Chapter 201 [Acting]
Philip, Du Wei's most promising disciple under Lan Hai, has gained Du Wei's great trust these days. In Du Wei's view, Philip is young and steady, has real talent and knowledge, and has a good understanding of the situation in the northwest.
I understand, and I respect myself very much, and I never look down on myself because I am young.
If Philip hadn't been too young and had little qualifications, Duwei would have appointed him governor of the Province of Desa.
But even so, although Philip does not hold the title of governor now, Du Wei has actually handed over almost all matters to him. Whether it is the construction of a new city or finance and food, Philip is almost always coordinating the overall situation.
After all, Philip was a disciple of Lan Hai. After being summoned by Du Wei, he first asked the person who came to deliver the message and found out that the Duke was talking to someone from the Northwest Army.
Someone from the Northwest Army?
Philip sneered. Autumn had just passed, and the Northwest Army had indeed sent someone to ask for money. Fortunately, Du Wei and Philip had already prepared countermeasures for this matter. At that moment, he took his time and took the things he had prepared.
Come and meet Du Wei.
Philip's place of work was in the Governor's Mansion, and he arrived shortly. When he opened the door and came in, Du Wei was still chatting casually with General Tatolo. After Philip came in, he saluted Du Wei first, and Du Wei introduced him.
Tatara was also very polite to the young man who walked in, and did not mean to look down upon him at all. After all, in recent months, after the young Duke came to the northwest, the Northwest Army also observed the Duke from the imperial capital for a long time.
I know that this young man named Philip is now almost Du Wei's right-hand man. Almost all the decrees in the Governor's Mansion come from this young man. Du Wei, the young Duke, doesn't care much about anything. He just makes some decisions and the rest
Every time I go to the ground, I leave it to Philip. Although this guy is only nominally Du Wei's staff, he can actually be regarded as half a governor.
"Philip, General Tatolo is here today to pay for the autumn military expenditures. The financial revenue for this quarter should have been reported, right?" Du Wei smiled kindly on his face.
"Yes, sir." Philip immediately opened a booklet he had brought and handed something over: "Sir, this is the autumn income of the Province of Desa..."
Du Wei pretended to take it and take a look, with a suspicious expression on his face: "Here, Philip, is the number wrong?"
Philip said seriously: "Sir, the numbers above are correct."
Du Wei coughed, and then slowly pushed the thing on the table in front of General Dodoro: "General Dodoro, this is the fiscal revenue of the Dessa Province in the autumn... a total of 71,000 gold coins, of which
The agricultural income is 46,000 gold coins. Well, according to the convention you mentioned, if the Northwest Army takes 40%, it should be..."
"It's eighteen thousand four hundred gold coins." Philip already quickly reported the number.
Tatara's expression changed: "How much?!"
"Eighteen thousand four hundred gold coins." Philip repeated it expressionlessly.
Du Wei suppressed his laughter, but sighed: "Alas, this number seems to be a little short... The soldiers of the Northwest Army guard the country's borders and have made great contributions... Well, I will add some more personally, so I'll just make up a round number: 20,000 gold coins
!”
He was pretending to be generous here. Tatara next to him was almost so angry that his nose became crooked.
The politeness on his face disappeared without a trace in an instant, and he said in a deep voice: "Duke, did I hear you correctly? Are you sure this number is correct?"
"Of course that's right." Philip replied first: "The Governor's Palace has just checked the agricultural taxes collected from various places..."
Tatodoro's face turned red, but he still had a trace of reason to suppress his anger. He didn't even look at Philip, but turned to look at Du Wei, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty the Duke! Although the Dessa Province is a little barren, it is still a dignified province.
, with a population of nearly one million, and a quarterly income of only 70,000 gold coins, it would be too ridiculous to say it!"
After a pause, there was a trace of anger in Tatora's eyes: "This year's spring and summer, each season has an income of more than 200,000 yuan, and autumn is the harvest season. Calculated according to previous years, there should be at least 300,000 yuan.
More than 10,000 yuan is the right number! It’s a grandiose province but a mere 70,000 yuan is a joke. It’s too big of a joke!”
"General Tatora!" Philip's face suddenly darkened, his voice became colder, his eyes narrowed, and he said calmly: "Please pay attention to your words! You are talking to an imperial Duke!!"
Then Philip said coldly: "You must also know that we are building Loulan New City recently. The cost of building the new city is huge. The labor fees of tens of thousands of craftsmen and daily expenses are all a huge and heavy burden! In addition, in order to launch
The people in the territory moved to the new city, and the Duke issued a tax exemption order at the beginning of the city's founding! Anyone registered in the hierarchy who is willing to move their family to the new city can be exempted from tax for one year. The original fiscal revenue of the Province of Desa is not much
, with such huge expenditures and tax cuts, the income this quarter will naturally be less, is there anything strange about it.”
Tatodoro originally came here today to test Du Wei's attitude. The young Duke has not dealt with the Northwest Army since he came to the Northwest. Just now he thought that the other party would cooperate obediently. But now that he is here, he is just playing with himself.
effort.
Thinking of this, Tatora couldn't help but get even more angry. His dignified general of the Northwest Army holds the power of the army's supplies. No one here in the Northwest would give him some face. Even that old fox Bohan was polite to him.
But he didn't expect that this child would dare to play with him.
Duke? So what about the Duke? What do the Northwest Army fear?
"Your Majesty the Duke!" Tatora suddenly stood up and said calmly: "I think your subordinate may not have understood the laws of the northwest! Of course I know that you are building a new city, but according to the laws of the empire, the northwest army has
The right to intercept part of the income from agricultural tax land for military expenditures! Military expenditures have priority! And before the Northwest Army’s military expenditures are withdrawn, local governments are not allowed to use agricultural taxes first! But now, your staff told me: Our Northwest Army still has
He didn’t receive military expenses, but he has spent all the money on building a new city, is that what you mean!”
Du Wei looked at the angry fat man and said slowly: "General Tatolo, please sit down. Your anger cannot effectively make up for the current situation. It is better for us to discuss and solve the problem in this way. What do you think?"
Tatara let out a loud "hum".
Du Wei smiled, looked at Philip, and said solemnly: "Philip, although the calculation is correct, the military expenses of the Northwest Army soldiers must not be in arrears! This season's income, after all, is just a few words on paper.
It's just numbers. Just tell me how much you should have spent this quarter before deducting these expenses."
Philip then pretended to be reluctant: "Sir...if calculated according to normal calculations, the original income was about 250,000 gold coins...a little less than in previous years. After all, you have exempted many civilians who are willing to move from tax.
.”
Tatara's anger calmed down a bit. The total number of 250,000 gold coins was about the same! Although it was a little less, it was still within an acceptable level. If it were 250,000, 40% would still be 100,000 gold coins.
"That's not easy." Du Wei immediately looked bold again: "Based on the income of 250,000, 40% should be 100,000... Then you just pay 100,000 gold coins from the warehouse.
alright."
Philip sighed, as if he was a little embarrassed, and whispered: "But, Your Excellency, we don't have that much money in the warehouse now."
"What!!!"
A loud roar, with infinite anger and doubt!
But the problem is, it was not Tatara who roared like this... In fact, he was about to get angry, but it was Duke Duwe who roared first.
The little Duke stood up, with undisguised anger on his face, and glared at Philip: "What did you say!!"
He suddenly threw the tea cups in front of him to the ground and said angrily: "Mr. Philip! Please explain! I am a majestic province! Even if the Desa Province is a little barren, there is always something in the Treasury of the Capital Finance Department.
All the savings and reserves over the years! Is it possible that our grand province cannot even afford one hundred thousand yuan in financial funds now?"
Du Wei's preemptive attack was so loud that even Tatara was startled.
"Give me an explanation!" Du Wei shouted loudly, as if he was so angry that he wanted to devour people: "Philip! Is this my territory! Is this my province of Desa! Or did you take advantage of your authority to embezzle money from the warehouse?
Reserve!! If you can’t explain, I will arrest you immediately for corruption!”
Philip immediately looked aggrieved and argued repeatedly: "Sir, I have never embezzled a gold coin!!"
Then Philip seemed full of resentment: "Sir, you never cared about finances when you arrived in the northwest, so you don't understand. You want to build a new city. I tried to dissuade you in every possible way. You just refused to listen to my opinion... Alas, I don't understand either.
I can only try my best to keep everything running for you. But I also have difficulties!"
At this point, he seemed to have just made up his mind: "Do you still remember that when I first arrived here, I gave you a warehouse inventory report?"
Du Wei seemed to be stunned for a moment, and then said impatiently: "I'm not interested in those things. I wish you could handle them for me."
Philip smiled bitterly: "Sir, as you are a magician, you are naturally not interested in these mundane things, but the report I gave you has already explained everything, but you didn't pay attention to that report.
…”
Du Wei seemed to remember something then and frowned: "What happened to that report?"
"Sir..." Philip sighed: "When we took over the province of Desa a few months ago, the entire province's treasury stock only amounted to 190,000 gold coins! The fiscal revenue of a province over the years has been
, the reserves for many years are only 190,000 in total!"
"This is impossible!!"
Still, Tatodoro once again had no time to speak first, and Du Wei once again jumped up before him, blushing and waiting for Philip: "This is a province with only a few hundred thousand gold coins in reserve over the years??!!
"
"But this is a fact, sir. There is a detailed statistical list in my report." Philip looked bitter: "You put all your energy into the great and sacred magic research, so you ignored these things. I
Although I have reminded you repeatedly, you have not paid attention..."
Then, as if he was cautious and hesitant to speak, Philip continued: "Of course this number is unbelievable. Who would believe that the warehouses of a large province only have such a small amount of stock. But..."
"Nothing."
After coughing, Philip gritted his teeth and said: "However, before you took office in the northwest, the administration of the Province of Desa was always handled by Governor Bohan..."
To be continued...