High Above

Everything the old tax collector said made sense. It would be better to say that he had really seen through Ian's plan. It is no wonder that he has been a tax collector from the old Baron Ryan to today.

But just because a smart person talks sense doesn’t mean someone wants to listen to it.

Most people in this world are not willing to listen to the right words.

——Old Farr, you make enough, so it doesn’t matter, but we don’t make enough!

"Perhaps you just want to hit us?"

A female tax official said that she was the eldest daughter of the Doyle family: "The other party is an alchemist lord. It's quite expensive. Maybe he just wants to give us a slap to stop being greedy, or he can pass it on." Spew out part of the money you took... This is not difficult, and everyone will feel more at ease if you hand over some money."

"Yes." Other tax officials also agreed: "How can any of these noble lords really take care of things? Especially the alchemist. It is probably just to reorganize the finances now, so as not to have no money for him to do experiments...etc. Now that this momentum has passed, if we send a large number of talers, maybe it will be business as usual?"

These words caused a burst of laughter. Obviously this situation had happened many times in Terra and it did not feel novel to these people.

"But I still feel uncomfortable."

A middle-aged tax official sighed: "Everyone has worked diligently for the Ryan Territory for so long, and suddenly they were fired. This new lord really doesn't treat us as human beings and casually wipes out our lifetime hard work." ah!"

Hearing this, everyone's expressions suddenly changed - not everyone, just you!

Everyone just came here to drink some flavored water after losing their jobs. They had no intention of discussing the decisions of the Lord's Mansion!

This lord is a ruthless person who will shoot you in the head if you don't like it when you are talking to him... Even if he looks young and beautiful, he is still a poisonous flower with thorns.

Don't spill blood on me!

Because of the nonsense of people with no emotional intelligence, this gathering of unemployed tax collectors broke up. The old tax collector was the first to leave, shaking his head and holding a pipe in his mouth. The last person to leave was the Ross family tax collector who complained in the first place.

After the former left the tavern, he walked directly to the city hall—the first batch of new tax officer registrations was today. He originally wanted to support these young people who had worked with him, but he didn't expect that none of them would be successful.

In this case, it is better to go home and prepare the test materials after registering.

As for the latter, he was going to buy some wine from another dark liquor store that had liquor in private to soothe his depression.

But on the way, the tax collector of the Ross family suddenly met a cobbler who seemed to have nothing unusual about him.

He also knows this cobbler. He seems to be an honest man who moved here a few years ago. He has been working diligently and has found a local wife. The child is two years old. Her craftsmanship is quite good and she made him a bearskin coat. .

"Nick, what's going on?" he said, "Are you going to have a drink too?"

"Yeah, it's quite depressing."

The cobbler known as Nick smiled and said, "Mr. Lauren, what's going on? You seem to be in a bad mood?"

"Stop talking about it. Aren't these all orders from our new lord?" When talking about this, Lauren was filled with depression. He shook his head and walked with the other party to the dark wine shop deep in the alley: "To tell you the truth, I am no longer a tax collector..."

The two of them went underground in the alley and drank two bottles of ale mixed with water. The atmosphere became heated, and Lauren began to vent her frustration.

He didn't dare to complain about Ian, but he didn't notice that the honest 'cobbler''s eyes flashed, and he kept asking for details and the process of the tax collector's gathering.

After knowing what the tax collector and the family behind him thought of Ian, he left the place on the excuse that he had no money.

The spy from the Flying Fire Land returned to his home and released an inconspicuous gray homing pigeon. It flapped its wings a few times, then left the city along the street, rushed into the forest, and flew at low altitude into the distance.

On the roof of the building further away, three White People soldiers watched this scene with binoculars.

"Catch now?"

A soldier said, while the leader of the team shook his head: "The young elder (Ian) said that if the information in Ryan City is leaked, it will be leaked. It can also pass on false information at critical moments. It is really useless. You can also wait until it is needed." kill."

"There's no need to take action now, just make a monitoring list."

"Yeah." The young soldier nodded, and he couldn't help but sigh: "How did the little elder know that the other party was a spy? If we hadn't seen it with our own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that the honest cobbler was actually a spy from Feiyan!"

"Have you ever heard of the 'Thunder-dropping Prophet'?" the captain started to show off. He once followed Ian in a magnetic storm armor to raid the mountain people's positions. Now he will brag about it whenever he gets an opportunity: "Our little boy The elder has so many tricks up his sleeve, who knows if his spiritual power can see through people's hearts? He's just like a real prophet!"

"Anyway, if anything happens, just do it, he will definitely have a way!"

The name of the prophet who brought down thunder has begun to spread from the mouths of the mountain people and the residents of Laian Territory to the outside world.

Some people have begun to call Ian 'our prophet lord'.

This can also be regarded as a strategy of Ian. After all, he knows very well that sooner or later, he will expose the truth about his psychic powers... and although the name is fake, the language is so wonderful, nicknames and pronouns, as well as the actual Facts do tend to blur gradually, making people forget their differences.

By then, they will take it for granted.

As for the dissatisfaction of the tax collector and the family behind it, Ian can completely predict it.

But he didn't mind that. Because as the old tax official said, Ian didn't stop these experienced guys from taking the exam - as long as they can pass the written test and interview, as well as the 'background check', he certainly doesn't mind hiring these experienced guys again. .

If they are willing to pass on their experience as a tax collector as a 'teacher', then Ian is more than welcome.

There may be no shortage of anything else in the territory, but ‘teachers’ really need as many as they have.

While the tax collectors were complaining, construction was in full swing in Ryanland.

A week after the war, the dilapidated city of Leian was almost completely new.

Even the northwest city, where many fortifications and magnetic storm coils were originally built, were almost reduced to ruins by the mountain people's artillery fire. Now only the towers of the magnetic storm coils remain.

According to Ian's original plan, these towers would also be demolished, but local residents said that these coils gave them a strong sense of security, so they were not demolished in the end.

Ian simply built a "Tianlei Square" on the original site of the ruins with the magnetic storm coil as the center. As a memorial to the victory of the counterattack, it also became a good place for local residents to hang out in their free time.

In addition, Ian invited a group of craftsmen from Nauman City to repair Baron Ryan's castle, and renovated the damaged areas inside and outside.

In general, the castle is to completely eliminate the shadow of the original Baron Ryan and turn it into a structure that Ian is accustomed to.

Although craftsmen often accidentally discovered some skeletons and strange body remains during the renovation process, which were most likely leftover from the experiments of the Baron and those psychic children, after all, Ian gave them the confidence, so they were not too afraid.

The new Lord's Mansion is already under construction, and during the recent period, Ian has been living in the city hall and handling government affairs.

And what he was busy with was very simple - buying food.

Buy all kinds of food.

The food shortage in Nanling will continue until the autumn harvest next year. Without food, the work of collecting people will not be practical.

Even if Ian had sent a whole fleet of food before, it only met the needs of Le'an City. In addition to Le'an City, there were twelve towns and villages of various sizes in the entire territory. They could not ignore it. .

So Ian used the channels of Platinum Workshop to place a large order to buy low-priced grains from the Quinault Plains - this time, he planned to directly purchase about a thousand tons of various grains, about half of which were staple foods and the other half. On the left and right are soybeans, potatoes and various tubers, as well as a considerable amount of animal fat.

The total value of these grains is approximately 2,500 thalers. It sounds like a lot, and it takes up one-fifth of Ian's remaining savings, but in fact it's a lot of discounts.

You know, even if there is no food disaster, the food would cost close to 3,000 thalers in Nanling.

Of course, one thousand tons is not much, but this is only the first batch of orders. Before implementing the new agricultural reforms, Ian will have to hoard enough reserves to deal with possible failures.

In addition, he also made all the orders from the city hall public, and even asked the staff to go out and hang up notices - Ian wanted everyone to know that there was food and money in the territory, and as long as they were willing to work, they would have a meal. eat.

Because Ian had indeed brought back a whole grain team, no one doubted the authenticity of the order - now everyone felt at ease.

In addition, Ian also contacted the Yinfang Chamber of Commerce and purchased a large amount of building materials from an old acquaintance, Mr. Yinfang.

"Ian what are you going to do?"

When Mr. Yinfang heard that the young man had ordered from him high-quality building materials that were enough to rebuild an entire block, and the raw materials alone exceeded two thousand talers, he couldn't help but blush a little - this kind of large-scale business is not common, but in order to avoid young people It was just an impulse, but he still had to persuade: "If you plan to rebuild the Lord's Mansion, I don't think you need so much money, and the alchemy laboratory is not in a hurry..."

"Not really."

Ian didn't explain much: "Mr. Yinfang, I hope you can help me find a group of reliable and skilled craftsmen who can build some unconventional buildings and tools, and can sign confidentiality contracts."

"Is that so?" Mr. Yinfang narrowed his eyes. Ian's proposal was actually very excessive, but he believed that the young man would never give such a condition for no reason.

He must have some brand new invention or plan.

"That's okay." The old man said, "By the way, congratulations, you are the 'Messenger of the Dragon God'."

"What congratulations?" Hearing Mr. Yinfang's slightly humorous congratulations, Ian couldn't help but smile - the other person was also a member of the Dragon Worship Cult, so of course he knew what Ian and Elder Manya had discussed.

"Of course it's your official nobility reward." As one of the communication bridges between the Dragon Worship Cult and the Lord's Palace of Nauman City, Mr. Yinfang is indeed well-informed: "As far as I know, the letter of appointment from Nauman City is already on the way."

"Then again, Ian, now that you have become a noble, do you plan to regain the name of the Cejalrovo family, or do you plan to start from scratch and decide on a new surname?"

This is a good question. After thinking about it for a while, Ian felt that it didn't matter to him at all, so it was difficult to make a choice.

In this case, then contact Elder Pude.