I, the heir of the great Eastern nation

"What does this mean? Let me explain it to you in detail."

Liu Zhao changed his sitting posture, leaning forward slightly, and looked down at the people sitting on small stools below with a smile.

"Let's talk about the situation in Baishui Village first. They were robbed by bandits, and most of their grain was stolen. Now many people can't even afford to eat. Under such circumstances, it's definitely difficult for them to come up with the grain or money to pay taxes."

"But taxes are something we have to pay, so what should we do?"

"My idea is that, first of all, I will return the food that was taken by Executive Officer Will to you intact after I have taken inventory."

Upon hearing this, the people from Baishui Village immediately beamed with joy.

Liu Zhao continued speaking.

"Then, all the miscellaneous taxes that the previous lord and sheriff had set up, such as mill tax, poll tax, and toll, were abolished and replaced with a land tax of 15% of the total land harvest as the final total tax."

Upon hearing this, everyone present widened their eyes.

"I... I didn't hear wrong, did I? Tax... only 15%?"

"By the God of Light, am I dreaming?"

"..."

After the initial shock came bursts of excited cheers.

"Thank you for your kindness, my lord!"

"Long live the Lord!"

"Long live!"

Overwhelmed with emotion, the group couldn't help but kneel down before Liu Zhao again.

……

Liu Zhao raised his hand to stop their shouts.

"What's the rush? I haven't finished yet. Get up and sit down, and listen quietly."

Everyone quickly stood up and sat down.

Liu Zhao continued speaking.

"Now that we've talked about taxes, let's move on to rent and food."

"Previously, apart from me as the lord, most of the land in the entire Blackrock Territory was under the names of Will, Webber, and Richard."

"And as you all saw last night, Sheriff Will, Tax Collector Webber, and Captain Richard have all been executed by me."

Their property and land have all been confiscated, meaning that most of the land is now in my hands.

Liu Zhao spoke slowly, and the villagers below listened attentively.

"My idea is to temporarily treat this grain as public grain, set up a special granary to store it, register it, and not allow it to be used without permission."

However, I will set up a strict review body. If anyone is really in trouble and can't make ends meet, they can apply to register and borrow some food to go home and get through the crisis. They can pay it back when the harvest is good or when they have more money next year.

Furthermore, this is not limited to borrowing grain; seeds can also be borrowed.

Liu Zhao paused for a moment, then continued.

"This is a food problem."

"Finally, there's the issue of rent. Considering this year's average harvest, and to be considerate of everyone, I've decided to reduce the land rent from 40% to 20%, so that you can have a slightly easier time."

"Alright, that concludes the discussion about grain and rent. Did you understand what I meant?"

Liu Zhao looked down at the crowd below.

At this moment, when these villagers heard that Liu Zhao was not only willing to open his granary to lend them grain, but also reduced the rent by more than half, they were so excited that they could hardly speak, and they trembled as they wanted to kneel down to him.

Liu Zhao frowned immediately.

"No kneeling allowed!"

"Speak properly, do you even understand?"

The villagers trembled at the shout and dared not kneel anymore. Instead, they sat obediently on their small stools, repeatedly saying that they understood.

Liu Zhao then nodded.

"These things are actually not complicated. If there are any details you don't understand, I will set up a special department to handle them later, and you can continue to consult me ​​then."

The villagers nodded repeatedly.

Liu Zhao took a deep breath and raised his voice a notch.

"I've covered taxes, grain, and rent. Now, I'll discuss the development of Blackstone Territory, which concerns the future of all of you!"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately tensed up.

"First, household registration!"

"Everyone must register. I don't care where you're from; as long as you're in Blackstone Territory, you must be registered!"

"After the village chiefs return, they should compile a clear account of the situation in their villages, and then group the households according to their location, with ten households forming a group, and ten groups forming a bao (a unit of land security). Each group should select a suitable person to serve as the group leader and bao leader, and while assisting in security and handling disputes, they should report the situation of their villages to me regularly."

At this point, Liu Zhao paused for a moment.

"At the same time, I want to emphasize one point: no matter what your previous identities were, from today onwards, you all have the same identity, which is that of citizens of my Liu Zhao Black Stone Territory. Therefore, I do not want to see different villages and different regions banding together and fighting each other over anything in the future."

"Report any problems you encounter, and I will arrange for someone to resolve them appropriately, understand?"

Upon hearing this, the audience below the stage shouted excitedly.

"Don't worry, my lord, you've been so good to us, we'll definitely listen to you, we'll do whatever you say!"

When they got excited, they couldn't help but start shouting.

"Long live the Lord!"

"Long live the Lord!"

"..."

Upon hearing the powerful shouts of the villagers, Luo Te, standing next to Liu Zhao, couldn't help but widen his eyes.

As a descendant of the noble Lance family, he had almost never given these commoners a second glance.

Because he always felt that these people were foolish and ignorant, lowly and lifeless.

Lifeless and utterly worthless.

They're no different from idiots.

But at this moment, looking at the villagers with their rosy cheeks and boundless enthusiasm, Roth had a strange feeling.

They... transformed into a group of passionate warriors!

Liu Zhao waved his hand, and everyone stopped.

"After explaining the benefits, we will definitely have to do the work. Next, I will be building roads, houses, and irrigation canals in Blackstone Territory, as well as various other infrastructure projects. All of these tasks will require the village to send able-bodied men to perform corvée labor to help with the construction."

Of course, I can assure you that the workload won't be too heavy, and those who do the work will even be provided with enough to eat. I hope you're all mentally prepared for this.

After Liu Zhao finished speaking, he suddenly stood up.

"These are just some ideas I came up with on the spot. I will continue to improve and optimize the specific plans and details, and finally implement them completely."

"Furthermore, let me make this clear from the outset: this is a reform bill I, as the Lord of Blackrock Territory, devised for the sake of the entire territory and for everyone. Anyone who dares to be passive, negligent, or secretly sabotage this process will suffer the same fate as the three corpses hanging at the town's entrance!"

"Tell me loudly! Did you understand?"

At that moment, everyone in the audience stood up and shouted loudly.

"I understand!"

Liu Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and finally showed a satisfied smile.

After this conference, Liu Zhao began to get really busy.

With his impressive strength and ruthless methods demonstrated in killing three people as a foundation, the implementation of the new policy was incredibly smooth. Within just two days, the household registration and grouping of households in each village were all completed successfully.

Meanwhile, the management talents sent by the Lance family also came in handy at this time.

Liu Zhao directly appointed Christine as his chief steward and Roth as his deputy to assist him in handling government affairs.

Land surveying, accounting, registration... all sorts of administrative tasks followed one after another.

To facilitate office work, Liu Zhao set up a temporary government office outside the manor.

After several busy days, we finally managed to barely finish the first phase of the tax reform.

On this day, after finishing their work, the two siblings from the Lance family sat wearily in the living room of Liu Zhao's manor, drinking water.

Christine couldn't help but ask as well.

"I'm really impressed. Where did you learn these seemingly strange but so effective reform methods?"

Roth looked on with admiration.

"Your Highness, the talent you have displayed in domestic affairs is simply the strongest I have ever seen in my life!"

Liu Zhao simply smiled in response.

"Nothing special, there's nothing new under the sun. The more you see, the more you'll naturally learn."

"Selected with utmost care by our ancestors, it's incredibly valuable!"