The mayor of Vichy, Victor Pierre, has come today to meet Viscount Sean Connery.

Sean has been here for more than half a month, and Mayor Pierre has only visited for the first time, which is very meaningful.

The position of mayor of the town, Pierre bought with money.

This is by no means a private transaction, but an open transaction, with a clear price and no deception.

The continuation of the previous dynasty's practice in order to solve the financial difficulties of the imperial court was at first only a stopgap measure, but in the current dynasty it became more intensified, and then it became part of the system.

Many upper-class individuals would have titles such as secretary to the mayor, municipal advisor, secretary to the governor, or even secretary of state, which is more common in the more tax-burdened South.

Most of these official positions are just empty titles, artificially created a privileged class, and serve nothing but bloated and inefficient bureaucracy.

It is sometimes forced to obtain this position, especially for the rich people in the country, and the only way to become the superior in their eyes, and the only way to distinguish them from those who pay the military service tax is to donate a large sum of money to obtain various positions.

Although the military service tax and the poll tax are nothing to these wealthy people.

As a result, civilians have become the sole taxpayers who pay increasingly high taxes such as military service taxes. For the imperial court, the commoners were the only loyal and reliable taxpayers.

As a result, a 1/20 tax on annual income was considered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to be the fairest tax ever. But the view of the privileged is naturally quite the opposite, and the result is that the tax is stillborn, and those who propose it are sent to the frontiers.

The position of mayor has some real power over various empty titles, at least until the arrival of the new viscount, such as maintaining local security, settling civil lawsuits, and deciding which households are responsible for a certain type of servitude, at which point his authority is magnified.

Mayor Pierre is an outsider, a fruit merchant who buys fruit from fruit growers in the area before he became mayor. He did a good job, and in a way he had some authority because he could determine the thickness of the wallets of the inhabitants of Vichy.

But now it was different, a young viscount, even though the nobles generally did not interfere in local affairs, and even disdained to assume the duties of the affairs officer, still had a say in the locality, and even had the sole veto power, especially in the country town of Vichy.

After careful observation for more than half a month, Mayor Pierre decided to pay an official visit to the only local nobleman.

Sean did not officially receive him, and when Pierre arrived, he was working out.

In the north, when it is already early winter, there is plenty of sunshine and a warm climate. At this time, Sean was wearing a pair of shorts, with a bare upper body and long legs, and was doing one-handed push-ups.

Sean didn't mind Pierre's weird eyes, the muscles on his body were visibly bulging, which showed that the workout effect in the past six months was very good.

After completing a set of exercises, Sean wiped his sweat and took a thin shirt handed over by Cleveland, the butler, and put it on.

Then sitting under the banyan tree, Sean invited Mayor Pierre, who had been hanging for a long time, to sit down.

The aristocracy is qualified to be so arrogant.

Cleveland made a pot of tea, the heat was just right at this time, and after taking a sip beautifully, Sean suddenly felt refreshed, and the fatigue after a large amount of exercise was swept away.

Cleveland remembers Sean bursting into tears when he first drank the drink. He only thought that this drink was extremely precious, but he didn't know that these leaves contained too many emotions for Sean.

After spending most of the month with Sean, Cleveland looked a little trembling at first, lest he upset the young viscount, but now he had returned to his state of being a pampered and steady and thoughtful housekeeper.

The young viscount, who was particularly picky about eating, did not care about anything else, and it seemed that he was really not what a nobleman should be, such as he often went into the kitchen to discuss the recipes with Emma, and even got into it directly, and for example, he was now so disheveled to receive visitors.

But given his origins and origins, this is not too surprising. Cleveland believed that the viscount lacked a complete aristocratic education.

Sean easily got back half of the mountain forest in Rocky Mountain, which made Cleveland extremely excited and happy, thinking that this was a good omen for the family's prosperity, but Sean destroyed most of the family orchard, which made Cleveland hesitate.

But one thing Cleveland knew was that the young master had a good heart and was very assertive, and although he respected his own steward's opinion, he would not easily change things once he had decided.

After taking a sip of the peculiar drink, Pierre felt that it was much better than he had imagined. Sean then asked:

"Mayor Pierre, you came to me this time, I don't know what advice you have?"

"Don't dare, I've heard for a long time that the heir of the Connelly family is coming, but it's a pity that I've been out of town on business, so I haven't come to visit. Pierre said a little nervously.

Sean inquired about this man through Cleveland, and although he was greedy for money, he was decent to the residents of his town, especially compared to other villages and towns.

"Mr. Mayor is gracious. Sean smiled slightly, "I've heard that you've done a good job of managing Vichy Town, and I've seen that the inhabitants here are quite peaceful." ”

This made Pierre a little excited: "This is what I should do as a small official. In fact, the residents of this town are all self-serving, the local land is also rich, and we are a seaside town, as long as you are diligent, even if you have no land on land, you can go to the sea to fish. Just ......"

"Just what?" asked Sean.

"If the tax can be reduced, I think the townspeople will have a better life. You may not know that this year's autumn tax has increased by 10% compared to previous years. It is expected that there will be more homeless people in the city. Pierre complained, "If the Viscount had been able to intervene and negotiate with the tax collectors, it might have been different." ”

"The tax collector will listen to me?" asked Sean.

Pierre secretly laughed at Sean's ignorance in this regard, worthy of being a nobleman who picked it up, but he didn't dare to show it at all:

"Viscount, allow me to introduce you to the current tax system. ”

"I'm listening. Sean said.

"We in the province of Rebiya have a lump sum tax system, that is, a certain amount of tax is paid to the imperial court in a lump sum, and then it is divided among the people.

Genoa, as a province within a foreign province, is one of the few provinces in the empire where the Estates-General are still functioning, and this council is made up of three classes, the nobles, the clergy, and the wealthy citizens of the city, who decide who to collect taxes and how much.

According to the apportionment, we in Vichy Town will have to pay 2,000 gold louis in military service tax in the second half of this year, which may not seem like much, but if we add the military service tax, poll tax, and labor service that have already been paid in the first half of this year, it will be a lot. Half of the harvest of each of our households is used to pay taxes, and after deducting the needs of the family, there is nothing left for us. What's even more terrifying is that if we don't resist, we will be apportioned even more next year. ”

"It's a bit much. Sean nodded, "You think it's because Vichy isn't represented at the Estates-General?"

"Indeed, the old viscount did not care about these matters before, and the townspeople hoped that the new viscount would help us. Pierre Dao.

Pierre's words were a bit threatening, and Sean pretended not to hear it: "If there is a chance, of course I will intervene to mediate, but I can't guarantee that it will be done." ”

"Thank you so much, sir!" said Pierre, thinking that he had achieved his goal, and got up to take his leave.

Looking at the background of Mayor Pierre's departure, Sean asked Cleveland, "Denzel, what do you think?"

"The land of the townspeople belonged to the Connery family, who were our tenants, and at that time the Connery family was responsible for almost all of the townspeople's taxes, except for some necessary public servitude. The last Viscount Connelly was a benevolent lord. Cleveland said, of course, not the Viscount of the Gambler, "but the commoners are always forgetful, and while they rejoice in the division of the Connery family's land, they also have their share of the burden." ”

It was evident that the butler still had a grudge against the selfish townspeople.

"I've heard that in those countries of the Western Ocean Alliance, the nobles also have to pay the poll tax and the military service tax, and our tax system in Europa is really bad, so the imperial court only treats the peasants as cash chests and can withdraw them at any time. Sean laughed, "If the townsfolk are willing to give me the land to manage, I'm willing to pay the taxes for them." ”

"My lord, this is impossible. Cleveland Road, "Farmers have a crazy love for the land, and they just want to take advantage of you." ”

"So, this Mr. Mayor is here to blackmail me. If I don't want to come forward, he will erode my natural influence as a nobleman, and if I do what he wants, he will ask for credit in front of the townspeople. ”

"Your guess, my lord, is right, Mayor Pierre is a merchant, and he is a calculating. "Cleveland Road.

"Actually, I used to be very calculating. ”

"My lord, as a noble butler, I have a few words of advice. "Cleveland Road.

"I'm listening. ”

"Some people say that nobles come from the nobility of blood, and ancient nobles come from conquest, they are brave, determined, tenacious, full of sacrifice, and the more historical the family, the more respected by the world. But today, nobles are not only naturally noble because of their blood, but also abide by a set of civilized etiquette norms, such as dress, manners, art and even dancing. With all due respect, you are not like a nobleman, who would make the commoners feel that you could offend your authority. ”

"Haha, what kind of nobleman am I?" Sean laughed, "Denzel, thank you for your advice, I dare say there is a group of people in Poitu waiting to see my jokes, and if they are going to throw a ball, the first invitation must belong to me." They were just a flock of scavenging vultures, where did they know that a storm was coming. ”