I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 119 Cannibalism
While the morning mist was still lingering around the peaks of the mountains, the sound of copper bells had already filled the Dora Valley.

In the town of Duoluo outside the Duoluo Canyon, the morning prayer bell on the top of the Church of Mother Earth in the center kept swinging. As the bell rang, cowherds from all directions appeared, leading the howling cattle and horses, and were rushing to the square, forming a black mass.

The new priestess of the Earth Mother Goddess set up an oak pulpit next to the Earth Fountain. The parchment-covered brass "Gospel of the Mother Goddess" shone dangerously in the morning light.

Rob, who was standing at the edge of the square, stroked Heidi's neck hair with his chilblained hands. His tangled white eyebrows were reflected in the amber pupils of the eight-year-old cow. He hesitated and did not dare to move forward.

The young grandson, Topher, squatted at the old herdsman's feet, ignorantly pulling at his grandfather's tattered robe.

"Grandpa, why don't we go in?"

"The master is raising taxes again. The tax collector he sent wants five more kilograms of cheese."

Rob sighed and looked at the tax collector standing under the oak podium. The tax he wanted didn't seem to be much, just five kilograms.

But don't forget, these five kilograms of cheese are additional taxes, not the original prayer tax. The original prayer tax is ten kilograms of cheese. In other words, the master added half of the tax on the original basis.

To make one kilogram of cheese, a herder family needs to spend several months and use twenty kilograms of milk.

It can be said that fifteen kilograms of cheese every month is really a heavy tax for the old cattle herder Rob.

However, morning prayer every week is an important activity for the herders in Duoluo Town. The herders gather in the town square and chant hymns to the earth with the church priests.

This is not the point. The point is that after the prayer, all prayer participants can lead a cow or a horse over to be blessed by the priest.

The blessing of the priests of the Mother Earth is very useful to the livestock. It can cure diseases if they are sick, and strengthen their bodies if they are healthy.

In addition to blessings, priests will also give a certain amount of holy water according to the herders' requests.

Holy water is useless for humans and livestock. It is mainly used on pastures. After mixing it with clean water and pouring it on the pasture, it will make the grass grow faster and more vigorously within a certain period of time, which is beneficial to the rotation of pastures.

Therefore, every Sunday evening, the herders who graze in the alpine pastures of the Carlos Mountains near the town of Doro will leave their simple wooden houses on the mountains, leading their favorite cows, mares, or the livestock around them, and rush to the town of Doro.

Such a long and arduous journey is just to attend the morning prayer and receive the blessing and holy water of Mother Earth.

For cattle herders, any animal is an extremely important family property. A cow with beautiful patterns and high milk production can even be their family member.

Therefore, no matter how hard the journey is, no matter how penetrating the night dew and wind are, the herders will bring them from thousands of miles away to the town of Duolo.

Since the town was first established, its rulers have used morning prayers to determine the number of herders and cattle under their jurisdiction, and then accurately tax them.

If it was just the prayer tax, Rob would have no problem. But the problem was that after the prayers were over and the prayer tax was collected, the tax officials would also collect pasture tax, head tax, grass tax, and rainwater tax from the herders...

There are more than twenty types of taxes.

Some taxes are collected every time you come, such as the prayer tax. If you don’t come, it will not be collected.

Some taxes were collected monthly, such as the rain tax, which was collected even in winter when there was no rain. The tax collector would ask herders if they had paid their rain tax that month. Other taxes were collected annually, such as the poll tax, which was based on the number of people in your family. Even if a death in the family was not reported to the lord in time, the lord would continue to collect the tax.

These taxes were so numerous and complicated that most cattle herders could not tell the difference between them. They just nodded and paid the taxes according to what the tax officials said.

Therefore, if the local lord did not manage strictly, the tax officials would take the opportunity to collect taxes and increase taxes at random, and collect head taxes every month.

reason?

There is a war going on outside. In order to protect the alpine pastures near Duoluo Town, the army has been supported by the nobles and now the parliamentarians. Now there is a shortage of food, so taxes are increased!
If you don't pay taxes, the tax collector will come to your door with his men. The cattle herder can run away, but the ranch is there and he can't escape.

Now, what Rob is afraid of is tax increases. The last tax was the head tax, and this month the prayer tax was also increased. So what about other taxes?

Rob looked back worriedly at the burlap bags on both sides of Heidi's belly. They were filled with cheese that he was going to use to pay taxes and buy daily necessities for his family, but... was it really enough to pay the taxes?

With such worries, Rob thought for a long time. He thought about turning around and leaving with his grandson, taking his family to higher and deeper mountains, and abandoning the current public pasture.

I also thought about whether I should unite with other cattle herders to resist the congressman's taxes, which are getting higher and higher every month.

After thinking for a long time, Rob still couldn't come up with anything. Seeing that the prayer was about to begin, he sighed, took Heidi's hand, picked up his grandson, and slowly walked into the square.

The event began. The priestess sang a hymn to the Mother Earth in her sharp voice, and the cowherds sang along below.

The hymn ends, and then there’s the hymn, and then there’s…

When the prayer was over, the cowherds lined up, leading their cattle and horses in an orderly manner, ready to go forward to receive the blessing of the priestess.

The tax collector, who had a mustache, wore a loose robe and a tall hat, stepped forward and announced before the priestess could.

"According to the order of Viscount Zurich... ahem, Councillor Zurich, because the Republic is facing an attack by rebels, each dairy cow will be required to pay a special wartime tax of one silver coin, and five kilograms of cheese will be added to the monthly fee for public pastures.

A new shield tax has been added, requiring each cattle herder's family to provide one young adult, or pay 100 kilograms of cheese."

Shield tax! ?

Rob and the surrounding cattle herders gasped. Isn't this tax the knight's tax? When did we cattle herders have to pay the shield tax like the knights?
Adding the temporarily imposed taxes and the existing taxes together... O merciful Mother Earth!
Rob did a quick calculation and then he wailed in his heart.

The cheese Heidi carried was far from enough. She had to sell her skin and bones to pay the tax.

Run away, run away!
Rob thought to himself, he held his grandson in his arms, led the cow and turned around to run.

At this moment, the prayer bell in Duoluo Town rang again, this time very quickly.

(End of this chapter)