Lord of Industrialization

As the weather gets colder, people's pace of life also slows down.

Entering November, Wesson and his team have one more thing to do before they can retire for the winter, which is paying rent and paying taxes.

Weisenling, like other places, collects rent twice a year in the summer and autumn harvests. In the summer, only grain is collected. In the autumn, various miscellaneous taxes and materials such as cloth are also collected. On weekdays, vegetables, meat and other materials are collected in turn. Eggs, dairy products and firewood, etc.

Starting from November 1st, after Frederick arranged all the work, he and tax officer Neuer inspected taxation work in the territory.

Frederick's father, who had never been interested in numbers, consolidated all farmers' taxes except the poll tax into 30% of the rent, which greatly facilitated the work of tax officials.

On this day, the young master and the tax official came to Pea Village to inspect the work.

At the beginning of the autumn harvest, tax officials had selected several farmlands in the village to measure the average yields of oats, barley and various beans, and then calculated the rent to be paid based on the number of fields on the lease.

Frederick called an old tax official who had been in charge of the surrounding villages for many years and asked him how the harvest was this year.

"This year's autumn harvest is a bit worse than last year's," the tax official replied. "It rained less this spring and summer, so the oats did not grow as tall as last year, and there were fewer beans."

Frederick asked for the data and calculated it in his mind. It was about 6% less, which was barely acceptable.

The tax collection work in the village has remained unchanged for decades. Now it is carried out in an orderly manner, and there is nothing special to deal with.

Grain merchants' employees walked among the crowd, asking farmers if they could sell grain.

This year, the price of grain in Weisen is 10% higher than in previous years. If it were not for the exchange of grain from Weisen syrup, the supply of grain on the market would be sufficient, and the price increase would definitely be more than this.

The rise in food prices and the influx of victims were enough to make Frederick run away with his bucket.

Frederick watched here for a long time, and then went with his team to inspect a newly built village in the south.

"Welcome the principal to Hongniba Songmu Village!"

Thomas bowed slightly at the entrance of the village, at just the right angle, and respectfully welcomed the leader out of the car with impeccable etiquette.

Frederick nodded slightly, first used the height of the carriage to look around at the houses with brown-red walls and pointed roofs in the village, and then got out of the car and asked: "Is everyone living in a house now?"

Thomas immediately replied: "We are all living here. Although it is not a good place, at least we have a place to protect ourselves from the wind and rain."

Frederick looked around and saw that there were not many people in the village, only a few children running by, so he asked: "Where are the people in the village?"

"They are all in the square." Thomas pointed in the direction behind him and said, "Sheriff Gunter is selecting the militia."

Frederick nodded and said, "You settle the others first, and I'll take a walk around the village."

There are about ten people and several carriages here to collect taxes. They will spend the night here tonight and collect taxes tomorrow.

Frederick originally planned not to collect taxes from the new villages this year, but everyone immediately opposed it.

The reason is very simple. Collecting their taxes and registering them means recognizing them as people from the Wesson Territory, which gives these new arrivals peace of mind.

Under this principle, the amount of tax collected can be flexible.

Frederick came to the square in the middle of the village and saw more than two hundred young and strong villagers gathered together, and the sheriff selected the militia.

At present, this village has a militia quota of 20 people, divided into 10 spearmen, 5 archers and 5 coachmen. The coachmen use round shields and short swords.

These militiamen receive 30 days of training every year during the off-season, and are provided with subsidies such as tax-free farmland, which is quite attractive.

Frederick did not expect to send the militiamen to the front line to fill the line. These 20 people were a logistics transportation team, responsible for transportation during wartime.

Sheriff Gunter is in his forties. He has a big waist, a round neck and a thick neck. He is not easy to mess with at first glance.

He spent some time with the villagers, and he could tell at a glance who was suitable and who was not.

"Hozenplots!" Gunter shouted, "What are you doing standing back there?"

Huo Zhenplozi felt miserable. It was true that he knew how to dance with a gun and a stick. No male villager in the village could beat him in a duel, but now he has given up.

"Master Gunter," he said aggrievedly, "I am just a farmer, how can I be a soldier?"

Gunter sneered. When he was ten years old, he followed his father out of the mountains and mixed in the mercenary team. It was easy to tell whether anyone had martial arts skills at a glance.

"It's okay if you don't want to be one." A strange smile appeared on Gunter's face, "As long as you can beat me."

Huo Zhenplozi's face turned dark immediately. It would not be a big problem for an old mercenary like Gunter to kill ten ordinary villagers one by one.

Let’s talk about whether you can fight. If you can fight, is there any reason not to join the militia?

If you can't beat him, then wouldn't you just send him there to be beaten?

Huo Zhenplozi shook his head hurriedly and said in horror: "How can I compare with you? You can hit me from the bottom of the mountain to the top with one punch."

Seeing that this guy was like this, Gunter stopped pushing and said, "Forget it, then you won't have any share in the tax cuts and subsidies."

Then he looked at a female villager and asked, "Liher, how about you be an archer?"

Lihir also shook his head hurriedly and said: "Oh, sir, it's okay if you let me cook. Let me draw the bow and shoot arrows. Aren't you afraid that I will shoot one of your own people?"

Gunter felt helpless when he saw her like this, and he didn't want to force her, lest anyone think that he was going to do anything for personal gain. He had fallen in love with a girl in the village, and he couldn't ruin his reputation at this time.

Since the two most capable fighters in the village didn't do it, Gunter could only let the young men who were strong and quick-witted do it.

Many young people are thinking about saving money to marry a wife. The subsidy of being a militiaman is a considerable income, and many people have signed up.

Gun found 20 people and informed them to gather and start training the day after tomorrow.

The villagers dispersed quickly after the militiamen settled down, and now it was getting late and it was time to prepare for dinner.

"Long time no see, Huo Zhenploz." Frederick stopped an acquaintance in an alley where there was no one else.

Huo Zhenplozi was stunned, and after seeing the person clearly, he immediately bowed and greeted: "Baron, I'm glad to see that you are still so healthy."

A smile appeared on Frederick's face and he said, "You look good, you're not so thin anymore."

Huo Zhenplozi said respectfully: "All this is a gift from the master."

Frederick smiled and said, "I just gave you a chance. How you live in the future depends on you."

"Come on, take me to where you live."