Economic extortion was the foundation of feudal tyranny.
In every royal port across the continent, arriving merchants were subjected to arbitrary levies, corrupt harbor masters who demanded gold bribes under the table, and high-born tolls that changed depending on the nobleman’s mood.
Merchants were forced to bribe gate wardens, bribe dock guards, pay arbitrary anchor taxes, and watch their cargo get plundered under the guise of check fees.
A trader who arrived with ten thousand silver pieces of silk was fortunate to leave with three thousand in profit after the local lord’s tax collectors finished their exactions.
Lord Giles Croft stood at the central customs portal of Wharf One, inspecting the mounting of the main Municipal Toll Tariff Board.
The board was a massive six-foot tablet cast from solid yellow bronze, its letters deeply engraved and filled with black enamel paste so they could be read fifty paces away in bright sunlight.
It was bolted directly into the granite entryway support post with four heavy brass spreading pins, lit up by two frosted electric arc lamps.
Beside Giles, Lady Penelope Haze adjusted her wool-lined velvet cloak. She held a freshly approved parchment copy of the town rate schedule.
