The result of the Northwest Army's increase in trade taxes was simple, as they caused the loss or diversion of most of the caravans in the valley corridor. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Fifty percent of the commercial tax already accounts for half of the value of the goods, but the Northwest Army does not seem to take into account the cost of the caravan, and under such a heavy tax, unless it is an idiot caravan that chooses to trade through the valley corridor.

However, more caravans chose to divert their routes, since the caravan in the county town occupied by the Northwest Army is heavy, then they will make a detour through Moxi Pass from other county towns, as long as the caravan passes through the river valley corridor, the heavy taxes of the Northwest Army will not fall on their heads, right?

So it turned out that Jose's Saddland County Town became the first choice for those caravans! The Saddland County Town itself was located in the western frontier of the river valley corridor, which not only communicated the grassland and the river valley corridor, but also was an important town into the territory of Moxiguan and the Bright Empire. The other counties were controlled by the Northwest Army, and the high commercial taxes were terrifying, so the caravans naturally stayed away, which made José cheaper.

During this time, the caravans from east to west almost squeezed the county town of Sadland, and a large number of displaced people also poured into the county town in search of jobs. The slave market in the south of the city is full of people from all walks of life every day, including down-and-out samurai, tailors, servants, slave traders, and the like.

Naturally, Jose would not let go of this transaction, and he immediately ordered a relative increase in the commercial tax of the county town of Sadland, but he deliberately calculated it to maximize the tax benefits of the county, and to reach the highest level of tolerance for those merchants, so as not to scare away these merchants like the Northwest Army.

On this morning, the county treasurer Xia Er rushed to Qiao Se's county guard's mansion, and as soon as he entered the door, he shouted happily: "Lord county guard, this month's commercial tax has been counted, and it is more than 8,000 gold coins, which is almost more than the tax revenue of the whole year last year!"

When Joseph heard this, he also smiled faintly and said: "The commercial tax of the county town is only more than one percent, which is several times lower than those guys in the Northwest Army, and the county town of Sadrand is naturally more attractive to those caravans." A mere 8,000 gold coins is not much, after all, in a place like the northwest, commercial tax has always been the main tax.

And don't be too happy, hum, now the Northwest Army hasn't understood the situation yet, so it's too high to raise the business tax. But I guess that in a few days, the Northwest Army will probably also have to reduce taxes, and when the taxes of several counties are about the same, the caravans passing through Sadland will naturally think that the taxes in the county towns of Sadland are high. ”

"So what?" Charles snorted with a smile: "Our county town is at the entrance of the river valley corridor, and the caravans traveling from east to west must pass through Sadland first, otherwise it will be difficult to enter the Moxi Pass." Even if we raise the commercial tax higher than the counties of the Northwest Army, these merchants will have to pay for it obediently!"

When Joseph heard him say this, he shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Charles, you look at these things too simply. Think about it, why does the Northwest Army dare to increase and change commercial taxes at will?

The reason why the Northwest Army dared to do this was because they now had military power in their hands and the strength to divide several counties in the valley corridor. Among those caravans, in addition to the steppe and Macedonian foreign caravans, there are also many caravans within the empire! Behind those big caravans are the support of those big nobles and great families in the imperial capital, how can we be allowed to get a piece of the pie with the interests in their hands?"

"What do you mean, my lord......" Charles frowned, and couldn't help but ask suspiciously.

"The Northwest Army is digging its own grave!" Qiao Se snorted unceremoniously and said coldly: "If he really controls the commercial taxes in the Northwest, then how much profit will those big trading houses that travel to and from the Northwest lose every year, how can those noble lords be willing?

"Think about it yourself, if those noble lords hate the Northwest Army in their hearts, they will definitely instigate the empire and the Northwest Army to go to war in order to recapture the Northwest to stabilize their interests. Otherwise, as long as the Northwest Valley Corridor falls into the hands of Lonkedo, those noble families will lose more profits than a day, will they tolerate a Northwest Warlord who harms their own interests like this? Hmph, Lonketor still doesn't understand these stakes, but sooner or later they will also lower the commercial tax to envelop those caravans and appease those nobles in the imperial capital. ”

When Charles heard Jose say this, he was surprised for a long time, and then looked at him very convincingly and said: "My lord, although you are young, you are really meticulous in your mind, and I really didn't think of these things if you don't say them." You've only been in Sadrand for a little over a month, and you've solved all the problems of spring ploughing and commercial taxes, and for the months since the end of the war, the county's taxes have been in the red, and it's the first time I've seen them in these months. No wonder His Majesty the Emperor asked you to serve as the county warden of Sadland, even that guy Gould is willing to be under you, it turns out that you are such a powerful person!"

Jose shook his head and smiled, but after a moment of silence, he said: "Although this is the case, there is still not much money in the county, and I am afraid that relying on these commercial taxes and other incomes alone is still far from enough to subsidize the expenses of food and various subordinate towns.

Not to mention, after the spring ploughing, if the grain supply is insufficient, I am afraid that there will be some famine, let alone any stabilization of grain prices. So in addition to reducing expenditure, this open source means is also indispensable, after all, at the beginning of the war, the city of Sadrand is in ruins, and there are still many places that need money!"

Charles also frowned and nodded, as the financial officer of the county town of Sadland, he naturally knew what to spend in the county. At present, although spring plowing and commercial taxes are generally stable, the expenses of the county town are too large, and almost all of them rely on Joseph to throw out a large amount of money to open the way, which barely stabilizes the military and political finances of Sadland. But with the influx of people and the prosperity of commerce, there are more and more places that need to spend money, not to mention, the price of grain outside the customs has skyrocketed, even if Jose arranges tax exemption to stabilize spring ploughing, but the harvest of grain will have to wait for several months, those farmers can't afford not to eat and drink during this time, right?

There was no grain in the subordinate towns, and most of the grain could only be transported from the Guannai, because of the restrictions on the relationship between the Northwest Army, the price of grain was even more expensive. If these food problems are not solved, I am afraid that these displaced people in Sadrand County will have to be scattered. If the county guard wanted to solve these problems, he would definitely not be able to feed these hundreds of thousands of people by spending money on Jose alone, and these were the problems in front of them.