When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 668 - 626: The Finances of Thousand River Valley

This fiscal meeting that took place in the golden autumn of October lasted a total of four days and was truly eventful.

First, two county governors fought over the budget allocation with no result. One of them, in anger, seduced the wife of his competitor at night. After being discovered, both parties fought on the spot.

Then, because the bond issuing rights for road and bridge securities were granted to Busak's Gospel Court, a wealthy merchant from Meigedi, who was deprived of the agency rights, attempted a nighttime attack on Busak's residence, but ended up at Jeska's residence by mistake and was killed on the spot.

Subsequently, two tribunes engaged in a tug-of-war over the road and bridge bureau and tariffs, slamming the table and cursing each other, even to the extent of angrily leaving their seats.

However, with the previous example of the tavern riots, under the political consensus that political fights should not spread, both sides remained in a state of conflict without breaking apart.

In each of their camps, there were sensible people, and they each nominated a second-in-command to mediate, which finally suppressed the dispute.

The final result was the establishment of the "Road and Bridge Bureau" to manage tariffs, with the President of the Secretariat, Catherine, also serving as the director of the Road and Bridge Bureau, responsible for the overall construction of roads and bridges on one hand, and the distribution of tariffs on the other.

If it weren't for the fact that the compiled financial report was delivered the following day, the attending county governors and cardinals would have almost forgotten what this meeting was about.

Politely bidding farewell to the monk who brought the report and the truth newspaper, Hylviss had just turned around when a male servant inside the room swiftly stepped forward to continue tidying his attire.

While sipping hot milk, Hylviss quickly skimmed through the financial report, occasionally making clicking sounds with his tongue.

Once tidied up, instead of immediately reading the truth newspaper, he picked up a teacup, walked through the corridor, to find Herman residing in the guest room.

This time, along with Moliat to the Mechanic Court, besides Herman, were several county governors from Mountain County.

These county governors all had one characteristic, they were all nobles from North Mande County, belonging to the ascending chicken and dog group that carried the iris flower flag into Feiliu Castle to complete all their life tasks.

They were all arranged in the guest rooms of the Holy Seat Mansion, which had nearly 100 rooms, and 30 guest rooms specifically reserved for accommodating foreign noble guests.

Even Horn himself stayed at the Holy Seat Mansion, only going to the Mechanical Palace for vacation on weekends.

As an old noble, the centennial old Count of North Mande County, Hylviss had to say that this palace, though new, was ultimately too simple.

The corridor lacked patterned tiles at the foot, no dome or paintings on the ceiling, no ceramic vases and murals on the sides, let alone the marble floor without carpets.

Compared to a Thousand River Valley Shepherd Leader or the Pope in the eyes of commoners, this place more resembled a new noble family's frugally built new home.

After all, if one desires both beauty and strength but does not wish to spend much money, it is only logical to skimp on the interior decoration.

"Good morning, may the Saint Master bless you, Sir Herman." Knocking on Black Knight Herman's door, Hylviss unceremoniously sat on a hardwood chair.

Sitting by the window, Herman held a stack of truth newspapers in both hands, reading. Merely three to five days in, he almost developed a habit of it.

Since the independence of Thousand River Valley, truth newspapers began expanding from within the Salvation Army and quickly gained the favor of the citizen class.

Utilizing movable type printing, truth newspapers were published weekly.

The main contents included current affairs news, official announcements, theological popularization, commentary articles, poetry, jokes, among five sections, with additional content such as shipping schedules and trade advertisements.

At least in several towns in Langsande County, reading truth newspapers had become the most fashionable behavior among the citizen class.

Truth newspapers tucked under the arms had become a fashion item for citizens, implying literacy and the ability to spare time for reading rather than heavy manual labor.

Some master artisans who were illiterate would even buy a newspaper and have their apprentices read it out loud to them.

This demonstrates the newspaper's popularity and widespread distribution.

In this era of information scarcity, learning about events miles away and the attitudes of those in power through a small newspaper was highly appealing to the citizen class.

"Have you read the latest financial report?" Spreading the truth newspaper on his lap, Hylviss asked first.

Reading newspapers together was a regular activity among their entourage. Rather than gathering to read newspapers, it was more a gathering for conversation, with the newspaper serving as merely a topic provider.

But today, Hylviss obviously had plenty of other topics.

"I've read." Borrowing the morning light from the window, Herman sat by the window with his legs crossed, browsing the truth newspaper, "The deficit is about 100,000 gold pounds this year, but fortunately, it is temporary."

"Terrifying." Hylviss couldn't help but click his tongue. If it weren't for the gold pounds seized from the Feiliu Castle church, the independence of Thousand River Valley might have led to fiscal bankruptcy in its first year.

According to the reported results, expenditures for 1446 reached a staggering 149,000 gold pounds!

Fortunately, these included debt interest and a large amount of one-time expenditure, so the meeting forecasted a reduction to 90,000 gold pounds for next year.

Yet, the annual income for 1446 was rather bleak. Hotam County was close to 20,000 gold pounds, while Lower Reif County and Kasha County together only had 10,000 gold pounds, and the five Mountain Counties combined had just 10,000 gold pounds.

In addition to various miscellaneous manor and trade income, the financial revenue for Thousand River Valley in 1446 was approximately 55,000 gold pounds.

Thousand River Valley annually paid the Leia Royal Family a tribute of about 60,000 gold pounds, 55,000 gold pounds seemingly only decreased a little, but actually, it's been halved.

This is because Thousand River Valley no longer has to pay taxes to the church, meaning the tax at least 60,000 gold pounds sent to the Holy Seat City Pope could be exempt!

Based on current tax records, analyzing that if Thousand River Valley could collect taxes in full, there should be over 120,000 gold pounds in tax revenue.

But there's no way. The Thousand River Valley war devastated the economy, not to mention the noble blockade of roads at the border, trying to halt Thousand River Valley's foreign trade.

"War, oh war." Hylviss expressed enviousness, "In the midst of war, the only place probably unaffected was Langsande County."

Because the financial report cut down many middlemen and tax chains, this year's tax revenue for the Salvation Army reached as much as 25,000 gold pounds.

Assets and property income, commercial tax income, etc., weren't stated in Horn's financial report, but Hylviss estimated them to be around 20,000 gold pounds, totaling approximately 45,000 gold pounds.

This one county alone was almost equivalent to the other eight counties combined, while Langsande County used to be only moderately successful.

In just two short years, how did it become so prosperous?

Yet, this money was not for Hylviss to hope for, since it belonged to His Holiness the Pope's church income, essentially counting as the Salvation Army's independent income. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Can this Hundred Households District really have such a significant effect on tax revenue?" While leafing through the truth newspaper, Herman asked nonchalantly.

Herman just asked casually, while Hylviss was full of frustrations: "Sir Herman, I think the Hundred Households District is just a front for the monastery. How does organizing a hundred households as a group matter?

It's said to collect more taxes, but this year's taxes have decreased instead, and those monasteries made a huge profit through reselling wool and spinning, yet we don't get any of this money.

Now they're going to establish a Road and Bridge Bureau. I was hoping to rake in some tax money off the wool, but there's no hope now.

Alas, Sir Herman, I somewhat regret it. If I had known, I wouldn't have cooperated so much. My reputation has become so notorious among the nobles that no one wants to associate with me."

Listening to Hylviss's words, Herman merely smiled indifferently. Knowing to plead pity, why not mention that he took the chance to annihilate several rival family clans?

Though Hylviss said so, even if he had known beforehand, he still had to comply obediently.

In such an appointment system bureaucratic regime, his power became greater and more centralized than before.

However, if he poorly performed his duty, Moliat had countless reasons to remove him from his position, and many awaited to take his place.

If he didn't do it, others would.

Not to mention, Count Sanboli, who didn't even land the county governor position, was full of complaints.

"All for the Thousand River Valley." Herman continued focusing on the newspaper.

Hylviss still didn't resume reading the paper, but his eyes turned as he asked Herman, "Sir Herman, what's your opinion on the road and bridge bonds?"