Golden Dragon: Six Thousand Years of Empire-Chapter 791 - 443: Do You Want to Start a Civil War?
"It’s just a Floating City, that’s all. I’ve reviewed the fiscal budget, and although there is some pressure, it’s entirely manageable. This isn’t a reason for you to settle accounts with the Augustus family."
Lu Tixiya furrowed her brows. She wasn’t defending the Augustus family. Rather, she clearly understood the significance of the Augustus family to the Holy Dragon Emperor. In essence, she was safeguarding the Holy Dragon Emperor’s sentiments.
However, the benefits currently held by the Augustus family have caused dissatisfaction among the young generation of Dragon-men. The Dragon-men officials present were merely expressing and venting a certain will of the Dragon-man group.
"Just a Floating City? Ha, Lady Lu Tixiya, how many eons have you already served the Holy Dragon Emperor? Do you not understand His Majesty? Has His Majesty ever been satisfied?"
Oteras countered,
"Since the first land expansion war, the wars initiated by us Dragon-men have grown larger in scale each time, and now the pace of the battle groups has extended beyond the world. This is not an end, but a beginning.
The boots of the battle group will tread on even more distant material worlds, and the dominion of the Holy Dragon Emperor shall grow even more vast.
Once the construction of Floating Cities begins, as long as they demonstrate the strategic significance expected, future Floating Cities will only become more numerous and larger.
Our demand for Floating Cities is endless, but where will the money to build them come from? Amend the Law Code? Increase tax rates? Or increase the proportions of existing taxes?"
"You’ve already stated that the battle group will conquer more worlds. Your Majesty’s tax revenues will only increase, not decrease. Even if more Floating Cities are to be built in the future, they will be funded by future tax revenues, keeping the fiscal balance achievable."
Sifreya spoke up, joining the debate.
"The worlds conquered by the battle group need to be rebuilt from the ruins and a certain number of armed forces must be dispatched to suppress and eliminate local resistance.
Based on existing cases, even after conquering a world, for at least ten years, its local tax revenue cannot be self-sustaining and will definitely incur huge deficits, requiring us to continue appropriations.
Afterwards, whether revenue and expenditure can balance, whether they can feedback us resources, still needs to be addressed based on actual situations. In such circumstances, how can we expect tax revenues from these outer colonies when there are better choices on the mainland?"
Although the reasons provided by the Fairy Queen are equally reasonable, the opinions of the Dragon-men remain quite firm, with no intention of altering their demands.
"We must reclaim dominion over the Southern Provinces. The tax revenues of the Southern Provinces should belong to the Holy Dragon Emperor, and the Augustus family is not qualified to manage them." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
"The Southern Provinces were lands conquered by the Augustus family head Alexander personally leading his troops. On what grounds and under what authority do you reclaim them?"
"Under what authority? Of course, under the authority of the Holy Dragon Emperor! The place is filled with Dragon-men. We just need to inform the Augustus family of the outcome. Do we need their consent?"
A voice of confidence resounded in the Holy Radiance Hall, and these words immediately garnered a considerable amount of agreement, with many Dragon-men governing factions nodding in approval.
It is hard not to agree; once they are able to seize control over the Southern Provinces and obtain the tax revenues from there, once the central treasury is replenished, these governing Dragon-men can also operate freely, undertaking tasks they wanted but were unable to do due to budget constraints.
"Indeed, the South is our Dragon-men’s South, belonging to the Holy Dragon Emperor, not the Augustus family."
"Alexander indeed has merits, but that is because of the support from the Holy Dragon Emperor. Anyone standing in his position, granted the same resources, could achieve the same or even greater feats.
Therefore, this is not the reason for the Augustus family’s control of the Southern Province. Moreover, even if they have merits, they have controlled the Southern Province for thirty years and monopolized its tax revenues. Isn’t that enough? What else are they dissatisfied with?"
"The Augustus family has enjoyed the Holy favor for thirty years now. It is time to relinquish it; this is not what they should have!"
Various radical voices emerged one after another. The opinions of the Dragon-men had long reached a consensus, or rather, they were extremely dissatisfied with the Augustus family.
Although the resources, benefits, and various treatments they currently enjoyed were not bad, it was hard to contain their dissatisfaction the moment they saw the Augustus family next door enjoying resources tenfold or even a hundredfold theirs.
The territory was conquered inch by inch by the Dragon-men, yet these resources were enjoyed by those born into the Augustus human lineage.
What was even more unbearable was that except for their family head Alexander and a few members who were Dragon-men, possessing the Dragon Vein, the vast majority of official members were human.
They resisted Dragonification, refusing to become the Holy Dragon Emperor’s Favored, maintaining their human form to uphold their so-called bloodline purity, and the prestige of the Titan Bloodline.
A group of humans, relying on their surname and bloodline they did not possess, flaunting and enjoying the spoils obtained by Dragon-men through bone and blood.
Which Dragon-man can tolerate such a situation?
"Enough, this matter must be decided by the Holy Dragon Emperor, none of you, regardless of who you are, have the qualification or ability to make presumptuous decisions!"
