RPAGF #286 - Holy Land Edict
#286 - Holy Land Edict
Hiring these extraordinary knights wasn't because Horn had too much money to burn, but because there was a genuine need.
The primary needs were to combat bandits and deter the Ibe Knights to the south.
From the Battle of Jeanne d'Arc to the Battle of Pavia, a series of battles had completely crushed the main extraordinary forces of the entire Kush Territory.
The remaining extraordinary knights dared not confront them head-on, and could only hold on to rural fortresses or engage in guerrilla warfare in the wild.
Horn needed a highly mobile force capable of confronting extraordinary knights head-on.
He was originally planning to go to the mountains to find cost-effective mountain infantry, but he didn't expect the Norsemen to deliver themselves to his door.
This group of robber knights was not large in number, but they were swift and attacked villages at will, overwhelming the Holy Musket cavalry.
Moreover, they also had to 'send warmth' to the die-hard knight families one by one.
Most new regimes are inevitably harassed by the ghosts of the previous dynasty in the early stages.
Therefore, although the outside world seems precarious, Horn knows that most of it is just for intimidation.
Regardless of what happens outside, in this season of spring plowing, whether it's southward or westward, production must first be organized to take care of Jeanne d'Arc as a major rear area.
Therefore, after entering Jeanne d'Arc and announcing that a conference of believers would be held in seven days, the first thing Horn had to do was settle accounts.
All the accountants in Jeanne d'Arc were gathered together to start statistics and reconciliation of the tax registers.
The Child Soldiers also participated a lot, and Horn's half-year of mathematics education finally had some results.
It was certainly impossible for them to do independent accounting, but it was more than enough to assist the teachers, just to learn in practice.
This great reconciliation has not yet been completed today, and when Horn is sitting in the study on the second floor of the city hall, he can still hear the sound of turning books and fiddling with calculating rulers below.
Shaking his head, he sat down at the desk, and Horn pulled out a volume of tax reports submitted by Madeleine this morning from the shelf next to him.
This tax report is a report on the results of this accounting.
But if you don't calculate it, you won't know; if you calculate it, you'll be shocked.
According to the statistical results of the church's tax register, the total tax revenue paid by Langsand County to the Kingdom of Leia every year is about 8,500 to 9,000 gold pounds.
From the summary estimates of the account books of various knights and Duke Kush himself, Kush Territory alone collects 25,000 gold pounds every year from citizens, farmers, craftsmen, and even vagrants.
After deducting 5,000 gold pounds for the kingdom's territorial tax, three-quarters of the remaining tax revenue flows into churches and monasteries, and one-quarter remains in the accounts of knights and nobles.
Of the part flowing into the church, basically half flows to the Holy See, according to the statistics of Kush Territory's account books in 1443, a total of 7,816 gold pounds flowed to the Holy See.
As for D'Arnay himself, after deducting the price difference earned by the intermediate lords, his income from land tax and poll tax in 1443 was only a pitiful 979 gold pounds, less than half of his commercial tax income.
This situation has continued from the time D'Arnay's father took the throne until now.
For decades, the knights have been slightly better off, after all, they still have to engage in skirmishes with Black Serpent Bay and the Norsemen in the south, and there will definitely be expenses in war.
The monastery only accepts and does not give out. Horn was curious at first, you can't eat money, so what's the use of saving so much?
It wasn't until the account books of the monastery and the Holy See Bank were sent over that Horn understood, the Holy See really knows how to make money.
To put it simply, they rely on knights to violently suppress and priests to preach piety, forcing local civilians to pay taxes far beyond a reasonable level.
These taxes are diverted into many parts, but all rivers flow into the sea, and the bulk of it still falls into the hands of the church.
After this money enters the monastery in the name of donations, purchases of indulgences, and holding funerals and other sacraments, the monastery begins to use it to invest in underground industries such as gambling houses, brothels, and gladiatorial arenas.
Whenever a craftsman or laborer manages to run a good business through their own efforts, they will let hooligans and gangsters lure them into the underground industry.
Once they are swindled out of their money, there will only be usury. What if they can't pay back the usury?
Mortgage the property to the monastery, and then be forced to do white labor by the monks due to debt.
The dwarf Halkin is a living example. If Horn hadn't killed the debtor, he and Brock would have directly become debt slaves of the monastery.
Frankly speaking, only a few large monasteries rely on this method; small monasteries are normal business lending.
They only engage in normal lending and commercial activities. Relying on tax-free privileges and licenses, they still indirectly cause farmers and small shop owners to go bankrupt.
In this near zero-sum game, someone must benefit and someone must lose.
According to the church's account books, eighty years ago, there were more than four hundred knight families in Kush Territory.
Now, the number of knight families in Kush Territory is only over three hundred, a sharp decrease of 25%, and the number of armed farmers has decreased by nearly 50%.
Of the more than one hundred knights who were reduced, more than half were Kush knights, and a large amount of land from armed farmers fell into the hands of the church.
D'Arnay's power was eroded little by little in this way, and the land tax and poll tax he received decreased year by year, and his assets were constantly eroded by the monastery.
Horn suddenly understood.
No wonder D'Arnay, the old boy, wanted to leave; it turned out that he saw that staying was just a slow death.
No wonder the citizens stood by Duke D'Arnay, while the craftsmen and laborers stood by Horn; it turned out that the citizens relied on the Duke's protection, while the craftsmen and laborers were enslaved by the church.
No wonder the farmers were so enthusiastic when they learned that Horn had expelled the Edicts and the church.
No wonder they were able to seize so much money from the monastery.
Sitting at his desk, looking at the list submitted yesterday, Horn still felt dizzy.
Yesterday morning, one of the three largest monasteries in Kush Territory was breached by the Black Hat Army.
They ransacked the house for a whole day.
They seized a full 40,000 gold pounds from it, as well as a large amount of gold and silver jewelry, high-end furniture, and clothing of incalculable value.
Ransacking twenty knight manors is not as profitable as ransacking one monastery.
Whose house can be ransacked more profitably than a banker's?
40,000 gold pounds, if it is not a time of war, is equivalent to ransacking Horn's military financial expenditure for a year.
This includes the salaries, food, clothing, housing, transportation, pensions, training, and weapons and equipment of the Salvation Army, etc.
After seven days of liquidation, a total of more than 50,000 gold pounds were seized, 80% of which came from large monasteries.
Horn underestimated the remaining two large monasteries a little; let's just say they add up to 50,000 gold pounds.
Adding them all together, Horn actually came up with a huge sum of more than 100,000 gold pounds.
This money is more than enough to cover war expenses, but Horn is still soberly aware that this is all one-time income, water without roots.
If he wants to defeat the church and the empire, he must have a large rear area to continuously produce manpower and material resources for him.
In the final analysis, this money can only be start-up capital. After all, it is impossible for him to continue to forcibly collect 25,000 gold pounds from the farmers every year like the church.
After the flood, Langsand County has no soil for taxation.
Horn even has to put in a lot of money to help the local farmers get through the spring famine.
The Ibe Knights of Golden River Township watched Jeanne d'Arc fall without moving because he lived on agricultural output.
Their military activities are as seasonal as agriculture. On the other hand, the Edicts or Royal Knights who rely on annuities do not have this kind of trouble at all.
However, Horn expects that they will not be able to wait long. After the busy farming season in March and April is over, even if they do not attack Horn, Horn will attack them.
"Forget it." Putting down the quill in his hand, Horn yawned. He turned to Armand and asked, "Have all the representatives of the people arrived?"
"They've all arrived and have settled in at the hotel."
"The conference of believers is tomorrow. Have you drafted the edict?"
"It's drafted and just waiting to be copied." Standing up, Armand took out a stack of white paper from the drawer and placed it in Horn's hands.
Opening the white paper, Horn could clearly see that the title of this edict was written in square Elven script—
《Holy Kingdom Field Edict》