Chapter 520: The tax farmer's crazy gamble

Chapter 521: The Crazy Fight of the Tax Farmer

Half an hour later, Joseph left the residence of the Count of Artois.

The latter had already surrendered and said that he would tell Queen Marie that he had not considered it carefully before and that the case of the General Association of Tax Farmers was very serious and must not be tolerated.

Joseph was not worried at all that this heavyweight royal member would bear a grudge because of this.

He now has the military and police forces in his hands, and has a huge influence on the High Court. He also holds the economic lifeline of the Count of Artois. He is not even afraid that he will gather the nobles to make trouble - the emerging nobles basically obey him, and the old nobles have been weakened repeatedly, and now they can no longer make any waves. What's more, the old noble group still hopes to restore the glory of the family through war. And if you want to get ahead in the army, you have to nod your head.

Joseph got on the carriage and looked back at the French window of the Count of Artois's residence. He felt a little sad. He had been in this world for nearly three years. Compared with the initial situation when he was worried about his life every day, he could now completely subdue even the most influential nobles in the royal family.

He finally looked like a prince!

In the future, he would lead France to the top of the European continent and create a glory that would be recorded in history forever!

…

Saint-Germain district in Paris.

In Ford's private tennis club, a group of giants of the General Association of Tax Farmers sat comfortably on the chairs beside the court, watching the fierce competition between the two people on the court and commenting from time to time.

Van Kevich smiled and looked at the people around him, and said proudly:

"That old fellow Brian dared to threaten me to buy tens of millions of national debts? Humph, it's just a dream!"

Borol nodded and said: "I heard that the Count of Artois has given the gift to the Queen, and the Queen has promised not to pursue the matter of forged documents."

Everyone showed joy:

"Mr. Hope's method is indeed effective, allowing us to avoid huge losses."

"Those greedy guys in the Palace of Versailles are willing to do anything as long as they are given a little money."

"After the High Court withdraws the lawsuit, I will go to the UK immediately. There are many investment opportunities there recently."

"I plan to go to the Far East..."

Under Hope's advice, they each took out 400,000 francs, and a total of more than 5 million was collected. A small part of it was used to bribe the Count of Artois and the Countess de Berninac, and the bulk of it was used to buy a diamond crown for the Queen.

And as Hope expected, the matter of forged documents should have been suppressed. They no longer expected to continue to pay taxes, and all of them just wanted to get out of it as soon as possible and start discussing new investment directions.

Borore remembered that the tax documents were found by the police, and said angrily:

"Mr. Ford, have you not found out who leaked the news?"

Ford frowned and shook his head: "No one among my men knew that the hidden tax documents were tax documents. Even if they went to inform, it would not attract the attention of the police.

"So, I suspect that there is a traitor among us."

Goldmid immediately looked like he was ready to bite, and roared: "Who is it? I'm going to kill that bastard!"

"It's not clear yet. Maybe it's Charles, but he shouldn't know where we store the documents."

Everyone immediately looked at each other suspiciously, thinking that everyone was suspicious.

At this moment, there was a noise outside the tennis stadium, and it seemed that hundreds of people ran from the nearby streets, shouting something and quickly went away.

"What happened? "

Fold looked at the butler standing not far away. The latter immediately bowed and turned to check.

After a while, the butler hurried back with a newspaper and whispered to Ford:

"Master, the General Taxation Bureau issued a notice saying that everyone can go to the local tax bureau to appeal against taxes in previous years. If any tax violations are found, the unreasonable taxes will be refunded and compensation will be made.

"Now Paris is full of people rushing to the tax bureau! I heard that thousands of people have gathered on Coles Street..."

The tax farmers present were shocked.

They know what they have done best, and the taxes they illegally collect every year are at least tens of millions of livres. As for how much they are, they don't know themselves-at the end of each year, only the total income is calculated, and no one will go into detail about which ones are legal and which ones are illegal.

Baron Morel was the first to exclaim: "Brian actually let people file complaints themselves!"

"This is much faster than the tax bureau's own audit. How did he think of doing this?"

"If the tax account problems are found, we will be in big trouble..."

Hope frowned: "Everyone calm down. It takes a while to audit the accounts. We must take advantage of this gap to stop the tax bureau from continuing to investigate."

"What do you have in mind?" The tax collectors immediately looked at him, the think tank of the association.

Hope pondered for a moment and said to Ford: "You go to the Duke of Artois and the Countess de Berninac, double their benefits, and try to get the queen to stop them.

"In addition, we must mobilize resources to let the government know the consequences of provoking us!"

He continued, facing the puzzled eyes of the crowd: "If I remember correctly, more than 30% of the caravans across France are controlled by us, and if we count those with shares, it should be more than 50%. "

The assets of these tax-farming giants are astonishing, and their industries are very wide. Although most of them are mainly banks and loan sharks, families including Borrolai, Barlow, and De Cantler also own a large number of caravans, or have deep cooperation with caravans, and are the main force for France to conduct trade.

Yes, trade in this era is basically completed by caravans of all sizes. Due to the high transportation costs, ordinary stores do not have the ability to purchase goods from a long distance. The source of goods and merchants are connected by these caravans. Sometimes caravans will also conduct retail sales on the spot.

Hope said in a cold voice: "For now, we can't care about the losses. If the tax bureau does not stop checking the accounts, we will let our caravans stop all transactions. At most one month, the whole of France will fall into chaos.

"Of course, I guess Brian dare not let this happen. So as long as we are firm, he will definitely give in."

Fold nodded and said: "This is indeed the most powerful weapon in our hands. In addition, Mr. Pellier and I also own a large number of shares in the port of Marseille. If necessary, we can also let it stagnate there. "

Hope immediately said: "That's great, let's let Marseille Port have some accidents.

"The more methods we have, the less the government dares to touch us!"

Marseille Port carries more than 80% of France's Mediterranean trade throughput, and Mediterranean trade accounts for more than one-third of France's foreign trade. If Marseille Port stops, the impact on France's economy and trade will be absolutely devastating.