Chapter 517 Tax Reform 2

Hansel walked to the gate of the Lord's Mansion with all kinds of thoughts in mind.

The Lord's Mansion in Lake Heart Town has just been renovated - Lord Graman finally spent money to maintain this ancestral house.

The so-called Lord's Mansion is actually a small castle, covering an area of ​​about 20 acres, surrounded by a circle of five to six meters high walls, and a three-story stone building stands inside. This is the residence of the Earl of Alda of all generations.

In the former Northwest Bay, sea robbers and land bandits were very common, and there were also wars between lords, so owning a castle was the standard for every lord.

The lord's castle is often built in dangerous places such as cliffs. If there is no such geographical condition, they will choose to dig a moat around the castle. Arda is also blessed by nature. There is a large lake like Lake Weiss, and there is a small island a few dozen meters away from the southern shore of Lake Weiss. Therefore, the first Earl of Arda chose to build his own castle on this island in the lake, and his followers who came to Arda with him also surrounded the castle on the island, so that they could quickly hide in the castle when the enemy landed on the island.

This is the original origin of Lake Town.

Hundreds of years have passed. Although the castle has been repaired occasionally, when Paul Graman succeeded to the throne, the castle still has a lot of broken places. Broken bricks and stones can be seen everywhere, or the walls with whole bricks peeling off, etc. All of these places reveal the old state of the building.

This quality of residence is obviously inconsistent with the identity of the most powerful lord in the Northwest Bay. So under the repeated persuasion of everyone, the Lord of Arda finally took out a sum of money to repair his residence.

The newly renovated castle removed many defense facilities. Its style is completely focused on how to make the people inside live more comfortably. The windows have become larger, allowing more sunlight to enter, making the castle no longer as cold as before. The corridors have become wider, making it more convenient for the staff in the lord's mansion to come and go.

"Director Abbott!" The guard at the door kicked his heels on the ground and greeted Hansel.

Hansel nodded slightly to them as a response, and then handed over his pass - now you have to bring this thing to enter the lord's mansion.

The guard checked it carefully, stepped aside to make way, and Hansel entered the gate of the castle. He walked along a path paved with bluestone slabs to the door of the main building of the castle. The courtyard was not large, and you could see the situation outside the castle from the third floor of the main building.

When renovating the mansion, according to Earl Graman's wishes, he either did nothing or did a lot. He built a two-story building in the empty backyard near the northern wall as his resting place, and the original castle main building was completely transformed into a place for the lord to work and entertain guests.

Hansel looked up, and his sight was fixed on the window in the middle of the third floor. It was obviously larger than the windows on both sides. Inside was Earl Graman's office. This so-called office was actually the study in the original castle. Paul stayed there to handle various tasks on weekdays, and occasionally called some people in for a small meeting. The Earl didn't like to run errands himself, even if it was to go to the meeting room he personally set up on the second floor. Only when the number of people participating in the meeting was too large for his office, the Earl would force himself to go to the meeting room on the second floor with his strong will.

Not sure whether to go to the second or third floor today, just as Hansel was muttering in his heart, he ran into Earl Graman's secretary, Sir Bernard Wood Francis.

Bernard was the person Hansel was most familiar with in Lake Town and even Northwest Bay, because it was Hansel who recommended him to Paul. Earl Graman was very eager to find talents everywhere to improve his administrative system, and even as long as he could read, he met the earl's definition of talent. It was under this circumstance that Hansel brought Bernard to his side.

Sir Francis, who was born as a lower-level noble in Jingyao and made a living by copying books in the capital, had a powerful ability - photographic memory, so Paul arranged him to be his secretary. One of Sir Francis' important jobs was to arrange Paul's schedules. When the lord suddenly had an idea, he would shout, Bernard, help me remember, I want to do this and that after a certain day, Sir Francis would faithfully write down the lord's idea, and then when the scheduled time was approaching, the lord would always receive a timely reminder.

As they were both from Jingyao, they knew each other when they were studying, and now they worked under the same lord, so Hansel and Bernard had a close relationship.

"Good day, Hansel."

"Good day, Bernard. The old place after get off work?"

"No problem."

The two smiled and greeted each other. Although their offices were separated, they still kept the habit of going to the familiar tavern for a drink every now and then.

Hansel asked: "Who else is coming this time?"

Bernard replied: "Almost all the heads of various departments are coming."

Hansel: "So I have to go to the second floor?"

Bernard: "Yes, you are the first to arrive, wait there first."

Hansel showed a sly smile on his face, "What are we going to discuss today? Can you tell me?"

In case the earl wants to mention his work, then he has to prepare in advance.

Bernard shook his head and said: "This meeting should be a sudden idea of ​​​​Lord Graman, I don't know. But..."

"What?"

"Lord Graman has been troubled by the sharp decline in fiscal revenue in recent days. This is what was discussed in the meeting. Alas, it's all because of the damn war in Jiaowan."

No mistake, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one forum!

Now Northwest Bay is heavily dependent on maritime trade. Once the war started in Jiaowan, Northwest Bay felt as if it was strangled. Maritime trade and various industries that rely on maritime trade provide a large share of tax revenue for the State Council. Now due to the impact of the war, this share of tax revenue is shrinking rapidly.

"Oh!" Hansel looked distressed, "The solution to the financial problem is nothing more than increasing revenue or reducing expenditure. I have long advised the earl to build fewer schools, repair fewer roads or reservoirs, or get rid of those alchemy scammers, wouldn't the money be saved?"

"Haha!" Bernard smiled bitterly, "What you said is exactly what Lord Graman values."

Hansel: "If Lord the Earl doesn't want to save money, then he can only use his brain to increase revenue."

He thought for a while, and then felt more and more that this was very likely.

I don't know which fat pig will be slaughtered.