I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 521: The Tax Farmer's Crazy Struggle

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

The latter has already yielded, and said that he would tell Queen Mary 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 at all worried that this heavyweight royal member would hold a grudge against him.

He now controls the military and police forces, has a huge influence on the High Court, and holds the economic lifeline of the Count of Artois. He is not even afraid that he will gather the nobles to cause trouble - the new nobles basically obey him, and the old nobles have been weakened repeatedly and can no longer cause any trouble. What's more, the old noble group still hopes to restore the glory of the family through war. If you want to make a name for yourself in the army, you have to agree to it yourself.

Joseph got on the carriage and looked back at the French window of the Count of Artois's residence. He felt a little emotional. It has been nearly three years since he came to this world. Compared with the beginning when he was always worried about his life, he could now completely subdue even the most influential top nobles of the royal family.

Finally he looks like a prince!
In the future, I will lead France to the pinnacle of Europe and create glory that will go down in history!

……

Saint-Germain district of Paris.

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

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

"That old fellow Brian actually dared to threaten me to buy tens of millions of national debts? Humph, he is simply dreaming!"

Borore 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 really worked and saved us from huge losses."

"Those greedy guys at Versailles, they'll do anything for a little money."

"I will go to the UK as soon as the High Court withdraws the case. There are many investment opportunities there recently."

"I'm going to the Far East..."

At Hope's suggestion, each of them contributed 40 francs, totaling more than 500 million. A small part of it was used to bribe the Count of Artois and the Countess of Berninac, and the bulk of it was used to buy a diamond crown as a gift to the Queen.

As Hope expected, the forged documents should be suppressed. They no longer expected to continue to pay taxes, and they just wanted to get out of it as soon as possible and start discussing new investment directions.

Borore recalled the tax documents being seized by the police and said angrily:

"Mr. Ford, you haven't found out who leaked the news yet?"

Ford frowned and shook his head: "None of my men knew that the hidden documents were tax documents. Even if they reported it, it would not attract the attention of the police.

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

Goldmid immediately looked ready to kill, and shouted, "Who is it? I'm going to kill that bastard!"

"It's not clear yet. Maybe it's Charles, but he probably doesn't know where we keep 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 through the nearby streets, shouting something, and quickly walked away.

"What happened?"

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

A moment later, the butler hurried back with a newspaper in his hand and whispered to Ford:
"Sir, the State Administration of Taxation has issued a notice saying that everyone can go to the local tax bureau to appeal against taxes from previous years. If any tax violations are found, the unreasonable taxes will be refunded and compensation will be provided.

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

The tax farmers present were immediately horrified.

They knew what they had done best, and the amount of taxes they illegally collected each year was at least tens of millions of livres. As for the exact amount, they themselves did not know - at the end of each year, they only calculated the total income, and no one would go into detail to find out which of it was legal and which was illegal.

Baron Morrel was the first to exclaim: "Brian has allowed people to complain themselves!"

"This is much faster than the tax bureau checking the accounts themselves. How did he come up with this idea?"

"If problems with the tax accounts are discovered, we will be in big trouble..."

Hope frowned deeply: "Everyone calm down! It will take some time to check the accounts. We must take advantage of this gap to stop the tax bureau from continuing to investigate."

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

Hope thought for a moment, then said to Ford, “Go find the Duke of Artois and the Countess de Berninac, double the benefits they receive, and try to get the Queen to stop it.

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

Facing everyone's puzzled looks, he continued, "If I remember correctly, more than 30% of the caravans across France are controlled by us. If we include those with shares, it should be more than 50%."

The assets of these tax-farming giants were staggering, and their industries were very wide-ranging. Although most of them were mainly engaged in banking and usury, families including Borrol, Barrot, and De Cantelle also owned a large number of caravans or had deep cooperation with caravans, and were the main force in France's trade.

Yes, trade in this era was basically done by caravans of all sizes. Due to the high transportation costs, ordinary stores did not have the ability to purchase goods from a long distance. The sources of goods and merchants were connected by these caravans. Sometimes the caravans would 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 doesn't stop checking the accounts, we will stop all transactions of our caravans. In a month at most, the whole of France will fall into chaos.

"Of course, I don't think Brian would dare to let this happen. So as long as we are firm, he will definitely give in."

Ford 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 bring that place to a standstill."

Hope immediately said, “That’s great, let’s have some accidents in Marseille Port as well.

"The more methods we have, the less likely the government will dare to touch us!"

The Port of Marseilles handles more than 80% of France's Mediterranean trade, and Mediterranean trade accounts for more than one-third of France's foreign trade. If the Port of Marseilles is shut down, the impact on France's economy and trade will be absolutely devastating.

(End of this chapter)