There's actually a lot more laughter than horror, at his comments; clearly, the Emperor and his family are far more progressive thinking than the rest of their culture. "Sadly, the taxation threat won't work too well, this time around. Thanks to your help, they're all actually paying, and on time, to the point that we've even given a minor tax break to our citizens, as we were well over our anticipated budget."<br/><br/>They consider the idea of the city-state; clearly, a concept they hadn't heard of, before, though they all quickly latch onto the idea approvingly. "That is an incredibly brilliant idea. In fact, we may apply that to some of our more distant holdings. As it is, they're too distant to communicate with regularly, but large enough and valuable enough we don't want to simply surrender them. This... 'city-state' idea, though, it certainly has merit, and allows the people a sense of autonomy, while still keeping them beholden to the Empire at large. I think we'll work on having our clerks formalize the paperwork for just such a thing, and see how it works with you, for about a year, first."