Chapter 400： persuade

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In February 1994 in the holy calendar, the lords of Arda, Bairdin, Portree, Larnaca, and Manda once again gathered in Huxin Town.

It was not long before a joint declaration of the five lords spread around - the Northwest Customs Union was formed.

According to the statement, the first purpose of the establishment of the alliance is to promote the development of trade among member territories, and the second is to fight against foreign goods and protect the newly improved manufacturing industry in the Northwest Territories.

The lords promised to gradually reduce tolls between each other's territories until they were abolished, and to adopt the same tax policy for the outside world, and the tariffs collected would be used as the public funds of the alliance and allocated reasonably.

As soon as the statement came out, a huge storm quickly set off on the northwest land of the Aldo Kingdom.

Because the content of this statement is not only about the establishment of the Northwest Customs Union, but also includes:

1. Abolish the taxpayer system that widely exists in various territories, and various taxes will be directly handed over to their respective lords in the future;

2. Manor owners such as knights and squires in various places shall not restrict the personal freedom of farmers (including serfs) on their own land, and allow farmers to migrate between villages and towns;

3. Prohibition of setting private penalties, abolishing private civil courts, and all large and small cases shall be tried by legal officials appointed by their respective lords.

It's too unreasonable, too inhuman, and the lord is too inconsiderate of his people—this is the unanimous thought of the gentlemen everywhere.

I won’t talk about the customs union, it’s been a long time. The other three things in the statement are also unacceptable.

Abolish the tax system? Our family has served the lord diligently for hundreds of years. Don’t we hand over everything the lord eats, drinks, and uses? Whoever worked so hard to collect taxes from door to door is us! Whoever is called a vampire every day and bears the resentment of the mud legs instead of the lord is us!

So what's the matter with leaving a little money in return for such hard work and taking the blame? Isn't it right?

Can't restrict the free movement of mud legs? Do the lords know why their seats are so secure? It's not because we forbid them to connect with each other and prevent them from huddling together. Besides, the mud legs have all gone to work in the city, who is planting crops in the field, and everyone will drink the northwest wind?

Ban the death penalty? If you don't have the power to punish mud legs, what else can you call a master? Isn't the land in the northwest immediately in chaos?

In short, shaking their heads and stomping their feet, everyone thinks this is bad governance.

As expected by Paul, someone came to persuade him immediately.

"Is this what you two want to say? Sit down first."

Paul smiled and ordered the servant to fetch a seat.

"Thank you Earl."

After saluting, the two sat down carefully.

These two people, one named Fergus and the other named Eldo, just said a lot of truth in front of Paul.

Fergus was a "knight" who served the Greiman family in the past, and he also followed him in the conquest of pirates, so he is considered a person of merit. It's just that after Paul perfected the army, system and discipline, he felt that he couldn't adapt to the new army, so he returned to the country manor and went to work.

As for Eldo, although he is a manor owner, strictly speaking, his manor belongs to the Greiman family. If he liked it, the lord gave a "half reward" to his ancestors for the manor he managed. He only needed to hand over a certain percentage of the harvest every year, and the rest belonged to the Eldo family. In Arda, there are still many landowners like this. The land is nominally owned by the lords, but the actual controllers are the servants of these lords.

In short, one of them is a family knight, and the other is a family servant, both of whom are relatively close to the Greiman family.

"My lord, don't be tempted by the villain's slander. Such an approach will seriously damage the loyalty of the people."

After sitting down, Fergus continued to persuade, with a sincere expression on his face, not like a fake.

"Yes, yes, Knight Fergus is right. Treating the people so harshly will cause people's dissatisfaction."

Compared with the thick-browed, big-eyed, and muscular knight, Eldo's appearance is not very pleasing, and he echoes Fergus every time.

It seems that these two men were chosen by the landowners to persuade me, Paul thought to himself.

According to his intuition, Fergus is not entirely for his own benefit, but more out of his adherence to the ethics and morals of the old era, and that Eldo is mostly for personal benefit, because the guy is always timid. Shrinking, not daring to look at himself.

But people's hearts are separated by belly, so who can say for sure.

"I will seriously consider what you two said, and I will discuss it with other lords in detail."

After trying to pretend to be listening carefully, Paul replied like this after listening to them complaining about their shortcomings.

Fergus and Eldo showed joy on their faces, and it seemed that the young lord could still listen.

Paul arranged a banquet for the two of them, and saw off the guests after they were full.

A week later, the five lords gathered in Huxin Town again, and hurriedly dispersed after some discussion.

Then various lords successively announced the suspension of some measures in the previous statement.

Take Arda and Bairdin as an example:

The tax package system will not change;

The free movement of farmers is suspended, but if there are people in the family who join the army, the movement of relatives shall not be restricted;

The lynching is still maintained, but also if there are people in the family who join the army, they must be handed over to the court of the lord for trial.

However, the establishment of a customs union was retained by the five lords.

So most people breathed a sigh of relief.

In the estate of the great squire Valen, the landowners gathered again.

Old Warren said with a gloomy face: "This is a strategy. The Earl is using the method of retreating into advance. We must find a way to mess up the customs union."

"It's too rude, pay attention to your tone of identity."

Fergus immediately objected: "Abolishing all the decrees that have just come out, what is the face of the Earl? It is not easy to make such a concession We must be considerate of Lord Graeman. Involving the other four earls and the Duke of Northwest, how can we disobey the five lords."

"Yes, yes, we are his subjects after all, so there is no reason to persecute the lord like this."

Baden, Eldo and others agreed with Fergus, and they were satisfied with the Earl's compromise.

"Hmph, I'm afraid the Earl will take one step back today and two steps forward tomorrow. Everyone, remember what I said. When everything in your hands is taken away, I don't know how lucky you will be."

Old Varun picked up his own wine and drank it madly, with a faint light in his eyes.

"This…"

"No way…"

Everyone present looked at each other in blank dismay.

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