As soon as it was dawn, the new lord of the village and his right-hand man got up early to work, and a cart full of daily tools was torn off the door by the minotaur and pulled plows, sharp-beaked hoes, shovels of varying thickness, and saws of varying lengths...... It leaked to the ground like an open sack of rice. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 His Excellency Duke Info chose a few plows and pulled two camels to plough the fields, while the half-elf with a sad face picked among the chaotic pile of tools for a long time, and finally chose a short-handled axe, and then turned and walked towards the hut where Xiao Yu and Xiao Xing lived.

"What does it mean to come to the door with an axe?" Xiaoxing was confused.

"It feels like I'm here to collect protection money," Xiao Yu said seriously, "Believe me, this time the calculation must be accurate." ”

After knocking on the door, the half-elf who was let in looked around and couldn't find anything to sit on, so he pinned the axe behind him, straightened his clothes, coughed, and raised his head, "Do you know who I am?" ”

Without waiting for a reply, he introduced himself again, "This half-elf Auripas Yi is the governor of the lord himself, and is responsible for managing all the specific affairs of this area, that is to say, I am an official, and you are a commoner, so you have to obey my orders, you know?" ”

"Do you have to obey any order?" Xiaoxing asked curiously.

"The most important thing in a country is the law, and the authority of officials has a prescribed scope." Xiao Yu said unhurriedly, "So Lord Governor, if you want us to do something illegal, we can't do it. ”

"Yes, yes, it is a very honorable thing to be a law-abiding and good citizen," the half-elf straightened his chest again, "and as an official who enforces the laws of the country, I will never do anything that knows the law is illegal." ”

"So, Lord Governor, do you have anything to do with us?"

"I'm here to collect taxes," the half-elf stretched out his right hand, "you, as subjects of the country, should be proud of paying taxes according to the law, and ashamed of tax evasion." ”

"What is a tax?" Xiaoxing didn't seem to understand again.

"Little sister, a country, no matter how big or small, has expenses every day, and there must be places everywhere that need to be spent." Olipas played into his old habit of being a good teacher in an infantry regiment, "If the state takes care of you, you should pay money to the state, which is a very fair thing, and this money given to the state is a tax." ”

"That means we're obligated to pay taxes?"

"You're so smart, just understand."

"But Mr. Duke has said that the state does not require us to bear any obligations until we are not adults."

"Duke, do you know what it is? That's a title of nobility, what is nobility? It's a noble person from a different background than you, what's the difference? That is to say, even if he does not work at all, does not work, sleeps all day, is lazy all day, the state will feed him," the half-elf gushed, "this is very unfair, do you understand? Therefore, a nobleman like him will not have a common language with you at all, he is not a family and does not know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive, it is not realistic at all, and it is not ...... at all."

"You say we pay taxes because the state takes care of us," Xiaoxing asked rhetorically, "but we live in our own place, sleep in our own place, and eat our own food, so we don't see the state taking care of us." ”

"Although you seem to be able to live on your own, your life is facing many dangers, there is a great drought and floods, wild beasts have entered the village, you can't help it, right?" The half-elf continued to enlighten, "For example, when the robbers come, all your property will be robbed, and with the protection of the state, you can get through these times of crisis. ”

"Oh, I see, you're charging us protection money, and robbers are charging this for entering the village."

"What protection money? How can you compare a robber to a state," said the half-elf angrily, "and the robber will rob everything, and the state will charge some necessary fees to protect you." ”

"I think it's the same thing, smart robbers won't rob things all at once, and they can continue to collect money next time, after a long time, the territory is bigger, and the habit of collecting money has become a rule, and the country is about the same." Xiaoxing stretched out his fingers and shook it and said, "It's like there is a saying, stealing a dog is a pig, stealing a pot is a monkey......"

Xiao You coughed, "Those who steal hooks will be punished, and those who steal the country will be punished." ”

"Yes, yes," Xiaoxing nodded hurriedly, "My sister told us a story, many gangs of thieves who killed people and oversold goods, ruled the world, and no one was invincible, and finally laid down a piece of the country, and then proclaimed himself king." ”

Olipas' face twitched a little, "The country of the robbers is not fair, they collect as they want, unlike a serious principality like us, which has complete laws, collects taxes very fairly and justly, and is completely dedicated to seeking the greatest welfare of the people." ”

"No, no," Xiaoxing shook his head and said, "My sister said that whether it is a country established by robbers or a country inherited from an ancestor, it will eventually deteriorate." ”

"How does it go bad?"

"All the laws and regulations have been abolished." Xiao Yu said.

"The officials are all corrupted." Xiaoxing said.

"Taxes are very heavy and brutal." Xiao Yu said.

"The government's credibility is completely gone," Xiaoxing said, "and then such a state is no different from a robber, and the common people overthrow it." ”

"Then you don't want to pay taxes?" Feeling that he could not take it anymore, Oripas reached for his right hand and began to touch the axe.

"The indiscriminate use of violence by state officials is a precursor to the beginning of deterioration." Xiaoxing sighed sadly.

"It's not impossible to collect taxes," Xiao You said, "what kind of tax to collect, how much tax to collect, and what to use after collecting taxes, these issues should be discussed clearly, otherwise the robbers are collecting protection money as they want." ”

"Ah, that's right." The half-elf looked happy, and hurriedly raised his fingers, "There are legitimate and legitimate reasons for the collection of taxes in this principality, so I will tell you: if you have farming, you should pay the property tax, because the state protects your farming; If you have a house, it should be called property tax, because the state protects you to live; Tithes are paid on what you harvest in a year, because the state will preside over the sacrifice and bless you with abundant fruits. You have to pay a transaction tax on the purchase and sale of goods, because the state protects the market; You have to pay a traffic tax when you go out and walk, because the state will pave the roads and bridges for you......"

"That's so much," Xiaoxing took a breath, "Brother, I'm a little dizzy." ”

"This, as well as stamp duty, contract tax, education tax, slaughter tax, feast tax, inheritance tax, etc., etc., I haven't introduced it to you yet."

"Your Excellency the Governor......"

"Well, Xiaoyou, what do you want to say?"

"Actually, I just wanted to tell you," said Xiao You, sighing, "that our place is so poor that birds don't lay eggs, and we never use currency. ”

"It's okay, it's okay," said the Governor, who didn't care, "if there is no currency in circulation, pay taxes in kind." ”

“…… What little we have to farm and harvest fruit is barely enough to fill our stomachs, Governor, what do you think we can give you? ”

"Don't you have any supplies or anything?" Olipas clapped his palm, "It's better this way!" ”

Xiao Yu Xiaoxing was stunned, only to see the half-elf pointing at them, "Since you can't pay any money, then come to serve the labor and deduct the taxes." ”

"What is servitude?" Xiaoxing asked.

"There are two ways to pay taxes, one is to pay property, and the other is to contribute labor." The Governor replied, "In layman's terms, this is called a money market for those who have money, and a place for those who have no money." If you can't come up with anything valuable, come and contribute to the building of the country. ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, where is the state construction project?"

The half-elf pointed to the carts, "There is a lot of wood stored in the treasury, go outside, take down the wood, cut it into two sharp strips, weave it into a fence every ten, and build a fence around the village." ”

"And what are you doing, Lord Governor?"

"From an engineering point of view, it is necessary to have a reasonable division of labor and cooperate with each other to improve efficiency." The Governor had a natural expression, "So I am naturally the overseer, and I will give you the necessary technical guidance while strictly performing my supervisory duties." ”

Just as the half-elf was intoxicated with the foreman's dream, the door slammed, and the minotaur burst in, grabbed him by the neck and dragged him out. Xiao You and Xiao Xing heard the duke's scolding from a distance, "I knew that you bastard was using your brains crookedly, and you really took it as your responsibility to be a corrupt official?" As I said earlier, there is no need for children to bear obligations to the state, which country do you think will require minors to pay taxes? ”

"Captain, at least the poll tax can be levied on minors." The half-elf struggled desperately, gasping for breath and replying unconvinced.

"There is no such tax in the country."

"But you can't let me build such a long fence wall by myself, and I can't help them with labor." Olipas complained, "Okay, okay, it's not a service, I'll give them a lively and intuitive carpentry practice class, and minors also need to strengthen labor skills education." ”

"Shut up, where is all this nonsense."

"Captain, if you don't let go, I'll be strangled to death by you."

"Die and die, and resurrect you again at most."

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