Three months later, Coldwater. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

A carriage drove slowly in the city of cold waters, Meng Fan sat in the carriage with the tax collector Tiberius and the dark mage Mar Saha, and the guard composed of more than a hundred territorial soldiers escorted the carriage of the lord lord, and Bogula and Gruya rode horses on both sides of the carriage.

Cold Water City and Black Rock City belong to Meng Fan's territory, Meng Fan usually stays in the Black Rock City Lord's Mansion, and Cold Water City is managed by his officials, and every once in a while Meng Fan will personally come to Cold Water City to inspect.

The windows on both sides of the carriage were open, and Meng Fan looked out the windows at both sides of the street.

"Welcome, Lord Claude..." "May the God of Light protect you forever, Lord Claude..."

Meng Fan smiled in the carriage and beckoned to the people on both sides of the street. "Lord Claude, the people of Coldwater City respect and love you very much. Mar Saha, the dark mage sitting in the carriage, said with a smile.

"Of course they love Lord Claude, who has reduced nearly forty percent of the people's taxes. Tiberius, the tax collector sitting next to Meng Fan, spoke.

Half a year ago, Meng Fan issued an order that all the people in the two territories of Blackstone City and Cold Water City would be exempted from the obligation to pay taxes as long as their annual income was less than ten gold coins.

Nearly forty percent of the people in Blackstone City and Coldwater City earn less than ten gold coins a year, and most of these people are farmers, who make a living from farming, and their income is very low, but in the past, they had to pay twenty percent of the taxes to the lord.

Soon after Meng Fan became the lord, he directly exempted these low-income people from paying taxes, and these people were full of gratitude to the lord.

Of course not, Meng Fan also formulated the second regulation, Meng Fan ordered an increase in taxes of 10% for those who earned more than 500 gold coins a year.

Most of the people in Blackstone City and Coldwater City who can earn more than 500 gold coins a year are manor owners or wealthy merchants in the city, and these people have less than 200 people in total, but even the tax increase of 10% to these 200 people is enough to make up for the tax of the 40% of the low-income people who are exempted.

The step-by-step taxation method used by Meng Fan was learned from the earth, exempting low-income people from taxation and increasing taxes on high-income groups.

The tax collector Tiberius was worried about these two regulations formulated by Meng Fan, and Tiberius was worried that imposing an extra 10% tax on the nobles and wealthy merchants might cause dissatisfaction and even hatred among these people.

But Meng Fan didn't care, "Tiberius, I may have touched the interests of a small number of people and made them unhappy, but there are many more people who have benefited from my tax plan, if those nobles and rich businessmen dare to offend me because of this, then they can try, I don't need to do anything at all, I just need to name a few nobles or rich businessmen who are dissatisfied with the tax plan, and those people who respect and love me will break into his home and tear them to pieces." Meng Fan said to Tiberius.

Tiberius knew that what Meng Fan said was reasonable, now Meng Fan's prestige in the hearts of the people is very high, those poor people who have benefited because of Meng Fan's measures are willing to do anything for the lord, Meng Fan is simply the embodiment of benevolence, generosity, and kindness in the eyes of the poor people, in the Kingdom of Gilgias, there has never been a lord who has exempted the people from taxes, but Meng Fan has set a precedent.

Soon, the carriage drove outside a mansion in Coldwater, which was once the Lord's Mansion of Coldwater, now known as the Administrator's Residence.

After the death of the previous lord of Coldwater City, Kalia, Coldwater City was incorporated into Meng Fan's territory, and Meng Fan sent a man named Hanold to manage this territory, Hannold has a lot of power in Coldwater City, taxation, army deployment, security in the city, Hanold can be managed, but Hanold cannot be called a lord.

Hanold was only an official under Meng Fan, and Hanold needed to obey all of Meng Fan's orders, and even the mansion where Hanold lived and handled affairs was no longer called the Lord's Mansion, but was converted into an administrative residence.

The lord's carriage was parked outside the administrative mansion, and several key officials from Hannold and Coldwater City were waiting outside the mansion, and Meng Fan got out of the carriage.

"Lord Claude. Hanold and the others bowed to Meng Fan together, "Hmm" Meng Fan smiled and nodded to Hanold and other officials in Coldwater City, and then walked into the administrative mansion accompanied by Tiberius, Marsaha, Bogula, and Gruya.

In the council hall of the administrative residence of Coldwater City, Lord Meng Fan sat above, and Hanold, the administrator of Coldwater City, reported to Meng Fan a series of situations such as taxes, fields, and people's lives in the territory.

"Well, Hannold, you've done a good job. Meng Fan smiled and nodded after listening to Hannold's report, Meng Fan had already learned about Hannold's performance in Coldwater City from Tiberius's mouth, and Hannold's report was just a formality.

Meng Fan nodded to Tiberius standing beside him, and Tiberius stepped forward, "Lord Hannold, how many people are in the territory army in Coldwater City now?" Tiberius spoke.

"Lord Tiberius, at present, the territory army of Coldwater City has 300 cavalry, infantry, and archers, and there are more than 2,500 people in total, according to Lord Claude's request, I have recruited another 1,000 recruits in the territory, and now the territory army in Coldwater City has about 3,800 people. Hannold replied.

"Lord Hannold, Lord Lord wants to transfer this territorial army to Blackstone City, and combine the territorial army of Coldwater City with the territory army of Blackstone City. Tiberius said.

"Combine the armies of the two cities!" Hannold's look of surprise, "That's right, in the future, this combined army will be stationed in Blackstone City, under the command of Lord Bogula." Tiberius stretched out his hand and gestured to Bogura, the city defense officer of Blackstone City, who was standing nearby.

"But, Lord Tiberius, if the territory army of Coldwater City and the territory army of Blackstone City are combined, then Coldwater City will not have a defense. Hannold said hesitantly.

"Hannold, there are only less than 4,000 territorial soldiers in Coldwater City, and this number of troops is simply vulnerable in the face of a strong enemy. Tiberius explained.

After listening to Tiberius's words, Hannod quickly nodded, "I follow the wishes of my lord. Hannold saluted, he was just an administrator in Coldwater City, an official who did things for the lord, and since the lord had already decided, Hannold had no power to change it.

"Hannold, in view of your outstanding performance in managing Coldwater City over the past year, Lord Claude has decided to reward you with five hundred acres of land under Cuizhu Mountain in the south of Coldwater City. Tiberius announced his reward for Hanold, the administrator of Coldwater.

"Thank you, Lord Claude, for your generosity. Hanald bowed down with joy on his face and thanked the lord.