The Revolutionary Era in One Piece

Just as Garen was leading his army in a fierce battle in Zaun, new events occurred in the rear of the Kingdom of Deya.

Due to the war, the treasury of the Kingdom of Deya became very tight. However, seeing that the battle was raging on the front line, military expenses could not be saved, so when the nobles were unwilling to open their purse strings, the officials could only resort to the common people.

Officials appointed by the kingdom began to levy taxes on a large scale in the city. Unfortunately, the city had suffered from taxes before, and there was not much left for ordinary residents to take.

"Everyone, what should we do? The poor people in the city can no longer be squeezed out of money. If this continues, after this war, the money in the treasury may not even be able to provide military rations." said a noble in the meeting room.

“Well, if you really have no money, then you may have to take money from us.” An old nobleman continued.

"Bullshit! Why should I pay? My parents told me since I was a child that my noble status is to enjoy myself. Paying money is simply impossible." A pot-bellied noble stood up and shouted.

"That's right, that's right." Other nobles in the meeting room also responded.

"There is nothing we can do about it. If there is no military funding and we are defeated on the front line, I'm afraid everyone here will have no choice but to be slaughtered by the army of the Kingdom of North." The old nobleman advised again.

Hearing this, the nobles in the meeting room fell silent again. If you asked them to pay for the military expenses at the beginning, they would definitely be unwilling, but if you were to give the money to the nobles of the enemy country, they would be willing to pay for the military expenses again.

Seeing that this was reasonable, the other nobles could not refute it, and could only think silently, looking for a way to have the best of both worlds, a good way to raise military funds without having to pay for it themselves.

Just as the meeting fell into silence, a servant quietly walked into the meeting room from the side door, walked up to the pot-bellied nobleman, and whispered to him for a while.

With a bang, the pot-bellied noble suddenly stood up.

He then said loudly, "Everyone, there is a solution. We can go to the countryside and requisition the autumn harvest."

One of the nobles retorted, "You must have remembered it wrongly. All the countryside has been requisitioned. Except for the land we own, the rest of the bad land in the countryside has been scraped clean. I guess there's not even any rice left on those lands."

"Haha." The noble patted his big belly and said, "I don't know where those poor guys got the capital from. Now it's autumn harvest time, their fields are full of food again, and they wanted to take the opportunity to reclaim those rotten fields as well.

But this is not bad, we can collect taxes from the untouchables, so we don't have to pay, and the price of food seems to be quite high now because of the war, we might be able to make some money!"

When the other nobles heard about this idea, they all applauded. Finally, everyone started to talk about how to make another fortune through this opportunity.

Just when everyone was fantasizing, the battle report from Galen on the front line came. Under the protection of the army, the army of the Kingdom of Deya defeated the enemy's plan of night attack, and the army of the Kingdom of Norse might have to withdraw.

After hearing the news, everyone in the meeting room became even happier. At this time, the old noble suggested, "Since the front line is about to win, should we still levy war taxes?"

If it had happened before, everyone would have been very happy to hear that they didn't have to fight anymore, because if they continued to fight, they would probably have to pay the fine.

But the situation is different now. Even if the fighting continues on the front line, they will not receive the money, and they can even take the opportunity to make a profit. Everyone's attitude has become somewhat ambiguous.

The same noble with a big belly stood up and said, "I think the war still needs to be fought and the taxes still need to be paid. Now, hasn't Darius retreated yet? Even if he retreated, won't he come back again?"

Then, he concluded in a serious tone, "We have to pay the money. We have to pay it. Think about it, we are eating hot pot and singing in the city.

Suddenly, Darius, the barbarian, came with his men to attack us, and there was no military funds in the treasury. What should we do? Therefore, everyone spent money and paid taxes so that they could live a good life in peace and comfort! "

In this way, the policy of collecting autumn taxes was set. Many clerks who abused their power in the cities began to move towards the revolutionary base areas where the autumn harvest was about to begin.

At this time, "One Piece is about to be publicly executed" and "Golden Lion broke into the Navy Headquarters alone and was arrested". In order to get the first-hand information in the world, Ma En was reading the World News. Many major events in the world can only be learned through newspapers.

"Mr. Maan, this is bad." Lux ran over and said breathlessly, "Comrades have reported that the Kingdom of Deya has increased the autumn tax.

The tax collectors also clashed with villagers from some of the villages we helped outside our base, and some villagers were arrested. Comrades, please tell us what to do next.

Ma En also realized the seriousness of the situation. "Lacus, notify the committee members immediately and prepare to hold a meeting."

That's right, as the base expanded to both sides with the Aya Mountains as the benchmark, many cadres such as Crow, Little Gus and other old comrades were sent to the local areas to take charge of the work. Now Lux has become Marn's assistant, responsible for the work around Marn.

Following Lux's urgent notice, the Revolutionary Party Committee meeting was quickly organized. Although some local cadres had not yet arrived, the Revolutionary Front Committee, except for Li, had all arrived, so it was decided to hold a meeting first.

At the signal of Marx and Engels, Che, who was in charge of civil affairs, spoke first, "Comrades, since the last meeting, the entire base area has made great progress under the leadership of the Party...

The autumn harvest in our base is coming soon. If we can harvest enough, it will be enough to feed the people in the base for two years."

After Qie finished speaking, Ma En began to speak, "Comrades all know that the food we eat is grown in the fields. Don't think I'm joking. Don't think this is a simple truth.

Those masters may not understand this truth. They don't know that food is grown by farmers who work hard and diligently in the fields.

What did they think? They thought the food was given by them! They thought the ordinary people could survive because of their charity!

So they want us to kneel down, to treat us like cattle and horses, and to oppress us. It is because they think that the lives of ordinary people cannot be separated from them, so they want to intensify their oppression of us.

And now, the nobles in the city have imposed an additional autumn harvest tax. What are they trying to do? They are trying to rob the working people of their labor! Comrades, will the working people agree to this? Will we, the revolutionary party, agree to this?"

Young Gus was the most excited and shouted, "No!"

Then, other people in the conference room stood up one after another, and their voices of "never agreeing" resounded throughout the room.

"Okay, comrades, this is the answer from us revolutionaries!" Ma En looked at Daomei again, "Comrade Irelia, how is the training of the revolutionary army going? And how about promoting the special martial arts you teach in the army?"

Daomei replied sternly, "The troops are already very proficient in their training, but no one has yet been able to fully master those martial arts."

"It doesn't matter. Those powerful martial arts training cannot be completed overnight. But now that you are proficient in the training, the next step is actual combat." Ma En said, "Organize the militia at the base and be ready to defend against enemy attacks at any time.

Now the main force of the Deya Kingdom should still be fighting with the North Kingdom on the front line. The enemy should have sent only second-line troops. Our army must seize this opportunity to conduct actual combat training.

Even if the Kingdom of Deya sends its main force to suppress us, our army will have actual combat experience and can deal with it calmly."

In this way, instructions were issued one after another at the meeting, and the entire base was put on alert.

Facing the heavily guarded base, the tax collectors were chased away by the militia before they could even get close to the base. In desperation, the tax collectors could only ask for help from the nobles in the capital.

"Damn it, those damn peasants dare not pay taxes? Do you mean they dare to resist the officials of the kingdom?" asked a noble angrily.

"Yes, sir. Not only are they unwilling to pay, but they even dare to beat us officials who work for the country. This is not a beating us, this is a slap in the face of the sir." An official with a bruised face and nose replied.

"Humph, they are so bold. Just wait, the kingdom will send guards to go with you to arrest all those mobs who dare to resist the kingdom without paying taxes." The noble said impatiently.

Since the main force was still confronting the Norse army at the front line, the Kingdom of Deya could only mobilize the second-line garrison troops in the city, but in the eyes of the nobles, the second-line troops were enough to deal with a group of mobs.

The original plan was to mobilize 1,500 soldiers to attack the base, but upon investigation, it was discovered that one-third of the mobilized troops were empty soldiers.

It turned out that when the war with the Kingdom of Norse became increasingly fierce, facing the successive defeats on the front lines, many noble officers on the front lines did not want to go to the battlefield.

As a result, the nobles began to use their connections to transfer themselves to the rear, which resulted in the garrison troops in the rear being mostly composed of people with general connections.

In this way, the nobles brought about the trend of collecting empty salaries, and now one-third of the army has vacancies. It seems that the previous series of defeats on the front line were not without reason.

Seeing that the troops could not be assembled, the nobles in charge could not escape the blame and had to urgently transfer two hundred serfs to join, and also forcibly requisitioned some caravans as baggage troops.

In this way, more than 2,000 combat soldiers and auxiliary troops marched towards the base in a "vigorous" manner.

As this chaotic army marched towards the base, as expected, the entire army was spotted by the scouts of the revolutionary army.

The military trio led by Irelia, Gus, and Crow thought they would face a strong suppression from the Deya Kingdom's army, but unfortunately they didn't expect the enemy to be so powerful.

Little Gus even volunteered, saying that only 500 revolutionary soldiers plus some militiamen would be needed to annihilate this isolated enemy force that had penetrated deep into the enemy's territory.

Fortunately, Daomei was not carried away and still remembered the policy of practical training proposed by Ma En at the meeting.

Therefore, after careful study by the Front Committee, the revolutionary army in the base area sent out all its main forces, and all the people in the entire Fourth Revolutionary Army were dispatched except for a small number of troops left behind.

It is estimated that in this operation, our military strength advantage over the local forces is greater than two to one. The tactical plan is to adopt the strategy of luring the enemy deep into our base area and strive to completely wipe out the invading enemy forces within the base area.

While the revolutionary army was preparing for an ambush with drums and gongs, the invading army of the Deya Kingdom was also marching in large strides towards the heart of the base.

What's more, it's quite funny that the noble officers commanding the army placed all the serfs at the front of the army, and it seemed that they were ready to make drastic measures and move to the rear if the battle went against their will.

In this march without any formation or tactics, the attacking enemy may not have thought that they have been surrounded by the revolutionary army silently. This will be the first battle after the Red Flag Army is officially formed.