Throne of the North.

Chapter 52 Five Hundred, No More
"Humph!"

Hearing the noisy voices in the hall, Earl Winter snorted coldly, and the aura of the holy domain came down with an unfriendly look.

The 1.5 million in taxes did disrupt his thoughts, but it was absolutely impossible to ask him to take the lead in paying more money again.

His Flying Wolf Cavalry suffered heavy losses, and some of them were short of money. Two hundred thousand per year was the result of family discussions, and there was no room for turning back.

The Empire has already half-abandoned the Borean Province. If the orcs invade in the future, they can only rely on themselves. How can they protect their wealth without money?

Thinking of this, Earl Winter felt a little discouraged again.

Indeed, if the orcs invade in the future, they cannot rely on themselves alone.

The three earls looked at each other and loosened their pockets tacitly.

"Considering the damage caused by the orcs' southward march last year, why don't the three of us take out 50,000 gold coins every year for the next five years to make up for it."

Earl Winter's tone was sighing as he spoke, but the mere fifty thousand gold coins still made many nobles secretly resentful.

Of the one million annual construction funds of the empire in those years, how much did you three earls take? Don’t you have any idea?
"If you still can't collect them all by then..."

"The Empire should also understand the difficulties faced by the Northern Wind Province. If they speak less, I think the Empire will not say anything."

Once this was said, it was basically doomed that this year's tax revenue would definitely not reach 1.5 million.

One million is not less, but one and a half million is impossible. Every family has its own problems, right?
But the entire North Wind Province was just a makeshift team, and after the three earls expressed their opinions, there was no further news.

The rest were the nobles within each county, all looking worried at the huge numbers.

The nobles in Lingdu County also gathered in Viscount Miles's mansion in North Wind City.

"Tell me, does the Empire know what the Northern Wind Province is like?"

A baron couldn't help but sigh and spoke.

"It doesn't matter whether the Empire knows or not. My Shenma Territory doesn't even have a lord right now. The most I can give out every year is a thousand gold coins."

Hutton shouted directly, and the number of one thousand gold coins pierced everyone's heart.

"Hatton, your mine can earn at least tens of thousands of gold coins every year. How could you be short of this little money?"

"You said you'd sell as many as you could? Will you buy it?"

"Humph! Since Hatton can only come up with one thousand, then I, the Raven Territory, can't give more. I only have one thousand gold coins."

"You still have the nerve to say one thousand?"

Hatton directly attacked him in the face.

"With three pioneer knights attached to you, that means at least three towns. Your Crow Ridge will earn at least 100,000 gold this year!"

Of course he was talking nonsense, but Baron Roche couldn't help but smile.

"What do you mean by 100,000 gold? Don't spit blood on me, Hatton. Besides, you have robbed all the mines and slaves led by Knight Watt. If you come back, I will pay 10,000 gold punk taxes this year."

"Don't even think about it!"

Including the pioneering noble barons who have just been canonized in Lingdu County, there are now a total of nine barons. Seeing Hutton and Roach arguing fiercely, the leader, Viscount Miles, also had a headache on his face.

"You two should behave yourself. Since it's a tax, then we'll calculate it based on the number of civilians in each territory. Roche, your territory has a lot more civilians now, so the tax will be higher. Hatton's territory... one thousand gold coins are not enough, we need at least five thousand!"

"And Kendra, your territory is the most populous in Lingdu County, 15,000 gold coins."

Miles looked at an old man with narrowed eyes. Baron Kendra was also an old man behind the Miles family. Hearing this, he couldn't help but frown. "My territory can't afford that much..."

Before he finished speaking, Viscount Miles's eyes already showed his intimidation without even being angry.

"In the entire Lingdu County, only your territory and the frozen land territory have not been plundered by orcs."

Hearing this, Baron Kendra said nothing more and just replied:

"My territory can only support 15,000 gold coins for five years. After five years, if things don't go well, it will be a maximum of 5,000 gold coins."

At this time Ryan also stood up, and his voice echoed in the hall.

"You all know what the frozen land is like. Five hundred gold coins is my limit."

Unexpectedly, no one refuted him, but some nobles couldn't help but sneer. Ryan paid so much less, and the remaining share would fall on their heads.

"If Baron Ryan can't pay the taxes, why don't you lend us 500 gold coins from each family to make up the tax amount of 5,000 gold coins."

Baron Roche raised his head, looked at Ryan proudly, and laughed.

As long as Ryan dared to ask, he would dare to lend him money, and he would borrow money with the credit of the nobles. Even if Ryan died, his descendants would have to pay it back.

"Roche, since you are so rich, why don't you lend me some?"

Baron Barnes on the side spoke and glanced at Baron Roche, but the latter did not dare to speak.

Baron Barnes is the most powerful baron in Lingdu County under the two viscounts in terms of military strength. However, Roche doesn't know what the relationship between this man and Ryan is.

"I'll only offer fifty thousand."

The second viscount of Lingdu County, Dragun, finally spoke up and looked at Viscount Miles.

"If you are willing to hand over Lingdu City to me, I can afford the annual tax of 100,000."

"Humph!"

Viscount Miles looked at Viscount Dragun unkindly. It was impossible for him to give up the county town, but if he did so, Viscount Dragun's 100,000 gold coins would block him.

If he doesn't give him 100,000 gold coins every year, the nobles below will have to bear more of the burden, and then the reputation of the Dragun family will surpass that of the Miles family.

Immortal thing!

At this moment, the two viscounts wanted to curse each other to death.

“They are all so rich.”

Ryan watched the conversation becoming increasingly lively and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Normally, these nobles seemed to be so stingy with only three to five hundred gold coins, or even a few thousand gold coins. He didn't expect them to be so confident.

He was somewhat curious about how much profit these nobles made from selling the mines.

Ryan and Hatton left Viscount Miles's mansion and headed to the Chamber of Commerce Street. Ryan couldn't help but ask:
"Mr. Hatton, can your mine really sell tens of thousands of gold every year?"

Hutton looked at Ryan with some caution. After seeing Ryan's soldiers, he had become wary of this neighbor.

"It's not as much as Roche said. Ten or twenty thousand a year is good enough, and we still have to buy food from the Imperial Chamber of Commerce."

Hatton said helplessly that in the entire North Wind Province, every spring, almost every noble would buy food from the Chamber of Commerce coming from the south.

The food problem faced by the Frozen Territory is also faced by many noble territories in the North Wind Province. Especially after the orcs came once, the food gap has become even greater.

(End of this chapter)