However, at that time when everyone had just entered the Azure Realm, it was difficult to establish a foothold, and a territory's domain might only span a few miles, often as nothing more than a broken domain, at most a small village, with just over a hundred acres of thin fields and a dozen houses.

It was not suitable to levy more taxes at the time to avoid further burdening already impoverished feudal domains. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

But now the Plane Wars are over, some territories that participated in the wars with Lin Rui have made significant gains.

Their territory levels have all risen to towns, covering an area of several hundred miles, so a vassal tax of only 1 mile is too low.

Lin Rui just checked the feudal domain levels within the territory; the lowest is already a medium-sized village, and the highest has reached a large town.

Hence, increasing the vassal tax on feudal domains has become imperative.

Lin Rui directly opened the levy module and meticulously adjusted the vassal tax for a hundred feudal domains.

Small villages remain unchanged; medium villages increase to 5 kilometers, large villages to 10 kilometers, small towns to 30 kilometers, medium towns to 50 kilometers, large towns to 100 kilometers!

After adjusting the vassal tax on land, the Golden Pansy Domain's territorial area soared by 1,275 kilometers!

On average, the level of the affiliated feudal domains has reached large villages.

Large villages require dozens of Territorial Essences to upgrade, equivalent to collecting two pieces of [Territorial Essence], which is actually not much.

However, collecting 100 kilometers from large towns makes the tax considerably heavy.

Yet Lin Rui has reasons for imposing such a heavy tax, primarily because "my vassal's vassal is not my vassal."

In other words, these towns also have their own affiliated feudal domains.

It's quite normal; how could a standard town not have several villages surrounding it?

Of course, these villages may not have formed initially but were instead granted.

Due to the existence of items like [Territorial Essence], as long as one purchases it, a territory can be established from scratch in any given region.

Thus, after Plane Wars, explorers often spent substantial sums in the market to buy a Territorial Essence, heading to valleys, forests, basins, hills, and canyons to establish a new broken domain.

The initial broken domain spans less than five miles; basically, just avoid already existing territorial domains, carve out a position in the dense mountains, canyons, or forests, and a primary territory can be set up, then gradually develop.

Any Lord, any force, even the entire empire, the entire human population of the Azure Realm, welcomes these pioneering Lords.

They blazed trails through the wilderness, expanding human civilization's domain, developing scattered corners, ultimately benefiting the central towns and core cities, not only providing vassal tax but also boosting economic growth and promoting trade.

Items like Territorial Essence are not exceedingly rare or overly pricey. As long as you're willing to spend money and increase the bid, you'll always find one.

Even within the Golden Pansy Domain, it isn't entirely monopolized by territories; hidden trades in markets and black markets also have them secretly sold.

Many explorers travel far and wide, searching numerous relics, occasionally obtaining Territorial Essence as a reward, engaging in private trade, which even territories find difficult to completely prevent. As long as profits remain high, there'll always be those willing to take risks, selling secretly.

These wandering adventurers were those who abandoned their territories initially upon entering the Azure Realm, unable to adapt to the terrifying environment, seeking protective sanctuary.

But after so much growth, they've adapted to the situation, and some have accrued some capital.

Some began to try re-establishing and developing their forces anew. Take the explorer Sunx Chen; he secretly loved Audrey once, lost his territory, and worked as an explorer in the Golden Pansy Domain.

Thanks to the powerful blessing of the Golden Pansy Domain, he initially had a few followers and successfully transitioned into a Black Banner Guard.

After the trials of the Plane Wars, he now has over a dozen followers, naturally reigniting his ambition, using the Territorial Essence gained in the Plane Wars to redevelop the territory, becoming an affiliate feudal domain of Chendong Town.

Chendong Town has now grown into a large town, accompanied by numerous feudal domains, at least ten affiliated villages, collecting 100 kilometers in domain, the vassal tax is heavy but not exceedingly burdensome.

In the vassal tax, besides land, there's also finance. Previously Lin Rui treated all equally, each territory paying 5000 units of various resources each cycle.

But now with different territories, Lin Rui also needs to differentiate: medium villages increase to 10,000 base resources per cycle; large villages pay 10,000 base resources, plus 10 Spirit Crystal Coins and 10 units of various high-tier resources. Small towns don't require base resources, but pay 100 units of various high-tier resources per cycle; medium towns, 500 units; large towns, 1000 units each!

This tax is very heavy for large towns; Spirit Crystal Coins, gems, crystals, Vibranium, Mithril, and other high-tier resources are not reliably produced by ordinary resource points.

This means large towns actually lack stable high-tier resource output; they must operate, accumulate, constantly collect, use base resources to trade for various high-tier resources that appear occasionally in the market.

Only then can they pay the negotiated vassal tax of the Golden Pansy Domain.

After experiencing the Plane Wars, recently perhaps various towns don't lack high-tier resources.

Sometimes large caravans passing through also offer generous trades to them.

That's why having a territory with one or several rare specialties is crucial, truly invaluable.

For only non-commonplace specialties carry higher bargaining power in trades, exchanging for high-tier resources.

If it's just ordinary materials, they might be completed with only initial tier resources; the other party wouldn't even use high-tier materials.

Gathering 1000 units of high-tier materials is genuinely challenging; back when we first entered the Azure Realm, a Rare Level equipment barely fetched 1000 units of gems!

Though prices have risen now, Rare Level items remain hard to come by.

If a territory lacks special products, solely relying on killing monsters, clearing hidden monster camps in forests, valleys, caves, and Beastman Warbands, is exhausting, hardly fetching many high-tier materials.

This is also a Lord's greatest value: through exploitation, rapid wealth accumulation is always attainable.

This is just 100 feudal domains, and the Golden Pansy Domain expanded by over a thousand kilometers, solving territorial domain issues effectively.

Simultaneously, wealth increased by millions, and this is just the figures from one cycle.

Next comes a more vital vassal tax: soldiers!

Feudal domains must provide soldiers to the Lord for conscription, participating in wars.

And if two forces encounter friction, feudal domains must provide soldiers to the Lord, aside from gathering all military forces from the domain to follow the Lord in battle against opponents.

Previously, Lin Rui demanded each feudal domain to supply one Tier One Manor Guard each cycle as vassal tax.

It was quite burdensome already; a village providing one soldier each cycle, amounting to 52 soldiers annually, is significant pressure on a village. It nearly means one-eighth of a medium village's population annually goes toward vassal obligations.

If relying solely on the domain itself, even extorting and exhausting the populace hardly fulfills township-level vassal obligations.

Yet evidently, feudal domains all successfully accomplished it, expanding and flourishing alongside Lin Rui.