Most of the tens of thousands of people in Alpine City are poor people struggling to survive, and winter is not a period of rest for them, but the most difficult day of the year, and cold and hunger are always with them, just like the people of Storm Castle before them. The only good thing they have is that they don't have the death threat of the Ice Devil.

Therefore, Duke carried out this cash-for-work action, so that these poor farmers can also have jobs and income in winter, and Storm Castle has always treated these lowest labor remuneration very favorably, and even their labor income in the past few months can be worth the income they received from their previous labor for a year, which can directly double their low income.

At the same time, Duke will also distribute things such as clothes and quilts, and even deliberately give out an extra bed, etc., so that their families can also get rid of the harsh cold this winter. After all, at the bottom of the Middle Ages, some people really did not live the kind of life, and the so-called destitute people in later generations may be stronger than some of their peasants, as long as the country's political situation is stable, they can still get a little help after all, and this era must depend on the conscience of the lord.

Duke's winter construction campaign directly allowed him to gain the cheers and support of the majority of the common people in Alpine City, and Duke's business development plan also allowed him to gain the allegiance of middle-level merchants and middle-class merchants, joining the commercial army of Storm Castle, the profit will be several times higher than the previous family workshop, and with more and more materials and products, the economic vitality of time is also more and more vigorous, people are no longer self-sufficient, and Duke's taxes have also changed significantly.

You must know that the tax revenue of Storm Castle was a backwater in the past, although it was claimed that it could eventually get about two-tenths of the income from labor. But in fact, if it is forcibly collected, many of these are some life-saving rations, not to mention that Duke can't do this kind of thing, even the lord who was messing around before Storm Fortress can't make this ruthless move.

In terms of business, because of poverty, there is basically no commercial circulation, so naturally don't think about how much commercial tax there is, and even this commercial tax can only barely maintain the relief and supply in winter. All the economic income of the entire Storm Castle will basically rely on the income from selling magic crystals in the mines, anyway, at that time, Storm Castle didn't need magic crystals to do anything big, just sell them all outside.

That is, this magic crystal can be regarded as saving the life of Storm Castle, otherwise it is estimated that even the city lord guard and the border knights will not be able to raise it, as long as there are two ice demons, they can directly surrender to the rhythm.

Only when the money is circulated is it called wealth, and what Duke has to do now is to use productivity and infrastructure to make the entire Stormcastle territory fully rich, at least with a little spare money in hand to buy things, so that Alpine City can have enough taxes.

Otherwise, with the expansion of Storm Fort's territory, it is still dependent on the Storm Merchant to maintain and subsidize, which is not a long-term solution after all, and in the end, the economy will not be able to escape the collapse after all, and it may be more difficult to do so now, but it will be worth more in the future.

In addition to cash-for-work to improve the living standards of the people at the bottom, Duke also intends to change the world's tax system, that is, to implement a ladder tax. To put it simply, as in later generations, the richer the higher the proportion of taxes, and the poor people tried to reduce their taxes as much as possible.

This method of taxation is a relatively fair way, but the flaw is actually obvious, that is, this world is a world ruled by the aristocracy, and it is simply impossible to make the nobles bleed. And the humanitarianism in this world is not so strong, it is not a derogatory term for the rich, and there is not even such a word, the nobles think that they should be born nobler than the commoners and slaves, so it is simply impossible to let the nobles pay high taxes to subsidize the commoners.

But Duke knows that the final collapse of a dynasty or empire begins with the collapse of the edifice from the bottom, and the main reason for the collapse of the bottom is that it will not survive. Ensuring the survival of the people at the bottom is to protect the foundation of a territory or empire, and this truth was actually understood by many founding emperors, and it could be implemented smoothly under the guarantee of strong military power.

However, once the dynasty ended, the big landlords and the aristocracy began to kidnap the royal family, and the exploitation began to become more and more serious, and the gap between the rich and the poor also increased greatly. Fortunately, the peasants of the Middle Ages were patient enough, and the sense of the country was not strong, so the peasants could not get mixed up in this territory, and they could go to other territories or empires to live.

Otherwise, in this kind of life, there is no hope for the imperial examination system to climb up, in other words, the peasants in ancient China have already rebelled against the prince and general Xiangning, anyway, Lao Tzu has no way to live, and everyone who is against him should not live.

Duke had to take advantage of his absolute authority now to start a tiered tax system, officially collecting money from some wealthy people in Stormcastle and Alpine City. As soon as this news was released, there was a great shock and repercussions in the two places, even Storm Castle, which Duke had been operating for several years.

In the face of this situation of resistance, Duke also understood that if he wanted to defeat the Holy See in the future, he must not stand in opposition with the landlord class of this world, that is, all the nobles and lords.

Therefore, gamblers finally adopted some relatively mild methods, such as the tax ratio is not as exaggerated as that of later generations, but relatively speaking, it is a little higher, and this tax ratio is more on business, and for agriculture to try to adopt a policy of supporting low taxes to ensure the most basic food production problems.

Moreover, all kinds of propaganda and big-character posters in Storm Castle were posted to make those nobles understand that the purpose of collecting taxes now is to create a better homeland, and launch a public opinion offensive. Of course, the more important point is that Duke has completely controlled the Storm Army, even if there are people in these two territories who are dissatisfied, under Duke's reputation and power, there is no way to make any resistance.

However, this complaint was only for a while, because as Stormcastle's commerce and production efficiency changed, these nobles and merchants found themselves making more money than they had been, even if they paid more taxes. At the same time, Duke also canceled the previous checkpoints that greatly hindered commercial circulation, making it several times easier for merchants to transport and sell at least in the entire Stormcastle territory, and the increase in taxes not only did not decrease but increased, so naturally there was nothing to say.