The cold autumn rain poured down on the stone walls of the small castle towers, making a "tick-tock" sound.

"What is a tax?"

With chalk in hand, Charles wrote the question on a small improvised wooden blackboard.

Charles turned around and reached out to one of the three small benches that had been temporarily erected in the room, "Basel, you're my financial butler, you speak first!"

Basel, who was sitting on the bench, was obviously not as calm as yesterday, and he was sitting on the lord but standing, which made him very uncomfortable and awkward.

Basel thought for a moment and replied with some solemnity: "Lord Earl, taxation is the sacred right of the king and the lord, the basis for the lord to rule the territory, and the necessary means to maintain the status of nobility, as long as he has the right to collect taxes, any difficulties are temporary, the lion king was captured in the south and paid a ransom of 100,000 gold pounds, but he only raised the taxes in the kingdom slightly, and solved the financial dilemma, so ...... Taxes cannot be lowered. ”

Basel's answer was concise and to the point, and won the unanimous approval of the other two "students", especially Olive on the small bench in the middle, whose little head kept dropping, so that he was afraid that Charles would be ruthless in cutting taxes.

"Roy, come on!"

"Lord Earl, I am not a financial steward, but I know that the various taxes in the county of Bayonne will bring you a great fortune every year, and ..... All the income in your territory this year has been scheduled to be used to repay the interest on the bloodsuckers in the Imperial Capital......."

“........”

Charles was a little speechless, so he had to stretch out his hand and point to the last Olive Live, "Olive Tell me, what are taxes?"

Olive was prepared, and took out an account book from the side, opened it, and read it to Charles page by page.

"Last year the port tax in Bayona was 17,326 livres, the commercial tax was 9,835 livres, and the transaction tax was 13,450 livres........ The first (night) tax is one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six livres, which adds up to fifty thousand eight hundred and seventy-two livres......."

"Last year, there was a bumper harvest of grapes in the territory, and the red wine sold very well, earning about 63,000 livres in total....... After deducting the salaries and various expenses of the knights and warriors in the territory, your territory can earn you about 80,000 to 100,000 livres a year, but ...... We owe a debt of fifty thousand gold louis, which is ....... More than a million livres. ”

Olive closed the thick account book and looked at Charles worriedly.

"Charles, the territory is yours, I shouldn't say anything, but our family really doesn't have much money, I want to keep the money that Bolunvia gave you as a dowry, although Sister Fani has a marriage contract with you, but there are many of his admirers in Nasser.......!

Seeing Olive worried, Charles complained in his heart, "What in case? Do you mean to give me another divorce bridge?

As for his fiancée, whom he had never met, Charles remembered in his mind: "Very beautiful, very elegant, good in school, very nice in speech, and a little poor at home....... Wait, wait," but as for her attitude towards herself, and how enthusiastic she was, she was not impressed at all.

Charles once read a joke, "There are three of the most undignified animals in the world, the snake of India, the bear of Russia, and ...... The man without money in the Great Celestial Empire. ”

If he really ran out of money, what would Fani Augustine, who was not rich but noble, do to him?

Charles shook his head, did not think about it again, but wrote a sentence on the blackboard again: "Taxation is a policy tool." ”

Charles didn't come from a finance major in his previous life, but in the multimedia era, he has seen a lot of arguments, and it is okay to summarize the few guys in front of him.

"Taxation is a tool to serve policy, that is to say, depending on the strategy within the territory, taxation has to be adjusted differently, and I think the future development direction of Bayona City is commercialization, so tax should make changes that stimulate business and are conducive to business development. ”

Charles paused, stretched out his hand to the three stupid students with blank faces, and said solemnly, "Record, every word I say must be recorded." ”

All three of them quickly took out pen and paper, and wrinkled their brows to jot down Charles's unclear and grammatically lame sentence.

"We now owe nearly 50,000 louis' foreign debts, which is 1,200,000 livres, and what is the annual income in the territory? 80,000 livres? 100,000 livres? Are we going to pay off the debt for more than ten years?"

"Charles, actually..... I don't have to be ten years long, I ..... You can find a rich suitor and ......"

"Smack!"

"Oops!"

A piece of chalk smashed into Olive on the forehead, causing her to cover her head with a bitter face.

"Olive warn you, if you dare to ask this question again....... I'll break your leg and keep you at home for the rest of your life. ”

The enraged Charles is like a furred lion, with signs of hair standing on end.

"Remember, if anyone has the idea of exchanging Olive for wealth, I promise to let him die without knowing it, and don't doubt my abilities, it will be too easy for me to kill a few people. ”

"No..... Earl, we will never do anything against your wishes!"

"Miss Olive can only decide the marriage of you, Lord Earl......"

Roy and Basel both had numb scalps and were busy explaining that Charles was too fierce at this time, and although the murderous aura was only fleeting, it made both of them feel unable to resist and be slaughtered.

As for the person concerned, Miss Olive was already sobbing and crying again because she was moved.

"Charles...... I ......"

"Shut up, pick up the pen and start recording!"

Charles scolded fiercely, and the little girl straightened her body obediently, and put her feet together to look like a good student.

"Tomorrow you will make an announcement in the city, in addition to the national taxes that cannot be adjusted, what entry tax, transaction tax, commercial tax and those messy taxes, all of them will be reduced by 50 percent, understand?"

"It's ....... How? It's going to cost you a lot of money......."

Basel opened his mouth and retorted weakly, the "fierce version" of Charles just now scared him, and if it wasn't for the professional ethics in his heart that gave him a little courage, he wouldn't dare to speak out.

"How many foreign ships come into the ports of Basel and Bayonne a year, and what season do they usually come the most? Where do they come from? How many ships come to do business, and how much does a merchant ship bring us?"

"This ...... There were about a hundred ships, the most in the autumn, with the ships of Sbaya, Engru and even Joman, and more than half of the ships were for the sale of liquor, and the profits brought by one ship were ...... I'm sorry sir, I didn't count. ”

Basel was very ashamed that as the financial steward of the realm, he could not answer the lord's questions about money, which was a very dereliction of duty.

But Olive next to her had a brighter look in her eyes, picked up a small notebook and quickly calculated on it.

Charles smiled and said incomprehensibly: "The port of Bayona is close to Sbaya, and there is a river leading to the interior of the kingdom, if Joman's ship comes from the land and sea and wants to go north, we must pass here, so why don't we turn Bayona City into a commercial port?"

Charles began to explain the benefits and characteristics of the commercial port one by one, and the three "stupid students" could no longer understand his words, so they could only quickly write them down on paper. As the elite group of this era, although they still do not understand the meaning of "free trade port", they still have the judgment to "sound reasonable".

"My lord, these ...... Where did you learn that?" asked Basel after a long time, wiping the beads of sweat from his head and feeling uneasy.

"Oh! I had a dream, and then I learned!"

Charles casually responded, he couldn't say: "I know the history of Singapore and the Pearl of the Orient, listen to me!"

"Are you dreaming, sir......

"Smack!"

Olive stood up violently, kicked her little bench into the corner of the room, and said viciously: "My brother is a genius of the kingdom, no one is allowed to question his knowledge and ability, otherwise I will cut out his tongue, don't doubt my ability, it will be too easy for me to kill a few people!"

“............”