Dense Fog Town is the southern border of Cold Wind City. The intersection past the town is the territory of the Butch family of Banshee Castle. But now the intersection is blocked by dozens of carriages, and they can't pass because there is a tax officer of the Butch family on the opposite side.
guard.
Powell and Johnson only brought a wooden box, so it was easy to go around or sneak through. But it was difficult to go around the bulk cargo transported by horse-drawn carriages, because there was only one convenient trade route between the north and the south.
More and more carriages are blocked at the intersection, and the atmosphere is getting more and more anxious.
Just across the road from Luka, on the opposite side are tax officials and heavily armed tax teams watching with eager eyes. On the other side are the transit caravans, who are called "horses", asking each other for news.
Many businessmen had a background in the Banshee Castle. They tried to argue with the tax officer who set up the card, asking for favors or even bribes, but after seeing the official emblem of the Butcher family, these people all stopped.
The news spread that setting up cards to collect taxes was an order issued by the patriarch Friedman, and was carried out by direct descendants of the family. No one in this group was given face, and they had to pay if they wanted to pass.
Powell and Johnson looked at each other in disbelief. They wanted to take a carriage and continue south. Every day they were delayed, the daily interest rates from usury would compress their profits.
"What's going on? Why did the card suddenly collect taxes?" Powell did not choose to take a detour immediately. Instead, he asked the caravan coming from Banshee Castle in Dense Fog Town.
A caravan leader escorted the food over and paid a high tax before passing the checkpoint. He cursed angrily in the tavern of Dense Fog Town and introduced the news about Banshee Castle.
"Goods such as grain, cloth, and salt have to pay 100% tariff if they want to go north. Iron, glass, wood, medicine, and magic materials that go south also have to pay 100% customs duty. The Bucci family has taken stock of all the best-selling goods, and the tax collectors are disgusting.
In order to collect taxes, Banshee Castle dispatched a team of thousands of people to set up checkpoints along the way. Even if you bypass the checkpoint in Dense Fog Town, you will need to check your tax receipts when you go to Stone Town and enter Banshee Castle.
Once it is discovered that there is no tax payment certificate, it will be judged as illegal entry, and not only the goods will be confiscated, but also heavy fines will be imposed.
Who is willing to pay this 100% tax? I have no choice. I can’t even return it, so I am forced to pay the tax. The subsequent businessmen were frightened and refused to ship goods to the north. They were all looking for the limelight.
.”
The leader of the caravan must have made a wasted trip and cursed in the tavern for a long time. People who wanted to know the news gathered around him in circles, whispering to each other.
The bar owner stood behind the bar, deeply dissatisfied with the messy situation. He grabbed a warhammer and banged it on the counter a few times.
"Be quiet, isn't it just that the direct trade route is cut off? This happens all the time. When have you businessmen ever been afraid? Can't you just take a detour from other cities?"
But the complaining caravan leader became even more angry. He slammed the table and continued to curse: "The damn thing is that other cities in the North have united this time. Any goods transported to Cold Wind City will be taxed at a high rate. Detour payment
The taxes will only be higher.”
The uproar became more violent, and the discussion in the tavern became more and more chaotic. Powell felt that this matter was going to get out of control, and Cold Wind City would never sit back and watch it be besieged, and there might be another war.
In the past six months, hundreds of carriages have been transporting goods to Cold Wind City in the Northland every day. Merchants, large and small, have made excessive profits, and now the sudden closure of the trade road is killing them.
Many people excitedly expressed their intention to petition Lord Hugo and ask him to send troops to destroy tax cards along the way and break this unreasonable tax policy.
The businessmen were in a state of excitement, and this idea was generally accepted when it was put forward. However, the boss behind the bar snorted coldly and sneered: "You guys want to start a war? Is it possible?"
Isn't it normal for nobles to block the road and set up roadblocks to collect taxes? How did the Long-Legs family collect your taxes? How many tax officials were there to guard you along the way? Have you forgotten it so quickly? "
This kind of ridicule was so embarrassing that it actually made the tavern quiet for a while.
Zhou Qingfeng wanted to promote commercial development. After seizing the city, he revoked most of the tax cards in the country and only retained the tax agencies entering Hanfeng City. The tax rates were also very low. There was no tax at all for urgently needed supplies such as food.
Roads were built everywhere around Hanfeng City, and troops were sent to eliminate bandits and local forces to ensure a developed and convenient logistics network. Businessmen lived very comfortably within its borders.
But leaving the territory of Cold Wind City, it is normal to set up cards everywhere, pay taxes everywhere, and get ripped off everywhere. Local rulers can tax as they please, and merchants can only put the costs on the final consumers.
The bar owner told the truth, which made the businessmen feel like they were beaten into silence.
Powell pushed aside a few crowds, walked up to the drunken caravan leader, and asked in a low voice: "Sir, what is the situation in the Banshee Castle now? Why is such a heavy tax suddenly levied?"
The caravan leader's goods were delivered to the transportation team in Cold Wind City in Dense Fog Town, and nothing happened afterwards. When he heard the inquiry, he turned his head with a pair of fish eyes and let out a snort.
"Why the tax? Because the blacksmiths and carpenters of Banshee Castle can no longer survive. The two official blacksmith shops owned by the Butch family have been out of business for two consecutive months.
The family's blacksmiths either changed careers or sneaked to the north to find work. Carpenters were even worse. There was no shortage of carpenters in the north, only large quantities of processed wooden products were dumped there.
At first, only simply processed wooden boards were shipped, and later, various finished furniture. Finally, even the wood for building houses could be shipped, and the price was very cheap. Some carpenters were forced to hang themselves.
The nobles in the city don't care whether the carpenters live or die. They think the goods shipped from the north are cheap and useful, so they will never buy local goods."
The discussion in the tavern became a little louder. Many businessmen were in the timber business and they completely agreed with this situation - timber from the north has to be transported for more than two hundred kilometers and is cheaper than timber cut and processed from the south.
This situation is not just in Banshee Castle, but also in the entire Northland. Not to mention carpenters, even lumberjacks have no work to do.
But no matter how much I hate it, if I want to find a job, I still have to run to Cold Wind City. If I can't be a carpenter, I can do something else. If I stay here, I will really starve to death, or be forced to death by the loan sharks in the business.
The caravan leader continued: "Now many shops in Banshee Castle have gone bankrupt. Only the grain merchants and cloth merchants doing business in the north are making a lot of money. They sell all the grain to Cold Wind City, which raises the price of Banshee Castle's own grain.
Soaring.
The Buchi family has spent a lot of effort to lower the price of grain in the past six months. However, the merchants who sell grain are backed by nobles, and ordinary methods are completely ineffective.
The price of food in the north is twice as high as in the south, and merchants are not willing to sell food in Banshee Castle. Chief Friedman is probably forced to panic. If he doesn't take action, Banshee Castle itself will suffer from food shortages.
And collapsed."
Food wars are more ferocious than sword wars, and a little carelessness can lead to famine.
The caravan leader took the last sip from his glass and slammed the huge wooden wine glass on the counter. He taunted the bar owner:
"You think you can't fight the war? Just wait, this time I'm afraid it's more dangerous than you think. Maybe another long-legged family is going to end."