Hey, King!

2021-07-07

Chapter 136 Chapter 136 Levels
The four of them left the convoy and followed the road to Heshan City . The closer you get to Heshan City, the less silhouettes you see in the villages on both sides of the road. Everyone knows how to temporarily empty the house of valuable items, and take livestock and poultry to shelter from disasters.

But a checkpoint set up at the bridge head blocked at least more than 200 people with their families, carts and cars crowded together, and sheep and sheep, dogs and dogs quarreled with each other, and they would not stop in the cage. The chickens and ducks were arguing loudly, and the children were so frightened that they couldn't stop crying.

It was just a small river, only five meters wide, with an arch bridge over the river. Sixteen soldiers stood guard at the bridge, but it was the lord's tax collector who really stopped them. In front of him stood a large wooden table with seals, registers and abacus. A quill in a red ink bottle and a quill for writing sunspots were swaying in the breeze.

As they approached, the soldiers resting on the bridge saw it and waved to Gerlos and the others, loudly shouted: "Hey, what are you four looking at over there? Go over if you want to. , don't linger on the bridge."

Dagon turned around and hugged Lati first, then released the elemental puppet and followed Gerros. Toby was put on the ground, and he ran over to ask the situation first. It may be that his attitude is very submissive and his words are humorous, so the soldiers told him a lot of situations while laughed heartily.

"The tax collector." Gerros probably knew what was going on without waiting for Toby to come back. "When fleeing, the lords will send tax officials to collect property taxes. These tax officials often carry an account, and the records in it are never accurate, but that is authority. To cross the bridge, they have to pay taxes.”

“These are all refugees.”

“If they have money, they have to pay taxes.” Breathing in, "Ai, I'm starting to worry if the caravan will be stopped like this when they leave here."

The level on the bridge only intercepts those who leave the territory along the road, for those who enter Very welcome, but still have to pay tax, which is the city tax. The tax officer behind the desk looked at the four Dagon people, and his large, bright eyes looked a little awkward and incongruous on his dark and thin face. He picked up the quill, poked in the black ink bottle, and rummaged through the desk drawer to find a parchment that realized writing. He rudely and loudly asked his name, gender, age and reason for entering the city, and then asked four people and a horse to hand in a gold coin in total.

"It's more than usual, I know that. But the city wall is thicker than usual~~~~"

The tax officer dragged his throat, the ending of the sentence up and down The next is erratic, but in the end this gold coin is not negotiable. Gerlos said a few good words and took out a gold coin. At this time, Toby secretly stepped on Gerros's feet. It might be some kind of secret code from the Golden Dog Caravan, so Geros flicked his wrist, changing one into two, stacking them and handing them over to the tax officer.

The ink of black was replaced with red, and the three red words of "Duty paid" were recorded on the entry pass. Geros thanked him and took it, and was about to say a few words when he heard the soldier next to him shouting happily.

Following the shouting, three soldiers approached side by side on the river bank, and one of them raised the burden in his hand and shook it in the air. The crisp sound of metal and porcelain colliding came from the bag full of mud.

"Some people are honest and others are not." Of course!" Geros nodded bowed and asked, "My lord, I'm just curious. How much property tax do these people who go out of customs have to pay?"

"Pay? That's a supplement~~~~ The tax officer raised his eyebrows and made a very unhappy expression: "If you don't pay taxes, you can use the money to repair the city wall and add weapons to the Knight and warrior. How can mercenaries go to inquire about information? Only enjoy protection, pay You can't get used to their bad habit when you pay taxes, so you can't get used to their bad habit~~~~"

"Yes, it's true." Passing caravans are also sheltered by fief lords, but they must be paid less than long-term residents, right? Can't... hehe... pay taxes according to the goods they carry?"

" Of course not, otherwise no caravan would dare to come." The tax officer looked at Geros up and down, and seemed to have seen through his mind, and said, "It's not more than usual during wartime, the taxes and fees are higher, and it won't be much to double it. ? If you can bring in the garrison materials needed in the city for sale, then according to the transaction volume, you can also deduct the tax. However, this calculation is very complicated, and only a specialized tax officer can master the skills, understand~~~~~”

"Understood, I got it, your lord is really thoughtful."

While Gerlos said these words to the tax officer, Dagon was obstructed by observation. of people. Some people are indeed a little flustered, they are worried about the murky future, but some people are not anxious, but reassure others. Dagon pricked up his ears and listened carefully to what they had to say.

"The tax collector has to go back to the city before night, and so do the soldiers. No one dares to stay outside at night. Hold on, they'll soon drop the price, maybe even free!"

As long as the monsters in the wild forest don't appear before they can pass, then their strategy is equal to profit. But this scheme looks more like a gamble than a strategy to Dagon. On the one hand, there is the immediate monetary loss, and on the other hand, it is not known if and when it will come. No one knows who will win or lose until the dice cup is revealed.

Leading horses through the crowd, Lati clung to her little treasure box. The first hunting axe carried by Dagon and his armor that is much better than that of soldiers form a powerful deterrent, at least frightening the eyes of several pairs of harboring malicious intentions. After passing through the crowd, the road stretched eastward, more and more in the direction of the wild forest. The opposite direction of Heshan City is due north.

"We don't take a detour." Geros said: "These are all low hills, you can ride over there, let's take a straight line."

Dagon resummons out the elemental puppets , then carry Lati on your back and move on. Elements are relatively more active in unmodified natural environments, and less so near farmland, orchards, and villages. In the terrain, the land covered with vegetation will show more wood elements on the surface, and the Earth Element required by the element puppet is located in a relatively deeper position, and there will be more "impurities" when absorbing. Dagon was covered in sweat after advancing for more than twenty miles, and his mana dropped drastically.

"Take a break, let's go to the hill in front."

In places dominated by hills and plains, a fifty-sixty-meter-high rock stone mountain is the absolute commanding height. It is somewhat maverick, separated from the other hills by a certain distance, as if disdain to be with them. In the midday sun, this rocky mountain provides the largest shadows around. Although summer has been on the decline, everyone's preference for shade has not diminished immediately.

Geros plans to rest in the shadows, but Dagon wants to go to the top of the mountain, where there is a better view. The mountain is not high, and his remaining mana is enough to maintain the elemental puppet and take everyone up the cliff. However, Gerros' horse must stay down the mountain unless someone can ensure that the horse won't kick or bite as it climbs the cliff. Yes, horses can also bite, and it hurts a lot.

The elemental puppets are crawling on the cliffs that are almost sixty or seventy degrees, except for Dagon, the others are complexion ashen. Toby kept praying, Gerros refrained from spitting it out, and Lati clung to everything she could. The bare cliffs here are all rocks, not covered by vegetation, and they are all natural appearances, so the purity of Earth Element is higher. Dagon very steadily—and nervously, of course—climbed the group safely and lowered them down on a flat spot on the top of the mountain.

"The view here is really good," Dagon looked into the distance, and he could already see that Heshan City was about ten miles to the north. The city wall there seems to be more than 20 meters high, with arrow towers and a passageway wide enough to allow all the defensive forces to be deployed on the wall, no wonder there is a great defensive advantage. Outside the city, to the east, on the front about a mile deep, there are hundreds of suspicious-looking little buns, each small and new. Dagon suspects that the soil is left over after digging pit-type traps, which can be used as small obstacles and save some effort when backfilling.

Further east is an open area, mostly farmland, guarded by scarecrows. The plants in the fields are all very low and hard to see from a distance, but they are probably crops with edible parts underground, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and peanuts. The residents of Heshan City knew in their hearts that if they planted pumpkins, watermelons, wheat, and eggplants, when the monster came, there would definitely be nothing left. At present, there are still some of these crops left, so that the loss can be reduced.

The savage forest should be to the east, but from here, only a few traces can be seen on the edge of the horizon. There were dozens of black smoke in that direction, and it appeared that the settlement had been attacked and set on fire by the monster. Through the smoke column, the distance between the monster and Heshan Castle can be roughly judged. It is estimated that the people waiting in front of the arch bridge checkpoint also use this method to judge the enemy's situation.

While the others settled their churning stomachs on the top of the mountain, Dagon came to the edge of the cliff on the north side to observe the terrain road from the peak to the city of Heshan. At this time, he saw that in the shadow of the rocky stone mountain just below the cliff, an army of seventy or eighty men and the same number of horses was stationed. The flag used by the army is green, and the pattern is a city wall with an arrow tower. This flag represents Heshan City, and it must be the army of Heshan City below.

"About 1/4/2022 is a mercenary," Geros wiped the corner of his mouth and came to Dagon, he also saw the situation below. "Look, the flag of Heshan City has a golden border decoration, indicating that it is the direct line of the Heshan Lord's family. What are they doing here?"

"There is no problem in coming here, the key is why not to set up guards on the mountain. Whistle? Isn't it hard to climb up here?"

"Maybe they didn't want to stay long." Geros said, "But it's not fair if you say it's easy to climb here. You think everyone With an elemental puppet like yours, you can climb straight up and down the mountain?"

"Every Jiangu clansman's bear lizard can do this, and even hang upside down on the top of a rock cave." Dagon A little strange, he asked: "You traveled south and north, don't you know this?"

Jeros shook his head and said, "The stories and rumors of the Jiangu clan are few, and it seems that no one wants to gossip. Hey, Dagon Look, the bushes on the cliff over there are moving, is someone climbing up?"

(end of this chapter)