On the afternoon when the Leisi team defeated the Shulei team, the young Fernando XIII held a royal meeting in his study. At this meeting, he denounced all the unfairness in the empire and determined to completely Change this situation.
For this reason, the young Fernando XIII made a large-scale adjustment to the existing officials of the empire. He eliminated many officials who usually had nothing to do and blamed each other when things happened, and arranged a large number of young people he secretly cultivated to replace them.
The scope and magnitude of the official replacement this time were very large, and it can be said to be the only one in the empire's two hundred years. However, although this action had a great impact, with the full support of Orlando, the empire's highest military officer and the leader of the Royal Knights, no one dared to have any objections to the appointment of Fernando XIII.
What's more, even their subordinates, Imperial Finance Minister Luke and Imperial Minister of State Chad, who had undergone great changes, didn't say anything. Even some dissatisfied people just vented their complaints behind their backs.
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On the night when the young Fernando XIII made such a huge personnel change, Luke and Victor sat face to face in the study of the Imperial Finance Minister Luke. Their topic was exactly what Fernando XIII had to say this afternoon. move.
Luke, whose face was full of vicissitudes of life, took a sip of the best Bordeaux. The wine went into his throat, and the expression on his face slowly softened. Luke closed his eyes, as if he was savoring the taste of the best Bordeaux. Suddenly, Luke opened his mouth. Open your eyes and say to Victor: "What do you think?"
Victor picked up the water glass in front of him and took a sip of water. As a magician, he had to keep his head clear at all times. Victor thought for a while and said: "Actually, if you think about it carefully, it's almost time for His Majesty the Emperor to take action. Don't forget that in the past ten years since his coronation, you and Chad have basically been in control of the government. In many cases, he is just a symbol of the country, which is not a good thing for Crewe Fernando, who is ambitious and wants to make a career."
When Luke heard that his old friend actually called Fernando XIII by his first name, he shook his head and said: "Victor, for so many years, I have always regarded you as my good friend and think tank, and you have indeed served me well." It took a lot of effort." At this point, Luke's tone changed and he continued: "I'm not unhappy because my power has been weakened. After all, the emperor of this empire is Fernando, not Redia. But I feel His Majesty is too impatient. Such a large-scale blood exchange will not only cause problems in the operation of the empire, but also easily lead to suspicion among the lords everywhere."
At this point, Luke's voice suddenly became louder: "It would be fine if the people he placed have rich experience, but look at it, they only studied at the Royal Academy for a few months, and they actually arranged They work as tax collectors. This is really funny. These little guys have never even touched a few gold coins, but they want to collect taxes from those old foxes without any shame?"
Luke took out a piece of information from the desk, turned to the third page, and said to Victor: "The empire's tax revenue last year was a total of 69 million gold coins, not counting fractions. Among them, the tax revenue of one city in the imperial capital It is 9 million. Sunrise City actually controlled by the empire is 8 million, and Seawind City is 18 million. Excluding these, the independent commercial capital Yignas City has the most, 22 million. The total gold coins handed over by the lords from various places is about 1,200 Ten thousand."
"Twelve million! After all, there are so many lords in the empire, and their territories account for more than 90% of the entire territory of the empire, and their total tax revenue is actually less than that of a city without God! Why?"
Victor picked up the wine bottle in front of him and filled Luke's glass with the finest Bordeaux, while Luke picked up the glass and drank it all in one gulp. Victor said: "Speak slowly, old friend, I am listening."
Luke drank the wine and stabilized his mood. He lowered his tone and said to Victor: "When Bird Fernando established the Holy Alliance Empire, mankind was facing internal and external troubles. In order to stabilize the rule of the empire as soon as possible, Fernando I enacted two laws. The first is: Each lord must pay a tax to the empire every year. In addition, each city lord decides everything about his own territory, but the amount of tax collected by each lord It cannot exceed the amount of taxes paid to the empire. The second article is: Each lord can own an army and bear its own military expenses, but he must not own cavalry. Once verified, he will be punished with treason immediately!"
"As long as these two laws are strictly followed, the lords of various places will not be able to have cavalry units that can compete with the Royal Knights. After all, cavalry requires several years of training to become an army, and the procurement, transportation, training, etc. of war horses are all out of the question. Once it is hidden, once it is exposed, it will receive a fatal blow from the empire. This risk is too great; if you want to fight against the Knights, you can only use a large number of infantry and rely on the advantage of numbers, but the lords of various places cannot collect taxes in large numbers. , because the more you collect, the more you pay to the empire. Excessive taxation can only collapse the economy in your own territory. Without gold coins, how can you talk about building a large army?"
"Therefore, in the past two hundred years, people have only seen the Royal Knights being extremely sharp and sweeping across the entire continent. They don't know how many rebellions they have put down. Not to mention the far ones, but as close as Senat's rebellion, the Holy Knights can The rapid annihilation is certainly due to their superior strength, but this is also the reason why Senat does not have cavalry troops. On the plains, there has been no successful battle with infantry against cavalry for thousands of years."
"No matter how strict the law is, some people will find loopholes. After so many years, the lords in various places have gradually come up with countermeasures. Aren't they not allowed to have cavalry? Then I will form a heavy infantry, Senat's one Hoplites, wearing heavy armor, holding long spears and thick shields, are the best way for infantry to fight cavalry. The cost is not much less than setting up cavalry. If it weren't for Orlando's superb command, the Royal Knights might not have been able to win. So easy.”
"Where do the gold coins for forming this kind of legion come from? Of course it comes from taxation. Although there are laws of the empire, those cunning lords will try every means to pervert you. For example, some lords monopolize all kinds of daily necessities in the territory. They want to You can sell as much as you want, but no matter how much you sell, how are you going to collect it? He only collects a symbolic amount. Over the course of a year, he can make millions. If you really collect taxes, it may only be a dozen or so. A pitiful gold coin."
"The tax officials I go to various places to collect taxes every year may be greedy and corrupt behind the scenes, but they can collect more gold coins than others, so I turn a blind eye. Now Your Majesty He removed them all and replaced them with his henchmen, but can these little white rabbits who have never seen the world really be able to deal with those old foxes? Seeing that taxes are about to be levied again this year, if these lords cannot be effectively restricted Finance, then the next time the Royal Knights face may be a cavalry regiment!"
After saying that, Luke sighed.