King of German Mercenaries

It's easy to win two cities, but not so smooth in the countryside. Because both cities belong to the count. However, in rural areas, there are many small lords, such as baronies, knight lords, or the manor of knights.

Although the Serksner family had fallen, those barons, knights and sergeants did not surrender immediately. They besieged their castles and manors, demanding that Marin maintain their original status and territory, or they would not surrender.

But Marin was reluctant to accept their surrender. Why? Because these people have finished dividing the land, he will divide the land in the future. Where can he find the land?

Although, the East Frisian Badlands still have a lot to be reclaimed. However, those small nobles who were loyal to the Serksner family before took up a lot of good land. Especially in Lyle County, where agriculture is developed, a lot of fertile land has been divided up by the Serksner family and other minor nobles.

You must know that in Lyle, a large agricultural county, according to the information of former Minister Jeffrey, there are 50,000 Ugram arable land, a full 100,000 acres and 600,000 acres.

However, these cultivated fields are actually in the hands of the Serksner family and the low-level nobles who are loyal to them. You know, in the Wadden Islands, Marin worked hard and used all the resources, but he only reclaimed more than 10,000 Eugrams. In Lyle County, there are 50,000 Eugrams of land, and most of them are fertile.

Not only that, but Geoffrey also told Marin a very important piece of information—Lyle County, which was once the territory of the Ukner family who had betrayed the Bullock family. It is precisely because of having a large agricultural county with strong financial resources like Lier County that the Ukner family has the confidence and strength to rebel. Even now, many minor nobles in Lyle County were followers of the Ukner family at first, and now they are also followers of the Serksner family.

Therefore, the minor nobles in Lyle County, more or less, have a grudge against the Brock family, which also gives Marin enough excuses to annex their territory. Of course, Jeffrey and several officers who surrendered to Marin early also had some land in Lyle County that Marin would not move. Now that they have accepted their surrender, they will no longer be deprived of their land.

For the fertile land of the 50,000 Eugrams, Malin was heartbroken and decided to use the excuse of "clearing old grudges" to investigate the minor nobles in Lyle County and take the opportunity to deprive them of their land...

Therefore, Marin directly dispatched 2,000 soldiers and horses to the countryside of Lyle County to attack those little nobles who resisted. At the same time, Marin also sent 100 cavalry to intercept those minor nobles who wanted to escape, lest those minor nobles run out and become Marin's identification opponents.

As for the countryside in Aurich and other areas, Marin is not so coveted by those lands. However, the total cultivated land in several other regions is also quite large, which is no less than that of Lyle County when combined, but is relatively barren.

For other places,

Attitudes are different in Marin, especially in Aurich County. Because, Aurich County is the former stronghold of the Bullock family. According to the report sent by Schwartz, many people in the local area still have their hearts on the Bullock family.

For Orihi County, Marin's policy is to crack down on die-hard Serksner family members and seize their property and land. The targets that were attacked were mainly those new nobles who were canonized by the Ukner family and the Serksner family after the fall of the Bullock family. For these canonizations, Marin will not admit it.

At the beginning, he worked for the Bullock family, but later joined some minor nobles of the Serksner family. Marin did not move their land and continued to use them, but he would also take precautions.

However, there is another type of people in Orich County. They used to be nobles who were loyal to the Brock family, but after the Ukner family succeeded in the rebellion, they were deprived of their noble status and became commoners because of their loyalty to the Brock family. And these families, because they were once aristocratic families, all had knowledge passed down.

After Schwartz's inquiry, there are nineteen such families in Aurich. When Marin heard about it, he immediately signed the first Earl Order—a title awarded to the heads of these 19 families as knights. In addition, it is said that from the educated children of these 19 families, talents are selected and cultivated to serve as reserve officials. If the ability is good, directly grant the official.

Marin is too short of talents now, so he is overjoyed to learn that these 19 families exist. 19 families, how come there are dozens of scholars...

For other areas, Marin's attitude is also very clear - after the fall of the Bullock family, the new canonized nobles of the Ukner family and the Serksner family will all be abolished, and their property and land will be deprived. As for the aristocrats that existed long ago, if they voluntarily surrender, they will temporarily retain their noble status. If you don't surrender, just wipe out, and then confiscate property and land...

Because of Marin's liquidation policy, many small country nobles rebelled, and even many serfs followed. For a time, East Frisian was turbulent.

But Marin is not worried, East Friesland has a population of only 60,000. If all the strong men gather together and give them a good commander, it will be difficult to deal with. But now, these rural nobles are fighting on their own, and the total strength of each family is generally less than 100, which is easy to clean up.

Marin first sent people to clean up those rebels with a large total number, and then collected the remaining soldiers and horses of these rebels, and then took these surrendered soldiers and horses to clean up the others.

In fact, in several other counties, the resistance was not too fierce. Because, it was only a group of minor nobles who were newly canonized by the Ukner family and the Serksner family who resisted Malin to the end. These people, there are only more than 20 in total, it is easy to clean up.

But Lyle County is different. All the minor nobles here are the objects to be cleaned up. Therefore, the entire county of Lier County has become a battlefield for conquest...

More than 70 local nobles formed an alliance to fight against Marin. They gathered more than 2,000 men against Marin's army. Leading the charge were a dozen local knights.

However, these motley crews are really vulnerable. After Marin sent Frenzberg's third-party formation, a burst of guns, and knocked down the dozen or so knights who took the lead on the opposite side. Then, the army charged, and the opposite side collapsed. Next, it's time to capture the prisoners...

Then, all the land deeds in Lyle County fell into the hands of Marin...

However, the suppression of so many minor nobles all at once made people panic in the counties of East Frisian. Many people are worried that the newly appointed Earl Marin will point the butcher's knife at them next time...

To this end, Marin decided to appease people's hearts and prevent social instability...

So, on November 11th, which is the legendary Singles Day, Marin signed the second Count's Order - starting next year, the entire East Frisian country will be exempt from tax for three years!

That is to say, for the next three years, East Frisian manor owners, merchants, fishermen, citizens, etc., will not need to pay any taxes to the count for three years. Of course, the pound tax on import and export trade, Marin pointed out in particular, still has to be paid. In addition, the tithe of the church, that is not under the control of Marlin...

At the same time, in this document, Marin also announced that the liquidation is over, and will not continue to pursue...

In fact, this liquidation has allowed Marin to obtain a total of 70,000 Ugram arable land, which is a huge harvest. What else is there to say? Although it brought a lot of chaos, the soldiers under Marin were well trained, and they were also crushing the motley army composed of small rural nobles. So, none of this is a big deal.

Today, Marin's order, declaring tax exemption for three years and stopping liquidation, has finally settled down the hearts of the people in the country. Even if there are people who are conspiratorial, they can't turn the tide. Because, those powerful nobles were basically cleaned up by Marin. Even, there are two barons who have no intention of fighting against Marin, but because of their strength and occupying too much land, Marin used an excuse to clean up...

In East Friesland, Marin didn't need a powerful little lord, because that would weaken his power...

As for the three-year tax exemption in East Friesland, it's not really that big of a deal. Because Marin checked the information and found that the tax revenue of the entire East Frisian country is only more than 50,000 gold coins per year. Among them, more than 10,000 gold coins belong to the import and export pound tax obtained by the port of Emden. In other words, other domestic taxes are only 40,000 gold coins per year...

For such a small amount of money, Marin really doesn't like it. Because, his income from selling salt in Yancheng is several times more than this tax in a year. So, these taxes are not very important. Even if the tax is exempted for three years, it is only a loss of 120,000 gold coins. However, it is worthwhile to exchange for the stability of the whole country.

Sure enough, after the issuance of this order, under the vigorous propaganda of Marin, the society of the Counties of East Friesland has basically stabilized. In order to achieve the effect, Marin spent money to hire a lot of loud locals to go to each village to loudly publicize the content of the order, so that everyone knew the fact that the tax exemption was for three years.

This overwhelming bombing propaganda, the effect is wonderful. After hearing about the three-year tax exemption and the suspension of liquidation, the residents felt relieved... To paraphrase a sentence from Huaxia News Network - "The common people have taken their peace of mind"...

Next, Assistant Bishop Taylor went out in person, went to the cathedrals of several cities to preach and propaganda by the way, seized the highlight of the three-year tax exemption, and described Marin as a very wise lord, who was simply the great savior of the common people...