Compared with the previous methods, raising taxes clearly had a major advantage in terms of enforceability.
Of course, these methods could be carried out simultaneously.
Thus, during this year's Icy Moon Month, the royal families of many Small Kingdoms issued decrees to raise taxes without prior consultation. Not only were the rates of existing taxes increased, but various new categories of taxes were added as well.
In consideration of minimizing the impact on the people's livelihoods, the royal families added roughly another ten percent to the existing taxes.
However, although that had been the original intention, after the royal families took the lead in raising local taxes, the lesser nobles below them also added another ten or twenty percent on top of the increased taxes to replenish their own coffers.
With taxes piling up layer upon layer, they became unbearable. The people could barely survive, and even the cold winds of Icy Moon Month seemed to grow more bitter and piercing.
Unable to bear the crushing tax burden, many commoners and Low-Rank Professionals gathered at the Lord's Manor to petition for temporary tax relief. At the very least, they hoped the tax increase could wait until the weather warmed next year.
But what greeted them was the brutal blow of the Lord's Manor guards' cold spear shafts.
To survive, many people had no choice but to flee with their families. Yet even more joined the various Resistance Organizations springing up among the populace, violently resisting taxation.
The royal families were also furious at the various disturbances among the people, repeatedly sending Construct troops to suppress those "lawless rabble."
There were some spoils of war, but for all sorts of reasons, they could never successfully eliminate the Resistance Organizations. Instead, their numbers only continued to grow.
Under such circumstances, incited by