Chapter 435: Launching the Land Revolution
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Hobert pondered for a moment and immediately agreed, "Alright!
"However, we plan to hold our wedding in my territory."
He suddenly thought that the wedding of Earl Christian's son would surely attract many dignitaries, which would be like a wave of publicity for his territory.
Fors saw Hobert agree so readily, and being in such a setting, she couldn't say anything more.
Mona nodded, "You decide on that."
She added, "I will have Dophis come to Jeffrey Territory a few days in advance to help you decorate the wedding venue and make preparations for the reception."
With the wedding settled, Mona was finally in the mood to enjoy the food.
The uncertainty of Hobert's wedding date had been worrying her.
Hobert then introduced Freya, as it was a family dinner, and Hobert didn't invite Helen.
However, Helen was also busy at noon today, as she went to inform Mrs. Monica.
Mona introduced a young man in his twenties she had brought with her: "This is Angus Jeffrey, your cousin."
Angus politely stood up and bowed slightly to Hobert.
Hobert also stood up and shook his hand politely, a little puzzled: How did a cousin suddenly appear? Didn't Christian have no siblings? Could it be... Could it be Christian's illegitimate son?
Regardless of this cousin's background, the protagonists of this lunch were Hobert, Mona, and Donna. With Donna enlivening the atmosphere, the atmosphere in the restaurant was cheerful.
Donna suddenly said to Hobert, "I don't plan to go back, Hobert. Give me a high-ranking position."
Hobert smiled, "I'm just a baron, where would I get a high-ranking position for you?"
"Then you can knight me!"
"Don't mess around, go back to school."
"I know your and Father's and Dophis' secret!" Donna chuckled, "Father told me to choose my own life."
Hobert was taken aback, "What secret?"
"The secret that you have magical abilities!"
Hobert glanced at Mona, who smiled, "If you need manpower here, keep her here. I'm relieved to have her with you."
Hobert then nodded, "I happen to need someone trustworthy to collect taxes for me, so why not give you this job? But I have to say in advance, if you need money, ask me. If you hide tax money, I'll send you home immediately."
Mona was about to say something, but Hobert added, "In the beginning, it's impossible for you to be in charge of taxation. How about this, there's a meeting this afternoon. You can participate together and follow them outside to get a feel for the specific work situation."
Donna immediately agreed, "No problem!"
This arrangement also reassured Mona, "I have nothing to do this afternoon, so I'll go listen to your meeting too."
Hobert nodded, "Okay."
"Also," Mona said, "Your father wants you to arrange a job for Angus too."
Hobert didn't know the truth about this guy and didn't immediately agree, "I'll think about it and find him a good job."
The official business ended there, and the family didn't talk about these things anymore.
Hobert didn't think that talking about official business at a family dinner would ruin the atmosphere. In his opinion, these were just words spoken behind closed doors between family members.
After a fairly lavish lunch, Hobert took them to the pre-arranged yard to rest.
Donna and Angus went to rest separately. Mona said she wasn't tired yet and asked Hobert to talk to her for a while.
As Hobert expected, his mother immediately brought up Angus' background: "Your father's surname is actually Tudor, you should already know that, right?"
"I know."
"Well, there are basically three branches of the Tudor family left, one of which is the family your father was born into." Mona continued to explain, "When your father was young, he disagreed with the clan leader's distribution of family resources, so he left the family and developed on his own."
Hobert then realized that his mother, Mona, knew a lot of inside information. It was just that she hadn't participated in some of Christian's affairs before, or maybe she had, but Hobert didn't know.
Mona continued, "In the past, no matter how difficult your father was in the Southern Continent, the Tudor family never offered a helping hand.
"Now that your father is highly appreciated by Ferdinand II, they have come again, saying they want to invite your father to participate in the family's Council of Elders.
"Your father told them he didn't have time, so they sent Angus, saying he was your father's helper.
"This made it difficult for your father to keep him or send him away, so he sent Angus to you.
"Just find him a job, and if it doesn't work out, just send him away. Anyway, the Tudor family hasn't given you any favors, so there's no need to be polite with them."
Hobert asked, "What sequence is Angus?"
"It should be Sequence 6."
Hobert smiled, "It's a pity to send him away. I'm just preparing to clean up the surrounding forces. He's Sequence 6 after all, so I might as well use him."
Mona also smiled, "You decide."
Then Mona talked about Fors, liking her more and more. Hobert also followed this topic and talked about how he met Fors.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, according to Hobert's notification yesterday, Conrad, Philip, Roy, and others came to the main hall to attend the meeting called by the lord.
When they saw Mona in the main seat, they were all slightly stunned, but they still called out together, "Old Madam."
Hobert, who was sitting in front of Mona's side, said, "My mother wants to hear about the management of the territory, so she's attending this meeting with me."
Hobert knew that Mona was worried about whether he could be a good lord. After all, from lawyer to lord, the professional span was quite large.
"Let's first discuss the issue of re-allocating land." Hobert asked Conrad, "How is the preparation work going?"
"The manpower is already in place." Conrad said, "I am training them, and we can officially start in the next few days."
Hobert said, "I plan to have you form a propaganda team and go to each village to publicize the policy of re-allocating land, so that you can give them better training in the work."
"But," Conrad said, "This time we are re-allocating land by confiscating the land of the village bullies and distributing it to other villagers.
"If we publicize it in advance, will it give the village bullies some time to prepare?"
The previous field property registration had already made the land situation in Jeffrey Territory very clear.
These village bullies were all people who had been favored by Viscount Wright before, or who supported the bandits in power. A small number of them actually controlled nearly one-third of the land.
In addition, there was land belonging to the bandits on the mountain before. Some of that land belonged to the Wright family before, and some was taken from the villagers by the bandits through coercion.
The bandits had already been defeated by Hobert, but the ownership of these lands was a problem.
The remaining one-third of the land belonged to the vast majority of the population, the self-cultivating farmers.
Hobert smiled, "What are they preparing? To rebel?
"Not only should we publicize the policy of equal distribution of land, but mainly to tell them that from now on, the ownership of all land in the territory belongs to the lord.
"After the land is distributed to them, they only have the right to cultivate and lease it, but not to buy or sell it.
"Even the lease contract must be reported to the lord's mansion, otherwise the contract will be invalid!"
If those village bullies dared to resist, it would be easier to solve. They could be directly tied to the construction site and undergo labor reform for a year or two first.
Conrad said, "Yes, I will do the corresponding publicity!"
Hobert then said to Seel, "Take people to protect the safety of the propaganda team."
After all, this was moving the interests of some people, so it was better to be careful.
Seel said, "Yes!"
Then Hobert added, "My mother also brought 300 new-style rifles, as well as dozens of pistols, and two instructors.
"After you complete the task of protecting the propaganda team, organize fifty young adults and formally form the army of Jeffrey Territory.
"Remember my previous request?"
Seel said happily, "I remember! We can't only recruit young people from the town, we should try to average the quota to the entire Jeffrey Territory. I'll go to each village with the propaganda team to determine the quota."
Hobert nodded in satisfaction and said to Corwin, "You also participate in this propaganda team and publicize the 12 simplified regulations that I have made.
"This was originally your father's job, but now I'll give this job to you first."
Finally, Hobert said to Donna, "And you, Donna, you follow the propaganda of the new tax law. Do you know about personal income tax and business tax?"
Everyone certainly knew that Donna was the lord's sister, but since the lord directly called Donna, it meant that he had work requirements for her.
Although Donna's university major was not law, she also knew some basic knowledge of personal income tax and business tax.
After listening to her description, Hobert added some details. In the future, the personal income tax in Jeffrey Territory would be collected starting from a monthly income of 2 gold Lire, and divided into several levels, 2 gold Lire to 5 gold Lire was one level, and 5 to 10 gold Lire was another level.
The higher the level, the greater the proportion of taxation.
The business tax is collected from a single transaction of 1 gold Lire or more, and is divided into two tax standards: one is the transaction amount, and the other is the type of tax.
These tax laws are not very useful now, because the monthly income of the residents of Jeffrey Territory, except for some people working in the lord's mansion, is almost all below 2 gold Lire.
The transactions are only for trading vegetables and other crops, and the shops in Jeffrey Town are currently unlikely to have a one-time transaction amount of more than 1 gold Lire.
It is time to collect taxes when the territory develops.
Finally, it was to discuss the progress of the project with Roy. More than 600 people have now been mobilized and are preparing to lay railways and build concrete roads leading to the mountains.
The renovation work in the town has also begun, but the problem is that the building materials are used up, and Roy can only follow the drawings and direct them to dig the foundation first.
Hobert asked Roy to clear a piece of ground, and the first batch of building materials would arrive soon.
Mona, who had been watching, nodded in satisfaction. She didn't expect that Hobert was only in his twenties and had never been a nobleman before, but he could manage the territory in an orderly manner, at least it looked orderly.
She didn't quite understand the role of Hobert's new policies, but she still had the ability to judge people. The people who worked for Hobert were all shrewd, capable, and loyal enough to Hobert.
Whether a person is capable can be seen from the way they speak, and their dissatisfaction with Mona sitting in the main seat is enough to show the lord's position in their hearts.
After the meeting, Hobert asked Donna and Corwin to participate in the propaganda team's meeting as Conrad's subordinates, and prepare to start "going to the countryside" this afternoon.
The word "going to the countryside" was "invented" by Hobert just now. Hobert translated it directly as "go to the countryside", extending the meaning to "carry out relevant work in the countryside".
There is no concept of "going to the countryside" in the current Northern Continent, but now Hobert clearly stated that understanding the situation in the countryside is an important criterion for the promotion of Jeffrey Territory's government personnel.
After Conrad and others left to implement the work at the meeting, Mona encouraged Hobert a few words, praising him for being able to understand the territory so well in such a short period of time.
After only a few words, Alan came to report: "Lord, Miss Helen brought Mrs. Monica here."
Hobert nodded and said to Mona, "Mother, go to the backyard to rest first, I want to talk to them about something alone."
Mona agreed, and Fors accompanied her out from the side door.
Hobert came out of the main hall and welcomed Monica into the side hall.
Although the side hall was also very spacious, it was much smaller than the main hall, and it had sofas and coffee tables, making it a very suitable place for secret talks.
Monica's temperament was still so charming. She didn't need to use "charm", and her every move showed the charm of a woman.
However, Hobbit was already Sequence 5 at this time and could directly face the charm displayed by Monica.
After a few simple pleasantries, Hobert said, "Mrs. Monica, you should have heard that the Taz River waterway has been reopened.
"Although we have only had political cooperation and no cooperation on interests..."
Hobert's so-called "political cooperation" was his default of the "Theosophy Order's" legitimacy in religion, and the "Theosophy Order" recognized the rationality of Hobert's rule over Jeffrey Territory.
"As political allies, I must remind you that this will be a huge change in South Kolson, please be prepared." Hobert probed.
Mrs. Monica smiled, "Lord Hobert, your abilities far exceed our imagination, and we are already preparing for this.
"But according to our estimates, the Church of the Earth Mother should not be able to send a demigod to South Colson to sit in, so we only need to train the believers to hide their beliefs."
They are very good at this, after all, in other places, the believers of the "Theosophy Order" secretly preach and secretly hold rituals.
Hobert said seriously, "If you think so, then please forgive me, I will terminate the political alliance with you."
Monica was stunned before smiling, "We can't compete with the Church of the Earth Mother for believers!"
Although the Church of the Earth Mother will not send a demigod, if they find out that there are so many believers of the "Theosophy Order" here, they will definitely organize enough power to carry out a purge.
"Forgive my bluntness, but the Theosophy Order is a bunch of idiots!" Hobert said, "It is precisely because the Church of the Earth Mother is weak in South Colson County that you have the opportunity to legalize!
"Not only is there the power of the Theosophy Order here, but also the power of the Blood Sanctify Believers and the Aurora Order. You can fully cooperate, purge these forces with the Church of the Earth Mother, and then use the base of believers to strive for legalization."
Ms. Monica was slightly stunned before smiling and saying, "You are a natural politician, but you don't understand religion. The Church of the Earth Mother will not allow our existence.
"Even if we help them eliminate the other forces entrenched here, they will still turn around and wipe us out."
"That's why I invited you here," Hobert said, "I am preparing to form my own official Beyonder force. As a political ally, I invite a portion of the Beyonder power of the Theosophy Order to join and help solve Beyonder events involving religion.
"If you are willing to join, I will talk to the Church of the Earth Mother about your legitimacy issues.
"At the same time, this is a political commitment to you as your political ally. Even if the Church of the Earth Mother goes back on its word afterward, I can still protect your official status. The Theosophy Order will always have a legitimate force in South Colson."
This was unexpected by Monica. She fell into a brief silence, and after a full half minute, she asked, "Aren't you afraid that getting involved with the Theosophy Order will affect your political career and personal reputation?"
Hobert smiled: "Power is the only standard in this world for measuring a person."
"I mean, can you withstand the pressure?" Monica asked, "I can see that you have advanced to Sequence 5, and I also know that your father is Christian.
"But such power does not seem enough to make the Church of the Earth Mother yield to you and your father."
Hobert bluntly stated the matter: "I understand what you mean. You are afraid that I am also using you, you are afraid that I will also betray you.
"Let me put it this way, I can ask a Saint to help me strike at the demons and demigods of the Aurora Order at any time.
"The reason why I am cooperating with you is indeed for my own purposes, but my purpose is to hope that you can have a certain legitimacy in my territory, so as to prevent the Church of the Earth Mother from dominating my territory.
"I think this is a win-win cooperation. Do you want to always live in the shadow of the orthodox churches? Do you want to always preach in such a secretive manner?"
Hobert's last sentence moved Monica. Anyone who has lived in the sun, who would want to live a secretive life again?
She was silent for a long time before saying, "This is not something I can decide."
The main leadership of the Theosophy Order is mostly composed of 'Door' pathway Beyonders. Monica and a part of the witches are only responsible for 'diplomatic work'.
Hobert finally threw out the most valuable intelligence: "You better come to a conclusion quickly. I just got news yesterday that the people from the Church of the Earth Mother will arrive in Jeffrey Town in two or three days."
In fact, when he received the payment for the spirituality materials of the Ancient Azure Dragon Beast, Bishop Simpson had mentioned this matter in his letter. The reason why he only told Monica now was to give them enough pressure.
After seeing Monica off, Hobert asked Allen to call his cousin Angus. After a few simple pleasantries, Hobert asked, "I have been considering for a long time, and there is a job that is very suitable for you. I am forming an official Beyonder force in the territory and need a trustworthy captain. I think you are very suitable!"
Angus's eyes lit up. Although the Tudor family has a long and glorious history, even if this family is strong now, they are still wild Beyonders.
It is precisely because they were once the masters of the Tudor Empire that they value the identity of official Beyonders.
The Tudor family sent Angus here, hoping to use Christian's identity to obtain a certain semi-official status in Feynapotter, at least to establish a reliable stronghold.
But Angus did not expect that he would be directly dispatched to this remote place, making it difficult for him to leave or stay.
He had already given up hope for the errands Hobert had arranged for him, but he did not expect that the situation would take a turn for the better, and he would have the opportunity to become an official Beyonder.
As for Hobert, of course, he would not completely hand over the power of the official extraordinary force to the Theosophy Order.
Before learning about Angus's background, Hobert had always planned to cultivate his own official Beyonder force. It was a bit slow, but the power cultivated was more reassuring.
At that time, Hobert did not intend to introduce the power of the Theosophy Order into the official Beyonder force.
After learning that Angus came from the Tudor family, he immediately had the idea of introducing external forces to strike at the demons and the Aurora Order. Even if there were battle losses, he would not feel heartache.
On the other hand, Hobert planned to cultivate his own Beyonder power in Seel's 50-man troop.
Angus nodded almost immediately: "I am willing to stay in Jeffrey Territory and become a member of the official extraordinary force here."
Hobert nodded and asked, "What Sequence are you?"
"Sequence 6."
"'Judge' or 'Baron of Corruption'?"
"Judge!"
Christian's branch of the Tudor family had basically switched to the 'Arbiter' pathway a long time ago.
"You should have heard about the Kingdom of Loen's bounty on me. They sent a lot of mercenaries to kill me, including a 'Disciplinary Knight'," Hobert said with a smile, "Unfortunately, they all died here!"
Angus's eyes lit up!
"I don't know if it is easy for you to be assigned the opportunity to advance to 'Disciplinary Knight' in the family," Hobert saw Angus's expression and already knew the answer: "But here with me, as long as you can be competent in this job, as long as you can make enough contributions, that Beyonder characteristic is yours!"
Angus quickly said: "I will definitely be able to do this job!"
Hobert nodded: "Then the first task I give you is to go back to the family and find some clansmen who want to become official Beyonders, but you have to make it clear to them that being an official Beyonder is prestigious, but there are also considerable dangers. They must be mentally prepared."
Angus smiled: "As long as you are in the extraordinary world, there may be danger anywhere."
He asked again: "How many people do I need to find?"
Hobert said: "It's up to you. The other captain is also a Sequence 6 and has about seven or eight subordinates."
It's just that whether that captain exists is still unknown.
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