The four of them rode away from the convoy and set out along the road towards Heshan City. The closer they got to Heshan City, the less people were seen in the villages on both sides of the road. Everyone knew how to temporarily clear the valuables at home, and also brought livestock and poultry to escape the disaster.

But a checkpoint set up at the bridgehead blocked at least 200 people who were towed with their families. The carts were crowded together, and sheep and sheep, dogs and dogs quarreled with each other, and chickens and ducks that were kept in cages were debating loudly, and the children were so scared that they cried.

It was just a small river, with a surface of only five meters wide, and there was an arch bridge on the river. Sixteen soldiers were guarding the bridgehead, but the one who really stopped them was the lord's tax officer. In front of him was a large wooden table with seals, registration books and abacus. A quill inserted in a red ink bottle and a quill pen swaying in the breeze.

As they approached, the soldiers who were resting on the bridge saw it, waved to Jeros and others, and shouted loudly: "Hey, what are you four looking at over there? If you want to go, go over, don't be rubbing on the bridge."

Dagon turned around and hugged Lati first, then removed the elemental puppet and followed Geros. Toby was put on the ground, and he ran over to ask about the situation first. Maybe because he was particularly submissive and said something funny, so the soldiers told him a lot while laughing.

"Tax collector." Without waiting for Toby to come back, Jerous would probably know what was going on. "When fleeing, he brought all the valuable things with him, and the lord sent tax officials to collect property taxes. These tax officials often brought a account, and the things recorded in them were never accurate, but that was authority. If you want to cross the bridge, you had to pay taxes."

"These are all escapees."

"If they have money, they have to pay taxes." Jerouss breathed through his teeth. "Oh, I began to worry about whether the caravan would be stopped like this when he left here."

The levels on the bridge only intercepted those who left the territory along the road, and were very welcome to those entering, but they still had to pay taxes, that is, taxes for entering the city. The tax officer behind the table looked at the four Dagon people, and his pair of bright big eyes looked a little abrupt and inconsistent on his dark and thin face. He picked up a quill, poked it in a black ink bottle, and then found a piece of parchment paper with words written from the drawer of the table. He rudely and loudly asked for his name, gender, age and reason for entering the city, and then asked the four people to hand over a total of one gold coin with one horse.

"More than usual, I know this. But this city wall is thicker than usual~~~~~"

The tax officer dragged his voice, and the ending of the sentence was erratic, but in the end the gold coin was unconventional. Geros said a few good words and took out a gold coin. At this time, Toby secretly stepped on Geros' feet. Perhaps it was some kind of code for the Golden Dog Caravan, so Geros changed two to stack them and handed them to the tax officer.

The black ink was replaced with red, and the three red words "Tax paid" were recorded on the city pass. Jerousy took it while thanking him and was about to say a few words when he heard the soldiers beside him shouting happily.

Following the shouts, three soldiers walked over shoulder to shoulder on the side of the river bank. One of them raised the bag in his hand and swayed in the air. The sound of the collision of metal and porcelain came from the bag full of mud.

"Some people are honest, some are not honest~~~" said the tax official: "You four are honest and smart, and your future will definitely be brighter~~~~"

"Of course, of course!" Geros nodded and asked, "Sir, I'm just curious. How much property tax do these people who come out of seclusion have to pay?"

"Pay it? That's a supplement~~~~" The tax officer raised his eyebrows and made a very unhappy expression: "If you don't pay taxes, you will repair the city walls and add weapons to the knights and soldiers. How can you hire mercenaries to inquire about information? You only enjoy protection. When paying taxes, you can't spoil their bad habits~~~~"

"Yes, the reason is right." Geros nodded and said, "Even a passing caravan is protected by the lord, but it must be paid less than the residents who live for a long time, right? You can't...hehe... pay taxes according to the goods you carry?"

"Of course not, otherwise no caravan would dare to come." The tax officer looked at Jeros up and down, as if he had seen through his thoughts, and said, "In wartime, the taxes are not higher than usual, so it's not much more than doubled, right? If the garrison materials needed in the city can be transported to sell, then the tax can be deducted based on the transaction volume. However, this calculation is very complicated, and only a special tax officer can master the skills. Do you understand?~~~~~~"

"I understand, I understand, I think it's really thoughtful."

Just as Jerous and the tax officer said these words, Dagon observed the blocked people. Some were indeed a little panicked. They were worried about the unclear future, but some were not anxious. Instead, they were comforting others. Dagon pricked up his ears and listened carefully to what they said.

"The tax officer is going back to the city before night, and the same is true for soldiers. No one dares to stay outside at night. Hold on, and they will soon cut the price, even for free!"

As long as the monsters in Manlin do not appear before they can pass, their plan will be equivalent to making money. However, this plan seems more like gambling than a strategy in Dagon. On the one hand, it is the immediate loss of money, and on the other hand, it is not known whether and when will the life threat come. Before the dice cup is revealed, no one knows the winner or lose.

Leading the horse through the crowd, Lati held his little treasure box tightly. The hunting axe Dagon carried and the armor that was much better than the soldiers formed a powerful deterrent, which scared away at least several pairs of malicious eyes. After passing through the crowd, the road extended eastward, becoming increasingly inclined toward the direction of Manlin. The opposite direction of Heshan City was in the north.

"We don't take a detour," said Geros. "There are low hills here. You can ride a horse and take a straight line."

Dagon summons the elemental puppet again, and then keeps on his back to move forward. In the natural environment without human transformation, the elements are relatively more active, while in farmland, fruit forest and villages, there are fewer elements. In the terrain, the land covered with vegetation will show more surface wood elements. The soil elements required by the elemental puppet are located in a relatively deep position, and there will be more "impurities" when absorbing. Dagon is already sweating after moving forward for more than 20 miles, and his mana is falling sharply.

"Let's take a break and we'll go to the hillside in front."

In the main hills and plains, a rock mountain fifty or sixty meters high is the absolute commanding height. It is somewhat unique and is separated from other hills, as if it is disdainful to be with them. In the midday sun, this rock mountain provides the largest shadow around. Although summer has declined, people's preference for shade has not decreased immediately.

Geros planned to go to the shadows to rest, but Dagon wanted to go to the top of the mountain, where there was a better view. The mountain was not high, and his remaining mana was enough to maintain the elemental puppet and lead everyone to climb up the cliff. However, Geros's horse must stay at the foot of the mountain unless someone could guarantee that the horse would not kick and bite it when climbing onto the cliff. Yes, the horse would bite people, and it still hurts.

The elemental puppet crawled on a cliff that was almost sixty or seventy degrees, and the other people except Dagon were ashen. Toby kept praying, and Geros refused to let himself spit it out, while Lati hugged everything he could hold. The bare cliffs here were all rocks, without vegetation, and they were all their original natural appearance, so the purity of the soil elements was higher. Dagon was very stable - of course, nervously - and took everyone up safely and put everyone down in a flat place on the top of the mountain.

"The view here is really good," Dagon looked into the distance and could see that Heshan City was about ten miles north. The walls there looked more than 20 meters high, with arrow towers and spacious enough aisles to allow all the defensive forces to spread on the wall. No wonder there is a great defensive advantage. In the east direction outside the city, there are hundreds of doubtful small soil buns on the front of about one mile-deep, each of which is not big, and they are all new soil. Dagon suspected that those soils left after digging pit traps can be used as small obstacles and save some effort when backfilling.

Going eastward, there is an open area, mostly farmland, guarded by scarecrows. The plants in the fields are very low and cannot be seen clearly from a distance, but they are probably potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and peanuts, which are edible crops such as underground. The residents of Heshan City know in their hearts that if they plant pumpkins, watermelons, wheat, eggplant, and other monsters, they will definitely not be left. At present, some of these crops can still be left, so that they can lose less.

Man Lin should be on the east side, but from here, you can only see a little trace on the edge of the horizon. There are dozens of black smoke in that direction. It seems that some settlements have been attacked and fired by monsters. Through the smoke column, the distance between the monster and Heshan City can be roughly judged. It is estimated that the people waiting in front of the arch bridge level also use this method to judge the enemy situation.

The others calmed down their tumbling stomachs on the top of the mountain, and Dagon came to the cliff on the north side to observe the terrain road from the peak to Heshan City. At this time, he saw that in the shadow of the rocky mountain below the cliff, an army of seventy or eighty men and the same number of horses were stationed. The flag used by the army was green, and the pattern was a city wall with an arrow tower. This flag represents Heshan City, and there must be the army of Heshan City below.

"About a quarter of them are mercenaries," Jelos wiping the corner of his mouth to Dagon, and he also saw the situation below. "Look, the flag of Heshan City is decorated with golden borders, which means it is a direct line of the Heshan Lord's family. What are they doing here?"

"There is no problem coming here. The key is why don't you set up a guard post on the mountain? Isn't it impossible to climb here?"

"Maybe they didn't want to stay for a long time," said Geros. "But it wouldn't be fair to say that it's easy to climb here. Do you think anyone has an elemental puppet like you, who can actually climb up and down the mountain?"

"Every Jiangu people's bear lizard can do this, and even hang it upside down on the top of a rock cave." Dagon asked a little strangely, "You are traveling around the world, don't you know this?"
Chapter completed!