King
Chapter 732 - 732 28 Berkshire Shipyard_1

732: Chapter 28, Berkshire Shipyard_1 732: Chapter 28, Berkshire Shipyard_1 Throughout the next meeting, Hudson remained silent with a gloomy expression, like a wronged teenager holding in anger.

Only once he boarded the carriage did a hint of a mocking smile appear at the corner of his mouth.

Deep down, Hudson couldn’t help but admire: Earl Piers was such a great person!

Initially, he was worried.

Being the one to step forward had offended the interests of some old nobles, and he wasn’t sure how to handle things next.

At the crucial moment, Earl Piers stabbed him in the back, effectively helping him through the difficulty.

Now that everyone was too busy gloating over his misfortune, any resentment against him would have markedly diminished.

He had also played the victim to the King; his fall was a result of serving the King.

If Hudson hadn’t been so active initially and caused dissatisfaction among the old nobles, Earl Piers’ actions wouldn’t have succeeded so easily.

The only regret was that the emerging major nobles were too timid.

Even when Hudson took the initiative, no one else dared to follow up.

Realizing this, Hudson, who originally wanted to establish himself in the Kingdom as the spokesperson for the emerging nobility, immediately abandoned this idea.

Being the leader was great, but leading such an unreliable group was not worth it!

Not being their leader doesn’t mean cutting off these relationships.

On the contrary, Hudson intended to continue deepening his relationship with the emerging nobility.

Being weak now doesn’t mean being weak in the future.

Essentially, these people were politically weak due to their insufficient strength.

Including Hudson himself, if it weren’t for his substantial military power, he wouldn’t dare stir this muddy water, no matter how high the price offered by Caesar III.

Even if one has strength, they should admit when they should back off in the face of a big trend.

Of course, the main thing is that although the aftermath seemed serious, the real damage wasn’t much.

The “Repayment Tax” appears to be a large figure, but Alpha Kingdom has thirty-two provinces.

Even if the newly conquered Seven Provinces in the North are excluded, there are still twenty-five provinces to share the burden.

No matter how generous Earl Piers is, he wouldn’t carry all the taxes on his Southeastern Province.

According to traditional distribution habits, the prosperous Southeastern Province may at most only bear ten to fifteen percent of the tax.

With so many nobles in the province sharing the burden, considering factors like territorial size and economic development, the ultimate burden on the Koslow Family would be only a tenth to an eighth of the provincial tax.

The car hadn’t left the Royal Palace when it was stopped half-way.

“Count, the Crown Prince has invited you for a meeting!”

The maid’s crisp voice interrupted Hudson’s planning.

Perhaps Caesar III really couldn’t hold on much longer.

In recent days, the Crown Prince has been exceptionally active.

One day he would invite this major noble to a feast, the next day he would invite another.

He didn’t forget to win over the intermediate aristocracy either.

“Lead the way!” Hudson said blandly.

…

Back at home, Earl Piers immediately put away his smile.

As a victor, he was far from being as excited as the outside world imagined him to be.

To halt the Koslow Family’s development, he had employed some unsightly tactics today.

At least in the eyes of the nobles in the Southeastern Province, he was failing as their leader.

The war bonds in the tax can be easily handled; the Dalton Family could swallow them in one gulp.

It’s simply a financial investment, and a guaranteed profitable one at that.

The few hundred thousand gold coins don’t matter much.

It’s worth paying such a small price to win over people’s hearts.

The troublesome part is the Repayment Tax.

With him, as the leader, proactively proposing it, it’s certain that the Southeastern Province’s share won’t be small.

The province has fifteen counties.

Out of these, only Layton County can be entirely controlled by the Koslow Family, and that’s after large-scale land exchanges.

There’s quite a bit of newly cultivated land, but it’s all off the Kingdom’s records.

Counting on Hudson to cooperate in a thorough investigation is almost impossible.

Even though Layton County is a large county, the portion it needs to bear is quite limited.

The remaining share has to be borne by the nobles within the province.

The Dalton Family inevitably has to bear the lion’s share, but the smaller households won’t escape spending money either.

It’s inevitable that they will bear resentment.

In the past, the Dalton Family had been overwhelmingly dominant.

When something like this happened, everyone else had to put up with it.

The situation has slightly changed now.

While this small issue wouldn’t cause people to take risks and turn towards supporting the Koslow Family, necessary appeasements must be made.

Especially for the Neutral Faction with the largest number of people, they require particular attention.

They absolutely cannot be left to be wooed by the Koslow Family.

However, considering the financial strength of the Koslow Family, Earl Piers immediately set his worrying heart at ease.

With their already thin resources, they were significantly invested in infrastructure construction, and now they’ve been bled again.

The pressure this brings the Koslow Family is predictable.

Focusing on covering their bases is already hard enough, where would they find the ability to win people over?

Even if the Koslow Family decides to suspend some projects and squeeze out some money, they’d use it to help their followers first, and not stubbornly try to win over the Neutral Faction.

When everyone’s finances are strained, who else in the Southeastern Province, other than the Dalton Family, has the ability to lend financial aid to the lesser nobles?