Lord: I have a skill talent tree

Time flies to June.

Thanks to the storm blowing from the north to the south, Maruo City was safe and peaceful, and it lived a comfortable and good life for a while.

Now the whole country is paying attention to the movements in the Northland, and everyone wants to know what the Northland Pioneer Army will do next.

The same is true for Ethan. Every day when he gets up, the first thing he does is to know about the situation of the people in the North.

Now he is sitting on an outdoor chair in Turing Manor, holding his daughter in the sun while looking at the latest information in his hand.

After reading it himself, he handed it to Sofia and said at the same time: "What the hell is going on in the Northland? After capturing the Torres territory, I have been stationed there.

They neither advance nor withdraw their troops. What do they want to do? "

Sophia took the information, took a look at it, then smiled and said, "Do you still remember the situation analysis I gave you?"

"Remember!" Ethan nodded: "You said they have two possible strategic goals, one is to protect business routes, and the other is to completely solve logistical problems.

Judging from the current situation, they should be the former.

Logically speaking, the massacre they carried out along the way should have served as a deterrent.

In other words, the strategic goal has been achieved, and there is no need to stay there anymore. "

"No!" Sophia shook her finger: "They are indeed just trying to protect the trade, but the strategic goal has not been fully achieved.

Although I don't know exactly what they want to do, I guess they are waiting for His Majesty the Emperor's attitude.

After all, shock can only be temporary, and only legal provisions can last forever. "

After listening to Sophia's explanation, Ethan understood it immediately.

What Sophia meant was that the North was probably waiting for the emperor to come up with legal provisions to protect the safety of the North's trade routes.

First, it was to slap the emperor in the face, because the high tolls were his tacit approval in order to curb the development of the Northland.

Secondly, I want to issue a clear warning. I know that everything is caused by your emperor. If you break the legal terms and break the law yourself, then if anything bad happens in the future, such as rebellion or something, don't blame me for being ruthless.

Speaking of which, a duke issued a warning to his emperor. It seems a bit ridiculous, but he can't stand it because he has this strength.

"Do you think the emperor will compromise?" Ethan asked.

"I think so!" Sofia replied with a smile.

"My opinion is exactly the opposite of yours." Ethan smiled: "I recently got news from the orcs that the empire is moving troops back from the border.

It is obvious that His Majesty the Emperor is not prepared to compromise with the North. "

Sophia laughed loudly after hearing this: "This news seems to have been semi-public!

The more this news comes out, the more convinced I am that His Majesty the Emperor is going to compromise.

If he didn't want to increase his negotiating leverage, why would he release this kind of news!

Of course, things in the world are true and false, and false and true.

What is true may turn out to be false, and what is false may turn out to be true. No one can tell for sure.

Especially for such a national event, even more so!

Maybe the Emperor is so cruel that he might actually act like a fake.

However, I think this possibility is too small.

The Aslan Empire is no longer the extremely powerful and talented Aslan Empire it was hundreds of years ago.

Hundreds of years of comfortable and luxurious life have long since corrupted everyone in the empire.

People have long lost their ambition to compete for supremacy and just want to hold on to their own one-third of an acre of land.

The imperial royal family is also declining step by step, which can be reflected in the imperial lord tax.

In the beginning, the imperial tax was close to 30%, but now it is less than 10% in many places.

The empire will definitely not lower this kind of tax on its own, and for hundreds of years, they have lowered taxes again and again because they know very well that if they don't lower it, they may not be able to collect a single cent of the tax.

This is where the empire is now.

You said that given the current situation of the empire, how could the Aslan royal family dare to challenge the Grand Duke of the North who has been fighting all the time?

And why would you dare to oppose the extremely reasonable demands of the North?

After all, what Northland wants is just a smooth and safe trade road.

Do we have to force others to turn things upside down? "

…

Things finally turned out as Sophia expected, and His Majesty the Emperor compromised.

Three days later, the Empire announced its latest implementation measures for commercial access.

Since there is too much content, here are two main topics. One is to ensure the smooth flow of trade routes in the North and unify taxes. By paying a one-time 7% tax on goods to the empire, you can go directly to the North.

No nobles and individuals are prohibited from collecting taxes from caravans that have already paid taxes on the road. At the same time, lords from various places are also required to strengthen security on the trade road, and security costs will be paid by the empire.

Second, any individual or organization can go to sea freely as long as they report to the empire and pay taxes.

Yes, sea shipping will be legal in the future.

In other words, if you transport goods to the north in the future, you no longer have to be sneaky and worry about being caught and settled later.

But Ethan couldn't be happy.

There are many reasons for not being happy, the most important of which is that if you want to go to sea, you only need to report to the empire.

This means that it won’t be long before cats and dogs of all kinds are jumping out to compete for a share of the Northland.

These people are barefoot. If they do shipping, the price they can offer to Northland is definitely something the Lawson family cannot afford.

Even if they earn 5 gold or 10 gold from a piece of goods, they can still do it. Whether it is the Lawson family or other nobles, they are completely uncompetitive against them.

If he were to join in the pie-sharing, they would eat up all the crumbs.

In addition, the empire is also planning to set up a customs office, which will be used to manage shipping-related matters and collect taxes.

It has now entered the preparation stage and will be officially launched soon.

Imagine that if this customs office is really launched, it will be another Iris Club, and a more powerful Iris Club that can also collect taxes.

It not only has money, but also power.

All coastal ports will definitely be under its jurisdiction, and then every shipping family will have an extra father.

This father is not thinking about how to raise you, but about you calling him father, supporting him, and being ridden on his head to pee and shit.

Who can tolerate this?

Therefore, as soon as this decree came out, all the dukes in coastal areas expressed strong opposition.

Of course, they were not opposed to lifting the ban on sea transportation, but to the establishment of a customs office.

The reason is that the coast has always been under the jurisdiction of the dukes, and the Empire's customs department has extended its reach too far, which has violated the clause on the jurisdiction of the lords in the first constitution "Lord's Declaration".

Therefore, the seventeen dukes almost unanimously asked the empire to implement the first constitution, abolish the idea of ​​establishing a customs department, and legislate to clarify and protect the rights and interests of each territorial sea.

This matter is also very funny. Before, Maro City had a big fight with the other sixteen families.

At the worst time, the war was about to break out and the soldiers met.

But in a blink of an eye, everyone was closely connected as if nothing unpleasant had happened.

Then they sat together like brothers, discussed countermeasures together, and took practical actions to fight against the empire together.

The world is so wonderful...