"Mr. Fogel, I don't want to take up too much of your time, and those who have entrusted me to come here to express their grievances to you don't have much patience on the part of you, so in order to avoid an aggravation of the situation, let's all be more frank, put away those clichés that go around in circles, and confront the focus of this conflict directly."

Maynard Oliver is not an unknown person, he is also a top student who graduated from the Law School of the Imperial Central University, Anthony's senior, the leading jurist and director of the Bar Guild in the Far East, and a core member of the "Awakened Club".

"The abolition of the 'Imperial System of Preferences' and 'Universal Tithes' is not only my personal demand, but also the call of all the protesters outside the window, and I hope you will seriously consider it."

"Allow me to interject," Anthony Fogel could not help interrupting him, "neither of your demands is lawful, and I cannot accept either!" ”

"Illegal? Now that you have talked about the crux of the matter, let's look at it from the perspective of the internal logic of the law. Attorney Maynard sat back in his armchair, crossed his legs, and gave Anthony a premonition of danger with a sneer: "The area covered by the 'Imperial System of Preferences' mainly refers to overseas colonies, and the only regular administrative region of the empire to which the decree also applies is the Far Eastern Province, isn't this discrimination against us Far Easterners?" ”

"The Far Eastern provinces are special administrative regions created as places of exile for heretics, and the imperial law considers the Far Easterners to be heretics or descendants of heresies, and cannot be treated as imperial citizens until the original sin is cleared, and if you think that the 'Imperial System of Preferences' is discrimination against the Far Easterners, then you should go to the theologians of the Holy See and argue with me, the petty civil servant in charge of taxation." Anthony fought back without showing any weakness.

Lawyer Maynard seemed to have anticipated his rebuttal, as if he had seen his prey fall into a trap, and quietly continued: "Well, let's follow your logic, the imperial authorities consider the Far Easterners to be heretics and have original sin, so it seems to make legal sense to use the imperial preferential system as a punitive means, but how to explain the legality of the levy of tithes according to the above logic? Isn't it contradictory that tithes are an obligation owed to the Church by the believers of Perot because of their devout faith, and since the imperial authorities have judged the Far Easterners to be heretics and judged that we are not followers of Perot, what reason is there to tithe? ”

"This ......," Anthony opened his mouth, but didn't know how to justify. In fact, he had long been concerned about this problem, and before leaving, he had hinted to Count Müller that there was a legal loophole in the collection of tithes in the Far East, but the Prime Minister did not take it seriously, after all, the Far Eastern Province was just a distant and wild land in the eyes of those noble ministers, and the heretics and criminals living there should be obedient, and they should be qualified to reason with the imperial government. Even Anthony himself was arrogant at the beginning, he didn't think it was a big deal, and he never imagined that the resistance of the Far Easterners would be so fierce that he would fall into a difficult situation unprepared.

Lawyer Maynard stared at Anthony's gradually pale face and launched a sharper attack: "Since you can't give a logical explanation, there are only two options - either admit that Far Easterners are not obliged to pay tithes, or admit that Far Easterners should not continue to be charged with heresy. ”

Anthony's shirt was already soaked with sweat, and he unbuttoned his collar with difficulty, and replied dryly: "I'm just a small civil servant, and I don't have the right to make a statement on the above issues." ”

"If you don't have enough authority, you should return to the imperial capital as soon as possible and ask for advice from those who have the authority to answer the question, get to the bottom of the matter, and reconsider whether tithes should be levied in the Far Eastern provinces." Maynard said meaningfully.

Anthony glanced up at the senior, and heard him suggest that he should leave before it was too early to escape from this place of right and wrong. In fact, he didn't want to leave, but he knew in his heart that if he messed things up and left like this, his career would end here. He is the third son of the Fogel family, and in this country that implements the "primogeniture inheritance law", he has the aura of "Young Master Fogel" but is not qualified to inherit the family wealth.

"I can't just leave the Citapuria, my work isn't done yet!" Anthony Fogel gritted his teeth, full of unwillingness.

Maynard was impressed by his courage, but he still had to say: "What you mean by your work is to expropriate the Far East by illegal means, to take away the poor black bread in the hands of us Far Easterners, and to make it impossible for us to live?" Mr. Anthony, do you know that you are committing a crime, that you are causing a tragedy with your own hands! ”

Fogel couldn't resist his harsh words, so he could only parry in embarrassment: "I need a defender, and I refuse to answer any unfriendly questions until my family's lawyer arrives." ”

"Unfriendly question? Mr. Fogel, I'm afraid you haven't figured out your situation yet, and I can tell you frankly that you can't find a friendlier person in this building, in the streets and alleys of more than 10,000 people who resist taxes, and if you refuse to cooperate, I can only leave here and speak out about me to the angry people? Negotiations fail, and after that you will know what it means to be 'unfriendly'. ”

The undisguised threat between Maynard's words made Anthony shiver, his sideburns were soaked with cold sweat, and there was no blood on his face, but he still barely managed to maintain his composure: "You'd better not mess around, I'm an imperial official, I'm from the Fogel family, if I suffer harm here, all of you will be punished by the law!" ”

Maynard chuckled and asked contemptuously, "Are you threatening me?" Little Master of the Fogel family, you are naïve to say such things to those revolutionaries outside the window. ”

"I'm asking for security, it's not too much!" Anthony protested aggrievedly.

Maynard glanced sideways at the stout officer guarding the door, and said to Anthony lightly, "Colonel Campu, the commander of the security of the provincial capital, is standing at the door, and this is the highest level of security we can provide you." ”

Anthony snorted and couldn't help but complain loudly: "That vigilante commander is in the same league as the mob!" He's here to spy on me, not protect me, and what does that priest named Denis mean by setting up an anti-magic field in my room? It's ridiculous to say anything about guarding against assassins! I want to see Knight Captain Klautz, and I refuse to answer any more questions unless I see him in person! ”