Laurist returned to the north on the seventh day of the first month of the new year. He braved the wind and snow to inspect the northern capital, formerly known as Gildusk City, which had now been renamed Roaring Bear City. The reconstruction project led by Master Siroba was progressing smoothly. He even set up a giant roaring bear statue in the square, which was why the square had been renamed Raging Bear Square.
The reconstruction of Roaring Bear City would take another year. Last year, they had already replanned the infrastructure of each district. The water supply and sewer system had been laid out, and the city walls and road construction had also been completed. Today, the main task was to build houses and other civil works. Master Siroba was optimistic that it would be completed by August, but the more detailed interior decoration and beautification would still take some time. However, the construction of Roaring Bear City this year would be handled by Sang Ben, the deputy director of the engineering department, because Master Siroba would head to the southern province in May to preside over the construction of the Pegasus Castle in the Filim family's territory.
Laurist only stayed in Roaring Bear City for about ten days. In addition to inspecting the reconstruction of the northern capital, he also met with Serdkamp. The little servant who used to follow Locke around had now become an independent internal affairs talent. The construction of the three newly planned steppes in the southern part of the north, namely Peace Steppes, Peace Steppes, and Peace Steppes, was progressing in an orderly manner. They would be completed in another two years. The only concern was that the land was sparsely populated and they needed a large number of immigrants to prosper.
Fatty Shi brought Spear with him to welcome Laurist. Ever since he received a report from Tagger last November that the mountain barbarians might attack the Norton family's territory, Fatty Shi had been sitting in Rock Castle. Loriste understood the background of the Mountain Barbarians and knew that the Mountain Barbarians would not descend the mountains to attack before winter arrived. However, Fatty Shi didn't dare to be careless. He had to ensure that the family's territory was safe and sound.
Now that Laurist had returned, the war in the southern province had subsided, and the strategy to destroy the Iberian Kingdom had been achieved. Most importantly, the Flying Tiger Legion would soon return to the north. Fatty Shi was finally relieved. He brought good news to Laurist. In the eastern district of Roaring Bear City, the special district designated for the nobles to build their own manors, 67 plots of land had been snatched up by the nobles. The Norton family had earned more than 1.6 million gold coins from this. Spear was so happy that she couldn't even keep her mouth shut.
It was important to note that these sixty-seven plots of land were barren and had no buildings at all. After the nobles bought them, they would have to spend money to build their own manors. As for the Norton family, they only needed to be in charge of the roads between the plots and the construction of public facilities such as parks and gardens. It could be said that the Norton family had profited greatly this time. This was because after the nobles built the manor, they would have to pay a yearly estate tax to the Norton Family. Based on the size and market price of the land, they would have to pay a yearly estate tax of 1/1000. This meant that even though the land belonged to the nobles, it was still part of the Norton Family's territory. For the sake of the safety of the manor built by the Norton Family, be obedient and pay this protection fee …
Laurist was shocked. He knew that these plots of land were originally priced at around 5,000 to 8,000 Gold Fords. How could they be sold for such a high price? How could they be sold for more than 1,600,000 Gold Fords? This was almost five or six times more than the expected income. Why were the nobles willing to pay such a high price?
Fatty Shi proudly told Laurist that he didn't mark the price of these plots of land clearly in the beginning. Instead, he ordered someone to draw out a map of the special administrative region and mark all sixty-seven plots of land with the lowest price. Then, he copied the map and sent it to all the nobles, regardless of whether they were nobles with honorary titles or territories. Even the nobles with traditional territories in Winston Province who had just joined the Norton Family were no exception. In the end, he found that all the nobles who received the map of the special administrative region expressed great interest. Therefore, Fatty Shi decisively held an auction. In the end, the supply of these sixty-seven plots of land could not meet the demand. The lowest price was four or five times higher, and the highest price was more than ten times higher.
Fatty Shi said that many nobles who didn't manage to buy a plot of land had asked their families to plan another special administrative region for auction. According to statistics, it was estimated that two more special administrative regions would be needed to satisfy the demand of all the nobles. Therefore, Fatty Shi and Director Spear had worked tirelessly to plan two more places next to the Eastern Special District. They had prepared more than 150 plots of land for another auction. Now, all they had to do was wait for Laurist's approval.
Laurist took the planning document and looked at it. He picked up a pen and crossed out a larger plot, leaving only a planned area of 58 plots. Fatty Shi and Director Spear were both anxious. What they were losing were all shiny gold coins!
"There's no rush," Laurist explained. "These two plans can basically guarantee that all the nobles will get a plot of land. Then, what's there to fight for during the auction? Everyone has a plot of land. At most, the location is slightly better. There's no need for them to raise the price. It'll be very difficult for them to raise the price of each plot of land like the first special administrative region. We can only take out a small number of plots to make them fight for it. That way, the price will keep going up. "
Fatty Shi was suddenly enlightened. He patted his forehead regretfully and said, "I'm sorry. I was too impatient and forgot about this. I thought the price of the planned land would be as high as the land in the first special zone. It's my fault …"
"It's not your fault. It's just that you don't understand why these nobles are fighting for the plots of the special administrative region. " Laurist smiled and said, "To be clear, the prices of these plots are so high because they want to prove their loyalty to our family."
"Pledge of allegiance?" Fatty Shi and Spear asked curiously.
"Yes, loyalty." Laurist nodded. "During the auction, the alliance of the four northern families had already annihilated the first Ranger Legion of the Fisablen Family and occupied the capital of Windbri. Grand Duke Fisablen had fled to the southern province. Everyone knows that the alliance of the four northern families has the upper hand. Although the Fisablen Family is the most powerful territory noble in the northeast, they've already been defeated by us. Even if there are more twists and turns in the war, it'll be hard for them to turn the tables. Unless the alliance of the four northern families is an idiot, even if Grand Duke Fisablen is the God of War, he won't be able to turn the tables.
Under such circumstances, these nobles have placed their bets on the Norton family, because we are the leader of the alliance of the four families in the north. We are currently in the process of rebuilding the capital of the north. We have changed the name of Gildusk City to Roaring Bear City, indicating that we will make this the center of our territory. Under such circumstances, these nobles buying plots of land in the special administrative region to build manors means that the Norton family is the leader. Simply put, they're buying tickets to board the ship and are willing to work with us. Of course, it's inevitable that they'll be opportunistic. After all, the closer they are to our family, the more connections they have, and the greater the chance of prosperity.
Now, we've reached an agreement with the Iberian Kingdom and brought the Winston Province and the southern province into the four northern families' sphere of influence. Nominally, we all belong to the Andinac Kingdom. From the map, the Andinac Kingdom already occupies half of the former Christen Empire. But the alliance of the four northern families is another force in the kingdom. These nobles know very well that compared to the second prince, they'd rather join us than pay attention to our king … "
Loriste pointed to the planning document in his hand. "In fact, no matter how high we sell these two plans for, those nobles will still grit their teeth and buy them to show that they're on our side. But I don't want them to hold a grudge. In addition to making them pay willingly, we also need to raise the price of these plots and let them appreciate year by year.
For example, I'm going to reduce the 58 plots in this plan to 40. The remaining plots will be used to build a rattan hall, a race track, and a combat energy training hall, as well as a medical center with a senior pharmacist. In addition, we'll dig a small river to connect the lake, where people can row and swim. The lakeside can be used for walks and picnics. There will also be gourmet restaurants, leisure tea clubs, and high-end shopping streets, making this the most popular high-end residential area for the nobles and their families. Only in this way will the value of these two special administrative regions become higher and higher, and become an area that everyone wants to enter.
At that time, as long as we add another special administrative region or a large high-end residential area near these two special administrative regions, the price of the land in the new special administrative region will naturally be higher, and the price of the land in the new residential area will also rise steadily … "
Fatty Shi exclaimed, "Your Highness, you're really calculative."
Spear, the director, frowned. "Your Highness, don't you think that these two special administrative regions are similar to the wealthy areas in the capital city? Won't this pull down the housing prices in the wealthy areas?"
"Hehe …" Laurist laughed and shook his head. "The wealthy areas are the wealthy areas. Basically, they are the mansions of the nobles and the houses of the rich commoners. Anyone can buy them as long as they have the money. Only the nobles or guests invited by the nobles can enter these two special administrative regions. Otherwise, no matter how rich they are, they can't enter these two special administrative regions. This imperceptibly made the nobles feel that their statuses were higher. The rich commoners, on the other hand, are more envious and want to become one of them. Then all they can do is make more contributions to our family in order to gain our recognition and confer the title of an honorable noble.
From next year, the Norton family will no longer recognize the titles of honorable nobles from other countries. Director Spear, you can set a standard. Only the honorable nobles from other countries who have bought the special administrative region's land and paid a fee to our family can have their titles transferred to our family's honorable noble title. "
"But, Your Highness, what's the point of doing this? They're all honorable titles. Is there any difference between them and the ones that our family and our country recognizes?" Director Spear asked, puzzled.
Fatty Shi laughed out loud. "Your Highness, this is too brilliant. Director Spear, there's a big difference. First, Your Highness said that next year, we will no longer recognize the status of honorable nobles from other countries. In other words, from next year onwards, honorable nobles from other countries will not be able to attend the various noble gatherings, balls, and banquets held by our family. They will not be able to enter the noble circle of the four northern families alliance.
Second, the honorable nobles from other countries who have bought the special administrative region's land can be transferred to our family's honorable noble title as long as they pay a fee. Those people will be more than happy to do so. Our Norton family's honorable noble title is much more valuable than the honorable nobles from other countries who rely on Kingford Wholesale. We are the new and powerful aristocrats of the territory. If it is an honorary aristocrat recognized by our family, they will be looked up to by others in the aristocratic circle. No one will easily offend them because we will stand up for these families' honorary aristocrats.
Lastly, after this news is released, the price of the second special administrative region's land will increase again. Those honorable nobles will go crazy trying to get their hands on a piece of it. I suspect that the price of the 40 plots this time will probably exceed the total value of the 67 plots in the first special administrative region … "
Alright, since there would be a lot of Kingford Wholesale, Director Spear kept her mouth shut and prepared to make a fortune in silence.
Lebrist said with a bitter smile, "If it weren't for the great loss of our family's armed forces in this war, I wouldn't have come up with this idea. But it's better to take money from the nobles and rich commoners than to raise taxes on the poor people … Oh, Baron Shredder, this time the Flying Tiger Legion and the Hunter Legion suffered heavy casualties. The pensions for the soldiers who sacrificed themselves and those who retired due to disability must be implemented to every family. In addition, I've decided to reduce the tax rate for the families of the soldiers who were killed or injured. In order to maintain the preferential treatment for the families of the soldiers, their tax rate will all be reduced to 30%. "
The tax rate collected by the lords of the various countries in Galinthea Continent was maintained at more than 50%. In other words, when a lord gave a piece of land to his people, half of the harvest from the land had to be handed over to the lord. In addition, there were many miscellaneous taxes such as housing tax, water tax, boat tax, and road tax. The lord only had to hand over 10% of the harvest from the land to his superior lord as a tithe. The rest of the harvest from the people was his own income. Therefore, many harsh lords even raised the tax rate to 70%, making the people extremely poor and forcing the people to use labor and blood tax to offset the lord's tax.
Labor was to work for the lord for free, and they had to bring their own food, usually for one to three months a year. Blood tax was to bring their own weapons and equipment to fight for the lord. The lord only had to take care of their meals, two meals a day, which were basically pig's food. There was also no salary. Only after winning a battle and obtaining permission to plunder would there be any harvest. But most of the loot had to be handed over to their lord. If they unfortunately died in battle, the lord could inform their family. There was no pension or compensation, and the family would be in a difficult situation because they had lost their main labor force.
The Norton Family's tax rate had always been 50%, which was already the lowest tax rate for a lord. When Laurist returned to the family territory, he originally felt that the tax rate was too high and wanted to reduce it to 30%, but the knights and stewards of the family unanimously opposed it. Fatty Shi also privately advised him not to stand out too much, or else he would easily become an outlier in the eyes of the nobles. Therefore, Laurist never changed the tax rate, but he reduced most of the miscellaneous taxes. The only one, fishing and hunting tax, was reduced to 10%.
Although he couldn't reduce the tax rate, the Norton Family gave preferential tax rates to the families of the soldiers who joined the family's armed forces. If one person from a family became a member of the garrison, the family's tax rate would be reduced by 10%, and they only had to hand over 40% of the harvest from the fields. If they became a regular soldier of the family's armed forces, the tax rate would be reduced to 30%. Even if they were retired, the family's tax rate would be reduced to 40%.
In the past, the families of the soldiers who sacrificed themselves for the family were permanently exempted from the tax rate of 10%, but now Laurist wanted to reduce it by another 10%, and he was very determined to do so, despite Spear's objection.
"In fact, Spear, the majority of the family's tax revenue has never been from the fields, but from the factories and mines. The largest income from the businesses is the income. After developing the Fengle Plains, the Xingan Plains, the Red River Plains, and the Taichuan Plains, the total annual income from the fields doesn't exceed one million gold coins, which is equivalent to the income from developing the property in Beiye Town in the Fengle Plains. Therefore, the taxes on the fields don't have much meaning. Reducing the tax rate by 10% will actually make the people more loyal and grateful to the family.
This time, the total number of soldiers who sacrificed themselves or were disabled or retired is almost 40,000, and the annual pension amount will be close to 100,000. Therefore, we don't have to argue over less than 10,000 in the fields. Let's just exempt the 10,000, and let the families of the soldiers who sacrificed themselves know that the family hasn't forgotten the blood these soldiers shed for the family, "Laurist said with a hint of sadness.
"I was wrong. I will follow Your Highness's decision." Spear lowered her head.
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