People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 132 Rich Hebron
The lord's hall in Hebron is no worse than Lothar's in Jogrysburg.

The towering circular dome, the wide living room, the luxurious floor tiles, and the exquisite reliefs, compared with the castles of the country lords in Western Europe, are simply paradise.
The two ax guards had already walked the winding stairs to the second floor to replace Lothar's giant heraldic flag.

This flag is juxtaposed with another Jerusalem cross flag, with a double-headed eagle designed by Lothar himself, fluttering its wings.

Lothar couldn't help feeling a strong sense of accomplishment in his heart.

Count of Transjordan!
This is already many times more noble than the title of Earl of Argau, right?No matter what Werner did, he couldn't have imagined that the second son of his family had made such an achievement, right?
Lothar sat down on the throne belonging to the lord in the center of the hall.

He tapped the gilt armrest.

After a while, he planned to call Marles over to start the well-equipped iron workshop.

Sego's iron mine is not far from Hebron, and it is not far from Yogrysburg, so there is no need to re-transport it.

Limited by the size of the territory, even if Fort Joglius had the Hussars Barracks and the Varangian Guards Barracks, his court and the center of gravity of his rule must be in Hebron.

The lance of the equipped cavalry is still in Hans' hands, and Lothar has no plans to use this epic item to unlock the barracks of the equipped cavalry.

It has been proved in actual combat that the effect of this thing is still very fierce. If it is combined with the 20.00% bonus of all attributes of the "Rangna" Knight Flower, it will be extremely terrifying.

How much property he currently has under his control will not be known until Andreas, the new garment maker, meets with Leonard, the person who will stay here.

But even if he doesn't have a single fief, after depriving those powerful pagan lands, he can still entrust them to the hussars under his command, and make them all knights.

At that time, recruit a hundred hussars, and they will be invincible on the battlefield.

Fringira wanted to go forward.

Jean Na stopped her: "Let the adults revel in themselves. If you want to please people, you don't have to just post them."

Fulingira was a little unconvinced and said, "You understand better than me?"

Jeanna's face froze for a moment: "At least I know better than you!"

Fringila was still not convinced: "Don't look at me young, I'm actually [-] years old, I just slept for a long time, I haven't seen anything?"

Jeanna smiled and said, "I don't know the depth of experience, but it's small, it's really small."

Flynn's accumulated goodwill towards Rangna vanished in an instant, but she was also a little afraid of Rangna, and she didn't dare to call someone the same way she did for Hannah, so she could only sulk.

At this time, Andreas presented a booklet: "My lord, the gold book of the Hebron territory is already here, and the tax collector of Baron Leonard assured that they will only take away what originally belonged to Earl Leonard. The chattels, the deed documents of all real estate, and the keys to the mansion have all been sorted and properly placed."

The golden book is not gold, just like the golden imperial edict is not gold.

Lothar opened the booklet and murmured: "There are fourteen manor houses, three grape plantations, two winemaking workshops, twelve wind mills, two churches, and two bridges."

These are all assets that can be entrusted to knights as fiefs.

They all belong to the category of real estate and can generate continuous income. For example, each old farmer has to pay a share of grain for using the mill once.

Manors like Constance are not included, because they are located in the city and can only meet the living conditions.

It is impossible to maintain a knight's food and clothing, and the need to replace armor and horses.

The so-called eleven taxes really cannot summarize all the taxes that a farmer needs to pay.

Lothar frowned, put down the golden book and said, "It's much less than I thought."

Andreas explained: "Baron Leonard is not very good at managing the territory. He has sold many properties and land to local pagan tyrants in exchange for wealth."

"Oh, I can understand it."

Leonard is obviously a model of militarism. When he was the craziest, he once formed an army of up to 8000 people, which was not inferior to the regent Raymond's army.

In terms of wealth, the Counties of Transjordan cannot compare with Raymond, who occupies the entire Counties of Tripoli.

Not to mention anything else, but only the Counties of Tripoli, without the need to contribute any wealth to the kingdom, and only nominally surrendered to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, this is something that the Counties of Transjordan cannot match.

Either the former is an earl country, while the latter can only be called an earldom.

"But to be honest, with Leonard's hatred for the heretics, I didn't expect to not kill all the local tyrants of these heretics and plunder their wealth."

Lothar joked, but he knew in his heart that Leonard was just reckless, but he was by no means a complete idiot.

Otherwise, it would not be one of the biggest heroes of the Battle of Mengisa. In addition, he also pioneered the genius strategy of "boating on dry land" (Note).

Although Lothar is against the tax package system, it must be admitted that the tax package system has a great advantage, that is, it can receive the most money at the minimum cost.

Even if the unruly people rebel due to tyranny, it is still the business of the taxpayer, which is equivalent to the full amount of positive assets, and there is no need to bear any obligations to the land or the "difficult people".

For example, if Lothar intends to kill the tax collectors, he has to pay out of his own pocket to support a group of tax collectors, and the tax collectors must also have a guard to prevent the people from resisting the tax with arms.

Not to mention, tax collectors are also greedy for money.

If Lothar is not in control of a small earldom, but a big empire like Song Dynasty, I am afraid that remote areas will not only not be able to collect taxes, but the courtiers will report a famine, and the nomads will plunder, but they will be able to get money from Lothar's pocket. During the process, a sum of disaster relief funds or military pay was squeezed out.

Moreover, taxpayers are far better than tax collectors who are outsiders, and are better at extracting every copper coin and every grain of grain from the hands of the people except what can barely satisfy their stomachs.

"Tsk, that's it, Hebron can collect [-] Suledes in taxes every year. If you add additional Saladin tax, unbelievers tax, pilgrim tolls, and unwillingness to perform military service The shield tax, the exemption tax paid by criminals, and then blackmail the Jewish merchants and devalue the currency... No wonder Earl Raymond is willing to compromise with them."

Hebron was just too rich.

Not to mention that Leonard originally owned the two core fiefdoms of Montreal and Fort Calle.

No wonder Leonard was able to maintain a generous and luxurious court life while maintaining a standing army of three thousand capable of conscripting and fighting.

"My lord, some pagan tyrants in the city have arrived outside the palace, and they hope to have an audience with you."

"Let's go, let's go and see these pagan tyrants who are still able to mix well under Leonard's hands."

It was still early, not many people came, only a dozen or so.

They stood under the steps outside the lord's hall, and when they saw Lothar, they took the initiative to use Frankish etiquette to kiss the heraldic ring on Lothar's finger, with a flattering smile on their faces.

"You are so handsome, it is an honor to have the opportunity to meet you."

"Praise you, great Count Lothar."

They touted for a while.

Then, he took out a stack of receipts.

Lothar glanced at it, did not reach out to pick it up, but frowned: "What is this?"

A Jewish businessman laughed and said, "My lord, this is the receipt for a loan from us by Lord Leonard."

Lothar sneered: "I'm not blind, what I want to say is, what do you give me these things for?"

A bearded Saracens man smiled and said: "My lord, according to the laws of the Franks, since you have inherited the title and territory of Earl Leonard, you will naturally inherit the debt between Earl Leonard and us." relation."

Sure enough, there is a pit!

Lothar glanced at the garment maker, Andreas, meaning: See what you're doing?
Andreas immediately stepped forward with a livid face, and first introduced himself: "I am the court garment maker of the Earl, Andreas, when you first met, you brought money disputes to come to me. To pollute my lord's ear is simply a great disrespect."

These people immediately showed panic and apologized.

Andreas snorted: "You have to know that Leonard of Châtillon was only deprived of the title of earl and the territory of Hebron, and did not die suddenly or of illness. Since he is still alive, he owes you Of course, he should also be responsible for the money."

"According to the Salic inheritance law of our Franks, if Hebron is inherited by my lord from Leonard according to the inheritance law, he will naturally inherit his debt to you, but the premise of all this is that Ray Nader is dead!"

Andreas said categorically.

These turban-wrapped places are powerful and show embarrassment: "But my lord, how dare we go to Kaleburg to find Lord Leonard to ask for our money?"

I can go to your mother's house!
Lothar scolded his mother in his heart, but his face was filled with a warm smile: "It doesn't matter, Baron Leonard's tax collector here has not had time to leave the city, I will immediately send my patrol officer to lead the hussars to pay your debts. The money will be recovered.”

There was a trace of surprise on their faces: "Then thank you very much, you are really a generous and generous lord just like the legends."

They thought to themselves that the new earl was so talkative, and the days to come would definitely be much more relaxed than under that violent guy Leonard.

Who knows, Lothar has already regarded the money in their pockets as his own!
He is not asking for money back for these people at all, but for himself!

As Ulm left with these "creditors", the smile on Lothar's face disappeared immediately: "Oh, these dogs, they are afraid of Leonard, but not me, good people should be shot pointing?"

Andreas: "?"

"It's okay, it's just a joke."

Lothar began to understand why the King of France would persecute the Knights Templar on trumped-up charges.

The reason is simple: If you can't solve the debt, just solve the creditor!

"Andreas, call Model here. Immediately send the ax guards and city guards to guard the door. From now on, I will not receive anyone except those knights and nobles who fought side by side with me."

(Sailing on dry land—refers to Leonard’s strategy of transporting ships from land to the Red Sea by rolling logs, etc., and launching a surprise attack on the two holy places of Zoroastrianism. A lot of wealth. Popular on the Internet because the Ottomans also used this strategy when they attacked Constantinople)

(End of this chapter)