In the meeting room of the mansion, a young man wearing a shirt and a smart coat pressed his chest with one hand and bent down to salute.
"This is the assistant I recently hired. He will serve as the territory's financial officer and be responsible for related matters." Lorraine Hill, who was wearing armor, introduced.
"Hello, Mr. Lubin." Gu Weier immediately returned the greeting and looked at the young man with a curious look, guessing the origin of this man.
"Oh, it turns out it's your kid, haha." Gu Huas looked at this young man who had met several times and seemed to want to understand many things.
"Wait a minute, if he is in charge of finance, what about me?" The housekeeper was a little anxious.
"Don't worry, Mr. Favors. I will take over the affairs you left behind soon to reduce your burden." The young man pushed up his glasses, indicating that he had a plan in mind and no need to worry.
"No, no, no, I think there are many things that young people like you can't understand. Some of them are ancient traditions, and there are many things left over from the past. Yes, only I, only I understand them and can handle them well."
The butler pretended to be profound in his refusal.
"And I am more loyal. I am the servant of the eldest lady. Only by holding the finances firmly in your hands will you be respected by others." He looked at Geweier aside, hoping that the eldest lady would say a few words for him.
talk.
"But this is Mr. Nameless's suggestion. I think it would be better to trust this adult." Geweir shook his head slightly, saying that it would be better for him to listen to the adult beside him.
"Miss, now is not the time to be confused." The housekeeper was a little worried, why does this young lady always turn to outsiders?
"I am your loyal servant."
"Sorry, I want to interrupt for now." Lu Bin raised his hand to attract the attention of several people in the room.
"Mr. Favors has indeed done a lot for the Viscount in the past, but when it comes to loyalty, it is a bit untrue."
"In the past few years, because Lord Viscount Wenlani is addicted to fun, I have entrusted you to take care of many things."
"Taxation in the territory, accounting of various expenses, losses in daily life, etc., among which I don't know how many gold coins that belong to the lord have entered your pocket."
"You are slandering me and making a false accusation!" The housekeeper jumped angrily and beat his feet and chest, as if he was being greatly insulted and wronged.
"If I hadn't worked so hard to maintain it, the expenses in the territory would have been beyond our means."
"The lord doesn't spend money on the banquet. He travels around and buys various gifts. These expenses are real. I will finish the party later and save money."
"By the way, Miss, you should also know that those gorgeous and elegant dresses and skirts are all customized by special craftsmen, and the expenses involved can be seen." He finally remembered something that could be done.
something to say.
"Is this really so?" Lu Bin lifted his glasses, reached into the pocket inside his collar, took out a folded page, shook it, and unfolded it in the bright light of the room.
"It's difficult to study the past, let's not talk about it for now. In the past three years, you have collected taxes from residents in the territory 128 times, covering areas ranging from George Town (now the City of Mountain Sakura) to the towns and villages under your rule."
"Among them, 63 were taxes that did not appear in imperial law, 46 were taxes collected in advance, and 102 were taxes collected in excess."
"The newly created taxes include, but are not limited to, hunters who go up to the mountains to hunt, they have to pay two-thirds, fishermen have to pay half of what they catch in the river, and passing caravans have to pay a toll, that is, whether there is a transaction or not, they have to pay a fee per person and livestock.
Quantity payment is required, and this fee is calculated separately, which means that if there is a transaction, other fees must be paid."
"In order to make money, you communicated with the guard commanders of the territory in the past, sent an unknown number of guards to patrol the territory from time to time, estimated their income based on the daily work of the shops or residents, and then robbed the money in the name of collecting taxes.
"
"In order to increase your income, you did not hesitate to ban vendors selling firewood and charcoal from entering the city and let many poor people freeze to death so that the shops you opened could make money. In order to collect debts, you asked your men to encourage fathers to sell their daughters and engage in sex work, and
This way the money was recovered from the guards."
"It can be said that you will want to have a hand in anything related to money."
"The defense expenditures set by the lord are also corrupted by you and the guards. Many patrol teams are never full, and even the guards' wages are often in arrears. You take most of them into your arms and distribute a small part to the commander.
and a few close friends."
"In your opinion, there is no need to pay for being a guard, so they have the incentive to squeeze money out of the residents."
"It is also because of this that when the rebellion occurred, the number of guards was seriously insufficient and their combat capabilities were low. As a result, the castle with perfect location was captured before they could hold out for a day."
"Through the survey of houses and villages in the city, I roughly summarized that the Viscounty of Wenlani has reduced its population by one-third in the past ten years, and ten years ago was exactly when you took office."
"If Miss Gweir has any doubts, I can provide you with more detailed evidence and witnesses."
"Is this true?" Even though he knew that the housekeeper was unreliable, Gweir was still surprised by the huge evil behind it.
"No, no, this is a false accusation, a prejudice, and... it's wrong." The butler said as he backed away, knocking down the vertical clothes rack behind him.
"I just obey the Viscount, and I can't help myself most of the time. Otherwise, where would the money come from?"
"Is that so? But in fact, I learned from the maid in the castle that the original lord rarely interfered with these matters. In addition, you cannot deny that a large amount of money went into his own pocket."
"False accusation, this is a false accusation. Where do I have so many gold coins? You will know if you check my home. It is true that I have made some extra income, but there is nothing I can do about it. In order to live, all kinds of decency are needed
I need money to maintain it. And I am the face of Lord Viscount, so I can’t behave too badly.”
"However, I am definitely not as shameless and treacherous as you said. I am a loyal gentleman and cannot be humiliated so casually."
In response to the butler's various excuses, Lubin shook his head, and then took out a small glass bottle with his white-gloved hand, which contained a white powder that gradually turned yellow.
"Of course, you don't store much money in your home, because most of it is used to buy this addictive alchemical potion."
"This is a hallucinogenic powder produced by the 'Wolf Bone Alchemy Workshop'. Compared with other addictive drugs, its side effects are milder, so it is more concealed."
"You are a regular customer of this alchemy workshop and have bought a lot of things from them. In addition, the reason why Viscount Wenlani was so addicted to pleasure in the past was also due to the fact that you secretly put this potion in your diet."
"Originally, you also had a plan to let Miss Guerwer be infected with this medicine. Unfortunately, the eldest lady was physically sensitive and reacted greatly to this medicine. She fell seriously ill. Later, it was considered that the death of the eldest lady was not suitable.
Only in your own interests can you stop such temptations."
"In order to cover up and prevent Viscount Wenlani from continuing to find someone to treat him and avoid detection, you also specially asked a pharmacist from the alchemy workshop to pretend to be a doctor to cover it up and make Viscount Wenlani believe that this is indeed someone.
A disease of nobility."
"Perhaps the eldest lady will wonder why there is no rebellion in other surrounding territories, but the uprising in Wenlani Viscounty came so quickly. I think this is the answer."
If it were just the lords' pleasure-seeking, the residents would not be so angry. After all, everyone did not care about the lives of those big shots. However, coupled with these harsh taxes and suppression, resentment quickly accumulated.
"Brother..." Standing behind Gweir, Iena looked at this talkative, calm and rational young man, a kind of surprise and pride lingered in her heart.
I don’t know where he started, but this ordinary brother in my memory has grown to this point, which is incredible and surprising.