The reconstruction of Roaring Bear City still required another year. The previous year had seen the replanning of basic infrastructure across all city districts — water supply pipes and sewer systems had been laid, and the city wall defenses and road networks had been completed. The main task going forward was the construction of houses and other civil engineering projects. Master Siroba was optimistic that these could be completed before August, though more detailed interior decoration and beautification work would still take some time. However, this year's construction in Roaring Bear City would be supervised by Deputy Director Sandben of the Engineering Department, as Master Siroba would be heading south in May to oversee the construction of the Philim family's Pegasus Castle.
Lorist spent only about ten days in Roaring Bear City. Besides inspecting the renovation of the Northland capital, he also received
Now that Lorist had returned, the war in the southern province had subsided, the strategy of destroying the Iblia Kingdom had been achieved, and most importantly, the Flying Tiger Corps would soon march back to Northland. Fatty Shi could finally let out a breath of relief. He brought Lorist a piece of excellent news: in the eastern district of Roaring Bear City — the zone designated for nobles to build their own estates — all sixty-seven plots had been snapped up by those nobles, netting the Norton Family over 1.6 million gold Forde from the sales alone. Steward Speer was so delighted he couldn't stop grinning.
After all, those sixty-seven plots were completely bare, with not a single structure on them. The nobles who purchased them would still have to spend their own money to build their estates. The Norton Family only needed to handle the construction of roads between plots and public amenities like parks and gardens. One could say the Norton Family had made out handsomely. Because once those nobles finished building their estates, they would have to pay annual property taxes to the Norton Family — at a rate of one-thousandth of the land and property value per year, based on the plot's area and market price. In other words: yes, you bought this plot and it belongs to you as private property, but this plot sits on Norton Family territory, and for the safety of the mansion you've built on it, be a good fellow and pay your protection fee...
Lorist was quite surprised. He knew the originally set prices for these plots had been around five to eight thousand gold Forde each. How had they sold for so much — over 1.6 million gold Forde in total? That was nearly five or six times the projected revenue. What had made those nobles willing to pay such exorbitant prices?
Fatty Shi proudly told Lorist that he had never set explicit prices for the plots from the start. Instead, he had first commissioned a map of the special zone, marking all sixty-seven plots with their minimum prices, then distributed copies to every noble — both those with honorary titles and those with actual territories. Every noble received one, including the traditional territorial nobles from Winston Province who had recently pledged allegiance to the Norton Family. He found that every noble who received the special zone map showed intense interest. Fatty Shi then decisively held an auction, and the sixty-seven plots were insufficient to meet demand — the lowest prices quadrupled or quintupled, while the highest increased tenfold, and all transactions were completed.
Fatty Shi explained that many nobles who had failed to secure a plot were now requesting the family to plan and auction off additional special zone areas. Based on estimates, they would need at least two more special zones' worth of land to satisfy all noble demand. So Fatty Shi and Steward Speer had worked tirelessly to plan two additional areas next to the eastern special zone, preparing around a hundred and fifty plots for another auction. They were now waiting for Lorist's review and approval.
Lorist took the planning documents, reviewed them, and crossed out the larger plan with his pen, keeping only the one encompassing fifty-eight plots. Fatty Shi and Steward Speer both panicked — what he had crossed out was gleaming gold coins!
"Too much is as bad as too little," Lorist explained. "Both plans would essentially guarantee every noble gets a plot. If that's the case, what would they be competing for at auction? Everyone gets one — the only difference is whether the location is better or worse. There'd be no reason for them to drive up prices. Replicating the first special zone's phenomenon, where every plot's price multiplied several times over, would be very difficult. We need to offer only a small number of plots to create a frenzy among buyers — that's the only way prices will skyrocket."
Fatty Shi suddenly understood and slapped his forehead in regret. "My apologies, I was too hasty and forgot about that. I thought the plots in the new plans could command the same high prices as those in the first special zone. That was my mistake..."
"It's not your fault. The issue is that none of you understood why those nobles were fighting so desperately for the special zone plots," Lorist said with a smile. "To put it plainly, these plots' high prices are essentially them paying tribute to our family — a pledge of allegiance."
Steward Speer looked puzzled.
"Yes, a pledge of allegiance," Lorist nodded. "By the time we held the auction, our Northland Alliance of Four had already destroyed the Fisablen Family's First Border Patrol Cavalry Corps, captured Windbury — the royal capital — and Grand Duke Fisablen had fled to the southern province. Anyone with eyes could see that our Northland Alliance of Four had gained the upper hand. The Fisablen Family, though the strongest territorial noble house in the northeast, had been dealt a crippling blow. Even if the war experienced further twists and turns, it would be nearly impossible for them to recover — unless all four of us in the Northland Alliance were complete fools. Otherwise, even if Grand Duke Fisablen were the God of War himself, he couldn't turn defeat into victory.
Under these circumstances, these nobles placed their bets on our Norton Family. Among the Northland Alliance of Four, our Norton Family leads, and we are currently renovating the Northland capital — renaming Gildusk City to Roaring Bear City — making it clear that we intend this to be our family's seat of power. When nobles purchase plots in the special zone to build estates, it means they're aligning themselves with our Norton Family. Simply put, they're buying a ticket aboard our ship, willing to weather the storms together. Of course, there's also the element of speculation — the closer they are to our family and the more dealings they have with us, the greater their chances of prospering.
We have now achieved our campaign against the Iblia Kingdom, bringing both Winston Province and the southern province into the Northland Alliance of Four's sphere of influence. Nominal allegiance belongs to the Andinak Kingdom, and on a map, the Andinak Kingdom already controls half the territory of the former Krisen Empire. But our Northland Alliance of Four is an independent power within the kingdom. These nobles all understand clearly — compared to His Highness the
Lorist pointed at the planning documents in his hand. "In truth, no matter how high we set the prices for these two plans' plots, those nobles will still grit their teeth and buy, to demonstrate they stand with us. But I don't want them harboring resentment. Besides getting them to pay willingly, we need to drive up the value of these plots so they appreciate year after year.
For instance, I plan to reduce the fifty-eight plots in this plan to forty. The excess land will be used to build a wicker-ball arena, a horse racing track, a combat aura training hall, and a medical clinic staffed by senior apothecaries. I also want to dig a small canal connecting to the lake, so people can row boats and swim there. The lakeside will offer walking paths and picnic areas, along with fine-dining restaurants, leisure tea houses, and upscale shopping streets — making this the most desirable high-end residential area for nobles and their families. Only in this way will the plot values in these two special zones keep climbing, becoming an area everyone scrambles to enter.
Once that happens, whenever we add another special zone or a large upscale residential area near these two zones, the new zone's plot prices will naturally be even higher, and the land prices in the new residential area will climb right along with them..."
Fatty Shi exclaimed in awe, "Your Highness, your calculations are truly extraordinary."
Steward Speer, however, furrowed his brow. "Your Highness, don't you think these two special zones, as you've described them, would end up looking much like the wealthy district in the capital? Wouldn't that drag down property values in the wealthy district?"
"Heh heh..." Lorist shook his head with a smile. "The wealthy district is the wealthy district — it's basically where nobles have their mansions and wealthy commoners have their residences. Anyone with enough money can buy there. But the two special zones are exclusively for those of noble birth, or guests invited by nobles. No amount of money alone grants entry. This naturally makes those nobles feel a cut above. And wealthy commoners will be all the more envious, aspiring to become part of it — which means their best path forward is to contribute more to our family and earn our recognition, receiving honorary noble titles.
Starting next year, our Norton Family will no longer recognize honorary noble titles granted by other nations. Steward Speer, draw up a standard: foreign honorary nobles who have purchased a special zone plot and pay an additional fee to our family can have their foreign honorary titles converted into our family's honorary noble status."
"But, Your Lordship, what's the point of that? They're all just honorary titles — what real difference is there between another country's and our family's?" Steward Speer asked, puzzled.
Fatty Shi burst out laughing. "Your Highness, this is absolutely brilliant. Steward Speer, the difference is enormous. First, as His Highness said, starting next year we won't recognize foreign honorary noble titles anymore. That means anyone holding a foreign honorary title won't be able to attend any of our family's noble gatherings, balls, or banquets. They'll be completely shut out of the Northland Alliance of Four's noble circles.
Second, those foreign honorary nobles who have already purchased special zone plots can convert to our family's honorary titles by paying a fee — and they'll jump at the chance. Our Norton Family's honorary noble titles are worth far more than those wholesale honorary titles from other countries. We're a rising territorial noble house with formidable strength. An honorary title recognized by our family will earn its holder greater respect in the outside noble circles, and no one will lightly offend them — because we will stand up for our family's honorary nobles.
Finally, once this news gets out, the prices for the second special zone's plots will skyrocket yet again. Those honorary nobles will go mad trying to secure one. I suspect the forty plots in this round could very well exceed the total value of the first special zone's sixty-seven plots..."
Well, as long as a flood of gold Forde was pouring in, Steward Speer wisely kept his mouth shut, ready to make a fortune in silence.
"If it weren't for the heavy losses our family's armed forces suffered in this war, I wouldn't have resorted to such measures. But extracting money from nobles and wealthy commoners is far better than raising taxes on impoverished subjects... By the way, Baron Shrade, the Flying Tiger Corps and the Hunter Rider Corps suffered heavy casualties this time. The compensation for fallen soldiers and those discharged due to disabilities must be delivered to every household. Furthermore, I've decided to reduce the tax rate for families of these casualties, maintaining preferential treatment for soldiers' families — their tax rate will be set at thirty percent across the board."
Across the nations of the Galentea Continent, lords typically charged their subjects tax rates of fifty percent or more. This meant that a lord who granted a plot of land to a subject would take half of the harvest as tribute, in addition to house taxes, water taxes, boat taxes, transit taxes, and numerous other miscellaneous levies. The lord, in turn, only needed to pay a ten percent tithe on harvests to his own overlord — everything else extracted from the subjects was his personal income. Many harsh lords even pushed rates as high as seventy percent, grinding their subjects into poverty and forcing them to pay off their tax obligations through corvée labor and blood tax.
Corvée labor meant working for the lord for free while providing your own provisions, typically one to three months per year. Blood tax meant arming yourself at your own expense to fight for the lord, who only provided two meals a day — basic gruel barely fit for pigs. There was no pay; the only spoils came after a victory, when soldiers were granted limited permission to loot — but even then, most of what they plundered had to be turned over to their lord. If a soldier was killed in battle, the lord might notify the family, but there was no compensation or pension whatsoever. Instead, the family only fell deeper into hardship from losing their primary breadwinner.
The Norton Family's tax rate had always been fifty percent — already the lowest among lords. When Lorist had first returned to the family's territory, he had felt this was too high and wanted to reduce it to thirty percent, but was unanimously opposed by the family knights and stewards. Fatty Shi had also warned him privately that standing out so dramatically would make the family an oddity in the eyes of every territorial noble. So Lorist had not changed the tax rate, though he did eliminate most miscellaneous taxes, reducing the sole fishing and hunting tax to just ten percent.
While the tax rate itself couldn't be reduced, the Norton Family offered preferential rates for the families of soldiers who joined the family's armed forces. If one member of a household joined the garrison, the family's tax rate was reduced by ten percent — paying only forty percent of harvests. If they became a regular soldier in the family's military corps, the rate dropped to thirty percent. Even after discharge, the family rate remained at a reduced forty percent.
Previously, families of soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for the family received a permanent ten percent tax reduction. But now Lorist wanted to cut another ten percent — and he was firm about it, regardless of Steward Speer's objections.
"In fact, Steward Speer, our family's main source of revenue has never been harvest taxes from farmland. It's the income from mines, factories, workshops, and commerce that brings in the real money. The four developed regions — Blissful Plain, Thriving Plain, Red River Plain, and Great River Plain — have never brought in more than a million gold Forde in annual harvest taxes combined. That's roughly equivalent to the property income from developing just one town — North Field Town on Blissful Plain. So these agricultural taxes aren't that significant. Reducing them by another ten percent will only make the subjects more loyal and grateful to the family.
This time, our family's armed forces lost nearly forty thousand people to death or disability-related discharge. The annual compensation will amount to nearly a hundred thousand gold Forde. There's no need to quibble over less than ten thousand gold Forde in agricultural revenue — let that ten percent go, and let the families of our fallen soldiers know that our family has not forgotten the blood they shed on our behalf." Lorist's voice carried a note of sorrow.
"I was wrong. I will follow Your Lordship's decision." Steward Speer bowed his head.
...(To be continued.)