plumnovel #138 - Something always feels wrong
#138 - Something always feels wrong
Upon learning that they, all 12,000 of them, also had to pay taxes, Horn felt something was wrong.
Actually, if you calculated it carefully, there were 10,693 adults over 15 years old among the 12,000 people, which was about 21,386 dinars, equivalent to 178 gold pounds and 26 dinars.
Horn could afford this sum; he still had more than two thousand gold pounds from the Blue Blood Orphanage.
But this money was Horn's emergency fund, and he didn't want to use it unless absolutely necessary.
Most importantly, the other laborers or citizens were okay; they had at least some savings to survive.
But this group of people in the new camp had no work and relied entirely on the city hall for relief grain and work-for-relief programs.
If it weren't for Horn, their situation would be similar to beggars, and there was no reason to tax beggars.
They hadn't even received their first week's wages yet, only advanced rations, so where would they get the money to pay?
After thinking it over, Horn decided to ask clearly, so he made another trip to Jeanne d'Arc.
Duke D'Artois was a rare powerful noble who stood on their side, and Horn's villagers would need his protection in the future.
It wasn't worth ruining the cooperation between the two sides because of a possible misunderstanding.
Arriving at the castle again, the attendant apologetically told Horn that the tax collector was Priest Zanderbeck, and he didn't know what the situation was.
Horn had to rush from the Duke's castle to the city hall on the other side of the city, but when he arrived, the clerk at the city hall told him that Priest Zanderbeck was not there.
However, Bishop Bourville, who was in charge of the household registration, was the one who assigned the tax collection areas, so perhaps Horn could go to him.
Seeing this situation, Horn knew what was going on, and he wouldn't really go to Bishop Bourville.
If he really went, he was sure to hear, "Bishop Bourville is out, why don't you go ask XXX?"
Wandering around the city square for a while, Horn went to find Casti, but Casti was locked at home by two guards, and was not allowed to see guests.
Horn even ignored the guards' obstruction and went forward to knock on the door, but there was no response.
Leading his horse on the avenue, Horn looked up at the sky. After a few trips, it was already afternoon.
The original bright sunlight was covered by a faint rising black smoke, as if covered by a layer of dark tea-colored filter.
The rooster weather vane on the roof of the house kept spinning around the black smoke.
Originally, it would be best for Sisi to investigate this matter, but he was not here now.
Early this morning, he took the money to the countryside to buy grain, where the grain prices were still relatively cheap.
Now the grain price in Jeanne d'Arc had quietly risen to 2.5 dinars per gallon for wheat and rice fruit, and 1.5 dinars per gallon for barley.
When Horn first arrived, 1 dinar could buy 8 loaves of bread, but today he could only buy 5, a price increase of 60%.
"Damn goat!" Horn spat on the ground, now he could only return to the camp first.
He passed by the previous street again, but there was no longer the previous lively atmosphere.
The streets were full of blood stains and fragments of doors and windows, and various clothes and furniture were scattered and broken on the ground.
The laborers sat on the steps in front of the door with dusty faces, revealing hairy arms, leaning wearily against the door.
Crying women carried babies on their backs, picking up pieces of their homes in front of the houses.
When Horn walked past with his guards, they raised their heads with numb eyes.
The horses' hooves stepped on the scorched ground, it was as if a small war had just been fought here.
With the Empire's low administrative efficiency, tax collection was so barbaric and crude.
When he arrived at Mire Town in the future, he really needed to find some financial experts to handle these tax-related affairs.
To be honest, Horn thought Sisi was quite good, but he didn't know if he would be willing to go to Mire Town with him.
With his current talent pool, managing Mire Town with 800 people was more than enough.
Whether it was Madelaine, Jeanne, Armand, Chilvis, or Granpwen, Das, they had all been tempered in the long march and setbacks.
Thanks to the advanced feudal centurion system, Horn was quite confident in them if it was only one or two thousand people.
After all, it's hard to comb hair, but easy to grab a braid.
Not everyone was crying on this street. After walking forward a few steps, you could still see some laborers drinking and celebrating their survival.
These well-informed or quick-witted laborers had received information in advance or noticed abnormalities and hid their money.
Or there were more united and stronger laborers who used stones and fences to block the tax collectors' advance.
The taxes not paid by these "troublemakers" would be deducted from those who had already paid.
When the lord said to collect 1 dinar, the priests and soldiers would not really honestly collect only 1 dinar. The extra taxes collected, in addition to feeding their own people, had to be used to offset those that could not be successfully collected.
With a long sigh, he came to the suburbs, the road was wider, Horn simply accelerated the horse speed and returned to the camp.
He planned to stay in the camp for the time being and wait for Sisi to come back before making any plans.
After all, without any information, Horn didn't want to act rashly.
Sitting alone in the wooden house, Horn supported his head, still not quite understanding Duke D'Artois's meaning.
Suddenly levying war taxes, could it be that the situation in Thousand River Valley had intensified again? Or had something major happened that he didn't know about?
Moreover, by playing like this, wasn't he destroying the reputation he had accumulated before?
"Duvalon!" Horn called out to the outer room.
"What's wrong? Papa."
"Go and notify Jeshka, let him take people to check the nearby important checkpoints, and then Rene, let him take the Cheka to investigate the surrounding villages and refugee camps."
"Understood."
"And..." Horn stood up and walked back and forth in the wooden house twice, "Tell Jeanne and her Holy Grail Knights to be careful and patrol more during this time."
No matter what the situation was on the Duke's side, it was always right to be prepared.
…………
Standing at the door of the iron-studded wooden door, Sisi knocked on the door, startling Horn who was grading the homework of the child soldiers and the bishops' double-entry bookkeeping.
Seeing Sisi, Horn threw away his pen as if relieved: "Come in."
"Didn't I disturb you?" Sisi asked, looking at the pile of account books in front of Horn's desk.
Horn smiled bitterly: "You are not disturbing me, you are saving me. I gave these account books to those guys to practice, and as a result, they calculated an average return on investment of 380% for these chambers of commerce."
Sisi couldn't help laughing. He unbuttoned his collar, revealing his delicate collarbone, and picked up the account book to fan himself: "It's the first time, with their level, it's good enough that they can calculate it."
Seeing Sisi sweating profusely, Horn stood up and poured him a glass of water.
"How about the grain matter?"
"The first cart of grain is considered a deposit and has already been transported here." Sisi took the water unceremoniously and took a sip. "The rest still needs to be collected by them and will arrive one after another tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."
"Did you know about the tax payment?"
"I was just about to tell you about this." Sisi put down the water glass and said quickly, "This is too unusual. At first, I thought the Duke invited these 'short-haired' refugees to let you integrate them for the sake of soldiers.
At least these people dare to resist and are much stronger than cowardly farmers.
Enlisting them as soldiers would prevent the Duke from conscripting troops from his own people on a large scale, affecting the economy and the Duke's reputation.
But now, he actually wants to tax them all. In theory, he should collect taxes from the residents and arm the refugees as cannon fodder.
But taxing these refugees is forcing them to run away, isn't it?"
"They can't run away." Horn shook his head solemnly. "Jeshka has gone to see the nearby roads. Almost all the castle checkpoints have been closed. Unless there is a certificate issued by the Duke, they are not allowed to enter or leave."
"Something we don't know about must have happened." Sisi touched his smooth chin. "I'll go to Jeanne d'Arc tomorrow and ask about it clearly. Maybe the Duke's subordinates made a mistake in the Duke's meaning."
"I'll go with you."
"You should stay in the camp." Sisi shook his head and dissuaded him. "That way, if something really happens, there will be a backbone."
"Do you think something will happen?" Horn's eyes were more solemn than ever.
Sisi hesitated for a while: "I'm not sure, but I feel that something is not right."
ps I've been busy again after the holiday, and there will be another chapter later.