Starting Life as a Baron

Alan is now in the second half of the previous castle. After meeting the nobles, Alan came to the second half of the entire castle.

Unexpectedly, the building here is extremely comfortable and seems to be a place specially designed to relax slightly.

At this moment, Alan frowned and stared at Oliver, who was slightly fat, and said, "The treasury of the Duchy of Shack is empty?

In fact, after occupying the Principality of Shaker, it took Alan a week to appease the hearts of the people. He didn't know much about many things in the Principality.

such as the treasury.

Oliver tremblingly took out a stack of financial statements from his thick clip.

"This is a lot of money spent on building the fortress here. In addition, Archduke Shake imported the special wine and rose night of the Principality of Lane, as well as various perfumes, maltose and other items. splurge in front of his children

Finance Minister Oliver pointed at the statements one by one, and Alan had a headache listening to them.

Just building the fortress almost emptied the treasury of the Principality of Shake.

In fact, before Archduke Shake fell, he even considered asking people to raise all taxes by 10%.

Alan's mouth twitched: "Show me a list of the entire year's revenue from the 12th treasury of the Principality of Shaker. 39

Oliver immediately took another sheet of paper from the clip.

Alan took a look at it and took a deep breath: "An earl's annual tribute is only 150,000 gold coins?"

Tribute is the act of the enfeoffed nobles dedicating most of the pure interests of their territory to the grand duke, which is to repay the grand duke's kindness for continuing their rights and territories, and it is also an expression of their surrender and loyalty.

Alan remembers that when he was a baron, he robbed the tribute ships of the Blue Moon Principality, a maritime principality.

It seems that there are 100,000 gold coins on it, not to mention various precious materials and potions.

The guaranteed value of a ship is also worth 150,000 gold coins.

Later, Alan learned that tribute is not the same for each country, some are once a year, some are twice a year, or four times.

But roughly the same thing is that the amount of tribute paid by the earl of the duchy should be about 250,000 gold coins a year, unless it is a new earl, who can enjoy the benefit of not paying tribute for five years, and other earls will generally be 250,000. numbers around.

Of course, the Blue Moon Principality is a maritime principality, and its resources are scarce and barren. It is understandable that the tribute of 150,000 gold coins a year.

But the Principality of Shaker is not a maritime principality!

Anything lower than that is totally abnormal.

In one year, apart from the daily expenses of an earl and the huge amount of money to train his subordinates, an earl can at least make a profit of 300,000 to 400,000 gold coins on his people.

This is normal.

But now, in a land duchy, the counts only pay 150,000 tribute in a year, which is too shabby.

Alan was shocked.

"Uh, sir, you may not know that the geographical environment of the Principality of Shake is not good, especially in recent years, the weather in the south is strange, often extremely dry, the fertile land is drained a little bit, the crops can't survive, there is no natural It is very difficult for the spirit to grow crops, and most of the counties have declining income every year, so it would be good to have a tribute of 150,000."

Oliver wiped the sweat on his forehead and said helplessly.

Alan was stunned when he heard the words. He only saw heavy snow and fertile land in the north. He really didn't expect that there was a severe drought in the south of the Principality of Shake.

He glanced back at the three Albert beside him.

The three nodded: "He is right, there is a large area of ​​land in the south of the Principality of Shake that has lost its fertility and is even deserting. This is very terrifying. Although it is covered with heavy snow, we have also seen it. It is indeed a fact. 35

"However, the traces of desertification are not serious for the time being. Only one county has this trend, but I can't say whether it will spread to the whole country in the future. After all, although only one territory is being desertified, there are many arid areas.

Albert said with a slight frown, this is what he has always been worried about.

The most important thing for a lord is the territory and the people.

If the territory has been abolished, then the lord is a joke.

"Is the land desertified?"

Alan sighed slightly. He looked at the financial statements. Most of the counties on it looked poor, some paid 150,000, and some paid 200,000.

The northern territory is generally 250,000, and the rich territory pays 300,000 gold coins.

However, the northern territory is about a third of the principality's territory after all.

"It's also because of this reason that Grand Duke Xia Ke doesn't have to worry about it.

Oliver sighed slightly.

There is also a reason for Archduke Shake to spy on the Principality of Lane on one side.

In addition to ambition, it is the worry of a country lord.

Grand Duke Xia Ke has no way out. If things go on like this, the Principality of Xia Ke will be completely desolate before long. As the Grand Duke, he naturally has to find a way to solve the problem.

At this time, if you can have another piece of fertile and rich land, all problems can be solved easily.

Alan probably understood what the old man was thinking.

"Taxes come down, and so does the earl's tribute.

After thinking about it, Alan decided.

"You... all right."

Oliver didn't say much, he was just a courtier, it was fine to give advice, and the decision was made by the Grand Duke.

However, Alan's words still made Oliver a little stunned. After all, he didn't make it clear that reducing taxes would mean that Alan's quality of life would decrease.

As nobles, they are used to extravagance and extravagance.

This was the case with the previous Grand Duke Shake, even if the country had problems, even if he built a fortress, his life was still intoxicated and extravagant, which was why the treasury was quickly depleted.

Compared to Archduke Shake, Alan, the new Dragon Knight, is simply too wise!

This made Oliver see 687 on a different side of Alan. In addition to being cold-blooded and murderous, this adult was too generous and kind to his people.

"Don't worry, I can solve the problem of the treasury temporarily, Shake is really an idiot, the country has reached the point of burning eyebrows, and he is still building a fortress.

Alan said indifferently, he and Shake are fundamentally different. After all, he is the lord of the four major industries, and gold coins have never been difficult for him.

The difficulty is that the problem of drought in the south must be solved.

Otherwise, if the land becomes desertified and the entire Shake Principality becomes a desert country, then Alan feels that all his efforts will be in vain.

"You have a way? Oh, yes, you were the Earl of Sirius before!"

Oliver slapped his forehead immediately. Every principality has its own intelligence network. As the most famous young earl of the Principality of Lane, Alan has long been in the eyes of the Principality of Shaker.

The Principality of Shaker has collected some information about Alan, including the fact that he created the Rose Night Spirits, perfume and other industries.

This adult is a man who is not short of money.

Oliver looked slightly excited.

"Well, Oliver, tell me first about the drought in the South.

Alan smiled and sat on a sofa. He picked up an unknown fruit and took a bite, then said.

"Yes, my lord, this is what happened."

Oliver began to bow his head to tell Alan how the entire drought had been from the beginning to the present.