Chapter 776: Collect taxes

Thick Fog Town is the southern boundary of Hanfeng City. After the intersection of the town is regarded as the territory of the Butch family of Banshee. But now the intersection is blocked by dozens of carriages, just because the tax officer of the Butcher family is on the opposite side.
Powell and Johnson only brought a wooden box, and it was easy to detour or mix up. However, bulk cargo transported by horse-drawn carriage is difficult to bypass, because there is only such a convenient commercial road from north to south.
There are more and more horse-drawn carriages at the intersection, and the atmosphere becomes more and more restless.
Just across the line from Luca, opposite the tax officer and the heavily armed tax team are watching. On the other side is the transit caravan where people call Ma Si and ask each other for news.
Many businessmen have a background in Banshee. They tried to argue with the tax officer who set up the card to intercede and even bribe, but after seeing the official badge of the Buchi family, these people all turned off.
The news spread that setting the card to collect taxes was an order given by the patriarch Friedman, and the family heir was also executed. This group of people don't give face, and they have to pay for it in the past.
Powell and Johnson looked at each other for this. They wanted to take a carriage to continue south. Every day of delay, the daily interest rate of loan sharks will compress their profits.
"What the is going on? Why did you suddenly set up a card to collect taxes?" Powell did not choose to detour immediately, but asked the caravan coming from Banshee Castle in Thick Fog Town.
A caravan leader escorted food and paid high taxes before passing the checkpoint. He cursed angrily in a pub in Thick Fog Town and introduced the news of Banshee.
"Goods such as grain, cloth, and salt want to pay a 100% tariff on going north, as well as iron, glass, wood, and medicine casting materials on the south. The Buchi family counts all the best-selling goods, and the tax collection is hateful.
In order to collect taxes, Banshee sent out a team of thousands to set up cards along the way. You just bypassed the level of Thick Fog Town, and you must check the tax payment voucher behind Stone Town and into Banshee Castle.
Once it is found that there is no tax payment certificate, it will be judged as illegal entry, not only the confiscation of the goods, but also heavy fines.
Who is willing to pay this 100% tax? I couldn't help it. I couldn't even return it. I was forced to pay taxes. The follow-up businessmen were frightened and refused to ship goods to the north, all looking at the limelight. "
The caravan leader should have ran in vain and scolded in the tavern for a long time. He was whispered by people who inquired about him.
The bar owner stood behind the bar and was deeply dissatisfied with the mess. He grabbed the warhammer on the countertop and knocked a few times,
"Be quiet, isn't it just that the direct trade route is cut off. This is often the case. When have you businessmen been afraid? Wouldn't it be possible to make a detour from another city."
The complaining caravan leader was even more angry. He slapped the table and continued to scold: "What is detestable is that other cities in the North have united this time, and any goods transported to the cold wind city will be taxed in high amounts. Bypass Tax will only be more."
The uproar was louder and the discussions in the tavern became more and more chaotic. Powell feels that this matter is about to get out of control, and Hanfengcheng will never sit by and watch him besieged, and maybe fight again.
In the past six months, hundreds of horse-drawn carriages have been transporting goods for Hanfeng City every day in the Northland. Large and small businessmen are making excessive profits in it, and now Shanglu is suddenly blocked to kill them.
Many people expressed their excitement by petitioning Lord Hugo, asking them to send troops to destroy the tax cards along the way and break such unreasonable tax policies.
The businessmen were in a state of excitement, and the idea was generally accepted when they were put forward. It’s just that the boss behind the bar sneered, and sneered:
Just because you guys want to start a war? Is it possible?
Is it not normal for nobles to collect taxes by blocking cards? How did the long-legged family collect your taxes? How many tax officials have guarded you along the way? Forgot so quickly? "
This kind of ridicule is too humiliating, but it made the pub quiet for a while.
Zhou Qingfeng wanted to promote commercial development. After seizing the city, most of the tax cards in the country were cancelled, and only the tax agencies that entered the cold wind city were retained, and the tax rate was also very low. There is no tax at all for urgently needed materials such as grain.
Roads are still being built around the cold wind city, and troops are sent to fight gangsters and local forces to ensure a well-developed and convenient logistics network. The businessmen have been very comfortable in their territory.
It is normal to leave the territory of Hanfeng City, set up cards everywhere, pay taxes everywhere, and be slaughtered everywhere. Local rulers can tax as much as they want, and merchants can only put costs on the final consumer.
The bar owner told these facts and made the merchants silent when they were stunned.
Powell set aside a few people and walked in front of the booze caravan leader. He asked in a low voice: "Sir, what is the situation with Banshee Castle now? Why was such a heavy tax suddenly imposed?"
The caravan leader's goods were delivered to the cold wind city's transport team in Thick Fog Town. Hearing the inquiry, he glared at a pair of fish bubbles and turned his head, making a chuckle.
"Why tax? Because the blacksmiths and carpenters of Banshee Castle can't live anymore. The two blacksmith shops of the Butcher family have no business for two consecutive months.
The family blacksmith will either change course or sneak to the north to find a job. The carpenter is even worse. There is no shortage of carpenters in the north, only a large number of processed wooden goods are dumped.
At the beginning, it was only a simple processed wood board, and then it was a variety of finished furniture. Finally, even the wood used to build the house can be shipped, and the price is very cheap. Some carpenters were forced to hang themselves.
The nobles in the city did not care whether the carpenters were alive or not. They felt that the goods shipped from the north were cheap and easy to use, so they would never buy local goods. "
The discussion in the tavern sounded a little bit louder, and many merchants are just doing timber business, which fully agrees that the wood in the north is more than two hundred kilometers away, and it is cheaper than the wood in the south.
This is not just Banshee Castle, but the whole Northland. Not to mention the carpenter, not even the lumberjack.
But no matter how much you hate, if you want to find a job, you still have to run towards the cold wind city. If you can't be a carpenter, you can do something else. Staying there will really starve to death, or be forced to death by the usury loan in operation.
The caravan leader continued: "Now Banshee Castle's many shops are closed and bankrupt. Only the grain merchants who do business in the north are making a lot of money. They sell all the grain to Hanfengcheng, which makes Banshee's own food price. Soaring.
In the past six months, the Butch family had been thinking very hard to keep food prices down. Behind the merchants who sell food are nobles, and the general methods are totally ineffective.
The price of grain in the north is twice as high as that in the south, and the merchants are reluctant to sell the grain at Banshee Castle. Patriarch Friedman was probably pressed. If he doesn't shoot again, Banshee will collapse because of lack of food. "
The food war is more fierce than the sword war, and a little carelessness is famine.
The caravan leader took the last bite of the toast and knocked the huge wooden wine glass towards the countertop. He taunted the bar owner:
"Do you think you can't fight? Come on, wait, this time I'm afraid it's more dangerous than you think. Maybe another long-legged family is about to die."