People and money are indeed two very crucial issues.

According to the current setup, Horn can only collect taxes from Red Maple Village and Ibe Village.

Thirteen Priestly Orders and two Village Monasteries need to be set up in these two regions.

According to personnel allocation, Horn requires 100 to 150 Wandering Cultivators, 60 to 90 Civil Servants, 200 to 300 Monk Assistants, and 30 to 40 Saint Father's Association Record Keeper Monks.

The reliable manpower Horn currently has at hand can at most suffice for Red Maple Village, while the southern Ibe Village is almost autonomous under the Hundred Households Captains.

Where should the manpower for the other half come from?

"Is the human issue really that difficult to solve?" Amid the sound of rain pouring outside the window, Horn's voice was not loud but very clear, "We have monks from the Blago Monastery, we have night schools and literacy classes, and the Meigedi Commerce Association can also provide a group of reliable talents.

Moreover, Miracle Priests can also take positions, and internally, we can promote some Hundred Households Captains to become Wandering Cultivators.

These people are enough to fill our vacancies."

The greatest wealth Juanuo left for Horn was not prestige or land, but thoughts and people.

A major reason Horn allied with Catherine is that she is seen as Juanuo's second successor.

Although the Witch's identity has been exposed, didn't Horn immediately canonize her as a Saint?

This was to maintain Catherine's influence within the Juanist Faction.

The over a thousand priests in Blago Monastery, influenced by Juanuo's practical ideology, have governance experience in local areas.

Although this sacrificed the Church's control in Kasha County, it cultivated a large number of priests with grassroots experience and even military experience.

And because of the Church's act of burning Juanuo, all the Juanist Faction firmly opposes the Church.

Not only the Juanist Faction, but also the Witch, Meigedi Commerce Association, bullied artisans and citizens, oppressed peasants, and lower-level monks suppressed by the high-ranking bishops...

Thanks to the Church's openness, Horn doesn't need to spend much effort to find a qualified and reliable group to fill administrative gaps.

When the Empire and Prince Kongdai are enemies, they absolutely wouldn't betray.

The moment Horn raised the flag against the Church, although they would face the Church's utter hostility, once they achieve some victories against the Church, they would immediately become a gathering place for Church opponents.

Back when the Juanist Faction expanded, they absorbed a large number of people dissatisfied with the Church.

After the Battle of Rapids City, many refugees fled to the borders of the Savior Pope Country.

They all came with a blood feud of despair, with the sole purpose of resisting the Church.

Such a gathering effect currently only happens in Thousand River Valley. If one day Horn can make his name known throughout the Empire.

Then Thousand River Valley would be like Black Snake Bay, becoming a gathering place for rebels.

"At the end of the month, the Abbot of Blago Monastery will personally lead fifty monks for a visit," Catherine timely said, claiming this credit.

"Various local monasteries and lower-level monks come to seek refuge, with ten to twenty coming each month," Armand added.

Madlan added, "As for those assistant positions, unemployed accountants and petty citizens will automatically fill them. Just a few days ago, Sede, the head of the Notary Guild, complained to me about not being able to find a job."

Thus, the manpower issue was basically solved, leaving only the money issue.

"In that case, we need to discuss how our new taxation should be collected."

Upon hearing Horn's words, everyone perked up their ears, even the dozing officers raised their heads.

This signified that their military budget for the next year couldn't be handled carelessly.

"The new taxation system will completely overturn the old tax system, abolishing all tribute and miscellaneous taxes, and unify them under the name of Piety Tax." Horn opened the booklet in his hand, "Please turn to page 29 of the 'Plan.'

The so-called Piety Tax is to uniformly collect a 25% tax based on acreage.

Of this 25%, 10% is to be converted into currency tax and remitted to the Imperial Cardinal Conference, while the remaining 15% is stored in the Village Monastery's warehouse.

Before paying the tax, the Imperial Cardinal Conference will provide a grain guide price, then a batch of grain will be bought at this guide price.

Afterwards, grain merchants must not purchase grain below this guide price.

In an ideal situation, let's assume each Priestly Order has 75 Hundred Households Districts, each district having 4,000 acres, capable of producing 360,000 pounds of grain.

Then each Hundred Households Captain must submit 90,000 pounds of grain to the Priestly Order, of which 36,000 pounds must be converted into currency tax.

The current grain guide price is half a Dinar per gallon (9 pounds), which is 2,000 Dinars.

75 Hundred Households Districts in one Priestly Order equals 150,000 Dinars, or 1,250 gold pounds.

Then the Imperial Cardinal Conference would ask the Red Maple Village Priest for the tax from 7 Priestly Orders, totaling 8,750 gold pounds in cash.

As for the remaining tax and grain, it would all become the Village Monastery's petty cash reserve.

If the Village Monastery operates well, converting collected grain into more currency, then the surplus would belong to the Village Monastery itself.

In other words, the Imperial Cardinal Conference only wants currency tax, not goods tax.

"Isn't this only part related to grain tax?" Qianqian adjusted her golden rimmed crystal glasses, glanced at the red-circled part handed over by Catherine, "What about how taxes are collected on orchards, fish ponds, cash crops, small mines, and so on?"

Seeing Qianqian and Catherine's small actions, Horn chuckled without exposing them.

He knew Catherine had just joined, and although she held a higher status than Qianqian, her actual right to speak was not as much as Qianqian's.

Some things Qianqian could directly say, but she could not.

Even if she was right, how many people are willing to listen is a big question.

Before achieving actual accomplishments, she could only vote more and speak less.

Catherine, rather than being a merchant, is more akin to an oligarch, clearly seeing some of the political differences.

"It's very simple, the cost of collecting these taxes isn't worth our administrative costs, so we leave it to the local areas as the Holy Treasury." Horn explained with a smile.

"Holy Treasury?" Qianqian looked up in astonishment, she hadn't heard that term in a long time.

The original Holy Treasury system was only a wartime system that forcibly eliminated private wealth and indiscriminately collected all loot.

This played a significant role during their time on the run.

But once Autumn Dusk Island was established, this system was tacitly abandoned by everyone.

In reality, apart from featuring in the 'Saint's Grandson Expedition' as a propaganda piece, it basically had no other use.

But now, Horn intends to revive the Holy Treasury system to perpetuate its sacred legacy.

Specifically, for local taxes that the central government finds difficult to monitor, if the revenues aren't enough to cover central administrative costs, they are left to the local areas.

As the saying goes, the county officials aren't as influential as those directly in charge, so for these taxes, it's much simpler for the Monastic Leader and Hundred Households Captain to collect than the Imperial Cardinal Conference.

After all, they account for their own disposable fiscal revenue, so obviously they would collect them more proactively.

Local taxes difficult for the central government to monitor, including local cash crop output, small workshops, and orchard and fish pond taxes in Hundred Households Districts, contribute one-tenth to the Holy Treasury.

After all, the Monastic Leaders and Hundred Households Captains are well aware of what outputs exist within the Hundred Households District, and who is conducting what enterprises.

In addition, since these directly collected local taxes stem from non-agricultural and non-mineral industries, the Monastic Leaders are certainly willing to develop them, as it would increase their fiscal revenue, so why wouldn't they be?

"But wouldn't the Imperial Cardinal Conference's revenue become too little?" Mitney, who had just joined, couldn't help but ask.

Compared to Gulag-originated individuals focusing on military aspects, those from the Meigedi Commerce Association are more enthusiastic about economic matters.