CHAPTER 150: CHAPTER 148: CASTI’S DEATH

When Horn’s leather boots stepped on the cobblestone pavement of Citizen Road, the traces of smoke and fire were still evident.

Horn squatted down, rubbed the ground with his fingers, and the black dust with a strong smell of smoke proved that yesterday’s riot was not an illusion.

However, judging by the results now, both sides maintained a certain degree of restraint.

Although the citizens killed a few tax clerks, these tax clerks were all unemployed laborers hired, and didn’t truly harm the Duke’s forces.

Despite the Duke dispatching soldiers to suppress the situation, injuring many citizens, most were superficial injuries, and not a single person was killed.

The cause of the incident was the Duke’s announcement of war bonds. Just as the citizens reacted to the first round of taxation, a second wave of taxes emerged.

According to Horn’s estimation, His Excellency the Duke collected about 6000 gold pounds from the first round of taxation, with about 3000 gold pounds contributed by Joan of Arc Castle alone, and the remaining villages and towns in the Duchy contributed 3000 gold pounds in total.

This time, the war bonds launched by His Excellency the Duke were sold at a price of 2 gold pounds per bond, with guilds and citizens being forced to purchase them based on regional allotment.

This clearly angered the citizens,

to the extent that even residents from many other villages and towns came to Joan of Arc Castle to participate in the event.

Amidst the public outcry, the Duke finally stepped forward and announced, "You are mistaken, I’ll back down, alright?"

The price of war bonds correspondingly dropped to 1 gold pound, with the Duke promising to repay at 2 gold pounds after the war, but only with low interest.

Although unwilling, the citizens, upon reflection, thought that since the Duke had already taken a step back, it wouldn’t be wise to overly offend him, so they reluctantly shouldered this portion of the bonds.

After all, it was a promissory note, and maybe it could be repaid.

Thus, this struggle ended with a complete victory for the Duke.

Initially, Horn didn’t quite understand. If you need to raise money for the war, that’s fine, but raising money this hastily?

The first round of taxes had just been collected, sufficient for early war preparations, so what was the need for a second round?

Most importantly, as an asset noble, Dane should have raised money from the assets in various areas, like mortgaging shops or selling shares.

Land nobles raise money from taxed vassals because their territories are vast with many people and estates. Does the Duchy of Kush have a trade market?

At this point, can he really still be reluctant?

Walking down Citizen Road, Horn looked around and found it much more desolate than before.

One bruised and even arm-slinged tax agent after another stood in front of each citizen’s home, desperately "selling" war bonds.

The people these bonds were being sold to begrudgingly bought these lucrative financial products with gritted teeth and tear-stained eyes. Of course, casual citizens bought relatively fewer bonds.

What’s most disgusting is the allocation given to those guilds, with most guilds having to shoulder 300-500 gold pounds worth of war bonds.

To have guilds take on this burden, the Duke still showed some kindness by allowing guild members to be exempt from military service, even in the most critical moments, and not forcibly conscript guild members into the army.

With the current situation, this round of taxation—or rather, bond selling revenue—is estimated to reach nearly 8000 gold pounds.

From Citizen Road to Artisan Street, he arrived in front of a labor tailor shop. With bandages wrapped around her head, Qianqian dismounted and entered the tailor shop, coming out shortly after with two rolls of cloth.

Horn looked him up and down: "Isn’t there an alchemy product list?"

"Can’t show it to you here." Qianqian lowered his voice, "It’s hidden in the cloth. We’ll talk when we return. The Ruo’an Faction even sent a simple list of alchemy formulas when they heard it was you."

"Alchemy product formula book?" Horn quickly inquired upon hearing this, "Does the Ruo’an Faction know about me?"

"Now, the entire Thousand River Valley, even Black Snake Bay and the Shattered Stone Plain are rounding up Short-hairs. A lot of citizens and Armed Farmers are extorting, and you’ve become quite famous. How could the Ruo’an Faction not know about you?"

Qianqian got back on his horse, turned his head to Horn, and said, "Maybe Jia Li reported it when she went back to the Ruo’an Faction. Are you really unwilling to join our White Mountain Hermitage?"

"Can the White Mountain Hermitage get me into the top ranks within five years? Besides, Ruo’an Faction is the largest Secret Faction in Black Snake Bay." Horn bluntly refused Qianqian’s proposal.

Qianqian smacked his lips: "Alright."

"I’m serious, are you really unwilling to follow me to Swamp Town? You know, in the next two or three years, Thousand River Valley will be engulfed in war."

"I’ve heard your vision many times, but I also have my companions," Qianqian also resolutely refused, "I too have important things to do, but if you want to collaborate in the future, Meigedi Commerce Association... Mr. Horn?"

Qianqian was in the middle of speaking when he noticed that Horn was gone, turned around, and saw he had somehow stopped his forward-moving horse, gazing across the river.

"What’s the matter?"

"You see." Horn used his whip to gesture across the canal.

On the opposite side of the canal, a long line of soldiers was entering the town from afar, led by the Duke’s retainers towards the castle.

Leading them were dozens, nearly a hundred Extraordinary Knights, their banner marking their status, all in identical attire.

On their shields, the family crest bore the [K] mark, indicating they were vassals of the Kush Clan.

Using the headcount estimation method learned from Jeska, Horn roughly calculated that this group consisted of about a hundred Extraordinary Knights and nearly a thousand infantrymen.

Adding in the existing castle guards, watchtower defenders, and rural militia of Joan of Arc Castle, the total military force reached about 2000.

Combined with Duke Kush’s mysterious and secret army of about 2000 and other small vassal forces, the total force was roughly around 6000.

If they paid to hire mercenaries, they could ramp up the numbers to around 10,000 men. According to Horn’s estimation, that was the limit for Duke Kush.

In an extreme situation, the Duke’s current strength could barely hold for three or four months.

So the Duke would most likely rely on various mountain fortresses and rivers to build a defensive line,

"War is truly coming." Qianqian sighed once, but suddenly, he stood up from his horse.

"What’s wrong?"

"Sir, look at that house that was burned down, it looks like Casti’s home!"

Horn’s eyes widened as he looked in that direction: "It really is, come on, let’s go and see."

Crossing the bridge and arriving at the doorstep, the house where Casti lived was barely recognizable to Horn.

The original building was mostly gone, only one layer remained, precariously standing, with charred black remnants and protruding wooden frames bearing dark red burn marks.

A notice was pasted on the wall at the entrance, detailing Casti’s biography and name, inquiring about the whereabouts of Casti’s family.

Horn stepped into the small courtyard, lay a flower on Casti’s coffin stationed at the center, where a Priest was standing in front, piously chanting scriptures.

During the seven days that a Masairan soul remains in the world, according to tradition, if tempted by the devil, it could fall into the Fire Prison, but with a priest present, the soul can be protected.

"What happened to Casti? Do you know?"

"Didn’t you see the obituary at the door? During the riots, some looters took advantage of the situation and broke in. Mr. Casti got injured while resisting and bled to death," explained the notary standing before the coffin.

"Weren’t there guards at the door?" Horn asked.

"Wasn’t there a riot going on?" a neighbor explained from the side, "The soldiers guarding the main gate were all called to the castle to maintain order, which gave the looters an opportunity."

"Yeah, we were almost robbed too. My family hid in the attic at the top, pulled up the ladder, and managed to avoid it."

As neighbors and the Duke’s servants explained and discussed amongst themselves, Horn could only shake his head in resignation.

He approached Casti’s coffin, placed a fresh flower down, then left.

In this backward era, not even living in the city means being safe.

Standing at the scene, Horn shook his head helplessly as he listened to the various explanations and discussions from nearby neighbors and the Duke’s servant.

Standing by Casti’s coffin, a priest was devoutly reciting prayers.

Horn put down a flower in the middle of the coffin in the yard.

Even living in a city in these backward times does not mean safety.

As he stood there, Horn heard a voice behind him.

"Why are you laughing? Friends and family of the late are here. Show some respect. Let’s go."