When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1104 Germs Breeding Under Prosperity
No wonder Horn was angry; if he hadn't been patrolling this area today, he wouldn't have known.

Previously, everything within the Holy See Building was orderly and followed security regulations.

And yet, this whole mess still happened in a place where Horn couldn't see it.

Horn was not giving up, so he led Catherine and the others to raid several more outlying construction sites, only to find the same dismal result.

He even went to the docks and searched the entire perimeter of the Holy Mechanism, but found no difference.

The questions are all for the sake of performance, for better-looking metrics, for progress, and for the big settlement in 1457.

Horn knew that security couldn't be managed very well in the early stages.

First, I lack experience; second, I lack the management skills.

But you can't just ignore it. Horn's definition of adulthood is 16, and that kid was probably only 13 or 4.

The civil engineering monastery of the Holy Proletariat directly violated the Anti-Child Labor Law, the Safety Regulations, and the Labor Protection Law through its subordinate engineering teams.

His original intention in creating this set of performance indicators was to improve the lives of believers while protecting them.

It is not about deceiving and sacrificing some believers so that others can live better lives.

He knew it was difficult, so he was tolerant of mistakes.

But this does not mean that the priests in charge should tolerate, be able to tolerate, or even actively ignore for the sake of political achievements.

He behaves himself when he's within sight, but sneaks around when he's out of sight.

What just happened might only be the tip of the iceberg; there's much more he hasn't seen yet!

Or is he making a mountain out of a molehill? Or is this just an isolated incident?

With a gloomy face, Horn leaned against the carriage wall, his eyes closed, and walked along the street without saying a word.

The people accompanying them dared not speak, not even breathe loudly. Even Catherine and Petit, who were in the carriage, opened their mouths several times but then shut up.

Fortunately, halfway through the journey, Horn finally spoke up: "I have already instructed the Cheka to investigate. Don't worry, I won't raise the knife lightly."

Seeing that Horn was still rational, the people in the carriage breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Horn smiled slightly and tried to lighten the mood: "What's wrong? Are you all so afraid of me?"

"You are the grandson of a saint, and also the Pope."

Catherine added, "And if you want, killing heads is not difficult at all."

In the eyes of the Holy Alliance, Horn and the Holy Father and Holy Lord are truly one trinity, not three separate entities.

Although Horn, as head of state, rarely interferes in politics to a certain extent, it is because he is unwilling, not because he is unable.

Under the Holy Alliance system, Horn's power as Pope is unlimited.

Horn knew this, and he also feared that this wave of power would engulf the Holy Alliance, so the greater his power, the more carefully he had to use it.

Therefore, almost every time it is used, it is a thunderous strike that terrifies everyone.

“I see a lot of newly built houses. How many tens of thousands of people does the Holy Mechanism have?” Horn tried to ease the tension.

“16 to 18,” Edwin replied immediately. “The exact number will have to wait for the year-end census.”

"So many?" Catherine was somewhat surprised.

Petit explained with a smile: "Those gentry and nobles who lost their land in the land distribution have to pay a 65%-80% Holy Property Exit Tax if they want to leave the Holy Union."

They lost their land, while the industry and commerce of Saint Union flourished.

Encouraged by many newly wealthy individuals undergoing transformation, they all moved to the city and began investing in industries.

These nobles weren't fools; they could see the potential of the clockwork mechanism.

They're all dreaming of investing in an invention and getting rich overnight. If you ask me, they're dreaming.

Catherine recalled for a moment and couldn't help but sigh, "No wonder old nobles keep jumping off the clock tower in Rapids City..."

Listening to their conversation, Horn fell silent once again.

With the development of the Holy Alliance and the debates at Spring Spring Fortress, he successfully established the Holy Alliance's orthodox image.

Thanks to the Holy Alliance's unparalleled administrative efficiency and ease of doing business, as well as its uniquely advantageous geographical environment.

This led to a massive influx of capital from Fran, Leia, and even Norn.

Thousand River Valley bonds have become the most popular financial product in Fran.

The better the Holy Alliance developed, the more they bought, and the more profit they made, so naturally they wanted to continue buying. It seemed they were plundering a large sum of money from the Holy Alliance, resulting in the Holy Alliance having to pay a huge amount to Fran every year.

But all they took away was a pile of precious metals; what they left behind were workshops, canals, water conservancy facilities, and farms and plantations.

Horn was sometimes moved by their selfless spirit of having no country but only their believers.

Moreover, those precious metals would soon be plundered from the canals by the sugar, spices, and wine produced by the workshops and farms.

The more Shenglian products you buy, the more Shenglian industries you have, and the more you earn, creating an endless cycle.

Take Hongyeqiu as an example. It has basically abandoned its original sugar trade and is now completely immersed in the financial product agency of Shenglian, unaware of what the Holy Father is.

As a result, the entire city of Fran was rife with speculation and profiteering, and even the old ladies at the village entrance were talking about it.

But that's none of Horn's business; it was your choice, His Highness Charles VIII.

The government of the Holy Alliance has an extremely high level of credibility; they always pay on time and have never defaulted on their debts.

The Kingdom of Nafran relied on forcing judges to mortgage their property to borrow money from the people.

Why force judges to mortgage their family property?

It's because royal mortgages are completely unreliable, while judges are bought into office and must have money.

Where does the money come from? They must have their own businesses.

This leads to a situation where those who buy their way into office only see officialdom as a secondary occupation, while their primary job is managing their businesses.

Helping the royal family borrow money may seem humiliating, but when it comes to actual lawsuits, it's not uncommon to hear, "Who are you in court, and why are you suing me?"

However, this is Charles VIII's problem, and it is Franz's problem.

But Horn had a vague feeling that problems were also arising within the Holy Alliance.

This construction incident served as a wake-up call for him.

Although it was just an intuition, he keenly sensed that something was wrong.

Establishing a tribunal in advance was the right thing to do. With the Holy Alliance having money, various water conservancy and canal projects all meant the flow of funds.

Especially after the influx of funds from Saint-Germain and Franco, the regulatory efforts have lagged behind due to the sheer volume of the funds.

Projects like the Potang project in the Mountain County and the Mimelian planting project in the Caxia County have even dared to siphon money from St. Courrie.

The Holy Alliance actually accepted a large number of former clergy, tax collectors, and stewards, making them an auxiliary force in local governance.

Many of them came from the Trinity Education Team.

It's not that the Horn people are loyal to the knights in the Holy Alliance, but that without them, local governance simply won't work.

Horn knew that unless he could create a robot to replace the bureaucrats, corruption could never be completely eradicated; it could only be replaced by wave after wave of campaigns to change the system.

In fact, Horn even left backdoors for the bureaucrats.

You've accomplished something, developed it, and the believers have benefited. You're capable.

The remaining money was distributed as employee benefits to his own department, and Horn turned a blind eye to it.

This Holy Alliance seems to be functioning well, but is it really a good thing?

Horn was very suspicious.

Previously, the Holy Alliance was ineffective, which is why they had no choice but to reinstate these old bureaucrats.

With the establishment of middle schools and universities at all levels, batches of literate and devout young people are beginning to leave school.

Horn sent them to serve as itinerant monks for training, and then gradually replaced the local bureaucrats.

Precise cutting and continuous blood replenishment ensure stability.

This system has been running stably, but I don't know if it's because the Purification Chief and the Adjudication Chief have gone to the front lines, but recently there have been frequent cases of corruption.

We frequently receive leads and whistleblower reports from both the National Audit Office and the Consultative Council.

Horn initially thought it was normal, which meant that the Purification Court and the Tribunal were functioning well and that many corrupt officials were being caught.

But now it suddenly dawned on him: if the Purification Court and the Adjudication Court were functioning properly, why would there be so many whistleblower reports?
There should at least be one more wave and one less wave.

After seeing Catherine and the others off, Horn sat alone in his empty and quiet office, lost in thought for a long time.

"Bring René, Raphael, and Duvallon here."

(End of this chapter)