"What's wrong?" Sean was stunned.

"There have been mob protests in three provinces in the Longjiang Valley. Daley said.

The Ott Mountains, which run roughly from west to east, divided the empire into two parts, geographically and ethnopsychologically, north and south.

To the north of the Ott Mountains is the Longjiang Plain. The area through which the Longjiang River, the largest river, flows through fertile fields, is one of the most important grain producing areas of the empire, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the granary of the empire.

"Is it because of the increase in taxes in the North, that we in the South, and especially in the province of Genoa, have been exempted from the main taxes for two years?" thought to Sean.

The imperial court was already in financial difficulty, during the reign of the second emperor Ike Solon, once the imperial court had financial difficulties, it was possible to solve the urgent need by printing paper money, and after Carlos II ascended the throne, the credit of the imperial court was not as good as real money, and paper money had long been abandoned by the people, returning to the era of metal money.

If it weren't for the discovery of several large gold and silver mines shortly after Carlos II's accession to the throne, the empire's finances would have gone bankrupt.

In recent years, the south has been hit by successive disasters, especially the earthquake and tsunami at the end of last year, which have directly hit the tax revenue of the south.

On the one hand, the imperial court had to reduce the taxes of the south, and on the other hand, it had to increase the taxes of the northern provinces.

In the far south, Sean is not well-informed, and this time the court has also approached the church. First he borrowed a huge sum of up to 30 million louis, and then there was a proposal to tax church property.

It is not surprising that the Church as a whole is the richest of the riches, and that the high-ranking clergy, who claim to be merely the custodians and custodians of these estates, are in fact all bankers. In the old dynasty, they were even able to collect taxes on the parishioners.

After two months of back-and-forth and arguing, the church was forced to add an additional donation of up to 20 million in the form of an increased donation.

The reason why it is called "donation" is to distinguish it from "taxes". The Church stubbornly considers itself a precious remnant of ancient national freedom, giving only and not paying taxes, and even feels that this is a kind of acquiescence of secular authority to the spiritual authority of the Church.

In fact, the imperial court needed not only this precious donation, but also the church as an intermediary to borrow money from the people, especially the new bourgeoisie—the credit of the church, which had a large real estate, was obviously better than that of the emperor.

As a loyal eagle dog of the Empire, Daley attributed the cause of the riot to the rebels and werewolves.

"Werewolves?" Sean looked surprised, but he was not too surprised to see the appearance of a werewolf after seeing the Blood Samurai, the Bloodthirsty, and the Strange Fish Demon.

"At first, it was rumored that a group of werewolves had appeared on Mt. Ultra, and they repeatedly went down the mountain to commit murders. Daly shrugged.

"Just send someone to exterminate the so-called werewolves. Sean disagreed.

"Viscount, don't you believe in the existence of werewolves?" Daley was slightly surprised, and then seemed to ask himself, "Whether it exists or not, it is right to be vigilant. But because the rumors got out of control, they became one of the sources of the riots, and on the last day of last year, a village actually killed a lone werewolf, so the rumors became true. ”

Sean didn't answer, he was wondering what the werewolf should look like, only to hear Daley continue: "All the villages near the mountains have formed vigilantes and armed them, and the result is ......"

"As a result, you heard the news of the imperial court's tax increase?" Sean immediately thought of this possibility.

"That's right, the mob killed the tax collectors, hung their bodies on the walls of the church, burned the church, and set up an ambush to kill the patrol officers who heard the news. They shouted Long live the true God, the True God Cult has completely degenerated. ”

Daley looked distressed.

"Director Dai, oh, no, Director Daley, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with me, does it? That's something for the Imperial Court and His Excellency the Governor to consider. Sean chuckled, "Of course, as the deputy head of the provincial patrol regiment, you also have a great responsibility. I don't want to see the mob cross the Ott Hill and enter our Genoa, which can't stand the toss. ”

"I fully agree with the judgment of the Lords, although I am not from Genoa, I think I have feelings for this place, and I do not want Genoa to be in turmoil. Lieutenant Colonel Frank of the Holy City, oh no, Colonel Frank wrote to me last time, and in his letter he made a point of mentioning your lordship, saying that you are a genius, and that I should respect you as if you were to his face. ”

This man spoke very unpleasantly, and deliberately mentioned that it should be Frank, the head of the Imperial secret police, and Sean was very unhappy.

Because he didn't know if he was threatening himself, or if he was trying to pull a relationship, if it was the latter, he really didn't want to have such a relationship.

Sean frowned and asked, "Are you representing Colonel Frank, or His Excellency the Governor?"

"Oh, of course, Your Excellency the Governor. Daley nodded and admitted, it was natural for him not to have anything to do with the secret police, "Your Excellency the Governor is interested in forming a civil defense regiment, and he asked you if you would like to serve as a military adviser?"

Sean was surprised: "I was just a sergeant before I retired, and I was awarded the rank of second lieutenant because I was lucky not to die, how can I be a consultant?"

Daley, and His Excellency the Governor, probably didn't really think that Sean had any great military talent, so Daley said:

"My lord, this is just a duty of honor. Because you are a hero of the army, a recipient of the Order of the Great Dragon, and a nobleman, this greatly enhances the honor of the Genoese people. ”

In other words, Sean became the mascot, because the most important thing in forming a vigilante is the issue of money, and it is the most critical. Sure enough, Daley went on to say:

"The Imperial Court has pardoned our Genoa for two years of the main taxes, but in extraordinary times, extraordinary means are needed, and money is needed to form a militia group, and the governor intends to levy a special tax on the wealthy, tentatively called the security tax, because it is the only guarantee of the security of their wealth. ”

Sean suddenly realized, but he didn't believe that the rich would pay for it happily:

Genoa is a province that implements the Estates-General. ”

As Sean said, this kind of tax is not easy to collect, especially if it is only levied on the wealthy.

While Sean was still in the army, poor Earl Cohen-Howard, despite being a popular man under the Emperor's court, was ostracized for leviing a twenty-one tax on the wealthy to improve his finances, and was assigned to serve as governor of the Northern Frontier Province, where his youngest son suffered misfortune.

Although Sean does not have many fields in his name, although there are many mountains, he has been exempted from taxes for 10 years because of disaster relief.

In addition, Sean has some bank balances, although there have been inconsistencies in the past few months, and he is not worried about bankruptcy for the time being.

But it is not permissible for the governor to set up another name, and this temporary levy of taxes to deal with possible riots is still in the service of the rich in the final analysis, and it is justifiable.

Director Dai, no, Director Daley smiled mysteriously.

Seeing this viper-like smile, Sean is not afraid to speculate on people's hearts with the worst malice.

"Yes, Genoa is a province where the Estates-General are implemented, and the church, the nobility, and the bourgeoisie are our backbone, and we have a one-time payment system for the imperial court, and after the total amount is determined, the internal division is apportioned, and the Estates-General determine the specific types and scopes and quantities of taxes to be levied. This new tax is a local tax, and of course it must be approved by the Estates-General before it can become a provincial decree, and His Excellency the Governor looks forward to your visit. ”

Daly's hint, Sean immediately understood, Governor Byrne was nothing more than hoping that Sean would be on his side.

Sean could even have predicted that Priest Shacre, the head of the Sawyer Sect, would be on the side of the governor, because he would love to be the bishop of a province.

In the case of the Bishop's recent illness, Shakli is so vocal that he will soon be eligible to change into a red robe, and he is now touring the dioceses of the province on behalf of the Bishop. With his speculative and slick personality, it is possible that he agreed on behalf of the church to the addition of new taxes in exchange for the approval of the administration.

If you add Sean, the viscount, it is really possible that Governor Byrne's plan will come true. As for whether it can achieve the goal, it depends on the next means of the governor.

"I look forward to meeting the Governor in the provincial capital. Sean said.

Daley was visibly pleased, and he thought Sean understood what he was saying.

There is something to give, but there must be something in return.

"The new batch of grain, about four thousand tons, will arrive at the port in Vichy in a week!"

4,000 tons, according to the standard of 2 kilograms per person per day, 40,000 people can eat for one and a half months, if some more is raised, it can completely solve the problem of food and clothing for all the victims until the summer harvest.

The transaction is completed.

Sean will shell out a lot less.

In fact, some of the victims have begun to return to their homes since the beginning of spring, and Sean is not burdened as much as he openly claims. Of course, this is all written down in his treasurer's notebook, and the auditors of Poitou will never see it.

Most of these returnees were yeoman farmers, with small plots of land of their own, and some of them had a few gold or silver coins with them, which was not considered abject poverty.

Sean threatens that if these people do not return home soon and regain their crops, and miss the summer harvest, their fields will be taken back for auction as unborderland.

It's a threat, more powerful than a bullet. Obviously, they can't be allowed to eat too much, or they will not be happy.

Some people became hired by Sean's tea plantation, some people who had nowhere to go continued the expansion and reinforcement work at the docks, and LeBron Gable's engineering team was buried in the excavation of the Rocky Mountain Highway.

If Sean had more grain on hand and was willing to lend it at a low interest rate, some landless tenants would be more than willing to return to their hometowns and become tenants of a certain landlord again.

Sean now has a deeper understanding of human nature and must not be too virgin, otherwise it will only cultivate inertia and scoundrels.

"Mr. Director, you see that the formation of the Civil Defense Corps requires manpower, and I have ready-made soldiers here. Hearing the sound of explosions coming from the construction site, Sean had another flash of inspiration.

Daley hesitated, "What we need is ......"

"Honest, disciplined, obedient people, right?" Sean pointed to the vague figure of toiling at the foot of Rocky Mountain outside the rose garden, "They hear the whistle at seven o'clock every morning, get up on time, tidy up their nests on time, line up for breakfast on time, are not allowed to cut in line, wash their own dishes, place them in their designated places, and then line up to go to work."

Every evening they came back, cleaned themselves up collectively, ate on time, went to bed on time, and repeated the order of the previous day the next day, which was boring and boring, but they had no complaints. ”

No complaints, that's impossible.

But without food, everything is possible again.

"Isn't this the best soldier, believe me, the farmer is the best infantry!" Sean's long list of words left Director Daley speechless.

"They have a mixed staff, and they need to have clean ...... to recruit soldiers," Daley retorted.

"The identity of each and every one of them is on the roster, and even if there are professional scoundrels, the majority are innocent! I don't believe that the secret police you have planted among them do not know this?"

Sean grabbed the handle and embarrassed Daley at this time.

It is not a dishonorable thing to install a secret police after all, especially if Sean is a nobleman who deliberately does not know, which is a serious offense to Sean's face.

Director Daley spread his hands and said:

"Well, I will address His Excellency the Governor. Lord Viscount, with all due respect, it is fitting that the people of the Holy City call your Excellency a wizard. You can always surprise you!"

Seeing off Director Daley, Sean stood in front of the rose garden, looking at the peaceful and orderly town of Vichy.

In this small town in the southeastern corner of the Empire, everything seems to be fine, but after all, in a chaotic era, how can Vichy stay out of it?

Rose Coty walked down the tree-lined carriageway in front of the rose garden, staggering past Director Daley's carriage.

Her steps were light and powerful, and the small bamboo basket on her arm was fragrant.

(There is a chapter after 19 pm)