Chapter 334 Tax Statistics (Monthly Pass Plus)
When they returned to the castle, it was already completely dark. When Thomas saw Gervis coming back with more than a hundred young women, he was shocked.
"Could it be that my master is going to rob women? Didn't he agree to practice some kind of martial arts? He even forgot to exercise his virginity for the time being!"
Of course, Thomas could only think about this in his mind, but he didn't dare to actually ask it out loud.
"Thomas, I'll leave these people to you. I'm going to have dinner first!"
"Yes, sir!"
Now that they were back in the castle, there was no need for Gervis to arrange these matters himself, so leaving Thomas alone to face these serf women, Gervis went directly to the restaurant.
Perhaps because of the rich harvest today, Gervis had a very good appetite and ate two kilograms of monster meat directly. Then he wiped his hands with a towel with a feeling of unsatisfied feeling and prepared to get up.
"grown ups!"
Just at this moment, Thomas came back!
"Well, Thomas, how are things being arranged!"
Gervis nodded kindly to Thomas and asked him.
"Sir, the women you brought back have been arranged and food has been distributed to them!"
Because there were so many women and there was no place for them to live in the town, Thomas had no choice but to let them live in the wooden house in the front yard.
The Golden Castle is a viscount's castle after all, and the wooden house in the front yard is large enough to accommodate more than 300 people.
And when these women entered the castle, in order to avoid damaging the dignity of the castle, Thomas specially asked Anna to take these people to the river to wash.
"Well, that's great. By the way, Thomas, I have something else to tell you. Remember, I plan to build a small pier on the beach..."
Suddenly, Gervis remembered the idea he had at the beach in the afternoon, so he began to tell Thomas about his plan to build a pier at the beach, and asked him to start construction after the stone house in Storm Territory was completed.
Moreover, during this period of time, we can take advantage of the opportunity to collect stones to carve out the rock cliff. Then we can save the time for opening up roads and build a solid wooden bridge directly in the sea, which will become a simple pier.
After explaining the matters at the dock, Gervis also asked about the rewards for Bernard and Abby. His principle was to reward those who had made contributions. If it weren't for Bernard and Abby this time, the coastal town and the castle might have been lost.
Neither Abby nor Bernard were guards, so when Gervis gave rewards to the soldiers in the morning, he did not reward them. Instead, he asked Thomas to bring the reward over privately.
Bernard had one gold coin and two pounds of monster meat, while Abby had 10 silver coins.
After making sure that all these things were done, Gervis walked out of the restaurant and went to the study.
…
Boom boom boom!
"Come in!"
"Thomas, it's so late, is there anything else?
At night, in the castle's study, Gervis was sitting at the desk. There was a knock on the study door. Gervis answered it and looked up. The person who came in was his butler Thomas. This made Gervis curious. After all, he had talked with Thomas for a long time in the restaurant, and now he came to him for something.
"Sir, I'm sorry to bother you. I'm here to report on the tax situation in the summer!"
As a butler, although Gervis went to Rose Castle some time ago and became a hands-off manager, Thomas still had to report these important matters to Gervis.
After all, Gervis doesn't have a political officer yet, otherwise all these matters would be reported to Gervis by the political officer.
"Okay, Thomas, just say it!"
After hearing what Thomas said, Gervis finally understood, so he continued to lower his head, looking at the nautical chart on the desk and instructing Thomas. The nautical chart that Gervis was looking at was obtained from the captain's room during the day.
"Sir, there are 3,000 acres of farmland in Storm Territory, all planted with wheat. Today the weather is good, so the harvest is very good. A total of 1.5 million kilograms of wheat was harvested from the 3,000 acres of farmland!"
Thomas held his notebook and read quietly.
"Only 3,000 mu of land can produce 1.5 million kilograms of wheat, and it's still a bumper harvest. The per-mu yield in this world is really pitifully low!"
Hearing Thomas' report, Gervis was also stunned.
This is too low! Although Gervis didn't know much about farming, he seemed to have heard in his previous life that the yield of wheat per mu was basically around 1,000 kilograms. Even without fertilizer, it would have been around 700 kilograms in ancient times!
However, the bumper harvest in Baofengling this year was 500 kilograms per mu, a difference of 200 kilograms.
Thomas was unaware that his master was mumbling in his heart and continued to report.
"Five days ago, all taxes were collected. Since the taxes are collected according to the standards set by the Principality, 3,000 acres of land should be taxed at 1.2 million catties of wheat, so the total tax this time is 600,000 catties of wheat!"
"Oh, just count them and store them in the warehouse!"
Gervis nodded. From the very beginning, he had no intention of getting rich by collecting taxes from serfs who farmed the land, so he did not raise taxes like other nobles, but maintained the tax rate at the minimum standard set by the duchy. His cheap father Gandalf did the same.
The serfs had a bumper harvest of 1.5 million catties of wheat, but Gervis only collected 1.2 million catties according to the minimum standard, which means that for the extra 300,000 catties, the serfs did not have to pay Gervis an extra grain of rice.
"Sir, the church's tax revenue..."
Seeing that Gervis didn't react, Thomas reminded him carefully.
"Oh, I almost forgot if you hadn't mentioned it! Then you should count and prepare 300,000 kilograms of wheat. I'll take it with me when I go to Rose Castle in a few days!"
The limit is 1.2 million jin, and Gervis only collects five layers of tax from these 1.2 million jin of wheat, which is 600,000 jin!
Before the emergence of the church, the tax was not so high. Basically, three levels of tax were enough. However, after the emergence of the church, two and a half levels of tax were collected. The nobles certainly would not bear this burden alone, so most of it was passed on to the serfs.
It becomes two and a half layers of nobility, two and a half layers of church, and five layers of serfs. In addition, the tax limit will be adjusted upwards according to the fertility of the land.
"Yes, sir! I'll take my leave now!"
After reporting on the taxation, Thomas did not dare to disturb his master any further as he was busy, so he bowed and prepared to leave.
"By the way, Thomas, how many kilograms of wheat does the servants in the castle eat in a year?"
Just as Thomas was about to leave, Gervis couldn't help but ask
"My lord, the servants eat two meals a day, which means they can eat the equivalent of a pound of wheat a day! That's 365 pounds a year!"
Thomas didn't know why Gervis asked this, but he still answered Gervis's question in detail. As a butler, Thomas was very clear about this.
"Well, okay Thomas, go down then! And have someone bring up a pirate named Lil!"
Gervis nodded and didn't ask anything else.
"Yes, sir!"
Thomas bowed again and carefully closed the study door.
"There are about 2,000 serfs in the territory. After paying taxes, there are 900,000 kilograms of wheat left. On average, each person can get 450 kilograms of food rations per year, even if we deduct the consumption of wheat in exchange for clothes and other daily necessities! The serfs in Storm Territory should not have to go hungry this year!"
Gervis asked Thomas about rations, which was a matter of calculating whether the serfs could have enough to eat.
According to calculations, the serfs should be able to eat enough this year, but Gervis knows that such calculations are not accurate. The serfs not only need to eat throughout the year, but also need to use wheat to buy other supplies. Even if they get sick, they will also consume wheat.
Another point is that this year is a bumper harvest with good weather and good harvests, so the serfs can have such a harvest. If there were no harvest in some years, the serfs would definitely not survive until the next year.
What? You said that other territories have two wheat planting seasons, so they can have no worries about food and clothing!
You are too naive! The lord is not stupid. Gervis does not lack the hard-earned food of the serfs, so he harvests 1.2 million kilograms of wheat from 3,000 mu of land according to the minimum limit of the duchy.
Some cruel nobles might directly raise the standard to 2 million jin, or even 3 million jin. As long as the serfs were not starved to death, the nobles could exploit them as they pleased.
For example, if Gervis collected 1.5 million kilograms of tax for today's quarter, the serfs in Storm Territory would only have 750,000 kilograms of grain left, which means 375 kilograms of grain per person on average. This amount of grain would barely keep the serfs from starving to death, but it would not be enough to fill them up either. However, Gervis could get an extra 150,000 kilograms of wheat out of thin air.
Still owe 7 more chapters!
(End of this chapter)
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