Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 413 Tax Determination and Payment

The owl left silently, while Li Wei fell like a feather, very slowly. So he could see that in the distant west, in the direction of what appeared to be a snow-capped mountain, a golden light shot into the sky, as if the treasure buried there had been taken away.

He also saw squads of superhumans under the Ice Duke being taken away.

And a large number of mutated creatures were taken away—those that flew in the sky, swam in the sea, and grew on land; even all trees of three stars and above were cut down.

Li Wei felt like she was dreaming, watching all of this unfold helplessly.

King Locke's army has arrived, Duke Will's army has arrived, or rather, not just an army, but a large number of four-star and five-star artisans, butchers, hunters, fishermen, and woodcutters. They are plundering and mining on this planet, not even sparing four-star and higher mineral deposits.

The only places that were not plundered were Li Wei's territory, the area around the Riverside Fortress and Black Mountain Fortress, plus Hathaway's territory, the small town base, and the area around Base 349, leaving him with approximately 900 square kilometers of land.

Illegal territory is still territory. The other party is very rule-abiding, leaving Li Wei with no room for complaint, because other areas are not your territory, and they can take them however they want.

That's enough, so don't hold a grudge. You're a four-star lord and a viscount with real power, what more do you want?

And so, Li Wei felt as if he had been floating in the sky for at least a day, until King Locke's raiding legion withdrew and Duke Weir's raiding legion withdrew, and he finally landed.

It's worth mentioning that during that raid, the owl wasn't even allowed to enter and loot.

At this moment, the radiation storm outside the territory had indeed shrunk, by more than ten times, and ordinary people could go out for a breath of fresh air.

Haha!

At this moment, within this territory, two men were already waiting for him. One was a stranger, but his gaze was as majestic as a lion's. The other was someone he recognized—the disheveled, burly man.

Unexpectedly, he was Duke Weil's confidant, and even more unexpectedly, this confidant was the head of the tax department.

Tsk tsk, it doesn't seem wrong.

At this moment, the disheveled, burly man stepped forward with a smile and warmly shook Li Wei's hand.
"Li Wei, we meet again. Let me introduce you. This is Prince Dai, the Minister of Taxation of the capital, and I am Wang Ercao, the Chief Tax Officer of the Tax Department of the Weier Province. It is an honor for us to preside over the third phase of the task settlement for you. In this phase, we mainly calculate all your income from this expansion and city-building task and collect taxes from you in accordance with the laws of the kingdom. You have no objections to this, right?"

What opinion could I possibly have?
I certainly have no objection.

"Please rest assured, my lords, I will cooperate fully." Li Wei also had a smile on his face. At this moment, the capital's tax minister, Prince Dai, silently took out a small clock, which was round and quite cute.

“Let’s go to the temple! Let’s first determine in the name of the gods whether this tax collection tool is accurate. Li Wei, don’t worry, we are not corrupt officials and we will not prey on the people. Everything has its own rules.”

King Dai said something meaningful and then headed towards the temple.

Ha ha!

Li Wei accompanied the two to the temple with a smile. There, the tax minister, Dai Wang, looked them over and finally his gaze fell on the Templar Knight Mark. He clicked his tongue twice, and it was unclear what he meant.
Without further ado, he placed the round clock in front of the temple, and a beam of golden light shot into the sky.

More golden light fell upon him, and within this light were strings of numbers and images, revealing all of Li Wei's actions, gains, and expenses since entering this pioneering world, ultimately converging into several pieces of information.

The Nine Star Temple, a subordinate unit of the Alliance of Lords of the Heavens, is currently conducting a judgment!

[The ruling is complete. The tax calculation and the tax collection process were both legal; therefore, tax collection is permitted.]

[King Dai, Minister of Taxation of the Kingdom of Locke, and Wang Xiaocao, Chief Tax Officer of the Tax Department of the Province of Wil, hereby swear that there will be no favoritism or corruption in the tax collection process, and that all principles will be followed in accordance with the divine oracle of the gods and implemented in accordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Locke. The tax data is now published.]

[Li Wei, the pioneer number 11, entered the current world one year and eight months ago. Following the guidance of the pioneering and city-building mission, he has successfully completed it, accumulating merit to become a powerful viscount and a four-star lord. In the process, he has accumulated 1 million standard gold coins. His free citizens have amassed 120,000 standard gold coins, and his barons and advisors have accumulated 200,000 standard gold coins, for a total of 132 million standard gold coins!]

He currently possesses one level-one city, four fortresses, one vassal baronial territory, a legal territory of 190 square kilometers, an illegal territory of 800+100 square kilometers, three three-star magic mines, one one-star mage tower, two three-star taverns, one three-star temple, one three-star enchanted blacksmith workshop, one three-star potion-making workshop, and one one-star enchanted tailoring workshop. He has 450 full-time soldiers and a total population of 5128.

[The above fixed assets are valued at 4 million standard gold coins, totaling 532 million standard gold coins. According to the Kingdom's Constitution, a powerful viscount is required to pay a 25% King's Tax and a 5% Duke's Tax, specifically 133 million gold coins for King's Tax and 400 gold coins for Duke's Tax.] [It has been detected that he enjoys King's Tax reduction benefits, including a 5% reduction from selling 26.6-star wheat, a 5% reduction from completing special tasks, and a 5% reduction from selling universal gold cards, for a total King's Tax reduction of 15%. He is legally required to pay 53.2 standard gold coins, which has already been deducted in real time.]

[It has been detected that he enjoys a Duke's Tax credit, which is 18.5% on the sale of three-star wheat. After deducting 5% according to law, the remaining credit is 13.5%, meaning he does not need to pay the Duke's Tax.]

[Friendly reminder: Starting today, October 20th of each year will be tax payment day in Li Wei's territory. He will need to pay 25% of his annual income as King's Tax and 5% as Duke's Tax. However, please note that this tax is based on a minimum of 532 million standard gold coins.]

[That is, if Li Wei's territory income in the second year is 100 gold coins, then he only needs to pay 25 gold coins as king tax and 5 gold coins as duke tax. However, in reality, based on the most basic humanitarian concern, if the total value of the gold coins Li Wei earns in a year is less than 30,000, then all of them are tax-free.]

[Friendly reminder: If Li Wei is on a cross-border mission and may not return for three years, only his normal income within his territory will be calculated. His income from the cross-border mission will be taxed based on the number of missions, not on a yearly basis. Also, given the difficulty of the cross-border mission and his status, he will only need to pay 10% of the King's tax and 1% of the Duke's tax.]

[Tax payment completed. This process was fair, just, reasonable, and legal, and the Alliance of Lords of the Heavens guarantees this.]

-

That's it, 530,000 standard gold coins gone in a flash.

At this moment, the capital's tax minister nodded to Li Wei and then vanished in a flash, leaving only the disheveled burly man. The man smiled at Li Wei and said, "The third phase of the mission is now complete. However, there is a fourth phase, which requires the Ministry of the Interior to settle your accounts. After all, you were originally part of the Ministry of the Interior's staff. You also have a hidden reward, which is the hidden reward for ranking first on the expansion points leaderboard. It's not part of the city-building mission, but it's better than nothing, brother. We'll meet again someday."

After saying that, the disheveled burly man left, and a moment later, a figure walked out of the tavern in the autonomous city. It was none other than Chu Wushuang, the current Chief Minister of the Ministry of the Interior!

If there were no subsequent city-building tasks, then no matter how well Li Wei performed in the development mission, he would still be a junior officer in the Ministry of the Interior.

But now that he has become a powerful viscount, directly under the Duke of Ver, the Ministry of the Interior has no jurisdiction over him.

However, the program is there, and the hidden rewards that are supposed to be given must be provided.

At that moment, Li Wei broke into a spring-like smile and stepped forward to greet him warmly, "Lord Chu, I'm so glad to finally meet you in person! You truly live up to your reputation!"

Chu Wushuang's facial muscles twitched, indicating that she had been holding back for a long time. "Lord Li, in fact, I must now greet you. I am merely a baron, a three-star lord, far inferior to you, a powerful viscount, a four-star lord. In fact, if you were willing to come to the Ministry of the Interior, I would be willing to immediately step down and yield my position."

"Haha! No need, no need, Lord Chu, now that you're here, don't rush off. Shall we go to the tavern for a couple of drinks?" Li Wei invited warmly, though to be honest, he was still a little unaccustomed to it. He hadn't expected a powerful viscount and a four-star lord to have such a high status.

"Thank you for your kindness, Lord Li, but please don't accept this. I have two things I would like to discuss with you. The first is the hidden reward for the expansion mission. Of course, you might not care about it now that you are so wealthy, but the procedure is here, so I still have to deliver it to you."

As they were talking, Chu Wushuang handed over a six-star upgrade item card. Well!
This hidden reward is really great.

This is equivalent to a reward for a cross-border mission.

After Li Wei happily accepted the gift, Chu Wushuang continued, "The second matter concerns the newcomer mission. As you probably know, Lord Li, the newcomer mission is usually conducted in Kahe City. However, Kahe City was recently attacked by a barbarian legion. Therefore, the Ministry of the Interior urgently needs a four-star territory to provide a venue for the newcomer mission, and your territory is currently the most suitable."

"If you are interested, our Ministry of the Interior is willing to sign a one-hundred-year contract with you, and then place one-third of the new graduates in the province of Ver over the next one hundred years here for assessment. What do you think?"

"Oh? A recent graduate from the academy? Or some other kind of newcomer?"

Li Weiyi was stunned.

"Yes, the assessment of new graduates from the academy is relatively easy and there won't be too many ups and downs. It's a sure-fire way to make money. The specific conditions are that the assessment is held every two years, with thirty teams each time, and five initial new recruits in each team. The assessment period is two years, and five to ten more people will be added later, but no more than three-star professionals will be involved. Our Ministry of the Interior offers a price of 10,000 standard gold coins per batch of assessments. You can arrange a few hundred free people to act as native NPCs to cooperate in the performance."

"The mission's plot, which means you can set the questions, or they can be randomly generated. In any case, there shouldn't be any problems, because the temple of the Alliance of Lords of the Heavens will conduct the final round of judgment to ensure that no bizarre questions will appear."

"In addition, as an invigilator, you need to punish certain newcomers for cheating during the assessment, which is commonly known as 'NG' (Not Acceptable Exam)..."

(End of this chapter)