Chapter 529 Xu Lai's Plan

General manager means to manage everything.

And supervision is simpler, supervision and inspection.

No noble dares to arrange a supervisor when arranging a city lord or mayor.

For example, the tax collector in a small town, the deputy city lord in a city, the chief financial officer, etc., are generally arranged directly by the city lord.

The management power and the supervisory power are combined, plus a military power, it is no problem to say that he is an independent lord. This is simply to enfeoff Aini and his castles to him in disguise.

That is the earl's castle. Sitting in this position, isn't it equivalent to being the ruler of the grassland?

However, Xu Lai handed over such an important territory to him, so what did Xu Lai want?

Although Xu Lai must take the majority of the profit sharing, he must take the majority, but occupying this position, there are not only obvious benefits, but also hidden benefits, and a reputation that cannot be concreted by benefits.

It can be said that taking the position of governor, he, Jimmy Martell, is the real first noble of the grassland.

As for Xu Lai, seeing his behavior, his mind should not only be on the grassland.

You should assist him well and try to send Xu Lai out of the grassland, so that he can be the king outside.

"Of course, the premise of my appointment of you as governor is that you must act according to the policies and principles I set for you.

Otherwise, I can only find a way to give you other compensation.

After the entire grassland is unified, I can expand your territory and allocate the land and towns around the city of Martel to you.

You can think about it carefully, I can give you time to consider it, but as soon as possible."

The grassland resources are not as good as other places, so Aini occupied the entire grassland and only got the title of an earl.

And Jimmy is already a viscount, and there is no room for promotion in the title.

Because even if Xu Lai can unify the entire grassland, he can only be awarded the title of an earl at most.

The boss is only an earl, he is not even a hero, can he be promoted to another level?

There are two earls in a grassland, so who should I listen to? I am afraid that Xu Lai will destroy me in the future.

The title cannot be promoted, and the only reward is more land.

The land on the grassland is not very valuable. In fact, every noble who was granted a fiefdom occupies more fiefdoms to a greater or lesser extent.

Even if Xu Lai promised to give him another town, Jimmy felt that this little benefit was far less than what he would lose if he turned against him.

Jimmy turned against him because he really looked down on what Aini did.

In his opinion, Aini's approach was to seek the skin of a tiger. If the orcs really destroyed Xu Lai's city, would they give up?

The most likely approach is to use Xu Lai's city as a base to build the orcs' own front-line base, and then slowly store supplies in Qingfeng City.

After storing enough supplies in Qingfeng City and getting rid of the logistical troubles, the orc army will inevitably invade the grassland again.

Now that the empire is in turmoil and in full bloom, it is impossible for the temple to have the spare capacity to support the grassland.

Not only the temple, towers, and barriers, but also reinforcements cannot be sent.

In addition, all of them, the grassland nobles, had suffered a lot of losses before. What would they use to resist the next orc invasion?

If the entire grassland fell, how could Jimmy survive?

Jimmy has his own ideas. People with ideas are also ambitious. A mere town cannot satisfy his appetite.

"Don't think about it, Lord. Since I have pledged my loyalty to you, I must execute your will. I want to challenge the position of the city lord."

Xu Lai smiled and didn't say much, but said to him:

"The plan I made may not be so easy for you to accept.

You'd better think it over. I hate people giving up halfway."

Jimmy said: "Lord, I have thought it over very clearly. Being a stable noble is not what I want."

Xu Lai smiled with his hands behind his back: "Well, then I will tell you my ideas in detail.

I plan to build Conaston City into an economic city, an economic center of the grassland."

"Economic city?" Jimmy had no idea about this title.

Xu Lai continued, "Yes, an economic city, as the name suggests, is a city whose main task is to develop the economy.

Have you been to Avic City?"

Jimmy shook his head and said, "I've heard of it, but I haven't been there.

It is said to be a very prosperous city, and the temple even built a cathedral in Avic City."

Xu Lai smiled and said, "Then do you know why Avic City is so prosperous? Or, what is the biggest feature of Avic City?"

Jimmy said, "This should be its city wall. This is already a feature of Avic. Even people who have never been to Avic have heard of it.

When you mentioned it, you don't want to imitate Avic and tear down the city wall of Conaston, do you?"

Jimmy's expression was uncertain. Xu Lai's idea was really too shocking for him to accept for a while.

Xu Lai did not reply immediately, but fell into silence, which made Jimmy more certain in his heart.

"You must not have such an idea. The walls of Conaston have been built for hundreds of years, and the people here have long been accustomed to them.

Besides, we are in the northwest of the empire, and we can only trade with people from the Western Empire and the Northern Empire.

Western Empire caravans have not been seen for a long time. Although the caravans in the Northern Empire have recovered a lot, they are still not comparable to before.

Even if we want to learn from Avik, we don’t have the basic conditions.

Perhaps you don’t know that there is no decent forest in our grassland, and it is difficult to find a tree over a hundred years old.

What we lack most is wood, stone and other building materials. We have spent countless efforts to build such a magnificent city wall. "

Although he has not yet taken office as the city lord, Jimmy has begun to feel heartache for this city.

Xu Lai frowned. His policy has not yet begun. He just said it out loud, and it has been denied by the city lord he chose.

To be honest, Xu Lai was a little angry. Jimmy seemed to be a little too proud and seemed to be unable to distinguish between the big and small kings.

But after all, he is the only local nobleman he can rely on now. Xu Lai still hopes to convince the other party instead of only enforcing it by command.

"Don't just limit yourself to the gains and losses of the city wall. Think about it, Aini built such a high wall. Did he have the opportunity to use it?

On the contrary, how much has Conaston lost over the past hundreds of years because of this city wall? Have you ever thought about it? "

Without giving Jimmy a chance to think and answer, Xu Lai immediately said:

"Aini and his people are bent on bordering the empire, and they look down on the marginal land that may be threatened by the stronghold at any time.

However, he built a city with such a good geographical location in the central location where the Northern Empire and the Western Empire meet, but it failed to play its due role.

There are a total of 4 gates in Conaston City. The one on the east is next to the castle, and it is the one he occupies exclusively. "

Jimmy nodded. That one is indeed controlled by the people inside the castle. Even if they want to leave, they can't.

Xu Lai said again: "Outside the west is the military camp, and to the south are the towns and manors next to it. Merchants have only one passage inside and outside the north gate.

As far as I know, Aini also has a special entry fee. The city guards have to check the goods and the number of people at the city gate every day. Even the animals entering and leaving have to be calculated as a fee? "

It's not just Aini, every noble is like this, including him, Jimmy Martell.

Hearing Xu Lai say this, Jimmy explained awkwardly: "According to the laws of the empire, nobles have the right to collect taxes on their own territories."

Xu Lai glanced at him indifferently and said: "Of course, I don't deny this."

However, Xu Lai said: "The most popular commodities on the grassland are furs and horses.

Especially during such a war, the demand for mounts and equipment has increased greatly. The Western Empire is almost destroyed, and the number of caravans has not decreased significantly.

But even in this situation, I have inquired that the volume of mount and fur transactions in the market has decreased.

The price of mounts in Conaston has risen to the sky, but the profit margin and tax revenue are not high. What does it mean? Don't you know? "

Jimmy is not stupid, and the same situation exists in Martell City.

"Is it because of large transactions that they all go to other places to complete?"

Xu Lai said unhappily: "Isn't this inevitable?

If it were you, would you be willing to pay the entrance fee for hundreds of horses? Or would your caravan be willing to pay the exit fee for these horses again? "

Jimmy gritted his teeth and said, "Indeed, there are too many fees in the current city, which affects the normal development of business.

I will find a way to remove all unreasonable charges.

But my lord, we really don't need to tear down the city wall, right?

For large-scale transactions, they can also be completed outside the city. At worst, we can build a large market outside the city specifically for these merchants. "

Jimmy's proposal is exactly what Xu Lai is doing in Qingfeng City now. He built a market outside Qingfeng City to separate bulk transactions from precious goods transactions.

But Xu Lai has other plans for demolishing the walls of Conaston City.

One is that without the walls, the efficiency of entering and leaving the city can be greatly increased, which is of great help to business activities.

The second is a kind of self-protection for Xu Lai. This city is not protected by walls. Even if Jimmy wants to betray him, Xu Lai can send an elite cavalry to take the city back immediately.

But if there is protection from walls, then only Xu Lai or Lena can go, and they have to mobilize a large army.

Jimmy is different from other appointed city lords. Other city lords can only control one city guard. Jimmy and Xu Lai can He was allowed and required to form a legion.

Xu Lai only brought more than a hundred angels to attack and capture the city, which was a one-time thing and not a two-time thing.

He dared to do this before because Aini's main force was not there. If Aini's main force was there, the damage from the dozens of crossbow carts and crossbow cannons on the city wall alone would be astonishingly terrifying.

There are also high-level long-range shooters, high-level melee troops, and the swordsman of the human race is also very good at single combat.

More than a hundred angels flew up, wouldn't they be surrounded by the enemy?

Besides, it is not easy to open the city gate. The city gate hole is relatively narrow. Aini only needs to send some masters wearing magic equipment to guard it, and even Elvy will find it difficult to open the city gate.

The third benefit is that Qingfeng City can benefit from it.

"This is something I have decided.

Sir Jimmy, I told you before that my policy may be very different from what you think, and you may not accept it.

If it were anyone else, I would be too lazy to talk nonsense to him, but because it is Your Excellency, I will explain it to you patiently.

If there's anything you can't figure out, my previous suggestions are still valid. "

Jimmy was surprised when Xu Lai addressed him formally, indicating that Xu Lai was already very dissatisfied with him.

Thinking of this, Jimmy wanted to slap himself in the face.

After all, this city was conquered by Xu Lai. Even if he is not a vassal loyal to him, this city has nothing to do with him.

As a result, he suddenly became greedy for profit, because Xu Lai's governor really regarded Conaston as his own city.

This is a city that was conquered by others. Not to mention demolishing a city wall, even destroying the entire city to extract resources, that is their freedom.

"I'm sorry, sir, I overstepped. I am your loyal executor. I only need to faithfully execute your orders."

Xu Lai said helplessly: "I'm not here to give orders, I'm just telling you which direction you should go in, and what kind of situation I want to achieve.

Take Conaston, for example. What I hope to see is a huge, unfettered, commercial center for the entire grassland, and even the Northern and Western Empires.

Here, you can buy all kinds of products from all over the world.

In order to achieve this goal, it was necessary to demolish the city wall.

And it's not just about demolishing the city wall, I will remove all the messy and dazzling expenses like entry fees, exit fees, poll taxes, commercial taxes, security management fees, and health assessment fees.

From now on, there will only be business tax. People operate normally and pay tax when they have income. If they don’t have income, they don’t have to pay tax.

Also, cities need to set up more security stations. I will send people over to provide guidance later.

In short, the army returns to the army and the people return to the people. The two cannot be confused.

After removing the so-called protection fees in various names, we must instead provide protection and provide a better environment.

In a city as big as Conaston, everywhere is like a smelly ditch. Are you willing to live in such an environment forever?

All these fees will be paid from municipal revenue, and a large portion of business tax revenue will also be allocated to the city hall.

As for you and me, we may have no income for a long time, but as long as the reputation of Conaston City is spread, the endless flow of caravans will bring far greater wealth than before. "

Jimmy thought for a while and said: "My lord, as I said before, I will completely implement the policy you formulated.

But I also want to ask, the situation in the empire is getting worse and worse, and business circulation will only become more and more difficult.

And without the protection of the city wall, no matter how much wealth we accumulate, can we really hold it? "(End of chapter)