"What did you hear?" The village chief clenched his fists, his eyes fixed on the villager who had spoken.
"Village chief, take care of yourself." The villager leaned close to the village chief and whispered, "I heard that the family next door traded their crops with the two families in front for food and ran away." The villager pointed to the houses in front as he spoke.
"What?" The village chief punched the door, making a loud bang.
"Huh?" The two villagers present were both startled.
"Tell me everything else you've heard." The village chief's eyes were bloodshot, and his body seemed to be trembling.
"Village…Village Chief, I also heard…I heard that those two households in front harvested most of their wheat yesterday under the pretext of paying taxes, and they fled overnight."
Upon hearing this, the village chief's vision went black and he collapsed to the ground.
"Village Chief." A villager who had been collecting taxes with the village chief shook the village chief's fallen body.
"Village Chief." Another villager put his hand under the village chief's nose.
Then the two looked at each other, one quickly ran away, and the other immediately went inside.
Three days later, the chubby Tax Collector returned to the village.
"Sir, something seems strange; the village seems unusually quiet."
"I'm not blind." The Tax Collector, mounted on his horse, surveyed the village.
"Sir, should we go to the village chief's place again?"
"The village chief colluded with outsiders and led the villagers to escape. I tried my best to stop them, but they knocked me to the ground."
"My lord, that is indeed the case. Then let's return to the castle."
Lord Blas's castle sits atop a small hill, surrounded by cliffs on three sides, with only one narrow path leading inside.
"How are the taxes?" Lord Blas asked the Tax Collector who had just returned.
"My lord, everything is going smoothly, and most of the taxes have been collected..." the chubby Tax Collector replied.
"Oh, very good. What about the small portion that wasn't collected?" Blas was quite satisfied with this tax collection. Collecting most of the tax would give him more options on the battlefield.
The battlefield is now evenly matched; it all comes down to who has more food and whose soldiers are stronger.
"Yes, my lord, it's like this. The village chief of one village colluded with outsiders and scared all the villagers away, so the taxes haven't been collected." The chubby Tax Collector secretly glanced at Lord Blas.
Blas didn't really care about losing a few people; his territory was fertile and populated, so he could just disappear without a trace.
"A few people ran away, it's a small matter. Just because a few people are missing doesn't mean you haven't collected any taxes for the whole village?"
"My lord, you have no idea how despicable these lowly people are. Not only did they run away, but they also beat me up, so the taxes were not collected. Look how badly they beat me."
The chubby Tax Collector became more and more heartbroken as he spoke, his eyes brimming with tears. He looked up, and a dark blue eye appeared before Lord Blas.
"Ah! These lowly people are despicable! They even dare to attack my Tax Collector! Which village are they from? I'll send warriors to teach them a lesson."
Blas looked into the Tax Collector's eyes with fury. The Tax Collector who hit him was hitting him. If he didn't teach those lowly people a lesson, he wouldn't be able to collect taxes from other places in the future.
"My lord, it's that little village next to Grey Castle Territory, but I don't think you need to send anyone there," the chubby Tax Collector said after wiping his eyes.
"What, you've forgiven those lowly people? While it's commendable that you did so, I must emphasize my authority."
Lord Blas looked quite angry.
"No, my lord, everyone in that village has fled, not a single one is left. You have no way to demonstrate your authority."
"Huh? You..."
Lord Blas was really angry, really...