Fog is the southern border of Coldwind City. After the intersection of the town, it is considered the territory of the Banshee Castle Butch family. But now there are dozens of carriages blocking the intersection and can't pass, just because there are tax officials from the Buchi family on the opposite side to guard them.

Powell and Johnson only brought a wooden box, and it was easy to detour or mix around. However, it was difficult to detour the bulk goods transported by horse-drawn carriages, because there was only such a convenient trade route between the north and the south.

There are more and more horse-drawn carriages blocking at the intersection, and the atmosphere is becoming more and more anxious.

Just across the line of the roadcar, the tax collector and the heavily armed tax team are watching each other. On the other side were the transit caravans shouting and neighing, asking each other for news.

Several merchants have a background in the Banshee Castle. They tried to argue with the tax collector who set up the card for intercession and even bribery, but when they saw the official badge of the Buch family, they all turned off.

The news spread that the card collection was an order given by the patriarch Friedman, and that it was also carried out by the family lineage. This group of people doesn't give face to anyone, and they have to pay if they want to pass.

Powell and Johnson looked at each other for this, and they were going to continue south in a carriage. For each day of delay, the daily interest rate of the loan sharks compresses their profits.

"What the hell is going on? Why did you suddenly set up a card to collect taxes? Powell didn't choose to take a detour immediately, but asked the caravan coming from the Banshee Fortress in Fog Town.

A caravan leader escorted food over and paid a high tax to pass through the checkpoint. He scolded angrily in the tavern of Fog Town, and incidentally introduced the news of the Banshee Castle.

"Grain, cloth, salt and other goods that want to go north must pay 100% tariffs, and southbound iron, glass, wood, medicines, and materials must also pay 100% tariffs. The Buch family took stock of all the bestsellers, and the taxes were hateful.

In order to collect taxes, the Banshee Castle dispatched a team of thousands of people to set up cards along the way. You've bypassed the checkpoints in Fog Town, and you'll have to check your tax receipts for Stone Town and the Banshee Castle for entering it.

If it is found that there is no tax payment certificate, it will be judged as illegal entry, and not only the goods will be confiscated, but also a heavy fine.

Who wants to pay this 100% tax? I couldn't help it, I couldn't even go back, and I was forced to pay taxes. The follow-up merchants were frightened and refused to transport goods to the north, all looking at the limelight. ”

The leader of the caravan must have made a trip in vain and cursed in the tavern for a long time. The inquirers circled him and whispered to him.

The bar owner stood behind the bar and was deeply dissatisfied with the mess. He grabbed a war hammer and banged it on the countertop,

"Be quiet, isn't it just a direct cut off of trade routes? This is always the case, when have you merchants ever been afraid? Wouldn't it be nice to take a detour from other cities? ”

The leader of the complaining caravan was even angrier, and he slapped the table and continued to scold: "The hateful thing is that the other cities of the Northland have united this time, and any goods transported to Coldwind City are taxed heavily. The tax paid for the detour will only be more. ”

The uproar intensified, and the discussion in the tavern became more and more chaotic. Powell felt that this matter was going to get out of control, and Coldwind City would never sit idly by and watch itself be besieged, and maybe there would be another war.

For the past six months, hundreds of horse-drawn wagons have been transporting goods for Coldwind City every day in the Northlands. Merchants of all sizes made super-profits in it, and now the sudden closure of trade routes is killing them.

Many people excitedly expressed their desire to petition the lord of Hugo, asking him to send troops to destroy the tax cards along the way and break this unreasonable tax policy.

The merchants were in a state of agitation, and the idea was widely accepted. It's just that the boss behind the bar snorted coldly and sneered: "Just because you people want to provoke a war? Is it possible?

Isn't it the norm for aristocrats to block the road and set up cards to collect taxes? How does the Longlegs collect your taxes? How many tax collectors have guarded you along the way? Forgot so quickly? ”

This kind of taunt was too slap in the face, but it made the tavern quiet for a while.

Zhou Qingfeng wanted to promote commercial development, and after taking the city, he revoked most of the tax cards in the territory, and only retained the tax institutions that entered Cold Wind City, and the tax rate was also very low. There is no tax at all on urgently needed goods, such as food.

Roads were also built around Coldwind City, and troops were dispatched to eliminate bandits and local forces to ensure a well-developed and convenient logistics network. Merchants lived very comfortably within their borders.

It is normal to leave the territory of Cold Wind City, set up cards everywhere, pay taxes everywhere, and be slaughtered everywhere. Local rulers were free to levy taxes as they pleased, and merchants had to put costs on the end consumer.

The barkeeper told the truth, and the merchants were silenced.

Powell pushed aside a few crowds, walked up to the drunken caravan leader, and asked in a low voice, "Sir, how is the situation in the Banshee Castle now?" Why is such a heavy tax suddenly imposed? ”

The caravan leader's goods were delivered to the convoy of Coldwind City in Dense Fog Town, and nothing happened afterwards. Hearing the inquiry, he turned his head with a pair of fish-bubble eyes and let out a snort.

"Why is it taxed? Because neither the blacksmiths nor the carpenters of the Banshee Castle can survive. The two blacksmith shops run by the Butch family themselves have been out of business for two months.

The family blacksmith either changed careers or sneaked north to find work. Carpenters were even more miserable, there was no shortage of carpenters in the north, only large quantities of processed wooden goods were dumped.

At first, it was only simple processed wood panels, and later it was all kinds of finished furniture. In the end, even the timber for building a house can be shipped, and the price is very cheap. Some carpenters were forced to hang themselves.

The nobles of the city did not care whether the carpenters lived or died, and they would never buy local goods because they felt that the goods brought from the north were cheap and useful. ”

The chatter in the tavern was a little louder, and many of the merchants were in the timber business, and they were in full agreement with this situation - the timber in the north was transported more than 200 kilometers, and it was cheaper than the timber cut and processed in the south.

This is true not only of Banshee Castle, but of the entire Northlands. Not to mention carpenters, even lumberjacks don't work.

But no matter how much you hate it, if you want to find a job, you still have to run to Coldwind City, and if you can't be a carpenter, you can do something else. If you stay locally, you will really starve to death, or be forced to death by the loan sharks in the business.

The caravan leader continued, "Now many of the shops in the Banshee Castle have closed down and gone bankrupt. Only the grain merchants and cloth merchants who did the business in the north were making a lot of money. They sold all the food to Coldwind City, causing the price of the Banshee Castle's own food to skyrocket.

The Buchi family has put a lot of effort into lowering food prices in the past six months. Behind the merchants who sold the grain were all aristocrats, and the general means were ineffective at all.

The price of grain in the north was twice as high as in the south, and merchants were reluctant to sell their grain in Banshee Castle. Patriarch Friedman was probably in a hurry. If he doesn't make a move, the Banshee Castle itself will collapse due to lack of food. ”

Food wars are more ferocious than sword wars, and the slightest carelessness is famine.

The caravan leader took the last sip of his toast and slammed the large wooden glass against the countertop. He taunted the barkeeper:

"You think you can't afford to fight? Wait, this time it's more dangerous than you think. Maybe another long-legged family is going to be finished. ”