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Volume 3 Chapter 56 Viscount Leslie’s determination

In a situation of not knowing they had an engagement, it wasn’t just Archie and Leia alone.

In the north of the Lampuri Kingdom, at the Meurto Mountains that were over a thousand kilometers away from the farm, Viscount Leslie was looking at a letter in his hand. He gave a cold laugh before ripping the letter to pieces in his hand and throwing it into the mountain stream behind him.

There were countless scattered pieces of paper that fell, just like snow falling in the mountains.

Seeing the pieces of paper disappear without a trace, Viscount Leslie was silent before looking at his northern army comrades. He thought that they must be the same as normal people, being jealous of him for being the descendant of a large noble family like the Stagg Family, but they didn’t know that the descendants of the large families had places where they had no choices.

For example, in the letter that his mother had just sent indicating that the family had decided his engagement, not allowing him to reject it at all.

The one who would become his wife was the youngest daughter of the head of the Aleman Family. She was twenty three this year and her mother had said that she was very beautiful and had a gentle personality, she was very suited to becoming a wife. She wanted Viscount Leslie to finish his two years in the northern army before heading back to Anvilmar City to get married.

Regarding his mother’s evaluation of young miss Aleman, Viscount Leslie could only respond with a cold laugh.

Perhaps this young miss Aleman was very beautiful and kind, but Viscount Leslie didn’t believe that his mother was drawn to this. He was certain that young miss Aleman would become his wife because it was related to the Aleman Family.

A marriage between nobles wasn’t unusual, Viscount Leslie already expected this day to come for him.

He had already resisted this matter for close to ten years and now he was over thirty years old, so he couldn’t drag it out any longer.

Looking at the letter that was more simple in his hand, Viscount Leslie revealed a bitter smile.

“Comparatively, that fellow Xu Yi is more free than I am. At least he can be with a girl that he truly loves.”

Viscount Leslie gave a sigh and seriously read over the letter that Xu Yi sent.

Xu Yi’s letters naturally didn’t have family gossip, rather it described the progress of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce during this time and asked him about the situation of the northern army.

The main thing he asked about was the northern army’s equipment.

If this was anyone else asking, they would be charged with attempting to steal military secrets, but Xu Yi held an honorary title with the military headquarters and the logistics department had an intimate relationship with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Xu Yi was qualified to know about this.

Xu Yi could ask major MacConley these issues, but he would only obtain general statistics from him and not the real situation. Of course it was someone like Viscount Leslie who was a part of the northern army that understood the situation the best.

But after seeing the questions Xu Yi had in the letter, Viscount Leslie gave a bitter laugh.

“How to respond to this?”

Viscount Leslie looked at his comrade who was using a Magic Water Kettle that had been knocked to the ground accidentally to boil water. He thought that if the logistics department didn’t give them any more supplies, the northern army wouldn’t be able to hold on. It wouldn’t take long before they lost the Muerto Mountains and it would fall into the hands of those fellows from the Sack Kingdom again.

In the campaign of the Muerto Mountains at the end of last year, although the northern army had used a large amount of equipment to take the Muerto Mountains and keep the Hungry Wolf and the Strong Tiger Regiments within the northern borders of the Sakk Kingdom, the two regiments never gave up the idea of attacking during this half a year.

Even facing the powerful weapons of the northern army, the two regiments didn’t win any battles and the Muerto Mountains were still firmly held in the hands of the northern army, because of the frequent fights, the northern army used up most of their equipment.

From the second half of the year, the logistics department suddenly weakened their support of the northern army. In the end, other than shipping a few coats for winter, they didn’t provide any other equipment.

The other soldiers could only complain in secret, but they didn’t know anything. Viscount Leslie on the other hand knew the reason.

It was very simple, the army headquarters had no money.

In the battles of the Muerto Mountains, the army headquarters had provided large amounts of funds, allowing the northern army to display their might, but it cost them quite a bit.

Although they saved money on making the uniform equipment from the newly built weapons factory, the army headquarters still couldn’t keep up with this large consumption.

Xu Yi had mentioned this question in a letter to Viscount Leslie. He had said that although the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was selling the equipment to the army headquarters at base cost, the army headquarters couldn’t afford to buy them still.

Xu Yi was deeply worried about this situation.

If the army headquarters didn’t have enough funds, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce couldn’t give things away for free. Perhaps there would be a problem with the equipment for the northern army.

Once the Sack Kingdom started attacking when spring came, the Muerto Mountains would become dangerous.

In the letter, Xu Yi had suggested to Viscount Leslie that if it became dangerous, he should leave as soon as possible to keep his life.

In this recent letter, Xu Yi had expressed his worries even more.

The army headquarters hasn’t made an order with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce for three months, it showed that they couldn’t keep up with the consumption at all.

This proved that the northern army situation was already very dangerous.

Seeing Xu Yi mention at the end of his letter that if the situation seemed bad, he had to find a chance to leave, Viscount Leslie couldn’t help shaking his head with a sigh.

Of course he knew Xu Yi meant well, but he had been with the northern army for two years now. Even if he was responsible for work in the back, he had experienced many bloodbaths with his comrades, so he was very attached to the northern army.

Although he knew the situation with the northern army wasn’t good, Viscount Leslie wasn’t planning on running away.

But he knew that his power alone was limited. With his current abilities, he can’t solve the real problem of the northern army at all, which was that the army headquarters had no money.

Thinking of the lack of money, Viscount Leslie felt a deep dislike for the far away Count Stagg of Banta City, who was his uncle. He also felt hatred towards his family for always being so stubborn.

The better way was clearly to let the kingdom become richer, but those stubborn old fools disregarded this for their own benefits, even working hard to suppress this.

In their eyes, could it be that the entire kingdom’s fate and the living conditions of the commoners, couldn’t compare to the fate of their family?

“Humph! A bunch of idiots! The world has changed with the appearance of Xu Yi, but they insist on their obsolete thoughts. If this continues, you’ll become the criminals who eliminate the family!”

Viscount Leslie narrowed his eyes and fell into thought before taking out two pieces of paper. First he wrote a response to Xu Yi, describing the difficulties the northern army faced and hoped that Xu Yi could solve this problem for them.

The second letter was a response to his mother.

In this letter, Viscount Leslie said that he would agree to the family’s arrangements, agreeing to marry young miss Aleman when he returned to Anvilmar City. At the same time, he used a serious tone to disclose another thought.

He, Leslie Stagg would be doing his best to take the position of the family head!

###

While Viscount Leslie was writing his letters, Lampuri Thirteenth was in the royal palace with the yearly fiscal report of the Lampuri Kingdom, revealing a faint smile.

The yearly fiscal report was better than last year. Compared to the income of less than two million gold coins last year, the kingdom’s finances had broken three million gold coins, which could be considered a large leap.

However, as the king, Lampuri Thirteenth didn’t look at this problem simply.

Two years ago, the Lampuri Kingdom’s yearly revenue was only over a million gold coins and starting from last year, it rose for two years straight.

The reason for this obvious change can be seen from the financial report. It was that 90% of it came from business taxes.

If one looked at the business tax, from the reports of the business department, one could see that in this 90%, as high as 40% of it came from companies that produced magic machines.

In the report, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was mentioned constantly.

Just last year, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce paid over three hundred thousand gold coins to Banta City and only one hundred and ten thousand gold coins entered the state treasury.

In the second half of the year, because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce went to Viscount Xu Yi’s private territory, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s taxes were given to Xu Yi before reaching the state treasury. It reached a total of two hundred and seventy thousand gold coins.

Also because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce received free trading rights, in the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s deals with other countries, they aren’t taxed by Banta City and directly go to the state treasury.

Even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s investments in the Black Rice Wasteland, the Stantine Duchy, and the Rudson Kingdom were just beginning, it still paid a tax of a hundred and thirty thousand gold coins.

So in just a single year, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce paid taxes of over five hundred thousand gold coins to the state treasury.

This didn’t add the taxes paid by companies that produced magic machines that were affected by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.

If this was all added together, then of the three million gold coins taxed by the Lampuri Kingdom, over one and half million of that was influenced by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.

Moreover in the other companies, although they didn’t produce magic machines, they were also affected by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.

Take the Armani Chamber of Commerce that produced clothes in Banta City. Because of the help of the Magic Loom that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce developed, it greatly increased their productivity. Although the clothes were sold at different prices, because of the increase in sales, their profit had leaped up.

According to the data, the Armani Chamber of Commerce paid a business tax of three hundred and twenty thousand gold coins last year.

Then adding in the Amrit Chamber of Commerce who laid roads all over the kingdom, who had paid two hundred and sixty thousand gold coins in business taxes last year.

Then there’s the Renekton Chamber of Commerce…...

…...

After reading it, Lampuri Thirteenth suddenly found that just the large companies of Banta City actually paid a total of one and half million in business taxes to the state treasury all together.

The total taxes that Banta City paid this year was just one hundred and ninety thousand gold coins.

Compared to last year, it was without a doubt lacking.

Seeing this large contrast, Lampuri Thirteenth couldn’t help letting out a cold laugh.

“I want to see what those fellows have the face to say now.”