Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 51: Glorious Faith and the Nineteenth Tax
Su Li can get 70% of all the dragon blood stones dug out in the territory.

The power of the lords in this world is immense. They don't have to pay anything. Simply by opening their mouths, they summon the servants of over fifty knights to mine. Seventy percent of what they dig belongs to the lord. The remaining one percent goes to the servants, and two percent goes to their masters, the knights themselves.

This is the result of Su Li being relatively generous. Otherwise, according to the tradition of this world, if a 19% tax is levied, 90% of all the wealth in the territory will belong to the lord.

The three most famous elements of the empire are: glory, faith and the infamous 19-year tax.

Of course, the tax rate is set this way, but in reality few lords actually enforce it.

Most lords nominally collected 90% and then returned 20% to 30%. This was not what slaves and civilians deserved, but was the virtue and reward of the knights.

Don't think this practice is ridiculous. The reason most people do this is because a significant number of noble territories actually collect the 19-year tax! Furthermore, the peasants in these territories don't necessarily suffer any worse than those in other earldoms. Generally, places that levy the 19-year tax are truly blessed by the gods, blessed by various spirits. Farmland can produce four or five crops a year, and some even say six!
Don't ask if the soil is fertile or not, and don't ask about the affairs of the gods. Their nuclear-powered farmland does not follow the physical laws and scientific principles of the previous life.

In such situations, the knights would truly step forward. To protect their territory and their people, they would mount their warhorses, lances drawn, and face tens of thousands of orcs or a sea of ​​undead, undead.

However, most of the land in the border prince's territory has not been developed, and there is no divine favor at all. For example, the fertile land at the foot of the Heisen Mountains can produce three harvests a year, which is considered very good.

Su Li collected 19% of the tax and returned 30%, meaning he took 60% and the common people kept 40%. This was a very good life. By comparison, it was much better than the farmers under Cao Cao's military farms. Cao Cao also took 60% or 70% of the tax, but his soldiers did not have land that could be harvested three times a year, such fertile and vast plains, and many opportunities to improve their lives.

Generally speaking, if you can be a farmer or a manor owner under Su Li's rule, life will not be too bad.

However, at present, Su Li does not need to worry too much about the issue of taxation. He has not even appointed a minister of taxation, because now the people in the pioneering territory are all his servants and serfs, and all the property belongs to him.

So Su Li didn't think much about it and directly collected all the dragon blood stones. He said to Xilude: "Let's go to the fish pond construction site to take a look."

Deathclaw flew over excitedly and leaped onto Su Li's shoulder. While Hildreth went to get the horse, Su Li smiled and touched Deathclaw's head, saying, "Oh, and you too. You get a share of this dragon blood stone, no! Four shares! I'll tie a piece of dragon blood stone to each of your four claws and try to make you grow into the most majestic griffin in the world!"

Su Li was willing to make this investment. Unlike knights, griffins also had to cultivate their bloodlines. Their main combat power came from their huge size and strong physique. Being more powerful, larger and stronger was the most important guarantee of a griffin's combat power.

Soon, Hild brought two horses, and they quickly arrived at the construction site of the East Bank Reservoir. On the construction site, the servants took off their shirts and worked hard.

A single dragon blood stone was worth at least 20 gold coins, and they had already unearthed over a dozen. Even if they were rewarded at a tenth of that, they'd still earned 20-30 gold coins, or half a gold coin per person! Praise the gods for their favor, thank the lord for his generosity; this was nearly three months' salary. One day's work was equivalent to three months' hard work. How could this place not be bustling with activity?
Seeing Su Li riding up on horseback, Laun and Frederick immediately came up to greet him side by side, and respectfully saluted and greeted him on the roadside: "Greetings to you, my lord, may the goddess of the sun bless you to be forever strong and healthy." "My loyal ministers, may the gods bless you too. What's the situation here?" Su Li jumped off the horse and led them to the edge of the reservoir.

"As you can see, Lord, these greedy servants' digging isn't large-scale, but it's deep, which is why they've unearthed so much dragon blood stone." Laun pointed to the deep pit ahead and explained, "To balance the construction progress with the fishpond, this small reservoir has been split in two. The fishpond area is only four or five meters wide."

Su Li was in a good mood, so he looked at everything with a positive attitude. He smiled and said, "This might not be a bad thing. It will give us more room to dig. Let's dig out all the dragon blood stones first. Also, don't dig under the fish pond anymore. Let's leave the dragon blood stones there. Maybe under the influence of the dragon's breath, the fish in the pond will become bigger and fatter."

A fish pond of four or five meters is enough to raise a few hundred fish. Once the nearby dragon blood stones are dug out, the fish pond can be expanded by a few meters tomorrow. At this rate, a reservoir of considerable size may be dug out in a few months.

Frederick said regretfully, "It's a pity that we don't have any ogre mercenaries here. If we had a few dozen ogres, our progress would be greatly accelerated."

"Ogre." Su Li pondered for a moment, and couldn't help but recall the famous characteristics of the ogres in this world.

This race is noisy, greedy, boastful, heartless, irritable and aggressive, always acting with the goal of filling their unusually strong stomachs.

They are also known for their penchant for wandering, with mercenary bands of dozens, if not hundreds, of ogres seen in every corner of the world. Contrary to popular belief, ogres generally blend well into most societies they encounter, adapting to local customs and attire over decades of foraging, as they understand it, to make it easier for them to find their next meal.

In the Empire, they often join the armies of various lords, and hiring ogres for labor is a common sight in the more prosperous cities. Halfling tradesmen (construction contractors) effectively corner the market for cheap ogre labor in many towns and cities across the Empire, much to the annoyance of their commercial competitors.

If there were an ogre engineering team, it would indeed greatly increase the development speed of the territory.

While Su Li was thinking about this, good news came from the territory in the evening.

There were indeed no ogres, but there were trolls. The knights dragged back three of them!
When the security patrol team slowly returned from afar, the three blue-gray behemoths they dragged behind them instantly ignited the enthusiasm of the entire territory.

Hunting giants has always been one of the greatest romances of the human empire.

When three huge river trolls, each four or five meters tall, were dragged into the territory, a large number of servants and serfs rushed up, cheering enthusiastically and lining the streets to welcome them.

(End of this chapter)