Academy Genius Commander

23 – Restore the Territory (2)

Human beings are also beings who forget the past, but they are also animals that learn from past experiences.

In other words, if you have a good experience in the past, you can develop based on that.

If you have been abused by someone in the past or have experienced a painful failure, it means that you have learned a passive attitude, helplessness, and fear that you can’t do anything without knowing it.

And as for why I’m thinking this…

It was because the people who had been severely tormented by the previous lord grabbed me as I had just entered the meeting room and began to pray recklessly.

“My lord, please lower the taxes. please save me No, more than anything else, I want you to abolish the goddamn first night’s right and death tax.”

“In other territories, landlords and village chiefs like us harass the people, but we have never been like that!”

“Even if you ask me to give my daughter as a concubine, I will gladly give it to you! Please lower the tax by 20%. There is nothing to eat. Last winter, 10 people in our village starved to death because there was nothing to eat.”

As I listened to their stories, I inspected the clothes, faces, and skin conditions of the nobles of the territory they were speaking to.

Not even rags, but clothes made of very coarse and coarse fabric, skin that was not greasy and rough, proof that it hadn’t eaten properly for a long time.

The face, which has lost fat due to not eating proper nutritious food, has prominent bones and eyes.

Usually local nobles deliberately wear rough clothes in front of the lord in order to earn even a penny more, but…

If he had enough food to live on, he would not have disguised himself in front of me with the intention of appearing in such pain and eating something.

So I sighed and said.

“Serious. It’s very serious. I heard that the former lord, Kocon, collected huge taxes and ruined the lives of the people of the territory. I can’t believe even you, who occupy a certain position in the provinces, are in this situation.”

When I said something that sounded like sympathy, the eyes of the village headman and landlords began to moisten.

Some of them looked at me with anticipation and curiosity during this time, apparently hoping that I would lower their taxes.

Even if the village chief or landlord didn’t ask for it, they tried to normalize taxes anyway.

“First of all, before I express my thoughts in earnest, let me settle this first. As for taxes, the 90% tax imposed on you by Lord Kokon will be reduced to 60% according to Imperial law. Of the grain harvested this year, 30% of the grain extorted by the previous lords will be returned to their respective villages in Bruno Castle. Also, the right to the first night and the death tax will be completely abolished from this moment.”

After my words were over, the landowners and village chiefs who were sitting in their respective seats jumped up and shouted “hurray” and embraced each other.

“Long live the lord!”

“Now we live. Thank you Deus.”

“The tax has become too light! Now I can pay 60%! Is this a dream or is it real?”

If it were Korea, the government would have made a fuss about deducting 60% of each income as tax, but here, it is a world where three cheers are heard for being selected.

It’s been 15 years since I reincarnated into the Reich Empire, but this place was like another world within the Reich Empire.

“Not only that, but I will use the tax collected this year for construction or work that will benefit you as much as possible.”

Now, there are 11,000 gold received from the emperor and crown prince, so if you use this, you will not have to pay taxes for 3 years if you do not provide benefits including welfare, and if you provide welfare, you will not have to pay taxes for about 2 years.

However, no matter how difficult the circumstances of this estate are, what if you do ‘not receiving taxes for 1-2 years’?

The nobles around you will see the absurd behavior of the newly appointed lord of the next territory and demand a tax cut, which will impeach you for disturbing the order of the empire.

Even the crown prince, who was my only supporter, was very likely to just ignore me, let alone protect me, if I came under such criticism.

Moreover, it feels good when you are exempted from tax once, but once you enjoy the benefits of ‘tax free’, you cannot go back to your previous life of paying taxes.

“By the way, lord, what the heck is a job that will help us…”

“It is to clear the vacant land within the territory, build a reservoir, build roads, and maintain villages.”

At that, the village chief who asked me a question made a statement that crossed the line a bit.

“What does that mean to us? After all, as serfs, we are obliged to do whatever the lord wants for free.”

That’s not wrong.

So, even after the former lord, like a tax-eating pig, collects 90% of the tax from the serfs, he collects the death tax and eats up the serfs’ property.

It would have been possible to impose a huge marriage tax on married couples who exercised even the first night.

I didn’t say it because it was too terrible to share with the landlords and village chiefs, but there are records that many couples had to spend their bride’s first night with the lord because they didn’t have money to pay the wedding tax.

To that extent, the lord exercised absolute control in this village.

So it wasn’t that I didn’t understand what he was saying, so instead of resorting to violence to show my dignity, I continued my explanation gently.

“In return, a cow will be given to the households of those who participate in this kind of work in their spare time, and food to last through the winter and spring will be given. Of course, since I’m in the position to provide food, I won’t give benefits like ‘cultivation rights for the land and 10 years of tax exemption’ to those who pioneered it according to the Imperial Law… But isn’t the food to be eaten tomorrow urgently?”

In this way, like a kind of New Deal policy, serfs who have no way to live will be able to find food, clothing and shelter.

In addition, now is a time when farming is not relatively busy, such as winter or early spring.

There is no doubt that you will be able to cultivate a very large area of the field.

When I said that, the nobles nodded their heads loudly to see if they liked the benefits I provided.

“If you do as the lord said, we have nothing more to ask for.”

“Now the serfs won’t starve to death in the winter…”

“Thank you, lord. thank you.”

I can understand their rejoicing, but I never thought the day would come when I live and see people who are equal in the same level in the provinces grateful that the serfs and their worries have been resolved…

Inside, seeing them upset because of the previous lord made me sigh at the absurdity, but I can’t really react like that in front of people who are so happy that they’re about to cry.

Instead, I clapped twice to lighten the mood and said.

“Unmarried girls without a fiancé in the territory, and second sons and third sons in each village will be provided with food to survive if they work six days a week on road construction or other work. And if you work for two years like that, I will support you so that a man and a woman of the right age can get married.”

In Korea, where marriage through love is commonplace, if such a policy is introduced, it will be criticized as a violation of human rights.

In this day and age, it is more common for serfs to marry according to family arrangements than to marry for love.

So, if I make a proposal like this, it will be accepted as a good policy to increase the marriage rate by marrying old bachelors to old virgins.

He said it like nailing it here.

“I will pay for the cattle to be lent to the serfs in each village and the minimum amount of grain the serfs need to eat right now with the money I brought. In addition, I will provide a minimum wage to those of you who are in charge of heavy and responsible work.”

It may cost a lot of money, but the Emperor and Crown Prince gave me a lot of bounty money, and it must have been given here to spend.

So you better think of it as an investment for the future.

“In addition, I will investigate the crimes of the noncommissioned officers and soldiers who took the lead in exploiting the people by using my authority as a temporary battalion commander and determine the punishment. Please understand that the officers have already gone over to the military court and are out of my hands.”

With that said, when I mentioned the loss to the forces that had been exploiting the people, the village chief and the landlords once again expressed their sincere thanks to me.

“thank you. Thank you, lord…”

“Can we really live like human beings now? I will show my allegiance.”

At that, I said it as if it were natural.

“I just enforced the law. Also, when officers are handed over to military courts, their crimes will be thoroughly investigated and posted, so it will be difficult for them to escape the death penalty. So, don’t look back on the old days and start a new life under me.”