After listening to Edward's request, the messengers, who were still in pain, were all stunned at once, and then signed their names on the agreement that Edward took out with a burst of joy, and even stamped the seal on it as if they were afraid that Edward would change his mind.

Only Charlie hesitated for a moment, looking at the agreement, which seemed to be a little thin and not even full of parchment, as if there was some hidden secret on it. After hesitating for a long time, looking at the colleagues who were already staring at him impatiently, he had no choice but to sigh, write his name on it, and stamp it.

The elated fellows all promised Edward that in three days at the earliest, all the taxes to be paid for the year would be sent to the fort - or, if Edward wished, the money could be exchanged for all the necessary supplies, and that they would remove the barricades on the trade routes as soon as possible and restore the flow of traffic.

As for Edward's share of the forty hundreds, all the towns were to be distributed according to their size, and all of them were to report to the fort within a week - almost all of them had organized guards before, so it was not very difficult to make up these young men.

At this point, the entire Green River Valley reached an agreement with Edward, and became his most stable source of troops and money - at least for now, Edward, who only owned one fortress, still had time to slowly turn the entire Green River Valley into a rear base camp, firmly controlled by himself.

Watching the messengers leave, the silver-haired wizard looked playfully at the grimacing clerk Virgil Brutus. Especially the other party's expression of wanting to speak and stopping. The corners of his mouth are almost to his ears.

"Why are you smiling like that?" asked Edward without raising his head. With Marco Tasker, he has always been extremely casual - he must not be serious about dealing with this kind of guy.

"Uh...... is waiting. Marco raised his eyebrows mockingly, and craned his shoulders: "Wait until a certain conscientious clerk finally intends to speak!"

Looking at those eyes full of ridicule, Virgil, the clerk who had just forced his composure, was suddenly embarrassed, and quickly explained to himself: "I, I just don't want to disturb Lord Edward, after all, these are just some of my superficial opinions." It's really not a good time to ...... at this time."

"If there's anything you want to say, just ask. Edward's gaze still did not take off the account in his hand, and said faintly, "You are my clerk - if even you are not willing to tell the truth, who will?"

"Thank you for your trust. The registrar, who had been reassured, breathed a sigh of relief, but the embarrassment on his face did not diminish a little: "But with all due respect, are you too nice to these guys?"

Seeing Edward's disapproving expression, Virgil was a little depressed - he actually made sense to think so, because if it was really strictly according to the laws of the kingdom, the chief flag officer was right.

But this is a green valley, a vast land - even some of the smaller lords in the south do not fully comply with this rule. Only one-tenth of the tax is drawn. Most of them are different criteria and clever names. The way is even more varied. In the direct territories of the kingdom, it was possible to adhere to this criterion, and only to levy high taxes on the large propertied nobles, but in the south it was often raised to one-fifth or one-quarter.

In the far less fertile lands of the south and west, even a half tax was not uncommon, and even during the reign of the Duke of Berrion, the tax to be paid in the Green Valley was even more than half at one point, not counting the "tribute" such as leather, timber, and slaves.

So it's not hard to understand why those people are ecstatic - how can they be unhappy when they thought they were going to bleed profusely, but in the end they were even better off than before? The only person who was worried was Virgil, and such a small amount of money could only ensure that the legion could break even, and it was far from enough for Edward to really grow stronger.

"You are the chief flag officer of His Royal Highness Anson, even if you are good to the people of the Green River Valley, this place is not under your rule, so why bother?" The clerk was very distressed: "Anyway, after so many years, even if you want to collect a third of the tax, they will only be happy, and they will not dare to complain at all." ”

"First of all, a tenth of the tax is already a lot - I am the chief flag officer, not the treasurer of His Highness Anson and have no right to rule, and I will be hated for looting too harshly. Edward slowly closed the account and explained calmly: "What's more, I really don't need much money now, it is enough to be able to maintain a balance and expand slowly." ”

This "explanation", which was not an explanation, did not completely convince Virgil, and the clerk had to retire with his accounts - the financial resources were too small, and his "steward" of the regiment was naturally more difficult and burdened.

"Why didn't you tell him the real reason?" Marco Tasker scratched his head a little and looked at the departing clerk a little strangely: "It's not some secret secret, is it?"

"If he can find out, or...... Prove your loyalty to me. Edward smiled and glanced at the silver-haired wizard with a somewhat playful look, "What do you say, my loyal Marco Tasker?"

"Of course!" the silver-haired wizard smiled and nodded, as if he hadn't caught the slightest hint of sarcasm in Edward's tone, "I'll keep an eye on our dear clerk if he has any bad intentions. ”

In order to make money from these fat guys, how could Edward let go of such a good opportunity, just to avoid making his appearance too ugly and being caught--it was clearly written in the agreement signed by the envoys of those towns that the conscription quota he had apportioned was given to them to carry out, and there were very strict requirements for the age and health of the conscripted soldiers, so as to avoid the "grand occasion" of an old man and a lame man joining the army at the age of sixty from the beginning.

In Hantu, the only people who could receive the most standard of training were the real Turin settlers and a part of the natives, and most of the barbarians had no idea what discipline was - a good soldier was worth far more than money, and Edward knew this.

Of course, there was also a clause in this agreement that if the other party did not want to draw young men from the towns, they could also pay taxes according to the same standard - Edward set the taxes very high, all starting with severance pay at the rank of sergeant, because there would definitely be people who would not want to conscript all the labor force in the towns and villages to be conscripted into the army.

This would also ensure that he would be able to have additional financial allowances during the period of scarcity of soldiers, although in Edward's opinion, he would probably no longer be in the valley by then, just in case.

"Our dear little Goodwin is already on his way - it will take a little more time, but he has gathered all the chambers of commerce of the South, and it will be a great force. Marco Tasker had not forgotten his job and said, "The only regret is that the Millar family still refuses to send troops. ”

Edward nodded—he hadn't expected that in the first place, and it was enough for little Goodwin to do that. The vast digestive capacity of the entire South was able to turn its spoils of war into precious food and military baggage, as well as things that were hard to come by in the Hantu, such as Dominic scimitars and ignition agents.

"For safety's sake, little Goodwin waited until your Lund pirate escort Donner returned—he had recruited for you a whole thousand Lund warriors, many of whom were pirates roaming the coast of Turin, slashing blood-lickers. Speaking of this, Marco also smiled: "And little Goodwin also specially recruited an additional mercenary group, about two thousand people. ”

"Who?" Edward raised his right eyebrow, and he could guess what this guy was going to say next.

"Your old acquaintances. Marco laughs and laughs: "Silver Blood!" (To be continued.) )