Chapter 398: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

"Ah sneeze!"

Paul sneezed loudly.

This sneeze is quite untimely, after all, the earl is seeing off guests now.

Paul took out his handkerchief and wiped his nose, thinking to himself: "I wonder which girl is missing me from afar."

While showing an apologetic smile to everyone, these are rich people from the countryside, or squires, who were invited to the Lord's Mansion for a banquet today.

"Your Majesty, the night wind has been quite cold recently, please take care of yourself."

A gorgeously dressed and well-shaped man said to him quickly.

Paul nodded: "Haha, thank you for reminding me, Mr. Baden."

"Don't dare, don't dare." Baden showed a flattering smile.

After saying goodbye one by one, everyone left the lord's mansion in twos and threes under the moonlight.

Paul stood at the door and watched everyone leave. After everyone was gone, he turned to the four people behind him - Myron, Old Ford, Hansel and Old Philip - and asked: "What do you think of their attitude?" ?”

Today, he hosted a banquet for famous squires from all over the country, and Paul once again advocated his customs union plan.

Philip, the steward of the Lord's Mansion, shook his head and said with annoyance: "Your Majesty, although they are rich, they do not have titles, not even knights. It is already a great gift for you and Lord Canard to entertain them as earls. If you condescend to send a group of civilians to the door like this, people will laugh at you."

"Philip, I didn't ask you this!" Really, where is the old butler's focus?

Old Ford, the experienced director of the Government Affairs Council, twirled his beard and said: "Most people are still making excuses. Only Baden has taken a positive stance."

Since Baden was severely punished by Paul during the Salt People's Riots, he has been extremely concerned about any "instructions" from Paul.

The four of them returned to the hall where the banquet had been held and sat down. The servants had already cleaned up the messy table.

Paul said firmly: "The customs union will have to be settled next year. The Heller family of Portree and the Parker family of Larnaca have reached preliminary intentions with me. As sponsors, we cannot hold back."

The reason why Alda and Bailding have objections is related to the "inaction" rule of the Gleiman and Ganard families. It is Emden, which has recently been brought under their rule, and the landowners there don't even know what to do. They didn't dare to let it go. Their former lord, the Earl of Kent, was a strong ruler. Even if the people below him were making small moves, they didn't dare to say it openly. So Earl Grayman, who defeated the Kent family, is already a figure of the level of the Demon King of Hell in the hearts of those gentlemen.

According to the verbal agreement of several lords, Alda authorized the use of a series of technologies including papermaking, canning processing, printing press manufacturing, shipbuilding, and salt drying, and opened agricultural machinery such as drills, harvesters, and threshing machines, as well as flying shuttles. The external sales of looms and spinning jenny were exchanged for the support of the two places for the patent system and customs union. Since these things in the field of people's livelihood have taken root among the people and have been put into production in private factories one after another, it is almost impossible to continue to maintain secrets from other territories. It is only a matter of time before they spread beyond the jurisdiction of the Government Administration Council. It is better to use them in exchange for people's consensus on the patent system - although it may only be a superficial consensus.

As for the highly profitable porcelain, the iron-making technology and coke production technology that allowed Paul to secure the top spot in the northwest industry, as well as the firearms manufacturing technology that countless people want to know about, they are still highly confidential.

"Hmph! If they don't realize it next year, we'll have to see if their skulls are hard or if my bullets are hard."

Paul said bitterly.

Hansel rolled his eyes and asked: "Lord Graiman, in our past conversations, you always revealed a lot of ideas, so what are the things you have decided to do? Why don't you tell us them all? Especially about the countryside.”

"Yes, I want to liberate those poor serfs, I want to abolish the disgusting tax farming system, I want to ban private courts, take back judicial power, and I want to confiscate..."

There was some drinking at the banquet, and the people present were all very open-minded people, so Paul spoke out his thoughts without any scruples. However, when it came to the last item, "the church property must be confiscated," he still Stopped.

The knife was really cutting into the flesh of those people. Hansel thought for a moment and said with a smile: "Master Graiman, in this case, it is better to use the strategy of 'take three steps back and take two steps back'."

Paul asked curiously: "What is 'three steps forward, two steps back'?"

Hansel explained: "When I was the tax collector of His Majesty the King in Jingyao, I remember that one year the government wanted to increase taxes due to urgent matters. After the first order came out, the people were very angry. After a while, another order came. The second order reduced the amount of taxes imposed in the previous order by two-thirds. Not only did the people's resentment decrease a lot, but many people began to praise His Majesty the King's kindness. But according to what I asked my friends, The government subsequently collected the planned taxes.”

Paul's eyes lit up: "What do you mean?"

Hansel nodded: "Yes, it is better to make more noise about the reforms you plan, or simply issue a decree directly. It will inevitably arouse a wave of opposition, and then make a compromise gesture and put those minor If we take back the target first and leave the main ones behind, we should encounter less resistance.”

Paul touched the faint mustache on his mouth and said, "You raise the price when you sit down, and you pay back when you land?"

Old Ford said with some concern: "The reform changes every day, I am afraid that it will affect the authority of the Earl as a lord."

Hansel explained: "This is called expediency. The lord's power comes from what he finally accomplishes, even if the process is a little tortuous."

No mistakes in one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar!

Mellon made a compromise suggestion: "It's better to take two steps forward and one step back, and make smaller concessions."

"Just do as Mellon said, otherwise it will be too embarrassing."

Paul made the final decision.

The customs union is the current primary goal, and as for which other goals to use to cover it, it needs to be carefully considered.

The few people discussed it in detail for a while, until nine o'clock in the evening, Hansel said goodbye and left, but Mellon and old Ford did not leave.

Paul stood by the window and watched Hansel's back as he left. He asked his ally, "What do you think of Hansel?"

Mellon summed it up in his mind: "He is a very capable person. The previous land consolidation was completed so quickly, thanks to him."

Paul said: "Indeed, his suggestion just now was not bad."

He sighed, "It's a pity that he is a person sent by the royal family to us after all. Perhaps the experience of the Northwest Bay is just a short journey in his life."

Mellon smiled and said: "But because of this, he will let go without scruples. He offended many people when he presided over the land inventory."

"Haha, that's true."