In the study, Hathaway was concentrating on reading an essay. Hughes, Petro. Hughes and Barthes. Willie whispered not knowing what he was saying, his gaze occasionally passing over Hathaway's face.

Rights are also a catalyst, especially in the case of a young girl.

At this time, Hathaway became more and more majestic as a lord...... In her own words, she is becoming more and more queenly. The young girl's charming face revealed a reserved and elegant atmosphere, and the youthful vitality exuded from her body was a little less youthful and a little deeper, and her cold and blue eyes were probably inherited from her mother, giving people a deep feeling. With a somewhat grim expression in her calmness, she gave people an unattainable taste, and a decent magic robe covered her body, adding a mysterious temperament to her.

Closing the text in his hand, Hathaway raised her head, with an elegant smile on her face, and nodded slightly to the three of them: "I have roughly understood the situation, and we will discuss our next steps today." This is the scene before us, where thieves are rampant, barbarians, goblins and other alien races occupy one side, the population is sparse, and those middle and small nobles are openly disobedient. If this continues, not to mention the income and development of the territory, I am afraid that I will not be able to sit firmly in the position of this lord. A few days ago, we walked around the micro-service, the area of the Cordillera territory is not small, but there are not many people who can really obey my orders, and the shape is worrying! ”

After a pause, Hathaway looked at Petro. Hughes: "Petro, this time. You have traveled more places than me, and you have seen and understood a lot, so there is no need to say how severe the shape is. Judging from the current strength, we seem to be the weakest side, but in any case, I am the lord of the Cordillera Plateau, which was personally bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor, and no one can deny this fact, so we occupy the name of righteousness, any action against me, my orders. are tantamount to rebellion. Don't look at those people hugging right now. But they don't stay the same, they will leave a chance to take advantage of it, I think you know this better than I do, right? ”

"Yes, sir." Petro. Hughes nodded slightly.

The political system within the territory is self-contained. But Petro. Hughes was Hathaway's personally appointed political officer. for various matters within the territory. All have the right to participate in management and supervision. He returned to Mandy Gaza a day before Hathaway, but he had traveled more places than Hathaway and knew more than she did. The text that Hathaway just read is the report he wrote.

Seeing that the eyes of several people were focused on himself, Petro. Hughes swallowed a mouthful of saliva and continued, "I've been pretty much all over the Cordillera in some of the human-inhabited cities in the past few years. As the Count said, during the vacuum that we did not have a lord before we came, the control of the entire Cordillera Territory was actually in the hands of those nobles and merchants. I took a closer look and found that five of them were particularly representative. ”

"For example, the head of the Crescent Boat Company, Herbert. Lu Fei. It is said that he worked as a pirate in his youth, and later landed to do business and amassed a fortune. Sixteen years ago, he came to the Cordillera and opened a shipping company, gradually taking control of the water transport on the Cordillera and offshore waters, and with a wide range of contacts, he has a lot of weight to speak here. ”

"The other one is Solo. Baron Bell and Linnan. Lord Camille and the two, they represent the interests of the two families, but when dealing with others, they often join forces. The former's control is mainly on the military, and the latter is quite influential in the mercenary union. ”

"The fourth force is Bailey. Baron Mozov, who was a pawn arranged by Archduke Cassef in the Cordillera, had a certain strength. ”

"The last one is the big businessman Andrea. Jebel, who mainly deals in food and has done several charitable deeds, is quite prestigious in the local area. He spent most of his time in the town of Nuster, near the mouth of the Mandini Nile, and rarely came to Mangadishu. ”

"Compared to the forces of the other nobles and the Chamber of Commerce, it is nothing, as long as the five of them are solved, most of the internal problems of the Terran in the Cordillera will be solved."

Petro. Hughes's report is much more detailed than that, and I'm just giving you a brief introduction now.

"Well, Petro is right, these five men are very powerful in the Cordillera. However, it seems to me that no matter that Herbert. Luffy and Andrea. What does Jebel rely on, their ultimate pursuit is still profit. They can be driven by interests to oppose us, and they may also be driven by interests to cooperate with us. And Petro has two forces that have not been named. One is the civilians, the other is the thieves and fugitives. In fact, these people can be called a mess of loose sand, as long as they are given certain benefits, it is easy to win them over. It will be much easier for the people to go back and deal with those nobles. ”

"Petro, you continue to be the administrative officer, taking care of my day-to-day affairs on the one hand, and preparing for the tax inspection on the other. I will gather a group of financial personnel from outside the territory to review the tax payments of various industries in the past ten years, and unless these people can really make the account books seamless, how to eat them, how to spit them out; The other is a census and registration, which is to be carried out immediately. Make an announcement and everyone ...... Even those who had fled, regardless of race, could register their household at the offices set up by the lord's office in the villages, and they could become freemen as long as they could comply with the law, and each household could distribute the land according to the size of the population, and the land could be taxed for two years, but not bought or sold for ten years. ”

"Barth, your mission is to lead the Lord's Guard to exterminate those bandits. In addition, the Tong Guò Mercenary Guild issued a task to suppress bandits, and they did not hesitate to pay heavily. At the same time, proclamations were issued in all the towns and main roads of the Cordillera to persuade the thieves to lay down their arms, but they were not the most heinous of crimes, and once they had changed their minds, they were not guilty of the past. ”

"Cecia, you're in charge of intelligence collection and analysis. In addition to the movements of the nobles in the territory, the city defense army should also pay attention, I can ignore other things for the time being, if you disobey the law in suppressing the bandits, or collude with the thieves, take advantage of the situation to take down those two guys. However, this matter must be based on real evidence, and do not startle the snake. In addition, pay attention to the news of those thieves, although the whereabouts of those thieves are erratic, but they are not invulnerable, we must collect their exact whereabouts and report them in time. ”

The bands of thieves in the Cordillera are numerous and unpredictable. Especially since there are so many places to hide in the local area, any small gang of thieves may have two or three nests prepared in case of emergency. The same is true of the bandit group that Hathaway and the others eliminated last time, after interrogating some of the surviving leaders, they also found two other lairs of the bandits, and this time the bandits seized about 400,000 gold carats, which is also a big deal. Not only that, but after coming back, this matter was widely publicized, and the soldiers who participated in the suppression of bandits were heavily rewarded, which made the eyes of the guys in the city defense army very hot, and all kinds of sour words and strange words continued. Hathaway made it very clear, if you have the ability, you can also suppress bandits, and half of the captured can be used as a reward.

"My lord, it's all right to gather fugitives and thieves, but where do the fields come from?" Petro. Hughes waited for Hathaway's words to come to an end and hurriedly asked.

"Clearing the wasteland. The lord's house can guide, you can lend them tools, you can even lend seeds, guide farming, as long as it is conducive to their living and contentment, we can provide the most convenient conditions. Other civilian taxes can also be reduced as appropriate, and there is no way to use taxes to enrich the income of the territory at the moment. Hathaway said.

"We reduce taxes, but will other nobles be willing?" Barthes. Willie asked worriedly.

"If they don't want to be the best, they're on the opposite side of the civilian population." Petro. Hughes said excitedly, he had already figured out Hathaway's intentions.

"That's right. The taxes collected from the peasants were really nothing to look forward to. Collecting too much will have a heavy impact on their lives; If the harvest is less, the three melons and two dates will not solve any major problems at all, so it is better to use the low-tax policy to encourage them to cultivate more fields, produce more grain, and enrich grain reserves. The real sources of tax revenue are the merchants and the mines, and we have to start with both. Hathaway explained.

"My lord, there is one more thing."

Barthes. Willy said: "The number of the lord's guard is too small, if you suppress the bandits on the one hand, and protect the safety of the lord's mansion on the other, I'm afraid that the deployment of personnel will not be arranged." And you can't keep going with the team. ”

"What's there going on with the team?"

Hathaway smiled: "I am a lord, responsible for the security of the territory, and it is normal to lead the team on the expedition. However, it is indeed important that the size of the Lord's Guard needs to be expanded. I think...... On the one hand, I can recruit those scattered mercenary soldiers, small mercenary groups, and those fugitives, all I need is them to be brave and loyal, and I don't need to worry about the rest. ”

"But in this way, I'm afraid that the good and the bad are mixed, what if someone with bad intentions gets in?" Cecia. Hughes questioned.

Petro. Hughes and Barthes. Willie clearly had this concern.

Hathaway hesitated for a moment, suddenly turned pale, and said with a smile: "That's right, you don't have to worry about recruiting, I have a way to solve this problem." ”

- The veteran told her that he had a spiritual magic that allowed people to unconsciously tell the secrets of their hearts, but this magic required strong mental power, which could only be performed by him himself. (To be continued......)