April 15, 1770, a week after Lawrence settled the invasion of the Northern Legion.

As Paulie said, after removing General Nathan, the last destabilizing factor on Corsica, Lawrence has become the undisputed and expected leader of all Corsica.

As for General Nathan, who had fallen in a pool of blood that day, he had been regarded as a despicable usurper, and the Corsicans and even the soldiers of the Northern Legion applauded his death.

After the death of General Nathan, the Northern Army, the main force of the Corsican Defense Army, was successfully placed under Lawrence, with the help of Paulie's prestige.

This also made Lawrence feel that the choice to put Poly under house arrest and use him as a marionette was indeed the right one.

Now that the situation in Corsica has finally calmed down after more than a month of oscillation, Lawrence now has two priorities in front of him:

The first is the construction of Corsica, a small island nation in the Mediterranean that is still in a state of ruin.

The people's living standards are low, the national strength is weak, and all systems have great shortcomings waiting to be reformed, if Lawrence wants to carry out drastic reforms, then it is undoubtedly the best choice to carry out while all classes are now obedient and subservient to Lawrence.

The second was the abolition of the republic in Corsica and its transformation into a monarchy.

The Duke of Choiseul is expected to arrive in Corsica in the near future with the French garrison in Corsica, which will inevitably involve a series of lengthy negotiations and numerous red tapes.

After the negotiations, Lawrence had to go to Versailles with the Duke of Choiseul to attend the coronation of Louis XV as King of Corsica as an important player.

However, for Lawrence, what worries him the most is not the negotiation with the Duke of Choiseul, after all, both sides have a high degree of agreement on the willingness to negotiate, and what Lawrence attaches the most importance to is the issue of improving Corsica's national strength.

At this moment, in the palace of the Governor of Ajaccio, sitting in front of Lawrence is the Minister of Finance of Corsica, Mr. Coggero.

He was a tax collector who was not very capable but reasonable, and it was difficult to find a real economist in a country as backward as Corsica, so Pauli kept him in the position of Minister of Finance.

Lawrence currently has no suitable replacement for him, and the position does require considerable knowledge and experience, so Cojero has to continue in the position of finance minister.

"So, Mr. Cojero, are you saying that Corsica's finances are in a bad state at the moment?"

Lawrence asked as he poured a cup of hot tea for Cojero with a frown, handing him the cup.

When Mr. Coggiero knew that Lawrence was going to summon him, he wept and mourned as soon as he entered the door, and before he could sit down, he began to complain to Lawrence about the difficult situation of Corsica's finances.

"Yes, Governor Bonaparte, I must say, very bad."

Cojero nervously took the teacup and said to Lawrence:

"Our deficit is quite serious, and our annual fiscal expenditure is about 1.3 times the fiscal revenue, which is a deficit rate of 30%."

Lawrence's brow furrowed even more, and he also knew a little about economics, and knew that it was normal for fiscal deficits to be in deficits, but it was not normal for the government to have fiscal surpluses, because it meant that there was idle money that was not being used.

But the Corsican government's deficit of almost 30 percent is undoubtedly too high.

"What caused this? Didn't your Ministry of Finance notice it?"

Lawrence took a sip of his teacup and asked, slightly displeased.

Seeing that Lawrence's expression was a little colder, Mr. Cogello quickly leaned forward and quickly explained:

"You know, the deficit is caused by too little income and too much spending. Your predecessor, Governor Poly, had a lot of policies during his reign, and of course they were all good, like building schools and building housing, but they put a lot of pressure on the finances. Of course, there is also military spending..."

Lawrence listened silently, nodding approvingly from time to time.

The military expenditure mentioned by Cojero is a large part of the financial expenditure, considering that the number of Corsican regular troops is almost a tenth of the total population, which is quite an exaggerated proportion.

Add to that the endless war with the Genoese, and it's no wonder that Corsican's finances are under so much pressure.

"Alright, Mr. Cojero, I see."

Seeing that Cojero was still babbling, Lawrence interrupted him with a wave of his hand:

"But I have to say, these are necessary expenses, and you can't kick out the children in the school just because the government doesn't have the money, right?"

"Of course, of course, I understand what you mean, including the military, they want to defend their homeland and country..."

Cojero nodded his head in agreement with some flattery, thinking that Lawrence had come to terms with his current financial situation.

"So, since spending is hard to cut, what is the government's revenue situation?"

However, Lawrence was obviously not ready to rest on his laurels, as the economic base determines the superstructure, and if Lawrence wants to make a difference, he must need a wealthy Corsican as a backing, so he continued to ask.

When Mr. Cogiero heard this, a few drops of cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he said with a smile:

"Government revenue is basically taxes, and the main ones are the poll tax and the agricultural tax, after all, as you know, Corsica is essentially a big village."

Lawrence nodded, except for Ajaccio, which is a more prosperous town, the rest of Corsica is basically villages and towns engaged in agricultural production, so the economic environment of Corsica is essentially a small-scale peasant economy.

Under these circumstances, the poll tax, which is levied directly on every peasant, is the main source of government revenue, and of course it does not exclude the exorbitant taxes of all other names.

"With Corsica's tax base, there shouldn't be such a large fiscal deficit, right?"

Lawrence stared into Cojero's eyes and asked directly.

Cojero's gaze wandered around, as if avoiding Lawrence's gaze, and finally after hesitating for a while, he gritted his teeth and said:

"Governor Bonaparte, I will offend many people, including several members of your council."

"Say, now that you're my man, they still dare to do something to you."

Lawrence glanced at Cojero and waved his hand for him to continue.

"That's hard to say, after all, it's in front of monetary interests..."

Cojero smiled bitterly and shook his head, but still mustered up the courage to say:

"As you know, the poll tax is levied directly on every peasant. And for many large landowners in the countryside, they will hide the peasants under their own hands as individual households, so that the poll tax will not be collected on these black households. And this part of the tax that should have been collected by the government was converted into extra land rent and went into the pockets of the landlords."

Lawrence looked at Cojero with a blank face, he already understood what Cojero meant.

Almost all of the output of a peasant's hard work must be paid, partly as the church's tithe, partly as a government tax, and partly as the landlord's rent.

As for the landlord, as long as he hides this peasant, then the part of the tax that should have been paid to the church and the government will go into his own pocket in the form of field rent.

As a result, the richer the landlords become, they will buy more land, hire and harbor more households, and the government will further reduce tax revenues, and the vicious cycle will continue.

Eventually, when the land annexation was largely completed, the rent paid by the poor peasants would reach a staggering price, which would lead to a large number of displaced people who had no land to cultivate.

If the country is industrialized, then these displaced people can also be absorbed into the cities and become the labor force of industrial production, as was the case in Britain during the Industrial Revolution.

But if the country is a small-scale peasant economy, then the emergence of a large number of displaced people will undoubtedly mean the beginning of a change of dynasty.

And the reason why Cogiro just said that he would offend many people is also very clear, if he wants to attack this situation, then he will almost move the cake of the entire landlord class, in the face of such monetary interests, even fathers, sons and brothers will turn against each other.

"Governor Bonaparte, you see, it's not the inaction of the Ministry of Finance, it's—"

Cojero shook his head bitterly and sighed.

"Mr. Cojero."

Lawrence ignored Cogiro's complaints, but stared into his eyes and said coldly:

"I need a Treasury that makes a difference."

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Chapter 133 Agricultural Tax Reform (I) Free Reading.