocking to the city in search of opportunity would have to do so by road.

And then enter it by providing a sales tax.

But you may ask, did Alexander not promise the people an exemption from all taxes for the next three years?

Well, no, because what he really meant was the exemption of the land tax, meaning the farmers would not have to give any of their produce to the local lord but could keep everything for themselves.

But the sales tax of all goods still remained one which was paid upfront at the gates of the city at a toll booth, with the only exceptions given to wheat and salt.

Alexander had exempted these two crucial products from taxation in all his cities and even urged all his nobles to follow suit, asking them not to burden the people over the basic necessities.

And this had caused some controversy in the senate building when Alexander had first proposed so, with a big point being made that- 'Grain and salt merchants will benefit unfairly from this.'

And, 'Are we to let these kinds of people hold power over us?' which referred to how controlling the food supply meant effectively controlling the people.

To address the first point Alexander had first pointed out that there was a limit of how much a grain merchant earned as there was only so much people could eat.

'If the people earn double, they will not twice the amount of bread. They will eat the same amount Alexander in very simplified terms explained to the men the concept of inelastic demand- i.e.- demand stays mostly the same regardless of income.

So these grain merchants really could sell only that much.

But even then many of the nobles, especially the older, generational ones still grumbled.

They really did not care about the merchants' profits, that was just an excuse.

What really got them was going that this being an agrarian society, a majority of their sales tax income came from wheat- the staple food of the people.

In fact, it was usually their largest income right after the land tax.

So it would be too damaging for them to agree with this.

While the reason why Alexander was able to afford this was because the majority of his income came from sugar and iron, followed by soap, glass, and paper respectively. 

And these ventures were so lucrative that it made the hassle of taxing 1% or 2% on these cheap products simply not worth it.

Instead, it was far smarter to abolish the tax and play it for propaganda.

But that was not the case for the poorer nobles and thus understanding Alexander tried to convince, but did not force anyone. 

However, with Thesalie being his city, Alexander did implement this, meaning wheat and salt were cheaped but if anyone wanted to trade any other goods, it was a 2 percent sales tax for local produce and if they were specialties from Zanzan like iron, sugar (brown sugar), paper, glass, soap, etc. then it was 5 percent

The reason for it being more than double was because those things sold like hotcakes.

With the commerce section of the talks over, Lady Felicia then moved on to the various projects that Alexander wanted done, stating, 

"The various public toilets that you have wanted are being quickly constructed as we speak, my lord."

"We have also started to hire men to start digging the water channels you wanted through the city."

Lady Felicia here was referring to Alexander's intention to create many small running waterways alongside the roads which would carry fresh running water through the city and end at a point in the river, a few kilometers downstream away from the city.

The purpose of these covered 'streams' was to carry the various natural waste products of the city and given Thesalie was a mountainous city, of course, that meant the easy way to just cut a channel from the river was out, as water, much to Alexander's disappointment, did not flow uphill.

Instead, he had to target the many artificial channels and small aqueducts that the nobles had built to supply their vineyards atop the hill, and then enlarge and divert some of those water into these new channels.

It was a very large project and Alexander estimated it would take a few years to complete.

And as for the question of why go through all the hassle, well it was found that digging an underground sewage system was not impossible here, for the city literally sat atop a huge iron ore deposit, making the subterranean too hard to work. 

Upon learning which Alexander had even lampooned, 'What a waste!'

Because such close to the surface iron deposits were really rare Alexander would have loved to smelt the entire thing down and sell it as iron ingots.

But that would of course mean the city of Thesalie would have to be dismantled.

Something which was really not possible.

So it made Alexander feel like he was literally standing on a mountain of money but unable to enjoy it.

Following that update, Lady Felicia continued, 

"We also aim to start work on a large, new clinic soon."

"We are trying to stop people from throwing their rubbish in the streets and we are close to setting up the umm… Sanitary Administration." Lady Felicia had a hard time pronouncing that new name, adding, "They will soon start collecting the trash," and finished by informing, 

"And lastly the plans for a new, much larger harbor in the works. Once adequate space is cleared up, we will be able to start construction." 

The harbor Thesalie had was already quite big, as evidenced by how it was able to accommodate the ten men Lord Theony had brought without significant delays.

But Alexander wanted it bigger, knowing literally thousands of tonnes of his city's specialties would soon be flocking here.

So he instructed the nearby market stalls that overlooked the river to be demolished, the ground underneath dug and the harbor expanded more inland, thus increasing its size.

With this said came the end of her report, and finishing so Lady Felicia looked at Alexander with a hope filled face, scattered with traces of trepidation. 

"Mmmm, good. I'm satisfied." And only let color return to her face hearing this, as she then heard the masculine voice chime, 

"It seems you were not simply asking to rule the city because you were greedy. You actually have some skills."

"How much did you depend on your husband to do all of this?" Alexander then in an off hand tone asked.

It went naturally that without Lapitus backing her up, it would be impossible for Lady Felicia to accomplish a tenth of what she did, for she would be too intensely discriminated against just by virtue of being a woman. 

"I…" At Alexander's inquiry, Lady Felicia's mouth opened and closed awkwardly like a fish, as the two had tacitly decided to not discuss the man after what the two did that day.

But now that Alexander was asking, Lady Felicia was forced to answer.

"He… mostly spends time outside. He did not help with anything, my lord." Came the reply. 

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