Just as Sauron and Kahn were whispering, an angry voice sounded from the gate of the town in the distance.
The sound travels far.
Even though Zoro's motorcade was still forty or fifty meters away from the entrance of the town, Zoro, who was sitting in the car, could still clearly hear every word the other party said.
"Listen to me."
"From now on."
"Anyone who wants to enter the town of Mirante."
"Each person needs to pay five imperial copper coins as a special tax required to maintain the town of Mirante."
"This is the latest handwriting from Lord Viscount."
Look from a distance.
A middle-aged man with a mustache and something like a clerk in his clothes was holding a parchment-like document in his hand.
Behind him stood four burly warriors wearing armor and blades.
The armor is ordinary leather armor.
The blade is an ordinary standard sword blade.
Although the equipment is not sophisticated, it is not very effective when used to intimidate a group of unarmed people.
When the middle-aged man mentioned that he needed to pay five copper coins to enter the town, Zoro couldn't help but frown.
"Kahn, did you need to pay copper coins here before?"
Looking at the group of people in front of the convoy, most of whom were in ragged clothes, Zoro doubted whether they had even half an Empire copper coin on them.
"Lord Sauron, I remember that this didn't happen before."
"I heard from that person that it should have been added temporarily."
Hearing Kahn's explanation, Zoro's brows furrowed even more.
"Temporarily added? Are the lords here going crazy for money?"
"If you, this group of people, can collect more than ten copper coins, I, Zoro, will write my name upside down."
The more Zoro thought about what the owner of this town was doing, the more absurd it became. The more absurd he felt, the more he couldn't help complaining.
as expected.
Within a few seconds, a commotion broke out at the gate of the town.
"Sir, we don't have that much money at all."
"That's right, sir. I was here yesterday and I didn't see anyone asking for payment to enter."
"Sir, please just let us in! My family still hopes that I can sell these things in exchange for some black bread."
Seeing the angry crowd in front of him, the middle-aged man with a mustache holding a document showed no expression on his face, but he smiled contemptuously in his heart.
"A bunch of mud-legged people!"
For everything that might happen before them, the middle-aged people were prepared long before they came here.
But before that, he felt that he needed to cool down the temperature of these people and let them understand what they could do and what they couldn't do.
"It's too noisy. Let them be quiet."
After hearing the middle-aged man's instructions, the guards behind him turned around and left.
Within a minute, four people came over carrying buckets filled with clean water.
Without any mental preparation, everyone immediately poured out the water in the bucket.
The few people at the front were immediately doused with water.
When they saw that the people splashing water were four burly men wearing armor and carrying blades, the crowd who had been complaining suddenly fell silent.
Dare to be angry but dare not speak.
Seeing that the scene had calmed down, the middle-aged man stood up again.
"Have you calmed down yet?"
"If anyone wants to continue talking, you might as well try it boldly."
After saying that, the middle-aged man showed a very cruel smile.
This made the farm men closest to him feel terrified.
Of course, there were also people in the crowd who were angry at what the middle-aged man did, but when they wanted to come forward, they were quickly stopped by relatives and friends who came with them.
"Ahem, cough, cough, everyone, listen to me."
Just like the face-changing in Sichuan Opera.
One moment he looked like a middle-aged man who was a total executioner, and the next moment he became as amiable and approachable as a dedicated poverty alleviation cadre.
The drastic change in painting style made the poor people present unable to react.
The middle-aged man didn't feel any discomfort at all.
"What about me? I know everyone's difficulties."
"Where is the Viscount? He also knows."
"But the increasing number of people in the town has brought a lot of trouble to the town."
"Whether it's daily maintenance of the streets or town security and other tasks, it's a lot heavier."
“It’s simply unsustainable with the meager tax revenue of a small town.”
"Therefore, the Viscount has to impose this special tax to continue to maintain the prosperity of the town."
"I think everyone here doesn't want to see a dirty and chaotic town of Mirante."
"I'm right!"
As the middle-aged man said.
In order to maintain the prosperity of the town of Mirante, Viscount Mirante has indeed invested a lot of manpower and material resources.
From killing monsters to clearing clogged sewers, it costs money.
This makes it difficult for the town of Mirante to rely solely on its own tax revenue.
Unlike baronies where only debt-laden serfs and nobles lived, a large number of free people lived in the territories above and including viscounts.
Although they have a certain amount of property themselves.
But he won't work for the nobles easily for free.
If the local noble lord wants to call them to work for him, he must pay a certain amount of money.
In the Arathor Empire, only those with titles including Viscount and above can build towns.
The size of the towns built by nobles was determined based on their title.
Because the higher the title, the larger the territory.
In addition, the nobles themselves do not lack food. The difference between food and currency is not very big. They are just a tool for them to rule the same kind.
Therefore, in order to build a town that suits their noble status, most middle- and high-level nobles will choose to build flat fields into towns.
First, compared with simple agricultural goods, taxes are collected more quickly and effectively.
Second, the size and prosperity of a town also symbolizes the strength of the nobility.
This also led to the fact that the middle- and high-level nobles who built towns did not need serfs very much, because they did not have much farmland to cultivate.
On the contrary, the barony, which relied on farming as its only income, was filled with a large number of serfs.
Excessive town expenses have become a disease in the heart of Viscount Mirante, the lord of Mirante town.
but.
Recently, a mysterious wise man came to the territory and solved this trouble for him very well.
Now, this group of pawns and traders who were blocked outside the town gate and relied on selling things in the town of Mirante became his first target.
Zoro, who was sitting in the carriage, watched the middle-aged man's performance with great interest.
This method reminded him of a very interesting story from his previous life.
Although he has long forgotten the specific name of the story, the content is deeply etched in his mind.
But there is one thing that Sauron is very puzzled about.
What do you mean by throwing water at someone???
Obviously the sword in your hand is more useful than water.