Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Glory, Faith, and Nineteen Taxes
All the Dragon Blood Stones unearthed in the territory, Su Li gets seventy percent.
This world grants such great power to the Lords; they don’t need to give anything in return, just move their lips, dispatch the Attendants belonging to over fifty Knights to dig mines, and seventy percent of the yield belongs to the Lord. The remaining ten percent is distributed to the mining Attendants, and twenty percent is given to their masters, the various Knights.
Su Li is quite generous with this arrangement; otherwise, according to the world’s tradition, under the Nineteen Taxes system, ninety percent of all the wealth in the Territory is supposed to belong to the Lord.
The Empire’s three most famous elements are: glory, faith, and the infamous Nineteen Taxes.
Of course, while the tax rates are stipulated as such, in reality, very few Lords actually enforce it that way.
Most of the Lords nominally collect ninety percent, then return two or three percent, which is not something slaves or commoners are entitled to, but rather the virtue and reward of the Knight Lords.
Don’t think this tactic is ridiculous; the reason it’s said most people operate this way is because a significant portion of noble territories do indeed collect the Nineteen Taxes thoroughly! Moreover, the peasants in these territories do not necessarily live any worse than those in other Count’s Territories. Generally, such territories that collect the Nineteen Taxes genuinely are the Land of Divine Favor, blessed by various Divine Spirits, with farmland that can yield four or five harvests a year, and there’s even a legend that some territories can yield six harvests a year!
Don’t ask whether the land’s fertility can withstand it; matters of the Divine Spirit should not be inquired into randomly. Their nuclear-powered farmlands do not adhere to the physical rules and scientific principles of a previous life.
In such scenarios, the Knight Lords truly rise to the occasion. To protect the Territory and its inhabitants, the Knight Lords get on their warhorses, wield lances, and regardless if they’re facing tens of thousands of Beastmen or the Sea of the Dead, they can charge ahead undaunted, flattening the enemy.
However, most of the land in the Border Prince’s Territory remains undeveloped, and lacks the descent of divine favor. Fertile lands like the Hesse foothills, capable of yielding three harvests a year, are considered quite good.
Su Li collects the Nineteen Taxes, then returns thirty percent, essentially taking sixty percent and leaving forty percent for the commoners, making their lives already quite good. In comparison, they live much better than the garrison farmers under Cao Cao. Cao Cao’s garrison took six or seven out of ten portions, but his soldiers did not have the luxury of land with three harvests a year, did not possess such fertile and extensive plains, and had fewer opportunities to improve their lives.
In general, if one could be a farmer or Manor Lord under Su Li’s rule, life wouldn’t be too bad.
However, for now, Su Li need not give much thought to taxation; he hasn’t even appointed a tax minister because all the assets within the Pioneer Territory belong to him, being held by his Attendants and serfs.
Thus, Su Li didn’t dwell on it much and directly collected all the Dragon Blood Stones. He said to Hilude, "Come, let’s go take a look at the fishpond construction site."
Death’s Claw excitedly flew over from the side, jumping onto Su Li’s shoulder. While Hilude went to fetch the horses, Su Li smiled, touching Death’s Claw’s head, and said, "By the way, you’re part of this too. No! You get four shares. I’ll tie a piece of Dragon Blood Stone to each of your four claws, hoping you’ll grow into the mightiest griffin in the world!"
Su Li was willing to make this investment. A griffin, unlike a Knight’s training, still requires bloodline cultivation. Its primary combat power comes from a massive size and strong physique; being more valorous and powerful is the most important guarantee of its fighting prowess.
Soon, Hilude brought over two horses, and they quickly arrived at the construction site beside the easternshore reservoir. At this site, one Attendant after another worked with their sleeves rolled up, working intensely.
A single Dragon Blood Stone is worth at least 20 Gold Coins; they’ve excavated more than a dozen pieces already. Even at a tenth’s reward, they’ve earned 20 to 30 Gold Coins, around half a Gold Coin per person! Praise the spirit’s favor and thank the Lord’s generosity; this equals roughly three months’ salary for them. Working one day is equivalent to working hard for three months; how could this not be intensely fervent work?
Seeing Su Li arrive on horseback, Lauren and Frederick immediately approached together, respectfully greeting by the roadside: "Salutations, Lord; may the Sun Goddess bless you with eternal strength and health."
"My loyal ministers, may the Divine Spirits also bless you. How’s the situation here?" Su Li dismounted and led them toward the reservoir edge.
"As you see, Lord, these greedy Attendants haven’t been building on a large scale, but have been digging deep, thus unearthing many Dragon Blood Stones," Lauren pointed to the deep pits ahead and explained, "To balance construction progress and fishpond fish farming, this not-so-large reservoir has been split in two, with the fish-farming area only being four or five meters wide."
Su Li, feeling good, viewed everything positively, smiling as he said, "This may not necessarily be a bad thing; it can leave us more space to dig more stones first. But let’s not dig any more under the fishpond; the Dragon Blood Stones in there should be left untouched. Perhaps, influenced by the Giant Dragon’s aura, the fish raised in the pond might grow larger and tastier."
A four-to-five-meter fishpond is enough to raise a few hundred fish. Once all nearby Dragon Blood Stones are extracted, the pond can be expanded by a few meters tomorrow, and at this rate, maybe in a few months, we can dig a sizable reservoir.
Frederick remarked with regret, "It’s a pity we don’t have any Ogre Mercenaries here. If we had dozens of Ogres, our progress would increase significantly."
"Ogres, huh," Su Li pondered, reminiscing about the Ogres’ well-known characteristics in this world.
This race is boisterous, greedy, braggadocious, carefree, easily angered, and combative, always acting with the goal of filling their unusually strong stomachs.
Their wandering penchant is another famous trait, with shadows of Ogre Mercenary Corps composed of dozens to hundreds seen in every corner of the world. Contrary to most widespread beliefs, Ogres usually integrate well into most societies they encounter. Over decades of their foraging lifestyle, they diligently dress in local styles and adhere to local customs according to their understanding, as this might make it easier for them to eat their next meal.
In the Empire, they often join various territories’ armies, and hiring Ogres for labor in bustling cities is quite common daily practice. The Half-Elf Merchant Association (Building Contractors) effectively monopolized the cheap Ogre labor market in many of the Empire’s towns and cities, much to the chagrin of their commercial competitors.
If there were an Ogre engineering team, indeed, the development pace of the Territory would significantly increase.
While Su Li was thinking about this, in the evening, another piece of good news arrived in the Territory.
No Ogres, but the Knights dragged back three Giants!
As the patrolling team returned slowly from afar, the three huge grayish-green beasts they dragged behind instantly ignited the entire Territory’s enthusiasm.
Hunting giant creatures has always been one of the greatest romances in the Human Empire.
When the three river giants, towering four to five meters, were dragged into the Territory, numerous Attendants and serfs rushed up, cheering enthusiastically and welcoming them.