Transcendent Noble

The tax officer of the royal capital, Viscount Tennes, chased him from behind. He first met Judy, who was looking upset, and said, "Beautiful Madam Judy, I'm sorry to disturb you."

The little hand on Victor patted's arm said softly: "My dear, you go back first. I'll look for you later."

Judy turned his anger into joy. Twisting the skirt gently in return to Tennes, the willow waist slid lightly, and he walked away. Seeing the slender and graceful figure boarding the carriage, Tennes sincerely praised: "Really an outstanding beauty."

Complimenting a noble partner is not frivolous, but a compliment. Victor said with a smile: "Tennes, I am going to visit you some time."

Tennes was embarrassed for a while. Victor is his business partner. He was supposed to be the first to visit him as a landlord, but he didn't come out to greet him until now, which is very rude. Fortunately, nobles have always had a thick face. Tennes sincerely explained: "My friend, no one will disturb you until Prince Edward returns. With my current status and qualifications, I don't dare to be self-willed at such a moment. Disrespectful. Please forgive me. If I miss this opportunity today, I’m afraid you won’t even have time to talk to me."

Prince Edward returns safely, and Gambis’ political situation is settled. As a representative of the York family, Victor will inevitably be warmly received by the nobles of the royal capital. Various banquets will follow one after another. He does not necessarily have time to meet with Tennes alone.

Victor looked at the sky and said with a smile: "I can understand your difficulty, but it is getting late. I have an appointment with the beautiful woman, so the dinner will be skipped. Why not go to the trade zone? Walk around and talk while walking."

Tennes is overjoyed and invites the carriage. The two boarded the carriage, the coachman flicked the reins, and the open-top carriage drove towards the inner city.

There are no shops in the noble district of Blinol, and the ladies and ladies of the royal capital do not have the habit of shopping and leisure. When they want clothing and jewellery, they will summon top designers, tailors come to the door to provide tailor-made services, and daily necessities are naturally purchased by steward. This habit allows Victor not to accompany his women to go shopping, a lot less trouble, and a lot less fun.

"Tennes, I have never figured it out. How can the annual annuity that I need to pay is so high? The annuity of the marquis is afraid that there is no 20,000 goldsor, right? Such a large sum of money, really It's very difficult for me." Victor complained to Tennes.

Tennes asked in amazement: "You paid the 20000 annuity yourself?"

Victor moved in his heart, silently nodded. Tennes pondered for a moment, and said, "According to the kingdom's pension system, the lords of each region have to pay 20% of the property and a fixed amount of gold coins each year. The fixed tax paid by the viscount is 3000 gold sols, and you pay more than 20,000 gold sols. It is higher than the Marquis collar... The Duke collar is only 15,000 Kingsore."

"How could this happen?!" Victor both shocked and angry, 20,000 Kingsall is not a sum. Xiaoqian, if it weren't for the hapless assassin who made a windfall, he would really not be able to pay that much money. However, if the annuity is paid every year, the windfall will not happen every year.

"Don't worry." Tennes shook the head with a wry smile, and explained: "You should have heard a sentence, the vassal of the vassal is not my vassal! Therefore, the kingdom can only expropriate the independent lord Annuity, and the property paid by the lord refers to the lord’s own income, which does not include the 20% of the lord’s income, and does not include the income of the family vassals. In this way, the lord can’t pay the multi-year pension at all. In this way, lords everywhere are still trying to avoid paying annuities. Canonization of vassal lords and vassals is a common practice."

"The York family is the best example. The lords of Centaur Hills are mostly York family vassal lords. , They don’t have to pay the annuity directly to the kingdom, but only offer 50% of the property to the York family. This means that in addition to the Duke York collar, the kingdom can only collect 10% of the property from other vassal collars, and they do not have to pay fixed taxes. Duke York Then through subsidies, the vassal lord paid back 20% of the sacrifice. So as to achieve the purpose of tax evasion."

"For the method of the high lord, we have no good way... "Tennes paused, sighed: "In fact, what the kingdom most wants to collect is the properties of various territories, including grain, minerals, high-quality wood, animal tendons, herbs, spices, leather, linen, cured meat, etc., for the fixed tax kingdom I don’t care very much. In order to urge lords everywhere to pay the materials, the Kingdom stipulates that all lords who cannot pay the materials in full shall be fined ten times."

"I did not pay any properties..... You know the situation of Randal. You can’t even be self-sufficient. Then there is a property to deliver?” Victor spread his hands and asked with blinking eyes: “But even if the fine is ten times, it won’t cost 20,000 golds. Huh?"

"My friend, you will not deliberately miss out the purple cane wine and jaggery? As for coffee and snow sugar, I simply didn't charge it!"

Tennes smiled and said: "The value of purple cane wine is amazing, and Marquis Sophia only pays half of the share of purple cane wine sold to the kingdom. The kingdom calculates your fine based on the total amount of purple cane wine trade."

"That's not as much as 20000 Kinsoul!" Victor was silent for a moment, and then hurled out adamantly.

"There are indeed not so many!" Tennes nodded, said resolutely: "The most important reason is the financial difficulties of the kingdom! According to the original vote of the Elder's Council, the York family guarded Centaur Hills, and the kingdom exempted the kingdom for 20 years. Annuity. But it does not include the Randal collar, because you are not a vassal lord of the York family. So..."

"So, I am in disguise for the entire Centaur Hills and Sophia's Chamber of Commerce, pay taxes to the kingdom?" Victor pointed to his nose, looking like a fool.

"Uh...If the York family pays the annuity normally, only with the iron essence mineral resources of Centaur Hills, the kingdom can receive at least 150,000 goldsold iron essence. Now, With only a fine of 20,000 Kingsall, the kingdom has already made a big concession.” Tennes euphemistically said that he had given a discount, and shook his head to say with a smile: “I just didn’t expect, this money is actually yours. People are paying...Of course, this is your housework, and I can’t say anything."

Victor was speechless. The reality is that he is paying for his predecessor and current post. Well, according to Chinese tradition, it is not a great thing to pay for one's own women. The hateful thing was that Sylvia didn't groan from the beginning to the end, and just put him in, which made Victor a little annoyed.

Considering that he had also concealed the Mithril Mine, Victor felt a lot more balanced. As for Sophia, after all, he was his former lover and wife in name. She is now facing a difficult situation. She doesn't know her life or death, and Victor can't care too much.

"I am joining the York family now, is it too late?" Victor asked expectantly.

Since I can’t care about my own women, I can only dig into the corner of the kingdom, although hope is slim.

Sure enough! Tennes exaggeratedly exclaimed: "How can you do it! You are now a registered independent lord! And...famous is spread far!"

"Is the kingdom financially difficult?" Victor looked around. Look, the topic has changed in due course.

"It's really nervous." Tennes said solemnly: "Since the ant plague hit Centaur Hills, the kingdom has been actively preparing for war. The northern counties resettled 150,000 refugees at a time and registered them all. And 80,000 militiamen and 8,000 soldiers were trained from it. These people don’t count food, food, and food. The armaments alone make the kingdom stretched out. Coupled with the upgrade of the Legion equipment, the Minister of Finance has not dared to go out..... Master Marquis Goron sent people to squat on him every day..."

Victor shook the head heavily, sighed deeply, and said nothing.

The Gambis family has a big business and expenses. It is no surprise that the financial difficulties are. Even if Marquis Goron chops the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he can't squeeze a few taels of oil. However, this dilemma is not impossible to solve. The kingdom has no money, but the lords and nobles are rich! Even the free people who have been doing business for generations are very wealthy, not to mention the Great Family that has inherited hundreds of years? As long as the kingdom uses annuities as a guarantee, issues treasury bonds and pays interest, it can alleviate urgent needs. But Victor will never be nosy.

I won’t tell you, I won’t tell you! The private wealth is concentrated in the hands of the royal family. Who else can the Chamber of Commerce make? You are poor and I am rich, very good!

Unconsciously, Victor and Tennes have reached the trade zone. At this time, it was getting late, most shops were closed, and the carriage drove directly to the door of the Tennes family shop.

Seeing that Tennes was visiting with the distinguished guests, the store manager quickly greeted the buddy to open the door and light the thick butter candle. Beeswax, honey, gems, spices, high-quality leather goods, exquisite handicrafts, etc., except for coffee.

"Why is there no coffee and snow sugar?" Victor asked with a frown.

"No coffee." Tennes said slowly, "The coffee and snow sugar you sold to me were divided up on the way. Every time the family caravan passes through a territory, the lords will They don’t need money, they only need coffee. When the caravan arrives in the capital, there is not much coffee left...I can’t resist all kinds of personal contacts and various door-to-door requests!"

"The coffee trade made you lose money? You don't plan to do it again?" Victor faint smiled.

"no! I need to buy more coffee, even if the price is higher, it doesn't matter." Tennes said seriously.

"Didn't that pay more?" Victor indifferent expression.

"To be honest, coffee has the affinity effect of Fire Element. It can help us scholars regain our spirits and clear our minds. It is a very rare drink. Although I lose money in coffee business, the favors are priceless. Hopefully. If you can increase the share of the coffee trade, I can increase the price by 20%...No matter how high it is, I can't help it." Tennes said with a bitter smile.

The annual output of Randal collar coffee can reach up to 8,000 pounds. Victor's share of coffee to Tennes is 200 pounds per year, 5 kinsole per pound, and the share to Chebman’s family is 300 pounds per year, 4 per pound. Kinsall. On the market, the purchase price of coffee is 40 gold sols per pound, but basically it cannot be sold. And Victor, Tennes, and Count Chebman didn't make much money on coffee, and Tennes was even losing money. All of these were expected by Victor.

How can coffee make money through normal trading channels and through layers of exploitation by the lord? Victor sells coffee to the two families at low prices and limited quantities, just to increase the price of coffee and spread the reputation of coffee in the Knight circle and scholar circle. If you really want to make huge profits, you must rely on the free civil trade road. Strictly speaking, the value of smuggling channels is much higher than that of any goods.

The channel Victor is already under construction, but the terminal is equally important, and the terminal for private goods is of course a black market. The Songlin Township led by Chebman is considered a black market, and now it is time to build a black market in the capital.

"It's dark, let's go back." Victor looked at the steward and the man standing beside him, then turned and walked out of the shop.

Tennes moved in his heart and followed out. The two sat on the carriage, and when they were driving to a secluded place, a breeze blew up, and Victor's sound as thin as a hairspring reached Tennes's ears.

"I said, listen."

Tennes turned his head to look at him quietly, Victor continued: "The coffee trade makes you lose money, not the way of friends. I have A suggestion...I’ll increase the coffee share twice for you, but the extra coffee costs 18 gold per pound. You can ask the steward of the caravan to try to entrain the coffee, such as hiding it on the wall of the car. After the coffee is shipped to the capital, you can try to sell it at a high price. It is best to train an agent among the freedmen in the outer city and let him peddle it, so that you will not offend your colleagues and the lords along the way, but you can also use it. To make a profit, you don't have to lose money and earn favors anymore..."

Victor whispers like the temptation of the devil, making Tennes startled.