"Alright, honest man, stop talking nonsense and take out this month's taxes."

In a village outside of Viruga, a Paraven sergeant said to the peasant in front of him with great dissatisfaction.

Their team had been here for more than ten minutes, and his men were speaking Karadh with a Paraven accent, and the Rhodoc farmer had been pretending not to understand. Fortunately, the sergeant's local dialect was as good as his hometown's, so that the guy who was trying to resist the tax finally lowered his head and admitted that he understood what they were talking about.

"But, my lord, we have already paid taxes to Lord von Byron, and there are not many of them. We are the fief of Lord Ellene, and we have given him the money, and he can testify for us. ”

The farmer looked very aggrieved, and at this time, several people came over from the neighborhood. They all knew very well that von Byron's taxes were much lower than those set by the little prince, and if this trick had worked, they would have refused to pay taxes in the same way.

Of course, the sergeant knew what these people were thinking, so he did not hesitate to punch the peasant, pulled out his sword, and said viciously:

"Don't think I don't know what you're up to, you pig! The prince ordered that those who refused to pay the taxes should be imprisoned for three years, and if they did not want to be beaten and put in a cell, they should take out the money! ”

"Don't, take the money, please don't take my husband."

The peasant woman, who had been hiding in the house and peeking out from the beginning, immediately ran out and shoved a few old silver coins and a handful of copper coins into the sergeant's hand.

The sergeant glanced at the money in his hand, frowned, looked up at the couple's house again, and snorted softly.

He tossed the silver coins into the tax box and put the copper in his pocket.

"Poor devil, 30 farr, not enough for us to drink..."

The soldiers turned and left, and the couple entered the house. They had guessed such an outcome, but they still felt scared when they thought about it.

With their example, the rest of the village no longer dared to object to paying taxes to Prince Harauu.

After a lap, the box brought by the team was also half full, although most of them were copper coins, but the number was enough, and they didn't have to worry about making a difference.

The group mounted their traveling horses, fed them with the village's fodder, and hurried to the next village.

But as soon as they walked on their front feet, on the other side of the village, the owner of the village, Byron's knight Alleyne, and a few cavalrymen had just stepped over the fence at the edge of the village. One of their horses carried a strong stag killed by an arrow on its back, the best trophy of the hunt. Ellen hurried along the road contentedly and leisurely, boasting about his experience hunting snow leopards in Vicchia as he went, with a smug expression on his face.

He had hoped to show off in front of his people with the spoils of war, but although there were many people around, the report was far from what he had hoped.

"Those bastards, this is the land that Lord Byron has given me, what does it have to do with them? How dare you take what belongs to me......"

After listening to the words of the villagers, Alleyne was furious, and for a moment he didn't care whether the prince was a prince or not, he directly drew his saber and shouted:

"Those are not the prince's soldiers, but a bunch of robbers in disguise! Soldiers, follow me to get these robbers back! ”

As soon as Alleyne swung his sword and exerted his legs, his horse strode and ran, followed by the cavalry and cavalry archers behind him, pulling at the reins and unsheathing their swords.

Alleyne was very fast, and in a few minutes they met the tax-collecting force on the road outside the village.

The sergeant looked at the peony flag fluttering in the distance and knew that it was Von Byron's men who had arrived. This was also normal, the king promised Byron land to the villages and towns outside of Viruga, and he gave the land to his knights. "A vassal of my vassals, not my vassals." According to the convention, even the king has no right to directly meddle in the affairs of Ellen's territory, and the prince is indeed disrespectful to Ellen by doing so.

The sergeant sighed and ordered the troops to stop. Although he also looked down on Byron's men who they called "hillbilly knights", face still had to be given, no matter how small the knight was, he was also a nobleman. Commoners offended the aristocracy and never had good fruit to eat.

Reluctantly, he led the men towards Alleyne and hid the box. He felt that he only had to deal with it, and mention the prince and Conish, and the other party would not be able to help them.

However, he obviously underestimated the temper of Ellene, a Vecchian master, and overestimated his patience.

As soon as the two sides met, the sergeant did not have time to salute, and Alleyne rushed up with a loud shout.

"Arrest all these robbers disguised as soldiers!"

The sergeant was stunned and didn't know what to do for a while. When he hesitated, Aren's cavalry surrounded them, their weapons pointed at them.

"Someone has reported that you are robbers from the north, disguised as soldiers to defraud wealth. Get them all back! ”

Before the sergeant could speak, Alleyne rode over and knocked him off his horse with a hammer, and the other soldiers, though resisting at first, did not dare to confront one of the Kingdom knights, and disarmed them after Alleyne promised to let them go after the investigation was clear.

Naturally, some of them could see the form, and knew that it was nothing more than a struggle between the prince and Baron Byron, and that they were probably involved in the confusion. However, they still have to choose to cooperate, the form is stronger than the people, they are not the opponent of these cavalry units.

Ellen took them back to the village, and after gathering some "incriminating evidence", he rushed to Pegand and handed over the "robbers" to Fatis.

A group of soldiers is missing, and the prince can't just leave it alone. The investigation team set off immediately, and since Alleyne had no intention of hiding anything, they quickly figured out what had happened.

Annoyed, the prince almost led the team to settle accounts with Ellen himself, but Conish stopped him at a critical moment.

He reminded the prince that it was unreasonable for them to cross Byron and collect taxes directly from his domain, or even from the realm of Byron's vassals. Especially now that it's not just Alleyne and the villagers of his fiefdom, the prince's tax collection team has been resisted and even resisted by force in most of the villages around Viruga. The merchants, too, objected to the increase in the tax rate, appealed to his newly appointed officials, and the men were busy to death, and under Byron's deliberate push, there was a shortage of supplies, and prices in the city skyrocketed, and the citizens complained loudly.

He didn't believe that Alleyne would dare to do this without Byron's backing, and if he went over to reason with Byron as a prince, it would only be his fault in the end. And the local people will be even more dependent on Byron because of this, and it will be even more difficult to control Viruga.

The prince accepted Conish's suggestion and abandoned the house operation, instead sending a messenger to Pegond to negotiate with the other party.