Dense Mist Town is the southern boundary of Coldwind City. After the intersection of the town, it is the territory of Banshee Fort Buche family. But now there are dozens of horse-drawn carriages stuck at the intersection, just because the tax officer of the Buche family leads them to guard them.
Powell and Johnson only brought a wooden box, it was easy to make detours or get in the way. However, it is difficult to detour bulk goods transported by horse-drawn carts, because there is only such a convenient business route from the north to the south.
There were more and more horse-drawn carriages at intersections, and the atmosphere became more and more anxious.
Just across the road from Luca, on the opposite side were tax officials and a heavily armed tax squad. On the other side is the transit caravan calling for Ma Si, asking each other for news.
Many businessmen have a background in Banshee Fort. They tried to argue with the tax officer who set up the card and even bribe, but after seeing the official badge of the Buche family, all these people turned off.
The news spread that the tax collection was an order issued by the patriarch Friedman, and it was executed by the family's direct line. These people don't give any face, and they have to pay if they want to pass.
Powell and Johnson looked at each other for this, and they wanted to ride the carriage and continue south. Every day is delayed, the daily interest rate of loan sharks will compress their profits.
"What the hell is going on? Why did you suddenly set up a card to collect taxes?" Powell did not choose to detour immediately, but asked the caravan from Banshee fort in Dense Fog Town.
A caravan leader escorted food over, and only passed the checkpoint after paying high taxes. He cursed angrily in the tavern in Dense Mist Town, and incidentally introduced the news of Banshee Castle.
"Food, cloth, salt and other goods that want to go northward will have to pay 100% tariffs, and the ironware, glass, wood, and medicine-casting materials that go south must also be paid 100% tariffs. The Buche family counted all the best-selling goods, and the tax collection is hateful.
In order to collect taxes, Banshee Castle dispatched a team of thousands of people to set up cards along the way. You just bypassed the checkpoint in Dense Fog Town, and you must check your tax voucher when you enter Stone Town and the Banshee Fort.
Once it is found that there is no tax payment certificate, it will be judged as illegal entry, not only the goods will be confiscated, but also heavy fines.
Who wants to pay this 100% tax? I couldn't even return it. I was forced to pay taxes. The following merchants were frightened and refused to ship goods to the north, all looking at the limelight. "
The caravan leader should have ran for nothing, and cursed in the tavern for a long time. People inquiring about the news circled him around and whispered.
The bar owner stood behind the bar, deeply dissatisfied with the mess. He grabbed the warhammer and knocked it on the table a few times.
"Be quiet, isn't it just that the direct trade route is cut off. This happens often, when have you businessmen been afraid of it? Can't you just take a detour from another city?"
The complaining caravan leader became even more angry. He slapped the table and continued to curse: "The damn thing is that other cities in the North have joined forces this time. Any goods transported to Coldwind City will be taxed heavily. Detours are paid. Taxes will only be more."
The uproar became more violent, and the discussion in the tavern became more and more chaotic. Powell deeply felt that this matter was going out of control, and Coldwind City would never sit back and watch that he was besieged, and maybe there was going to war again.
In the past six months, hundreds of horse-drawn carriages have been transporting goods for Coldwind City every day in the Northland. Merchants, large and small, made excess profits in it, and now the sudden closure of the trade route is killing them.
Many people expressed their excitement to petition Lord Hugo, asking him to send troops to destroy tax cards along the way to break these unreasonable tax policies.
The businessmen were in a state of excitement, and this idea was universally accepted when it was put forward. But the boss behind the bar snorted coldly, and sneered: "Just because you guys want to start a war? Is it possible
Isn't it the norm for the nobles to block the way and set up cards to collect taxes? How does the long-legged family collect your taxes? How many tax officials guarded you along the way in the past? Forgot so soon? "
This ridicule was too slapped, and it made the tavern quiet for a while.
Zhou Qingfeng wanted to promote commercial development. After winning the city, he cancelled most of the domestic tax cards, and only retained the tax institutions that entered Coldwind City, and the tax rate was also very low. There is no tax at all for urgently needed materials such as food.
Roads are being built around Coldwind City, and troops are sent to eliminate bandits and local forces to ensure a well-developed and convenient logistics network. The merchants lived very comfortably in its territory.
It is normal to leave the territory of Coldwind City, set up cards everywhere, pay taxes everywhere, and be slaughtered everywhere. Local rulers can levy taxes as they like, and businessmen can only put the cost on the final consumer.
The owner of the bar told the truth, and the merchants were all silent.
Powell pushed aside a few people, walked up to the leader of the caravan who was drinking, and asked in a low voice, "Sir, how is the situation in Banshee Castle now? Why is such a heavy tax suddenly imposed?"
The caravan leader's goods were delivered to the transport team in Coldwind City in Dense Fog, and nothing happened in the follow-up. Hearing the question, he stared at a pair of fish and turned his head, and sneered.
"Why tax? Because the blacksmiths and carpenters of Banshee Fort can't survive. The two blacksmith shops owned by the Butcher family have been out of business for two consecutive months.
The family blacksmith either changed his career or sneaked to the north to find a job. Carpenters are even more miserable. There is no shortage of carpenters in the north. Only a large number of processed wooden goods are dumped.
At the beginning, only simple processed wood panels were shipped, and later it was a variety of finished furniture. In the end, even the wood for building the house can be shipped, and the price is very cheap. Some carpenters were forced to hang themselves.
The nobles in the city don't care whether the carpenters live or die. They feel that the goods shipped from the north are cheap and easy to use, so they will never buy local goods. "
The discussion in the tavern sounded a little bit, and many merchants were in the timber business, and they fully agreed with this situation-the timber from the north was transported more than two hundred kilometers, and it was cheaper than the timber from the south.
This situation is not only the Banshee Castle, but also the entire Northland. Don't talk about carpenters, even loggers have no work to do.
But no matter how you hate it, if you want to find a job, you still have to run to Coldwind City. If you can't be a carpenter, you can do something else. Staying here will really starve to death, or be driven to death by loan sharks in business.
The leader of the caravan continued: "Now many shops in Banshee Fort are closed and bankrupt. Only the grain merchants who do business in the north are making a lot of money. They sell all the food to Coldwind City to get their own food prices in Banshee Fort. Skyrocketing.
In the past six months, the Bouche family has spent a lot of effort to keep food prices down. The merchants who sold food were all aristocrats behind them, and ordinary methods were simply ineffective.
The price of food in the north is twice as high as in the south, and the merchants are not willing to sell the food in Banshee Fort. Patriarch Friedman was probably in a hurry. If he doesn't make a move again, Banshee Fort himself will collapse due to lack of food. "
Food wars are more fierce than sword wars, and a little carelessness is famine.
The caravan leader drank the last sip of the toast and slammed the huge wooden wine glass against the countertop. He taunted the bar owner:
"Do you think you can't fight a war? Wait, I'm afraid this time things are more dangerous than you think. Maybe another long-legged family is going to die."