Chapter 367: Accidentally learning the truth

At this moment, Ethan has already believed that it was not Leon who was carrying out the assassination.

But since it was not him, it means that he has been busy all night, but in the end, he found nothing except a traitor.

And more importantly, how to deal with Leon.

You can't just kill him because he attacked the Holy Light Church's territory.

To be honest, his attack at that time was a great help, which directly led to the Holy Light Church not daring to compete with the parliament for power, and he was also relieved.

From an emotional point of view, if you don't say thank you, at least you can't repay kindness with hatred.

"So, can you tell me why you want to attack the Holy Light Church's territory?" Ethan asked the doubts in his heart.

Leon did not answer, but pointed to the wound on his chest.

"If Lord Great Sword wants to talk, at least let me bandage the wound, and then prepare some drinks, and we can sit down together and talk."

Ethan smiled bitterly and was about to call Anna.

He immediately remembered that Anna was still kneeling on the street outside.

So he could only call Lili, and then prepared some drinks.

After bandaging Leon, the two sat down together.

Leon took a sip of red wine: "Ah... I didn't think this wine was so delicious before, but after a circle at the gate of heaven, it feels particularly sweet.

By the way, Mr. Great Sword Saint, what exactly is your golden figure?

It seems that you didn't do anything, and didn't even move, but you pulled me down from the sky."

This sounded like flattery, but Ethan knew that Leon was actually saying that he was no threat to him, so don't kill him!

"Since I've invited you to drink, you should understand that I don't mean to pursue it further.

So, don't play this trick.

Or tell me, why did you attack the Holy Light Church territory?"

"I'm afraid you may not believe me if I tell you." Leon smiled bitterly.

"I'd like to hear it."

"Because I hate the Holy Light Church more than you do!"

"That's it?"

"That's it!" Leon spread his hands: "You have only been in power for a few months, and you have had several conflicts with the Holy Light Church.

And our Stein family has been in power for hundreds of years. You should be able to imagine the pain.

Let's not talk about anything else, just talk about my coronation.

Any detail in it may bankrupt a noble.

For example, it is contaminated with the holy link.

That is ordinary grease, but it is worth 120,000 in the holy cup.

And the holy water is the same.

Ordinary water, in a different container, is also worth 120,000.

You see, dealing with the Holy Light Church is like this!

In fact, money is a small matter. The most important thing is that you pay money and you have to be someone's grandson. You should have experienced this kind of frustration!"

Of course Ethan has experienced it. At that time, he donated money to the Holy Light Church and almost knelt down to them.

I thought it was only me, but I didn't expect that the Duke's family was so difficult.

It can only be said that every family has its own difficulties. Behind the glamor, there are always unknown sufferings.

Seeing Ethan was in deep thought, Lyon continued, "At that time, I saw you were hesitant in fighting against the Holy Light Church, so I could only help you."

"Haha! Don't talk so noble." Ethan laughed at the words: "You are not helping me, you are just making trouble.

Although there have always been conflicts between the Holy Light Church and me, at least it is still within the controllable range.

But once you attack, it becomes a direct confrontation between me and the Holy Light Church.

If the Holy Light Church insists on blaming me, I have no place to argue.

When I go to war with the Holy Light Church, no matter what the result is, you will benefit."

"Sir Ethan, you are wronging me." Lyon raised his head, stared at Ethan's eyes firmly and said:

"In your opinion, I did this because I wanted to benefit from it.

But I tell you clearly that my vision is not so small.

It is beneficial for all of us if the parliament can stand firm and operate independently.

I will not ignore the overall situation for a little personal grudge.

As for the so-called overall situation...

To tell you the truth, I have received news.

The Temple has submitted a new tax to His Majesty the Emperor, called inheritance tax.

You should be able to guess the content of the name.

That's right, after the death of a noble, his heir needs to pay taxes to the Temple.

All titles are not exempt, and the tax rate is an astonishing 40%.

His Majesty the Emperor has agreed to this tax and is trying it out in the Duchy of Poporia, where two religions coexist.

Do you know what this means? "

Of course Ethan knew what it meant.

In the past, the European nobility was prevalent and almost occupied the resources of the entire Europe, but with the birth of inheritance tax.

The wealth accumulated by the nobles during their lifetime was nationalized in large quantities after their death.

This led to the centralization of power becoming increasingly powerful, while the local nobility became increasingly weak, until the decline of the entire Western nobility.

Of course, the decline of the Western nobility was caused by many reasons, but inheritance tax is undoubtedly a very important factor.

Now, inheritance tax is also being imposed here, and the tax rate is so high, which shows that the empire wants to harvest the nobility.

As for the nobility, as long as they are not crazy, they are definitely unwilling to pay.

Since they are unwilling to pay, they have to face the Temple Church directly.

The Temple Church is actually the tax department of the empire, with a large number of people and strong strength, and it is obviously not a guy that an individual can face.

In other words, you can't not pay even if you want to.

However, as far as Maro City is concerned, it is still the world of the Holy Light Church, and the Temple Church has almost no influence here.

It is difficult for them to ask the nobles to pay new taxes, so don't worry too much.

Of course, some people may not understand why it is difficult to collect national taxes?

In fact, national taxes are the most difficult to collect.

National taxes are not collected just because they are set by law. You need to have convincing reasons, such as force, and policy guarantees to collect them.

If the above two points are not done well, forcibly collecting them is likely to be slapped in the face.

If you still can't understand this, look at the fuel tax incident in Europe.

At the end of 2018, the French government, under the banner of environmental protection, announced plans to increase fuel taxes on gasoline and diesel as a measure to combat climate change and reduce air pollution.

As a result, the people disagreed and took to the streets to protest. The demonstrations evolved into violent clashes, looting and destruction, which lasted for several weeks.

In the end, the government not only confiscated the taxes, but also slapped itself hard in the face in order to appease the anger, canceled the original plan to increase the fuel tax, and introduced other economic measures, such as raising the minimum wage and reducing taxes.

Just a fuel tax has caused such a commotion, let alone the inheritance tax?

And the main group it faces is still the powerful nobles, and the situation will only be more difficult.

Ethan can understand the harm of inheritance tax to the nobles, but he doesn't understand what this has to do with the Holy Light Church.

After all, the Holy Light Church is the Holy Light Church, and the Temple Church is the Temple Church. The two are two concepts.

So Ethan asked, "What is the relationship between inheritance tax and Holy Light Church?"

Lyon was stunned when he heard this: "Don't you want to hear about the harm of inheritance tax first?"

"I know very well! So let's get straight to the point!"

Lyon pursed his lips: "It's very simple! When this tax was tried in the Dukedom of Poporia, it was not only resisted by the nobles, but even the Holy Light Church came forward to stop it.

After all, the nobles' donations are a big source of income for the Holy Light Church. If the Temple Church eats them up, how can they have money to donate to the Holy Light Church?

Now, they are already fighting each other, and many strong men from the two churches have rushed there.

And I chose to launch the attack when the Holy Light Church could not get away.

That is to say, I knew very well beforehand that the Holy Light Church had no power to deal with you.

So, Mr. Great Sword Saint, it is nonsense for you to say that I am reaping the benefits of being a fisherman.

Of course, this is not the most important thing.

The key is that due to the resistance of the nobles and the obstruction of the Holy Light Church The Temple Church cannot collect taxes.

The Temple Church has realized that it cannot eat alone, so the two churches have started negotiations on jointly collecting inheritance taxes.

If I am not mistaken, there is only one possible result, that is, they will definitely reach an agreement.

In other words, perhaps it will not be long before the inheritance tax will be implemented in Maro City.

This is also the main reason why the Holy Light Church suddenly sent the Great Sword Saint to Maro City when the parliament was established.

After the Great Sword Saint was driven away, you see, they are still unwilling to give up and continue to send sages.

Obviously they have realized this a long time ago, so they want to lay out the game in advance while the parliament is not very strong.

As long as they reach an agreement, they can smoothly implement the inheritance tax in Maro City and then lie down and collect money.

So, Mr. Great Sword Saint, you may not know that when you conflict with the Holy Light Church, you are actually fighting for the interests of all the nobles in Maro City.

And I have always been your most staunch supporter. "

...