Chapter 138 Something doesn't feel right
After learning that more than 12000 people also had to pay taxes, Horn felt something was wrong.

其实仔细算下来，12000多人中的15岁以上成年人一共有10693人，差不多就是21386第纳尔，等同于178金镑26第纳尔。

It's not that Horn couldn't come up with the money. He still had more than 2,000 gold pounds from the Blue Blood Orphanage in his hand.

But this money was from Horn's sealed fund, and he didn't want to use it unless it was absolutely necessary.

The most important thing is, even if it’s not the case with other workers or citizens, they have at least some money to live on since they have managed to stay until now.

But these people in Xinying had no jobs and relied entirely on relief food and work-for-relief allocated by the City Hall.

If it weren't for Horn, their situation would be similar to that of beggars. It doesn't make sense to ask beggars to pay taxes.

They hadn't even received their first week's wages yet, and had only received an advance on their food rations, so how could they afford to pay for this?

After much thought, Horn decided to find out the truth, so he went to Chateau Joan of Arc again.

Duke Dane is a rare powerful nobleman on their side, and these villagers in Horn will still need his protection in the future.

It's not worth it to break down the cooperation between the two parties just because of a possible misunderstanding.

When they arrived at the castle again, the servant told Horn apologetically that it was Priest Zandbek who was in charge of collecting taxes and he didn't know what was going on.

Horn had to rush from the Duke's castle to the town hall on the other side of the city, but when he arrived at the town hall, the town hall attendant told him that Priest Zandbeck was not there.

But the person who allocated the taxation areas was Bishop Burwerf, who was in charge of the household register. Perhaps Horn could go to him.

Looking at this situation, Horn knew what was going on, and he would not really go to see Bishop Burwilf.

If he really went, it would be guaranteed that "Bishop Bulwerf is out, why don't you go to XXX and ask?"

After wandering around the city square for a while, Horn went to find Casti, but Casti was locked in his home by two guards and was not allowed to see visitors.

Horn even ignored the guards' obstruction and went forward to knock on the door, but there was no response.

Walking on the avenue with his horse, Horn looked up at the sky. After running a few times, it was already afternoon.

The originally bright sunlight was shrouded by the rising faint black smoke, as if covered by a dark brown filter.

The cockerel weather vane on the roof of the house kept spinning around the black smoke.

It would be best for Xixi to investigate this matter, but unfortunately he is not here now.

Early this morning, he took money and went to the countryside to buy food. The price of food there is still relatively cheap.

Now the price of food in the city of Joan of Arc has quietly risen to 2.5 dinars per gallon for wheat and rice, and 1.5 dinars per gallon for barley.

When Horn first came, 1 dinar could buy 8 loaves of bread, but today it can only buy 5 loaves, a % price increase.

"Damn it!" Horn spat on the ground. Now he had no choice but to return to the camp.

He passed by the same street again, but the lively atmosphere was gone.

The streets were covered with blood and broken doors and windows, and all kinds of clothing and furniture were scattered on the ground.

The laborers sat on the steps in front of the door, their faces covered in dust and dirt, their hairy arms exposed, and they leaned against the door in a dejected manner.

Weeping women, carrying babies on their backs, were picking up the pieces of their homes in front of the house.

When Horn and his guards walked past, they looked up with numb eyes.

Horse hooves stepped on the charred ground, as if a small war had just been fought here.

Given the empire's low administrative efficiency, taxation was so barbaric and crude.

When I arrive in Chizhuan Town in the future, I will really need to find some financial experts to deal with these tax-related matters.

To be honest, Horn thought Sissi was pretty good, but he didn't know if she was willing to go to Swamp Town with him.

With his current talent pool, it would be more than enough for him to manage the 800-person Chihuan Town.

Whether it was Madeleine, Jeanne, Armand, Chilvice, Grandpuven or Das, they were all trained through the long march and setbacks.

Thanks to the advanced feudal system of one hundred households, Horn would have been quite confident in them if there were only one or two thousand people.

After all, hair is difficult to comb, but braids are easy to grab.

Not everyone on this street was crying. After walking a few steps forward, you could see some workers drinking and celebrating after surviving the disaster.

These well-informed or quick-witted laborers got intelligence in advance or noticed something unusual and hid the money. Otherwise, the more united and stronger laborers used stones and fences to stop the tax collectors from advancing.

The taxes not paid by these "troublemakers" will be deducted from the taxes already paid.

When the lord said he would collect 1 dinar, the priests and soldiers would not really collect only 1 dinar. In addition to feeding their own people, the extra taxes had to be used to offset the part that was not successfully collected.

With a long sigh, Horn arrived at the outskirts of the city. The road was wider, so he simply sped up his horse and returned to the camp.

He planned to stay in the camp for the time being and wait for Sissi to come back.

After all, there was no intelligence at the moment, and Horn didn't want to act rashly.

Sitting in the wooden house, Horn supported his head, still not quite understanding what Duke Darnay meant.

The sudden imposition of war taxes, could it be that the situation in the Thousand River Valley has intensified again? Or has something major happened that he is not aware of?

Besides, by doing this, wouldn’t he be destroying the reputation he had built up previously?

"Duvalon!" Horn shouted outside.

"What's wrong? Papa."

"Go and inform Djeshka to take people to several important checkpoints nearby. Then go to René and have him take the Cheka to the surrounding villages and refugee camps to investigate the situation."

"clear."

"Also..." Horn stood up and walked back and forth in the wooden house twice, "Tell Jeanne and her Holy Grail Knights to be careful and patrol more often during this period."

No matter what the situation is with the Duke, it's always better to be prepared.

…………

Standing at the iron-framed wooden door, Sissi knocked on the door, waking up Horn who was correcting the double-entry bookkeeping homework of the Boy Scouts and the Bishops.

Seeing Sissi, Horn threw down his pen as if relieved: "Come in."

"Didn't I disturb you?" Sissi asked, looking at the account books piled up on Horn's desk.

Horn smiled bitterly and said, "You are not disturbing me, you are saving me. I gave these account books to those guys to practice, and they calculated that the average return on investment of these chambers of commerce is 380%."

Xixi couldn't help laughing. He unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his delicate collarbone, and fanned himself with the account book: "It's their first time. With their level, it's good enough that they can figure it out."

Seeing that Sissi was sweating profusely, Horn stood up and poured him a glass of water.

"How's the food issue going?"

"The first truckload of food is the deposit and has already arrived." Xixi took the water without hesitation and took a sip. "The rest still needs to be collected by them. They will arrive one after another tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

"Do you know about the tax payment?"

"I was just about to tell you about this." Sissi put down her water cup and said quickly, "This is very unusual. At first I thought the Duke invited these 'short-haired' refugees and asked you to unite them for the purpose of recruiting soldiers.

At least these people are brave enough to resist, and they are much better than the cowardly farmers.

Recruiting them as soldiers will prevent the Duke from recruiting soldiers on a large scale from his own subjects, which would affect the economy and the Duke's reputation.

But now, he actually wants to levy taxes on everyone. Logically, he should levy taxes on the residents and arm the refugees to be cannon fodder.

But isn't it true that he is forcing these refugees to flee by imposing taxes on them?"

"You can't run away." Horn shook his head solemnly. "Dieska checked the nearby roads and found that almost all the castle checkpoints are closed. No one is allowed to enter or leave unless they have a certificate issued by the Duke."

"Something must have happened that we don't know about." Sissi stroked her smooth chin. "I'm going to Chateau Jeanne d'Arc tomorrow to find out what happened. Maybe the officials under him misunderstood the Duke's intention."

"I'll go with you."

"You should stay in the camp." Sissi shook her head and advised, "That way, if something really happens, you'll have someone to support you."

"What do you think is going to happen?" Horn's eyes were more serious than ever.

Xixi hesitated for a moment: "I'm not sure, but I feel something is wrong."

　p.s. I'm busy again after the holiday, there will be another chapter later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)