In fact, the tax requirements issued by various countries to their lords are not an order, but a... business.
In the Pande Continent, matters like national taxation are quite serious.
Because it represents dominion.
A country that truly and completely owns a piece of land and people is called a "country". Whether it is a kingdom, a principality or a county, only when a country is established and recognized can it be considered as complete ownership of the land. This can be understood as full ownership, and the sign of it is that you no longer have to pay taxes to anyone.
As for lords who are loyal to others, no matter how high their title is, they can only have the right to use their territory.
The same is Earl, Count of Meitengheim and Count Li Ang are two completely different concepts.
Meitengheim is an independent country. Count Goodrian and his subordinates have complete ownership of Eisenberg Island, while Li Ang and his friends currently only have the right to use their territory.
The reason why it is called the right to use is because taxes still need to be paid to the superior lord.
This is like a kind of rent, or like a management fee that the branch company needs to pay to the group company.
Li Ang's superior lord is the king, but although the king does not have to pay taxes to others, he is not actually the owner of the entire kingdom.
Because building a country cannot be accomplished by one person - it requires the efforts of many people.
Therefore, a country does not actually belong to the king and his family, but is shared by all nobles and belongs to the nature of a group company.
The nobles merged their own companies into the group to jointly occupy a larger market and benefit together. This nature is no different from that of ordinary group companies.
The king is the chairman of the group company and General Manager. The nobles are all shareholders and heads of branches. In fact, everyone is a noble lord, and there is essentially no distinction between superior and inferior.
However, Chairman General Manager will promulgate company decisions on behalf of the board of directors and lead everyone's work, which is a matter of different powers.
The lords acquired new land and population through colonization or war, and thus gained more territory. This was like a branch company's business growing.
As a result, some branches have become more important and have a higher proportion of voice within the group, but they are still affiliated with the group; no matter how strong their wings are, the bosses of branch companies still serve in the group.
Since you hold a position in the group, you should of course obey the group's management and perform your work obligations as agreed.
Probably the biggest difference from ordinary companies is that the work content is slightly different...
These tasks are to respond to the war and complete tax collection.
The lord's title is different, and the standards for responding to war are different.
According to the regulations of the Lionheart Kingdom, when the country issues a recruitment order, the baron must provide ten to forty knights or corresponding troops depending on his ability; Earl needs to provide forty to eighty knights, which is a war obligation.
Specific standards will have specific requirements based on the scale of the war.
According to the current situation of the Lionheart Kingdom, generally one knight corresponds to five to six soldiers - the number of knights in the Lionheart Kingdom is relatively large among the Pande Continent countries.
In other words, when the country encounters a war, a baron must lead at least 50 people to fight, and Earl must lead at least 200 people to fight.
Of course, nobles can also take the initiative to improve their work standards - a baron can also lead one or two thousand people to actively fight for the country's territory. This is an additional investment by the branch in order to obtain more shares and voice.
War is the most important job, just like a core project. Everyone knows that if the core project is not done well, the company is likely to suffer huge losses or even go bankrupt...
Another important job of the lords is to collect taxes, which falls within the scope of daily work, and is generally similar to the logic of branches paying operating and management fees to the group headquarters.
A group company must have a lot of operating expenses, and the operating expenses of the entire group cannot only be borne by General Manager's company alone, each branch also needs to bear part of it.
Just like a general group company, the group CEO assigns corresponding tasks on behalf of the board of directors, and most of the time this task will definitely be discussed with the senior executives.
Everyone will discuss their respective tasks based on the budget, and then each branch will complete it on time - the same goes for national taxation.
If the branch owner cannot pay the management fee on time, the group headquarters can certainly question his sincerity and ability, and may try to replace him or replace him--if that is possible.
Of course, if the person in charge of the branch office has objections to the management fee limit, they can indeed renegotiate.
In fact, when the kingdom's tax official comes to announce the tax standards, they are negotiable. This is not issuing an order, but bargaining.
This is also the reason why the tax official announced the standards half a month before the harvest period, just to discuss a reasonable plan with the local lords.
Business is all negotiated.
It's just that transportation is inconvenient these days, so it's impossible to summon all the lords to Lion City for a meeting, so the tax officials usually go to each territory to negotiate.
Of course, you always need to be confident when negotiating. If you really can't reach an agreement in the end, you still have to pay the management fees that should be paid. You can't lose your territory, right?
At least nominally, the amount of national tax should indeed be subject to state arrangements.
However, the amount of national tax is only a total amount requirement. Just like the group gives a task target to the branch, then the branch will of course issue targets to each business department.
In fact, most lords did the same thing, apportioning the total tax amount to each Knight's Territory under their command, and setting tasks for the knights. After all, the wool comes from the sheep.
It's just that when apportioning, the lords will also add the local tax amount, and usually some more.
On the one hand, raising taxes is going to offend the knights under me anyway, so just increase it a little more. Anyway, there is no difference in the degree of dissatisfaction among the knights that will be caused by an increase of 20% or an increase of 28%...
On the other hand, when issuing targets, there will always be room for leeway, lest your subordinates fail to complete the tasks and you will suffer losses...
Therefore, when it comes to Knight's Territory to collect specific taxes, the tax amount indicators become very heavy, and the further down, the more it becomes a mandatory order, and when it reaches the grassroots level, there is basically no discussion.
Knights do not consider national taxes or local taxes. They collect them together. For them, this is to fulfill the lord's request.
The tax rates in the territory originally have fixed standards. Random changes can easily cause unrest. Common taxes are usually poll tax, agricultural tax, commercial tax, etc.
But in order to increase the total amount, the knights will add many types of taxes in the name of the king and lord, sometimes in the name of Goddess...
For example, war tax, Goddess tax, sacrificial tax, road and bridge tax, fertility tax, feces and urine tax, chicken and duck tax... everything is included.
Of course, most knights are not stupid. They still have to live in the same village with the common people in the territory, and they still need reputation.
And they are the ones who directly face the civilians...
Therefore, they will describe all taxes as the wishes of the king and superior lords, indicating that everything is a requirement from above and has nothing to do with them. If there is a problem, they can go to the king and the lord...
As a result, those who got a bad reputation were the 'cruel kings' and the 'greedy nobles', and most of the knights 'acted out of help'...
The common people will also hate the king and superior lords more.
The reason why the knights want to increase taxes is similar to the logic of the nobles. The taxes will be raised anyway and the common people will be dissatisfied, so they should simply be more harsh and keep more for themselves.
In other words, when national taxes increase, local taxes will increase even more - once for the lords, and again for the knights.
Just like when the performance tasks of each company fall to various executive departments...
The task indicator given by the group is originally 100, but it will be increased to 200 for branches, 400 for departments, and 800 for employees.
But what was actually given to the group was still 100...
Therefore, there will also be a leverage phenomenon in taxation:
When the national tax only collects 5% of the per capita annual income of civilians, the total tax that civilians need to pay accounts for about 50% of the annual income, that is, local taxes account for 45%;
When the national tax reaches 10% of the per capita annual income of civilians, the total tax paid by civilians will account for 75% of the annual income, and the proportion of local taxes rises to 65%;
When the national tax rate reaches 25%, even if ordinary people use all their income to pay taxes, it will still not be enough...
The national tax will act like a lever to leverage the final tax.
5 dinars per capita is roughly equivalent to 25% of the per capita annual income of Pendor civilians.
Most territories would not accept this kind of tax, and would not dare to accept it - experienced lords knew what would happen.
But Li Ang himself is not short of money, and the new territory he obtained is a relatively wealthy place like Long River Town. It is not surprising that the kingdom's tax officer would ask him for a higher tax amount, so the lord has no intention of bargaining with the price to avoid unnecessary trouble.
He also has the ability to pay taxes without greatly increasing the burden on civilians.
But White Deer Fortress is different. The border areas are responsible for the country's security... The kingdom actually requires five times the heavy tax for such a place. This is indeed a rare situation.
The tax official can't do any blackmail before the tax amount is determined. After all, Malbert can go to Lion City to negotiate the price directly with the king. He doesn't need to pay attention to the tax official until a consensus is reached.
"White Deer Fortress also charges such a heavy tax... Is this what King Ulrich means? To impose heavy taxes on the eastern region? What effect will this have? Let the lords Lion City waste time negotiating with him? This will only ruin his own reputation..."
The lord also felt a little baffled. This tax quota is not a mandatory order, so why should it set such a high price to make people angry?
"Who knows... Maybe His Majesty is short of money. Maybe he thinks there will be no foreign enemies at the moment... I heard that the tax amount you received in Long River Town is also very high, right?"
Malbert was quite well informed. He shook his head and gestured with his palms. "Is it also five times as much as before?"
"That's right, five times... So, he is really short of money..."
Li Ang shook his head. It seemed that the king had set a tax rate of five times for everyone in the eastern region. This was obviously intentional. Several lords in the eastern region happened to be newly changed fiefdoms, and their footing was not yet stable...
Malbert sighed, "But I heard that you have already subscribed... In this case, it would be inappropriate for me to reject this tax amount..."
"Malbert, I will accept this kind of tax, just because I can afford it..."
Li Ang understands what Malbert means. If he accepts this high tax, I am afraid that many lords in the eastern region will have to accept it - their status is different, and many lords in the east will regard themselves as a weathervane!
"Yes, you can afford it, but I can't afford it... If I accept this amount of tax and ask my subordinates to collect it accordingly, I'm afraid I won't survive more than a month. Therefore, if I transfer the territory to someone who can afford the tax at this time, the king and Noble Council should agree..."
Malbert took out a document from his arms. "This is the transfer agreement."
"But that person can't be me, Malbert, you should be able to tell... The king doesn't want me to stay at White Deer Fortress."
The Lord Lord shook his head again.
"Of course not you... I mean, I can transfer White Deer Fortress to Ms. Amy - I exchange White Deer Fortress for the shares in Lord Godric's hands, and transfer this These shares will be discounted into those shops and businesses in the northwest region, and Lord Godric will therefore 'break away from the cooperative relationship' with you. I think this is exactly in line with the wishes of you and Lord Godric, and it also fits the scene you played..."
There was a smile on Malbert's face, "After all, you two have had a falling out, so Lord Godric will no longer cooperate with you. This is normal! And he has had feelings for White Deer Fortress for so many years., it is normal for his daughter to take White Deer Fortress back from me... Both the king and Noble Council will agree, and Amy is the king's niece..."
"What you said makes sense..."
The Lord Lord nodded and laughed.
Malbert is really smart. Not only did he realize so quickly that there was no benefit to him getting White Deer Fortress, he also guessed what Li Ang and Godric were about to do, so he took the initiative to trade with Li Ang in advance.
--If he trades at this time, he can get the maximum benefit, and he can also choose what he wants.
When there is danger in White Deer Fortress, such as Bacchus Empire attacking or Noldo Elves 'making trouble', or high taxes leading to riots, White Deer Fortress will be worthless.
They don't get hung up on their territory, but try to find ways to get the most benefit for themselves. Malbert and Brennus are really like father and son.
In fact, Li Ang's original plan was to have White Deer Fortress encounter an 'enemy invasion' after a period of time, and then have Amy take the opportunity to come forward and use Godric's shares to buy White Deer Fortress from Malbert...
But he didn't expect King Ulrich to impose a high national tax, which immediately scared Malbert away. He wanted to use White Deer Fortress, which he couldn't make any money, to exchange for those casino stores in the northwest region, so he could do this business.
"Then... as you wish, Malbert."
The lord does not care too much about tax issues. In his opinion, problems that can be solved with money are not big problems.
After all, his bank is about to open.
Moreover, the increase in taxes in the entire kingdom is not necessarily a bad thing for Li Ang...
White Deer Fortress.
In the center of the castle, there is already a solid stone building with a huge signboard - Pande Bank.
The emblem used is also very direct, it looks like a gold coin surrounded by rice ears...
Named after Pande, of course because this is Pande Continent.
Although Li Ang has obtained Long River Town, he did not move the bank headquarters there and remained at White Deer Fortress.
Long River Town just has a business point next door to Long River Express, which is barely a branch.
Amy also came back before the bank opened.
She signed an agreement with Malbert, came back to take over her territory, and brought back news about Eagle Claw Fortress and Dark Falcon Fortress.
The situation is good, Amy brought back basically good news.
Eagle Claw Fortress has been renovated by the prisoners, and two hundred female soldiers have also cleaned up the surrounding security. Civilians have begun to move to Eagle Claw Fortress.
Female Count Valera's name is very popular in Northern Bay. In fact, Amy himself has become a legend now...
There is a news circulating in various villages and towns of Northern Bay, saying that Amy is the rebirth of the soul of female Count Valera. This female knight is carrying the new Falcon Claws, doing exactly the same deeds as Valera, and she is also a royal knight...
It is indeed a genuine Royal Knight, Amy is now wearing the Fleur-de-lis flag.
But Amy is not the knight under Li Ang and Godric, but the guardian knight of Princess Philina. This is the inheritance of Godric himself. The Fleur-de-lis flag was the one Godric used when he became the guardian knight of Princess Philina.
Amy had no use for the blank document Li Ang sent her, so she took the blank document as a promise to the female soldiers. Amy would directly write the names of the female soldiers who made meritorious service.
That is a knightly decree jointly signed by the two military chiefs of the Eastern Region and the Northern Region. It is more reliable than any knighthood. Therefore, the appeal of this new Falcon Claws may be a little greater than that of Valera of that era...
Sarah used to use that blank document to recruit people. Everywhere he went there was so enthusiastic that it could even be said to be an audition scene.
Amy now has 400 people under her command. If she had not stopped recruiting in time, it would not be impossible to recruit thousands of people. However, in order to maintain the good habit of one-to-one ratio between the old and the new, Amy did not blindly expand the number of people.
In fact, Amy herself is Princess. She has degraded her status by becoming a female knight.
But becoming a female lord like Valera is her wish after all, and she seems to have realized it...
She has now become a real White Deer Fortress lord, who seems to be a little stronger than Valera's Eagle Claw Fortress.
"Li Ang... Tsk, tsk, Earl, if you don't move the bank headquarters to Long River Town, are you planning to do bad things in my territory?"
Amy seems to be very happy and is actively joking with Li Ang.
"I'm recognized as an honest person... how could I do bad things?"
The lord's face was filled with shock. "Amy Who do you think I am?"
"Honest man? That's not what is said outside... As soon as I came back, I heard that you were beaten by my father? Haha... I also heard that there are so many beauties around you? And you became a famous thief?"
Amy looked at Li Ang's face with a smile.
In fact, the injuries on his face have healed long ago and nothing is visible at all.
"Ahem, that's all acting... Lord Godric didn't tell you?"
Li Ang smiled awkwardly.
"He said you were just acting on occasion - but this word doesn't sound like a good word...Li Ang, you want to reassure the king, I understand... but, what should I do now? Can I no longer be by your side?"
Amy was still smiling, but there seemed to be some worry in his words.
"This..."
The Lord was stunned for a moment. "Amy, what are you worried about?"
"I'm worried... I... well, my father said he was retiring and was going to take my mother and brother to Eagle Claw Fortress, but he asked me to come to White Deer Fortress alone."
Amy started to pull his hair, straighten it, curl it, wrap it around his fingers, then straighten it again, curl it again...
"You are Lord White Deer Fortress... Is there any problem with this? Weren't you the only one in charge of White Deer Fortress before?"
The Lord is a little confused.
"Before... it used to be the two of us at White Deer Fortress..."
Amy sighed, curled his lips, pulled his hair, and walked away worriedly.
She now has her long hair spread down her back instead of tied up as usual.