The small debate that occurred at the meeting came to an end, and everyone continued to discuss other issues.
"So, Hansel, Kingdom Army are you interested in our cans, salt and other things?"
"Uh... Sir, due to limited time, I only contacted the quartermaster under Her Highness the Grand Princess, but judging from his attitude, canned food is very suitable for their needs."
"How many cans can they buy?"
"We didn't talk about it in such detail at the time, but Princess has about 8,000 people under his command, so the demand should be very large."
Paul asked with some confusion, "What did you mean when you just said you only had contact with Her Highness the Grand Princess's quartermaster?"
Hansel explained, "Not all the troops still stationed in Crystal Radiance are directly commanded by Princess, and the troops under each general solve the military supply problem alone."
Paul understands that although these armies are all loyal to the same target, the soldiers are generals and there is no unified logistics system. This is also very common among Old Era's armies.
"So we have to talk to the generals one by one."
"Lord Greiman, I have a suggestion. Please organize businessmen and factory owners to go to Royal Capital and let them find sales on their own."
"Trade delegation?"
"Trade delegation? What a name. Organized in the name of the Lord's Manor. I think those businessmen and factory owners will definitely participate enthusiastically. After all, it is very easy to get things done under the banner of aristocrats."
Paul agreed very much with this proposal and nodded repeatedly.
"This is a good idea. We should cultivate the 'wolf nature' of these businessmen and let them find opportunities and fight on their own. Otherwise, helping others from the left and right will definitely not make a big impact."
Hansel echoed, "Your Majesty, your views are high."
Paul slapped the table. "Okay, let's leave this matter to you, 'Agriculture Director', haha! Oh, in addition to cans, such as porcelain and paper, the merchants who make these things also bring a lot of them. When the sea route is opened, we will directly ship them to the south for sale. We don't have to let the second-level dealers scratch a layer of oil and water."
Hansel put his right hand on his chest and assured Paul: "I will start organizing this matter immediately."
"But..." Hansel then asked a question, "Can our production keep up?"
"After I came back, I visited several factory owners on Lakeheart Town. Not only cans, but also Paper Mill and porcelain factories. These are very popular products. According to their reports, just to cope with the current orders, the production capacity is already stretched."
"This is a problem, so I plan to let the newly arrived refugees find work in factories instead of farming in the fields. You need to inform the factory owners in Arda and Bairdin to ask them to recruit people from the refugee groups. I don't want to keep these refugees in vain, I have to let them work and create value."
"Yes, sir."
Paul suddenly had a plan on his mind. He looked around at everyone and said, "Everyone, in order to alleviate the problem of insufficient production capacity, I have another idea - to exempt a group of serfs in the Greiman Family from their slave status. This is what I think Yes, with the use of machinery such as 'harvesters', the family's existing cultivated land does not require so many manpower. We might as well exempt them from slavery and allow them to freely choose their own jobs to support themselves, which will also alleviate the problem of labor shortage in the factory."
This was quite reasonable, and no one expressed any objection. Besides, this was the lord's own property, so he didn't need to bother anyone else.
"Not only that, I will also issue a decree to encourage landlords and gentry to take the initiative to release their serfs and let them work as workers, and then take the initiative to use their family's money to invest in various emerging industries."
There was silence for a moment, and seeing the people in the room about to be stunned, Paul immediately added:
"Of course, it's just encouragement, just encouragement, just encouragement. I say the important things three times. I don't plan to set any specific goals or targets, lest the Affairs Officer people below use chicken feathers as arrows to invade the place in order to claim credit and reward."
Everyone calmed down and Paul breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "For those who take the initiative to release serfs or invest in emerging industries, I will provide certain tax exemptions."
Chief Steward Ford twirled his beard and said, "It's a good idea to free serfs to supplement the factory's labor force. However, if you promote this through tax reductions, I'm afraid it won't have much effect."
Paul is very strange. "Why?"
Chief Steward Ford explained, "Because those landowners and gentry who own a large number of serfs... are often the 'Tax Farmer' in their own villages?"
"'Tax Farmer'? What do you mean?"
"Uh... the so-called Tax Farmer means tax contractor. The lord entrusts a prominent person in a certain place to be responsible for collecting various taxes in this place and setting a certain amount. Tax Farmer must complete this amount. If the quota is not met, he has to use his own property to make up for it, and then pay the amount of taxes required by the lord. Correspondingly, if the tax collected exceeds the amount set by the lord, then the remaining money Tax Farmer can be kept as his remuneration."
Chief Steward Ford pointed out the reason why Paul's policy had little effect. "The actual amount of tax collected is decided by Tax Farmer themselves. The more they collect, the more they keep. Think about how tempting it would be for them to collect less tax on their own families."
Paul suddenly jumped up from his seat, "Is this how our territory collects taxes?"
Chief Steward Ford was startled by the count's reaction, "In lord's residences like Lakeheart Town and large towns like Franklin Harbor, Lord's Manor directly sends tax officers to collect taxes, but in most rural areas, taxation is contracted to local squires."
He was very surprised, hasn't everyone been doing this for thousands of years? Why did the lord react so violently? He seemed very unhappy.
He doesn't know that now ten thousand alpacas are rushing through Paul's heart. Of course, it's not towards the boss himself, but towards this damned tax system.
It turns out that I didn't know that there was such a situation. If I couldn't meet the tax quota, I would use my own money to make up for it? Don't be kidding, can those landlords and wealthy people have such a consciousness? Even those who have this consciousness have long been eliminated by history.
Paul can figure it out with his buttocks. These so-called Tax Farmer must be under the banner of lords, desperately exploiting the farmers below. After taking out a sum of money to deal with the Lord's Manor's errands, they stuff the remaining money into their own pockets.
The earl was very heartbroken, partly because of the farmers who were overcharged a lot and kept in the dark, but what was even more heartbreaking was that the overcharged money did not go into their own pockets.
Paul announced, "I will immediately issue a decree to abolish the Tax Farmer system. From now on, Government Affairs Council will directly send people to the countryside to collect taxes!"
Old Ford stood up in a hurry, waved his hands and said, "Your Majesty, please think carefully!"
"Huh? Why? Didn't I give them the power to collect taxes? Can't I take it back?"
"Uh... Theoretically, that's true, but..."
Chief Steward Ford thought for a moment about what to say, and slowly began to persuade, "Many Tax Farmer have been passed down from generation to generation. Before Greiman Family was granted the title here, they have held this power in villages all over the country for a long time. If you act rashly, it may... may cause... unrest in the place. I am not afraid of one or two, but I am afraid that they will unite to make trouble."
After listening to the words of the old manager, Paul was very depressed. Aren't these just a bunch of local snakes? His "powerful dragon" couldn't suppress them? The Army Battalion Commander Bryce jumped up and said, "Your Majesty, First Army Battalion is at your disposal at any time. Feel free to take back the power of those Tax Farmer from that gang. If anyone dares to disobey the order, the Army will definitely pull him out and execute him with a cannon."
A few days ago, the navy stole the show by wiping out pirates of all kinds. This made Bryce, the army boss, very unhappy, and he immediately saw the opportunity and jumped out to ask for a fight.
Paul nodded happily to Bryce. Fortunately, the army was on his side.
However, he still stretched out his hand to signal Bryce to sit down first, and asked Chief Steward Ford: "Is this method of tax collection very common?"
The old manager replied, "Yes, this is an unwritten system that has existed since Gabella Empire. It is still used by the lords of most countries. Oh... the city-states in the Corner Bay area may not do this."
"I don't understand which nobleman invented this weird tax collection method."
The old steward actually didn't understand why the Lord found it strange. In his opinion, this was normal, but he still replied:
"There are various reasons for the formation of the tax farming system. Some are because the new lord has just arrived and must rely on local leaders to support his rule. The tax farming system is a kind of cooperation. Some are because the lord is extravagant, owes a large debt or is in urgent need of borrowing money, and has to use tax collection power to repay debts or mortgage."
Paul thought depressingly, "It seems that strengthening centralization is the right way to go. Huh! Serfdom and tax farming are two big mountains that are pressing on my head. That's all. I'll tolerate it for now. In the future, the gun will be harder and I will slowly deal with them."
He waved his hands feebly. "Okay, then I won't bother with anything for now. However, the decree to encourage the release of serfs still needs to be promulgated. It is better than nothing. Ms. Chief Steward Ford, Laddie is not here, so you can draft one for me."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Chief Steward Ford secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the lord did not mess around.
In fact, as the chief administrator of government affairs, he is also happy to see the Tax Farmer system abolished and Government Affairs Council responsible for the direct taxation in the territory. However, this matter must be done slowly and cannot be rushed.
"That's right, everyone!"
Paul suddenly thought of something and asked everyone, "Many of you here have a lot of fields and serfs in their homes, right?"
Everyone looked at each other and admitted. "Uh... yes, Lord."
People like Chief Steward Ford, Bryce, Cecil, and many others like Government Affairs Council. Many people belong to the "landlord class" and naturally own many serfs.
Everyone felt nervous. Could it be that the lord wanted to set an example? Paul laughed, waved his hands and said, "Don't be nervous, everyone, I won't force you to let go of the serfs."
Only then did everyone feel relieved.
"However, if you plan to take the initiative to free the serfs, it is not just a tax reduction or exemption. After all, after serving in the Greiman Family for so many years, you will get more rewards."
Everyone's eyes lit up, who would be in trouble with the interests?
Paul raised his voice and said, "I declare! Anyone who works for me, if they take the initiative to release the serfs at home, can obtain a corresponding proportion of shares from the industry under the Greiman Family's name."
Oops! The people in the room suddenly became enthusiastic.
It is obvious to all that the profits of the factories established by the Earl are high. With his current financial resources (including taxes), he can actually support a standing army of more than 2,000 people. This was unimaginable before. Greiman Family family owners in the past will definitely be shocked when they see it.
Now, the Earl actually wants to give them part of the shares? This is simply a piece of cake falling from the sky.
Although this needed to be exchanged for the release of serfs, they heard Paul talk about the kind of farm model he advocated - hiring 'agricultural workers' to farm the land.
In other words, after freeing the serfs and spending a little money to hire some people, you can continue to farm your own land, but you can get a lot of profits from the Earl's factory.
I just don't know how much the "corresponding proportion of shares" among adults can correspond to.
Seeing everyone's eager eyes, Paul smiled with satisfaction.
"Everyone should go back and think about it first. If you are interested, please come to me."
It really needs to be considered, including himself. He has to find some time to think carefully about how many shares correspond to how many serfs. If the price is too high, he will feel heartache.
In short, the meeting continued in a lively atmosphere.
Hansel stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Earl, I have another proposal. According to the information I searched in Royal Capital, in the spring of next year, the main army of the kingdom will go south to quell the rebellion."
"Well, what is your proposal?"
"Once a war breaks out, their demand for iron - and furthermore, their demand for weapons will definitely surge. Should we also seize this opportunity?"
Paul had mentioned to him before about increasing steel output, but recently it seemed that he had no plans. However, Hansel had been thinking about it since it was related to his future.
Paul also remembered his previous plan. "You are right. With Bairdin and Iron Mine, we can indeed start to increase the production of steel. But manpower in this area is also a problem."
Hansel suggested. "Then how about I write to the office stationed at Royal Capital and ask them to focus on recruiting blacksmiths and miners?"
Paul agreed, "Yes, and we need to use new smelting technology."
New smelting technology, he suddenly had many ideas in his mind.
It was written too hastily, and I feel that this chapter is a bit awkward to read. Please just read it. o(*￣3￣)o