Starting Life as a Baron - Chapter 249

[Chapter 248 The gracious and benevolent monarch, the problem of drought in the south (3)]

Allen was in the second half of the previous castle at the moment. After meeting the nobles, Allen came to the second half of the entire castle.

Unexpectedly, the building here is extremely comfortable, and it seems to be a place specially designed to relax slightly.

At this moment, Allen frowned and stared at Oliver, who was slightly fat, and said, “The treasury of the Duchy of Shake is empty?”

In fact, after occupying the Principality of Shake, it took Alan a week to appease the hearts of the people. He didn’t know much about many things in the Principality.

such as the treasury.

Oliver tremblingly took out a stack of financial statements from his thick clip.

“This is a lot of money spent on building the fortress here. In addition, Archduke Shake imported the special wine and rose night of the Principality of Lane, as well as various perfumes, maltose and other items. It also cost a lot of money. And the splurge in front of his children…”

The Finance Minister Oliver pointed at the statements one by one, and Alan had a headache listening to them.

Just building the fortress almost emptied the treasury of the Principality of Shake.

In fact, before Archduke Shake fell, he even considered asking people to raise all taxes by 10%.

Alan twitched the corner of his mouth: “Show me the list of 25 incomes from the treasury of the Duchy of Shaker for the whole year.”

Oliver immediately took another sheet of paper from the clip.

Allen took a look at it and took a deep breath: “An earl’s tribute is only 150,000 gold coins a year?”

Tribute is the act of the enfeoffed nobles dedicating most of the pure interests of their territory to the grand duke, which is to repay the grand duke’s kindness for continuing their rights and territories, and also to express their surrender and loyalty.

Allen remembered that when he was a baron, he robbed the tribute ships of the Blue Moon Principality, a maritime principality.

It seems that there are 100,000 gold coins on it, not to mention various precious materials and potions.

The guaranteed value of a ship is also worth 150,000 gold coins.

Later, Allen learned that tribute is not the same for each country, some are once a year, some are twice a year, or four times.

But roughly the same thing is that the amount of tribute paid by the earl of the duchy should be about 250,000 gold coins a year, unless it is a new earl, who can enjoy the benefit of not paying tribute for five years, and other earls are generally 250,000. numbers around.

Of course, the Blue Moon Principality is a maritime principality, with scarce and barren resources, and the annual tribute of 150,000 gold coins is understandable.

But the Principality of Shaker is not a maritime principality!

Anything lower than that is totally abnormal.

In one year, aside from the daily expenses of an earl and the huge amount of money to train his subordinates, an earl can at least make a profit of 300,000 to 400,000 gold coins on his people.

This is normal.

But now, in a land duchy, the counts only pay 150,000 tribute in a year, which is too shabby.

Allen was shocked.

“Uh, sir, you may not know that the geographical environment of the Principality of Shake is not good, especially in recent years, the weather in the south is strange, often extremely dry, the fertile land is drained a little bit, the crops can’t survive, there is no natural It is very difficult for the spirit to grow crops, and most of the counties have declining income every year, and it would be good to have a tribute of 150,000.”

Oliver wiped the sweat on his forehead and said helplessly.

Allen was stunned when he heard the words. He only saw heavy snow and fertile land in the north. He really didn’t expect a severe drought in the south of the Principality of Shake.

He glanced back at the three Albert beside him.

The three nodded: “He’s right. There is a large area of land in the south of the Principality of Shake that has lost its fertility and is even deserting. This is very terrifying. Although it is covered with snow, we have also seen it. It is indeed a fact.” However, the traces of desertification are not serious for the time being. Only one county has this trend, but I dare not say whether it will spread to the whole country in the future. After all, although only one territory is being desertified, there are many arid areas.” Albert frowned slightly. Speaking of which, this is what he has always been worried about.

The most important thing for a lord is the territory and the people.

If the territory has been abolished, then the lord is a joke. “Is the land desertified?”

Allen sighed slightly. He looked at the financial statements. Most of the counties above looked poor, some paid 150,000 tribute, and some paid 200,000.

The northern territory is generally 250,000, and the rich territory pays 300,000 gold coins.

However, the northern territory is about a third of the principality’s territory after all.

“It’s also because of this reason that Archduke Shake is not necessarily worried. He personally went to check it and found no reason.” Oliver sighed slightly.

There is also a reason for Archduke Shake to spy on the Principality of Lane on the side.

In addition to ambition, it is the worry of a country lord.

Grand Duke Xia Ke has no way out. If things go on like this, the Duchy of Xia will be completely desolate before long. As the Grand Duke, he naturally has to find a way to solve the problem.

At this time, if you can have another piece of fertile and rich land, all problems can be solved easily.

Allen probably understood the old man’s mind. “Taxes have come down, and so has the earl’s tribute.” Allen decided after thinking about it. “You… alright.” Oliver didn’t say much, he was just a courtier, just provide advice, the decision was made by the Grand Duke.

But Allen’s words still made Oliver a little stunned. After all, he didn’t make it clear that reducing taxes would mean Allen’s quality of life would decline.

As nobles, they have become accustomed to extravagance and extravagance.

This was the case with the previous Archduke Shake. Even if the country had problems, even if he built a fortress, his life was still lavish and extravagant, which was why the treasury was quickly depleted.

Compared to Archduke Shake, Ellen, the new dragon knight, is simply too wise!

This allowed Oliver to see a different side of 813 Allen. In addition to being cold-blooded and murderous, this adult was too lenient and kind towards his people.

“Don’t worry, I can solve the problem of the treasury for the time being. Shake is really an idiot. The country has reached the point of burning eyebrows, and he is still building a fortress.”

Allen said indifferently, he and Shake are fundamentally different. After all, he is the lord of the four major industries, and gold coins have never been difficult for him.

The difficulty is that the problem of drought in the south must be solved.

Otherwise, if the land becomes desertified and the entire Principality of Shake becomes a desert country, then Allen feels that all his efforts will be in vain.

“You have a way? Oh, by the way, you were the Earl of Sirius before!”

Oliver slapped his forehead immediately. Every principality has its own intelligence network. As the most famous young earl of the Principality of Lane, Alan has long been in the eyes of the Principality of Shake.

In the Principality of Shack, some intelligence about Ellen has been collected, including the fact that he created the Rose Night Spirits, perfume and other industries.

This adult is a man who is not short of money.

Oliver looked slightly excited.

“Well, Oliver, tell me first about the drought in the South.”

Alan smiled and sat on a sofa. He picked up an unknown fruit and took a bite, then said.

“Yes, my lord, this is what happened.”

Oliver began to bow his head and tell Allen how the entire drought had been from the beginning to the present. .