Xu Milu made a mistake; she didn't expect that managing Xike County would be more tiring than managing the Honghe Group.
The spirit of the former lord, Aigard, is still soaking in the hot water of the eighteenth level of hell, but he left behind a mess for Xu Milu to take over:
First, there's the city's deteriorating economy. Under Egard's "meticulous management," the trade routes from Westco County to other territories have been almost abandoned. Apart from a few adventurers, few people set foot there. Goods from other places can't come in, and goods from Westco County can't go out either, creating a vicious cycle.
Secondly, the territory lacks formal medical and educational institutions.
In this magical age, people rarely get sick; health problems are usually caused by poisoning or being cursed.
As for education, it goes without saying that there are very few people in the territory with magical talent, and magical books are not available on the market, so the lower-class residents have no choice.
A carpenter's son can only be a carpenter, and a blacksmith's son can only be a blacksmith. Even if a child with magical powers occasionally appears, he will be quickly bought by a nobleman.
The rigid class system, which prevented social mobility, led to the increasingly prestigious status of magicians, making the rule of the nobility unshakeable.
Finally, there's the tax collection and inventory of assets at Westcorshire Castle over the years. Over the years, Egard has been exploiting Westcorshire at every level, not only by setting up high entry taxes, but also by imposing population taxes, commercial taxes, slave taxes, religious taxes, and residence taxes.
These tax records were all meticulously documented. It took William nearly half a month to compile a detailed tax record.
These are all recorded. According to the people in the territory, the castle used to collect a knight tax every two months. There were also detailed taxes on piglets, chickens and ducks, honey, cloth, and sugar for the farmers under its jurisdiction. Even the water drawn from the well was subject to a "water tax".
This is also the root cause of the gradual decline of Westco County—faced with such heavy taxes, the people had exhausted all their strength just to survive.
"We have abolished the unnecessary taxes set by Aigard as ordered by you, but because you, Lord Qingluan, are not in the territory, we have not been able to set specific territorial taxes."
William noticed that Xu Milu was staring blankly at the tax records, so he immediately handed her another document:
"This is the tax revenue from the major chambers of commerce and adventurers' associations in the city. I have checked it, and the adventurers' association's tax revenue is twice that of previous years."
double?
Xu Milu understood after a moment's thought.
—In the last forest war, Andrew, the president of the Adventurers' Guild, cooperated with Aigard, intending to create the illusion of a monster siege in order to destroy the city of Westco County.
Later, Ah Chou launched a counterattack, resulting in heavy casualties among Aigard's knights and the loss of most of the temple's mages. Although the Adventurers' Guild members were the first to escape, they were also severely weakened.
Even Andrew, the president of the Adventurers' Guild, was stabbed by Aigard, but surprisingly he survived.
But he neither ran away nor reported his identity to the temple. Instead, he sent double the taxes, probably because he wanted to continue to depend on the lord.
Xu Milu shook her head:
"It's good to accept it. Let's hold back for now and see what he's up to and how those freed slaves are being settled."
William closed the document in his hand and said respectfully:
"There are a total of 5,673 orc slaves in the city, of which 731 are Arctic wolves who voluntarily joined the Westco County Knights under the leadership of their chieftain, Fanny."
The orcs Greer and Fanny are your personal knights, so their supplies are provided by the castle. Although some nobles in the territory have complained about this, it has all been taken care of, so you don't need to worry.
As per your orders, Osik is reopening trade routes to other places and should be back the day after tomorrow.
Ella arrived in the capital two weeks ago and is currently recruiting herbalists, blacksmiths, and alchemists, as you require, sir. Yesterday, I received a magical letter from her saying that several commoner mages ostracized by the nobles are willing to stay in Westco County.
At this point, William seemed somewhat curious:
"Sir, are you planning to open a potion shop?"
Potions shops are usually run by alchemists. Although some alchemists can concoct antidotes, their effects are not consistent. In addition, there are not many reliable alchemists in Westco County, and sometimes people even die from drinking the potions...
Therefore, if someone is feeling unwell, the wealthy will go directly to the temple to seek blessings, while the poor would rather stay at home and wait to die than go to the potion shop.
But this is not a problem for Xu Milu.
The people of this plane rely too much on magic, which has led to underdeveloped medicine. Humanity's understanding of herbs remains superficial, making it impossible to concoct the correct dosage of medicine.
But she's different. Among the "Seventy-Two Transformations" personally taught by Sun Wukong is the "Boiling Stone" technique, which is about alchemy. In addition, there are a large number of books on potion preparation in Egard Castle, so training a group of doctors will not be a problem.
The table was covered with official documents. Xu Milu had been working on them all morning but hadn't finished. When she looked up, she saw two more knights carrying a thick stack of documents. She immediately felt like she was back in the summer before the start of the new school term in junior high.
One night, one pen, one miracle.
"Lord Qingluan, all of these require your personal review. Also, I heard that the temple sent holy water for blessings upon your arrival... Oh, and the nobles of Xike County have prepared a ball for you, please be sure to attend... There's one more thing..."
William stood next to Xu Milu like a nagging old woman, constantly nagging her. It seemed he wasn't planning to let her go today.
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