The Knight's Journey to the Empire

When Soran was named a hereditary baron on the western battlefield, Marquis Saladin rewarded him with five thousand gold coins.

Of this, he took out two thousand as personal income and put them into his personal treasury.

At the "charity gala" held in Connacht City, a total of more than 13,000 "fundraising gold coins" were received.

Among them, he only took 10,000 gold coins and left the rest to the family.

On the way to the territory to take up his post, he lent money to Adam to run his business, and resold the specialty products purchased at low prices in the south to the east at high prices to make a profit from the difference.

After deducting the costs from this business, he earned about 600 gold coins, and all of this income belonged to the lord's personal assets and was naturally included in Sauron's personal treasury.

When I just arrived at the territory yesterday, Kobitt sent me a thousand gold coins as a congratulatory gift.

This morning, Henry looted a lot of silver coins and copper coins from Cobbett's house, which amounted to nearly three hundred gold coins.

Now there is money for buying his life sent by Kobitt. Although it is not enough to buy his life, Sauron accepted it without hesitation and put it into his personal treasury.

After a careful count afterwards, there were nearly two thousand gold coins in that box.

The top summarizes recent income, and the bottom summarizes expenses.

When Soran was in Connacht, he asked a blacksmith to make two sets of equipment for him, one set was heavy knight armor and the other was half-body armor. The total cost was about 160 gold coins.

From the south to the east, all the way north, including the daily food and clothing of the team, taxes paid in other territories passing through, and some scattered expenses added together, there are about 300 gold coins in expenditure.

Plus a 500 gold coin commission for hiring the Silas Mercenary Group, and some other miscellaneous things.

In this way, income and expenditure can be added and subtracted and integrated.

So now, Sauron still has nearly 15,000 gold coins in his small treasury.

Oh my goodness, fifteen thousand gold coins. It seems like a lot, but it’s actually not a small amount at all!

For some small noble families with insufficient resources, this amount might be their family's income for five or six years.

In the current slave market, the normal price of a healthy, strong adult slave is between 20 and 30 gold coins.

With Soran's current assets, he could already purchase more than 500 healthy and strong slaves.

If we add some children, women and elderly people, the number that can be purchased will definitely be greater.

It could even exceed the population of the entire town of Flanders.

Of course, Soran would not be stupid enough to spend all his savings on buying slaves.

That was undoubtedly a bad move!

Because he has not yet settled the more than one hundred people he brought from Conant City!

Moreover, Soran had no idea how many people Wolf and his men would be able to bring over from the west in the future.

So now, let’s wait until the territory stabilizes first!

It’s only March now, no rush!

……

Flanders Town, on the open space of farmland in front of the town gate.

This is where the townspeople gathered yesterday to welcome Lord Baron Soran.

At this time, there were many townspeople who gathered together again, braving the cold wind.

The difference between the two gatherings is that yesterday everyone was sad and listless, while today everyone is excited and beaming with joy!

"Have you heard? The Baron has arrested that old fellow Corbett?"

"I heard that the guards have posted a notice that a trial will be held today and the vampire will be hanged! I am so happy!"

"Really? I heard that too! If it's true, that would be great! My brother's leg was broken by those lackeys from the security team, and he's still bedridden now! If it's true, that would be great!"

"Yeah, it would be great if it were true. The goddess has finally opened her eyes and finally let the evildoers be punished!"

"That's right, damn it, that old man forced me to borrow high-interest loans, and now the interest has compounded to over a hundred gold coins. I may never be able to pay it back in my lifetime!"

"Yes, yes, me too! I just don't know if the Baron will let us continue to pay it back now that the old man has been hanged!"

"I think so. Nobles are greedy and selfish. If all these usurious loans are added together, it would be tens of thousands of gold coins. Who wouldn't want it?"

"I don't think the Baron will. Look, he even hanged Corbett. He must be a kind and merciful lord. The Baron will make the decision for us!"

"Yes, the noble Baron will definitely decide for us!"

.........

The people gathered together, whispering, and waiting patiently!

It turned out that at noon today, the townspeople saw a notice posted by the Lord's guards on the street bulletin board. The content of the notice was:

[During his tenure as Mayor Corbett, he colluded with Benny, the captain of the security team, deceived his superiors and subordinates, abused his power for personal gain, accepted bribes and perverted the law, and arbitrarily embezzled private property belonging to the nobility.

Now their crimes have been discovered by the wise and powerful Baron, and the evidence is conclusive and irrefutable.

But Kobitt flatly denied the mistakes he made and refused to repent. This is such a heinous crime that he deserves death.

Therefore, the noble Baron decided to hang him in an open space outside the town in the afternoon as a warning to others.

When the security team captain Benny was arrested, he led the security team members to injure the Baron's guards and then fled for fear of being punished.

The current lord has issued a warrant for his arrest.

And for those who can provide effective information, the Baron will give corresponding rewards; and for those who shelter criminals, they will be treated as guilty and directly demoted to slavery. 】

The announcement mainly said that a hanging would be held outside the town in the afternoon, and the person to be hanged was their mayor, Corbett.

Although this incident happened very suddenly, most of the people applauded and were very happy when they learned about it.

They were so excited that they told others about it and celebrated together that the long-awaited day had finally arrived!

The former mayor, Corbitt, together with the captain of the security team, Benny, with the support of the vampire tax collector, Sir Jacques, imposed all kinds of heavy taxes and levies on the people in the territory, extorting money and even robbing them.

The people were extremely angry about this behavior.

However, due to the existence of the security team and the intimidation of the army in the neighboring city, the people dared to be angry but not speak out.

The citizens who dared to resist had their hands or legs broken by the security team, and some were even beaten to death.

In the territory of Flanders Town, the three of them are the biggest local tyrants.

The leaders hated him so much that they wanted to eat his flesh, crack his bones, and eat his marrow!

It is precisely because of this extremely high taxation social environment that some people are forced to leave their homes and flee to other places to survive.

Those who chose to stay, because they could not see a way out or any hope in the end, chose to lie down.

The people's attitude towards various production, life and work is to just get by, as long as they don't starve to death.

Because life has no hope, no expectations, and no way out.

Otherwise, the annual tax amount for a territory with a population of more than 1,200 people would not be only four or five hundred gold coins.

And now, the noble Baron, the new lord, has captured Corbett and driven Benny away.

A trial will also be held to bring Corbett to justice and sentence him to death by hanging.

At that moment, the people felt a sense of pleasure as if "the clouds had cleared away to see the clear sky".

They felt like a huge rock that had been pressing on them for years had finally disappeared, and they felt proud.

So, all of a sudden, they were filled with many complex emotions towards Baron Soran, the new lord: gratitude, respect, admiration, love, and so on!

Moreover, they immediately realized that the honorable Baron Soran was not in the same group as the greedy and corrupt vampire tax collector.

That greedy vampire tax collector was deceiving them.

It turned out that Sir Jacques had told them that he and Baron Soren were both His Royal Highness's men, and that they knew each other and were very good friends.

So when collecting three years of taxes in advance in the name of His Royal Highness, Sir Jacques said: "If anyone dares not to pay, even if he is gone, they can be punished through the hands of Baron Soren."

The tradition since ancient times has been that officials protect each other and nobles are dirty with each other.

Besides, how good can the character of a noble who can become friends with a vampire tax collector be?

Therefore, the subjects naturally believed Sir Jacques' words and regarded Baron Soren and Sir Jacques as the same kind of people.

Then they either borrowed money, or borrowed from loan sharks, or sold off all their property, but they all handed over the money obediently.

And this was actually the reason why they did not give any respect to Lord Javier's opening speech when Baron Soran arrived yesterday.

Just numb!

A vampire just left, and now a demon comes.

Seamless connection!

So naturally the people in the territory did not have a good attitude towards him.

But now, they knew that Baron Soren was not in cahoots with the greedy vampire.

The Baron stands on the side of his subjects.

Even though they didn't see the vampire tax collector being caught, Corbitt and Benny were both dogs raised by Sir Jacques!

Now the Baron has even killed Sir Jacques’s dog!

Then how could they be in the same group?

Therefore, at this moment, the people's love for Baron Soran instantly reached an unprecedented level.

The people are simple and kind. You should care about the people and do practical things for them!

The people will also care about you, remember you, help you and love you.

Of course, this refers to good citizens, not unruly people.