This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

In the central mountains of the empire, a large force of several thousand people marched out of the pass fortress and officially set foot on the northern lands.

As a tax collector with a "royal charter," Earl Harvey, representing the will of the cabinet, led a "tax police regiment" of three thousand elite guards to the north to collect taxes for the empire. Including accompanying clerks, servants, and other support personnel, the total number of personnel exceeded four thousand.

The cabinet officials knew that this high tax increase targeting the northern regions would inevitably provoke strong dissatisfaction among local nobles, and there would definitely be many who would attempt armed resistance against the tax, and there might even be some audacious "brilliant" individuals who wanted to sabotage the tax collectors and cause some kind of "accident".

Therefore, in order to ensure the smooth progress of tax collection and, incidentally, to deter those bumpkins from the north, they equipped the tax collectors with the most luxurious tax police force in history, as well as the imperial privilege of acting first and reporting later.

Royal authorization required the emperor's personal handwritten decree, but before officially going offline, Hesse VII had already signed a dozen decrees for the cabinet, instructing them not to disturb him unless necessary.

With these three thousand well-equipped and well-trained guards, plus the "royal privilege," even if ordinary local nobles had great grievances, they would have to consider their own strength before throwing a tantrum, otherwise they would be giving the tax collectors a chance to test their privileges.

The other party may not actually dare to kill a powerful nobleman with a strong background, but they have absolutely no scruples about taking down a lowly nobleman who doesn't know his place.

However, Harvey was not the kind of arrogant fool. He had done his homework before coming and knew that although the North was poor and weak, it was a place where bad people were born and there were a few powerful lords who were not easy to mess with.

One was the Marquis Richard, who had a royal family background, and the other was Earl of Lagog and Dick Best, who was backed by the old noble Best family.

From his perspective, although Dick Best had been granted a title and established his own faction, he still maintained close ties with his family. Not long ago, he even traveled across the empire from north to south to support his elder brother Reinhardt.

He didn't believe there could be any brotherly affection in such a large family; there must be a mission involved! This Dick was most likely a "white glove" indirectly controlling the Lagug Iron Mine on behalf of Duke Rune.

In fact, many large families entrust some shady or inconveniently controlled peripheral industries to illegitimate or collateral descendants for management, while direct descendants remain behind the scenes to remotely control the industry.

However, Dick's personal strength is outstanding; he is a genuine Saint-level mage.

Harvey believed that he should use "strategy" to deal with these powerful local tyrants with strong backgrounds. Ideally, he should divide and conquer, letting the northerners fight against the northerners, so that he could reap the benefits.

Harvey's experience in this area is absolutely exceptional!

According to the intelligence at hand, Ragug has risen to prominence in the north in recent years, and its strength has grown very rapidly. Especially after the orc invasion, its military power has increased dramatically and has already begun to subtly overpower Marquis Richard.

Therefore, Harvey felt that if the goal was to unite the weak against the strong, then Marquis Richard would be much easier to win over. Moreover, this man was originally a pro-cabinet northern lord, and since Dick was a member of the Best family, his stance would naturally lean towards the noble group.

So after Harvey entered the North, he planned to head straight for Marquis Richard's territory.

But to Harvey's surprise, Marquis Richard was even more eager than him. Not long after the tax collection team left the fortress, they ran into Marquis Richard, who had been waiting there for a long time, and a group of conservative northern nobles led by him on the main road.

When this group of people saw Harvey arrive, they were as happy as if they had seen their own father come back to life!

"Your Excellency, we've been waiting for you!"

The enthusiasm of Marquis Richard and others was somewhat unexpected for Harvey, because normally, what local nobles hate most are tax collectors from the central government, who are the ones who reach into their pockets to take money!

However, Marquis Richard had anticipated Harvey's prediction. He guessed in advance that the other party would adopt a "win-or-lose" strategy when he came to the north. So, taking advantage of the fact that his territory was closer to the pass, he waited here early, ready to take the lead in expressing his stance to the tax collector.

In this way, he became the one being pulled in, and it became self-evident who would be the one being attacked.

Marquis Richard was secretly pleased with himself, and almost wanted to applaud his own cleverness!

"Your Excellency, you have come from afar and must be tired from your journey! I have prepared a welcome banquet for you in my territory, as well as accommodations befitting your status. Please follow me."

At the Marquis Richard’s enthusiastic invitation, Harvey “reluctantly” nodded in agreement and led his men to the Marquis Richard’s territory.

In order to curry favor with the Northern Alliance, which was a thorn in his side, Marquis Richard went all out this time, giving up his own manor as Harvey's residence and throwing an extremely extravagant welcome banquet. He also got a group of allies to contribute and prepare a very substantial gift for Harvey.

Looking at the boxes of gold, silver and jewelry and various valuable items, even Harvey, who thought he had seen it all in the capital, couldn't help but breathe heavily, and then asked with feigned composure.

"My lord, are these... the taxes you intend to pay to the empire?"

"We are still preparing the taxes for the Empire; this is our tribute to you."

"Hahaha... Your Excellency the Marquis is truly a remarkable person!"

Under the Marquis Richard’s deliberate “test,” Harvey quickly became acquainted with him, praising him as a true model of nobility and a pillar of the nation. He explained that he was new to the area and did not understand the actual situation in the North, so he hoped that the Marquis and his friends could assist him in his tax collection work.

Every year during tax season, the cabinet sets a "small target" that must be achieved based on the total population of each tax district. As long as the total amount paid by the entire tax district reaches this figure, they will not interfere with the specific apportionment ratio between the various territories below.

There's a lot of room for maneuver here.

Many highly capable tax collectors can secure a comfortable life for the rest of their lives after just one trip abroad.

The news quickly spread throughout the North. Many small and medium-sized lords, upon hearing that the tax collector had colluded with Marquis Richard, this "beast among beasts," were utterly shocked and unleashed the most vicious words they could think of to insult the Marquis's mother.

But no matter how fiercely they cursed, it was useless. The minor lords had no power to fight against a powerful figure like Richard, especially since he was accompanied by a tax collector who held a "royal charter".

So some people sent their trusted confidants or even went to Lagug overnight, just to see the all-powerful Lord Dick.

Chapter 299: Leading the Way

Harvey began his tax collection campaign shortly after arriving in the north.

He didn't start with the wealthiest part of the Northeast because that was Northern Union territory. Harvey wasn't sure what kind of person that little brat from the Best family was, so he didn't make any rash moves.

He didn't target the central and southern regions that were right in front of him, after all, he had accepted a gift from Marquis Richard.

So the weakest part of the northwest became Harvey's training ground, and also the live chicken he planned to use to intimidate the monkeys!

That's just how this messed up world is. The strong will inevitably be ostracized by those around them, but in the end, it's always the weak who can't protect themselves who end up on the dinner table.

The southwestern territories also suffered greatly. Two years ago, during the winter war, the orcs invaded from this area. The border legions huddled in their fortresses and refused to fight, allowing the civilians outside to be slaughtered by the orcs like prey.

The people either died or fled, and many fled to the northeast, where they settled down. Even after the orcs retreated and the war ended, they were unwilling to go back to live a life of fear and anxiety.

Some of the surviving lords tried to find Dick, hoping to reclaim their people. But Dick would never agree to such a request. Since people had come to settle under his rule, they were his people! Why don't you go outside and call out to them, and see if they'll answer you?

Of course! Dick didn't go too far. Although he refused to return the people and even said in a very yellow-haired way, "Your people can't live without my big stick (corn), hehehe," he did provide some reconstruction assistance to these disaster-stricken territories.

These lords could use the zero-interest loans they received from Dick to order seeds and farm tools needed to restore agriculture, building materials to rebuild their homes, and so on, from designated merchants and factories in Lagug.

The goods were all genuine and of good quality. The lords who received the aid discovered that the quality of Lagug's products was even better than the ones they had previously bought from the south at great expense. As a result, they unknowingly developed a consumption habit and became long-term customers of Lagug.

Just as the destroyed homes were being rebuilt and everyone's lives were getting better, the empire's heavy taxes began to arrive.

The Empire's villainous actions have truly broken the defenses of many minor lords.

Two years ago, the orcs came to wreak havoc on them.

Now that the imperial tax collectors have arrived, they're still going to wreak havoc on them!

Some people, driven by anger, tried to rebel, but this played right into Harvey's hands.

Dick watched all of Harvey and his henchmen's actions, waiting for them to ignite the fury of everyone in the North.

Isn't this the kind of rotten, decaying dynasty that's on its last legs?

At that very moment, an urgent secret letter from an undercover agent was delivered to Dick.

After reading it, Dick couldn't help but let out a cold smile.

"Interesting, this is getting more and more damn lively."

Several days passed in the blink of an eye. Harvey was still busy extracting oil from the rocks in the northwest, while the outer scouts of the border legion discovered a large orcish force, estimated to be around 10,000, sixty kilometers north of the border, all of them cavalry.

Orc cavalry's common mounts are not horses, but a subspecies of monster that resembles both a wolf and a tiger. Orcs call this tamable mount a "fierce-toothed beast."

The stamina of the ferocious beast is not as good as that of a warhorse, so it is not good at long-distance mobility, but it is very fast at short distances. Moreover, its sharp teeth and claws are quite powerful in combat. In battles with human cavalry, it often relies on surprise attacks to kill the horse first and then the man.

However, as carnivores, the ferocious beasts are very resource-intensive to raise, so the orc tribes living in the wasteland can hardly raise them on a large scale. Only a very few large tribes can afford to raise a large-scale beast cavalry force, but even then, it is only a few hundred beasts.

During the last orc invasion, although King Ramon managed to muster more than 20,000 cavalry, only a little over 3,000 of them were riding real ferocious beastmen. The rest of the cavalry rode whatever they could find, so they often saw some strange creatures.

In short, as long as you can move faster than two legs, you can be considered a cavalryman.

However, two years later, the orcs' strength had clearly expanded. With the help of the elves, they established stable cities and pastures deep in the wasteland. By raising and breeding various livestock plundered from the human world, they successfully evolved from primitive tribes into a semi-nomadic, semi-agricultural quasi-feudal society. With a relatively sufficient food supply, the number of regular beast riders also increased significantly.

So after two years of silence, Ramon decided to march south again, but this time the invasion was much smaller in scale, with only about 10,000 beast riders as the main force. The plan was to make a quick in-and-out trip, using mobility to plunder human territory before retreating.

Although the loot is not much, such operations can be carried out two or three times a year, thus becoming a regular occurrence, continuously bleeding the northern border of the empire dry and plunging the people living on this land into a deep fear of the orcs.

All I can say is that Ramon's plan was indeed well-calculated, aiming for a long-term confrontation with the human race.

But he probably didn't expect that Dick would be able to plant spies right next to him, and Dick was almost always aware of the other side's every move. So while the orcs were racking their brains to expand their number of beast riders, he immediately took targeted measures, ordering the military industry to research a "peace weapon" that could quickly transform nomadic peoples from being good at fighting to being good at singing and dancing.

It is worth mentioning that although Dick had long known that Ramon had a group of Earth transmigrators who harbored resentment towards the Empire assisting him in developing the orc race, this orc invasion seemed to have received strong assistance from some locals on the Empire's side, who provided the orcs with a lot of key intelligence on border defense.

It's like you're constantly on guard against your neighbor breaking into your house, but the unfaithful woman inside has already secretly handed over the house keys.

"Luckily there was an undercover agent, otherwise this would have been really troublesome."

The North is currently going through a turbulent period, and people from all walks of life have gathered here to participate in this grand event.

On the surface, Dick maintained the status quo, making the territory appear peaceful and tranquil, as if he really knew nothing. But in secret, he frequently moved troops, secretly deploying elite troops and supplies to key positions to stand by.

At this point, the trains that were already in use began to play a crucial role in the military field. Thousands of fully armed soldiers and thousands of tons of military supplies could be transported by rail to their target locations hundreds of kilometers away in just half a day, and the secrecy was also relatively higher.

In less than two days, Dick completed the initial military mobilization, deploying 6,000 soldiers to the western border of his fiefdom in Lagug. Meanwhile, less than 150 kilometers away, a vanguard force of about 200 beast cavalrymen had just successfully bypassed the border fortresses along a rugged mountain path and infiltrated directly into the heart of the northern territory.

The orc cavalry leader, also a son of Ramon, carefully compared the surrounding terrain with a detailed map and soon arrived at a huge cedar tree.

At that moment, a masked man emerged from behind the tree, bowed to the orc, and spoke in a muffled voice from the hood that only revealed his eyes.

"Sir, this way please."

Chapter 300: Is she a foster sister or a daughter?

The Empire's kindness to the North is like Great Britain's love for Northern Ireland—it can never be repaid!

In the study, Dick comfortably rested his head on Belfast's soft, white-stockinged thighs, leisurely reading the recent intelligence reports sent by his subordinates.

Harvey's forced conscription inevitably caused great resentment among the people in the Northwest, forcing the upper-class nobles, middle-class landowners and lower-class commoners to set aside their prejudices and unite to fight against the brutal tax collection team.

Bloodshed occurs almost daily, and many people come to Lagug to plead with the "benevolent and righteous" Lord of Lagug to uphold justice for the people of the North.

Many people can't help but ask, didn't Harvey know that his perverse actions were corrupting public morale and seriously undermining the foundation of the empire's rule?

The answer is that he knows, but he doesn't care at all!

How could someone who can sit in a high position in the cabinet and secure such a lucrative post for themselves be truly stupid? It's simply that they've misused their intelligence and placed personal interests above the interests of the nation.

These guys are like playing a "strip-pulling game," thinking that the vast empire will stand forever, and that it's no big deal for them to take a little benefit. Even if something really goes wrong, as long as it doesn't happen when they're the ones pulling the sticks, it's fine.

Of course! It's possible that among these insects there are those who floor the gas pedal and are eager for this decaying empire to collapse. Dick himself actually belongs to this category.

“Master, recently there have been more and more messengers coming to see you, but you have refused to see them all. Some restless fellows have started to speak ill of you behind your back.”

"It's just a provocation tactic, an old trick. Don't be fooled by those nobles' wailing and lamenting; at most, they're just condoning the peasants who rise up to resist taxes. There aren't many fools who would actually go head-to-head with the Imperial Guard. They've come to me now hoping to push me to be the scapegoat, to take the brunt of the pressure from the capital. Even if the uprising fails, when the cabinet starts its purge afterward, they'll just be considered minor accomplices. This is a scheme that's practically slamming into my face!"

Dick knew that this was the way the minor nobles survived: they were incapable of handling things, so they recommended capable people to take their place, but they were often indecisive and wavering in their stance.

If Dick were to be so easily flattered by a few words of "unparalleled benevolence and righteousness" and rush forward with joy, these opportunists would only laugh at his foolishness in private, and none of them would genuinely appreciate his kindness!

"No rush, no rush, these guys haven't reached their dead end yet."

"You really do look a bit like a villain now."

"Ha! You dare call me a villain? Well then, I'll be bullying men and women!"

As Dick spoke, he had already planned to grab Belfast's large, white breasts and then forcefully kissed her red lips.

The tacit understanding between the long-married couple and the physical intimacy forged through countless trials meant that no matter how many women Dick frequented, he always cherished this one most.

"Master, are you working so hard because you want me to get pregnant too?"

"Doesn't Belfast want to give me little ship girls? Wait, wait a minute! What did you mean by 'also' just now?"

Seeing Dick's bewildered expression, Belfast pursed her lips and revealed a wicked smile. Taking the opportunity, she flipped over and pinned her seemingly delicious-looking master down on top of her, and began to move her hips.

"Master, I must congratulate you! After all your hard work, you've finally achieved results!"

"Who...who is it?"

"Guess."

Belfast deliberately kept everyone in suspense until she successfully extracted a full three rounds from Dick, so much so that it overflowed, before revealing the answer.

"It is Lady Frederick the Great."

"What? It's actually the Great Emperor's mother!"

Dick recalled that when he returned from the south, the Great Emperor's mother came to see him and even took him to experience the "water-skimming" style that only ship girls could do. They rode on the back of the giant handsome double-headed mechanical dragon, making Dick lose himself in the gentle calls of "good boy".

If nothing unexpected happens, this should be the time he got infected. Later, when they returned to Laguge, everyone went to the new hotel for team building. The Emperor's mother, unusually, did not participate. She just watched him gently from the side and would occasionally stroke his abdomen.

In Belfast's words, ship girls are absolutely aware of their own bodies, and if there is really a "new crew member" in their belly, they will definitely find out immediately.

The Great Emperor's mother also discovered through practice that ship girls have a higher success rate of getting pregnant at sea.

It's also worth mentioning that only ship girls can give birth to other ship girls.

"Unbelievable! My godmother gave birth to a god-sister for me, but she's actually my daughter!"

"If you insist on understanding it that way, then it's not entirely wrong."

Frederick the Great did not tell Dick immediately for two reasons: firstly, Dick was quite busy with work at that time, and secondly, he wanted to choose a good time to formally tell him the good news.