"No problem, father, it makes sense. Griffith gave Andrew a grateful look, "But I have two conditions. ”

"Tell me about it. Stone looked at Griffith suspiciously.

I haven't seen him for a few years, and my son is about to become a little fox. However, aren't all mages like that, as long as the brothers' feelings remain the same, Griffith can be better equipped with Andrew's shrewdness.

Stone has always been very satisfied with his eldest son, Andrew, a twenty-year-old level 5 warrior, but he is stronger than the baron himself when he was younger, and his future promotion to the higher ranks is almost a certainty. The only problem is that the personality is too straightforward.

When it comes to killing the enemy in battle, Andrew is naturally impeccable, but to be a good lord, he still has a lot of shortcomings. Now it seems that Griffith is a good fit to be Andrew's brain.

"The first request is that I want to reduce the tax on merchant ships to only five percent of the goods disembarked. As for the passengers and crew, each person is allowed to carry one suitcase of personal belongings, and only one silver wolf is required to pay a head tax of 1 silver wolf per person. ”

There are various commercial taxes in Titania, taking the port as an example, there used to be a berthing tax that was levied on the whole ship, and there was also a deck tax that was taxed on the deck area. The former led to the unwillingness of some small ports to anchor, because the whole ship could not be sold out in one place, but the whole ship had to be taxed according to the whole ship, which was not suitable for the merchants, and the latter gave birth to a type of ship with a bulging belly and a particularly small deck.

Nowadays, the prevailing method of taxation is to levy a proportional levy on goods landed on shore, the general rate is 10 percent, such as the case in Thousand Sails City.

Essentially, it's an import tax. As for the export tax, there is no such thing as an export tax in this era, and most of the goods transported from the inland to the port have already been subject to the transit tax several times, and there is no reason to collect it again on the ship.

"Five percent, wouldn't it be too little?" Stone was slightly stunned, he didn't expect Griffith's request to be like this. Ordinary aristocrats want the higher the tax rate, the better, but Griffith does the opposite, which seems to be quite meaningful.

In Stone's view, the demand and production of the Chishui River basin are fixed, which means that the annual volume of goods transported is basically the same, and the higher the tax rate, the more taxes the lord can collect. As long as the tax rate is not so high as to scare away businessmen, the higher the better.

"Father, low taxes are the only way to attract merchants. Griffith secretly sighed that this is really the limitation of the times! On the earth, tax incentives have always been the only way to attract investment, but this kind of thinking is too advanced for the Titania continent, which is still in a feudal society. Even if he is as shrewd as Stone, he can't understand the mystery for a while.

"If you insist, I can agree to this condition. Anyway, no matter how much you take, you can only take a third, and I believe Sir Philip will not object. In Stone's view, it will take at least thirty or forty years for the village of Hydra to develop greatly, and the current calculations and arrangements are just preventive measures, and he doesn't think there will be much benefit in this, so he casually agreed to Griffith's request.

"Considering the current situation in Hydra Village, Sir Philip and I both feel that there is no need to send a special tax collector, you can just send the account books and taxes every year. Stone said disapprovingly.

It stands to reason that since the tax is divided into three families, each family naturally has to send a special person to supervise it, but now in Hydra Village, there are only two or three merchant ships moored in a year, and whether it is the Marquis of Griffin or Stone, they can't look down on those golden dragons, so they don't bother to care.

In this regard, Griffith naturally couldn't ask for it.

"The second request is that because there is a shortage of food in Hydra village, I want the food to be tax-free, and the same goes for the fishing boats. ”

"No problem. Griffith's request sounded reasonable, but Stone didn't think much of it and simply agreed.

"Father, since Griffith's affair is finished, I wonder if I should also take the opportunity to settle the fief given to Fidel, after all, he is also 14 years old, and I can take care of it for the next two years. Andrew glanced at his two younger brothers and said.

"Brother Andrew—" Fidel was a little at a loss as he thought that his brother would suddenly bring it up.

"You have the heart, but you don't need to. Stone was full of relief, "When I return from the Levant, I'm going to let Fidel go to the Church's pioneering war." ”

Courage is the most important priesthood of the Lion God, and its church is also the most enthusiastic organization in the whole of Titania to explore the wild lands. Although not every frontier war can be fruitful, it is true that many people have obtained the status and territory of nobility through the frontier warfare.

The grown-up lion cubs must be driven out of the lion pack, which is the doctrine of the lion god that Stone believes.

Before that, it was necessary to train the lion cub and give him enough sharp minions, so Stone was in a hurry to hand over the title to Andrew, and some transactions had to be made by Stone to go to the Levant in person.

"Father, I'm against it. Andrew didn't agree with Stone's arrangement, "Our territory is so big, and there is still a lot of land to cultivate, there is no need for Fidel to take risks." And I also hope that Griffith and Fidel can be my right-hand men. ”

"No, not to mention the Carolingian barony, the entire Ilia Peninsula and even the Kingdom of Brittania are already crowded. Stone glanced at the eldest son meaningfully, and then turned to look at the second son: "Griffith, what is your opinion?"

Griffith closed his eyes and didn't speak for a long time, and Stone didn't mean to urge at all when he saw this.

Finally, as if he had made up his mind, Griffith said slowly, "I agree with my father's arrangement. ”

"Griffiths, you-" Andrew was a little anxious, he had thought Griffith was backing him.

"Father said that the whole kingdom of Brittania is already crowded, and it just so happens that I have experienced it recently. ”

"Oh, tell me about it. Stone took a sip of tea, maybe it had been left for too long and it was a little cold, but Stone didn't even frown.

"According to the information I have gathered in Thousand Sails City, in the past thirty years, the battles between the nobles of the kingdom have become more and more frequent. Like the Griffin family and the Cato family, although there is a feud, it has not been so tense before. As for the reason, Andrew, you won't be unclear. ”

"It's not because of Iron Hill. Andrew said angrily.

Ironhill is a nameless, desolate mountain terrain nestled between the domains of the Griffin and Cato families. About seven or eight years ago, a dwarven prospector discovered excellent iron ore here, and the battle between the two families has not ceased ever since. For this, the Carolingians shed no less blood.

"It is true that there is still a lot of land, even enough to be cultivated for hundreds of years, but human desires are endless. Griffithstone paused, noticing the approval in Stone's eyes, and continued with a high spirit: "I have heard the saying that for a nobleman, no inch of territory is superfluous. ”

"The best example of this is the expansion of the city walls of Thousand Sails City twenty years ago, and the new slums and fishing docks are not much space. Between Griffon's Heart City and Thousand Sails City, how many wilderness places, but will Marquis Griffin not care about the small piece of tidal flats that has been lost?"

"How could it be. Stone smiled, "If it weren't for the support of the king in Thousand Sails City, Lord Marquis would have killed him a long time ago." ”

"Father's arrangement is actually to leave a way back for our Carolingian family. Griffith looked at his father, waiting for his answer.

"That's right. Stone smiled with satisfaction, "If you two brothers lose their territory, you will have to go to Fidel as a retainer at that time." Fidel, do you have any ideas of your own?"

After listening to his father's and brother's explanation, Fidel's heart also ignited his fighting spirit: "Father, Brother Andrew, Brother Griffith, I understand. I'm going to participate in the pioneering war, and I won't disgrace you. ”

"But Fidel is still too small. Andrew still wanted to argue, but Stone glared at him fiercely: "I didn't say that I would send Fidel to the war now, do you think that I, the father, will watch my son die?"

Andrew was timid of his father's might and couldn't speak.

"Brother Andrew, if you're worried, it's good to send a few more men to help Fidel when the time comes. Griffith suggested with a smile.