After chatting with his wife for a while and having dinner, it began to rain outside the passenger ship. The rain in the early winter always brought with it a bone-chilling cold. Laing held his son, Devenhill, and taught him how to read and speak. The little guy was very close to his father. He kissed his father on the cheek and giggled. Suria stayed beside the father and son, gently watching Laing and Devenhill play without saying a word. In fact, the female knight did not like her son to be too close to her. She hoped that Devenhill could be close to Laing as well. After being taught and influenced by the way of the knight since childhood, Suria always felt that if a boy stayed with women all day long, he would not become a powerful knight in the future.
After playing for a while, Devenhill was sleepy and wanted to sleep. Sylvia took the initiative to carry him away. Laing said to Suria, "Suria, you rest first. I'm going to take a walk on the deck."
"It's raining outside. You're going out?" Suria said casually.
"I heard that it's better to take a walk on a rainy day!" Laing said with a smile. "I saw Kalad and Afu talking about something in the corridor. I'm going out to take a look."
"Okay, go ahead." Suria did not say anything else. She motioned for Laing to go and come back early. "Wait until Devenhill is asleep."
When Lionheart came out of the room, he was greeted by a gloomy and rainy weather. The sky above the Rick River was covered by clouds. Thunder rumbled in the sky, and raindrops fell on the river and the land on both sides of the river. They also fell on the sides of the ship. The rain wasn't very heavy, but it was very dense. Lionheart raised his head to look at the gloomy sky and walked out of the room along the corridor.
There were many towns and outposts built on both sides of the Riker River. There were many ships on the river, and many of them were drenched by the heavy rain. They had no choice but to stop by the shore temporarily. Seeing Leon come out, the old guard who was standing guard at the door immediately saluted.
"You've worked hard." Laing patted the two old guards on the shoulder. "Where's Bertrand?"
"Sir Bertrand is resting in his room," cried one of the old guards.
"Well, did anything happen?" Laing asked casually.
"Nothing." The old guard saluted again. "Other than this damned weather!"
"Haha …" Laing laughed and walked out of the cabin along the corridor. The cold wind outside blew, causing Laing's long black hair to flutter in the air. When he walked up to the corridor on the second floor, he saw Alfred, Frey, and Kalad standing there looking at the scenery. The champion of the Lady of the Lake immediately walked over. "Alfred, Kalad, you guys sure are in the mood to come out and look at the scenery at this time. Aren't you afraid of being hit by a wave? "
"The cabin is too stuffy, and there's a bad smell." Kalard was wearing a Brittany Count's suit, and his brown hair was fluttering in the cold wind. The Holy Grail Knight shook his head helplessly. "The smell of money."
"Yes, there are disgusting transactions everywhere." Alfred, Frey, looked a little indignant. He shook his head. "In the cabin, the group of merchants are sitting together, talking about gold coins and gold."
This time, Laing returned to Brittany with not only him and the army of knights brought by Kalad, but also a large number of Nur merchants and even many small nobles had boarded the passenger ship to Brittany. After getting Laing's guarantee, everyone was willing to go to Brittany to try their luck, especially Mu Xilong. The Knight King was rejuvenated, and the business opportunity contained in the Nur Kingdom attracted these Nur people like sharks who smelled blood.
Laing also expressed his welcome. He had no reason not to welcome these people. There were many ways to revive Mu Xilong, and a large investment was definitely the fastest way.
"It's normal. The pursuit of profit is human nature, or the nature of merchants." Laing took a few steps and reached out to touch the railing that was wet from the rain. He smiled. "Just like the pursuit of glory is the nature of knights, and the pursuit of piety is the nature of priests."
"I know that." Kalard took the initiative to speak. The Sanctum champion walked to Laing's side. He looked at the rain and was a little disappointed. "Lord Laing, you told me that the pursuit of gold by merchants is the same as the pursuit of the Holy Grail by knights."
"Yes, I have no right to stop the pursuit of profit by merchants, just like I have no right to stop the pursuit of the Holy Grail by knights." Laing closed his eyes and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing on his face. "In that case, what's there to be troubled about?"
"I'm just a little unhappy." Kalard's tone was very harsh. He took two steps sideways and then quickly walked to Laing's side. "Lord Laing, do you know what those merchants are talking about?"
"What are they talking about?" Laing took the opportunity to ask.
"They're talking about how great this is. Brittany has no tax in kind, only customs duties and city entry taxes. Now they can make a lot of money!" Al- Frey said gloomily. "What a bunch of merchants! They're talking about Brittany's low taxes, especially that young Sir Krupp. He's very excited, saying that he can finally be free from the high business tax in Nur. "
"Hahaha! Did he also say that as long as the conditions permit, he can even move all his family's business in Nur to Muxilon? " Laing could not help but laugh. "I dare say that if he really dares to do that, it's only a matter of time before he's hanged in Nur. Emilia won't let him go."
"That's not true." Al- Frey could not help but laugh. After laughing, he shook his head. "That's why, Laing, sometimes I think, aren't these rich people a little too much? They've made so much money, and there are so many poor people struggling on the line of hunger. Why can't they take the initiative to help the poor? "
"Do the rich not donate enough money to the church?" Laing did not agree with this point. He shook his head. "Just this young Sir Krupp you mentioned, he has donated no less than 50,000 gold marks to the Church of Justice in the past ten years. This time, he and his father, old Krupp, jointly donated 25,000 gold marks to the Church of Justice. Just this point alone, we can't ask for more."
Al- Frey and Kalad had nothing to say about this. The new patriarch of the Western Brittany Diocese could only spread his hands. "Well, perhaps this young Sir Krupp is indeed generous, but not every businessman is like this. I've seen many businessmen in Nur who only care about making money for themselves and don't care about the people. I can't say that they should be hanged like this. But … "
"Haha, Alf, you've grown up." Laing nodded and smiled. "Just because you didn't rush up and blow their heads off, I have to praise you."
"I've long since passed the age of impulsiveness. If it were a decade ago, I would've been like you when you came to Marlin Castle." Al- Frey shrugged. "The Empire's laws state that citizens' property is sacred and free. I just want to say that there's no way to deal with these rich people. Like taxing them more? Like limiting their overconfidence? "
"I think so too. We can't let these profiteers think that it's easy to make money," Kalad agreed.
"Stop joking, Alf, Kalad," Laing sighed as he looked at the river and the rain, "Taxing the rich? In fact, the richer a person is, the harder it is to tax them. For example, François is my father-in-law and Suria's father. Everyone in Brittany knows that he and his Winford Duchy are the richest. He has several vineyards and earns more than fifty thousand crowns a year from the wine trade alone. So, who dares to tell him that he's making too much money from wine and that we have to tax him heavily? "
François was a Grail Knight of the Sanctum. He had money and food in his hands. His bloodline was noble, and he had great influence in the kingdom. He also had an elite troop, the Champion Knights Brotherhood of Quinalis. Al- Frey and Kalad thought about it for a while and could only shake their heads with bitter smiles.
If this was not handled well, it would lead to war.
"The richer and more powerful a person is, the harder it is to tax them. Al- Frey, you should have a deeper understanding of this." Laing began to talk about the differences between tax systems. He looked at the cold rain in the early winter and said, "Merchants and nobles will either try to avoid taxes or shift the tax burden downward. For example, if Emilia taxes the Krupps heavily, the price of firearms and cannons in Nur will rise together."
This time, Al- Frey and Kalad's expressions turned serious. They knew that Laing had something to say.
There were three ways of taxing individuals: head tax, scale tax, and progressive tax.
Poll tax seemed the fairest, but it was actually the most unfair and had many drawbacks. The poor were hit the hardest, while the rich were basically unaffected. I won't talk about it here.
Proportional tax was slightly better and seemed fairer, but it wasn't. For example, a poor farmer with an annual income of three crowns could barely feed his family. Tithing would kill him. For example, a craftsman with an annual income of 30 crowns would also feel bad about paying a tithe. But for a minor noble with an annual income of 300 crowns, 30 crowns wasn't much of a problem.
It would already be good enough if the tax collector could collect 15 crowns, as the minor noble's butler would help with the accounting. The minor nobles had plenty of ways to avoid being taxed.
Finally, there was the excessive progressive tax. This was very similar to the Celestial Empire in Ryan's previous life. The poor didn't pay any tax, the middle class paid less, and the rich paid more. This kind of tax was actually unfair, but most people felt that it was the fairest.
However, the rich weren't willing to be cheated. They had plenty of ways to do so. For example, a certain Superman Li in Laing's previous life suddenly became Lord Li of the British Empire and became a citizen of Maple. Another example was a certain tycoon who gave himself an annual salary of one dollar, which was far from the starting point.
Even more ruthless was the 75% tax on those with annual salaries of more than a million euros in France. That was a heavy tax, wasn't it? When the tax was first introduced, 80% of the populace supported it. Many drank to celebrate, but in the first year of the tax, prices skyrocketed by 25%. The ones who suffered the most were the poor. More than ten thousand tycoons became citizens of other nations. The huge capital outflow had a devastating effect on the nation's economy. In the end, it was still the poor and middle class that had to pay the bill.
Laing explained a few of the problems, causing Al- Frey and Kalad to break out in cold sweat. In the end, Laing concluded, "Fairness and justice can't be reached on this issue. Also, like you said, Fu, the citizens' financial freedom is protected by the Empire's laws. When merchants donate to the church and request for notarization, the church will also take on the responsibility of protecting them. We can't just confiscate their wealth, can we?"
Al- Frey said helplessly, "Then isn't there a way to make all the nobles and merchants pay their taxes?"
"There is." He lowered his head and looked at the badge of the knight of the Holy Grail on his chest. Then he looked at Kalad's badge and said, "At least in Brittania, there is a kind of tax. Not only do all the knights and nobles have to pay, but they also do not dare to evade or play tricks. Everyone pays the full amount honestly, and some even pay more often. And this is the core reason why Brittania has stood strong for thousands of years. Although there are many problems and darkness, it is still the core of why Brittania has stood strong for thousands of years."
Kalad already understood. Earl Garament nodded repeatedly. "Yes, no one dares not to pay this kind of tax."
"What kind of tax is that? How can it be so magical?" Al- Frey asked curiously.
"That is …"
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