Chapter 36: The Caravan’s Customs Fees and the Anger at Nanguan
The pass clerk and his men hurried past the neatly arranged troops. Since the army was arranged neatly in teams of ten, the clerk recorded a team of ten soldiers with just one glance, adding something to the book.
Soldiers are good at keeping records, but logistics is much more troublesome.
The drivers who drove the logistics carriages were all recruited from the city militia of Kendall City. Because they did not need to be responsible for fighting and there was still a small amount of money to be paid, the initial recruitment went smoothly.
However, these people do not have uniform militia weapons and equipment. They basically prepare their own self-defense weapons. For protection, most of them rely on thick cloth knitted by their wives at home to provide slightly better protection than nothing.
Regular weapons can't resist it, but it can keep annoying flies and mosquitoes out of your clothes along the way.
The clerk of the checkpoint glanced at these young people driving the vehicles with envy in his eyes. In their remote pass, there are old, weak, sick and disabled people everywhere. If there is not a powerful knight sent from the provincial capital to guard it, how can they dare to collect taxes from the caravans carrying swords that pass through the pass? .
The old clerk was very conscientious. When he passed every horse-drawn carriage and donkey-cart, he would record the number of people driving it and ask what supplies were loaded on the vehicle.
Most of the drivers answered honestly, but when he met the baron's carriage, he was blocked by the armed guards guarding the carriage.
"This is not something you are qualified to inspect. Get out of here." The guard guarding the Baron's carriage was very rude, but the old clerk just lowered his head and smiled, apologized and backed away.
The luggage carriages of Knight Crowe and Knight Rumi were also guarded by the accompanying personal guards. The old clerk and his men did not ask for trouble. They took off the wide-brimmed hat on their heads from a distance and signaled, Just skip it.
Soon he saw the listless Kiel on horseback. He was a little confused. This young man in thick linen clothes looked very ordinary, but he was riding on horseback and had a handbag hanging around his waist. A long sword with a slight green light in its scabbard.
The strangest thing is that this sturdy young man looks very tired, and he is holding a crude wooden doll that emits light.
The old clerk discussed it with his men and did not dare to offend him, so he came over and asked Keir: "Hello, are you a member of the Kendall County army?"
Kil blinked, put the wooden doll in his hand into the wooden box on his waist and closed it, then nodded: "Yes, I am the attendant of Knight Crow."
"That's good, that's good. I won't disturb you anymore. Please help yourself." The old clerk bent back slightly, then walked towards the next carriage.
Keir looked at these people and felt speechless, so he shook the reins and asked the horse to follow.
Soon the personnel at these checkpoints checked and registered the carriage carrying the church priests.
Since it was a carriage specially designed to carry people, the clerk walked up the wooden stairs. But what was funny was that as soon as the old clerk entered, he immediately nodded and got out of the carriage.
He kept apologizing to the priests in the car for interrupting their retreat, and even exaggeratedly slapped his face and mouth with his hands.
However, the priests on the carriage did not pay attention to this person. They just controlled the opened door to slam shut from a distance, blocking the noise outside the carriage.
Keir had been there before and knew that the interior of the seemingly ordinary carriage was actually quite special. Not only did it have an on-board toilet, but it was also extremely quiet inside. He didn’t know what technology was used to manufacture the carriage.
He was following Knight Crow's instructions and took a strange ornament captured in Dead Leaf Village to question the priests who didn't get out of their cars and move around much.
There were four priests inside, but three of them didn't pay much attention to him. Only one priest from the Church of Saturn took the jewelry that Kiel took out and said that he would ask other priests in the car in turn.
Even he himself didn't know what this crude bird-shaped statuette was.
Two days later, just when Kiel was wondering whether the priest had swallowed his trophies for himself, the other party came to the door on his own. First, he returned the thing to Kiel, and then said that the other priests in the car didn't know what it was. He was afraid of delaying Kil's affairs, so he had been carrying the ornaments for the past two days and tried to ask the great God of Agriculture while meditating and praying.
After spending two days marching in the wild with the army, he finally made contact with the God of Agriculture.
"The owner told me that this object was a prayer statue of a nature god through which I could contact the nature god associated with birds. This should have been destroyed, but the great owner told me that it could help You fight. Our gods and churches have never been good at armed combat, so it is difficult to help you, but this thing may be able to."
"However, regarding the appropriateness of the connection with the alien gods, the master hopes that you, our warrior, can control it yourself. Please don't forget who established and maintained our human world, and who supports this huge social foundation. .”
"There is power in the soil. Remember, young people."
The middle-aged Saturn priest had a serious face, but his eyes were moist and harmless.
When he looked at him, Kil also puffed up his chest and solemnly took the jewelry handed over by the other party, saying that he would not forget the support given to him by the Kendall Church of Saturn.
Before leaving, Kil hesitantly asked if the damaged sixth-class defense badge of the Church of Saturn could be repaired at the church.
Unexpectedly, the priest silently patted his forehead and asked Keir carefully how the badge was damaged.
Kil picked up what he could say and roughly said it. When he heard that the entire badge had been broken into various gems, crystals and wood chips, the middle-aged priest expressed his helplessness.
"The badges are made by the church's senior leaders using the environment in the temple and the rituals issued by the gods to infuse power. If we are still in Kendall City at this time and you are making new achievements, the senior leaders will definitely repair it for you. A badge. But in our current situation, there is nothing we can do."
Kil thought for a while, but then asked: "But what if we pass by another big town later? Is it possible to borrow the power of the Saturnalia Church in another place to repair it?"
The priest shook his head: "No. It's not that the other party can't do it, but it's not necessary. The defense badge awarded to you by the church praises the stability you have brought to the farmers in Kendal. It's not How could I do such a thing to you after protecting other people's territory? Unless it is arranged by a higher-level church organization. However."
Without the other party saying anything, Kiel knew that he actually had no ability or status, and it was impossible for him to be influential at the top of the Church of Saturn.
-
The old clerk stepped back from the carriage carrying the priests from each family, took a handkerchief from his subordinates and wiped the cold sweat on his body, and then continued to record the situation of the Kendal army.
There was no problem with logistics here, but the old secretary frowned and looked at a group of chamber of commerce convoys following closely behind the logistics vehicles.
He walked over, asked about their situation, and briefly counted the size of these merchants and the various goods carried by those merchants.
The old clerk and his men simply calculated the customs duties that should be paid on those goods, and found that it was not a small amount, so they immediately led the people and walked quickly towards the knight at the checkpoint gate.
The merchants accompanying the army looked at each other in confusion. Some were worried that they would have to pay a lot of tax later, while others felt that they would not. After all, they had another level of identity at this time, that is, they were the caravan accompanying the army. Have to be responsible for part of the army's logistical supplies.
And Baron Kendall is here right now. If he collects their taxes like this, wouldn’t that be a direct slap in Baron Kendall’s face?
It's okay if you have to pay taxes, but where does Baron Kendall's face go?
-
The old secretary came to Knight Bota with the recorded army size and material situation. He handed over the book he opened in his hand, but at the same time he took another sheet recording the situation of the caravan accompanying the army, as well as a simple The paper with the estimated tax situation was handed over separately.
After Knight Bota took it, he looked at it carefully. He raised his eyebrows. The size of the caravan accompanying the army was not small. At least the scale of a single caravan was certainly not comparable. It must have been composed of many caravans from large chambers of commerce. put together.
Therefore, the tax generated is naturally not a small amount.
This is roughly the amount of taxes they collect from caravans traveling through the checkpoint in less than half a month.
Knight Bota looked at the old clerk and the many men responsible for collecting transaction taxes who had just counted them together. These subordinates are all his. Of course, how could the most important position in this trade route be retained by the subordinates of other former knights?
Knowing that these people would not deceive him, he tapped the wings of the Megapod with his foot and approached Baron Kendall.
"Baron, those caravans following your army?"
The baron knew what the opponent was thinking and moved his horse closer to the opponent's giant bird. His strong horse was not afraid of the taller and more powerful giant bird.
The baron put his head over to take a look at the paper in the other person's hand, and then hummed softly.
"I didn't expect it to be quite a lot? Bota, are you a little reluctant to part with this money?"
Of course, I couldn't bear to part with it. After all, although this pass was on the remote edge of the Northwest Province, it was still a must-take place on a major trade route.
And unlike other checkpoints at Shankou Yukou, this place is naturally divided by the Ningnu River. It is impossible for business travelers to bypass the checkpoint and continue moving forward.
If you want to go there, you have to pay.
As for the toll tax at this pass, although it is impossible for all of it to fall into his hands, at least after excluding the portion of the tax that must be paid to the earl, the other small portion of the tax is all his.
This is why even though this place is remote, knights have always been willing to spend time coming here since its establishment.
No matter how capable the young knights are in fighting, most of them don't have much money in their pockets.
Although this position would be far away from the political and economic center of the province, it was far better than being an ordinary knight in the Organ Castle.
At the beginning, the Earl specifically chose him, who was in the prime of his life, and the Knight of Porta came to garrison here.
Faced with Baron Kendall's questioning, it was certainly impossible for him to say to his face that he was interested in this income. When his face showed a fake smile that had been rare in recent years, his mind was racing rapidly.
"What's our relationship? We were also companions who attended the concert together in the Organ Castle. Do you remember? I even made trouble for you with another guy. If I hadn't settled the matter, how could you have slept with the orchestra? Principal harpist?”
The smile on Knight Pota's face gradually changed, and he felt proud of his memory. Some small things from the past few years were gradually recalled, and he immediately asked Baron Kendall, who looked embarrassed.
Knight Crow, who heard the conversation between the two, raised his eyebrows and looked at Baron Kendall, making the baron look embarrassed.
"There's nothing wrong with that. Later, the chief went to the Kingdom's capital for further study. He didn't sleep, so there's nothing wrong with that."
"But I heard that someone sponsored that person's huge expenses for further study?"
Finally defeated, Baron Kendall took out a small luminous gem from his arms.
After hesitating for a moment, he took the initiative to put the gem into the hands of Knight Bota.
"It's impossible for you to collect money from the military caravan. Take this and let our people pass quickly. Humph, I will definitely not leave you when I come back."
Knight Bota flattened his mouth, whistled incoherently, and brought the small gem in his hand to his eyes. He slightly stimulated the gem in his hand with his own life energy, and the gem emitted a conspicuous light.
"You are so generous. You are giving away such a rare thing." He quickly put the gem into a small pocket on his armor and put it away. Then he put his finger on the tax list of the caravan accompanying the army. I clicked on my own life energy mark.
Baron Kendall ridiculed Knight Pota: "It's not very difficult to get. You know, my territory is on the border, where the Empire's Border Knights are stationed. Unlike our army, the Empire never Lack of magicians.”
Knight Pota turned around and handed everything to his men, then waved his hands to get out.
He then happily talked to Baron Kendall again, mostly talking about the changes in Organ Castle in the past two years. He knew that Baron Kendall was mainly responsible for the construction of water conservancy projects in the entire province in the Organ Castle. Thanks to the Baron's ability, the development of water conservancy in the northwest province far exceeded the average level of the kingdom.
Knight Botta, Baron Kendall and others stood in the square outside Angeng Beiguan, watching groups of soldiers walking across the deserted stone bridge, and whispered to the baron: "I'm easy to talk to here, but you have to be careful on the other side. People, they will definitely take a lot of your money."
"It sounds like you haven't ripped me off, right? Don't tell others about the chief harpist of the orchestra in the future. I'm not familiar with him, you know? Not familiar!"
"Ah, yes, yes, you are not familiar with it, you are not familiar with it." As he said that, Knight Bota rolled his eyes aside.
-
Knight Crow walked at the front of the team and arrived on the other side of the river early.
To him, the stone bridge under his feet was nothing. The water was not fast enough and not deep enough, and the two banks of the river were not very far away.
The main reason is that the banks of the river are very steep. Basically, except for the slope roads specially dug by people, it is difficult for ordinary people to get to the edge of the Nuanu River.
The merchants on the other side of the river were also temporarily blocked from passing, and the bridge during this period was specially vacated for their army to pass by.
Compared to the checkpoints built with wood and stone in the Angry North Pass, this checkpoint in the south seems a little behind. Most of them are made of giant trees and rammed earth walls covered with wood. However, the soldiers and knights guarding the level are not bad at all.
At least in the eyes of Crow Knight, he is much better than the soldiers in Beiguan.
It's just that the knight leading the team looks a bit young, with a childish and proud face.
"This knight, I am Bols-Ika of the Ika family, a knight of rank, subordinate to the master of the Western Province, Count Obostus, and the knight appointed by the count himself to be stationed in the Angry South Pass."
The young knight waited until the Crow Knight leading the team approached, and immediately raised the metal warhammer in his hand and saluted the Crow Knight on his horse.
And Knight Crow also responded with a salute: "Dodel Crow. Knight, subordinate to Baron Kendall. The baron himself is behind talking to an old acquaintance. He will come over in a moment."
The two exchanged simple and polite greetings, and then stood side by side in the open space outside the South Pass. Waiting for groups of militiamen to walk neatly across the stone bridge.
Seeing that although Nanguan was not built with much care, the space here was quite large, so Knight Crow asked the militiamen who had crossed the bridge to line up on the spot and wait for others behind them.
It's not like Beiguan, where people in front cross the bridge at the pass, and the convoy behind has to wait and be blocked on the road.
The young Ika knight looked at the Crow knight, especially the horse and weapons.
This look was naturally noticed by Knight Crow: "What, young man?"
"I seem to have heard of your name. My father once visited the Imperial Frontier Knights, and there was also a knight named Crow serving there."
Knight Crow nodded: "It's me. I did serve in the Empire Border Knights before. Compared to the Kingdom's Knights, there are more fighting opportunities there. You know, the aliens have been unquiet in the border areas. Although they cannot legally get back the lost land, they have always wanted to de facto take back the land under our feet."
Unexpectedly, the young Knight Ika did not focus on the latter words of Knight Crow. Instead, he had strong opinions on Knight Crow joining the Imperial Border Knights.
"Why did you leave the Kingdom's Knights and join the Empire instead? What's wrong with our Knights? I've been determined to join the Kingdom's Knights since I was a child, but you actually dislike it?"
Seeing the young knight's bad tone, Knight Crow smiled softly, remembering what he looked like many years ago. So he explained: "I didn't say that the Knights of the Guard are bad, but you don't know how boring the duties of the Knights of the Guard are."
"It is such an honor to protect the regent's rule and help the regent's management. How can it be described as boring."
"Oh, right. But the royal capital didn't think so. And my colleagues at the time didn't think so either. If you want to fill a wine glass with more wine, you have to find a bigger wine glass. .instead of competing with the water.”
He paused for a moment: "Serving there, there is no honorable battle. And it is difficult to improve one's level of knighthood."
But his words were not heard by this young knight. For this knight from a knight family in a remote area, being able to serve in the center of power in the kingdom is far better than stationing in a border area to make money for the superiors. More honor.
Soon, Baron Kendall and his men followed the militia team together with Knight Rumi, and the front of the logistics convoy crossed the stone bridge.