Chapter 481 The wind turns

Chapter 482 The wind direction reverses

Baron Gassion, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of Caen City, squeezed the newspaper in his hand hard. The weather in France was still quite cold in mid-April, but there were fine beads of sweat oozing out from his forehead.

The headline on the front page of the newspaper was "The Notarial Investigation Bureau launched an operation and found more than 40 senior officials involved in corruption."

He saw in the news that top executives including the Governor of Poitou and the Poitiers Municipal Commissioner had been arrested. The second and third pages of the newspaper were devoted to their corruption.

Since these 40-odd people were all high-ranking officials, with the lowest position being a judicial assistant at the city hall - equivalent to the deputy mayor, and officials with lower positions were not qualified to make remonstrances to the Palace of Versailles - the shock caused was very great, and the whole country was Everyone is paying attention to this matter.

What made Gassion nervous was not the positions of these people, but what they had in common.

He had already inquired through his own bureaucratic circle that more than 40 people had expressed their opposition to the abolition of the tax farming system to the Palace of Versailles.

It can't be such a coincidence!

So obviously, these people's corruption will be exposed, and it will be the royal family's punishment for them! It seems that the royal family is very determined to carry out tax reform this time, and they are not willing to even "solve" the governor.

Baron Gassion thought of the remonstrance he sent to the Palace of Versailles half a month ago, and suddenly felt cold all over.

He received 8,000 francs from the tax collector Eurides and promised to "make suggestions" to the government on his behalf, opposing the abolition of the tax collector system.

He thought it was just a simple remonstrance, something he had done many times before. Especially when the Duke of Orleans was still alive, he opposed everything from tax reform to Necker's arrest, and there was never any problem.

I didn't expect that it would turn out like this this time.

More than 40 officials were arrested... Gassion slammed the newspaper to the ground, stood up suddenly, and ordered the manservant to go out.

His butt is not clean either. It should be said that no official’s butt is clean. When the Notary Investigation Bureau comes to visit, he will probably not only lose his official position, but even go to jail!

Therefore, we must find ways to deal with this matter as soon as possible. The only way he could think of was to join forces with other officials who opposed tax reform to make the situation even bigger. As long as there are enough people involved and the voices are loud enough, even if the royal family is dissatisfied, it is impossible to punish so many officials at once.

"Damn Eurydice!" He cursed, and just as he was about to go out, he saw the butler coming quickly and placing a letter in his hand.

"Sir, this was just returned from Paris. It seems there is something wrong with the postal system there."

Gassion was startled. Isn't this his own remonstrance against the tax reform?

He quickly opened the envelope and saw that the letter inside was still there, and he suddenly felt ecstatic.

Now he is no longer an anti-reformist, and the Notary Investigation Bureau will not come to him!

He came to the fireplace as quickly as possible and threw the letter on the fire.

He thought for a moment, then immediately returned to his study, picked up a pen and wrote a letter fully supporting the abolition of the tax farming system, and asked the butler to send it to the Palace of Versailles.

The attitude of the royal family is already very clear, and you would be a fool not to take sides at this time. In comparison, the little benefit of the tax collector is far less important than keeping his official position.

…

In a luxurious villa in the southern suburbs of Paris, Fuld was looking relaxed and discussing the amount of tax for next year with several big tycoons from the tax collectors' association.

"Since last year, the sales of goods to Germany and the Mediterranean coast have increased significantly. I estimate that the total tax revenue this year will increase by about 70 million francs." Fankiewicz rubbed the wine glass in his hand, "The government will definitely require us to increase the tax package. I suggest that next year’s tax package be increased by 30 million francs.”

Hope immediately shook his head:

"You are really too generous. We have to go to Luxembourg and the Southern Netherlands to collect taxes, and the cost will increase significantly. The tax package will increase by up to 10 million francs."

Fuld smiled and said:

"As long as we lower this year's tax account, how will the Chancellor of Finance know the increase in tax revenue? Therefore, the tax package we proposed for negotiation should remain unchanged, and at most increase..."

As he was talking, he saw his confidant butler knocking on the door and entering, and he suddenly felt unhappy:

"Mr. Chaufoy, what's the emergency?"

"Yes, sir. Look at this." The butler handed him the latest "Paris Business Journal".

Fuld only glanced at the title, then his expression changed drastically, and he snatched the newspaper away:

"The Austrian cousin was so bold that he arrested more than 40 officials who opposed the tax reform!"

He handed the newspaper to Hope:

"We have to do something quickly."

The officials who were arrested all took their money. Although it was only their subordinates who sent the money, it was safer to make some preparations in advance.

Hope was also a little surprised that the Notary Investigation Bureau found evidence of corruption by so many people so quickly, but he soon smiled:

"Don't worry, there are only about 40 people. We have invested more than one million francs in this matter, and there will be more criticisms piled on Her Majesty the Queen's desk later. Could she still send hundreds of officials to prison? ?”

"It would be great if she really did this," Fankiewicz also laughed. "That would make the entire French bureaucracy come to our side."

Fuld asked worriedly: "Should we increase some funds to allow more officials to participate?"

"Your advice is helpful."

After a brief discussion, a few people decided to use another 200,000 francs to bribe officials to make the matter even bigger.

However, that afternoon, their insider in the Palace of Versailles sent a message saying that the Queen had received only more than 40 letters of admonition. Later, due to an accident in the postal system, some letters were burned in the warehouse, and more were sent back to the place where they were sent.

Hope and others looked at each other in surprise. How could such a coincidence happen? In this way, the group opposing tax reform would be limited to more than 40 people, and the officials behind would definitely cut ties with them immediately!

Sure enough, soon the officials who had received their money before quietly returned the money, and the people they sent to bribe the officials were all turned away without surprise, and some were even beaten by officials pretending to be honest.

A few days later, the insider of the Palace of Versailles sent another message saying that officials from all over the country began to express their support for tax reform, especially those who had received their money before, who were extremely active.

Soon after, the headlines of "Tax reform is widely supported, tax abuses will be corrected" appeared in newspapers in Paris. The articles listed the officials who expressed their support for the reform, followed by their words praising the tax reform.

Soon, more officials followed suit. For a time, supporting tax reform almost became politically correct for French bureaucrats.

On the other hand, the bosses behind the General Association of Tax Farmers hurriedly convened a meeting.