Chapter 504 Tax

"No! You can't treat me like this!"

Knight Ivan shouted, struggling.

But the hands of the two Blood Cavalry guards were like iron clamps, and the Ivan Knight could not break free.

"His Highness Harrison, what about the covenant we reached before! You cannot betray this way!"

"Shut up!" A hint of shame flashed across Prince Harrison's face.

Colin winked, and a guard punched the Ivan Knight in the face.

A few teeth were mixed with blood and splattered out.

Knight Ivan howled, but still shouted in disbelief, as if saying that his brother would definitely avenge him.

Colin naturally would not be frightened by this threat.

In fact, even without the Ivan Knight, Colin had already made enemies with the Eastern Consul Imosen.

When Vera, as the heir to the North Duke, entered the Senate to vote, Colin knew clearly that the consul Imosen voted against it.

Colin will take revenge sooner or later.

Now, taking the opportunity to kill Imosen's younger brother can be considered as collecting interest first.

After the Senate reform, the consul changed from a lifetime system to a limited term, and Colin was also preparing to pull the consul Imosen off the horse when the next change of term.

When the voice of the Knight Ivan gradually disappeared outside the chamber, the expressions of the Eastern nobles in the hall gradually became more and more respectful.

Although the methods of killing the chicken to scare the monkey are old-fashioned, they are extremely effective.

Moreover, seeing Prince Harrison abandoning the Ivan Knight without hesitation, the nobles of the East Realm also realized that Colin was standing behind him not only the North Realm, but also the Imperial Royal Family!

Colin's cold eyes slowly swept across the audience. Seeing that no one objected, he said:

"Okay, since no one has any objection, then Count Nicol will temporarily take charge of the Eastern Frontier."

In theory, Colin was not qualified to announce this appointment.

But now Bailu City is under the control of the Blood Cavalry, and Prince Harrison has clearly expressed his support for his teacher, so no one dares to say that Colin's declaration is illegal.

What's more, when it comes to attacking the Tianma Legion just now, most of the Eastern Nobles had been pulled down by Colin, and at this time they had a basis for their conspiracy.

Earl Nicol's face was red and loudly accepted the order, as if he was ten years younger.

Colin smiled and said to Earl Nicol:

"Earl Nicol, I should not interfere too much in the internal affairs of the East, but it is related to Your Majesty's war order. I still want to ask more, are you sure to complete the tasks assigned in the war order in a timely manner?"

Earl Nicol thought for a while and said in a deep voice:

"According to Your Majesty's war order, the East Territory should send an army of no less than 200,000 people to support the West Territory. Although the East Territory has just experienced a turmoil, I believe that as long as the East Territory lords donate generously and work together, they will be able to form an army of 200,000 people in a timely manner!"

As soon as these words came out, a series of breathing sounds suddenly sounded in the chamber.

The nobles in the East Realm all looked frowning, obviously realizing that they were going to have a heavy bleeding, but because Colin was present at this time, he did not dare to object, and many people were flushed with their faces, just like they were constipated.

Colin took all the expressions of everyone, laughed in his heart, and said:

"Everyone, I have a suggestion on the cost of forming a large army in the West."

Earl Nicol's heart moved and hurriedly said:

"Sir, please speak!"

Colin smiled slightly and said loudly:

"I know that this turmoil in the East is about to be settled, and you will definitely have some difficulties in preparing for military expenditure.

Of course, I have some responsibility for this.

After all, because of some misunderstandings, I had some minor frictions with Dongjing..."

Hearing this, the nobles in the East could not help but twitched their lips, and they complained in their hearts—

Small friction?

You have directly penetrated the East Realm...

Colin ignored everyone's expressions and continued on his own:

"...I know that you now have a large amount of pensions that need to be paid, and you also need a large amount of recruitment and preparation for expeditionary food and grass... Such a large amount of money is a huge burden for everyone here.

But if you rashly increase taxes, it is useless to add less. If you have too many, it may cause dissatisfaction among the people of the East. In that case, let alone support the West, even the East itself may be at risk of falling into chaos again.”

The nobles kept nodding, and were curious about what good solution the Earl of Angeles could propose.

“…I therefore suggest that you can increase your tax revenue without increasing the tax burden on civilians.”

When everyone heard this, they were confused.

Earl Nicol couldn't help asking: "Sir, please forgive our ignorance, but if the tax burden on civilians is not increased, how can we increase tax revenue?"

Colin smiled faintly and said, "Of course the total tax revenue will not increase, but it can increase the tax revenue of 'your'!"

Hearing Colin emphasize the word "you", some smart nobles then understood.

In fact, the tax revenue of the Glorious Empire did not all enter the lords' pockets, but part of it was handed over to the Glorious Church!

So, Colin's meaning is very obvious.

No tax increases, but the church’s tax revenue can be misappropriated to offset military expenses!

For a moment, the nobles were all frightened by Colin's boldness.

You should know that the church's "tith tax" was determined at the beginning of the founding of the Glorious Empire. Over the past thousand years, no matter what turbulence occurred in the empire or the financial crisis the nobles experienced, no one dared to fight the church's "tith tax".

This is the tacit understanding between the nobles and the church, and it is also the bottom line!

If Collin's suggestion is really to be implemented in the East, it will definitely completely anger the church-

No, this is probably Colin's real purpose!

Many nobles from the East immediately woke up.

On the surface, Colin was under the banner of helping the nobles in the East Realm to reduce the financial burden, but in fact, he was urging the nobles in the East Realm to provoke the authority of the church.

The Archbishop of the East Realm, the Duchess of the Duchess, had died at the hands of Beatries San Prouss, which obviously would make the church feel dissatisfied with the East Realm. If the East Realm nobles embezzled the church's "tith" as military expenses according to Collin's suggestion, they would probably completely break with the church from then on.

"Everyone, what do you think of this suggestion?"

Colin asked with a smile, as if what he was talking about was just a trivial matter.

But the hall was in a strange silence.

Although many nobles in the East were frightened by Colin's proposal, more people were ready to move.

After all, this involves their own interests.

If they do not seize food from the church, they will inevitably bleed heavily.

Thinking of this, why not just take this opportunity to completely draw a line with the church and turn to the royal family?

However, this matter was too shocking after all, and no one in the East Realm nobles dared to take the initiative to stand up and make their first statement.

Colin glanced around the chamber, finally stopped at Count Nicol and asked with a smile:

"Earl Nicol, what do you think of this proposal?"
Chapter completed!