Lux's Farewell

634 [0626] Rare honeymoon period
Winter has entered the tenth year of the new calendar, and Demacia has ushered in a brief period of peace.

The invisible smoke between the royal family and the nobles has finally dissipated, and everything seems to have returned to the era when the old king was in power, hello, hello, hello everyone.

After three years of running-in, the Illuminati has gradually found its place at the grassroots level.

For the lords and lords everywhere, these missionaries of the Illuminati are like stones in a clam. After three years of running-in, they gradually became round like pearls.

In the past, if the lords of various places wanted to manage their fiefs well, most of them had to rely on the aristocrats of their families.

However, this kind of management method relying on the side branch of the family is good for the big family. For example, the Mianwei family has a big family and business. They are more professional, but for those little nobles, the ability of their own branches is like scratching the lottery.

If the scraping is done well, the family fief can be managed day by day, and then the family is worried that Li Daitao will become stiff; if the scraping is bad, the people's livelihood will be ruined, and the situation will decline, and the family will even have to hire a tax contractor to manage it on its behalf. ...

In the absence of a stable talent selection and appointment mechanism, cronyism in various places has both advantages and disadvantages, and from the perspective of the family, the absolute disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

However, as the royal family wedged the power of the Illuminati into the grassroots, and after the hopeless confrontation, the lords from all over the world suddenly gradually discovered that these missionaries of the Illuminati seemed to have something.

Of course there is something!
The offshoots of the nobility may not be sent to read and write, but none of the missionaries of the Illuminati are illiterate!

If these missionaries were not literate, able to write and count, why would Jarvan IV choose to let them become the tentacles of the royal family extending to the grassroots?
Realizing that missionaries are rare talents, and that they themselves cannot be excluded, many lords gradually became active—anyway, you were sent by the king, so there is no need to use them for nothing!

As a result, the grassroots missionaries of the Illuminati, who were supposed to supervise the local lords, gradually began to flirt with the local lords.

This is not a betrayal, but a kind of necessity, because no matter the missionary or the lord, they are actually their own people in essence.

In the past, the relationship between everyone was not good and the situation was like water and fire. It was because the royal family and the nobles had been maintaining a confrontational posture.

But in essence, Demacia is still a feudal kingdom ruled by military nobles!
The royal family, nobles, and the Illuminati, they do bite each other sometimes, but once the situation stabilizes, they are still their own people.

Now the lords everywhere can't refuse the Illuminati missionaries to settle in. Since they can't resist, then use them and turn them into their own people!

There has always been a gap between the tax collected from the common people and the share that fell to the nobles.

This part of the benefit was previously taken away by the nobles and tax-paying merchants.

And now...it's okay to transfer it to the missionaries of the Illuminati!
Even many nobles with flexible minds have begun to vigorously support their offspring to study and convert to the Illuminati.

The purpose of Jarvan IV supporting the Illuminati was to gather power from the hands of the nobles. He achieved this, but he did not fully achieve it.

He said that he did it because under the suppression of Jarvan IV, the power of the nobles of Demacia was indeed greatly weakened, and even the place where the nobles united to put pressure on the royal family, such as the noble council, was about to become Jarvan IV's words made sense, even if the nobles opposed the king's proposal, it would take a lot of effort.

The reason why it didn't happen is also very simple. Although Jarvan IV did change the order of Demacia's grassroots to a certain extent, this change is closer to "regeneration after introducing a variable" rather than A complete makeover following Jarvan IV's wishes.

The entry of the Illuminati has indeed opened up a new track, but after all, the lords of various places and the local missionaries cannot always be clearly distinguished.

In comparison, only armies that are in a relatively simple environment, have better personal treatment, and have little profit in their hands can remain relatively reliable.

Now Jarvan IV has to eagerly open up Shurima trade outlets, largely in order to maintain this rare reliability.

........................

The royal family was mobilizing resources and manpower, and began to prepare for gold mining in Shurima with great ambitions. In the northern border, Lux took advantage of this rare opportunity to launch Fossbarrow's first internal purge.

This is Lux's first large-scale internal disciplinary review since she came to Forsbarrow.

When Lux first came to Fossbarrow, the Archons and the private army had no interests in Fossbarrow, and the Archons had just got rid of their status as prisoners, although occasionally some people would do so because of corruption or dereliction of duty, etc. He was punished and even sent to a real Arcatraz because of problems, but on the whole, the atmosphere within the Archon, clerks and Northwalker organization under Lux is quite upright.

However, with the completion of Xinfu City and Xinfu Port, and the gradual rise of northern trade and Fossbarrow trade, more and more money began to flow through the hands of court officials and clerks—once the economy develops, the same The economic benefits that power can bring will increase accordingly.

In Fossbarrow, when the first batch of clerks joined the work, even if they wanted to use public power for private use, at most they gave themselves a little bit of preferential treatment in food allowances, or more in the promotion and planting of new crops. Just to persuade relatives and friends.

At that time, the clerks were really only able to do errands.

However, now Xinfu Port has become the largest port along the coast of the entire Sea of ​​Conquest, and the once insignificant power can now bring incomparably astonishing benefits to the clerks.

Even if it is just an ordinary port administrator, the amount of gold coins he handles every day is quite astonishing.

Although you need to provide a voucher to pay the fee for entering the port, you will need this voucher if you want to buy and sell bulk commodities in Fossbarrow, but after all, it depends on human effort. It was up to the port administrators to judge themselves—so, soon enough, merchants began to pay bribes.

The berth fee at Sun Fook Kong Terminal is very expensive, because its essence is a tax.

For these merchants, it is often more profitable to hand over a sum of money to the port administrator and let themselves pay a little less than to pay a staggering berth fee.

Even if any ship will be told that it cannot evade the berth fee when it enters the port, and any behavior that evades the berth fee will result in a ten-fold fine, but over time, the port administrator and the familiar businessman gradually developed a tacit understanding.

At first, this tacit understanding may be just for the sake of acquaintances, wiping off a little bit of money for the other party in exchange for a few packs of good tea, but once the hole is opened, it will naturally gradually become bigger and bigger.

The fractions erased gradually developed from berthing time to fractions of displacement and fractions of sailors.

And the gifts exchanged have also changed from the tea in the goods to new gadgets, rare gadgets, and even luxury gadgets from all over the world.

Maybe the tacit understanding was just a compliance operation between acquaintances for convenience and efficiency at the beginning, but over time, corruption will still breed from it.

During this disciplinary review, a special tax avoidance industry chain was even discovered—foreign businessmen who were familiar with the port administrator simply stopped running the ship by themselves, and instead went to work as brokers on other people's ships, responsible for "reducing berth fees." work; and the port administrator also dragged down the accountant who managed the accounts and the administrator of the lighthouse...

Afterwards calculation, due to the collusion between the port administrator and foreign merchants, the total number of berth fees that were not collected exceeded [-] Demacia gold coins.

After figuring out the truth of the matter, Lark punished the port administrator involved without hesitation, fired the lighthouse administrator and the port accountant, and started Fossbarrow's first large-scale internal disciplinary purge. .

Although the result is not shocking, it is enough to make people feel chills.

The port side is the most direct transaction of money and power, but there are more tricks on the side of Xinfu City. Facts have proved that even if Lacus repeatedly studies and criticizes the nobles, when some people have power in their hands, They will still aspire to become nobles and be recognized by nobles.

Although these people would not have access to any core news, many of their actions still had an extremely bad influence on Fossbarrow.

A simple exchange of benefits is fine.

Worst of all, Lacus even found out that the person in charge of immigration affairs was instructed by other nobles to select civilians with outstanding looks from among the immigrants to act as human traffickers.

Even if three of the clerks involved were hanged and eight were imprisoned in the Arcatraz, the nobles involved would also be blacklisted in the northern border trade, and they would face Count Laksanna, a noble model of nobles, in the future. Iron Fist... But what has happened cannot be changed.

Although this matter was handled in a relatively secretive manner and did not affect the overall immigration situation, Lacus still did not eat for three whole days after the processing was over.

This is not finished.

In addition, due to the inaction and indulgence of several regional clerks, several gangsters were born in Xinfugang. The ground floor of the good location, which should have been used as a dormitory for new immigrants, was occupied and operated as a community store.

In comparison, the flesh and blood who take the initiative to provide services for the physiological needs of dock workers is already the smallest trouble.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the most tiring time for Lacus since she came to Forsbarrow.

Even though it was clear why, she still felt heartbroken when she saw those clerks and even law-enforcers who had walked with her along the way and witnessed Fossbarrow getting better and better for her own benefit. very tired.

Although almost all the people involved were full of guilt when they finally saw Lax—not only regretting that they were caught, but really shameless to face Count Laxana—but this did not make them feel ashamed at all. Lux felt relieved, but it made her heart feel more heavy.

"They all know it's wrong." Lux asked Kalya in frustration, "But why do they still do this?"

"What do you say?"

"Is it because the power in their hands does not match their treatment?" Lacus sighed long, "But... this is completely impossible, the scale of trade in the northern border is so large, the actual amount in the hands of each clerk The power is astounding..."

"This is caused by many aspects." Kalya said in a rare comforting tone, "Greed is a part of human nature. Think about how you feel when you face Tamm. The feeling of greed that is about to move really requires a strong force." It takes willpower to resist."

Lux pursed her lips.

"Moreover, what is more terrifying than strong greed is the erosion of the sun." Kalya said in a tone of someone who has experienced it, "Even if everyone is an adult, they still need supervision."

"The supervision department is still short of manpower." Speaking of this topic, Lux's tone became even more helpless, "And the supervision department must be credible, otherwise wouldn't it be more troublesome?"

"Then, did you find that in this operation, those clerks and courts performed the best?" Karya asked back with a smile, "Do they have anything in common?"

"What do they have in common?" Lux was stunned for a moment, and then she seemed to realize something, "It seems... that the younger clerks who have just started work do better?"

"Then why can they resist this temptation?"

"Maybe it's because they have received a complete Fossbarrow education?" Lacus blinked, "And most of them don't have any families, their relatives are relatively simple, and they don't have much desire for money... "

"Continuous learning can motivate people." Kalya affirmed Lacus' judgment, "Even the most steadfast ideals sometimes need to be taken out of the cabinet to dry and give yourself a bloodbath."

"And a relatively stable interpersonal relationship without any worries can also help the clerks resist greed and temptation." Lacus quickly understood what Kalya meant, "It's best to downplay the influence of money on them as much as possible..."

"The scale here still needs to be explored slowly." This time, Carya did not come up with a complete plan, "Moreover, special discipline rectification is also necessary. To curb these problems, we must use multiple approaches. Don’t expect to be able to do it once and for all.”

"Understood, understood." Lux let out a long breath, "But no matter how much I understand in my heart, my chest is still a little breathless."

"Human nature is like this. As you get older, you will feel the complexity of human nature more and more." Carya's tone finally became more pleasant, "Although excessive greed will cause destruction and destruction, but In many cases, it is greed that promotes the development of this world—know it objectively, understand it rationally, and then try to guide and use it, ensuring that you don’t lose your heart in the process.”

"That sounds really complicated."

"But I'm sure you'll do well."

"Of course—I'm Lux!"

　Karya's Little Classroom Fossbarrow's Watchdog:
　　In Fossbarrow, there is a supervisory agency composed of special courts who are responsible for the work of supervisory clerks and courts. The members are all pioneers in the north and are very reliable—but they are too few in number. As Xinfucheng was gradually filled with immigrants, these people were finally overwhelmed.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)