"Of course, Mueller did not dare to cut the flesh of the church, and did not want to completely fall out with the military, so he proposed a compromise solution: first convert the money that subsidized the church into military spending, and then develop new tax sources to make up for the church's shortfall." Rudolph smiled coldly, "This so-called new source of taxation is the tithes levied on the 4.8 million inhabitants of our Far Eastern provinces. ”

"Tithe" is a very special tax, which is a product of the imperial **** system. Generally speaking, taxation is the main source of finance for the ruling authorities, and the taxes collected should be included in the state treasury, but tithes are not levied by the tax, treasury or customs departments of the state, but by the Holy See, which is the state religion of the empire.

According to the laws of the Empire, all believers who converted to the Church of Pero in the territory were obliged to contribute one-tenth of their income to the Church as a way to prove their devotion to the faith and their loyalty to the Church. Only believers who pay tithes honestly are eligible to attend the sacraments in the church, listen to sermons, use the church for free when they get married, ask a priest to preside over the ceremony, ask a priest to treat them with divine magic when they are sick, confess and repent to the priest before they die, and have a home for their souls after receiving blessings and comforts.

According to the above-mentioned decree, the inhabitants of the Far Eastern provinces, who were excluded from the state religion by birth on the charge of heresy, were not counted as followers of Pero and therefore had no need to pay tithes unless they bought "indulgences" to convert to the Church. This is a blessing in misfortune for the vast majority of Far Easterners, who are less exploited than the people of the inland provinces. But now that the Imperial Cabinet has changed the tithing law, Far Easterners are no longer an exception, and tithes are also compulsory. What is even more unbearable is that after paying the tithes and not taking off the hat of "heretic", he is still rejected by the temple of Pero and is not eligible to participate in religious activities.

"It's not a tax, it's a fine for all of us Far Easterners, and anyone who still has a little backbone won't accept it!" Colonel Alexey said indignantly.

Rudolph nodded slightly in agreement, and looked sideways at his son, "Roland, what do you think about the tax, will the tithes imposed by the empire on the heads of the Far Easterners provoke a popular uprising?" ”

Roland stroked the letter paper and speculated without hesitation: "If you mean the peasants in the fields, the herdsmen and hunters in the forest, then the tithes do not affect them much, and the income of these poor people at the bottom of society is only enough to survive, and taxing them is tantamount to depriving them of their right to live, and the cost is too great." ”

"The imperial authorities implemented a tax package system, and the right to collect taxes was subcontracted to several wealthy families, and the tax collectors could get paid a commission from the taxes collected, but how to collect taxes was entirely up to their own ability." Roland bowed his head to confirm the name mentioned in Yevgenia's letter, and continued, "The supervisor who came to the Far East to collect tithes this time is named Anthony Fogel, the Fogel family is the largest tax collector and indulgence dealer in the empire, and has always been careful in business, this Mr. Anthony will carefully calculate the cost of taxation, go to the fields to collect those few copper plates from the poor peasants, and force the people to rebel if they can't stand it, this cost has greatly exceeded the tax package, and the fool is talented." ”

"You are saying that the tax collector from the Fugger family is likely to give up taxing the destitute, so to whom did he come to the Far East to collect taxes?" Rudolph asked his son.

Roland smiled, "Of course, those who have money but no status, especially industrial and commercial owners, tithes are a large expense, and most of the industrial and commercial people in the Far Eastern provinces tend to retain heresy for the purpose of tax avoidance. With less of a tax burden, factories and shops were less expensive to operate than their tithe-paying counterparts in the inland provinces of the Empire, and more competitive in the market, making it difficult for goods produced in the interior of the Empire to find a market in the Far East. ”

"The financial industry in the interior of the empire was in the hands of a few oligarchs, such as Weinstein and Fogel, and the banks could not recover the loans if the goods could not be sold, and the business would be in trouble, which may be one of the reasons why the Earl of Müller proposed the tithes in the Far Eastern provinces." Roland's words were ironic, "It is not only natural that our Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer is well connected with the Fogel family, and that the tithing must be supported by the powerful people of the Church, and that the Earl of Muller is supported by the tax collectors, the bankers, the industrial and commercial magnates, and the Church; From the perspective of tax transfer, it is not difficult to find that tithes are actually a kind of import subsidies, which is in the same vein as the imperial preferential system, and the industrial and commercial owners in the interior of the empire suppress the competitiveness of their Far Eastern counterparts through tithes and take the opportunity to dump their products in the Far Eastern market, which is equivalent to forcing the local industrialists and merchants in the Far East to go bankrupt. ”

Roland concluded, turning his head to look at his father: "The 'Club of the Awakened' is a meeting place for the industrial and commercial elite of Krasbourg, and 'tithes' must be the most nerve-wracking topic during this time, and Aunt Genia could have taken this opportunity to draw these vehemently opposed tithes into our camp, but judging by the hints she made in her letter...... It doesn't seem to be going well, what went wrong? ”

"Something unexpected happened, just this morning, Pastor Denis attended a club meeting and relayed Philip's message in public, which caused a great repercussion within the club, what do you suppose he said?" Rudolph looked around at the crowd, and finally his eyes returned to his son's face.

Roland groaned slightly, raised his head to meet his father's eyes, and his eyes were full of confidence: "If I guess correctly, Janis is making a stand to the business people of Krasburg on behalf of Archbishop Philip, he will support the gentlemen of the Club of the Awakened against the tax collectors, and he will also make a public statement at the right time to lead all the people of the Far East to unite against the tyranny of the Empire, and demand the reform of the Church and even the abolition of the heresy of the Far Easterners." ”

"You kid is indeed a little clever, and you basically guessed Philip's plan correctly." Rudolph patted his son on the shoulder and smiled with satisfaction, "It is conceivable that when Genesys broke out this remark and caused a great repercussion in the 'Club of the Awakened', many members expressed their support for the archbishop at that time, and recruited people overnight to prepare to launch a sensational tax resistance movement in the city, which made Genia in a very embarrassing situation, worried that she would lose control of the club. ”