Seeing Ye Li enter the room, the three of them saluted to him with great respect and said, "Lord, thank you for your trouble!"
Ye Li looked at the performance of the three people and felt a little confused. It was obvious that there was something wrong with the other party's attitude.
It would actually be a good thing if the other party was really respectful to him, but judging from the current situation, the respect on the other party's face was obviously fake.
"It's okay. I just came to Dongfang County and I'm not familiar with it yet. Now I can take this opportunity to get more familiar with the surrounding environment. After all, this is my territory, and I have to be able to find my way around."
When they heard Ye Li mention his territory, the smiles on Wang Yue and others' faces froze, and then relaxed again.
"Yes, yes, Your Excellency should indeed become more familiar with the environment here."
Wang Yue spoke up.
"My Lord, please sit down first. I will have someone bring you a cup of good tea right away."
After Wang Yue finished speaking, he quickly asked Ye Li to sit down and told the servants outside to prepare tea.
Qian San and Ding Si were very well behaved. At this moment, they were in a completely guarding posture, standing on both sides behind Ye Li without sitting down.
“Mayor Wang’s house looks really nice, the decoration is very elegant!
These Dongyin woods should be very valuable. It seems that Mayor Wang is also a luxury person and very particular!!!"
Ye Li said with a smile while knocking on the table in front of him. This dark solid wood table looked very thick and solid.
Seeing that Ye Li immediately recognized the Dongyin solid wood he used for decoration, Wang Yue smiled and said, "My Lord is from Tangjing City, and his knowledge is indeed extraordinary.
I spent a lot of effort to get these things, but I can't compare to the big shots in Tangjing City."
Ye Li just said a few words casually, and had no intention of discussing solid wood materials with Wang Yue. He changed the subject and said, "By the way, the three mayors should know why I'm here today, right?"
After hearing Ye Li's words, the smiles on the three people's faces disappeared immediately. Wang Yue said, "We know why you are here, sir. It's just for the tax money!"
Ye Li nodded and said, "Yes, I came here to talk about the tax issue.
In order to help Dongfang County develop, the imperial court did not collect taxes from you before, but now a long time has passed, the tax exemption period has expired, and you should pay taxes.
All three of you towns must pay taxes. This is your duty as mayors."
Hearing Ye Li's words, Wang Yue's eyes turned, a miserable expression appeared on his face, and he said: "Sir, although the court has exempted us from taxes for many years, we have not made much progress and are still very poor.
If the imperial court were to ask us to pay taxes again, the people here would not be able to survive.
You also know that if the people can't make a living, they will have to migrate away. Your forced taxation will only make Dongfang County a deserted dead county."
Ding Si sneered when he heard this and said, "No money, how could you not have money? The Dongyin solid wood here is very valuable. If you don't have money, how could you get these decorations?"
Hearing Ding Si's words, Wang Yue looked a little gloomy and said, "I bought these things myself, using my family's money, and they have nothing to do with taxes.
I'm just telling you that the money we have here every year is only enough for ordinary people to live on, not enough to pay taxes. If you ask ordinary people to pay taxes, they will definitely give up here and run away.
When you become a lord without any support, don't blame the people for being ruthless."
Ye Li glanced at Wang Yue and said, "So, you don't plan to pay taxes?"
After hearing Ye Li's words, Wang Yue looked at the other two mayors and said, "It's not that we don't want to pay, it's just that we really don't have the money.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that people like us in this town don’t work and can’t make money.
It's just because bandits are rampant in our Eastern County, and their existence makes life miserable for the common people.
In the past, we would also collect taxes to build the town, but later on, these monies were targeted by the Yellow Bandits. If anyone dares not to pay them enough annual fees, they would make the entire Eastern County restless.
My lord, you also know that our strength is not enough. In front of the yellow-clothed bandits, we can only choose to surrender.
We cannot give you the tax money, because if we give you the money to buy peace, the people will not be able to survive.
If you forcefully collect taxes, the people will surely resist. If you bring troops to suppress them, everyone here will leave."
Wang Yue’s words shocked Ye Li.
Although he knew that Wang Yue was making excuses, he had no way to refute such a situation.
If bandits are rampant in a county, the living space of the people will indeed be compressed to the extreme.
Ye Li himself also wants to suppress bandits, even though he has not yet established his own private army.
"What Mayor Wang means is that the reason you can't pay taxes now is because of the yellow-robed bandits.
So if we can get rid of these bandits, will you be willing to pay taxes?"
Ye Li asked.
After all, his plan was to use courtesy first and then force, and he was unwilling to use force unless it was absolutely necessary.
After all, the use of force may also bring a lot of negative effects.
What's more, the excuse the other party is giving now is that they have no money to pay taxes because of banditry.
As the master of Dongfang County, it is his responsibility to eliminate the bandits here and ensure the safety of people's livelihood.
Ye Li himself believed that before solving the security problem and fulfilling his responsibilities, he really had no right to ask the people under his rule to pay taxes.
After all, as a lord, he has the obligation to protect the people under his rule.
Hearing Ye Li's words, Wang Yue's eyes flashed, and he said: "That's right, the Yellow Bandits are the largest gang here. If you are capable, you should eradicate them.
Only by eradicating them can we, the common people, have money left to pay taxes. Otherwise, we can’t even make a living, so how can we pay taxes! ? "
Qian San glanced at Wang Yue and said, "Our young master has just arrived in Dongfang County and doesn't even have a private army or guards. What can you ask him to do to suppress the bandits
It is your duty as a citizen to pay taxes. I don't think you are so poor that you can't pay."
Wang Yue was not angry when he heard this, he smiled and said: "Of course I can pay taxes, but how much can I pay by myself
My money is earned through the family-run business, it didn't fall from the sky, so it is impossible for me to pay taxes for those poor people.
If you just want to get some from me, that would be a bit unrealistic.
As for the issue of suppressing bandits, I think the two gentlemen are at least at the level of Virtual God, so they should have no problem dealing with the yellow-clothed bandits.
There are three leaders in total. Only the first and second leaders have the strength of Virtual God Stage, while the third leader has only the cultivation level of Descending God Stage. The other bandits are relatively weaker.
If the two adults can make a careful plan and launch a surprise attack on their second in command or the first in command, it will be easy to deal with the yellow-clothed bandits. "