I have millions of wage earners

But it was obvious that Earl of Cumberland did not dare to tell his true thoughts, so he could only nod his head and said: "Oh, thank you very much Lord Flynn!"

"Using the words I learned from the brave men."

"Lord Flynn, you are worthy of being called the Eternal God!"

…

The next stop of Flynn's inspection was the territory of a bishop.

In this era, religious forces can be seen everywhere, which is very common.

Just like within the Holy Roman Empire on earth, there are many places ruled by bishops.

In this part of the world, there are many lands governed by churches.

The owner of these church lands was often the local bishop, or even just a priest.

Religious feudal lords, although they do not have titles, are actually equivalent to feudal lords.

…

And because these feudal lord bishops often have backings in the central church.

Therefore, you must be extra careful when dealing with these people.

Flynn came to Bishop Isaac's territory and entered with a high profile.

The area of ​​​​this land is not large, but the population is quite large, with a few hundred thousand people living on this land.

It seems that Bishop Isaac is obsessed with cleaning up and doesn't care much about tax collection, so the tax rate he set is relatively low.

Bishop Isaac did not pursue personal enjoyment and never married.

Being childless, there is no need to accumulate inheritance for one’s descendants.

Therefore, he does not need to squeeze his people as much as possible like other feudal lords.

Such a unique ruling system was destined to lead a relatively good life for the people under Bishop Isaac's rule.

The land ruled by Isaac Flynn could have so many people, close to 100,000, despite its small area.

The reason is exactly the same.

After all, everyone votes with their feet, and many refugees, etc., come specifically to seek refuge.

…

Before Flynn came, he learned about Bishop Isaac. Because he ruled relatively loosely and squeezed his people less lightly, he said he had a good reputation.

Although it may not feel necessary to patrol Bishop Isaac's territory, it is still on the way, so I just stopped by to take a look.

In Bishop Isaac's territory, Flynn saw that the people here were generally in good spirits and had a dedicated team organizing production.

Whether it is fertile fields or barren mountains.

Whether it's by the lake or in the mines, in many places, there are specialized people leading the people to carry out development.

Considering the extent of Bishop Isaac's territory, it was not very large.

And the population is larger.

Therefore, it is very important to improve development efficiency and utilize limited land as much as possible to feed a larger population and create more job opportunities.

It can be seen that Bishop Isaac is quite concerned about the construction of his territory.

While talking to Bishop Isaac, Flynn learned that unlike other lords who did not value their people, but only valued wealth.

Bishop Isaac attaches great importance to the lives of the people under his rule. He said to Flynn: "The lives of the people must be satisfied, especially so that they can have enough food and clothing."

“In this way they can be truly religious.”

"Look, sir, this church is very magnificent, right?"

“I’m proud to say that this magnificent church didn’t even cost me a penny of my own money.”

"No church funds were used."

"The brilliant church was entirely funded by local believers."

"Because they live happily in this blessed land."

"They are also willing to spend money to build a cathedral to express their gratitude to the Holy Spirit for this happy life."

Flynn didn't have much to criticize about Bishop Isaac's rule.

Again, because Bishop Isaac does not pursue personal enjoyment, nor does he need to leave a legacy to his descendants.

So he doesn't need to exploit and make money at all.

Flynn originally planned to leave right away.

But after walking around for a while, Flynn found something was wrong.

In Bishop Isaac's territory, there are too many religious buildings, decorations, statues, large and small churches, and even separate prayer rooms, atonement rooms, and the like.

Whether in towns or in the countryside, you can see people everywhere leading nearby people in collective religious sacrificial activities.

Extremely high frequency and duration of activity.

Flynn spent a whole day observing.

You can see that there is a group of children in the east who have been practicing in the choir for a whole day and their voices have become hoarse.

At night, they are also responsible for voluntarily cleaning the religious icons in the area.

On the west side, it surrounds a newly built church.

Hundreds of people gathered there and listened to the boring lectures of the priest in the church. For a whole day, no one ate anything - to show their piety, there was no time for eating.

Going a little further, you can see a few ordinary farmers working hard in the fields.

But while farming, he would take a break at any time to study religious classics under the leadership of a priest who looked like a farmer.

Although many of these peasants were illiterate, they were still required to follow the priest in reciting the text from the classics.

On another piece of land nearby, which was originally fertile farmland, a large open space was opened up to build a new holy elephant.

The icon and the base took up a lot of area, wasting a lot of fertile land.

…

Ever since, Flynn discovered the problem here.

The lord here, Bishop Isaac, did collect very little tax and did not exploit it excessively.

The people here seem to be living happily indeed.

They enjoy lower taxes here and also carry out tedious religious activities.

But because they are all devout believers, this does not seem to make them feel painful.

Although the local people are enjoying it.

But Flynn couldn't stand it anymore.

You are pious, and Flynn has no objection to your piety.

However, at least don’t affect normal production and life!

According to Flynn's observations, the people in Bishop Isaac's territory spend more than 30% of their time and energy on religious activities every day, or even more than half.

If this continues, it will be equivalent to a reduction of 30%, or even more than half, in the production efficiency of the entire society.

Is this reasonable?

This is really unreasonable!