Throne of the North.

Chapter 295 The God of Light is Collecting Taxes
McReynolds felt proud, angry and helpless about his eldest son.

The thing to be proud of is that the eldest son has a great talent for knighthood and is likely to become the first legendary knight of the family in the future. He is also good at training troops. Under his leadership, the army of the Grand Duke's family is stronger than before.

The anger and helplessness are due to the other party's temperament. He has no reverence at all. He will only be respectful when facing someone stronger than himself. He looks like a wild beast.

Wild beasts only respect those that are stronger than themselves.

The second son, Roland, was infinitely better than him.

"Do you think that if we kill the king, we will become the royal family?"

"People live in circles. The circle of nobility is not just the nobility of the kingdom, but the nobility of the whole world."

Otto blinked and laughed at this time.

"I know that you have thought about this option, father."

Wind Emperor, Crazy Emperor, Otto is the Archduke's biological son, so he must inherit something.

"Since you have already given up this option, I will naturally not take action. But can we really not rely on the Holy See to establish a brand new McReynolds Kingdom?"

Otto was somewhat nostalgic for that title.

"There's news from the west coast that the war between the Church and the Empire has become even more terrible. It started because a member of the royal family in the North Wind Province received the grace of the God of Light."

"The Holy See needs our support now."

"No."

The Archduke shook his head.

"None of us can choose. If we rely on the Holy See, even if we establish the Ninth Kingdom, we will be restricted by the Holy See. Every decision must be approved by the Pope."

"What about the Empire?"

"empire?"

"The Empire only has territory and borders. If you tell the Empire today that you want to be affiliated with it, tomorrow they will send the troops from Wing Canyon out and turn the Kingdom of Andara and us into the Empire's territory."

"Angels and dragons are actually the same to us."

Otto stopped talking. He didn't know what better answer there was in this situation.

Next to him, Grand Duke McReynolds narrowed his eyes, with a crazy plan echoing in his mind.

"But you're right, they all need our support right now."

"I will send someone to the Holy See, the Holy See, not that Pastor Soto."

"Send people to the Empire at the same time. Do you think Roland can do it?"

"There is no better identity than Roland."

Otto said in approval.

The two lunatics were discussing something, but their eyes were also fixed on the fortress ahead.

There, there was a lot of noise and occasional buzzing sounds that shook the ground.

"Once my weapons arrive, I will personally break through the Carlos family's so-called impenetrable defenses."

……

In the Frozen Territory, Ryan is on his way to Thundercloud County.

Lord Governor Beifeng has received the grace of the great God of Light. As devout believers of light, the nobles should pay him a courteous visit.

"Praise the light."

On Thunder Cloud Mountain, the nobles were so thirsty from saying this, but the Marquis of North Wind in the center of the crowd was in high spirits, and the golden flame that could obviously be hidden was burning openly in his pupils.

Why don't you burn your eyes through?

Ryan thought to himself, and then found that he seemed to be able to do it, but it would not be real flames, but the reflection of flames.

"Praise the light."

Marquis Beifeng really liked Baron Ryan's extremely concise yet straightforward words.

Although Ryan copied this sentence from the teachings of the Vatican, it did not prevent this sentence from being widely recognized because of Marquis Beifeng.

Thundercloud Mountain was very lively, and at the banquet, Ryan also discovered people from the royal family and the Meyers family.

It is said that the great nobles in the south of the empire will send people here later. The empire is composed of the royal family and the great nobles, so they are all staunch opponents of the Holy See, and they will definitely not let go of this opportunity.

It seems understandable that the nobles of the Northern Province are so keen to come here.

They had been getting along very well with the nobles in the south recently, and now that they had another chance to strike up a conversation, they began to send out specialties from the other world in the mountains for free.

Ryan just felt that they were noisy.

Arriving at the window sill of the Marquis’s residence and looking down, the gargoyle was hanging on the protrusion of the stone pillar like a statue.

"You've been in Beifeng Province for so long, why don't you come visit me, your brother?"

Ryan said with a smile. Not far from him, another young man suddenly had a stiff expression. He wanted to leave with the lords but didn't know what reason to use.

You can't say you don't know him.

"Norton has met Baron Ryan."

Ryan looked at the Clayton family emblem and the Lord emblem on the other party's chest and laughed in surprise:

"Oh, why is it just a lord? I thought you would become a baron in the future."

"Well, you owed me two hundred thousand gold coins. When will you pay me back?"

Norton's eyes widened when he heard the huge number of words, numbering 200,000.

"Ryan, don't go too far. When did I owe you two hundred thousand?"

"Pay attention to your identity."

Ryan said calmly, patting his baronial robes.

"When I walked from the palace to the gate of the imperial city, the wealth given to me by the royal family and clan was worth two hundred thousand dollars, but when I reached the gate, there were only a few soldiers left."

"You must have reached out, otherwise those guys wouldn't have been so bold."

"Ryan, please stop spitting blood at me."

Norton said in a low voice.

"Everyone knows that it was the royal family who wanted to suppress our Clayton family. We did this to deal with the royal family and make them withdraw the order for the coronation. As long as we wait for our father to return, we will have a huge contribution."

"By then, all of us descendants will have the opportunity to obtain fiefdoms and a great deal of wealth."

"So, you are angry and think that I have robbed your wealth, and then you divide up the two hundred thousand resources and want to get your money back?"

"That's because the royal family didn't keep their word and actually sent us away with a baronship, right?"

Norton's voice was low because members of the royal family were not far away.

"That has nothing to do with you—"

Ryan looked at Norton's chest and said seriously:

"Lord Norton."

Norton's face flushed. They had previously ridiculed Ryan for being a baron in the North Wind Province in the Earldom of Clayton. Later, when he came here, he was still just a lord. He didn't dare to meet Ryan even once.

But this time he couldn't avoid it, because he was the pioneer of light.

Ryan was unable to continue, and Count Winter asked the waiter to convey a message, so he soon appeared in another circle.

Looking at Ryan's back, Norton sniffed with envy.

After becoming a lord, he was also divided in a sense.

……

"Lord Ryan, our Governor is too dazzling."

Count Winter said as he looked at Ryan with gritted teeth.

"This is what he deserves, a gift from the light that allows the Empire's faith to be recognized."

Ryan said seriously.

"Really? But I heard from people in the south that the Church proved that this was just a small punishment from the Lord of Dawn."

"The Church must be jealous. I guess the Church will build a bigger wonder soon."

Several people looked at Ryan in surprise, almost asking how did you know.

"Already started? Really fast. No, really rich."

“That’s not the point.”

Earl Winter finally got to the point. Besides the two earls, there were also several county governors present.

"I just spoke to the Governor, and I'm afraid he's going to collect taxes."

"Tax?"

Ryan frowned. Wasn't this year's provincial tax revenue gone?

"It's not the Empire's tax, but the God of Light's tax." "Everyone in the North Wind Province is a citizen favored by the God of Light, whether they are slaves or civilians. Slaves have to pay two copper coins a month, civilians have to pay five copper coins a month, lords have to pay one gold coin, barons have to pay ten gold coins, viscounts have to pay thirty, and earls have to pay one hundred."

"Every month?"

Ryan opened his eyes wide? Slaves belonged to noble lords, so the slaves' money was still paid by the nobles. The same was true for the common people.

"Every month."

Next to him, Count Zoro narrowed his eyes like an old man who was going to take a nap in the afternoon.

"I calculated that I have to pay him more than 400 gold coins every month in my territory?"

Five thousand a year...that’s really cruel.

The other Earl of Winter had just as many, and even then he had hidden a considerable number of slaves.

Isn't this person too greedy just to get tens of thousands of gold coins every year by just sitting there?

Even the nobles of the North Wind Province, who are now trying to find ways to establish contact with the South, are shocked by this number.

"Where can we get so much money?"

Ryan shook his head. Don't think that one noble did not contribute much. The amount from only two earls seemed a bit scary, but the dozens or hundreds of gold coins for each noble were not something that came out of thin air.

The war could wipe out the profits of the past ten or even dozens of years, but every month, the nobles had to count their expenses on their fingers.

If a baron can earn 2,000 gold coins a year, his daily expenses for the year will not exceed 200 gold coins.

Only those occasional impulse purchases will account for the bulk of the expenses, but we have to wait until the Chamber of Commerce arrives.

Why are you collecting tithes here?

No wonder these great nobles came to me, it turned out they wanted to drag me, the baron, into this trouble.

"Taxation is never a casual matter. If taxation is not collected properly, many people may die."

Ryan said meaningfully:
"And it doesn't make sense to accept the Northern Wind Province. We are believers in the light, but the other provinces of the empire are not believers in the light? If we accept them but not theirs, does that mean they have been abandoned by the light? Being abandoned by both the light and the dawn, what can we do?"

"Makes sense."

Viscount Walter of Tieshan County nodded in approval.

Although he has recently started to gain wealth from the other world, he is still tight on money.

However, several people still underestimated the empire's determination to use the North Wind Province as a test field.

Just when they had reached a consensus, a member of the royal family at the banquet suddenly stood up and said loudly:

"The people of the Empire have suffered from the Dawn Church for too long. Now the immortal and great God of Light has favored the Empire and the honorable Columbus. I am here on behalf of the Columbus royal family. In the name and wealth of the royal family, I donate 300,000 gold coins to give faith in light and praise light. I hope that the glory of the God of Light will forever shine in Columbus' blood!"

As soon as he finished speaking, an old man from the Meyers family next to him said:

"Grand Duke Meyers will donate 250,000 gold coins to Light."

"The wonder is a gift from the God of Light. I hope these gold coins can help build the wonder sooner. The wealth of the other world is the resource that the God of Light gave to Beifeng for the wonder."

Soon, other nobles appeared and it could be seen that they came from more than 20 provinces of the empire.

Every time a representative spoke, the faces of the nobles around Ryan stiffened.

"Praise the light. The great light shines forever on the territory of the empire. We are all its devout believers. The North Wind Province has gained more glory. I think the North Wind Province should not stand aside. Our faith is closest to the great light. So as the Marquis and Governor of the North Wind Province, I should donate every penny I earn to the greatness of the light."

Marquis Beifeng said, making Ryan wonder if the stupidity this guy had shown before was a deception.

He donated all his wealth to the God of Light. He had no money left, so he could only help the God of Light spend money. And since he had no money, he couldn't donate money to other people in the North Wind Province.

Others even praised him, no wonder he received God's grace.

He looked at Count Sauron and Count Winter beside him. As expected, the two nobles were in a somewhat stiff mood.

"The Marquis is right. On the day of Grace Day, we should all praise the great light."

In the end, they had to bow their heads and absolutely could not deny the birth of this incident.

This was agreed upon by the great nobles of the empire.

Previously, the Cathedral of Light had been taking money from outside, but now it was their turn to make money.

The nobles of the North Wind Province held their noses and affirmed their beliefs.

The farther ones can collect donations, but the nearby Beifeng Province can only collect taxes.

Moreover, once tax collection begins, it is almost impossible to cancel it.

"It was handed over to the Holy See before, and now it is handed over to the Light. Hehe, there is not much difference."

Count Sauron spoke in a low voice, and only the people nearby could hear it clearly.

“This is already considered a small amount.”

Viscount Walter was somewhat helpless. They could indeed support this level of taxation, but historical records showed that with the development of the faith of light, they would become more and more greedy, just like the Holy See.

The only difference is.

The empire is a combination of royal power and divine power, which means that all these wealth will eventually be gathered in the hands of the royal family and a few qualified nobles.

Ryan's face didn't look good either. He didn't even know if the destruction of a religion in this world would cause the anger of the gods.

But if the religion is not destroyed, it will at most be a reincarnation and cycle.

In this political struggle, the Northern Wind Province was undoubtedly the loser.

It also made Ryan realize that he might not really have any extraordinary political talent?

It’s a headache because I’ve never been an official.

"If you give me some time, how can this matter be resolved?"

Ryan thought to himself that when he came to this world, he was definitely not as good as those great nobles in some aspects, but what he was best at was studying.

After a long time, Ryan felt that what he was best at was probably cheating.

Deep in his eyes, there gradually appeared a hint of murderous intent.

"The Holy See will not remain indifferent, right?"

Ryan once again arranged for the cat-man assassin to go to the Andara Kingdom. The fastest way for him to contact the Holy See now was through the next door.

With such a big thing happening in the Empire, there is no reason for the Holy See not to respond.

There was actually only one solution Ryan could think of. He even suspected that he had been hit on the head by an armored bear in the War Bear Tribe, and he couldn't think of a second solution.

……

Mountain forest world.

Ryan sent a large amount of gold ore into the Swadifari Wilderness World, and when he returned, he moved it to the Frozen Territory and smelted it into standard gold coins.

After the transportation is completed, it will be a reward to some people. Ryan was quite surprised that no one discovered the gold mine here in the past month.

As the plane door closed again, Ryan returned to the Frozen Territory. While he was busy moving the gold mine out, he also began to let Brand train new recruits.

The days were boring. Apart from exercising, Ryan's daily time was spent observing the progress of territory development. The faith tax of the God of Light had caused a stir in the North Wind Province, but it had no impact on the Frozen Territory. Ryan's time was always dull.

However, the falling snow every few days still made him feel uneasy. Logically speaking, it was windy and snowing before, so it didn't make sense that it was still like this after all these days.

If there is thunder but no rain, it is definitely brewing a heavier rain.

Ryan thought so, so on the last day of September, a snowstorm came.

As soon as it came, hundreds of houses collapsed, and countless people were crying and wailing on the ruins in the snow and ice.

The strong wind made it difficult for Ryan to open his eyes. Standing on the top of Rhino Horn Mountain, he could no longer see the North Gar Lake in the distance. As time went on, his field of vision became shorter and shorter, until the houses at the foot of Rhino Horn Mountain seemed so difficult to see.

"Damn it! This is a basin! How can there be such heavy snow?"

In fact, the frozen land collar is considered small, because the entire frozen land collar looks like a big bowl full of gaps when viewed from above.

Higher in the sky, the wind is stronger and the snow is heavier.

Overnight, 70% of the land in the Northern Wind Province was covered in snow.

The cold is no longer a demon that can be resisted by wearing clothes.

“This is the lethality of the North.”

The wind and snow were above the ankles. The war horses in the frozen land were galloping in the snow. Then the streets began to bustle with people pushing wheelbarrows and throwing the snow onto the glacier on the other side of Rhino Horn Mountain.

Master Ryan's life is not boring, he has started a new war.

The war between the North and Winter.

"To defeat the cold, all you need is a burning flame."

The burning sword of the knight shone on the ice and snow. The road carved out by the knight bit by bit led to where the wind and snow came from. At the moment when a blazing flame burned in the iron pot on the top of a watchtower, it pierced through the hazy snow like a lighthouse.

Then, on the distant hilltop, the second watchtower began to ignite flames.

"This winter, the flame must not go out. If it does, someone will die."

Ryan's murderous voice on the tall warhorse echoed in the wind and snow, and his cloak fluttered, but it could not drag him towards the warmth.

(End of this chapter)