My name is Ren

Chapter 18 Wise Men and Wise Men

What a great handwriting!
Ren threw the greeting card in his hand on the table casually. The vermilion background and the gold lacquered invitation card had Salcomo's name written on it.This person is the president of the Chamber of Commerce in the Bell Province of the Orlando Empire, a wealthy businessman.

When he was thirteen or fourteen years old, it was the second imperial civil war during the period of Orlando V. The two grand dukes brought their own kingdoms and several dukes of the empire to fight in full swing. Covered and starving, the refugees everywhere gradually turned into bandits, and the law and order of the entire empire was rotten beyond control.In this environment, the young Salcomo started his business journey with a dagger and a package on his back.

Today, all these years later, his stature and popularity have made him a living legend.This old man with courage, perseverance, wisdom and many excellent qualities stands at the pinnacle of the businessman profession.

Ren would naturally accept his invitation.

He is a city lord, and if he wants to enrich and expand his own strength, he cannot do without the help of merchants.Although he is a little displeased with the chamber of commerce's meddling in local affairs, as long as Salcomo can give a reasonable price, he doesn't mind letting this displeasure go.

The old man came as promised, and the gift worth twenty gold coins put a smile on Ren's face. This is a wise old man, but also a troublesome opponent, if he will eventually become Ren's opponent.

"Welcome, Mr. Salcomo." Ren stood on the steps, looking down at the old man standing at the bottom of the steps. Salcomo was not annoyed, but smiled happily.

"It's a great honor to visit you on such a beautiful day, the noble Lord of Golden Thorns, Baron Ren Alcania." He smiled sincerely, the arc of his eyes, and the angle of his mouth were perfect , It's like rehearsing a million times, so people can't pick out the slightest flaw.

Ren nodded and turned slightly, "I changed a gardener two days ago. His craftsmanship looks good, but I always feel that there are some flaws. Maybe the wisdom given to you by the years is enough for you to find those flaws. Let's go together Go to the garden."

"It's a great honor, my lord." Then Salcomo walked up the steps, followed behind Ren, and led by the headmaid through the entire castellan's mansion and into the garden.

Three gardeners are doing daily construction. The salary of this job is not low. There are ten silver coins a month, which is a huge sum of money in this city. They are doing their best to take care of this huge garden.Every day, they have to cut off the new yellow leaves on each tree, pick off the withered flowers, and cut every piece of grass to prevent any weeds from appearing.At the same time, they also need to have a certain artistic taste, so that the garden has different shapes as the seasons change.

Salcomo gave these gardeners a high evaluation, but he didn't care about his evaluation, and Rennes didn't care even more.

After walking around half a circle, the two walked to the courtyard in the center of the garden and sat down respectively. The head maid had already prepared fragrant black tea, boiling hot fresh milk, and of course a little red wine and brandy.

"I have a very special gift for you, which represents my sincerity and goodwill, and I hope you like it." After the two had a drink, Salcomo took out a gift wrapped in a red silk scarf. A bound paper roll.He gently pushed to Ren's side, met Ren's gaze, and the two looked at each other for a while before Ren turned his gaze to the scroll.

He pulled back the silk scarf and spread out the scroll, slightly surprised, and gained a deeper understanding of the old man Salcomo. He is a very smart old man, even cunning!He slowly placed the scroll on the table. It was a land deed for a manor in the Golden Ring area of ​​the imperial capital, and it was also the culprit that caused nearly a thousand deaths during this period.It turned around and finally returned to Ryan's hands. It was like a joke from the goddess of fate, which made people dumbfounded.

Salcomo paid about [-] gold coins in cash for the title deed before he settled the mercenary group and Harvey, the slave trader.The reason why he used so much money to coerce and lure back the land deed, and then gave it away with his own hands, obviously had a bigger purpose.

Ren took a sip of the black tea with a strong tea fragrance in his cup, glanced at the title deed on the table, and asked, "Mr. Salcomo, I believe that when a wolf starts giving gifts to the shepherd, It requires more than just security. Say why you're here, I like to be direct, guesswork just tires me out."

Salcomo has only two impressions of Rennes at this time. The first point is that he is very strong. Of course, almost all nobles have this characteristic.The second point is also cunning!It took him a lot of effort to find and return the lost title deed to Ryan, but he said it was a gift from the wolf to the shepherd, and almost immediately put the title deed in the next discussion between the two parties Components are reduced to a minimum.

This is a very powerful opponent, especially at his age, almost unique.

Salcomo was not so confident about today's plan at first, because the interests involved in it were too great.He considered it for a while, finally gritted his teeth, and said bravely: "I am entrusted by the Bell Chamber of Commerce to meet with you to discuss tax issues."

Ren was taken aback, and looked at Salcomo with a half-smile, "My tax officer told me that there are no taxes to collect in this city."

Salcomo cursed secretly in his heart, but he kept a humble and sincere smile on his face like the winner of the three award winners. He flattered: "That was before, when you didn't come here, it seemed like a barren place. Wasteland, there is nothing. After you come, everything is there."

The Imperial Commercial Tax draws one out of five, which is 20.00%. Most of the time, this figure is not immutable.For example, in Alexandria, in order to compete with other commercial ports, and to compete with the commercial ports of the Byron Empire across the strait, the commercial tax in Alexandria is one out of ten, which is a tax of [-]%.One out of five draws is just a standardized reference given by the empire. Sometimes for some reason, the local city lord can slightly change the tax rate.

In Salcomo's view, this golden nobleman who came all the way from the imperial capital is obviously not a soft persimmon, let alone the kind of playboy who only knows how to fight on a woman's belly. He has a very effective wrist, courage and command wisdom , the current state of anarchy in Ortrenburg will soon be changed.Once he has determined the right to rule Ortrenburg, the next step is to take back the taxation power and military power, and then create an iron curtain here, and everyone living here must act according to his rules of the game.

So it is imminent to solve the tax problem in advance.Merchants are willing to gather in Ortrenburg because the former state of anarchy here has exempted them from a large amount of taxes. Once the tax system returns to normal, it will be equivalent to taking the ax to all merchants in Bell Province. There was an ax in the head.There are not many choices left for them, either grit their teeth and pay a large amount of commercial tax, or go to Alexandria by sea, and then go south to Bell Province, but a lot of money will still be wasted on transportation.

Ren didn't make a sound, just looked at the scenery, but Salcomo couldn't help but speak. He used a discussing tone and carefully worded words, for fear of arousing Ren's disgust, "I and all members of the Bell Chamber of Commerce support you. Exercising the power entrusted to you by the empire on your site, we will firmly agree and support your decision." First, say good things before saying bad things, this is the experience accumulated from life, "About the imperial business tax , we also have some small opinions...."

Ren suddenly waved his hand, stopping his next words.During this period of time, Rennes has also considered what to do after taking over Ortrenburg completely. He has also studied taxes. To be honest, he doesn't want to touch this thing.If it is legal for these merchants to buy and sell between the empire and Byron, he may agree to reduce business taxes to attract merchants to trade.But look what these merchants are doing?They are frantically smuggling all embargoed materials, and they dare to do anything for money.

What's more, even if the tax ratio is changed, it will not benefit him at all.Withhold part of the tax as funds for the development of the city by the city lord's mansion, and the rest will be handed over to the imperial treasury. What can he get?A commendation from the imperial capital?Or the hateful eyes of businessmen?After all, there was no need to pay any fees here.

"One of five commercial taxes is one of the national policies of the empire, and I will not change it without authorization."

Salcomo frowned, and tried hard: "But that will make some businessmen very disappointed. They will choose to open up a new business route and leave here. You may not receive much tax."

Ryan doesn't like this at all!
He chuckled, "From Ortrenburg through the Weimar Corridor to the Sunrise City of the Byron Empire, the total length is more than 600 kilometers. If you go fast for a month, you can go back and forth twice. Other than that, you can't find There is no better place to do cross-border trade than Ortrenburg."

This is a fact, a fact that no one can change, and Salcomo has no way to quibble, he can only choose another way of saying: "What about Alexandria? Then the tax is only one out of ten."

"The cost of sea transportation is much higher than that of land transportation, and those smart captains will charge for transportation according to every inch of space." Ren put down the empty teacup, ordered some tea trays, and the maid immediately refilled them for him, "still Yes, will the chamber of commerce in Alexandria allow you to go there? They will try everything to keep you from getting close to that place, including assassination or other things, such as robbers looting, and then killing everyone ?”

Sarcomo fell silent, and he sighed after a long time, "Then what will you do? I believe that you will show me a path."

Ren smiled and snapped his fingers, "I like talking to smart people, that's why I agree to meet you!"

(End of this chapter)