"My lord, Viscount Aslan is a tax inspector sent by His Royal Highness..." Father Hugo watched in astonishment as Viscount Aslan was dragged out of the house. The screams and whipping sounds, mixed with the applause of the spectators.
He didn't understand why the young lord, Earl Norton, dared to treat the officials of His Highness the Second Highness so unscrupulously. Is it because of his lack of knowledge or his strength? The Second Highness, who is as fierce as a tiger, puts it in his eyes.
Anyway, what Father Hugo is worried about is that the young lord will suffer the wrath of the Second Highness when he disposes of Viscount Aslan, and the fire at the city gate will affect the fish in the pond. Although there is no such idiom in Galintia, there are similar epigrams of. As the mayor of White Bird Town, Father Hugo was afraid that this Earl of Norton would get into trouble, slap his ass and escape, and that the residents of White Bird Town would be the unlucky ones.
"Hehe, Papa Hugo, don't worry, I have my reasons for dealing with Viscount Aslan in this way." Lorist smiled and said to Papa Hugo: "You have spent most of your life in the army, you may not You know the customs and traditions established among us nobles in the land, and you don’t understand the duties of the tax inspector. In fact, as the mayor of the Norton family’s land, you have the right to refuse all taxes that you think are unreasonable, unless you get my permission Lord's order.
The tax inspector, he should be responsible for the taxation of the territory directly under the royal family, to prevent smuggling and tax evasion. For the nobles in the territory, his duty is only to investigate the economic situation of the territory and check and accept the tithes paid by our territory to the royal family. He has no power to increase taxes, he must first get permission from me, the lord. Dare to recklessly increase the types of taxes in Bainiao Town. Is he treating my family territory as a directly controlled territory of the royal family? He has violated the dignity of our Norton family and violated the traditional rules of the upper and lower lords. Even if I hang him, the royal family has nothing to say.
In a few days, I will bring this Viscount Aslan to the Second Highness, and ask him if what this Viscount Aslan did is what he allowed, and I will let the Second Highness personally order this shit Viscount to be hanged, unless He dared to fight against all the nobles in the territory to protect the Viscount Aslan. No matter what, the Viscount was dead.
Father Hugo, you may have been in the army for a long time, so you don't know the habits of these nobles. The more you put up with them, the more they push forward. Like today, this Viscount Aslan dared to lead troops into White Bird Town without my permission. This is almost declaring war on our Norton family. So I will not let him go. Don't worry, my Norton family will be responsible for the sky falling.
Now you call all these public officials under your command and get acquainted. This is the chief knight of our Norton family, Shredder. He is temporarily in charge of all administrative affairs concerning the territory of Hilovas Island. "
"Okay, my lord, I'll go and call them right away." Since Lorist said so confidently, Father Hugo had no choice but to go and call them first worried.
Soon, Papa Hugo led five people in.
"My lord, he is Old Mike, our accountant. He used to be an accountant in the Kerry Chamber of Commerce in the imperial capital for 20 years. He returned to his hometown in Bainiao Town because the Chamber of Commerce closed down."
Old Mike is half bald with a ring of white hair. He looks old, but he is only fifty-four years old. It should be because he is an accountant who does frequent calculations and mental work, so his hair falls out so quickly.
Then there was a tall and thin man in his forties, who stepped forward and introduced himself: "My lord, I am Christon, the sheriff of White Bird Town."
Father Hugo added next to him: "Lord, Christon used to be a secret agent of the former Imperial Police Department, responsible for handling various criminal cases. His wife is from White Bird Town, and returned to settle here after the empire split. "
Lorist nodded, keeping this Christon in mind first. Although the family territory has established patrol teams in various towns, they can only deal with trivial matters such as drunken fights. They really lack an expert who is capable of solving criminal cases. In the future, the family territory will become more and more prosperous, and there will be more and more people. It still needs a lot of talents to work together to get all affairs on the right track.
The third person who came forward was an old man with a red face. Hugo said: "My lord, this is old Hart. He has been the tax collector of White Bird Town for nearly forty years, and he knows almost everyone in Hilovas Island."
The fourth one who limped over was naturally the captain of the defense, Victor. He stepped forward and reported, "Lord, those soldiers have settled down. I sent a small team of guards to take care of them."
In the end was a fair-faced young man, who should be five or six years older than Lorist. He came up and saluted Lorist politely: "My lord, I am Sickled, the clerk of White Bird Town. By the way, I I want to say something, my lord, your treatment of Viscount Aslan is really satisfying. But aren't you worried about the revenge of the Aslan family, my lord?"
"The revenge of the Aslan family?" Lorist laughed, "Tell me, what do you know?"
"My lord, although Viscount Aslan is an honorary nobleman, his elder brother, Earl Aslan, is a territorial nobleman. Moreover, the Aslan family was one of the first nobles in the imperial capital to seek refuge with the Second Highness, and they are deeply trusted by the Second Highness." The Earl of Aslan is not only a Golden Knight, but also a commander of the reorganized Second Legion of the Royal Guards. His family is very powerful. The reason for persuading Papa Hugo to calm down. After all, there has been no news from the family. I am worried that if Papa Hugo resists, he may die or die. Without the approval of the family, the mayor who is temporarily elected by the residents, You can put a few crimes on him at will... "
Sickled paused for a moment: "My lord, I don't know much about the strength of the Norton family. However, I have heard that the Norton family's northward convoy helped the Second Highness a lot five years ago. But the old Norton family The territory is too far away from here. The Second Highness now has a high position and power. In the past five years, he has raised troops and formed six legions with nearly 300,000 horses. He is waiting for the opportunity to reunify the former empire. At this time, if the lord thinks that he can rely on the previous I'm afraid it will make His Royal Highness feel unhappy if he can dispose of him at will. I personally think it's better to be more cautious in disposing of Viscount Aslan."
Fatty Shi laughed at the side: "Xicked, I hope you can understand that the Norton family relies on strength instead of friendship. Your Excellency has his own reasons for treating that Viscount Aslan in this way. But I will tell you now. I am very interested in the fact that the Second Highness formed six legions with nearly 300,000 troops, can you talk about this in detail?"
"You are?" Sickled looked at Lorist strangely. The badge on the knight next to him was only silver, not a golden knight. Why did he interrupt so casually
"This is Schreider, the chief knight of our Norton family. He will be in charge of all the administrative affairs of Hilovas Island." Lorist introduced again concisely.
"Oh..." Hickerd suppressed his curiosity, and nodded to Fatty Shi: "My lord knight, I don't know much about it, but in the past two years, I have been in charge of dealing with the merchants who buy fish catches, and I have heard a lot about the Second Highness. The rumors. Five years ago, after the armistice between His Highness the Second Highness, the Kingdom of Ridleys, and the Principality of Madras, the Royal Guards were reorganized. He disbanded the Storm Legion and expanded the Royal Guards into three legions, each The first legion was 56,000 people. Then three reserve legions were formed, each with 42,000 people, and the Kingdom Knights were also established with nearly 5,000 people.
As far as I know, the tax paid to the royal family by the nobles of all the territories in the kingdom has indeed risen to 30%, while the tax paid by the royal territories has reached 70%. All the wealth that was looted was used by His Royal Highness to support the six legions. The announcement issued by His Royal Highness said that he hopes that the citizens of the Kingdom of Antinac, regardless of nobles and commoners, will endure the hardships of the past few years, and compensate everyone after the empire is unified... "
Lorist couldn't help laughing, and patted the shoulder of Schwader next to him: "Shward, did you hear that, this is the peak of the wave. What the Second Highness wants to copy is the first-generation Krissen The successful deeds of the founding emperor of the empire, Cresson I, planned to use these 300,000 troops to unify the empire. It is a pity that he forgot that the times are different. He is desperate. Once he fails, he will have no power to fight back. Antinac And the kingdom is over."
"My lord, aren't you optimistic about the Second Highness's plan to prepare the army?" Hiked asked.
"It's not that I don't like it, but the Second Highness's plan to unify the empire has no chance of success at all. Among other things, in the era when Kristen I was able to build an empire, there were many warring states, and a barony was a kingdom. The 300,000 army formed by Christen I wiped out all the enemies like a tide, and even dozens of kingdoms united could not defend against his advance. You must know that the elite army of a kingdom at that time was only a hundred people, how could Can it withstand the attack of the sea of people
What now? Even you know the every move of the Second Highness through the merchants. The hostile countries on the border are not careful. They have established fortresses and dug trenches and made preparations for strict defense. Even if the Second Highness can capture a few border cities, the damage will be heavy. If he meets an opponent with a clear mind, lures the enemy to go deep, fortifies the wall and clears the field, and fights a protracted war of attrition with the Second Highness. How long will it last? If half of the 300,000 horses are consumed, I suspect that the entire kingdom will collapse... "
Shi Huade was thoughtful, and Fatty Shi asked: "I'm surprised that the five-year armistice agreement signed by His Royal Highness, the Kingdom of Ridleys and the Principality of Madras has long passed. Sagittarius, why is the Second Highness so slow in launching the unification war? Isn’t this a missed opportunity? The longer the time drags on, the more perfect the defense prepared by the Kingdom of Ridleys and the Principality of Madras will be…”
Hickerd said: "I may know the reason. Some time ago, I heard from a businessman that the third prince was dying of illness, and the days left are numbered. The second highness probably waited for his father to pass away before launching a unification war. I guess such a Come on, if the empire is truly unified, the Second Highness will become the king of Zhongxing who will be famous in history. If the third prince is not dead, then this crown will not be able to be worn on the Second Highness... "
"Hehe, you're stunned." Lorist made a brief comment.
El and Jim came in from the outside laughing: "My lord, your order has been fulfilled. Viscount Aslan has been coated with isinglass, chicken feathers and duck feathers, and now he looks like a strange bird tied up by us." On the platform."
"Very good." Lorist nodded: "Father Hugo, how many people are there in the Wanghai Manor you mentioned?"
"We don't know about this, but there should be more than a hundred guards guarding the manor." Father Hugo thought for a while and said.
"Josker, Farea, you two take El, the guards and sailors, and bring everyone there. Anyone who resists will be killed. Forget it, try to catch as many alive as possible, I suddenly feel that there are a lot of things that need to be worked on here." Lorist said distressedly.
"My lord, we're all gone, are you alright?" Farea asked worriedly.
"It doesn't matter, it's not that you don't know my skills, it's enough to have Shredder Knight and Schwader here. By the way, Victor, you take a hundred guards to follow." Lorist ordered .
"My lord, our Bainiao Town garrison doesn't even have leather armor, and the weapons are simple, how can we attack those heavily armed guards of the manor with a spear? We can't do anything." Victor rejected Lorist's order.
"I didn't ask you to die. You don't need your garrison to do the hard work, just leave it to my family soldiers. I ask you to go because you are familiar with the terrain and won't let the people in the manor escape. In addition As long as you guards bring more ropes to tie up the prisoners, I will allow your guards to retreat first if the attack fails." Lorist stared into the eyes of the guard captain Victor.
Victor relented: "Okay then, my lord, I'll go and gather the guards right away, I hope we won't make an empty trip."
"My lord," Farea took a step forward, pointing to the map of Shilovas Island spread out on the table: "After taking Wanghai Manor, shall we also take down the village called Farama by the way?"
Lorist shook his head: "No need, it's getting late, you just take down Wanghai Manor and bring back the few noble bastards inside. Let's deal with these blind bastards first at night. As for that man named Farah Ma’s village, I’ll take you there tomorrow, no one can provoke us on the Norton family’s territory without getting punished. No tax payment for five years, hehe, very good.”
"Okay, my lord, then we will set off first." Farea led the group to salute Lorist and exited the room.
"My lord, it's not the Aslan family that you offended when they went here. You must know that after the Second Highness left Hilovas Island, the people who occupied the Wanghai Manor were the children of his trusted nobles. Your Highness used to think of it as a childish nonsense before, if you want to be serious, they will think that you did not give the Second Highness a face, and offended those trusted noble ministers around him..." Xi Kede persuaded a little anxiously.
"Hehe, this guy is interesting." Lorist smiled and said to Fatty Shi: "He doesn't understand that we only give the Second Highness a face because he is our superior lord. We have never been afraid of the power and strength of the Second Highness. Others If we don't offend us, we won't bully others, but since others provoke us, all we can return is blood and fire. Shredder, this guy is a talent, let him stop being a clerk, and he will hone next to you Grind him."
"Yes, my lord. I know it well." Fatty Shi replied.
"That's fine, I'll leave it to you here. You should first carefully understand the specific situation of Shirowas Island White Bird Town and several villages, and see how this new territory should be developed. After the arrival of the family armed forces in a few days, we will Going to the imperial capital. Do your work first, Shi Huade, let's go out for a stroll."
"Okay, my lord." Schwader said happily.
…