I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1366 Courage (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

"Ah... I'm so sorry, Tulip." The boy nicknamed "Courage" looked guilty, then pointed to the priest lying on the ground. "Um, shouldn't we get him out of here first?"

Sorel sighed helplessly and bent down to grab the priest's arm.

However, both she and Yongqi were rather thin, and even though they were sweating profusely, they could only drag the priest, who weighed over 90 kilograms, for a little over ten meters.

Just then, two maids passed by on the side path and looked over, asking, "Is something wrong over there?"

Sorel straightened up, pondering how to trick them, when Courage grabbed her and ran: "Oh no, we've been discovered..."

Sorell was immediately speechless with anger. These young people in the Brotherhood these days, while their sense of justice is undeniable, are truly of no help whatsoever.

Yes, in recent years, some of the older members, such as Huang Hun and Lei Shi, have joined the army, while others have inherited their family businesses. Now she has become the chief mentor of the Brotherhood, leading more than a dozen newly joined noble youths to continue their chivalrous deeds.

Sorel looked toward a room on the west side of the rear hall, where the evidence of Vice Abbot Reye's crimes was likely to be found—according to previous information, this man had mortgaged a large amount of monastery land and used the money to lend money to the poor at exorbitant interest rates, making an unknown amount of ill-gotten gains.

Meanwhile, almost all the high-ranking monks of the monastery had gone to the St. Proto Brothers Monastery to undergo the Vatican's examinations, and she didn't want to miss this rare opportunity.

She pointed towards the prayer room and whispered to Courage, "Draw them away. Then notify 'Promise' to come to their aid."

"Please leave it to me!"

The boy cast a provocative glance at the two maids, beckoned them, and said, "Come on, enemy of the people," before running off towards the prayer room.

The maids exchanged glances, dropped what they were holding, and shouted "Stop thief!" as they gave chase.

Miss Tulip shook her head in frustration, knowing that with the commotion the boy had caused, she would only last ten minutes at most.

She lowered the brim of her hat, turned around, and disappeared into the long corridor of the back hall.

Meanwhile, beside a carriage parked not far from the Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey, Robespierre glanced at his pocket watch, gestured to the captain of the support team beside him, and said in a deep voice, "Let's begin, Mr. Mylar."

The latter looked at the solemn and majestic monastery and asked nervously, "Director, is this really alright?"

Robespierre said calmly, "Of course, I will bear any consequences."

Mylar nodded, took a deep breath, and led the support team that had been waiting nearby toward the monastery.

The support team is the department within the tax bureau responsible for investigating and handling violent tax resistance.

Mylar exchanged a few words with a supervising priest in front of the monastery, but the priest was clearly unwilling to cooperate, so he immediately forced his way in.

The priest hurriedly called for the monastery guards to stop him, but more than 60 members of the support team immediately rushed up and protected Mylar on both sides.

The guards, seeing the flintlock muskets on their backs, only dared to shout in a show of bravado, but remained standing ten paces away.

"This is blasphemy! The Lord will punish you!"

The supervising priest shouted angrily, but the team members ignored him—these men were personally selected and trained by Robespierre, and under his influence, they possessed an extraordinary dedication to justice and the people's livelihood. Once they believed what they were doing was right, even the Pope himself couldn't stop them. Robespierre then instructed his assistant, "If there's any news from elsewhere, please inform me immediately."

"Yes, Director."

Yes, today the tax authorities will simultaneously target large monasteries in more than twenty cities, with the aim of obtaining tithe accounts from previous years.

Although Joseph only instructed the tax office to create a new department to prepare for taking over the tithes.

However, as Robespierre sent people to collect data on population and income in various places, he soon discovered that even by the lowest estimate, the amount of tithes due did not seem to match the figures published by the church each year.

He told Mara about it, but the Notary Public Investigation Bureau worked for nearly two months without finding much evidence—after the incident at the welfare home, the church began to "fix" the flawed accounts. In addition, the tax system is very complex, and the Notary Public Investigation Bureau also lacks professional staff.

However, based on his intuition, Mara also felt that there was likely a big problem here.

During those days, Robespierre kept recalling the selfless ideals and fearless courage he had displayed when dealing with the tax farmers.

Ultimately, he made the decision to fight bravely for the French people once again!

Therefore, he ordered all support teams under the tax bureau to concentrate in the more than twenty cities most likely to have problems, and to conduct searches of these monasteries at 3:00 p.m. today under the pretext of checking tithe records.

He took a huge risk by doing this. You see, the church's annual expenditures are enormous, and even if a deficit is discovered, they could find all sorts of excuses to justify it.

Even if he could actually prove that the church had embezzled tax money, given the church's enormous influence and appeal in France, he would most likely be labeled as "disrespectful to God," ruining his future.

He had already decided that if things went wrong, he would take full responsibility, resign from his position as director, and go to Italy or North America to continue practicing law.

Anyway, Shomette and his team have matured and can step in at any time to ensure the IRS can operate normally.

In the monastery's annex, Sorel searched the vice-abbot's office thoroughly but couldn't find the evidence she was looking for. Instead, she discovered a large pile of intimate letters between him and his mistress.

Just then, a commotion arose outside, indicating that a large group of people were heading this way.

Her heart tightened immediately; she hadn't expected the guards at the Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey to move so quickly and with so many people.

She walked a few steps to the window, and just as she was about to jump out, she saw several guards carrying sticks walking over.

She hurriedly crouched and scurried to the door, then heard a flurry of footsteps in the hallway.

She secretly groaned; both of the only exits were blocked. However, the guards probably didn't know which room she was in. As long as she hid herself, she would have a chance to slip away behind them when the searchers entered the room.

She looked around, opened the door of the huge bookcase, and went inside.

The footsteps outside grew closer, and Sorel tried to shrink herself into the corner, but her hand suddenly touched a small, hidden compartment.

She pulled out several thick notebooks from inside, and carefully pushed the cabinet door open a crack. With the help of the dim light that came in, she could vaguely see that they were filled with place names and densely packed numbers.

(End of this chapter)