"You mean, start with the commercial tax to collect the funds for the governance of the town?"

José frowned, but remembered that when he first entered Sadland, there were indeed many steppe caravans dressed as aliens at the gate of the city. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"During this war in the northwest, the steppe people not only took the opportunity to repeatedly harass the imperial army, but even dared to invade the army of the imperial duke Ellios.

Besides, the empire has been at war with the steppe people over the years, especially in this Moxi Province, I don't know how many times it has been invaded and plundered by the steppe people!

In the northwest war more than 20 years ago, if it weren't for the 300,000 troops commanded by the then Duke Ellios and broke the army of the steppe people in the Tadam Desert, I am afraid that Moxi would have been lost to the empire long ago.

Even so, the hatred between the military and the people of the northwest and the grassland people has lasted for hundreds of years, and the two sides do not know how much blood has been shed and how many lives have been killed and injured for this, and this hatred may have already been integrated into the blood.

Therefore, here in the northwest, the commercial tax for those alien races has always been higher than the tax of the imperial caravan, although such a move often makes those steppe people dissatisfied, but Moxi is in the hands of the empire, and they want to exchange things like ceramics, silk and iron from the empire, and they can only pass through the northwest.

It's just that over the years, the steppe people have gradually recovered from the northwest war twenty years ago, so there has been more friction with the empire in recent years. Not to mention, in this Northwest War, although the steppe people did not openly help the Macedonians to invade Moxi, they did not make any more ghosts in it!

Hmph, otherwise, how could the Macedonian army cross the Gelqin steppe so calmly?"

"What you mean is that there is equal emphasis on agribusiness and commercial taxation to provide tax revenue and funds for the resumption of agriculture. I don't have any problems with these, but if spring plowing resumes at the moment, there are still more things needed, farm tools, grain seeds, and there should still be some grain in the treasury of the county town of Sadland, which can be allocated to subordinate towns.

But there are not many live animals like cattle and horses, and it is probably not realistic for me to feed the hundreds of thousands of people in Saddland County with my family alone. So the first thing to be solved now is the food problem, but Moxi has just experienced a war, and Turan Province has never been a grain-producing area, so if you buy grain from the empire and ship it back, I am afraid that the cost will be a lot of expenses......"

Jose pondered for a moment, but hesitated a little, the current Sadland itself is a mess, short of food and soldiers, and even the population is moving out. No wonder tens of thousands of people in the Northwest Army can garrison troops outside the pass, and easily occupy the river valley corridor of thousands of miles, in addition to the strong military strength of the Northwest Army, I am afraid that more of it is the vast and sparsely populated land of Moxi, and there are not many troops to compete at all, even the governor of Sistine, the provincial governor, can only use food to contain the power of the Northwest Army?

Thinking of this, Jose's eyes suddenly lit up, and he couldn't help but touch his nose and muttered: "Sophia, do you think if I ask for help from the Governor's Mansion and ask this guy Sistine to send food to Sadland, do you think this matter is feasible?"

"You mean, go to the Governor's Mansion to ask for food?" Sophia couldn't help frowning a little when she heard this.

"Why not? Lao Tzu doesn't want the central government to ask for money, it's not too much to ask for some food, right?" Qiao Se snorted, and a little eagerness flashed in his eyes: "When I came, this old boy Sistine has been courting me, and he also gave me three hundred sets of infantry armor, and he can be regarded as a well-informed guy."

And this kind of thing is not something that a small county guard of mine can do, there are tens of thousands of Northwest Army in the river valley corridor, I can only be cautious, and he must give some food to him at this time, right? Otherwise, I, the Viscount of Sadland, can only rely on the snort of the Northwest Army at that time, I'm afraid that His Majesty in the imperial capital will not want to see it, right?"

"In this way, maybe this path is feasible, but according to Sistine's temperament, even if he is willing to give you food, I am afraid it will not be too much. After all, you are now Viscount Sadland, according to the normal system, you should ask the Northwest Army for food, but I am afraid that you will not take this road, according to the current situation of the Northwest Army, there will definitely be no extra food for you!"

"You're wrong! Not only do we have to go to the Governor's Mansion to ask for food, but we also have to go to the Northwest Army to ask for food, speaking of which, I've been in Sadland for so long, and I haven't reported to the Northwest Army's base camp, so it's always bad......

"My lord, do you want to go to the military camp of the Northwest Army? As far as I know, the main army garrisoned by Longkeduo is in a county not far from Moxi Pass, that is, the important town outside the pass, Moduo County, you said that you want to go to the Northwest Army to ask for food?" Sophia was a little surprised, but quickly frowned and said: "My lord, what do you mean, don't you want to test the attitude of the Northwest Army, or do you know that you can't get food, but you just deliberately go to the Northwest Army to temporarily show weakness to paralyze them?"

"You are indeed very smart, yes, most of what you said is what I think in my heart, but this is also secondary, I want to go to the Northwest Army barracks to have a look, purely out of curiosity, I want to know the attitude of Lonkedo, and I also want to know the attitude of the Northwest Army. And it is also appropriate to show weakness, before I am strong enough, it is undoubtedly a very stupid move to rashly put myself on the opposite side of the Northwest Army.

Before, in the city of Sadland, I had a hard fight with that Gray commander, but it was just forced by the situation, after all, in the northwest, some soft you must obey, but blindly hiding yourself and blindly retreating will not work. If you take a step back, others will go further until they push themselves to the edge of a cliff, so sometimes you have to do a combination of hard and soft.

When I first took office, I had to be tough, otherwise not only would I not be able to deter Gray's Northwest Army, but even the ordinary soldiers and civilians in the county town of Sadland would think that my county guard was too wasteful. But just blindly going head-to-head with the Northwest Army is not a smart person's approach, so I'll give that guy Gray military expenses, which is a signal, even if he doesn't understand, but those Northwest Army behind him will understand.

'I don't want to fight against you, but I don't want to be bullied by you!'

This is the attitude I want to express to the Northwest Army, that when hard things are done, you must always be soft, and this is what smart people do, isn't it?

Sophia heard Joseph say this, and her eyes showed a somewhat solemn look, and the girl was stunned for a moment before she couldn't help laughing:

"Lord Jose, you are really interesting, you look like a young man in your twenties, you should be a hot-blooded and impulsive age, but you can control your emotions so freely, calm and shrewd like an old man of seventy or eighty years old, I am really surprised!"