Chapter 461 [0456] Killing a Chicken to Scare the Monkey? To Calm People's Hearts!

Sambor couldn't believe his eyes.

The smiling little girl in front of him was clearly the "little maid" who had followed her caravan from Miyin City to Fosbyro, because her smile was so contagious, clean and pure like the morning sun, and fresh with dew.

At that time, Sambor thought about introducing her to his nephew - although foreigners rarely married to Fosbyro, he still planned to give it a try.

Unfortunately, the other party refused very decisively at that time, which made Sambor give up helplessly.

And now, it's still this smiling face, but the identity has changed from "maid" to "Count Laxana". The shocking contrast made Sambor, who was used to seeing all kinds of people, couldn't help but feel surprised.

However, he didn't foolishly show his surprise - after a moment of hesitation, he simply lowered his head and greeted the arrival of the new lord of Fosbyro with great respect.

……………………

The process of Lux entering Fosbyro was much smoother than expected. Although the attitude of the locals was not good, it was not bad either.

After receiving the news, no matter what the people of Fosbyro thought in their hearts, at least on the surface they did their best - the place belonging to the former lord of Fosbyro, even if it had been transformed into a vegetable garden, has now been cleared out for Lux and her people to rest.

At the same time, Fosbyro's "new representatives of public opinion" also stayed around Lux, ready to call for consultation at any time.

They seemed to "hope to build Fosbyro", but in fact they were eyeing the position of Fosbyro's tax farmer, hoping to please Lux and obtain the status of a tax farmer - even if it was only a short-term tax farmer.

The tax farming system is not new.

In Demacia, in addition to the territories directly under the king, a considerable number of places would adopt similar means of tax farming when collecting taxes.

Local tax farmers (mostly powerful merchants from various places) spent a sum of money to obtain the right to farm taxes from the local lord, determine the amount of taxes to be paid to the lord, and exchange for the right to collect taxes locally.

After the tax farming contract was confirmed, the local lord could let it go and the tax farmer would be responsible for collecting taxes - when the day came, the tax farmer would pay the full amount of taxes to the lord.

In this way, the lord did not need to find the peasants to collect taxes himself, and he could also get an extra tax farming deposit.

Of course, the wool comes from the sheep, and the tax farmer is definitely not working in vain.

In this process, for every extra copper coin collected, the tax farmer's income increased by one cent - in Demacia, there were not many civilians who could read and write, and they did not know how much tax they should pay, and it all depended on the tax farmer's mouth.

In this case, the tax farmer would naturally choose to exaggerate and bully others.

Especially for those newly promoted nobles - they are often "very simple" military backgrounds and have no experience in local governance.

Deploying troops and collecting taxes and maintaining public security are completely different tracks. Tax farmers are very good at serving such rookies. They often use sweet words to make these people happy. After obtaining the right to farm taxes, they can turn around and scrape a layer of hard money from the local residents.

Of course, the Demacians with abundant martial virtues are not so easy to fool.

If the tax farmers go too far, local civilians will also launch anti-tax activities, and even directly pick up pitchforks to give these bastards who are pretending to be powerful - in this case, although the tax farmers are very greedy, they generally dare not go too far.

In addition to farming taxes, tax farmers often play the role of brokers for local lords. These businessmen who are good at dancing have their own connections and can help new lords gain a foothold in the aristocratic circle. They are also local intelligence dealers.

In many places, tax farmers and lords have become an integrated standing cooperative organization.

Originally, in a place like Fosbyro, tax farmers had little room to play - Lacus was not one of those nouveau riche nobles who suddenly rose to high positions. She was the little princess of the Crown Guard family, and she was surrounded by people sent by Ogasha.

Moreover, Fosbyro was not a small place. Lacus's fiefdom was quite large and relatively poor. In fact, the benefits of tax farming here might not be very high.

If Lacus followed Ogasha's ideas and arrangements and used the reliable people of the Crown Guard family to gain a foothold in Fosbyro, these tax farmers would not be interested in Fosbyro.

However, because she had her own plans, Lacus did not accept too much help from the Crown Guard family - she planned to start from scratch and set up a new business in Fosbyro. Apart from the starting capital, she did not intend to be too deeply influenced by the Crown Guard family.

As a result, the well-informed tax farmers were all excited after receiving the news.

These people came to Fosbyro one after another. As soon as Lux arrived, they tried their best to please her, hoping to become her tax farmers - they heard the news that Jarvan III reduced taxes on Fosbyro, and they were all confident in persuading Lux!

His Majesty the King does not need you to pay taxes, so whatever we squeeze out is yours!

……………………

At the beginning, Lux was very happy to find that there were many "enthusiastic residents" willing to help her understand Fosbyro.

Having locals willing to help is undoubtedly very beneficial for carrying out work. Although Ino and Shivana did the initial investigation, the help of locals will definitely be more effective.

However... when Lux really started to consult, she helplessly discovered that these "locals" were not real locals at all!

Their understanding of Fosbyro was not as clear as Lux who had read the preliminary investigation report!

Facing Lux's suspicious eyes, these tax farmers were also quite helpless-although those who can become tax farmers are well-informed, no matter how well-informed they are, they still need to collect information in advance!

When Count Laxana opened his mouth, the question directly pointed to the specific situation of citizens from all walks of life in Fosbyro, and it was somewhat tricky...

How can people answer this?

We are just tax farmers, not real locals. Pretending to be locals is just to get closer and gain trust!

With Karya's reminder, Lux quickly realized that something was wrong - she summoned Sambor, the president of the Fosbyro Chamber of Commerce, and compared the two, and quickly confirmed the identities of these guys.

The tax farmers did this to themselves?

They pretended to be locals and pretended to cooperate with themselves?

After figuring out the situation, Lux almost wanted to laugh!

Lux, who was worried about how to get closer to the people of Fosbyro, did not hesitate at all and directly asked the soldiers who were temporarily acting as sheriffs to arrest these tax farmers who pretended to be locals.

As for the reason, it was also very simple - forging identities and defrauding nobles.

It was not until they were tied up with chains that the tax farmers realized that something was wrong. Many people began to shout and try to get close to Lux, and one by one they said that they were "from the Secret Silver City and had worked for the Crown Guard Family" and so on.

But would Lux ​​care about you?

Working for the Crown Guard Family?

Lux herself had killed her own family scum!

After finding out the content of the tax farmers' work, she had no good feelings towards these merchants who sucked blood from both sides. She arrested all of them and did not let any of them go.

After arresting these tax farmers, Lux found Sambor again and said that as the new lord, she would give a speech in the central square of Fosbyro tomorrow. She hoped that Sambor would invite everyone to listen with her soldiers.

Sambor obviously didn't know what Lux was thinking, but because Demacia has always had a tradition of giving speeches in the Grand Square after the king ascended the throne, it is also common for lords from all over the country to give speeches to the residents of the territory after ascending the throne.

So, Sambor naturally agreed to Lux's request and agreed to come forward.

The next morning, the soldiers who followed Lux ​​all the way north and had worked hard to train started to move again after just a day's rest, and began to notify door to door.

Compared with the previous training, this notification task was a piece of cake for them.

And because Fosbyro had a close relationship with the Third Legion of the North, the locals also had a preliminary trust in the Demacia soldiers. In this case, on the morning of the third day, at the time of the speech agreed by Lux, the entire Fosbyro city, people who had nothing to do chose to come to the agreed place, waiting for the speech of the new lord.

Here, the speech platform has been set up - several guys who look fat and bloated are tied to the pillars next to the platform with chains, shivering in the autumn wind of Fosbyro.

Seeing this scene, the local residents talked about it - at first everyone thought that this was the new lord showing off his power and using people as a pretext, but after chatting with each other, they found that these guys... didn't seem to be locals of Fosbyro.

It's normal to kill a chicken to scare the monkey, but what's the point of not killing local chickens?

Who knows who these guys are?

There were more discussions in the crowd.

Then, a message came from somewhere that these people were tax farmers who wanted to take on the tax collection task of Fosbyro.

Although it was not clear what tax farmers were, normal people did not want to be taxed. After Fosbyro lost its lord, its only advantage was that it did not have to pay daily taxes. Even so, due to its remote location and extremely poor resources, the people of Fosbyro still lived a hard life.

You want to collect taxes now?

You deserve to be hung there!

As the news spread, the eyes of Fosbyro residents looking at the tax farmers quickly changed from sympathy and worry to resentment and relief.

You deserve it!

If you want to collect our taxes, why don't you hang you to death?

In this subtle atmosphere, as the speech time arrived, Lux attended in full dress and stood on the high platform built in advance.

……………………

Lux was undoubtedly quite good at speaking. When she was in Zaun, she had given speeches to the people of Zaun many times.

However, Lux was still a little nervous about giving a speech to the people of Fosbyro.

Fortunately, with the help of these tax-farmers, Lux cleared her throat and chose to skip the red tape and speak in the simplest and most down-to-earth way.

"Everyone should have seen these despicable people trapped on the pillars." Under the cold morning sunshine in the north, Lux's voice, as crisp as a silver bell, appeared clearly to all the blessings in the square. In the ears of the people of Sbyro, "They are tax merchants who specialize in helping lords everywhere to collect taxes. They will collect excessive taxes from the common people and give part of them to the lords to make profits."

The crowd was a little noisy.

Behind Lux, Fiona waved a red flag.

The next moment, after seeing the flag, the soldiers maintaining order around the square subconsciously slammed their weapons on the ground.

"ha--"

"ha--"

Amidst the cheers of thousands of soldiers, the originally noisy square suddenly became quiet.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lux finally spoke again.

"These greedy tax collectors are well-informed people. They came to me disguised as locals from Forsbarrow, hoping that I could use them to collect taxes." Lux's voice was still clear and clear, with a A kind of wonderful magic that makes people want to listen, "Even if they know that His Majesty Jarvan III has agreed that Forsbarrow does not need to pay taxes for five years, they still hope that I can conceal this news as they hope. Collect a few gold coins in your pocket."

The crowd became noisy again.

But this time, Lux did not ask for organizational discipline - she just smiled and waited quietly for the Forsbarrow people to vent their emotions.

Next to the podium, several tax merchants who were tied to pillars were beginning to tremble.

If there were no soldiers stopping them, they dared to say that these hillbillies from Forsbarrow would have dared to rush over and beat them to death!

"Obviously, I did not agree." After the crowd became quieter, Lux finally spoke again, "As the lord of Forsbarrow, I should stand with the Forsbarrow people."

If this sentence is said without any foreshadowing, I am afraid that the Forsbarrow people will just regard Lux's words as nonsense.

However, watching these trembling tax merchants learn the news of the five-year tax exemption from the new lord, the Forsbarrow people quickly looked at Lux with a bit of satisfaction.

"In my opinion, Forsbarrow is a land with great potential and a bright future." Lux continued her speech, "It is located in the north, guarding the northwest border of Demacia, and has rich resources. Forestry resources are Demacia’s largest source of blue ocher and a major source of furs. Among the mountains and glaciers, specialty products such as ling ginger, poria grass, and Cassidorus flowers are eye-catching.”

"Whether they are the pickers climbing on the cliffs of the Feilongji Mountains, the hunters running in the dense forests, or the miners sweating in the mines, they are all inheritors of the diligent and brave spirit of Demacia's ancestors." Lark With a smile on her face, Silk seamlessly incorporated the contents of the preliminary investigation into the speech, "In the harsh natural environment of the north, the hard-working and brave Forsbarrow people have protected this land for Demacia. , you deserve a better life.”

"And I am here to practice this."

"I won't collect a penny of Forsbarrow's taxes for five years."

"But I hope that all of you in Forsbarrow can work with me to open roads and build water conservancy projects."

"With our joint efforts, Forsbarrow will surely become the most dazzling gem in the northern part of Demacia!"

Kalja’s little class·How to become one of Forsbarrow’s own:

There is nothing better than a common enemy to unite people - Count Laxana, a noble from the capital, may not be accepted by the people of Forsbyro, but "he cleaned up the tax collectors and generously promised tax exemption" "Count Laxana, even the most vulgar Forsbarrow Orion, is willing to give her some time to express herself.