cp293

Chapter 293, Imperial Tax

"This world should be rich and beautiful, but it's a pity that war..."

Gallador looked a little emotional.

But this seemed a bit fake in Lois's eyes.

This war apostle has witnessed hundreds of wars and hundreds of planets destroyed by wars.

Will he be touched by this?

Touch the hammer!

Sure enough, even Gallador himself did not continue to pretend - he was not pretending to be anything, he was just sighing: "If this Raging Owl Star is still at its peak, I am sure that I can get 20 billion in taxes from here. Donations of more than [-] yuan."

At this point, he became really melancholy: "Now, we can only get 200 million."

Lois listened, but did not respond, as if it was none of his business.

It really has little to do with her.

She is a tax official, just pay the tax.Other things, what kind of 'donation' to the empire's cause and the solar expedition... what does it have to do with her?

In fact, she was even a little tired of it.

Four months ago, Gallardo came to the Dragon Eagle Star Territory. After visiting the head of the Star Territory, he came to her tax fleet and began to follow her around the entire Dragon Eagle Star Territory.

While she collected taxes, Gallardo went to local dignitaries to "raise donations."

The people he was looking for included administrative officials such as sector leaders and planetary governors, as well as powerful factions such as the Imperial Chamber of Commerce, the Ecclesiarchy, and the Adeptus Mechanicus.When he is hungry and has no choice but to eat, he will go to even the local dignitaries on various planets.

Generally speaking, he can always get more or less money on various planets.This amount is sometimes half or even one-tenth of the imperial tax, and sometimes even exceeds the imperial tax, depending on the situation on that planet.

And Gallardo's methods are not just as simple as lobbying.

The real money he wants can amount to hundreds of millions or billions of tax coins. The Sun Lord and the War Apostle will have great respect, but they can't sell this money just by selling their faces and words.

In essence, it is still power and... trickery.

He has been officially authorized by the empire to directly collect imperial taxes from the space and star governments to support the solar expedition.

Directly calling the imperial tax is a great power.You must know that there are 58 star regions under the Eastern Universe to which the Dragon Eagle Star Region belongs; there are 37 star regions under the Dragon Eagle Star Region. As a star region, 'Tianma' has an average annual imperial tax amount of about 120 billion tax coins.

One tax coin is equivalent to the entire output value of an adult in one standard Terra year under imperial standards.

From this perspective, one can imagine how huge the human and material resources Gallardo can mobilize are.

However, this power is limited and not supreme.It is true that he represents the will of the Sun Lord, but the power of the head of the universe is also very high. They even have the power of one person, one vote, and can elect an indefinite number of representatives to the 13-member supreme parliament of the empire, which is the place of the empire. Centralized representation of power.They have the right to veto the War Apostles' requests, and when the needs of the two sides conflict, they will bicker with each other, and the issues that cannot be resolved may even be raised to the Supreme Council of the Empire.

Even though there is the biggest Sun Lord backing him up there, how ugly would it be if everything is done in the Sun Lord's face?

There is room here for political deals and compromises.

Gallardo is not stupid, he has power but he will not abuse it.

For example, in the Eastern Space Territory, the result of the negotiation is that only 15% of the imperial tax will support the solar expedition.

But this amount is not enough, so what should we do?

Go to the star regions and planets below to raise funds.

And these methods are not necessarily very 'civilized'.

The space government and star government turned a blind eye to this, and even provided help to some extent to prevent Gallardo from having to think about imperial taxes anymore.Imperial taxes belong to the space and star governments. If Gallardo takes away too much, he will use less.But the money he got from various star regions and planets was lost to the respective planets, which was relatively acceptable to the cosmic and star governments.

And Gallardo relied on this support to do some less than honorable things.

For example, on a certain planet, if the planetary governor refuses his solicitation and does not provide additional income, he may support the governor's opponents, or even rebels, to replace him; he will also respond to the dignitaries of certain imperial worlds. He promised to activate his relationship with the Adeptus Mechanicus and give them priority in arranging life-extending surgeries; he would obtain some interstellar trade licenses from the Imperial Chamber of Commerce and sell them to planetary merchants who were not qualified to obtain them but wanted to participate in trade; he would treat certain people who were not The lifelong sector leader threatens to pay money if he wants to be re-elected...

There are so many ways.

If it's just some means, some conspiracies, some political deals, then forget it.But the key is that many of his actions will leave serious sequelae.

The worst kind is that it will leave unrest in the local area.Some planets were not very peaceful to begin with, or were relatively peaceful, but he provoked them and caused trouble there.He got the so-called 'donation' and walked away. Generally speaking, the current imperial tax will not be a big problem.

But then what?

The planet is still there, still under the management of the upward star regions, star regions, and space regions at all levels.A mess will be left behind, and the rest will be wiped out by governments at all levels. If they can't take care of it, the next imperial tax will be affected.

During the past few months of Gallardo's activities in the Dragon Eagle Star Territory, a lot of things have happened.

If you make money, you make money, and if you leave a mess behind, there will naturally be great dissatisfaction within the Dragon Eagle Star Territory government.

Among them, Neil Lois himself is the most prominent.

After all, Gallardo was traveling with her tax fleet.She saw what this war apostle did in the Dragon Eagle Star Territory.She often has to wipe Gallardo's butt, and is even dragged into the water, and of course she won't be happy.

It's just that because of his identity as a war apostle, he didn't dare to reveal it.

But today, she couldn't help but want to say two things:

"Your Excellency, Apostle... I probably know a little bit about the situation of the Raging Owl Star. It was destroyed in the war. After its reconstruction, the population has not been large. The situation is also very chaotic and dangerous. The imperial tax to be paid is always the lowest. level. Even so, this planet has failed to pay its taxes for eight consecutive years, and I have executed four governors."

"Their biennial imperial tax amount is only 1000 million tax coins. This time, their sector government has given them 750 million to give them time to recuperate. Now, there is a new term here. Judging from the news that Feiyi Star has received, the new governor named Gu Hang has done a pretty good job, and the entire planet is recovering. They should be able to pay taxes based on their own ability in the next issue."

Having said this, Lois couldn't help but give a few words of advice:

"There is nothing on this planet, so why do you have to think about them? It will only cost you a few million tax coins, let them develop on their own..."

Gallardo turned around and faced Lois, looking up and down as if he had met her for the first time.

The War Apostle's gaze made Lois look a little uncomfortable.Gallardo suddenly laughed: "I didn't expect that a tax collector who was decisive in killing and executing the planetary governor without blinking an eye would actually have a kind heart!"

His words were somewhat sarcastic.

Royce remained silent and did not reply.

Gallardo continued: "What you said makes sense, but... so what? A planet that has been destroyed once, its development is nothing compared to the great cause of the Solar Expedition. Why come? After arriving in the Pegasus sector, I did not immediately go to the richest Flying Wing star, the most populous Koroga 3, or the Fachus star system with three worlds in one star. Instead, I went to the remote and poor Raging Owl star Which place should be the first stop?"

"Because, as for Gu Hang's identity, I know that he is the patriarch of an Imperial Chamber of Commerce family. What I can get out of him is not just how much money is on the Raging Owl Star; the Gu family behind him can Pretty rich."

"In addition to money, it is also a good place to make a breakthrough in the Tianma Star District. I also know that he has also done something on the Black Arrow Star in this star district. I also know that he wants to use The army, while responsible for the local defense of Raging Owl, can also deduct taxes... You see, this young man has great ideas. The more ideas he has, the greater the leverage he can catch."

"According to my past experience, if you want to live well in a star sector and reap rewards, you must first come up with an example. Whether it is positive, using incentives to establish a person who gets benefits and attract others to be willing to raise funds; or Negatively, subvert something, use fear to make others consider the consequences, and have to submit... In short, this precedent must be set."

"Isn't this Gu Hang very good? It's a poor, broken, and remote planet, but the governor represents a wealthy imperial chamber of commerce, and there are some easy handles... If I don't make this my first stop, then Too bad for my keen sense of smell."

Faced with Gallardo's tirade, Lois also fell silent.

Of course she still didn't agree with the war apostle's behavior.

But so what?

As he said, this is just an insignificant little planet.There is almost no conflict with the interests of the Star Territory and the tax collector.When Lois opened his mouth to offer some words of advice, it was already a rare episode of conscience.

It was impossible for her to have a conflict with the war apostle because of this matter.

In the end, she could only sigh, feeling that the boy named Gu Hang was a little unlucky.

It's best to be wise, shed some blood, and send this war apostle away.If he really disobeys and disobeys, then according to his many methods, not only the blood will be shed, but also a lot of extra trouble will occur.

...

Gu Hang organized a grand welcome for the arrival of the tax collector and war apostle.

Of course, this so-called 'grandness' only refers to the planet Raging Owl.

The Raging Owl Star is very 'poor', and under the alliance's system, especially under the leadership of the Governor Gu Hang, they have never paid attention to things like pomp and circumstance. Everything is more pragmatic, with all kinds of unnecessary rituals. , simplify it if you can.

When welcoming the War Apostle and the Star Territory Tax Chief, they had tried their best to create some pomp and circumstance.They knew that this might still be quite shabby for the two well-informed people. At best, it only made them feel the enthusiasm of the Raging Star.But it's enough to be able to do this, as long as it doesn't make people feel ignored, that's fine.

Originally, Gu Hang had no intention of offending these two people.

One is a war apostle who has a reputation in the entire empire's political arena, and the other is the tax chief who is in charge of taxation in the star field and has the power to execute planetary governors.

They are all people who cannot afford to offend.

Moreover, Gu Hang also smelled a special 'smell'.

It was unusual for these two people to come in person.

According to general experience, a big shot at the level of the Director of Taxation is very tight on time and schedule.After they arrive in a stable star sector, they often move directly to the capital of the star sector and sit in the center.Sometimes I personally go to some big tax planets to supervise the situation.As for some remote places where the amount of imperial tax is not high, it is enough to have a squadron to collect them.

If you can't collect it, just issue an execution order and let the agents of the Ministry of Justice go do the work.

Gu Hang originally thought that what he had to face was just a squadron.

But he never expected that the tax chief would come in person and bring a war apostle.

Gu Hang felt something was wrong.

He was secretly vigilant, personally received the two of them during the dinner, and had a conversation with them.

He once had the idea of ​​using his mind-tampering psychic power to find out what these two people were thinking.

However, when he just had this idea, he suddenly felt a palpitation in his heart.

This is his spirituality, warning him.

He woke up immediately.

At the level of these two people, mental protection will not fall behind.It is extremely difficult to succeed quietly without being noticed and leaving no traces afterwards.

The tax chief might have some special treasure on him; and the war apostle made Gu Hang feel a strong divine light.

He immediately stopped thinking, and only tried to use words to rouse himself.

Neil Lois, the tax collector, was always serious and spoke very little. Gu Hang did not produce any results from his tests.

In contrast, the War Apostle, who had a higher status, was very approachable, always smiling, and praised Gu Hang's work on the Raging Owl Star during the conversation.

In a few words, Gu Hang was surprised to find that this person knew everything about his deeds in the past two years, at least roughly.

After being praised, he not only did not feel arrogant, but became more vigilant.

With such an important status, he knows so much about the little governor of his remote planet...

What do you want to do?

During the banquet, Gu Hang kept thinking about this issue.

When it was over and parting, Tax Collector Lois avoided Gallardo in a meaningful way and said in his ear:

"The requirements of the war apostle can be met. It will be good for you and your family."

(End of this chapter)