85_85536 That's it, William calmed Shalumi for the time being. And in the following time, no matter how busy he is, he will find time to accompany Xia Lumi. Even if it's just for a short while.

In this case, Xia Lumi's love gradually stabilized. And the time has gradually moved back from summer to autumn.

The Hereford family's domain enjoyed a bumper harvest. Whether it's wheat or soybeans, there is a good harvest. At the same time, the use of a new type of iron sickle made it much faster to harvest wheat. Work efficiency has improved, and there is no need to be too afraid of things like last fall, when it suddenly rained and the crops were lost.

Within the Hereford family estate, the tax rate was a parallel tax in kind and a numismatic tax. Generally speaking, agricultural taxes and business taxes for small traders are taxes in kind. For medium to large merchants, the tax of the merchant group is a monetary tax.

William further divided the taxes into four types. One is the agricultural tax within one's own direct territory. The tax rate is 60%. In other words, William's serfs had to hand over sixty percent of the harvest to the public.

This tax may seem ridiculously high today. But at the time, it was real good governance. Compared to the feudal lords who wanted to take the last grain out of the stomach pouch of the serf, William was already very good.

The other part of the agricultural tax was collected from the gentry and small landowners in the territory.

William's agrarian reforms were carried out only within his own domain. The small scattered plots of land owned by the squires and small landowners still retain their original appearance. The original and ancient two-nursery rotation system is used, and no fertilizer is used.

William was not a good man or a woman, so it was naturally impossible for him to spread agricultural knowledge to them for free. Therefore, the life of these squires and small landlords is still maintained at the level of barely subsistence and clothing.

For these people, William did not think much of himself. He only needs fifteenths of what they produce. That is, fifteen taxes one. It's a very low rate -- but the problem is that it's never been a tax before.

The Grand Duchy of Mazovia, which still maintained a feudal system, these squires and small landowners were still nominally courtiers and vassals of the Hereford family. There are only two things they need to offer the Hereford family, one is military service. The squires and small landowners were an important source of cavalry and hoplite sergeants. In medieval times, this class was second only to the knightly class, one of the sources of elite troops.

The other is the payment of tribute.

Remember, it's "tribute" and not "tax". There's a big difference between the two.

Tribute is not quantitative, and it is not limited to goods. Maybe today the squires beat two pheasants, and thought that the taste might be good, and handed it over to the lord was considered a tribute. This is very arbitrary. And there is basically not much economic value.

Taxes are different.

Although the tax rate of 15 tax one is not high. And in William's domain, there were not many squires and small landowners. But for better or worse, it's a lot of money. And as William's territory expanded. The number of similar squires, small landowners, yeoman farmers increased. The income from the agricultural tax of 15 taxes will naturally rise.

William is also a rainy day, and it is much easier to set the rules now than to change them later.

Those small squires and landlords in the territory did not have much strength. Even if there was something to do with it, it was impossible to shake William's will. And if you want to gather a crowd to resist or something, it is even more impossible. William's 3,000 new troops were like wolves and tigers. Practicing every day is just scaring people. Fifteen taxes are much better than losing their heads. Who has eaten enough to support a good life, but he has to kill his head?

Thus, at the same time as the autumn grain harvest, the fifteen-one tax, which was levied on the freedmen, yeoman farmers, and the small landlord class, also began.

Speaking of taxes, William also hesitated between taxes in kind and taxes on coins. If the tax was collected by a numismatic tax, it would have been easier for him - these yeoman farmers, landlords and gentry had different industries. Some grow grain, while others grow hemp, flax, and hemp. There are also grazing and sheep raising.

If taxes in kind are paid, then this man has a sheaf of wheat and that man a sheaf of flax. Others brought a few baskets of wool and two beef fans...... This doesn't look good. And it doesn't work well.

If you want them to pay the coin tax, it's much simpler. General equivalents. How convenient it is - the problem is that if this is the case, the people who pay the taxes will be miserable.

In order to pay their taxes, they have to participate in buying and selling in the market. And in the market buying and selling, these people are out-and-out weakling. In addition to facing the price reduction of profiteers, we also have to face the price difference between the summer and autumn grain harvests.

In this way, these people were forced to exchange grain for money and pay taxes in the fall. You have to sell more grain to pay enough taxes. In this way, when the spring is not shining, they have to take money to buy food. You have to get more money to buy enough food.

And so on and again. The peasants, who were forced to participate in the commercial economy, were not much to be played with.

It's like the Ming Dynasty, Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng implemented a whip law, and after the reform of apportioning the land into acres, the rural economy of the Ming Dynasty was greatly corrupted -- these two tax reforms sound good. Miscellaneous taxes were abolished, incorporated into the same tax, taxes in kind were abolished, and taxes were paid in cash. Ostensibly an increase in taxes. But the destruction of the rural economy is very severe.

In addition to what has just been said, the exploitation of the peasants has increased, and a large number of the peasants have gone bankrupt and become tenant farmers, or they have joined forces and led to land annexation. After a whip, taxes will not only not be reduced, but will be increased.

The old miscellaneous taxes disappeared after they were incorporated into the regular tax. But the positive tax has increased. This will not reduce the burden on farmers. At the same time, after that, other new miscellaneous taxes will continue to increase - do not overestimate the integrity of the middle and lower class of officials.

In fact, soon after a whip law was introduced, a large number of new miscellaneous taxes were popped up like weeds. As a result, the original tax burden has not been reduced much. New miscellaneous taxes have been increased. In fact, the burden on the peasants has more than doubled compared to before.

This predatory development did not fit William's style. It will also cause damage to the agricultural economy. So William thought about it, and gave up the benefits of using the money tax - as a large power, the Hereford family's ability to flow money efficiently and adjust positions was by no means comparable to that of ordinary small farmers.

William can build warehouses specially. Save a variety of agricultural products for taxation. and even various commercial products as a business tax.

Anyway, the Hereford family is the size of land. I don't use everything. Even if you really don't need it, it's good to entrust it to another merchant group and sell it. The merchant groups and merchants dared to bully the yeoman farmers who did not have any strength, and they also dared to bully the squires and landlords who had no skills and foundations, and even dared to bully some down-and-out little nobles.

But the Hereford family, who have been in the market for a long time, have a lot of territory, and there are masters like Otto in charge, and young talents like William coming out. The great nobles with excellent development potential, how can they be offended before they have time to stammer?

Or to put it another way. If there are not enough benefits, if there are enough benefits, they will not have a conflict with the Hereford family for a small profit.

That's it.

Although William has recently reformed the tax law to attract merchant inflows, he has also partnered with large business organizations such as the Blue Hat Merchants.

But the territory of the Hereford family is still too thin. Neither manufacturing nor commerce is well developed. The tax burden that can be harvested is equally pitiful. Therefore, the economic pillar of the Hereford family is still agriculture.

As a result of the agricultural reform, a large amount of wheat was produced, and all but a small amount of wheat that was left for use as a vegetable was sent to oil mills to produce soybean oil. These two things will be the breadwinners of the Hereford family for a long time to come.

William kept his promise and handed over all the new grain harvest in the autumn to John, the merchant. Of course, with the energy of the merchant John, if he wants to eat all this transaction, he naturally has no strength. However, his back was against the tree of the Blue Hat Merchant Clan. After explaining the situation, the headquarters of the merchant group in Polotsk sent men. With more money, supplies and vehicles came to Circassia.

After this, John the merchant asked to see William again. It is hoped that a new agreement can be reached with William.

That is, they hoped that William would accept that they would not use physical metal money to pay for the goods.

"You know, it's a very big deal...... Although it is said that the merchant group is not unbearable, once it is eaten, it will have a great impact on the capital flow of the merchant group. So......" John the merchant pondered his words and negotiated with William with great difficulty.

"Wait, wait. Mr. John. William stopped the merchant John, "You mean you want to pay by cashier's check?"

"Yes. Merchant John nodded. He then continued to tell William about the benefits of using commercial paper for settlement. It's just that the more he said, the more bottomless he became: "Although His Excellency William's insight and mind are all first-class. But can he accept this modern financial theory? Speaking of which, I've been in contact with quite a few clever aristocrats before.

There are some of them, and I've worked very well with them before. It's just that when it comes to mentioning this, they all refuse...... Only some nobles who owed the merchant group a debt and could not pay it off for a while were forced to accept our terms.

It's just that these people are not willing. They spread the word that we use commercial papers, not physical money, as a means of settlement, as an insult and an unequal treaty. As a result, it becomes more difficult for us to implement these financial systems......".