I'm not a lord

Chapter 104 War Taxes

"Has your dock been renovated? It's newer than the one in Shoal Territory. Apparently, White Bear Territory had a good harvest this year, so they're definitely not in arrears with their land taxes, right?"

The visitor was none other than the Duke's tax collector who had visited White Bear Territory in May. As soon as he jumped off the boat, he praised the new dock in White Bear Territory.

Ask for money at the same time.

Since he is a tax collector, he naturally comes to collect taxes.

The small and medium-sized nobles in the Northern Kingdom must pay a land tax every year.

As the name suggests, taxes are paid based on the total area of ​​arable land in the territory.

The annual tax payable by the White Bear Territory is twelve Northern Gold Shields.

The specific tax amount was set seventy or eighty years ago.

Back then, the former Duke of the Marsh conducted a very rough population and land survey and set tax rates for each territory.

From then on, this tax became the ancestral charter of the Duchy of the Marsh, and the nobles had to pay it according to the charter every year.

"Our Lord Baron respects the Duke very much and will never default on taxes. Please check carefully."

It was Lao Liu who greeted the tax collector again. He handed over a small bag of gold coins and also tactfully stuffed three silver coins into the tax collector's hand.

The middle-aged tax collector first touched the familiar scale pattern on the silver coin, then weighed the purse and shook his head slightly:
"Not enough. The Duke has announced that an additional 50% war tax will be levied this year. The White Bear Territory must pay a land tax of 18 gold coins this year."

"War taxes?"

Lao Liu had never heard of this kind of tax and for a moment thought he had misheard.

The tax collector took the silver coins, but his tone remained stiff:

"Your Excellency the Duke is leading his army bravely on the front lines to eliminate the traitors, rebels, and shameless individuals within the kingdom. Of course, the territories in the rear should pay more taxes.

Furthermore, this war tax has been approved by the Court of Nobles. If you don't believe me, I have the document signed by the County Governor. I came here by boat. The first five baronies have paid the war tax, and you are the only one left!"

Old Albert, who had accompanied Lao Liu to greet the tax collector, stepped forward at the right moment and said with a smile:
"Your Excellency, we have absolutely no intention of disrespecting the Duke. We, the White Bear Territory, are willing to pay this war tax."

It’s just a matter of paying six more gold coins, and Lao Ai still has this authority.

At this time, Lao Liu also reacted and quickly took out six more gold coins from his pocket and handed them to the tax collector.

"Very good, Baron Coldwind is indeed a loyal vassal of the Duke." The tax collector accepted the gold coins and handed the curled parchment document to Lao Liu, then added,
"Also, next year's shield tax must be paid in advance. I will come again in December. Before then, you must prepare 100 Northern Gold Shields."

The White River freezes from late December to mid-March of the following year, and is not navigable during this period.

Old Albert was surprised and said, "December? But hasn't this year's shield tax been paid?"

"It's only a month early, what difference does it make?"

The tax collector acted very condescendingly and didn't see any problem with paying taxes in advance.

Seeing that Lao Ai and Lao Liu were both speechless, the tax collector asked again, "By the way, where is Baron Frostwind? I don't think I saw him the last time I came here."

The sixth Timo's eyes rolled slightly, and he responded immediately:
"The Baron is currently hunting black bears in the forest. There are simply too many bears under White Bear's command, and they're constantly harassing serfs gathering firewood. Your Excellency, rest assured that we will convey your wishes to the Baron and strive to collect the tax before December."

The tax collector emphasized, "That's not my intention. The war tax and the advance shield tax were both the Duke's idea. When I come next time, you can either pay the money or send knights to fight. Do you understand?"

"I understand, I understand." Lao Liu nodded repeatedly.

The tax collector looked at Old Ai, then turned his gaze to the sixth Timo and waved to him: "Come here, I need you to convey something to Baron Frostwind."

Old Albert was dressed like an ordinary civilian, wearing a brown linen coat.

The sixth brother was wearing armor and had a long sword hanging from his waist. He was obviously a servant or knight of the baron.

When Lao Liu came to his side, the tax collector lowered his voice and said:
"The female regent of Shoal Territory has filed a complaint with the noble court, claiming that the Baron of White Bear Territory disguised himself as a bandit and robbed her envoy. This incident isn't a major one, but the sheriff doesn't want a large-scale conflict or war to break out between the lords at this time. This is also the Duke's wish."

"The Baron comes from a family of earls. He has always been kind and doesn't like fighting. There must be a misunderstanding. I will definitely convey this to the Baron."

After saying that, Lao Liu took out a gold coin and stuffed it forcefully into the tax collector's hand.

The tax collector did not refuse and accepted the gold coins without hesitation. A smile finally appeared on his originally serious face: "As expected of a knight like the Earl's second son, he is really knowledgeable!" After receiving the tax and the kickback, and completing the task of delivering the message, the tax collector did not stay long and quickly boarded the ship and left.

Lao Liu rode his horse at full speed to the southern military camp and found Lin En who was presenting prizes to the archery champion.

"Additional war tax, early collection of shield tax?"

The changes to the two taxes didn't surprise Lynn.

He was very familiar with war taxes.

When I played the game "Lord" in my previous life, when the territory's development reached a very high level, I could impose war taxes on all classes in the territory.

As the name suggests, this is a tax that can only be levied during wartime, and its effect is to simply reduce military spending by 15 percent.

Whenever there is a war, Lin En will activate the war tax, which can save a lot of money.

But in reality, it definitely doesn’t work that way.

The Duke of the Swamp chose to impose an additional 50% on the land tax, which was nothing to the nobles.

The entire White Bear Territory only added six gold coins in war tax, which was just a drop in the bucket for Lin En.

If the Duke of Swamp was really ruthless, he could increase the shield tax by 50%.

But does he dare?

The consequences of doing so would certainly be very serious, such as rebellion by the nobles and local unrest.

Because the nobles actually controlled military power, and mainly paid "blood tax", the tax amount could not be fully monetized.

As for collecting shield tax in advance, that’s not a big deal.

As long as the Duke doesn't get crazy and want to levy an extra year of shield tax, it will be fine.

And the more the Duke of the Swamp desired taxes, the happier Lynn was.

What does this mean?
This shows that the Duke wants to continue the war.

Three months have passed since June, and the lords and knights who paid taxes in person have completed their service.

If you want them to continue fighting, you have to pay a lot of real money.

And those mercenary groups are burning money every day.

This is exactly why the Duke of the Swamp levied the shield tax in advance. He wanted to use the collected taxes to maintain the size of his army.

Lynn was interested in how much war tax the Duke would impose on the city.
As far as he knew, Sanhe City had to pay nearly a thousand gold coins in monetary taxes to the Duke every year.

If an additional 50% is imposed, it will be interesting to watch.

And this is very likely because the merchant class is relatively weak and relatively wealthy, making them the best ATM machines.

As for the last piece of news, it surprised Lin En a little.

"Yagna's stepmother is quite cunning. She knows how to use the Noble Court. It's a pity that I'm the second son of Earl Coldwind, and what I did wasn't out of line. The Noble Court won't bother me for such a small matter."

Lynn had to thank that damn Roman Hanfeng once again.

This vest that was stripped off from him is really useful.

Moreover, his father, the Earl, was very cooperative. As soon as the Duke of Swamp invaded the crown territory, he surrendered obediently and became a dog, which brought a lot of convenience to Lynn.

"Brother, when are we going to attack the Shoal Territory?" Lao Liu had already heard the hidden meaning in his brother's words.

"Since the tax collector will come again in December, we should seize the Shoal Territory before then."

As soon as Lin En finished speaking, the second brother's urgent voice came from outside the house:
"Brother, we've caught a man who claims to be the son of Knight Bowa of the Shoal Territory."

(End of this chapter)