An arrow sank into Rook's arm, stopping his falling axe. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"Huh?"

Then the rain of arrows rained down, knocking down the pirates on the side of the ship one by one like a divine soldier descending from the sky.

"It's Tiha's Nord Navy!"

"We're saved!"

The guards cheered.

In the distance, more than a dozen huge warships were approaching.

Puff~ In the blink of an eye, Rook was hit by two more arrows in his thigh.

has always been not afraid of pain, and the demon god-like Rook actually frowned.

"Oh?~ Looks like someone wants to give you one more chance to play with me. ”

Rook's blood had stained his muscular body a blinding bright red, and his face had turned unusually pale from the blood loss.

Rao is so weak, he is still full of intoxication, "It's so comfortable, this feeling of pain all over my body is the best... Hee-hee-hee... This is the battle!"

He slowly leaned closer to Toria's ear and said with a wry smile, "I'm looking forward to your next performance." With great difficulty, he tore off the arrow, staggered off the deck, and shouted, "Retreat!!"

The pirates were ordered to resist the attacks of the guards in an orderly manner in the rain of arrows, and then withdrew to the dragon's head warship, and sailed away in less than five minutes.

Bleeding, losing strength, and being wounded, Toria could only continue to hold her sword and kneel, panting as she watched the Nord ships approaching in the distance.

No, it's obviously a standard warship of the Nord Royal Navy, but it doesn't have King Ragnar's Night Raven flag.

A little off!

As the ship approached, the bridge was quickly put on the bridge, and a young man in a blue and purple costume paced across the bridge with a sad expression, his right hand touched his chest, and said slowly in that calm voice: "O people of Odin, the Lord God has sent me to relieve you and other unwarranted disasters."

"Now that the wickedness has gone away, God will bless you!"

One of the guards asked curiously, "How do you address Your Excellency?"

"This Lord is the Great Prophet His Excellency Lesven. A handsome young man in full armor followed from behind, smiling and replying.

"The Prophet had a premonition that disaster was about to happen in this area, so he led us to patrol the area, but luckily we were able to make it. ”

Tolia didn't even have the strength to raise her head, but she felt a strange incongruity, and the smile and behavior of the young man in front of her were filled with an inexplicable sense of disobedience.

Toria shook her head slightly, trying to clear her head, but a wave of dizziness immediately came, and her eyes went dark.

Before fainting, the young man's voice continued to say, "My name is Perel, welcome to the Holy Nord Empire!"

King Ragnar threw the report to the ground in a fit of rage, and the courier broke out in a cold sweat of terror.

"What bullshit Holy Nord Empire is, it's just a bunch of damned rebels!Lesven, you cursed ghost!!You really deserve to be thrown into the Heim Underworld, never to turn over!!" King Ragnar cursed, ignoring the courtiers.

"It's only been three months! Cherbek Castle, Khrusburg, and Tiha have all fallen one after another! The bravest warriors on the whole continent can't help a group of traitors!?"

Eden, who was nearly forty years old, hurriedly came out and reported: "Your Majesty is angry, Cherbek and Herus have always been unpopular with the people, and their lords Borba and Diri have long been rebellious, and they have opened the door and surrendered after less than ten days of siege.

"What a defeat before a fight! How do you explain the battle of Natiha!?" King Ragnar hated others to shirk responsibility the most in his life, and Eden, as the generalissimo of counterinsurgency, had been defeated repeatedly since the beginning of the war, and he still had no sense of self-blame, which could not help but make him very angry.

"This... Eden broke out in a cold sweat: "The rebels are cunning, first luring us to pursue with hundreds of remnants, and when we chased to the dense forest near Hain, there were already thousands of rebels in ambush here, and the old minister desperately broke through, only to find that the damned rebels had already divided their troops to take Tiha... It's the minister's carelessness. ”

"Careless!?" King Ragnar roared, "I'm afraid that you have suffered defeats in a row, and you are eager to make a contribution, so you will send out the whole army, causing the city of Tiha to be empty!!"

Seeing that King Ragnar knew everything about it, Eden quickly knelt on the ground: "It's the minister's fault, please be gracious to Your Majesty!"

"I announce that with immediate effect, the post of Generalissimo Eden will be abolished, and you can immediately unload your armor and return to the field.

The two guards immediately trotted into the hall and carried Eden, who was already weak-footed, out.

"Ciel!" King Ragnar looked at the royal staff on the side, "What do you think?"

"Your Majesty, do you want to listen to the root cause or the symptoms?" replied Hill with a smile.

Hill was about twenty-five years old, with brownish-red hair tied into a ponytail hanging down the back of his head, and his eyes were not large, and he naturally narrowed into a line when he laughed. No matter what situation he faces, he can smile so leisurely and smugly, which makes people feel more friendly.

Hill graduated from the military academy in Nord and traveled to Calradia to rise from a small staff member to the king's chief royal staff officer within three years. Now Hill has gone against the norm of answering questions, which means that there is something contradictory in his answers, and he hopes that the king will be prepared.

How could King Ragnar not know what Hill meant, and said in a deep voice: "I only seek a cure for the root cause, but it doesn't hurt to talk about it!"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Hill nodded, and said, "If you want to cure the root cause, you must first know where the root is." ”

"Borba and Dirigang were originally close ministers of the previous king, and after His Majesty ascended the throne, he sealed them in a corner, and naturally there was resentment, which is understandable. But the lord does not represent the subjects, so why did the rebels respond everywhere they went, and seven or eight out of ten peasants joined the army, and in just one month, the number of rebels rose from the original 300 to 2,200?"

King Ragnar nodded: "I've also heard that they are preaching a new religion everywhere, portraying Lesven as a prophet, and under his leadership there will be a religious kingdom where everyone is equal and well-fed, so it's no wonder that the hillbillies are rushing to it." ”

Hill shook his head: "No, Your Majesty, you only know one thing but not the other, if the people can have food and clothing, how can they pin their hopes on this illusory pursuit?

The Minister of Finance replied in a panic: "My lord, the total is three thousand six hundred and sixty thousand dinars." ”

"Oh, good!" Hill took out a piece of parchment from his robe: "This is the list of taxes I have collected from Tiha's field investigation, and in my country's standard, the agricultural tax is 20 percent, the commercial tax is 30 percent, and the customs duty and turnover tax are 1 and a half each! But the agricultural tax and the commercial tax in Tiha alone have been doubled! In addition, more than 20 miscellaneous taxes, such as marriage tax, water source tax, and poll tax, have been added. ”

"This situation has occurred in every township and town across the country, come and bring up the account books!"

Boom~ A large box of ledgers was carried up by the guards.

Hill was still smiling, and slowly opened a book: "This is the tax overview that I sent people to summarize and count according to the tax rates in various places, according to the display of this general ledger, my country's tax this year is at least 80 million dinars, dare to ask Lord Siras, where did the rest of the money go?!"

Silas's legs trembled, and from time to time she secretly glanced at King Ragnar: "This, this。。。。。 ”

Hill turned to the king and said loudly: "My king is wise, the root of the rebellion is here, the heavy taxes are getting heavier, the people are not able to make a living, so that thieves will swarm, these corrupt officials and corrupt officials, privately withholding taxes, so that the treasury is empty, how can this organize an army to resist foreign enemies? If this continues, I am afraid that it will not be far from the country that will be destroyed!

In recent years, the war on the border has become more and more tight, and the lords everywhere are in urgent need of a large amount of money to fill the military arsenal. However, the tax rate of the country has long been agreed, and if there is a sudden and drastic change, it is only natural that the ministers in charge of internal affairs will do their best to oppose it. Therefore, at the beginning of tax evasion, King Ragnar even acquiesced, but he did not expect that after several years of development, it would become more and more lawless, leading to today's situation.

There is some truth in saying that this is the root of the rebellion, but Hill has long been aware of this matter, and has always complained about it, but because this matter involves the king's own interests, he has not dared to write a book, and this time he is afraid that he wants to reform the tax system along the way. That's it, counterinsurgency is important, everything else can be put aside, and this matter should be taken care of.

The king slowly opened his eyes: "How does Aiqing think this matter should be handled?"

Hill lifted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, and said expressionlessly: "Behead the finance minister to show the public, all the financial officials directly under the central government of all localities will be dismissed, and a notice will be issued, and the taxes will be unified across the country, and all taxes will be reduced by half on the original basis!"

Smack~ Silasi's face was as earthy as she was, and she fainted in fright.

King Ragnar bowed slightly, "What about military deployment?"

Hill got his wish, and naturally he was full of confidence, paced to the map and said: "Your Majesty, please see, the thief general Perel can be described as a clever plan! Now that the thieves have occupied the three cities, the next movement will definitely be Fort Gyelberg and Fort Ruda, and after taking the two cities, they will take the Jels River as the boundary with us, and fight against the danger of the rivers and mountains." ”

"The top priority must be to stick to Jerberg, and it only takes one day to send troops from Rudaburg, but ~"

King Ragnar picked up: "But Ruda is also a close minister of the previous king, and he has not been to court today, so I am afraid that he has already defected, right?"

Hill nodded: "So we have to prepare for the worst, that is, we will send troops to help defend Jerberg! Even if Ruda defects, we can cut off the passage between the two, first flank Ruda, and then gradually advance, and fight a protracted war with the rebels, with the reform of the tax system and the extension of time, the people's will will naturally return to our side, and the people's will will naturally collapse!"

Speaking of this, Hill couldn't help frowning, this plan is not foolproof, I'm afraid-

"Alright, that's it!" King Ragnar smiled, as if Lesbian and Perel had been taken to the meat of his predecessor, and waved his hand: "Bring a thousand elites at once—"

"Report !!" The herald's announcement interrupted the king's edict.

Ciel's brow tightened.

As I expected, you are truly a vulture hovering over the war, refusing to let go of even the slightest opportunity!

"Cesara Harungos of Svadia has invaded our border with 700 troops!

Hill smiled with relief, what is coming is always coming, so let's see the highs and lows.

Sword of Svadia!!