In the spring of 461 A.D., half a year has passed since Caldis's exile, and this incident has been completely forgotten, and even Cook has completely come out of that haze.

One morning, Cook was led by Robitt to the First Duke's Palace. The two of them entered the gate of the Duke's palace and saw the carriages of the nobles parked all over the courtyard, much to Cook's surprise.

Robit was already familiar with this, and he explained to Cook: "In a few days the kingdom will hold a knight's tournament, and every year at this time of year the nobles from all over the world will visit my father and beg him to settle all kinds of disputes for them. ”

Cook obviously didn't understand these things, he didn't ask anything, and followed Robit to the courtyard.

As he passed through the hallway, Cook saw that the reception hall opposite was full of people, and Duke Connor was sitting in it entertaining everyone.

Connor's eyes were very keen, and he immediately spotted Cook and Robit, and the two children were summoned into the reception hall by Connor.

Under Connor's introduction, the nobles respectfully recognized Earl Fawkes's precious son, and saluted the future little earl.

I don't know why, Connor actually left the two children to sit aside and accompany him to entertain the guests.

The nobles continued their conversation, discussing the affairs of their respective realms with Connor.

Then the ninth duke of Huiyuan, Quit, stood up and spoke, "Our land in Huiyuan is barren, and we do not produce food, nor meat, leather, or minerals, but we have only cloth and silk and the like. If taxes are paid according to the area of the land, it is extremely unfair to us at Huiyuan! ”

Duke Borunte teased him and said, "Lord Duke Quete, who doesn't know that your cloth and silk are unique in the world, and the price is very expensive. You have such a treasure land, why do you want to produce anything else, you are too modest to say that. ”

Quat was very frustrated, shook his head again and again, and said: "You can't say that, although our cloth and silk are the most famous on the mainland, but after all, the output is limited!" Moreover, the output of this silk is completely dependent on the sky, and our people in Huiyuan are really not as rich as you think, and everyone's life is very hard. ”

"Alright then!" Duke Connor replied, "In this case, I will reduce the Huiyuan Territory by another 20,000 gold coins, and only need to pay a tax of 120,000 gold coins to the kingdom every year, so that it will be all right?" ”

Quart sighed and said, "Oh, what do I say! ”

Connor was not happy when he heard this, and he said impatiently, "Alright, didn't Odosa open a mine in your territory?" Let him give you 20,000 gold coins every year in taxes, so it's okay after all, right? ”

After hearing this, Quat nodded again and again and said, "That's okay, I'm fine!" ”

Who knew that Odosa objected and said: "That's not good, our tax in Wucheng is not low, why should I draw 20,000 yuan in taxes for him, unless the first duke also reduces the tax of 20,000 yuan for our Wucheng, then I have no opinion!" ”

"Yes!" , Duke Connor said quietly: "Then you return the mines in Huiyuan Territory to Kuite, and I will immediately reduce the tax of 20,000 gold coins for Wucheng!" ”

Odosa's face was swollen after hearing this, and he looked at Cologne in a muffled voice.

Cologne coughed, and then said slowly: "What the First Duke said is yes, although the mine was mined by you at your expense, it was in the territory of Huiyuan after all. Duke Quet didn't care about you, it was Duke Quet who had a lot, so what did it matter if he drew 20,000 taxes from you? ”

Hearing Cologne say this, Odosa immediately deflated, and replied with a disgraced face: "Since the Duke of Cologne also said so, then I will draw 20,000 gold coins of tax to Duke Quat every year according to the will of the first duke!" But there is one thing I want to make clear, we really can't increase taxes on our Wucheng territory, otherwise we will have to vomit! ”

Connor smiled slightly: "Who doesn't know that your Odosa vault is piled up with gold coins, even if you don't have any income in the Sixth Duke's Mansion for ten years, your Odosa's life can still be very nourishing." Don't worry, I have considered these tax figures, and I must first ensure that you can have a stable income, so don't cry poor with me one by one! ”

Odosa replied very aggrievedly: "But you must know that all our territories have territorial knights, and the cost of the knights is so high, if there is no certain income to maintain, then we will soon sit on the mountain, and we will not be able to eat the soil when the time comes!" ”

Connor calmly explained: "Then you will raise fewer knights, there are so many knights in the kingdom, who would dare to invade your territory?" Besides, the purpose of raising taxes in various places is also to form more knights to maintain the stability of our kingdom's borders! If the kingdom doesn't have the money to recruit enough knights, who will defend the homeland? Who will keep your territory safe? When the kingdom is destroyed, even if you have more gold coins, I'm afraid you won't have the life to spend them, right? ”

Connor's words were speechless, and Odosa was speechless.

At this time, Thatcher of Dragon City spoke: "Our Dragon City territory pays 250,000 taxes a year, and it shouldn't be a big problem. However, we have always had a large shortage of horses in Dragon City, and I wonder if the First Duke can solve this problem for us. ”

Connor immediately replied, "That's no problem, Duke Acedo, you can take 3,000 horses from the kingdom's horse ranch and send them to Dragon City at a later date." ”

Asaido nodded and replied, "Yes, Lord Duke." ”

Thatcher replied with a smile: "Thank you very much, Your Majesty, First Duke." ”

Connor waved his hand and said frankly, "Duke Longcheng doesn't have to be polite, I was originally doing things for the kingdom, and everyone is loyal to the kingdom!" You should learn a lot from the Duke of Dragon City, because only the Duke of Dragon City has no complaints about the increased taxes. ”

Everyone was ashamed, and then Cologne nodded and said, "Alright then, I'll take back my previous burials." We must pay 200,000 yuan in taxes on time every year, but our ports have to be expanded and the number of fishing boats must be increased, otherwise it will be really difficult to afford such heavy taxes. ”

Connor turned his head and asked, "Okay, what are you missing, just tell me!" ”

Cologne replied shyly: "Timber, we urgently need a lot of timber in the sunny waters!" ”

After hearing this, Connor immediately looked at the Duke of Illit in Litunburg, and Illit immediately said knowingly: "Okay, in terms of timber, we will find a way to get it for you." But you have to send us some fish to eat in Lisburg every year, and our people are miserable, and they can only eat some dry bread crumbs every day. ”

Cologne smiled slightly, and said with a full promise, "Okay, no problem." How about I send you two cartloads of sea fish a month in Reesburg, twenty-four a year? ”

Illitra replied happily: "Then the feeling is good, I will thank the Duke of Cologne for our people!" ”

Connor smiled, then turned to Cook and asked, "Little Cook, how much tax do you plan to pay in a year in your territory, Upba?" ”

As soon as this question came out, everyone burst into laughter. They laughed for nothing else, because Cook was so young, and he couldn't answer.

But at times like these, accidents often happen. Cook didn't hesitate to speak: "We in Uba Town pay 50,000 gold coins every year. ”

What is the concept of 50,000 gold coins, it is half of the tax of Huiyuan's territory, but Wuba Town is just a small town.

The crowd was amazed, and they wondered why Cook had come up with such a figure, when Uba had only paid 10,000 gold in taxes a year.

Everyone knows that the town of Uba is different, because it is the largest wine-making area in the kingdom, and the demand for wine is very strong among the people of Knight, who love wine, which makes the production of Uba town surprisingly high, so the tax in Uba town will be ridiculously high. But a tax of 10,000 gold coins is already an astronomical amount for a small town, but Cook's statement of a tax of 50,000 gold coins is simply a fantasy.

Connor frowned and asked, "Little Cook, don't talk nonsense, why don't I give you a tax of 12,000 gold coins for Uba?" ”

Obviously, Connor was helping Cook, but Cook shook his head and said, "No, we're going to pay 50,000 in taxes in Ubatown!" ”

After listening to this, Connor put down the booklet and pen in his hand, and asked him in a daze, "Cook, let's wait until I ask your father about this matter, okay?" ”

Cook opened his mouth and said: "My father has already told me that the territory of our Earl of Fox Mansion will pay a tax of 50,000 gold coins every year!" ”

Connor nodded, probably this was Fox's arrangement, and he deliberately asked Cook to come and blow everyone's eyeballs, so as to improve Cook's own reputation.

Thatcher was very moved by Cook's performance, he stood up and applauded and said: "What a Cook, the old man has never admired a few people in his life, but today he admires you so much!" ”

Connor also stood up, waved his hand at the crowd and said, "Look at Little Cook at Earl's Court, and then look at you, you all have to reflect on yourselves." ”

Who knows that Odosa whispered: "Is this Fox already crazy, we can't go crazy with him." ”

Duke Fengdu, who was sitting opposite, said: "Fawkes is definitely not crazy, because people have never recruited knights by themselves, and the Earl's Mansion of Fawkes has always borrowed from it, and he is not greedy for money in the territory, so he can indeed get so many taxes." ”

After hearing this, everyone lowered their heads, and countless people even sighed for a long time. After all, Fawkes is a strange aristocrat in this era, and it is really difficult for others to accept it if he is not greedy for his own knights.

Connor closed the booklet, put away his pen and paper, and said, "Okay, that's all for this year's tax adjustment!" Rest assured, the interests of our nobles are naturally guaranteed as soon as possible! His Majesty the King has asked me to convey to you that the taxes you pay to the people in your realms can be adjusted according to your actual conditions! For example, taverns, bazaars, and the toll taxes on the roads of the territory are no longer collected uniformly in the kingdom, and are levied by each of your regions! What the king meant was that this also took into account everyone's difficulties, so that everyone could easily pay their taxes. ”

After hearing this, the nobles cheered and thanked each other and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!" ”

Such a tax adjustment is not a good thing for the country or the people. The nobility is very important to the king, and protecting the interests of the nobles is the premise of the king's rule.

As the governor of all the kingdom's affairs, Connor fully accepted the king's adjustment of taxes, which shows that his political vision and the level of governance of the kingdom are not very high. As for the harm that this will bring to the kingdom, at least for the time being, no one in the kingdom can see the problems that exist in it.

"The decline and corruption of the kingdom is a foregone conclusion, and things will only get worse and worse in the future!"

It was not the Knight who said the above words, but the prince of the Tubith Empire far to the west, Vakas.

Who is Wakas? Why did he come to such a conclusion at this point? Obviously, the current Knight world is not very familiar with this person.

But it doesn't matter, as time goes by, history will slowly show the power of Prince Warkas.