Balwin gently pinched his wine glass, stared at the delicate pattern with bulging eyes, and casually instructed the butler: "In the name of the Marquis, issue an order to the Chancellor's Office of the Exchequer, to withhold 200,000 pfennigs from this month's tax to the Governor's Office of the Province of Kodor, for the purpose of repairing the free markets in the fortresses of various cities destroyed by the war, so as to prepare for us to continue to solicit merchants from all over the world and increase the source of taxes."

"Fixing the free market?"

The butler suddenly realized, "Lord Gongxiang, you are simply the embodiment of wisdom!" Such a thoughtful idea can also be thought of. The Marquis has been most concerned about expanding the source of taxation lately, so the Marquis will surely sign this order. The Hou State Governor in charge of the repair affairs in Kodor Province is one of our people, and the 200,000 Fen can enter our treasury smoothly. ”

The butler thought for a moment, frowned, and said, "But repairing the free market is a matter that can be seen after all, if the marquis sends someone to inspect at that time, what will we do?"

"Cope? I'm not going to deal with it, I'm really going to fix the free market in Kodor. ”

"Really cultivated? So how much money is left? ”

"All the money can be left."

Balwyn put down his glass and stepped down from his luxurious fox skin seat, and in the butler's confusion, he began to issue a second decree, "In the name of the treasurer of the Earl of Jonah, the news is sent to the merchants of Jonah that from now on, all merchants who can pay for the repair of the free markets in the province of Kodor will be granted commercial privileges of varying degrees according to the amount of their contributions." ”

Kodor's trade routes were too fertile for a powerful merchant to give up the opportunity to enter Kodor. Balwin had a clear grasp of the merchant's virtue of pursuing profit.

"This thing has to be kept secret, so that the old thing from Galvin doesn't know. Lately, that old fellow, in his position as the marquis's uncle, has always been against me in court discussions. ”

The butler was familiar with this kind of shady matter, "Lord Gongxiang, don't worry, I will let the people of the Jonah Commercial Guild handle this matter, and I will never mention your name to the outside world." When the time comes, you just need to give them trade privileges in the name of the palace minister. Even if the matter is revealed, it will be the people below who collect money privately in your name, and when the time comes, just dispose of a few small retainers and disobedient businessmen. ”

Balwin nodded in satisfaction.

"But~" The butler thought of something.

"But what?"

"Lord Gongxiang, Kodor Province is a commercial territory specially given to Count Art by Lord Marquis, will we squeeze out Count Art's trade route in this way~???"

Balwyn sneered lightly, "Art? Count Art~"

"Do you know how much tax his Continental Comptoir gave me last month?"

The butler touched the back of his head and recalled a little, and replied: "There are about five thousand pfennigs, and the tribute sent by the European merchants to the mansion in the past few months is basically the same as before."

"Humph! Do you know how many times his European trading house made through the trade routes of Kodor in the months after the end of the War of the Successors? ”

Balwin held out three fingers, "Triple times!" Exactly three times!! The profit has tripled, but the tribute paid to me has remained the same. He thought I was a roadside begging pariah? ”

"This time I give him a reminder that he will not forget who gave him everything he has now, and who is in charge of everything, lest he think he has become an earl." Under Balwin's swollen eyes was a reddened fleshy face.

The housekeeper usually eats meat from the European Merchant House, and originally had the intention to speak twice for the Continental Comptoir, but Balwin's attitude was resolute, and he kept his mouth shut and stopped causing trouble.

"Lord Gongxiang, there is one more thing to report to you." The housekeeper changed the subject.

"Hmm~" Balwin lay back in his chair.

"Recently, the lords of Jonah Province reported that there were some officials who surveyed and drew atlases in various parts of Jonah, and they claimed to be surveyors and painters sent by the court, saying that they were redrawing the map."

Balwin closed his eyes and nodded slightly, "I know, this is the idea that the old thing in Galvin came up with, saying that the new territory of the Hou Kingdom needs a new map to collect taxes. ”

"The Marquis agrees with this very much, and we don't have to obstruct them. It is enough to let the local lords report less on land harvest and trade taxes. ”

The housekeeper nodded again and again, "But in addition to surveying the borders of the territory, those officials also investigated the number of garrisons and arsenal reserves in various places~"

When the butler looked up and was about to report the abnormality, Balwin in the chair was already snoring......

............

In the center of Besançon City, the court of the Hou Kingdom, the endgame after the battle of the successor is still faintly visible, and some breaches that have been smashed by stones can be seen on the outer wall of the court.

The Hou State was newly established, and Flender was not in a hurry to repair the dilapidated palace, and in his heart, a powerful Hou State was far better than a circle of tall and majestic palace walls.

In the palace house, Flender was feasting on a long table, and a piece of rye bread was soaked in broth by him, and then stuffed into his mouth, and his cheeks were bulging.

Count Galvin, the Chancellor of the Finance of the Marquis of Burgundy, sat aside and stared at the coarse rye bread on the plate, and said with a wry smile: "Your Excellency, Marquis, now that you are the king of a country, you don't have to be so coarse, right?" Although you have ordered strict frugality, can't the great princely kingdom provide you with a meal of refined wheat bread? ”

Flender swallowed his mouth full of bread raw, "Uncle, this is the Inner Court Mansion, not the Imperial Palace, you can just call me Flender." ”

Galvin smiled in response.

"It's enough to be able to eat broth and make bread, when I took the Midsummer Army to merge and fight in the south, when the war was unfavorable and the baggage was difficult, I often used moldy wheat flour mixed with wheat bran to satisfy hunger, that thing is called rough."

Flender picked up the cloth on the wooden table and wiped his mouth, "Okay, let's get down to business, did the ears sent out send back the news?" ”

Galvin straightened up, looked around slightly, and said softly: "The evidence of Balwin's guilt has been obtained, since the establishment of the Hou State, he has swallowed up 500,000 fennig in commercial taxes alone. In addition, there are many Balwin's henchmen among the officials appointed in various parts of the Hou State, and when Balwin sneezes in the palace, the officialdom of the Hou State will tremble. Many of the imperial decrees that you have issued through the palace ministers, but anything that touches their interests will not be issued to the court. Even if the imperial decree is delivered to various places, most of them will not be enforced. Of course, the provinces of Longxia and Wales are not included. ”

"Lord Marquis, it's worth being vigilant."

Flender glanced at Galvin with a smile, and took the half bowl of leftover soup on the wooden table with both hands and put it into his mouth.

"Why aren't you in a hurry? This is your kingdom! Galvin was annoyed.

Flender wiped the corners of his mouth and said in a harmonious voice: "Uncle, don't be angry, Balwin is implicated in the old nobles of the entire princely kingdom of Burgundy, and these things alone can't pull out those rotten rhizomes." ”

"It's better now, since Lord Gong likes to swell, he simply let him swell a little more."

"From today onwards, all the documents submitted by the palace minister will be approved."

"I want everyone to know that the palace is the same as the monarch."

Galvin froze.

"By the way, just speaking of Wales, what has my restless brother-in-law been doing lately?"

"Uncle?"

"Uncle."

"Huh? Well. That guy hasn't been in touch with me much lately, and I'm afraid he's forgotten about my father-in-law. But this month Lottie wrote that he had now gone south. ”

"Uncle, you need to remind that belligerent fellow not to provoke the Lombards for the time being, we don't have the strength yet."

Flender approached Galvin and whispered, "You tell him to hurry up and train the army." It can be a few months, a year at a slow, and I need him to lead his troops north......"

"Lord Marquis, you mean to deal with~" Galvin stopped.

"As you think."