From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"Do us a big favor?"

Mr. Coggello looked at the gold coins in Lawrence's hand. He did not see that these coins, which were about to be swept into the garbage dump of history, had no role other than adding a lot of work burden to the Treasury.

Lawrence did not explain first, but continued to ask while playing with the gold coins in his hand:

“Let’s put aside this, how are the tax reform and census work going?”

When asked about this issue that was of greatest concern to Lawrence, Mr. Coggello's expression became more solemn. He immediately pulled out a stack of reports from the paperwork and handed it to Lawrence, and at the same time explained excitedly:

"The Ministry of Finance's work of collecting land tax in the suburbs of Ajaccio went very smoothly, even smoother than the previous process of collecting the poll tax. After all, the land cannot escape, and the tax collectors only need to confirm the owner of the land. The amount of tax collected is also It is almost double that of the same period in the past. If it can be extended to the whole of Corsica, our financial revenue will hopefully be able to turn a profit."

Lawrence casually flipped through the report handed in by Mr. Coggero. In the summary of the report, he had roughly listed the results of this experimental reform. As Mr. Coggero said, this was indeed a very smooth attempt. .

Not only did the amount of taxes collected significantly increase compared to the past, but the excess taxes came from the land of the church and landlords, and did not harm the interests of the homesteaders and tenants.

As for the problems discovered by the Ministry of Finance in this trial reform and future ideas, Mr. Coggero also listed them in the report, including the introduction of a progressive tax system in the land tax system and the inclusion of land quality into tax base considerations. .

Lawrence also felt comfortable leaving these more practical matters to Mr. Coggello and his Treasury Department.

"Overall, Governor, this will be a great reform."

Mr. Coggello said with great joy:

"As long as we establish a land tax system throughout Corsica, the collection and supervision of taxes will become extremely easy. The wealth that was hidden by the landowners in the past will be spit out and transferred to the treasury by us. "

As a person who has worked in the Corsican Ministry of Finance for most of his life, Mr. Coggero knows that as long as this reform can be implemented smoothly, his name will be remembered by the Corsican people closely behind Lawrence.

Facing the extremely excited Mr. Coggero, Lawrence didn't seem so excited. He just nodded expressionlessly and continued to read the report in his hand.

As the most powerful person in Corsica, Lawrence naturally has many more things to consider than Mr. Coggello.

Lawrence knew in his heart that taxation is essentially a transfer of wealth. If the Corsican government charges more, some groups will inevitably pay more.

A large part of the reason why the Ministry of Finance was able to succeed in the trial reform in the suburbs of Ajaccio was that the suburbs of Ajaccio were mainly the land of churches and yeoman farmers, and the church power had already surrendered to Lawrence, so it was not so concerned about this reform. conflict.

And if Lawrence wanted to extend the land tax system to all of Corsica, the landowners who were vested interests would definitely not sit idly by.

The landlords have made an unknown amount of money by hiding tenants and annexing land in the past ten years. Now Lawrence wants to grab their cake. Such a core conflict of interest is absolutely unacceptable to the landlords.

Whether it is the establishment of the land tax system or the nationalization of Corsica's land, this process will definitely involve a series of intrigues and even the spilling of blood.

And the use of the military has never been excluded by Lawrence.

"Well you're doing a good job, Mr. Cogello."

After five or six minutes, Lawrence, who simply read through the Ministry of Finance report, put the report aside and asked:

"And how's the census going?"

"Census." Mr. Cogelo sighed after hearing this and shook his head helplessly.

Before leaving, Lawrence assigned the Treasury Department to conduct a feasibility study on a large-scale census, but judging from Mr. Coggello's expression, the results may not be very optimistic.

"Your Majesty the Governor, the Ministry of Finance finally concluded that based on Corsica's current national conditions, the census work is basically impossible to proceed unless we want to get a data full of errors and omissions."

Mr. Coggello shook his head and explained to Lawrence:

"The largest group of people in Corsica are undoubtedly the tenants and farmers who work in the fields, and these people basically have a personal dependence on the local landowners. Landowners everywhere will not truthfully inform them of the number of tenants they have. We. As you may know, the last census was almost ten years ago, and Governor Pauly did not make any determination to supervise that census, so the final number was lower than normal."

"Are you saying that the conclusion that Corsica's total population is less than 40,000 was drawn from the last census?" Lawrence asked with a frown.

"That's right, Mr. Governor." Mr. Coggello shrugged and sighed again:

"This number may have to be doubled to be the real population. Of course, I am only making an estimate. No one knows the real situation until we investigate."

"Double it." Lawrence tapped his knuckles on the table and read in a deep voice:

"In other words, half or even more of the population in Corsica is dependent on the landlord class?"

"I'm afraid so." Mr. Coggello glanced at Lawrence's gloomy face and quickly explained:

"But the good news is that the landowners are a fairly loose class, and they are unlikely to unite to resist your rule. Just like when you forced the four congressmen to resign, although this incident caused an uproar within the landowner group, No one has dared to stand up and disobey you."

"That's because I haven't shaken their foundation yet." Lawrence covered his chin and said with cold eyes:

"Once I start attacking their land, these borers are not going to sit back and do nothing."

For the huge landlord class, their power basically comes from their strong financial and manpower. As long as these financial and manpower are still there, they still have considerable political influence, even if Lawrence has removed all the landowners from the parliament.

And if Lawrence wanted to attack the money bags and serfs of the landowners, he would definitely face the strongest backlash from them.

If Mr. Coggello's estimate is accurate, the landlord class and the serfs who depend on them account for almost half of the population of Corsica, which also makes Lawrence think more highly of its power.

"In fact, Lord Governor, these landowners are already unable to sit still before you take action against them."

Mr. Coggello suddenly remembered something, and quickly took out a report from the paperwork and handed it to Lawrence, and said carefully:

“This is a recent official document submitted by municipalities in the southern region to the Ministry of Finance requesting additional funding.”

"Southern region? Is there any disaster there?" Lawrence took the report and asked Mr. Cogelo with a frown without reading it.

"No, Lord Governor, not really."

Mr. Coggello shook his head repeatedly and said hesitantly:

"But the southern region is the main agricultural area of ​​Corsica. There is a large fertile alluvial plain, so it is also the area where the power of landowners is most entrenched."

In Corsica, the northern region has been in constant war with the Genoese, so it is basically still under the control of the government and the army, even after the Genoese withdrew from Corsica.

In the south, which is far away from the war and suitable for farming, as Mr. Cogelo said, it is the area where local forces are most deeply rooted.

As early as the period of Genoese rule, powerful families and local gentry were very prosperous here. Pascuala Paoli's rebellion against Genoese rule was indispensable for their funding and support. Therefore, one can imagine how strong the landowners in this area are in Corsica.

"There is no disaster? So what are the towns in the south asking for funding for?" Lawrence had already guessed something, but he still asked Mr. Cogelo coldly.

"Uh, Lord Governor"

Mr. Cogelo swallowed and said cautiously:

"The Corsican people have learned about the National Silver Company in the past few weeks, and I have to say that this is really a great thing. But for these landowners, they seem to want a piece of it. These requests for funding The official documents were all sent to Ajaccio under the pressure of local forces. The names were naturally various, but the core point was only one - asking for money. "

Lawrence nodded calmly and opened the report in his hand.

The report includes official documents requesting funding from towns in the south and a few towns in the north. The projects are indeed as varied as Coggero said, from repairing bridges and expanding water conservancy to building schools and developing commerce and trade. , in the end it was all about getting a large sum of money from Lawrence.

Moreover, these official documents were all sent to Ajaccio at almost the same time, which meant that these usually loose local forces were united in asking for money.

"Huh, they have already figured it out on me."

Lawrence snorted coldly, threw the report aside, twirled his fingers and said in a cold voice:

"You have to ask for 200,000 livres to build a school? Are you treating the Ministry of Finance as a fool or the Corsican government as a fool?!"

If Lawrence really agreed to such an allocation, I am afraid that 199,990 of the 200,000 livres would go into the pockets of officials at all levels and local families, and then they would take another hundred livres. I built two thatched houses and found two homeless people to put them in, which meant that a brand new school had been completed.

"These people are probably very confident. They are determined to take a sum of money from you."

Mr. Coggello whispered:

"All the appropriation requests add up to nearly six million livres, which is exactly one-third of the eighteen million livres you have. It would be politically embarrassing if you refused, so I think you still need to allocate some amount of money to appease them."

Lawrence stared directly at Mr. Coggello and said with a frosty face:

"You mean, we want to take the initiative to put money into the mouths of these countries?"

"I" Mr. Coggero lowered his head and said solemnly:

"This is just my suggestion, Mr. Governor. I'm afraid those people won't give up without money."

"I appreciate your suggestion, Mr. Coggello, but I beg your pardon that I cannot adopt it."

Lawrence picked up the report just now, threw it back in front of Cogelo, and said in a deep voice:

"In compliance with my order, the Ministry of Finance has rejected all these allocations. In addition, the list of all local administrative officials requesting allocations has been sent to me to the Governor's Palace."

Mr. Cogelo was stunned for a moment, then quickly sat up and reminded:

"Wait a minute, Mr. Governor, the landowners will definitely not be happy if you treat them so toughly. Aren't you going to solve the land problem from them? If they don't cooperate, there will be no way to solve the land problem."

Before Lawrence left Corsica, he revealed to Mr. Coggero that he would once and for all solve the land problem left in Corsica. Mr. Coggero also always thought that Lawrence would use the huge sum of money in his hands to redeem the land from the landowners. , solve the land issue in this gentle way.

In fact, Lawrence did think about using the money to redeem part of the land, so as to achieve the effect of giving both kindness and power.

It's just that the greed and arrogance of the landlord class exceeded Lawrence's expectations. Before he even arrived in Corsica, he was eyeing this fund, which was crucial to Corsica's take-off and development.

Thinking about it this way, if Lawrence chooses to bow to local forces this time, the landlord class will become a hurdle that Lawrence cannot bypass in the subsequent reform and development.

Therefore, there is only one best option left for Lawrence at the moment, which is to completely eradicate these insects that are hindering Corsica's progress and bring the southern region completely under government control.

"Mr. Coggero, there are many ways to solve the land problem." Lawrence said in a deep voice:

"There are those who do not use force, and there are those who use force; there are those who are gentle, and there are those who are tough."

After that, Lawrence took out the gold coin he just held in his hand, placed it in front of Mr. Cogello, and continued:

"Don't those people want money? We will give them money. We will give them countless amounts of money."

Mr. Coggello stared at the gold coins on the table, not understanding what Lawrence meant at all, and asked in confusion:

"what do you mean?"

"Corsican coins haven't issued banknotes yet, have they?" Lawrence suddenly asked.

"Not yet." Mr. Coggero shook his head blankly and said:

“The only currency in circulation in Corsica is gold and silver coins.”

Lawrence nodded, pointed to Mr. Coggello's memorandum and said:

"Remember my instructions, I ask the Ministry of Finance to immediately prepare to issue a batch of banknotes, with each denomination set to 10,000 gold. These banknotes are the officially recognized currency of Corsica, but they are not exchangeable with gold and silver coins. ”

"Ten thousand gold each? No redemption? This Governor Bonaparte"

After listening to Lawrence's instructions, Mr. Coggello couldn't help but pause his pen and exclaimed:

"Although you said this is the officially recognized currency of Corsica, these banknotes will soon become a pile of waste paper after they are issued. No one will really use them as 10,000 gold coins."

"You are right, this is just a pile of waste paper. No one would really regard a piece of waste paper as ten thousand gold except the Corsican government."