"Veteran, spirit magic...... It's so weird, I don't think it's appropriate to treat my subordinates in this way. When Hathaway returned to the carriage, the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she became, feeling that she had been fooled by the veteran.

"After a battle just now, people's hearts are a little fluctuating, and it is understandable to take certain measures to stabilize the morale of the army. And this little magic doesn't hurt them, no one will notice. The veteran comforted.

"Your explanation is not at all comforting, and since I use them to do things for me, I have to trust them, not with this ...... Means. Hathaway began to reflect on her actions.

"It's nothing, don't you humans often resort to this kind of tactics to remember the admiration of others? I'm just letting you use magic, and it's the same way. The veteran was unimpressed.

"No...... Forget it, we look at the problem from a different angle. Still, there are some uses for this kind of magic. ”

Hathaway thought for a moment and thought it seemed a bit funny to discuss the three views of human beings with an orthodox goblin, so she immediately changed the subject: "Do you have any other spiritual magic?" ”

"Yes, but your current spiritual power is only level four, which is not strong enough, even if you cultivate other spiritual magic, you won't be able to exert their power, so let's wait until your spiritual power reaches level six...... Or condense the seeds of spiritual power. ”

"What is a Psychic Power Seed?" Hathaway asked, the first time she had heard the term.

"O God! Don't you all read books? The veteran almost covered his head and groaned.

"There are so many of them that I have to pick and choose what I need at the moment. You also know that I urgently need to improve my strength rather than what I have seen, anyway...... Need to know something, you'll sue me, won't you? Hathaway asked rhetorically.

"Uh......" The veteran was speechless.

The rest of the journey was indeed a bit tedious, neither as dangerous and exciting as the group imagined, nor a backwater, some eyeless goblin thieves crashed into the blades of the orc guards, and were wiped out by their single charge, and the shooters didn't even have a chance to show their faces.

There are less than 5,000 inhabitants in the whole of Mandi Gaza, a mercenary guild. Three taverns. There are two inns, a blacksmith shop that also sells weapons and armor, and some special products purchased by merchants from other places, and some small merchants and peddlers who run daily necessities. This is the heart of the Cordillera Plateau. As for the seashore and the Mandinile and other scattered villages and market towns. In total, the population of the Cordillera Territory is less than 20,000. Hughes spent the whole day running around after taking up his new office, and checked the information obtained after checking the meagre information left by the previous administrative officer.

Most of the inhabitants of Mandi Gaza City make a living from farming, while a few make a living by hunting in the nearby forests. Due to the long absence of the arrival of the lord and his vassals, there is very little money left over the Nekuri, and it is said that it has been used for the maintenance of the territory over the years.

When she first entered the city, Hathaway met with some of Mandi's key officials in Gaza City. The day after his arrival, the village chiefs and mayors came to the Lord's House in Mandy Gaza City to meet with Hathaway...... Of course, these guys wouldn't be kind enough to visit Hathaway. One is that they are asking Hathaway if she has the intention of removing them; The two wanted to complain in front of her, hoping that she could bring enough funds to improve the living conditions in the territory!

Naive!

Hathaway sneered in her heart, although her body function was sixteen years old, her soul was more than sixteen years old. If you think that these childish and ridiculous lies can move her, or find out her truth, that is the real joke.

When she was a police officer in the past, she had dealt with collective appeals or other mass incidents more than once, and there were too many ways to deal with these people who made all kinds of unrealistic demands. Therefore, while listening to them in a sympathetic manner, she comforted them formulaically and promised that their requests would be considered.

After sending off these grassroots officials, Hathaway ushered in the merchants engaged in various industries in the territory, and Hathaway seemed to pay a lot more attention to the reception of these merchants, she also knew that in the days when there was no lord, the entire Cordillera Plateau was far away from the emperor, and the real power was actually in the hands of these guys and the forces behind them, and now that they were in office, they would definitely not be willing to hand over the power in their hands, but they would not openly compete with their own righteous lord, but it was inevitable that they would disobey the yang and the yin, He only needs to subdue and control these people in his hands, then at least the current Cordillera Plateau is equivalent to being in his own hands.

"These people all have evil intentions, do you really want to compromise with them?" Petro. Hughes looked at Hathaway with some confusion after sending off the last of the merchants.

"Wrong, it's not a compromise, it's just a matter of seeking cooperation."

Hathaway said lightly: "These people are bastards, but we need the help of these bastards." All you have to do is familiarize yourself with the situation here so that we can move on to the next step. ”

"Yes, I understand." Petro. Hughes nodded.

Hathaway was not in a hurry to assert power in her own territory, in fact, she was only concerned with studying her officials and their personal information during this time, and did not think about anything else...... But now it seems that she took some things for granted.

A week later, she summoned her first officer to talk...... Shani, who is in charge of finance. Baron Brett.

"Baron Brett, you are in the Treasury Department in Mandy Gaza City?" Hathaway asked.

"Yes, my lord, I have been in this position for seven years." Shani. Baron Brett replied.

"Then tell me about the finances of Mandi Gaza City."

Shani. Baron Brett didn't expect Hathaway to ask such a question, except for the people in their treasury department, the nobles would not be interested in financial management. And the first thing Hathaway learned about when she entered the territory was the financial work, which surprised him a little...... The average nobleman doesn't care much about this, and most of them appoint someone to take care of it for themselves.

But since it was Hathaway who asked, he had to answer truthfully: "My lord, the financial situation of the Cordillera Territory is not optimistic, especially in recent years, and it is often beyond its means. In a few more years, it could be even worse. ”

"How can this be, no matter how bad it is, it won't come to this point, right?" Hathaway said displeased.

It is said that the Cordillera is very poor because of its vast and sparsely populated land, but now it seems that it is not just poor, but getting poorer and poorer. Hathaway didn't think that what awaited her was a mountain of gold, she just needed to maintain a mile, but if the Cordillera's finances were getting tighter and tighter, it was definitely not something she could imagine.

"My lord, you may not know that although the Cordillera Plateau has fertile land, there is less land to cultivate because the population is too small. And if the people are poor, the tax revenue will naturally be less. However, the annual expenses of the Cordillera are increasing unabated, and the only financial difficulty is to increase taxes, which has caused a loss of population and reduced tax revenues. It can be said that this is a vicious circle. And in recent years...... Some aristocrats even took a lot of money from the treasury in order to make up for the deficit by raising taxes. "Shani. Baron Brett said helplessly.

"Isn't there a good way to change that?" Hathaway asked.

Shani. Baron Brett had the courage to say these words, and he was troubled with gains and losses. But now Hathaway didn't get angry, and she also expressed concern for Hathaway, and instead made Shanny. Baron Brett was grateful, which showed Hathaway's trust and understanding of him.

"I can't do anything about this, because the foundation of finance lies in the output of land and some other taxes, and these problems are not so easy to solve. All that can be done now is to minimize expenses, but that's not possible. "Shani. Baron Brett sighed.

"Why not?"

"My lord, now a baron like me cannot afford to pay for a year, and he still needs to live on a salary from the treasury, and the life of some minor nobles in the realm is even more difficult. Now there are a lot of idlers in various departments, living on a salary that can be obtained without working. As for those viscounts, their expenses tend to be greater, and life is not easy, how can you say that the mention of cutting expenses can get a pass. "Shani. Baron Brett seemed to be turning over his old bottom, and smiled helplessly.

"I didn't think it would come to such a point?" Hathaway didn't expect that she would receive such a mess when she entered the lord's mansion. When she heard about how poor it was, she only thought that life was a little poorer, and she didn't know the concept of poverty very well.

Now it seems that things are more troublesome than she imagined, and it is not as simple as she first imagined that as long as she takes back her rights from the Camille family, how to govern this poor territory should be a headache for her.

"You say that some people have embezzled the money of the territory, what is going on?" Hathaway probed.

Although the Sith. Carl had collected information about many people, but Hathaway didn't know much about their profiles, and she couldn't be sure where some people were. Now is the right time to use this incident to test his position and see what his position is.

"This ...... I don't know, Sir, but I think you'll soon know. "Shani. Brett said.

He refused to go into details, and Hathaway was not upset by it. At least she already knew, Shani. Brett was not on the side of the Camilles. (To be continued......)