The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 948 Registered Population

"Duke of Joelsteria, you draft a list! You submit the report, and I'll approve it!" Roland's eyes lit up, and he waved his hand.

"?" Duke Joelsteria was taken aback. What do you mean by writing a report or issuing a note?

"Ahem! You make a list and I'll issue an edict!" Roland coughed to cover up his embarrassment.

"Yes, Your Majesty! I will immediately have Duke Yunfeng draft the list!" Duke Joelster said, patting his chest.

"Huh? They're outsourcing this stuff?" Roland's eye twitched. The outsourcing concept was mind-blowing! Even government orders were being outsourced? Was this the political wisdom of the Vladivostok family, a thousand-year-old noble family?

"But only Duke Yunfeng knows the answer to this!" Duke Joelster scratched his head. As one of the earliest political figures to follow Roland, Yunfeng had held political power for a long time! It was only now that the power was being transferred to him and Queen Nyx for a share!

"Oh no! Duke Yunfeng is going to suffer again..." Roland, at such a young age, already has to learn to hide his sadness with a smile.

“But Your Majesty, you seem to be having a very happy laugh…” Duke Joelster’s lips twitched.

"That's not quite right! This is His Majesty's way of comforting us because he's worried about His Highness Yunfeng!" Marquis Al-Tegran Franz immediately interjected. Was His Majesty smiling? He was clearly filled with grief and indignation, only able to hide it with a smile to keep us from worrying!

"?"

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Roland and Giorstedt both widened their eyes and looked at Marquis Al-Tegran Franz. Roland's eyes seemed to say: No way! My friend! You really do have the potential to be a treacherous minister! Giorstedtt's eyes were filled with disbelief. How could you even come up with such a ridiculous story? The Franz family is terrifying! Their loyalty to the empire is beyond words!

"Well... Joelsteria, go find Yunfeng and have him draw up a list. It's time to compensate those brave warriors who fought for the country!" Roland sighed. The soldiers who fought all the way deserve to be rewarded. Their loyalty is not an excuse to be wasted!

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Duke Giorstedya nodded.

"And what about me, Your Majesty?" Marquis Al-Tegran Franz asked Roland, his hand on his chest.

"The tariffs are yours! Go and discuss it with Yun Feng and the others. I can do without them, but they can't refuse to pay!" A hint of displeasure flashed in Roland's eyes. Although Roland looked down on those paltry sums, the feeling of being taken advantage of was indeed unpleasant!

"Don't worry, Your Majesty! I'll make them vomit up what they ate!" Marquis Al-Tegran Franz sneered.

"Be normal! We are a legitimate kingdom, not bandits!" Roland's lips twitched. Why did he say it so bluntly? It made the Kingdom of Lagrange seem less like a legitimate government and more like a bandit gang!

"...King Roland must have gone mad!" Yun Feng, who was far away in Jiliu City allocating resources, looked at the message from Lagrange City with a hint of despair in his eyes. He, who held all the military and political power in the entire Jiliu City, had actually been conscripted by the capital!

“No time! You tell them to have Roland knight everyone who starts following him, right? Anyway, honorary titles aren’t hereditary and don’t grant land, so why not use the gold in the national treasury to stimulate economic consumption instead of letting it sit idle!” Yun Feng wrote back with a complaint.

"Let Marquis Franz handle the tariffs himself! His family is good at this! Have him calculate it and send it to me!" Yun Feng said speechlessly.

"So what are you doing?" Duke Joelster asked curiously, completely puzzled.

"If all else fails, why don't you come and play with this magic furnace? Why don't you come and re-equip the kingdom's army?" Yun Feng said speechlessly, his lips twitching, as he immediately sent out a magical letter.

Soon the magic circle on the other side stopped responding, and Duke Joelster was defeated. After all, magic was not his forte. How could a knight who wielded spears and sticks possibly handle something as sophisticated as a magic furnace?

……

"So let's put this matter aside and just give the Holy Glory Knights and the soldiers who helped us establish this nation a bonus of ten gold coins! Although knighthood isn't valuable, granting it on a large scale will make the title lose its value!" Roland shook his head at Duke Joelster after seeing Yunfeng's reply. Although knighthood isn't valuable, it can't be given out indiscriminately. Noble titles can't lose their value!

"Alright, then so be it!" Duke Joelster nodded in understanding. After all, it would be crazy for a kingdom with a population of several hundred thousand to bestow the title of knight upon a thousand people at once!

"What do you think about tariffs?" Roland then asked Marquis Al-Tegran-Franz.

“One-tenth of the tax!” Marquis Al-Tegran-Franz said after a moment of contemplation.

"So low?" Roland raised his eyelids, somewhat incredulous. He had thought that Marquis Al-Tegran Franz would propose a tax rate of three-tenths. After all, although the tax rate when Roland transmigrated wasn't high, the repeated taxation was still enough to make one's scalp tingle! A simple tax rate of one-tenth was hardly harsh!

"The problem is that the kingdom's goods really don't yield much profit! High taxes could kill off trade routes!" Marquis Al-Tegran Franz said with a dark face. Lagran currently only sells some unique handicrafts and weapons, its flagship product being enchanted equipment. However, this isn't sold to traveling merchants; it's only brought down to the south by royal caravans and sold to nobles! Therefore, the profits ordinary merchants can get from Roland are meager! If Al-Tegran Franz were to be too harsh, it could very well lead to a loss of foreign merchants!

"Alright, whatever you say! You're the experts!" Roland decisively delegated authority. After all, you can't expect someone who hasn't even read a few chapters of economics to lead the kingdom's economic development. His greatest contribution is offering suggestions and signing off on confirmations!

"Thank you for your trust!" Marquis Al-Tegran Franz clenched his fist inwardly. King Roland's trust was a good sign. As a hereditary court nobleman, Al-Tegran Franz understood all too well what royal trust meant to his family. Only if Roland trusted him could the Franz family have any chance of establishing itself in the kingdom! Clearly, this was a good start!

"It's alright!" Roland waved his hand, not caring about such a trivial matter. His eyes were only filled with the desire for urbanization and the joy of solving the famine problem.

……

“Joelsteria, you need to speed things up! If the current housing isn’t enough, then expand the residential area!” A hint of seriousness flashed in Roland’s eyes. Outside the city, civilians were lined up in neat rows. Because of the large number of people and the need for registration, the entire camp would be moved into the city over several days. Therefore, Roland and his men had specifically left a large blank area in the city for expanding the residential area.

“We have limited manpower! Your Majesty, you will have to be patient! It’s only a matter of a few days!” Joelster looked at the long queue and nodded to Roland. There were too few literate clerks, so Joelster could only temporarily bolster the ranks by bringing along members of the collateral branches of the Oakrian family. At least as descendants of nobles, they could be considered literate!

"This progress is really slow!" Roland exclaimed.

"For safety reasons! Everyone needs to register. If it weren't for your special status, I would have sent you down to help already!" Joelster joked with Roland, while simultaneously grabbing a family information file that had been handed to him, stamping and sealing it!