King

Things that cut off people's wealth are never easy. The slave traders who were accustomed to enjoying tax-free treatment were naturally unhappy when taxes were suddenly imposed.

However, the lord has the right to tax, which is a common practice in the mainland. Even if there is support behind him, there is no way to interfere in the internal affairs of Xueyue Territory.

The five major families in the North even dare to collect 30% of the transit tax on bulk supplies. Master Hudson only levied a slave tax of 30%, which was not considered high by any means.

If his arms can't hold his thighs, ordinary businessmen can't bear it. At worst, the next time you trade slaves, choose some slaves with high profits.

Anyway, everyone wears many hats. In addition to being slave traders, they also have identities as smugglers, pirates, and arms dealers.

They were all huge profit trades. The profits from the slave trade had dropped, but it still did not affect everyone's fortune.

However, for several large slave traders whose main business is slave trading and part-time smuggling, the losses will be huge if such a tax is imposed now.

"What should we do now? Xueyue collar suddenly imposed a slave tax, which suddenly reduced such a large amount of profits. I am afraid that the tasks assigned by the family will not be completed this year!"

Ericon couldn't help but complain.

Every transaction in the Orc Empire can yield huge profits, but not everyone can do these transactions.

The big nobles had the ability to organize the supply of goods, so they naturally made a lot of money.

They were smugglers with a relatively weak background, and the forces behind them did not have such strong organizational and coordination capabilities. If they wanted to get a share of the pie, they could only get the goods from Mr. Hudson.

With one more middleman making the difference, profits will inevitably shrink. Of course, no matter how much it shrinks, the profits are still huge.

Looking at everyone's fun, we know that Hudson's hands are not dirty and he has not affected everyone's fortune.

The only problem is that in the same smuggling trade, the profits for different commodities are different.

It was time to test the relationship background again. The most sought-after and most profitable products were eventually taken by people with connections.

They are all members of the aristocratic group, but their origins are somewhat embarrassing.

"Children of the Northern Nobles", this noble status that they were once proud of, although now it has not reached the point where everyone calls for beatings, it is no longer welcome in the kingdom.

Even if they contacted the Northland nobles working under Hudson through personal connections, they only got one ticket.

Special treatment is just a dream. There are so many powerful forces in the kingdom who cannot enjoy the treatment. How can it be their turn?

Fortunately, several of them are active in the orc empire all year round, and they are well versed in all kinds of business.

The pure smuggling trade cannot compete with the resource tycoons, so it simply focuses on the slave trade. Any other business is just to earn some pocket money.

Relying on his rich experience and familiarity with the rules of the Orc Empire, he quickly made this business bigger and stronger.

One-fifth of the orc beauties in entertainment venues across the continent were sold by just a few of them. Colosseums all over the continent are also their customers.

It can be said that the most profitable transactions in the slave trade were done by them.

The high-end business is doing well, and the low-end business has not been spared. Every time I enter the Orc Empire, I come back with several ships of slaves.

As for the slave trade, their brothers were able to figure it out. In just over a year, he made hundreds of thousands of gold coins.

For the family behind them, this business has become the family's most important source of wealth.

Now that Hudson has issued a decree to directly take 30% of sales, their profits are bound to shrink significantly.

"There's no way!

Marshal Hudson wanted to tax, and no one could stop him. Our business is so big that there is no way to avoid tax.

Unless the slave trader returns, he will no longer enter Crescent Port and trade directly at sea, or go to other ports.

There is only one Crescent Harbor in the Near East, and the offshore islands where supplies can be docked are also under the control of Marshal Hudson. We cannot avoid it.

Even if we can avoid it, the transactions of so many nobles in the kingdom are all taxed in a regular manner. If we stand out and stand out, you should be able to imagine the consequences! "

Casarosa replied angrily.

The rule that strength determines the right to speak applies everywhere. The brothers have made their business so big that they have long been jealous of others.

If he does something outrageous again, his competitors will report him in a matter of minutes. Once they confront Xueyue Leader, the family behind them will not be able to protect them.

"snort!

He is trying to burn bridges by crossing the river!

If we hadn't worked hard from dawn to dusk and brought a large number of slaves to the Near East, how could the Xueyue Territory develop so fast?

Now that he has bought enough slaves and no longer needs these cheap labor, he just..."

Before Ericon could finish his rant, Casarosa hurriedly interrupted: "Shut up, my stupid cousin!

If you are tired of living, just jump into the sea by yourself. Don't drag us together to die.

If you can't hold back something in your heart, then think more about your wife, children, and children at home. Don't risk your own life and make them suffer too.

As for the family, they could only complain a few times. If you really ask them to come out to organize a series of tax resistance, every one of them will immediately give up! "

Money is important, but life is more important. There are some things you can think about, but you must never say them.

"Walls have ears" applies even on a ship. No one can guarantee that none of his subordinates are greedy for wealth and will report them later.

If you report tax evasion in Crescent Port, you can directly share 50% of the tax evasion, and the Lord's Mansion also provides lifelong security.

Although the Lord's Palace did not say what the crime of criticizing Mr. Hudson behind his back was, normal people knew that once someone exposed him, the matter would definitely be serious.

Even if Hudson didn't care, his men wouldn't let them go. Being targeted by people from the Xueyue Leader in the Near East was a question of how to die.

"Casarossa, which family do you want to wait for?"

Ericon asked uncertainly.

If the background is not strong enough, you must not take the lead in tax resistance. Even participating in it is dangerous.

"You are really stupid!

The lord's right to tax was given by the gods. Anyone who dares to provoke is a challenge to the entire aristocratic system.

Don't forget, our taxes in the North are much higher than those in Xueyue collar. Smashing the blame on the Xueyue leader is also smacking the blame on all the fiefdom lords in the kingdom!

Who dares to set this precedent?

Even if someone does something, they will only do it secretly. Whoever crosses the line will die!

If you have the time, it's better to explore new routes and find ways to avoid the Xueyue Territory's sphere of influence. "

Casarosa rubbed his forehead and said.

He was really tired. Casarosa really couldn't understand why his uncle Yingming I gave birth to such a stupid son.

Everything else is fine. Whether it's doing business or dealing with people, I can make good arrangements. Once I encounter political problems, my head is full of water.

The situation in front of us is very obvious. Mr. Hudson has just issued a decree, and the bureaucrats in Xueyue collar are opening their eyes and trying to improve their performance.

No one who sends it up at this moment will end well. No matter what the identity behind them is, now they all have a common identity "slave trader".

Although the nobles liked to buy slaves, it did not affect everyone's contempt for slave traders. In terms of status, he is lower than ordinary businessmen.

If you go out with this identity, you are a despised existence. If they were really caught, the family behind them would never be able to admit their identity, and they couldn't afford to embarrass that person!

In short, they cannot participate in any behavior that causes trouble openly. We can only think of ways secretly to reduce losses.

Rather than hoping that the slave traders' boycott would be effective, it would be better to hope that the nobles in the Near East would come out to protest, which would be more weighty.

But this is even more unrealistic. The life and death of the nobles in the Near East are in the hands of Mr. Hudson. How the five major families in Northland tricked the small and medium-sized nobles to death back then, Hudson can trick them to death now.

Cooperate well and we will all remain good friends. If you jump out and fight, sooner or later an accident will happen on the battlefield.

…

As soon as the tax order came out, the work of the territorial anti-smuggling team suddenly became busy.

Slave traders did not dare to resist taxes openly, but secretly they were full of tricks to evade taxes.

For example: arrange in advance for empty ships to enter the port to purchase supplies, and slave ships to park directly in the open sea.

Another example: using the cover of night to take a road through an undeveloped no-man's land to avoid the eyes of the tax department.

There are also magic potions used to directly disguise slaves as humans in an attempt to get away with it.

…

There are endless ways to avoid tax. As long as they can't think of it, there is nothing they can't do.

However, although tax collection was difficult, the slave trade actually began to shrink. The cheap orc slaves who were originally used to earn profits are now increasingly disliked by slave traders.

Affected by taxes, the price of orc slaves in the Near East has soared by 30%, and the proper wool comes from sheep.

The price/performance ratio has been reduced, and a drop in trading volume is inevitable. Fortunately, everyone already has a lot of slaves in their hands, and the labor gap is not as severe as before.

At this stage, everyone is mainly engaged in animal husbandry. The construction of some noble castles that came in the early stage has come to an end. In the later stage, there will not be so much labor force, and second-hand slaves have been resold in some areas.

Under pressure to promote the slave tax, Hudson originally thought he was going to go on a killing spree, but he didn't expect it to end peacefully.

But it’s normal to think about it. Slave traders who were blinded by their interests couldn’t see the situation clearly, which didn’t mean that the people behind them couldn’t see clearly either.

The high proportion of orc slaves will seriously affect the national defense security in the Near East. Now that the situation in the Orc Empire has changed, and Hudson is prepared to take precautions in advance, it is impossible for the kingdom's top brass not to support it.

The great nobles have all accepted the reality. Unless others think that their heads are in the way, they don't have the guts to commit suicide.

Without any trouble, Hudson took back the scattered energy and put it back on the defense of the Near East.

Although it is unknown what happened within the Orc Empire, it is an indisputable fact that the civil war has cooled down. Even if Hudson instructed the intelligence agencies to secretly provoke conflicts, the two camps chose to exercise restraint.

However, under this strange change, the Alliance of Seven Clans, which was secretly in contact with the kingdom, was particularly enthusiastic and invited the kingdom to send troops many times.

Whether they wanted to use this to put pressure on the four royal families, or whether they had set a trap and waited for the kingdom's army to infiltrate, no one could figure out.

If you don't know something clearly, don't get involved. This is Hudson's consistent style. It doesn’t matter if it’s a stuffed pie or a stuffed trap, just don’t touch it.

It has only been two short years since the mainland war ended. The Alpha Kingdom can only say that it has taken a breath of relief, and it is far from the time when it can use its troops externally.

The kingdom is still like this. The productivity of the Orc Empire is backward and a civil war has broken out. The internal situation of the Orc Empire is probably not much better.

The loss of the Orcs to Hudson was unclear. Anyway, the number of inbound slaves counted by Guang Xueyue has exceeded the one million mark.

Using this data as a template and working backwards, the Orc Empire lost at least eight million people.

The actual number of people lost will only be greater. After all, these slaves are young men and women selected from prisoners of war. They may be kicked out if they are injured, not in line with human aesthetics, or not strong enough.

Training, large-scale military training, is constantly taking place in the Near East.

In addition to the kingdom's standing army, a number of noble private armies were also incorporated into reserves and included in the training category.

However, this is just the beginning. A training plan for all-people soldiers has been taken out of the dusty cabinet.

"Now is not the time. The population in the Near East is too small. If we have one million young people, we can immediately convert them into one million soldiers, and then we can truly gain a foothold!"

Hudson said to himself.

The number of new immigrants in the Near East is already large. In just two years, the local population has exceeded 570,000, and it is still dominated by young men and women.

There could have been more, but because of the large input of orc slaves, the kingdom found that it was cheaper to recruit serfs to work on the front lines than to use slaves directly.

The serfs suffered heavy casualties, and the noble lords behind them still protested. No matter how great the loss of orc slaves is, it is just an economic issue.

In the kingdom, it is not illegal to kill orc slaves. You only need to compensate the slave owner for the corresponding losses.

If there is a reason for the incident, even the loss does not need to be compensated. There is no law in the kingdom that can protect the safety of orc slaves.

As the core of the Near East, Xueyue Territory's development speed is even more rapid.

Half of the 570,000 people in the Near East live in Xueyue Territory, including 200,000 immigrants and 30,000 Kingdom garrison troops.

It is really far from the expected million young people and one million soldiers.

"Jacob, why did the number of immigrants entering the Near East suddenly drop last month?"

Hudson asked with concern.

Logically speaking, the population flowing into the Near East every month should gradually increase. After all, as infrastructure continues to improve, it can accommodate more people.

In addition, the Near East is in a period of rapid economic development, and everyone has enough motivation to send immigrants to the Near East.

Even the most down-to-earth little noble can find a way to get Qian'er's population of 800 by activating his personal network.

With loans provided by the Near East Development Bank, they are fully capable of paying for resettlement.

“Your Majesty, the slowdown in immigration is mainly caused by the decline in labor demand.

Perhaps due to our influence, noble lords everywhere have followed suit to develop animal husbandry, and the demand for labor is limited.

Due to cost considerations and the large number of slaves they had, there was not much demand for immigrants in the short term.

In fact, not only them, but also the Xueyue Leader. But we still have fishing and salt industries, which absorb a lot of labor.

In order to increase employment opportunities, the Ministry of Government has decided to develop the wool textile industry and meat product processing industry, which is expected to add thousands of jobs.

But this is still a drop in the bucket. In order to solve the employment problem, we also provide serf leasing services to business travelers in the city.

Now that the water conservancy project has been basically completed, we will wait until a large number of cash crops are planted before developing supporting processing industries. "

Jacob said with an embarrassed look on his face.

I have sincerely tried my best. In the agricultural era, the only thing that can accommodate a large number of laborers is agriculture.

Other handicraft industries that rely on agriculture can absorb extremely limited labor.

What can Xueyue collar develop?

The answer is: a lot!

But at present, none of them are suitable. What can be developed in the short term is still the primary processing industry relying on agriculture and animal husbandry.

It’s not that Hudson can’t come up with good products, it’s that there’s no matching market. Regardless of what is being produced, once industrial production starts, overcapacity will occur if you are not careful.

It originated from the cotton textile industry in the pre-industrial era, and then added the dividends of the Age of Discovery. Now the situation is completely different. How to promote productivity upgrades, Hudson is also at a loss.

It seems unreliable to follow the example and turn the orc empire into a cotton field. Not to mention whether it can be planted, this proposal alone is very anti-human.

No matter how low the selling price is, for the self-sufficient feudal aristocratic economy, these products are dispensable.

Without promoting the development of productivity, these worries will indeed disappear. But how to defeat the Orc Empire has become a thorny problem.

With the current productivity of the Alpha Kingdom, no matter how much mobilization is carried out, it will not be able to completely defeat the orcs.

The comprehensive national strength is not enough to support the kingdom's military expedition, which determines the offensive and defensive momentum of both sides, which cannot be changed by Hudson alone.

"In the name of the Near East Front Army Command, an announcement is issued:

Remind all the noble lords to control the ratio of the number of orc slaves to the people in the territory, and be careful to prevent these orc slaves from rising up and causing chaos when the orcs invade.

Official recommendations are that the number of orc slaves should not exceed one-half of the number of people in the territory. For noble lords who have exceeded the number, please replenish the number of immigrants as soon as possible! "

Hudson ordered without changing his expression.

On this issue, Xueyue Ling is the representative who seriously exceeds the standard. The number of orc slaves is as many as 400,000.

If the population were to be replenished according to this ratio, Hudson would need to add more than 500,000 people to fill this hole.

He's not kidding, he's really going to do this. If there are no jobs, create them.

Xueyue Territory's lack of mineral resources does not mean that the entire Near East region lacks mineral resources.

As far as Hudson knows, in the past two years, noble lords from various places have successively discovered gold, silver, copper, iron, coal and other minerals.

Regardless of whether the reserves are rich or not, at least there are minerals. Where there are mines, there is a foundation for developing corresponding industries.

Especially gold, silver and copper mines can be used to mint coins as soon as they are mined. Not only does it not have to worry about sales, it can also alleviate the kingdom's money shortage crisis.