Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 91: Taxation in Public and Robbery in Secret
At daybreak, a large group of people walked slowly on the rugged mountain path of Jackdaw Ridge.

The narrow road, which could only accommodate two or three horses walking side by side, forced dozens of people dressed as knights at the front of the team to walk while leading their horses.

From the flags raised by the followers behind them and the family emblems on their cloaks and saddles, it can be seen that this team is from Earl Feigen of Grizzly Castle.

The horses these knights were equipped with were long-maned horses, a specialty of the capital of Saint Valen. They had great explosive power when running and were much larger than ordinary horses, making it quite difficult for them to walk on the steep mountain paths.

Earl Feigen's knights looked very powerful, with brand new and shiny armor, exquisite family patterns embroidered on the back of the cloak, and dark red gold silk belts tied around their waists.

The Earl of Grizzli has a total of two hundred such elite knights under his command. This is also an elite armed force cultivated and trained by an earl family with fiefdoms over several generations. After all, even the Royal Knights of Saint Valen have only five hundred well-trained elite knights.

Leading the group was Earl Fagan's nephew, Baron Stevie, who was also a member of the Grizzli Knights.

The baronet had no manners at the moment and was roaring loudly at the sparse troops behind him, urging them to speed up.

In order to strengthen the momentum of this tax collection team, they also brought in more than 200 mercenaries and militiamen to make up the number, and equipped them with cheap leather armor and various inferior weapons. This group of people had no discipline at all, walking sparsely on the mountain road, talking and laughing loudly, which dispersed and stretched the entire team, causing the knights and followers in the front to stop from time to time and wait for the team behind to catch up.

"Your Excellency," the slightly plump tax collector said, panting slightly. He pulled hard on the reins of his horse and approached Stewie. "According to the people in the town's Chamber of Commerce, after crossing Jackdaw Ridge and heading towards the wasteland, it will take about a day's journey to reach the territory of Mage Harvey."

He scratched his head and asked inquiringly, "Should we rest for a night at the foot of the north slope and then enter the territory to meet with the lord the next morning, or..."

Stewie sneered, "Lord? He doesn't even have a noble title. He's just a junior mage, and the most disliked necromancer in the Union."

He waved his hand gently, signaling the knights and attendants following behind him to stop and rest for a while, waiting for the follow-up large force to catch up. He and the tax collector walked forward for a while, away from the crowd behind.

"You don't think that we have come all the way to this desolate wasteland just to collect the pioneering tax of more than one thousand gold pounds, do you?" Stevie said lightly.

The tax collector, a seasoned veteran in his fifties, quickly whispered, "So, the Earl believed that rumor? There's a suspected gold mine discovered in the pioneering territory of the northern wilderness..."

In fact, this rumor had been secretly spread in Grizzly Castle for some unknown reason half a year ago. Many small nobles without fiefs were discussing privately that the young wizard who had crossed the border mountains in a fit of madness and went to the northern wilderness to open up a fiefdom had accidentally discovered a gold mine in the wilderness.

He seemed to have indeed gained huge profits from this. For the next six months, he went through various large chambers of commerce to purchase various commodities and food supplies to the territory.

This made the Earl of Grizzly Territory a little uneasy, especially after he learned that the other party had recruited a large number of refugees from the wilderness to enrich the territory. It was almost confirmed that the pioneering order he had casually issued might have inadvertently brought the other party immeasurable wealth.

"Recruiting refugees, making large purchases, building territory..." Stewie sneered. "Others might not understand, but can't you figure out this? How did a junior mage with no background come up with such a huge amount of capital in just over half a year?"

The tax collector nodded. "That's true, but all of his purchases are handled directly by the Dragonstone Chamber of Commerce. They're the premier guild in Orland, and they're so tight-lipped that we can't get any information."

"It doesn't matter. The Chamber of Commerce is also driven by profit. They'll go wherever there's money to be made," Stevie said nonchalantly. "Once we take over his territory, we'll naturally figure out the secret of his rapid rise to wealth."

"Take over the territory? Your Excellency is planning to..." The tax collector was stunned. Though he didn't say it out loud, the meaning was clear. "Will the Federation just sit back and do nothing? We dare not offend them lightly." "The Pioneer Territory was invaded by a massive force of evil orcs. The spellcaster lord was outnumbered and perished along with his people. What does this have to do with us? We were the rescue team that received the call and rushed to help, but arrived too late!"

Baron Stewie shrugged, his words carrying a hint of viciousness.

……

The sun gradually rose to the center of the sky. Stevi and his companions could see from afar the outline of a small camp fortress at the end of the winding mountain road. It was not very conspicuous under the cover of dense woods.

"Your Excellency, Baron! There are wooden spike roadblocks and sentry towers ahead. We also see the territory's boundary markers," a knight's attendant who was leading the way rushed back to report. "There are soldiers stationed behind the roadblocks and on the sentry towers. They are armed and do not seem to welcome us."

"It seems they got wind of this in advance. They have their own spies in Grizzly Castle and Jackdaw Town." Stewie laughed. "There's no need to get on edge right away. Let me go up and negotiate with them first. The others can just wait for my instructions and act when the opportunity arises."

This time when they went to take over the other party's territory, Earl Feigen waved his hand and asked him to bring thirty elite knights with him. Among them, there were several mid-level knights who came from knight families and had awakened the power of their bloodline. The martial power of any one of them was enough to defeat more than ten ordinary mercenaries and militiamen.

Everyone mounted their horses and slowly came to the roadblock of the small camp that blocked the mountain road. Before they could open their mouths to challenge, they saw several militiamen wearing only black cotton uniforms walking out of the camp.

The knights on horseback saw that the other party didn't even have the most rudimentary leather armor, and was carrying a strange long-handled weapon on his back, which didn't even have a tip and looked like a fire stick. They all showed expressions of extreme disdain.

"This is Lord Harvey's fiefdom. May I ask what you are doing here? We have not received any advance news of any visitors entering the territory."

The militia leader was a short-haired young man who looked less than 20 years old. He had a clear voice and a smile on his face. He looked quite polite and likable.

Stewie sat upright on his horse, holding the reins with one hand and slightly raising his chin. He replied arrogantly, "We are a tax collection team under the orders of Lord Fagan, Lord of Grizzly Castle, heading to Mr. Harvey's pioneering territory to collect taxes. Please let us pass immediately and do not delay our journey."

On the surface, this camp only had less than thirty militiamen stationed there, who didn't even have complete armor and weapons. Although it wouldn't be a big deal to take action directly, he didn't want to waste too much time in this mountain camp, which would prevent him from reaching the pioneer territory before nightfall.

The best option is to use the status of count to force the other party to release him directly.

The leading militiaman still had a pleasant smile on his face. He asked the attendant beside him for the tax collection order signed by the earl himself, and carefully confirmed the seal and notes on it.

This young militiaman could actually read? Stewie frowned slightly and exchanged glances with the tax collector, both finding it a little unbelievable.

After reading the document, he carefully refolded it and handed it back to the attendant. Then he looked up at Stewie and smiled, "Lord Harvey has learned of the Earl's tax collection order, but due to the long distance between the two places, he has not had time to send the taxes to Grizzly Castle."

He turned around and waved with a smile. Two black-clad militiamen came forward carrying a small wooden box and placed it on the ground in front of the knight's horse.

"This is the tax that the Lord has already prepared. Please count it in front of us, and we will just hand it over directly."

(End of this chapter)