When handing over the finances, it is best to check the accounts first, otherwise you will definitely regret it.

This experience is the result of countless people's blood and tears, and I don't know how many people have suffered the loss of financial handover because of carelessness.

Otto did not think that Madame Carylin would make some small moves at such a time, and the reason why he was in such a hurry to check the accounts was entirely because he was short of money.

Building a castle and supporting a two-hundred-strong army was still too much for Otto before him. With Otto's own territory, it is absolutely unaffordable.

If it weren't for the large amount of money he had made from Lady Kailin before, Otto would have become one of the many bankrupt aristocrats.

It's just that even if he was prepared, after he really got the account book and checked the family finances, Otto couldn't help but sigh.

Ya, why are you so poor!

Judging from the book figures, Otto's Alakhof family is not poor, a vast territory, dozens of large and small castles and manors, and there are still piles of grain in the castles and manors everywhere, as well as weapons and equipment of considerable scale.

It can be said that it is not appropriate to describe the Alakhor family as poor.

But the problem is that in terms of gold and silver treasures and currency, in terms of circulating wealth, it is really frighteningly poor.

No wonder Lady Karin, who had been cheated by Otto for a large sum of money before, was in pain, and the money was almost half of the family's funds.

"Why is there so much money in the account?" After flipping through the thick ledger, Otto couldn't help but ask Simon Butler.

"Master Otto, there really is only so much money." Simon, the butler in charge of the handover, had a wry smile on his face.

Otto was a little puzzled, didn't the debt have already been paid off, except for the Count's expedition this time, there have been no major expenses in the past few years, with the wealth of Allgau, how could he save this money.

In the face of Otto's questioning, Simon's butler patiently explained, which also gave Otto a certain understanding of today's aristocratic wealth and taxes.

During this period, the taxes received by the nobles were often various kinds of goods mainly agricultural and animal husbandry products, which were often difficult to realize when the circulation of commodities was underdeveloped. Usually, it could only be sold to other nobles or specific merchants.

This leads to the problem of many large nobles, who have a mountain of grain in their warehouses, but do not have a single sum of money on hand to recruit a reliable mercenary.

It's not a joke, it's a real fact.

In the era of underdeveloped commodity economy, it is necessary to face this embarrassing situation by using physical goods as a tax. You can collect taxes in kind, but when you send money, you can't also send in kind... Not many people will buy it.

It was not until the rise of a number of trading towns, especially the emergence of commercial alliances, that a large number of merchants traveled back and forth between various territories, and the situation of the noble lords who lacked money gradually improved.

As for now, neither Novgorod nor the Hanseatic League in the north, nor Genoa and Venice in the south, have yet to be formed, and a small number of merchants are simply not enough to meet the needs of commerce.

Therefore, if Otto wants to quickly monetize his physical possession, the best way to do this is to find a regular buyer or form a caravan.

Hearing Simon's Butler's suggestion, Otto directly rejected the idea of forming a caravan.

Although it is profitable to form your own caravan, the corresponding investment is also high and the risk is not small. The merchants who were able to organize caravans during this period were not simple people, and they often had a good relationship with the church and the nobility, so that they could travel to and from the territories of the various lords unimpeded.

Obviously, this situation is not sustainable, and with the gradual increase of merchants and caravanserais, many lords will start to collect transit taxes and so on, and their profits will be greatly reduced.

So, instead of taking the risk of forming a caravan, it is better to find a regular buyer, although you earn a little less, but you don't have to take risks.

As for the buyer, Otto had a suitable candidate in mind - the church. The church is very wealthy, and it often pretends to be a philanthropist, giving to the poor, and there is a great need for food.

In fact, before that, the vast majority of the surplus food in Aargao was also sold to the church. The monasteries and churches of this period, due to the remnants of the powerful Carolingian dynasty, had not yet begun to really meddle in secular affairs, stealing large amounts of land from the aristocracy.

After making sure that the accounts were generally fine, Otto closed the thick ledger and rubbed his somewhat sour eyes.

Good fellow, there are so many entries and a confusing variety of entries in single-entry accounting that even Otto, who is not low in knowledge, looks dizzy. It seems that we need to find an opportunity to promote double-entry accounting. Otherwise, it takes a lot of time to check the accounts every time, and it is easy to make mistakes.

It is no wonder that the profession of housekeeper can be passed down from generation to generation, and the difficulty of managing accounts eliminates the possibility of ordinary people meddling, which is not good.

Historically, it wasn't until around 1300 that Italian merchants invented double-entry accounting, and now, it's okay to change it to Otto. Anyway, double-entry bookkeeping, to put it bluntly, is not difficult.

However, the timing of taking it out is not now, at least, there must be a mathematics-related talent that Otto trusts. Bard is loyal enough, but to let him take care of the accounts, I'm afraid Otto won't know when he will go bankrupt.

Although the single-entry accounting method is a little cumbersome, at least it is more difficult to make false accounts, and at least he can rest assured that he can continue to let Simon's housekeeper assist Barton in managing the accounts.

Otto was not in a hurry to empty the warehouses and storerooms of the old castle, and ordered Bard and Simon's butler to sell a batch of grain for money, and prepared to pay a visit to Baron Charlie.

Since you are in power, don't delay, start setting up cards to collect taxes early, collecting taxes one day earlier is making money one day earlier, you are so poor, time is not waiting for me.

When he found Baron Charlie, the other party had just finished chatting with Baron Dillon, probably doing some simple handover.

Baron Dillon saluted Otto and left.

"Young Master Otto is looking for me, do you have any instructions?" Baron Charlie looked respectful, and did not show any displeasure with the loss of his position as military commander of the territory.

In fact, he was not only dissatisfied, but also very happy, the two hundred recruits were recruited and trained by Otto himself, and he was appointed commander, which represented Otto's trust in him and regarded him as his own.

It is conceivable that as Otto's position and control over the territory increases, so will his position and power in the territory.

"Nothing else, I just want to talk to you and Knight Wade about how to open up new sources of revenue for the territory and set up checkpoints to collect taxes."

The hundred guards drawn from the old castle guards, Otto didn't know if they could be trusted, but they were all elite soldiers, and it would be too wasteful if they weren't used. It just so happened that his own new soldiers had not been trained.

It just so happened that I took this opportunity to send these people to collect taxes. If you want to successfully collect taxes from the merchants of those caravans, you can't just set up a card, and without a certain amount of military protection, merchants with escort protection are not so easy to pay for obediently.

"Collect taxes?" Baron Charlie was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly dissuaded. "Young Master Otto, the taxes on the territory are not low, if the taxes are increased again, I am afraid that many farmers will starve to death, even if Young Master Otto lacks money to build a new castle, he should not be so impatient."