You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 8 A Powerful Declaration

Roman spoke, his voice quite loud and carrying far under the sky.

"I am Roman Riftarmor, lord of Sig Town, and your future ruler!"

"You should know that this land, all the land, now belongs to me!"

The peasants had no land; everything that could be seen belonged to the nobles—a situation that seems utterly terrifying to modern people.

Free citizens are called free citizens, but they can only rent land and pay rent in the form of money, labor, or goods. They can never truly own their own land.

There was a very strong personal dependency relationship between nobles and tenants.

But oppression has no end.

“You are ignorant and foolish, and have committed an unforgivable sin.”

"Everything that swims in the river, grows on the mountain, is a wild animal on the ground, and every bird that flies across this sky belongs to me."

"Now, I am going to exercise my rights. I am going to take back ownership of this land. I am going to replan everything. I will not allow you to waste my resources like this!"

"Furthermore, for the past few decades, you have been illegally logging, poaching, and fishing in the mountains, violating noble laws. Everyone must pay me a fine of one gold coin!"

Roman sat atop a tall horse, his back to the blinding sun, his face seemingly shrouded in darkness, his gaze indifferent as he surveyed the vast, dark crowd.

Having lived in this world for over a decade, I haven't learned much else. But I've certainly mastered the art of the superior, aristocratic air.

Before leaving, he asked the Duke of Liejia for a three-year tax exemption.

In other words, for the next three years, he can do whatever he wants with these idiots without having to be accountable to anyone.

The scene seemed to freeze, completely silent.

Suddenly, it was as if a pot had exploded.

"no, do not want……"

"Please, sir, have mercy! We can't afford the penalty..."

"Please have mercy..."

"No, one gold coin? That's insane..."

"You are willing to give porridge to slaves, so in your eyes, are your farmers even less than slaves?"

Pleading and wailing filled the air as everyone begged for mercy, collapsing like wheat before their eyes. Countless pleading gazes converged, and some even roared and pounced!

Stab it!

The sound of the sword blade rubbing against the scabbard.

A crisp, silky metallic sound suddenly rang in everyone's ears, sending a shiver down their spines and raising goosebumps all over their bodies.

To everyone's horror, the two noble knights behind Roman, clad in full armor, simultaneously drew their heavy swords.

They rode in silence, their swords gleaming, the tips pointing straight to the heavens, like two ruthless killing machines.

The farmer, who had been about to rush forward to beg for mercy, was so frightened by this turn of events that he retreated repeatedly, fearing that blood would splatter at any moment.

Roman remained unmoved and continued, "But I'm giving you two choices: either pay the penalty or obey my instructions."

Are there any other options?

A gold coin was a unit they had never encountered before; even copper coins were considered precious.

"Furthermore, you must send all children under the age of 15 and over the age of 5 to my manor." After the bombshell of a 1-gold-coin order, everyone became numb to it.

Roman added, “All the merchants, stand before me.”

According to the information sent by Moore, Roman discovered that the commercial trade in Sig Town was taking shape, and with a larger population, there would be various demands.

Although Sige Town is surrounded by towering mountains and difficult land transportation, its well-developed water system can meet basic commercial transportation needs.

The Bro River splits into two branches. The first branch flows through Silver Dragon Gorge and passes through the town of Sig, while the other branch goes around Silver Dragon Gorge.

However, Silver Dragon Canyon is full of hidden reefs and has turbulent currents, posing certain risks to navigation.

This resulted in few merchants coming to Sige Town.

After a while, the merchants from Sige Town realized that they couldn't escape this fate, and squeezed through the back of the crowd, feeling very uneasy.

Roman looked down at the merchants before him: "I know some of you are not from Sig Town, but your business activities were conducted without my permission and you have not paid business taxes, so you should be punished."

“Yes, sir.” The merchants looked distressed.

Roman was not too harsh on the group of businessmen. He said, "You don't need to pay your previous business taxes for now, but your business activities in the future must meet my requirements."

At this moment, a young businessman suddenly said:

“Sir, all your demands are reasonable, and we will obey you. The mountains are your property, and we are all thieves who steal your wealth. But why do you only focus on the thieves and let the real mountain bandits go free?”

Roman glanced at the young merchant who had spoken, knowing his firm stance might have stirred up some resentment among these people. Someone was actually speaking up for the farmer?
"who are you?"

“Morey Perea. The son of Selin pays his respects to you, Lord Roman!” Morey bowed deeply.

Morey was quite handsome, around twenty years old, and had a bronze complexion from years of travel. He wore a well-tailored robe, and his appearance and demeanor clearly did not belong to a merchant from Sig Town.

Celine Pereira was a famous businessman, and Roman had heard of him.

Wealthy merchants have countless children, so it's not surprising to find an illegitimate child; who knows, he might come in handy someday.

Roman snorted and said coldly and arrogantly, "I will thoroughly investigate everyone. I will not let any of those hiding in the mountains go, whether they are petty thieves or notorious bandits. No one, no one can use my resources on my territory without paying the price!"

He looked at the crowd again.

"From today onwards, I forbid you from cultivating my land. All your previous fields must be abandoned! Guards will supervise you, and anyone who dares to cultivate without permission will be executed! Tomorrow is just the beginning. From now on, you will accept my rule and unconditionally obey all orders I give you!"

These guys who know nothing about the land will work for nothing if they don't change their production methods.

Next, Roman's abdomen contracted, his chest bulged, and a fierce breath, like fire and steel, seemed to erupt from deep within his throat. He said in a powerful, resonant voice:
"I reiterate, I will exercise my rights to reclaim all the land in Sige Town, and all resources will be completely under my control. I declare that your previous way of life and farming has changed! I will redistribute everything, and I will not tolerate any of your actions! You have no choice but to obey!"

After saying that, he pulled on the reins and rode away under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

Moll watched all this unfold, drenched in sweat, and wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face pale.

He immediately felt relieved about Roman's previous unusual behavior, and murmured to himself, "This is the aristocratic style I'm familiar with."

But he had heard of draining the pond to catch all the fish, but he had never seen anyone dig three feet into the ground.

Moore felt his heart trembling.

Will the town of Sige ever be able to return to its past?

……

(End of this chapter)