Chapter 263 Taxes! Taxes! Taxes!
Chapter 263 – Taxes! Tax! Tax!
After eating at the merchant Adela’s store, Kevin went around the square in the center of the town selling the salt he brought, at first still no one bought it, they had to lower the price again and again, at sunset they finally earned some coins, but it was definitely a loss.
Even so, they still had things they had to face.
“Lord Tax Collector! We made this much money in one afternoon, so please do us a favor and exempt us from the tax.”
Kevin and the others lowly begged the tax officer who came to ask for money.
The tax officer shook his head and said firmly, “I don’t care how much or how little you earn, as long as you do business in this town, you have to pay taxes to Lord Lord, don’t try to escape my eyes.”
“My lord, we are salt people who make a living by cooking salt, because of the rise of salt farms, the salt we cook ourselves has to lower the price again and again in order to sell it out, earning only this little money is already a bloody loss, if you take away some as taxes, we’ll have come this trip for nothing.”
The tax officer still said with an iron face, “I don’t care about what you guys are saying, as the tax officer of Fulan harbor, I can’t break the rules just because of one or two people’s special situation, rules are rules, without rules, how can Lord Gleeman still rule his territory.”
Kevin and the others still didn’t die, pleading a hundred times, and finally got the tax officer annoyed, and with a wave of his hand, a few tax collectors from the town hall surrounded him.
“I don’t have time to talk nonsense with you guys, two choices, either pay your taxes obediently, or use labor service instead, you guys choose yourselves!”
Seeing the other party gave an ultimatum, the crowd had no choice but to obediently obey, after paying the taxes, the money bag in each person’s hand could obviously feel lighter.
The tax collector grunted and led the tax collector away, “What a bunch of poor people, if it wasn’t for Lord Gleeman chasing away the pirates, would you all still be able to do business in the town peacefully?”
Kevin and the others clenched their fists angrily, but didn’t dare to voice it out.
The congregation combined their efforts and headed for the new church in Richland Harbor, Kevin was the only one who looked a bit squirmy.
When they reached the door, Kevin said gamely, “I’ll wait for you guys outside, hurry up!”
The companions shook their heads and entered the church.
……
“Lord Almighty, bless us and show us a clear path. ……”
The villagers prayed reverently and silently to the idol, and when they were done, they handed over the bag of salt they were carrying to the priest who stood next to them.
“This is our village’s offering to the Lord of Light for this month, please accept it on behalf of the Lord Divine Servant.”
The [Offering] they spoke of was actually the so-called [Tithe] – believers were to give a tenth of their output or income to the church.
Handing over such a bag of salt is actually a meaty pain, after all, it is hard work to cook it, but …… but if you don’t pay it, what if you are punished by God? That’s what the priests say, it’s better to believe it than not to believe it ah.
Moreover, the Church’s levying of tithes is also recognized by the Lords’ House and must be paid. If the church found out that they didn’t take the initiative to pay, there would still be a tax collector who would come to the door to ask for it. If you don’t pay it, you’ll have to pay it in front of the lord.
The priest tried the weight of the bag of salt, revealed a satisfied smile, and said in a soft tone, “The Lord of Light will bless the lambs who believe in Him.”
The people bowed and retired.
……
Seeing his companions coming out of the church, Kevin, who had been waiting outside for a long time with some impatience, snorted, “The offerings we paid, I’m only afraid that the Lord of Light, His Elder, didn’t enjoy a single star, and all of it went into the pockets of his group of loyal servants.”
Most of the companions revealed a helpless look, they also knew that the church was not very clean inside.
Only one person who was usually very pious changed his face all of a sudden, “Kevin, if you keep talking nonsense, next time I won’t come with you to sell salt.”
His warning didn’t work, Kevin continued to sneer, “You pay your offerings so aggressively and diligently, and you don’t see the Lord of Light blessing you ah, you’re still a pauper just like me.”
“You …… you ……” This pious believer couldn’t say anything to him, and in a hurry, he was about to make a move.
“Alright, alright, what’s it like to fight over a little oral sex? Don’t let the people in the town look at us funny.”
The other companions hurriedly separated them, and the two were still shouting curses across the air.
The pious one yelled, “The divine servants work hard all day long to serve the Lord of Light on our behalf, it’s only right that they get a little reward.”
Kevin shot back, “Their [remuneration] is not just a little, their lives are comparable to that of the nobles, and it doesn’t match at all with what is stipulated in the Holy Canon!”
……
The crowd listlessly set off on the road back to the village, chatting one way or another as they walked.
“It looks like we can’t make ends meet by tightly relying on boiling salt, we have to think of another way to make a living.”
“Why don’t we take a look at the salt farms in Fu Lan Harbor? Maybe our ancestral craftsmanship will come in handy there.”
“What, you really want to compromise as a traitor? …… Actually, I have this idea too.”
“You guys just dream about it, if you were a few months earlier you might have had a chance, now that there’s no more hiring there.”
“How do you know?”
“Don’t give me that look, okay I admit I quietly went and asked. But that side said that after a few more months, the salt farm will expand its production scale, and then it will recruit a lot of people, and I heard that it’s going to sell salt to the south through the sea.”
“A few months? A week is too long for me, the family can’t even open the pot anymore.”
“It’s not like there’s no other way, although the salt farms aren’t hiring for the time being, there are still a lot of other workshops hiring, porcelain makers, paper makers, canners, there are more and more workshops like this.”
“Alas, these things have not been touched, go to the surely have to start from the bottom of the apprenticeship, just so shelved generations of ancestors of the craft, I am really a little reluctant.”
The party returned to the village, many people had been waiting eagerly for their return, when they learned that the merchant Adela was going to withdraw from the port of Fulan, and the salt shipped had to be sold cheaply at a loss, the whole village was plunged into sorrow.
Kevin returned to his home, scribbled a few mouthfuls of food and fell into a deep sleep, he set out early in the morning to sell salt to Port Fullan, and didn’t return until after dark, he was really exhausted.
……
A noise woke Kevin up and he opened his eyes to find it was early morning.
Kevin rubbed his sleepy eyes and asked his parents, “What’s going on outside this early in the morning?”
His father didn’t say a word, he just sat at the table with a depressed expression and barred his pipe – it wasn’t actually real tobacco in it, since the family’s income had dropped drastically, his father had replaced it with the leaves of some plant he found from nowhere.
Mother, who was preparing breakfast, let out a long sigh, “What else is there to do, listen to yourself.”
A voice that was extremely distasteful reached Kevin’s ears.
“Folks, it’s time to pay this month’s poll tax ……”
Damn taxes again!
No matter where he was, no matter what time of day it was, he couldn’t get rid of this kind of thing.
(End of chapter)