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Chapter 585

In the year 393 BC, on June 1, after the Great Greek War had completely subsided, countless people of Diónia flocked to Turií, the center of its confederation, to witness the official coronation of the Devers in front of the Temple of Hades.

At that moment, the whole city was in an uproar.

Since then, the confederation of Diónia had changed its name to the Kingdom of Diónia, and King Devers had declared that he would change the chaotic way of counting the years in Greece, and that the year of his coronation would be the first year of the Kingdom of Diónia.

Time flew by, and soon it was the tenth year of Diónia (that was 383 BC).

The weather was very hot in August, but the tax officer of Prospero in the city of Naxos, Galadmus, was still running around in the fields. In order to reconfirm the land owned by each household and the growth of the crops, he roughly estimated the amount of land tax that each household in the area should pay after the autumn harvest.

The tax paid by the citizens of Diónia could be in kind, such as wheat, olive oil, grapes, or gold and silver coins. This required the tax officer not only to have a strong calculation ability, but also to be familiar with the prices of commodities in the market. Moreover, it was necessary to arrange sufficient manpower during the tax collection to avoid mistakes. Therefore, during those few days, not only would the officers of the various Demos dispatch their civil servants to assist the tax collectors, but they would also summon the accountants and scribes registered in their respective jurisdictions and hand them over to the tax collectors to command.

Galadmus was able to become a tax officer because he had successfully completed three levels of elementary, middle, and high school in the most famous school of Turií, and graduated with excellent grades in mathematics. The scholars who had graduated from the School of Mathematics in Diónia hoped that he could enter the school and continue his studies, but he insisted on living independently as an adult as soon as possible. Therefore, he easily passed the tax officer selection exam, which was known as one of the two most difficult examinations in the Kingdom of Diónia. (The other examination was the judge selection exam, which was famous for requiring memorization of a large number of legal provisions and careful logical thinking.)

After two years of busy work as a tax officer trainee and assistant, he once again officially became a junior tax officer of Diónia with excellent performance and was assigned to Naxos in Sicily by the Ministry of Finance of the Kingdom. This was already his second year working here, and he was only 24 years old. It could be said that he had a bright future ahead of him.

The region of Prospero governed five villages. Although it was located in the middle reaches of the Alcántara River and near the foot of Mount Etna, the terrain was not too flat, the land was more fertile (due to volcanic ash), so the population was not small. There were a total of 452 households, 1,822 people, and 2,680 acres of arable land.

After Galadmus became tax officer of Prospero, he went from village to village and spent half a year to thoroughly understand the situation of the fields in the area. Naturally, the tax officer of Prospero, and the tax officers of Prospero also had detailed records. The tax officer of Prospero. The tax officer of the Prospero also. However, Galadhmos was a very serious person. He always wanted to confirm it with his own eyes. Therefore, he did not get along very well with Agronomist Galadhmos.

"Sir, drink some water. The weather is too hot." One of the tax officers who followed him picked up a leather bag filled with water and said while wiping his sweat.

Over the years, Diónia schools had been established in most cities in the kingdom. Many citizens who wanted to work in the public service would study in school. After their literacy, writing, and arithmetic skills had been greatly improved, they would then take the examinations for the public service of various departments. Citizens who could not pass the official examination could also take the secondary examination and serve as petty officials. Depending on their years of service and performance, they still had the chance to be promoted to the official position.

The two tax officers who followed Galadmus were local citizens. They worked as tax officers during the slack season and received a certain salary. During the busy season, they had to go back home to farm. In fact, they worked part-time. The Kingdom of Diónia relied on these part-time petty officials to support the management of the entire kingdom at the lowest level. Therefore, every official who officially took up the public service of the kingdom would be warned by their superiors during their probation period to respect the petty officials under them. Otherwise, they would not be supported and it would be difficult for them to complete the tasks assigned by their superiors!

"Thank you, Gabrielnus!" Galadmus thanked him, took the leather bag, and drank a mouthful of water. He immediately felt that his dry throat was moisturized.

"There's nothing to thank me for. I should thank you for helping me solve some math problems during this period!" Gabrielnus was eager to take the tax officer examination next year, so he had been studying hard during this period.

Galadmus smiled and handed the leather bag back to him.

"Finally, there's the last household left. After we finish checking, we can return to Mejaro." The other tax officer, Cabanax, urged him politely. He was ten years older than Galadmus. When he was young, he experienced the turbulent period when Naxos was destroyed. Coupled with his old age, he was not as ambitious as his colleagues. He only hoped that he could always farm and collect taxes like now, and live a fulfilling and peaceful life. It would be even better if he could get an "excellent" in the year-end examination, which meant honor and more rewards. He had only gotten such a situation once last year, and he understood that it was all thanks to Galadmus. Looking at the situation this year, the tax office of Prospero, which they were responsible for, was likely to be rewarded again. Therefore, although it was tiring to follow the young tax officer, he was happy to listen.

The last household! Galadmus looked ahead with mixed feelings.

The owner of the last household was not simple. He was the Senator of the Kingdom's Senate, Laodisian.

Laodisian was originally from a prestigious family in Naxos. When Dionysius was the usurper of Syracuse, he went into exile in Lijim. Later, he followed the First Legion of Diónia to Sicily and served as one of the leaders of the exiles of Naxos. He made great contributions to Diónia's final defeat of Syracuse and the acquisition of the Catania Plain. Later, Naxos was incorporated into Diónia, and Laodisian became the Senator of Diónia because of his contributions and influence in Naxos. He also married his daughter to the then First Legion Commander of Diónia, a powerful member of the Senate of Diónia, and a confidant of the King of Devers, Antonios.

Laodisian became a Senator and moved to Turií, but he did not sell his home far away in Naxos because there were five acres of "land" given to him by the Alliance. He also bought the land in Naxos from the soldiers of the legion through his connections with Antonios. The land in Naxos was rewarded for their military exploits.

The land was not allowed to be bought or sold, but the land that was rewarded later on could be bought or sold. This was due to the distance, and the owner could not take care of the land and had to sell it. For example, the soldiers living in Turií or Amendola were given land in Sicily. It would take nearly three days to travel by boat, not to mention to take care of the land there. They would have to send a confidant slave to work there all year round, which was laborious and troublesome. Therefore, they could only sell the land to the citizens of Diónia.

Of course, the war ten years ago allowed Diónia to obtain enough empty land in Greece. Most of the land that the soldiers of the legion were rewarded with was in Greece. For some soldiers of the legion who performed well, they were rewarded with one or two acres of land in Sicily. These lands were not cheap to buy or sell, but Laodisian was rich. If it were not for the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture who were in charge of the land sales and supervision of the land transfer, who found out that Laodisian had pushed the price of the land too high and bought too much land, Laodisian would have owned more than 78 acres of land in Naxos.

Last year, after Galadhmos took up his post in Naxos, he had some conflicts with the Laodisian family. This was because, as a conscientious person, he discovered that the previous tax collector of Prospero's land had been collecting too little tax from the Laodisian family. Originally, most of the family's farmland was halfway up the mountain, and it was relatively difficult to get water to irrigate the farmland. Therefore, when the initial tax amount was set, most of the family's farmland was classified as middle and lower grade farmland, so the land tax was relatively low.

However, after investigation, Galadhmos found out that eight years ago, Naxos had built a large waterwheel by the Alcántara River. From then on, the river water could easily irrigate all of the Laodisian family's farmland, solving the water problem. The harvest of the farmland on the mountainside was even better than the farmland on the plains, but the family's land tax was still collected at the same rate every year. The key point was that the waterwheel was not built with the Laodisian family's own money. Instead, it was built at public expense, as suggested by the Naxos council to the city governor.

Therefore, Galadhmos believed that not only should the Laodisian family's farmland be reassessed, but they should also pay the tax they owed in the past few years.

When Galadhmos informed the Laodisian family of this decision, it immediately caused a huge uproar. Not only did the family refuse to pay more tax, but the butler who stayed behind also made various efforts to pressure the council to criticize the tax office for collecting arbitrary fees. Even the people in the village were stirred up, protesting that the new tax collector was too strict and oppressed the Sicilians (in fact, when Galadhmos collected taxes, he weighed the wheat and other crops too carefully and was not allowed to be short of weight), which made it impossible for Galadhmos to collect taxes.

Moreover, Galadhmos' direct superior, the middle-level tax collector of Naxos, was worried that his future would be affected if he discovered this mistake. At the same time, the good friends he had made in Naxos in recent years also put in a good word for the Laodisian family. This caused the tax collector not only to harshly criticize Galadhmos many times, but also to reject his proposal to "revise the Laodisian family's taxes and make them pay the arrears."