#166 - Section 166

“I accept your allegiance. Now, you may swear your oaths.”

Alan mentally calculated how to cultivate more Earls, while on the surface, he smiled slightly and spoke to the old Earl.

Soon, the Earls swore their allegiance one after another.

After receiving the system notification, Alan nodded in satisfaction.

“Alright, now that you're all here, let's take this opportunity to discuss the issue of the lack of nobles.”

Alan said quickly. Now that everyone here had sworn allegiance to him and could never betray him, it was time to start cleaning up the mess that was the Duchy of Shack.

ps: Chapter 1, requesting monthly tickets, flowers, evaluation votes, and self-ordering! Oh my, I was so busy today that I almost forgot to update... a few.

Chapter 247: Preparing to Cultivate New Nobles, Reduce Taxes (2 Seeking Subscriptions!)

Now that he had subordinates, Alan naturally wouldn't do everything himself. Some things still had to be done by the people below.

For example, giving him some useful advice and suggestions.

Or even better, if someone could solve the problem.

“Um, the problem of the lack of nobles…”

Oliver wiped the fine sweat from his bald head. Wasn't this question supposed to be asked of you?

Although Duke Shack took away a portion of the nobles, weren't a considerable number of them buried by you?

However, Oliver wouldn't dare to say these words. He had personally witnessed the scene where this overly young Dragon Knight chopped off someone's head at the slightest disagreement.

Damn it, that hellish scene was simply unforgettable for him.

Oliver's body trembled.

“Great Dragon Knight, if you're talking about Earl-level nobles, this is very difficult…”

An "Eight-One-Three" Earl sighed slightly. This Earl was not young, and he was considered an Earl from the early days of the Duchy of Shack. His fief was between the north and south, considered the central area, and he was fortunate enough not to be attacked by Alan's northern army, nor ravaged by the two southern armies.

However, although this Earl's strength was only at Level Seven, he was considered a veteran figure, witnessing the development of the Duchy of Shack.

“In fact, the current situation is somewhat similar to when the Duchy of Shack was first established.”

“At that time, Duke Shack only had one Marquis and seven or eight Earls under his command. There were not many people, but it seemed even more difficult than it is now.”

“However, at that time, there was the support of the Kingdom of Norton, which gave us tremendous support, including city construction, farmland reclamation, and the support of the spirits of nature, etc…” The Earl revealed a hint of emotion when he said this.

“The reason why the Duchy of Shack was able to develop slowly was because of the protection of the kingdom, and the entire country spent decades to reach its current scale.” This Earl said with some helplessness.

Clearly, his meaning was that it would be impossible to fill the gap of nobles in the short term.

After all, the entire Duchy of Shack had only cultivated dozens of Gold Knights in decades.

To make up for the gap of decades in a short period of time was extremely impossible in everyone's eyes.

Alan frowned slightly. Of course, he knew that it was a bit difficult to fill the gap of Gold Knights in a short time.

But that didn't mean they couldn't think of some ways for themselves.

“Difficulty is one thing, you using your brains to think of solutions is another.” Alan said lightly, his gaze coldly sweeping across everyone's faces.

Immediately, the civil and military officials below trembled.

“Yes, Your Honorable Dragon Knight, we will try our best to think of solutions.”

The nobles felt their scalps tingle under Alan's gaze, as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.

Alan nodded in satisfaction: “Actually, it's very simple. Find all the Level Six Knights in your territories, and I'll see if I can find a way to cultivate them to Level Seven.”

Alan said lightly: “As for the selection of Level Six personnel, do I need to personally choose them?”

“No, no, Your Excellency's status is noble, let us do this kind of work.”

Oliver quickly shook his head.

Alan smiled: “That's right, that's what you subjects should say. Remember, I give you status, power, and wealth, so that you can assist me and help me find solutions to problems.”

“Alright, find a batch of Level Six Knights as soon as possible, and there's another thing.”

After Alan finished speaking, he asked the Earl who had spoken earlier with some surprise: “You said that after the founding of the country, you can get help from the kingdom, including funding for the spirits of nature?”

Alan had clearly heard this sentence just now.

“Yes, Your Excellency, as long as you join the Kingdom of Norton, the kingdom can give you certain help, including giving you a portion of the spirits of nature.”

The Earl said slightly.

Alan's eyes lit up when he heard this: “There's such a good thing? As expected of the kingdom, a grand gesture.”

However, after thinking about it, Alan calmed down. No matter how grand the gesture was, what could he do? The kingdom was in internal strife, and people were fighting like dogs.

He should just stay here and wait and see for a while.

“Um, I know.”

Alan stroked his chin. After giving a few more instructions, he told the Earls to go back to their respective homes and manage their territories well. As for some places where the Earls had already died in battle, Alan found Oliver, the Duchy's Minister of Finance.

Since there were no Gold Knights, Alan could only pick the tallest among the dwarves.

Although there was a small group of Silver Knights in his knight order, these guys were too young, and most of them had just entered the realm of Silver Knights.

They were still a bit short of Level Six.

Alan could only let Oliver use his connections to try to find Level Six Knights in those territories without Earls…

Generally speaking, when an Earl leaves his territory, he will leave one or two Level Six Knights to guard the territory.

This is to prevent any problems from happening within the territory after he leaves, or to leave security personnel in case of enemy invasion.

But of course, there are also some special circumstances, that is, the people who are left behind are killed by the enemy.

Well, if Allen remembers correctly, he took down quite a few... …

But he guessed there should be quite a few too.

Soon, the slightly obese, bald Minister of Finance stood tremblingly before Allen.

Allen glanced at the minister who was extremely afraid of him. Without much explanation, he directly told Oliver his thoughts.

Oliver was relieved, nodding frantically in agreement, and promised to complete Allen's order within a week.

"Also, one more thing, what is the tax revenue of the Duchy of Shark now?"

Allen did not let the finance minister, who was eager to leave, go. Instead, he patted Oliver on the shoulder and asked.

Oliver's legs went weak, his entire face trembling, and then he said in a slightly trembling voice, "Your Excellency, the current tax rate is 80% of the commoners' crops, and 70% of the commoners' business profits after deducting costs."

As Oliver spoke, he took out a yellowed, rough piece of paper from a thick folder in his hand, containing information about the tax rates.

Allen took it and looked at it, his eyes lighting up: "Not bad, Oliver, the Duchy's Minister of Finance is indeed capable. Sparrow didn't break down the tax categories so carefully before, with specific data for each tax."

Allen immediately looked at Oliver with new eyes. It felt like he was back on Earth in his previous life, with the data presented clearly at a glance.

This Oliver looked like a corrupt official, but unexpectedly, he had some ability.

"Well, reduce each tax by 10%, reduce the farmers' tax by 20%, and announce to everyone in the entire Duchy that this is my, Allen's, gift to them. From today on, I want everyone to be able to eat their fill and dress warmly."

Allen said with a smile.

Oliver's face changed upon hearing this: "Your Excellency, the Shark Duchy's treasury is already empty. If you reduce taxes so drastically, the Shark Duchy will probably struggle to survive!"

Allen was stunned upon hearing this: "The treasury is empty? What do you mean?"

Chapter 248: The Kind and Benevolent Monarch, the Southern Drought Problem (3)

Allen was now in the back half of the castle. After meeting those nobles, Allen came to the back half of the entire castle.

Unexpectedly, it was extremely comfortably built, seemingly a place specifically designed for relaxation.

At this moment, Allen frowned and stared at the slightly obese Oliver: "The Shark Duchy's treasury is empty?"

In fact, after occupying the Duchy of Shark, Allen spent a week pacifying the people. He didn't really understand many things within the Duchy.

Such as the matter of the treasury.

Oliver tremblingly took out another stack of financial statements from his thick folder.

"This is a large sum of money spent on building fortresses. In addition, Duke Shark imported the specialty wine Rose Night from the Duchy of Lyon, as well as various perfumes, maltose, and other items, which also cost a large sum of money. Also, there was the extravagance of Duke Shark and his children during their lifetimes…"

Finance Minister Oliver pointed at the reports and explained them one by one. Allen's head ached from listening.

Just building the fortresses almost emptied the Shark Duchy's treasury.

In fact, before Duke Shark fell, he was even considering increasing all taxes by 10%.

Allen's lips twitched: "Show me the entire Shark Duchy's treasury income list for the entire year of 25."

Oliver immediately took out another piece of paper from the folder.

Allen took it and looked at it, taking a deep breath: "A count's territory only contributes 150,000 gold coins a year?"

Tribute is the act of the enfeoffed nobles offering most of the pure profits of their territory to the Grand Duke. This is to repay the Grand Duke for continuing their rights and territory, and also to show their submission and loyalty.

Allen remembered that when he was still a baron, he had robbed the tribute ships of the maritime duchy, the Blue Moon Duchy.

There seemed to be 100,000 gold coins on it alone, not to mention the various precious materials and magic potions.

The guaranteed value of a ship was at least 150,000 gold coins.

Later, Allen learned that each kingdom had different tribute customs. Some were once a year, some were twice a year, or four times a year.

But what was roughly the same was that a duke's tribute per year should be about 250,000 gold coins, unless it was a newly created duke who could enjoy the benefit of not paying tribute for five years. Other dukes would generally be around this number of 250,000.

Of course, the Blue Moon Duchy was a maritime duchy with scarce and barren resources, so a tribute of 150,000 gold coins a year was understandable.

But the Shark Duchy was not a maritime duchy!

It was completely abnormal for it to be lower than this number.

In a year, after deducting a count's daily expenses and the huge funds for cultivating his subordinates, a count could obtain at least 300,000 to 400,000 gold coins in profit from his people.

This was normal.

But now, the counts of a land duchy were only contributing 150,000 a year. This was too shabby.

Allen was shocked.

"Um, Your Excellency, you may not know that the geographical environment of the Shark Duchy is not good, especially in recent years. The weather in the south has been strange, with frequent droughts. The fertile land has been gradually drained of moisture, crops cannot survive, and it is difficult to grow crops without the spirits of nature. Most of the counts' territories have seen their annual income decline year after year, and it is already good to have 150,000 in tribute."

Oliver wiped the sweat from his forehead and said somewhat helplessly.

Allen was stunned upon hearing this. He had only seen the heavy snow and fertile land in the north, and he really hadn't thought that a severe drought had occurred in the south of the Shark Duchy.

He looked back at Albert and the other two beside him.