Chapter 1271 - The Wheels Of Change Will Turn!
Damn!
They had lost too much money recently.
That said, with Sirius's men stationed all across the place, no nobles were allowed to collect taxes in their territories anymore.
This meant that no city or town lords were allowed to collect tax as they deemed fit.
And you know, this move is one that several nobles liked.
Why? Because the nobles that were town or city lords always bullied other nobles in their territories too.
That is, just as the city lords collected taxes from the peasants, they also robbed the other nobles in their territories as well.
And in large cities, over 30 or 50 different noble households existed there.
So can you imagine how much money the city lord or territory owner extorted out?
That's why many of these nobles residing in these areas had to lick the feet of the territory owners, praising them and wiping their ȧsses just to be friends with them or henchmen.
Now, in those territories, the territory lord was akin to a monarch in his area.
And after a few households successfully became henchmen to the city lords or town lords, they would then prevent others from climbing up too.
And that's why they secretly sowed discord, making the territory owner start excessively bullying other households in the place.
In this way, the targeted noble households always suffered because during tax collecting periods, the amount asked for was always astronomical, so much so that they had to make up the difference from their vaults.
.
It was things like this that kept their resources low.
And even after their salaries as Army men got sent, the city lord would bite into the money and give them what he wanted.
So yes.
Over 7/10th of nobles were secretly pleased with these Sirius' new laws.
First off, they felt as though the days of being oppressed were finally over... Especially lower-level nobles like Kaymen, Barons and Viscounts.
Hell! Even the middle-class nobles had no problems with the rules. Because to be honest, in as much as they did lose money by paying the slaves and peasants monthly, as nobles, they were also businessmen.
It was just that their yields would be less since they now had to subtract wages and balance their accounts in this manner.
Earlier on, no wages were subtracted for slaves and so on. So, they received full yields, only removing money for food and whatnot.
That is, nobles had lands and fields of crops that they made the slaves work on.
Additionally, some even had vineyards.
You know, they also had stores, entertainment sites, buildings, eateries, and so many items in their names.
They also had building/construction businesses, which typically took on big jobs like constructing chapels or several massive medieval-style buildings.
In short, from pottery making, tavern running, restaurant eateries, fish supplying and so on, Nobles, even though a minor fraction to the general population, actually owned over 60% of the market.
The rest were just peasants selling their finds from hunting and whatnot.
So, they weren't broke or going out of business anytime soon... Well, unless their competitors burn down a few of their shops, poison them or steal their markets, which was a normal and everyday thing for nobles to experience in business, because the more money they received, the more money they would have to finance and grow their armies!
With all this said, a vast majority of nobles didn't have a problem with the new rules since it lessened their burdens from dealing with the territory owners.
Hmhm. You heard them right.
They would rather pay the wages to the servants or slaves, than get constantly extorted by the territory ruler who always wanted an incredulous amount altogether.
They were indeed OK with this arrangement.
But of course, the opposition, though a small fraction, was fiercely against these new rules!
With Sirius' sending people to collect taxes, the usual money they get in their pockets would decrease.
And their greedy bones just couldn't sit on this!
In essence, nobles and their men were also knights and soldiers for the empires.
So they had a certain military cut.
So some money would get allocated for them to do so.
In this world, things have always been like this for the past centuries.
The territory rulers would take out their cut from the overall taxes before sending it to the Capital city.
It was just that with their overtaxing, they indeed took out way more than what was required.
So now, with Sirius' team on the matter, these men would only receive what they should receive and nothing more.
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Taxes were collected by seasons, which Sirius had no plans of changing.
But you see, the territory rulers that liked to have people 4 or 5 times during a single season, were now grumpy about how annoying these rules were.
Say they go into a fierce battle with an enemy and end up losing many resources.
The money hardly and almost never came out from their private vaults or treasures.
So, now, was Sirius telling them to spend their own money on such measily things?
Blame that stupid Baymard for being too nosy and filling Sirius' head with trash.
Why? Isn't the territory theirs?
As territory owners, why should they pay a dime?
Several people were furious with these so-called new rules that favoured the poor and maybe favoured the middle and bottom feed nobles.
What about them?
What about they, who were already at the top, standing there as Gods!
For sure, they didn't like Sirius' Ruling regime.
That's why under the leadership of Duke Trigun, the opposition party got formed in secret.
And soon enough, the wheels of change will turn!