Richard saw that Tang En was white and chubby, and it seemed that he was rarely exposed to wind and sun this year, and he suddenly lost confidence in what Tang En said.

He stared at Tang En's eyes and said solemnly, "Major grain depots, have you carefully checked them?" The grain depot is the most likely place to go down and see for yourself, and all those who resell grain, regardless of their relationship, must be dealt with strictly. Because the food issue is related to the stability of our regime, and any corruption on the food issue is a challenge to the foundation of our rule and an enemy of the Harland family. For such people, we must not relax, and find one to one.

Have you ever gone to the fields to see the summer and autumn harvest work?

I'm putting you in charge of farming, not letting you be a good person. If you dare to shield them, I will expel you from the Harland family, abolish your nobility, and even your descendants will be implicated and removed from the Harland family. ”

Hearing what Richard said so seriously, Don En suddenly didn't dare to lie, and said tremblingly: "I didn't check every grain depot, and most of the data I said was reported from below. I think the officials below shouldn't dare to deceive us, right? ”

Hearing this, Richard slapped the table fiercely and said, "Play the piano randomly." Starting tomorrow, you will take people down, and every grain depot will be carefully inspected. The food in the territory must be counted, and you will be held accountable if something goes wrong. ”

In recent years, the Haaland family has grown faster and faster, and Richard's power has grown. Even the third uncle Bernie and the second uncle Powell did not dare to oppose Richard's opinion, and the family members became more and more respectful of Richard.

Seeing that his cousin was angry, Tang En's heart suddenly became panicked, and he had no confidence in the lower-level officials.

Early in the morning of the second day, Richard directly ordered the establishment of a joint inspection and investigation team, and the discipline inspection, intelligence, and food departments should all appoint responsible persons.

Richard appointed Hayden as the leader of the investigation team, and his younger brother George, cousin Donn, and second uncle Powell were all members of the team to comprehensively investigate the grain storage in the territory and clean up the dirt in the food system.

After the investigation team went down, they took the next one by surprise by means of surprise inspections, dismissed more than a dozen officials from the food system, and counted the grain stocks in Haaland's territory.

Sure enough, the actual grain stocks did not match the reported data, and the grain reserves in the old grain territory were already less than 100,000 tons.

More than a dozen officials in the food system have been embezzling grain reserves since three years ago, but in the past, Richard made frequent inspections, and the scale of corruption was relatively small, only a few dozen tons a year, one or two hundred tons.

Compared with the huge food stocks in the territory, these little mice are basically impossible to detect.

Richard has been fighting abroad for most of the year this year, and he has no time to inspect and punish corrupt officials after he returns. The burden on food system officials has become much greater, with more than 12,000 tonnes of grain sold and more than 25,000 gold coins embezzled this year alone.

The inspection team found out a huge corruption case, Powell stayed at the grain depot to stabilize the situation, and the three brothers Hayden, Donne, and George hurriedly came to Richard to report the situation, and Don even wrote a letter of resignation on the way, ready to take responsibility.

After receiving the news from the three people, Richard did not panic at all and immediately gave advice on how to deal with it.

"All corrupt officials are sent to the mines to min, and their relatives are reduced to slaves, and they are not pardoned for three generations, and they are not allowed to join the army, go to school, and be admitted as officials. Their recommenders should also be dealt with seriously, and those who cause serious losses will be removed from their posts and investigated, and those with less responsibility will be deprived of the right to recommend within three years, and the matter will be recorded in the file. ”

The middle and senior officials in the Haaland Territory have the right to recommend, and officials at or above the county level in the civil service system and middle-level bureaucrats in the headquarters can recommend officials. Officers at or above the rank of captain of a military brigade may also nominate junior soldiers to serve as grass-roots officers.

But if something goes wrong with the recommended official, the owner must also be held responsible. If the situation is serious, they will also be implicated. In order to avoid taking responsibility, smart middle and high-level bureaucrats will use the right to recommend people with low ability and moral character lightly.

Seeing that Tang En was a little submissive, Richard instantly guessed some clues, and he frowned and said, "What, you still plan to intercede with them?" Get out of here right away! ”

Seeing that Richard could no longer suppress his anger, Tang En fled the mansion in a panic.

When Don left the mansion, Richard turned to George and asked, "What's wrong with Donne?" ”

George, the eldest son of Lady Ola, is less than twenty years old this year and serves as the lieutenant of intelligence for the Harland Territory, assisting Knorr in managing intelligence.

In terms of ability, George's performance at work is relatively average. Now that the intelligence work in Haaland's territory is so complicated, George is young and is already the second member of the intelligence system, and it is normal that he is not qualified for the job.

Richard's use of George was somewhat fueled. Not having exercised at the grassroots level, being young and in a high position, is actually not a good thing for the members of the Haaland family.

The same is true for Donn, who is only twenty-six or seventeen years old and already serves as the top official in the agricultural system of Haaland's territory. In terms of ability, Don is actually not up to the task.

He simply does not have the ability to play with the bureaucrats below. In the face of the flattery of the lower-level bureaucrats, Don was incapable of distinguishing the real from the fake, let alone controlling these people.

"The official recommended by Tang En, there is something wrong with this investigation."

"How many?"

"All the officials recommended by Tang En in the past three years have gone wrong."

According to the system of the Haaland Territory, the right to recommend middle and high-ranking officials is greatly limited, and only one official can be recommended each year.

Don was already the highest official in the agricultural system, and the officials recommended by him naturally climbed the fast lane, found big backers, and put them all in important positions. These people are all Donn's cronies, and they are unscrupulous and have the most serious corruption.

This time, when the investigation team went down, Tang En also gave them a message, but the preparation time was too short, and these people couldn't get back more than 10,000 tons of grain stocks.

Richard looked out the window and asked indifferently, "Is there a secret behind this?" ”

"The daughter of one of the officials is Donn's lover."

Upon hearing this, Richard sneered and said: "After all, it is inevitable that wealth will infiltrate, and it will not be able to stop the sugar-coated cannonballs." You should take this as a warning, and if you do not have the ability to be a fiery eye, do not recommend officials lightly. If you want to find a beautiful woman, you have to keep your eyes open. You are members of the Haaland family, and if you break the law, I will not tolerate it. It's almost the goddess's birthday, you send someone to inform the third uncle to discuss the opinions on Tang En's handling. ”

Don is the eldest son of the third uncle, and is considered a high-ranking member of the Haaland family.

The third uncle Bernie is already a sixth-order warrior, and his combat exploits are not far from being knighted, and after the next orc invasion war, there is a high probability that he can be promoted to a hereditary baron. Tang En is the first in line to the throne of the third uncle, and Richard needs to communicate with the main members of the family and listen to everyone's opinions before making a decision.

Seeing that Richard was in a terrible mood, George quietly exited the room. The room suddenly fell silent, and after waiting for a long time, Hayden broke the calm and said, "Richard, what are you going to do with Donne?" ”

"What I said is already clear, he has not fulfilled his responsibilities as a member of the Haaland family, so he will naturally be expelled from the Haaland family, take back his surname, and abolish his aristocracy."

Hayden held the table with both hands, and said with some trembling: "Tang En is our younger brother and the eldest son of the third uncle, you will inevitably leave no room for such a treatment, and you will be too cruel to your relatives." Even if the third uncle doesn't speak, I'm afraid he will have opinions about you in his heart. ”

"The third uncle has four sons, and there are seven or eight illegitimate children outside, and he has more than a dozen heirs, Tang En's ability is not good, he can choose other heirs.

For so many years, we have always punished corrupt officials severely, and if the punishment for Donn is too light, what is the seriousness of the law? Could it be that our laws can only deal with the officials below, blindly allowing the Haaland family to be corrupt?

If fairness cannot be guaranteed, how can we win people's hearts?

Many of the corrupt officials we dealt with in the past have made meritorious contributions. Now a lot of people are staring at Don to see what I do with him? In order to prevent the officers and men from dying and being sad and to maintain the solemnity of the law, I prefer to make an example of the chickens and monkeys, and deal with Tang En strictly and severely.

I'm going to tell the Haaland family that if you do something wrong, you will be held responsible. The third uncle has an opinion, let him keep it in his heart, if he dares to make trouble, I will hold him responsible. ”

Seeing that Richard was so resolute, Hayden knew that Richard had been arbitrary since he was a child, and no one could persuade him to persuade him.

If Richard insists on going his own way, even his father William will not be able to change his opinion.

The Haaland family has developed to this point, and Richard is the most critical person.

Richard had two counties to his name, while William had only one barony. The reason why the surname Haaland is noble is also because of Richard's prestige.

Richard's influence in the territory also far exceeds that of William, Bernie and other people of the previous generation.

The territory of 16,000 troops will only obey Richard's orders. Because this army was built by Richard with one hand and one foot. The backbone of the army is also Richard's cronies.

Among the members of the Haaland family, Richard is the one who holds the key power.

"Now that you have made up your mind, it is best to communicate with the third uncle before announcing it, and don't make conflicts."

Richard patted Hayden on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry about this, I will deal with Don harshly, which is a good thing for the development of the Haaland family." In the future, if Margaret and Philip do something wrong, I will also deal with them harshly. ”

After sending Hayden away, Richard wrote a letter to the third uncle, telling him his opinion on punishing Donne.

Seeing Richard punish his heir so severely, the third uncle Bernie was very unhappy, but Richard's opinion was very firm, and he must abolish Donne's nobility.

The third uncle, Bernie, found William to intercede, but it still failed to help, in order to avoid the contradiction from being made public, Bernie could only agree to Richard's request in annoyance and abolish Donne's aristocratic status.

Before the goddess's birthday, Donn left the Haaland family in disgrace and settled in Nolan.

Without his aristocratic status, Don could not have a good development in Nolan. The solidification of the Nolan class is far more serious than that of northern Xinjiang, and it is difficult to jump up the class.

Don En is already an ordinary person in this lineage, although the third uncle Bernie funded Don with some money, Don En can only become a small businessman in Nolan. Even if his descendants have made war achievements and become hereditary nobles, they will need the nod of the main line to restore the surname Haaland.

Such a severe punishment is enough to wake up the members of the Haaland family.

After dealing with Donn, the goddess's birthday was approaching, and Richard gathered the senior civil officials of the territory together to do the annual summary.

Haaland's territory was divided into two counties, Rogge as the county guard at the southern foothills of the Eagle Mountains, and Powell as the county guard at the eastern Grota River.

The territory has just completed the reform of the county system, and the work is complicated, and it will take next year to straighten it out.

"Is the census of the territory completed this year?"

Rogge replied: "The demographic count has been completed, and the fertility rate in the territory is still very high this year, exceeding five percent, and the population of our household registration is about 341,000. This year we have moved from the Grand Duchy of Stanik in four times, totaling 130,000 including the families of the captives, and 96,000 from the eastern counties of the Grotta. This year, the territory has a particularly large number of new people, about 250,000 people. The total population of the territory has exceeded 570,000. ”

Despite his estimates, Richard was happy to hear Rogge's report.

With a population of 570,000, it has already surpassed the southern counties.

There are four counts in the south of the Grant Kingdom, and the population in the territory is only three or four hundred thousand.

The four eastern marquisates were larger, with a total population of 500,000 to 800,000 people. In terms of population, Haaland's territory is already equivalent to the level of marquis, and its military strength is a few points stronger than that of the four marquis in the east.

"How many indentured slaves and how many freedmen are there in our population?"

Rogge has a good memory, and he is also very attentive to government affairs, and he has a lot of data in his territory firmly in his heart, and after hearing Richard's question, he blurted out: "There are 56,000 indentured slaves in the territory who have become freedmen this year, and in addition, there are 13,000 freedmen in the eastern county of the Grotta River, plus the original 93,000 freedmen in the territory, and the freedmen in the territory are about 162,000." ”

"Do the freedmen of the eastern counties of Grotta need us to divide their fields?"

The eastern county of the Grotta River was the original county of Roger. The freedmen of the county were inextricably linked to King Roger, and although those close to King Roger had returned to Nolan in recent years, it was impossible for Richard, the rest of them, to reduce them to indentured servitude, lest his rule be unstable.

"Most of the freedmen in this county are family members of soldiers, almost all of whom served in the royal guard, and some of them have saved enough money to move to Nolan in a few years. But no matter what, according to the policy, we should still give them land.

The specific division of land has to wait for the end of farmland statistics, anyway, it is the standard of five acres of land per capita. The surplus land of the freedmen, we also recognize. ”

Seeing that Rogge was more thoughtful, Richard nodded and said, "This matter should be grasped quickly, and try to ensure fairness when dividing the fields." ”

(End of chapter)