After all this, Feng Chou was left with only a little more than half of his profits.
Feng Chou was not dissatisfied with this. What was the old saying?
There were two things in life that could not be avoided — death and taxes!
Giving money to pirates meant being robbed, and giving money to the country meant paying taxes. One could resist pirates, but it was better to be honest when facing the country's machinery.
Since he had paid taxes, he naturally had to maximize his profits. Therefore, Feng Chou had increased the number of ships in the past few years. In just three years, his fleet had increased from 19 ships to 25 ships.
However, as the old saying went, 'misfortune is a blessing in disguise'. Paying taxes was not all bad for Feng Chou.
When Feng Chou became one of the biggest taxpayers in the Kingdom of Meredith, the Kingdom of Meredith naturally had to give Feng Chou enough respect.
Therefore, Feng Chou's identity in the Meidis Kingdom became Earl Pedro, and his Green Dragon Island also became Earl Pedro's territory. Moreover, it was a subordinate territory recognized by the Meidis Kingdom. Although the Meidis Senate didn't know where this so-called Pedro's territory was or what it looked like, it didn't stop them from granting Feng Chou a title and territory certificate.
For the sake of money, even the title and territorial certificate were collected by Captain Chapman and the old captain. If an ordinary noble dared to be so unreasonable, he would never be able to get his title and territorial certificate.
The titles of the Kingdom of Meredith were valid in the entire Northern Continent.
After confirming that the Patrick Family had been annihilated, Feng Chou sent Natasha and Owen back to New Amborite to catch the few Vampires that the Patrick Family had stationed in New Amborite. The few Drow Elves were an unexpected gain.
After being promoted by Feng Chou to a level-15 White Dragon through the Dragon Bloodline Ceremony and breaking the ceiling of talent, Natasha had never stopped training. In the past 10 years, she had successfully raised the level of the Steel Soul Style warrior to level-15. At the same time, she had unearthed the potential of her White Dragon bloodline and grown into a level-18 Dragon bloodline.
As a traditional knight, Owen had reached the ceiling of his talent at the age of 35. In the next 20 years, he had always been able to maintain his peak state. It was not difficult to guess that he had persevered for decades.
When a traditional knight in his fifties who could still persevere in training and maintain his peak state suddenly broke the ceiling of his talent one day, not only was he gifted with a young body, but the enthusiasm that burst out of him was probably unimaginable by ordinary people.
In less than 10 years, he had completely unearthed the potential that the Black Dragon bloodline ceremony had given him and grown into a level-14 Black Dragon bloodline. He had even broken the limit of his potential and raised his warrior level to level-15.
Compared to Natasha and Owen, Glise and Chorre were more lazy.
Currently, Glise was only a level-16 White Dragon bloodline, while Chorre was only a level-12 Warrior and a level-13 Dragon bloodline.
However, Feng Chou knew that he could not blame Glise and Chorre for not working hard. Green Dragon Island had developed so well because of Glise and Chorre's hard work. Their strength could not keep up, and it had something to do with them focusing on the development and management of the territory.
A level-18 Dragon bloodline and a level-15 Steel Soul Style warrior, and a level-15 Warrior and a level-14 Dragon bloodline were naturally easy to deal with a few count-level vampires and two high-level spider priests.
The captured vampires and Drow were brought back to Green Dragon Island by Natasha and Owen through the teleportation portal. From these captives, Feng Chou finally knew what had happened between the Drow Family and the Patrick Family.
After realizing the intense hatred that the Drow Family had for him, Feng Chou immediately gave up on the idea of returning to the Northern Continent.
Feng Chou had already witnessed how terrifying Drow was back in the Emerald Forest. Even with his current abilities, he still trembled in fear when he recalled the battle in the Emerald Forest.
Furthermore, Drow was a dark creature that specialized in assassination. If he put himself in the open and let Drow hide in the dark, Feng Chou might not be able to live a peaceful life in the future.
After giving up on the idea of returning to the Northern Continent openly and taking back the territory that he had previously given up, Feng Chou sent Chapman back to Tailun City as the representative of the mysterious Count Pedro. He also used the Count's name to purchase a port company called Terex, as well as the villa that was adjacent to the company's port.
After the Dragon Bloodline Ceremony, Chapman's appearance changed from that of an old man in his seventies or eighties with one foot in the grave to a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties. His appearance changed drastically. Even Chapman's biological children did not recognize their father at first, let alone outsiders.
The port of Tailun Port was the property of the city government and was managed by the port authority under the city government. However, the port authority was not involved in the specific operations. They contracted out the various ports to different private port companies in the form of leasing.
The Terex Port Company had a fifty-year lease contract for the medium-sized port north of the villa. Feng Chou's purchase of this company naturally meant that he had bought the right to use the port for a few decades.
After Feng Chou arrived via teleportation, he nodded slightly at Chapman who was waiting for him at the door of the study. He then walked to the window and looked down at the port in the north for a moment. He then turned around and walked to the large desk to sit down.
Chapman walked to the desk and bowed slightly. "Sir, what would you like to drink?"
Feng Chou said, "The same as before."
Chapman walked to the door and said something. Then he returned to the desk and waited for his master's question.
Feng Chou said, "How are the preparations going?"
Chapman said, "As you instructed, the business of the port has been completely stopped. No other ships will be received in the next three months. Half of the warehouse of the port has been completely vacated and converted into temporary dormitories. As you requested, a large public shower and a boiler room for boiling hot water have been built next to each temporary dormitory. Of course, there are also large public canteens and public toilets. A large number of divine scrolls of 'Purification' and 'Dispel Disease' have been stored. The reserve of black stones is also very abundant. Every temporary dormitory has been equipped with a management team to ensure order. The other half of the warehouse has been filled with all kinds of living materials, enough for thirty thousand people to eat and drink for half a year."
"As you instructed, the old captain has only purchased half of the goods on the thirty merchant ships. There are enough cabins for the passengers."
Feng Chou nodded and asked Chapman to send someone to invite the old captain and Captain Haddock.
While the two of them were talking, a servant brought in black tea. When the servant put down the tea, he curiously raised his head and quickly glanced at Feng Chou. In this servant's eyes, their master, the mysterious Count Pedro, was a middle-aged man with a noble temperament but an ordinary appearance.