Chronicles of Ryan the Wizard

On the afternoon of the day when the Leis team defeated the Thunder repair team, the young Fernando XIII held a royal meeting in his study. At this meeting, he denounced all the injustices in the empire and determined to be thorough. Change this situation.

For this reason, the young Fernando XIII carried out a large-scale adjustment to the existing officials of the empire, abolished many officials who had nothing to do with each other, and arranged for a large number of young people he had secretly cultivated to replace them.

The scope and magnitude of the official replacement this time are very large, and it can be said to be the only one in the empire in two hundred years.However, although this action had a great impact, with the full support of the empire's highest military commander and the head of the Royal Knights, Orlando, no one dared to have any objections to the appointment of Fernando XIII.

What's more, even the imperial finance minister Luke and the imperial minister of state Chad, whose subordinates have been greatly changed, did not say anything. Even some dissatisfied people just vented their complaints behind their backs.

On the night when the young Fernando XIII made such a huge change in personnel, in the study of the Imperial Finance Minister Luke, Luke and Victor sat facing each other. Their topic was exactly what Fernando XIII was this afternoon. move.

Luke, with his face full of vicissitudes, drank a sip of the best Bordeaux, the wine entered his throat, and the expression on his face slowly eased. Luke closed his eyes as if he was reminiscing the taste of the best Bordeaux. Suddenly, Luke Zhang Opened his eyes and said to Victor, "What do you think?"

Victor took a sip of water from the glass in front of him. As a magician, he wanted to keep his head clear at all times.Victor thought for a while and said, "Actually, if you think about it carefully, your Majesty should almost do something. Don’t forget that in the ten years since he was crowned, you and Chad have basically controlled the government. In many cases, he is just a symbol of a country, which is not a good thing for Crew Fernando, who is ambitious and wants to make a career."

When Luke heard that his old friend called Fernando XIII directly, he shook his head and said, "Victor, for so many years, I have always regarded you as my good friend and think tank, and you are indeed for me. It took a lot of effort," Luke changed his tone at this point and continued: "I am not upset because my power has been weakened. After all, the emperor of this empire is Fernando, not Redia. But I think Your Majesty is too impatient. His large-scale exchange of blood will not only cause problems in the operation of the empire, but also easily lead to the suspicion of lords everywhere."

Having said this, Luke’s voice suddenly rose: “If the people he has planted have rich experience, that’s all, but you can see, it’s just a few months of studying at the Royal Academy, and he arranged They are going to be tax officials. This is so funny, these little guys are afraid that they have not touched a few gold coins, and they brazenly want to collect taxes from those old foxes?"

Luke handily took out a piece of information from his desk. He turned to page three and said to Victor: "The empire's tax revenue for the whole year last year was 69 million gold coins, and a fraction is not counted. Among them, the tax revenue of a city in the imperial capital. It is 9 million, the actual control of the Empire’s Sunrise City is 8 million, and the Sea Breeze City is 18 million. Excluding these, the independent business capital of Yegnas City has the most, 22 million. The total amount of gold coins turned in by the lords is about 1,200. Million."

"12 million! Anyway, with so many lords in the empire, their territories accounted for more than 90% of the empire's entire territory, and their total tax revenue is actually a city than God! Why?"

Victor picked up the jug in front of him and filled Luke's glass with the best Bordeaux, and Luke drank it.Victor said, "Say slowly, old friend, I'm listening."

Luke drank the wine and stabilized his emotions. He slowed down and said to Victor: "When Bird Fernando established the Holy Alliance Empire, mankind faced internal and external troubles. In order to stabilize the empire as soon as possible, Fernando I made two laws. The first is: each lord pays a tax to the empire every year, in addition to that, all the city lord’s own territory is determined by themselves, but the amount of tax collected by each lord It cannot exceed the amount of taxes paid to the empire. The second rule is: each lord can own an army and bear its own military expenses, but must not have a cavalry. Once verified, they will be dealt with as treason immediately!"

"As long as they strictly abide by these two laws, it is impossible for local lords to have cavalry units that can fight the Royal Knights. After all, cavalry needs several years of training to become an army, and the procurement, transportation, training, etc. of horses are impossible. Concealed, once exposed, you will get a fatal blow from the empire. This risk is too great; if you want to fight the Knights, you can only use a large number of infantry and rely on the advantage of numbers, but the lords of various regions cannot tax a lot. , Because the more you collect, the more you pay to the empire. Excessive taxation can only make the economy in your own territory collapse. Without gold coins, why would you talk about building a large army?"

"Therefore, in the past two centuries, people have only seen the Royal Knights incomparably sharp, sweeping across the entire continent, and don’t know how many rebellions have been put down. Let’s not talk about the distant ones, such as the recent rebellion of Senat, the Holy Knights can The quick extinguishment is of course their superior strength, but this is also the reason why Senat has no cavalry units. On the plains, there has been no successful battle with infantry against cavalry for thousands of years."

"No matter how strict the law is, the loopholes will be found by those who are interested. After so many years, the lords of various places have gradually developed countermeasures. Isn’t it not allowed to have cavalry? Then I will form a heavy infantry, the one of Senat Heavy infantry, wearing heavy armor, armed with long spears and thick shields, is the best way for infantry to fight cavalry. The cost is not much less than the formation of cavalry. If it is not for Orlando's superb command, the Royal Knights may not be able to win. So easy."

"Where do the gold coins for forming this kind of army come from? Naturally, it comes from taxes. Although there are imperial laws, those cunning lords will do everything possible to perfuse you. For example, some lords monopolize the necessities of life in the territory, think You can sell as much as you sell, and no matter how much you can sell, how do you collect it? He just collects a little symbolically. After a year, he can collect millions of dollars. If you really collect taxes, maybe just as many as a dozen. A poor gold coin."

"The tax officials I arrange to collect in various places every year may be greedy and embezzled a little bit secretly, but he can collect more gold coins than others, so I just shut one eye. Now, Your Majesty I removed them all and replaced them with my own confidants, but these little white rabbits who have never seen the world can really deal with the old foxes? Seeing that this year's tax should be collected again, if the lords' Finance, the next time the Royal Knights will face it, it may be a cavalry corps!"

After speaking, Luke let out a long sigh.