Start from Fulilian

Palu, but Seer mod

Fulilian (Thousand Years of Past): Chapter 34: Fire Dragon Burns the Warehouse

"What are you trying to do? Stop it—"

Fulilian's head shook like a rattle.

"Don't do that. If you put it in, I'll die. I really will die!"

"So, will you continue to be a stumbling block here, or go back to your room and sleep? Or will you go out with me to distribute relief food? Stumbling blocks get a full sentence, sleeping gets half a sentence, and going out gets no sentence."

Simply saying these words had no deterrent effect at all, but if you add the snowball in your hand and a gesture of tucking it into the quilt, Fulilian immediately gave in.

“I choose to go out.”

If Dai Wangshu only longed to meet a lilac-like, sad and resentful girl in the rainy alley, then now there is indeed a girl beside Ivan who is sad, resentful and confused in the snow.

Facing the biting wind and snow, the shivering Fulilian tried hard to open the barrier to protect the sled dogs as they moved forward in the harsh environment.

The heavy snowstorm has lasted for half a month.

In such weather, ordinary people cannot travel and transport goods. Only Ivan, who is proficient in space magic, and Flillian, who has sufficient magic power, can transport food and supplies to the villages and towns.

The two of them took turns maintaining the barrier.

Of course, Ivan can do it alone. As long as he uses the big demon power bank, he doesn’t have to worry about the magic problem at all.

But when he thought about how he was working so hard in the wind and snow, while Fulilian was living a carefree life in front of the fireplace in the castle, a huge feeling of dissatisfaction would completely swallow him up.

In order to resist the darkness in his heart and avoid falling into the abyss of jealousy, Ivan was very happy to take the unhappy Fulilian with him.

The effect is outstanding. The feeling of suffering alone is completely different from that of suffering with two people.

Fulilian: "Ivan, how many villages have we not delivered to yet?"

Ivan: "Almost there, almost there, just a few... ten more to go."

Fulilian: "...So this is abuse, right?"

Although Ivan remained optimistic most of the time, he couldn't help but sigh in the face of this natural disaster. "It's a pity that time is still too short. If I had more time, I wouldn't have to worry so much about corruption and deliver things door to door..."

Not long ago, when the wind and snow were still normal, Ivan, who had completely mastered most of the violence, showed his true fangs and began to rectify the officialdom!

Although theoretically all taxes in Suiye City belong to the lord, in practice it is impossible for the lord to go door to door with a bag to collect taxes. That would be too demeaning, so the profession of tax officer came into being.

With the tax collectors in place, there was naturally room for maneuver. Moreover, the old king was a wise ruler who would often send his own people to distribute relief food to villages and towns, bypassing the lords, during times of famine. But even if they bypassed the lords, they could not bypass the local village chiefs and tax collectors.

Whenever Ivan arrived at a new place, he would check the local ledgers. By comparing them with the general ledger and the special account for the king's relief grain, he could easily catch the corrupt officials. The petty corrupt had their stolen money returned, the minor corrupt were fined, the medium corrupt were sent to mine, and the major corrupt were simply killed and turned into zombies to mine.

No one went to jail, the main point was not to waste anything, and Ivan's behavior caused an uproar in Suiye City. Then Ivan seemed to have turned into a god of fire. Wherever he went, fire dragons would burn the warehouses, burning all the accounts clean and leaving only a pile of ashes.

So Ivan threw an extremely corrupt tax collector into the fire, turning him into ashes, and posted a decree on the bulletin board at the city gate:

From now on, the tax collector is highly bound to the granary and the account book. If the granary catches fire, the tax collector will catch fire. If the account book turns to ashes, the tax collector will turn to ashes.

Unfortunately, a heavy snowstorm soon arrived, interrupting Ivan's efforts to clear out the tax officials and administrative staff, and giving those people enough time to change the account books.

The heavy snowstorm exhausted both Fulilian and Ivan, but after the snow stopped, Ivan continued to patrol the area.

I don’t think there will be any kills this time. After all, even the dumbest person will need a month to settle the account.

"Oh no, lord! The granary is on fire again—"

"..."

Well, some people don’t believe that a knife will be cut off even if it is held to their neck.

"Go and get the chief tax collector, and hurry."

……

In front of the blazing fire, Ivan looked at the tax officer beside him who was desperately directing everyone to put out the fire. He was so anxious that sweat wet his forehead. He felt in his heart that it was a pity that he didn't use his acting skills to act.

His gaze turned to the person he brought along specially this time.

"Your Excellency, Chief Tax Officer, your subordinates are truly talented. Even commanding firefighting is so professional. Why don't you just transfer them to firefighters? We can't let such talents go to waste. What do you think?"

Fulilian poked her head in from behind and said, "Do you need me to put out the fire with water magic? I promise I'll be more efficient than him."

Ivan waved his hand. "No need. Even if we put out the fire now, the account books and relief grain inside will all be burned to ashes. After all, the fire started there in the first place."

"Why? Is it because you're afraid of punishment? But if you do something wrong, you should be punished. This is what Volame taught me." Fulilian said expressionlessly.

But it is often such sincere words that are the sharp blade that hurts people.

The expression on the Chief Tax Officer's face became even uglier.

He reminded him, "Viscount Ivan, every tax collector has the important mission of collecting taxes for you. They've been extremely tired recently. While it's deplorable that a fire was caused by a moment of negligence, I will certainly make them pay appropriate compensation. However, I understand that they also have their own pity. I hope you will be lenient with them, otherwise there will be no one to collect taxes for you."

This statement was both a surrender and a threat. At a time when education was controlled by the aristocracy, there were very few people who were literate and could become tax collectors, and these tax collectors were all related to the aristocracy.

Ivan's previous big moves had not affected the nobles. Except for a unlucky guy who had just become Mrs. Tulip's lover but whose lover was driven away by Ivan and caused Ivan some trouble in the gang, the other nobles had been keeping a wait-and-see attitude.

Now Ivan's behavior is really making them anxious, and they all start to take action one after another. Even the chief tax officer, who was the most flattering at the beginning, stood up directly.

"Did he accidentally start the fire because he's been working so hard lately?" Ivan scoffed. "He's really worked hard. Shouldn't he be given a hard work award? While our goal is to balance the accounts, if we can't, we'll just burn the warehouse."

"Viscount Ivan, you have no evidence..."

Fulilian (Thousand Years of Past): Chapter 35: Thunder, Rain, and Dew, All Due to the King's Grace

"Evidence? Isn't the evidence inside the house? If you want evidence, you can go in and get it."

"But didn't you just say that there was only a pile of ash left..."

"Haha, the secret of a pile of ash, how big must it be."

The dancing flames were reflected in Ivan's deep eyes. Although his tone and expression had not changed at all, the chief tax officer felt infinite fear in his heart.

"Your Excellency, Chief Tax Collector, I recall you were a nobleman with a title, right? A baron?"

"...Yes, that's right, Viscount Ivan, we nobles are actually willing to cooperate with your governance and help you govern Suiye City better, so please..."

"I know some of the rules of the aristocratic circle." Ivan nodded, "But if I want to get along well with them, I need to borrow something from you, Baron."

"Borrow what? As long as I have it, just ask me and I will definitely lend it to you—" The chief tax officer's voice stopped abruptly, because his head had been lifted up in Ivan's hand, and his face was full of fear and frozen in death.

"Of course I want to borrow your head."

Ivan looked at the old man who had been so enthusiastic and cooperative when he first arrived in the city, and felt a little sad. If he had become a dog earlier, he might not have died.

He threw the head to a soldier and ordered, "Cover it with lime and hang it on the city wall. Remember to give our noble lord a distinguished and prominent position."

"How could you—murdering a noble without any reason? Even if you are a lord, it is a serious crime!!"

The tax officer who was putting out the fire was stunned for a long time after his face was splashed with blood, and now he finally came to his senses.

His eyes were wide open, and his face was filled with fear and madness.

"You're done, Ivan! I'm going to report it to the king! I'm going to report it to the central government!!!"

Ivan didn't even bother to say anything to this man who couldn't see the situation clearly. He grabbed him by the back of the collar and threw him directly into the burning granary.

Strangely enough, the fire was quickly put out amid his heart-wrenching wails and struggles.

He is truly a tax officer with the maximum talent for fire-fighting.

"Let's stop here for today's inspection and let the news here fly for a while."

In the following week, Ivan encountered three waves of assassination attempts, and then a new row of heads were hung in the VIP area on the city wall.

When the city defense forces first learned that their opponents were noble lords, they were a little hesitant and timid during the battle. However, after they personally turned a certain noble who usually showed off his power and bullied men and women into a hornet's nest, the aura of the nobles' sacred and inviolable character was shattered in their hearts.

The subsequent battles were unstoppable.

Ivan had a blast ransacking houses these past few days. The warehouse, which was originally empty due to the distribution of supplies, was now overflowing with goods, and there were so many that he had to build three more warehouses temporarily.

Those people are really outrageous. Out of the 100% grain tax, they take 70%, and the remaining 30% belongs to the lord, and the lord has to thank them.

Ivan was also very grateful to them, and for this, he let their men go up to the VIP area of ​​the city wall, where ordinary criminals could not get up.

They should also be grateful.

After witnessing Ivan's brutality, the remaining tax officials and nobles in Suiye City who were still alive became completely obedient. They came to Ivan on their own initiative to confess their sins and express their loyalty from the bottom of their souls.

Originally, they thought that since they had surrendered so much, Ivan would definitely not kill them all, but they didn't expect that the other party had already gotten used to killing and still followed the previous standards.

Minor corrupt officials will return the stolen money, petty corrupt officials will be fined, medium corrupt officials will be sent to mine, and major corrupt officials will be killed and turned into zombies to mine. No one will be treated equally, regardless of gender or age.

At the end of the liquidation, the only one tax official who had not committed corruption was a young tax official who had been in office for just one year and was full of justice. The other 90% of the tax officials went to the mines. The dead were as good as alive, and the living were as good as dead.

"Bobbitt, from today on, you will be the chief tax collector of our Suiye City."

Ivan patted the shoulder of a middle-aged man with a petty corruption conviction and said earnestly, "I hope you can fulfill your duties well and not be like your predecessor, who also occupied the center of the VIP area."

Sweat instantly began to break out on Bobbitt's forehead.

"Ah... Lord Ivan, I think that young man who is not corrupt is more suitable than me..."

"He's still too young, and his abilities are far inferior to yours. I have other plans for him. Don't refuse this important position anymore, and don't make it difficult for me."

"Yes!"

Bobbitt quickly stood at attention. "I will be loyal to my duties and will not let you down again—"

"Very good, very energetic!" Ivan smiled. "Don't worry, I've always been very kind to my subordinates. You will definitely be rewarded with a high position and generous salary."

The two chatted for a while about the current situation. Ivan's gentle attitude and smile as warm as the spring breeze made Bobbitt less nervous.

Before leaving, Bobbitt hesitated and said, "Lord Ivan, there is something I don't know how to solve."

"What's the matter."

"There are simply too few tax collectors right now. Training new ones will take at least a year. How should we collect taxes this year?"

"It's very simple." Ivan pointed to his overflowing warehouse. "If we can't collect the grain, then we don't. This year's grain is enough to sustain the military and government operations anyway."

A decree was then drafted and posted on the bulletin board. It was a very simple sentence: tax-free this year.

Then, the whole city was in an uproar.

Moreover, this festive atmosphere is spreading to various villages and towns at a terrifying speed. Although winter has not yet passed, people's faces are filled with joy as if spring has arrived.

"Old lady, are you celebrating some festival?" A very delicate little girl with knee-length hair asked an old man nearby.

She was Zanze who came to deliver the teleportation array. She encountered a blizzard right after she delivered it to Volame, so she stayed in the royal capital for a while and only arrived at Ivan's territory now.

Along the way, Zanze discovered something very obvious. Unlike other disaster-stricken areas, there was no gloomy atmosphere in the village of Ivan's territory. Everyone was extremely energetic.

They even stood straighter than the people in the royal capital.

"Thanks to the Lord and Miss Fulilian."

The old woman smiled kindly and replied, "Although this year saw a rare severe snowstorm, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Lord and Miss Fulilian in transporting supplies, surprisingly, there were few casualties. Even a useless old woman like me survived."

"So you're so happy?"

"That's just one of the reasons. The more important thing is that the lord has exempted us from taxes for a year. Everyone is full of hope for this year, so we are so happy~"

Fulilian (Thousand Years of Past): Chapter 36: Ivan Turns into Light

"Praise Lord Ivan, we are so lucky to have him as our lord!" The old woman smiled sincerely.

Her words also infected the people around her, and the villagers began to praise Ivan's kindness.

As someone who grew up receiving modern education in the world of illusion, Zanze has long been accustomed to all kinds of jade syndromes, various complaints about society and one's own background, and countless cases of self-harm and suicide.

Now, seeing the villagers full of expectations for the future just because of one year of tax exemption, I feel deeply touched.

For them, being able to survive with enough food and warm clothes is already a great happiness.

Because she had a mission to complete, she did not disturb them too much and prepared to quietly leave the village and continue to head towards Suiye City. However, before leaving, she vaguely felt a very strange energy gathering, and it cast a spell on her eyes.

In a vision that was left with only black and white, countless faint, firefly-like light points were continuously emerging from the celebrating villagers, gathering together and turning into a torrent rushing towards Suiye City.

Zanze immediately flew into the sky to expand his vision, expanding and expanding again, and found that not only this village, but also other villages and towns within the territory of Suiye City also had star streams composed of faint light flowing into Suiye City.

As gorgeous as a flower.

◇

Suiye City, inside the Viscount Castle.

Sparks danced on the firewood in the fireplace, outside the window it was bitingly cold as the snow melted, but inside the window it was warm like spring.