The Black Knight from the Blue Planet

Hardy has great expectations for Jukaro City.

I want to build it into a prosperous city. I don’t plan to surpass Boris, but it won’t be too far behind.

Everyone looked at Hardy, surprised by his youth.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Hardy is still a teenager, about sixteen years old.

But he is already a viscount and has gained such a great reputation.

When they learned that Hukaro City had a new owner, many people had already begun to inquire about Hadi's news and intelligence.

The more I inquired, the more intimidating I became.

This is also the reason why Hardy was able to invite so many 'gentry' here for a meeting at one time.

"I recently checked the financial statements of the past sixteen years." Hardy glanced at the financial officer and continued: "I found something very interesting."

Everyone listened quietly.

"In the past sixteen years, the population of Hukaro City has increased from about 150,000 to 240,000 now." Hadi glanced at several industry leaders: "But Hukaro City's tax revenue , but it is still the same as it was 16 years ago, without any progress. This makes no sense, the population has increased by 90,000, but the tax revenue has not increased."

Originally the atmosphere was relatively relaxed, but as this sentence came to light, the atmosphere here became very heavy.

"I know, everyone loves money." Hardy said indifferently: "I like it too. Without gold coins, almost nothing can be done. The person you owed before was Mrs. Sissi, not me. So I don't plan to Let’s pursue this matter further.”

Everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Especially leaders in several industries.

It would definitely be a stretch to ask them to spit out all the tax revenue accumulated over the past sixteen years.

"But next, I will strictly supervise your tax situation, especially the two major industries of luxury goods and spice shops." Hardy looked at another person: "As for the salt monopoly, the Lord's Mansion must take it back. "

"This is unfair." A middle-aged man stood up and shouted loudly: "This is the permission given to me by Miss Sissi. Viscount, you have no right to take it back."

"I said, I haven't done anything in the past month." Hardy sneered: "I checked the records of the Lord's Mansion. Having money is a better thing. It can at least guarantee that, Have enough paper to record some important things.”

The middle-aged man squinted his eyes and said, "Your Majesty the Viscount, I respect you very much, but this is not the reason for you to disobey the Jeanne family, and I don't understand what you are talking about."

"Husso Knapp. Marry a distant relative of the Jeanne family, and use this as a stepping stone to successfully establish a relationship with the Jeanne family." Hardy looked at the middle-aged man and chuckled: "Mrs. Sissi is eleven years old. When I was a child, I came to live in Hukaro City. When I was twelve years old, I entrusted you with the salt monopoly. And what you did was to only pay about two gold coins to the lord's mansion every month."

Everyone looked at Husso Knapp in surprise.

And Husso Knapp's face turned blue.

Hardy did not spoil him, and continued: "It sounds like a lot, but the profits generated by the salt monopoly are very exaggerated. At that time, Hukaro City already had a population of hundreds of thousands. Two coins per month Gold coins, are you sending beggars away?”

Except for Hu Suo, everyone else looked like they were watching a show.

"Twelve-year-old Mrs. Sissi is still ignorant and doesn't have much understanding of common sense." Hadi clicked his tongue and continued: "She may think that selling salt is not profitable, but as long as someone has done a little research, We all know how profitable it is to control a city, or even the salt monopoly of this territory, don’t you think? The current richest man in Hukaro City, Mr. Knapp.”

Everyone was in an uproar.

A well-dressed old man couldn't help but sigh: "It turns out that Knapp is such a black-hearted person."

Hardy continued: "When Mrs. Sissi gets married and leaves Hukaro City, you don't even want to give those two gold coins to the Lord's Mansion anymore."

Hu Suo sat down angrily, but did not dare to say anything.

Hardy is not just a reckless boy, he has an army behind him.

And he is actually the new master of Hukaro City.

"You are a distant relative of the Jeanne family. I don't want to make things too tense. Now you have two choices." Hardy leaned back slightly and leaned on the back of his chair. He said: "One is to go to Boris by yourself and ask Qian. Mrs. Qian, please repent. Secondly, I will have someone tie you up."

Husso Knapp gritted his teeth and asked: "What about the salt monopoly in Hukaro City...?"

"The Lord's Mansion naturally has to be taken back." Hardy said in a calm tone: "There is no reason why a domestic servant can make more money or be richer than his master."

"If I don't..."

At this point, he couldn't continue because he suddenly felt a sense of fear.

Fear rising in my heart.

suddenly.

Not just him, everyone present was affected, but the degree was different.

The effect of the weakened version of the fear aura is naturally not as strong as that of the Nightmare Knight, but it can also have a certain effect on ordinary people.

But the fear went away just as quickly as it came.

Hardy must take back this salt monopoly.

Recently, he not only checked records and information in the lord's mansion, but also traveled around the city to collect intelligence.

Generally speaking, the security situation in Hukaro City is not bad.

Because there are no real nobles above them to 'manage' them, they can 'self-govern' quite well.

Edible salt is expensive.

It is at least 20% more expensive than surrounding cities.

The taxes in the Lord's Mansion are not high now, and with a lot of expenses, the monthly net income is only between seven and eight gold coins.

This money is more than enough to live on, but it is far from enough to support an infantry army of two hundred people and a knighthood of more than a hundred people.

After the salt monopoly is taken back, military finances should barely be enough to spend.

The only thing left is to do a good job in taxation and prevent businessmen from evading taxes. It is not difficult for more than 200,000 people to raise an army of two to three hundred people.

At the same time, if the salt is sold exclusively by the Lord's Mansion, Hardy can set a relatively low price.

Let ordinary civilians also get certain benefits.

After all, salt is an indispensable daily necessities for human beings.

"Put aside the salt issue for now." Hardy ignored Huso Knapp and continued: "We have another very important matter, which is the issue of city appearance."

Everyone felt that the atmosphere was much more relaxed, and then showed puzzled expressions.

Hadi continued: "I found that our city of Hukaro has no drainage channels. It rained a few days ago, and the whole city felt like it was soaked in water. That's all. The water is full of human and animal excrement. , the whole city stinks, and then I heard that many poor people died of illness."

Everyone showed puzzled expressions. They didn't understand why the death of a poor person was related to rain!

Looking at the confused expressions of these people, Hardy sighed: "Don't you know that this is how the plague came?"