After Campbell's report, Lin Xia looked at him as if he wanted to speak: "What else do you have to do?"

"Young Master. Campbell seemed to have made up his mind: "The family is already in difficulty, and I ask the young master to be more frugal on weekdays." ”

What's the situation? Campbell's words confused Lin Xia, did he do something?

Fortunately, Campbell continued: "I see that the carriage you ride in is quite luxurious, and even the Lord Viscount does not ride in such a carriage. And you have recruited more than thirty servants and guards at one time, which is a big burden for the Xilin family. After speaking, he looked at the gold coins on the desk and said, "Lord Viscount is very frugal on weekdays, presumably Lord Viscount saved a long time before saving this money for you to spend for a year." ”

It turned out that Campbell regarded himself as a loser, Lin Xia slandered in his heart, but it can also be seen that Campbell cares about the family. smiled and said to Campbell: "My dear housekeeper, this is my own money, you can use it with confidence." ”

But Lin Xia could also tell from Campbell's expression that he obviously didn't believe it. I had to say, "If you don't have enough, I still have a lot of gold coins in my carriage." "Although Lin Xia can't afford to buy a custom carriage for the Magic Guild, it is still possible to buy a safe for magic props. As for what's in the safe, of course, it's used to hold gold coins, after all, gold coins are not paper money, and that thing is very heavy.

Campbell heard that there were gold coins on the carriage, and he felt that this young master was too unreliable. And Lin Xia didn't bother to continue to explain, and said to Campbell: "You can ask Delan for details." ”

After Campbell's debriefing, he left the study, but soon knocked on the door and entered, accompanied by a man in his thirties.

Campbell introduced to Lin Xia: "This is Alex, the mayor of Xilin Town, I heard that the young master has arrived, and I came to report the situation of the town to the young master. ”

Lin Xia looked at the mayor named Alex, this person is of medium stature and medium appearance, judging from his appearance, the biggest characteristic of this person is that he has no characteristics. But such a person will give the impression and look familiar.

After Campbell's introduction, Alex bowed to Lin Xia and said, "Welcome the young master back to the family." ”

"Mayor Alex, you've done a great job. After saying that, he helped Alex up.

Campbell said at the right time: "Young master, the town lord, you talk first, and I will prepare today's dinner." After saying that, he quit and left.

Lin Xia asked Alex to sit on the opposite side of the desk first, and Lin Xia also sat back: "I have traveled all the way, there are many homeless people in various places, and most of the civilians have dishes on their faces. But when you enter Xilin Town, everyone has a ruddy complexion, like a paradise. After saying that, he encouraged Alex: "You did a good job." ”

"Don't dare to be, I just manage Xilin Town according to the ancestral teachings of King Lionheart. And King Lionheart once said that he would make the territory of the Xilin family a paradise in Charlemagne's continent. Alex respectfully reported the situation in Xilin Town: "There are more than 2,000 residents in Xilin Town. The tax in Xilin Town can be said to be the lowest in the empire, with an average of about 1 gold coin per household a year, and there will be more merchants. The annual tax revenue of Xilin Town is about 3,000 gold coins. Among them, 2,000 gold coins were used for the administration of Xilin Town and the construction of Xilin Town, and 1,000 gold coins were handed over to the family. ”

The administrative expenditure was only 2,000 gold coins, which surprised Lin Xia, but Lin Xia saw that although Xilin Town was not big, the road surface was smooth, and there were parks and squares.

In addition to the administrative staff of Xilin Town, there are also sheriffs and the family's private army, and 2,000 gold coins alone may not be enough for the salaries of these people, let alone the construction of roads, parks, and squares. I couldn't help but ask my own questions about Alex.

"There are only 20 administrative staff and magistrates in Xilin Town, and the annual expenditure is only about 300 gold coins. As for the family's private army, there are currently 100 people, but they are all townspeople on rotation, and the annual cost is only 500 gold coins. Most of the expenses are still spent on the infrastructure of Xilin Town, and these construction families only need to buy materials, and as for the manpower, the townspeople organize themselves to participate in the construction, that is, the manpower does not need to spend much money. Alex added: "In Xilin Town, everyone takes Xilin Town as their home, and it can be said that it is the greatest honor for the townspeople to become the children of the Xilin family, so everyone is very willing to participate in the construction of Xilin Town." ”

Lin Xia could see that Alex was proud to be a member of the Xilin family. This pride is not just superficial, but engraved in the bones.

But Lin Xia also saw the problem, this kind of management method in Xilin Town, if it is put in the enterprise, it is called humanized management, but if it is ugly, it is laissez-faire, and it all depends on consciousness. If this management method of Xilin Town is placed elsewhere, I am afraid it will be difficult to succeed.

The reason why Xilin Town can succeed is on the one hand the prestige of King Lionheart and the credibility of the Xilin family that took more than 200 years to form. On the other hand, the population is small, there are only more than 2,000 households in Xilin Town, and there are less than 10,000 people when they are full.

Based on these two conditions, there is a scene of Xilin Town, a paradise, and if you want to replicate this model in other places, it will not be possible to achieve it in the short term.

Lin Xia believed that when the Valen Province was all the territory of the Xilin family, it would definitely not be managed like this, after all, the tax revenue of a province could fully support the financial expenditure of the province.

"When I entered Xilin Town, in addition to guarding the soldiers entering and leaving, there was an army of at least two hundred men stationed outside the city. Lin Xia remembered the soldiers stationed outside the city gate at this time, the family's private army was only a hundred people, where did this army come from?

"Those two hundred are the army of the Empire. It was sent by the governor of Valen Province to prevent the homeless from entering the town of Xilin. Alex said.

Lin Xia knew that the empire did not allow civilians to move out of their places of residence at will, and the people near Xilin Town knew that Xilin Town was good, but if the displaced people poured into Xilin Town, Xilin Town would not be able to accommodate so many people at all.

"Actually, these people are all the people of the Xilin family. Alex lamented: "Since the three-year drought, the number of displaced people in Düssel has suddenly increased. ”

"How did the family deal with the disaster year?" Lin Xia asked.

"In the year of the house, the family and the wealthy merchants in the town will take out the food they have stockpiled, and at the same time, they will also raise funds to go out to buy food. They then lend money to the townspeople at a very low interest, and when the house years have passed, the townspeople have income again and then pay it back. "Alex has just been mayor for many years and is experienced in similar situations.

Alex introduced the government affairs and the feng shui of Xilin Town to Lin Xia and left, after all, there are not many people in Xilin Town, and there are still many official affairs waiting for him to deal with.

Lin Xia learned from Alex that the people of Xilin Town are simple, although they are not to the extent that they do not leave the road behind and do not close their doors at night, but there are very few cases in Xilin Town in a year.

As for collecting taxes, although it is extremely difficult in all regions of the empire, when the date of tax payment comes in Xilin Town, the townspeople will spontaneously bring money to pay taxes, which also saves a lot of manpower in Xilin Town.

Xilin Town is such a great place.

After Alex left, there was another girl dressed as a maid in the study, who looked less than twenty, and her appearance was very delicate, and after entering the study, she saluted Lin Xia and said, "Lord Director, let me take you to the bedroom to have a look." ”

"You're Sophie. Lin Xia remembered that the housekeeper Campbell said that the only maid here was called Sophie.

"Yes, young master. ”

Campbell didn't come in person, and seemed to think that I was a dumb boy and didn't want to see me, so he arranged for Sophie to lead the way. No, Lao An has no position in the empire, and I am not considered the second generation of officials, so I smiled helplessly and said to Sophie: "Let's go." ”

The bedroom is actually next door to the study, and Sophie explains: "This is the patriarch's bedroom. ”

When Lin Xia heard that this was the patriarch's bedroom, he said to Sophie: "Forget about the patriarch's bedroom, you can change it for me." ”

As soon as Lin Xia's words fell, Sophie's face flushed, and she said to Lin Xia: "I'm sorry, young master, the only rooms that are still maintained are the study and this bedroom, and the other rooms can't be occupied." ”