I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 482 The wind direction reverses
Baron Gassant, assistant to the municipal commissioner of Caen, tightly grasped the newspaper in his hand. The weather in France in mid-April was still quite cold, but beads of sweat were oozing from his forehead.

The headline on the front page of the newspaper was "Notary Investigation Bureau launched an operation and uncovered more than 40 senior officials for corruption."

He saw in the news that senior executives including the Governor of Poitou and the Municipal Commissioner of Poitiers had been arrested. The second and third pages of the newspaper were full of reports on their corruption.

Since these 40-plus people were all high-ranking officials, and the lowest position was judicial assistant in the City Hall - equivalent to deputy mayor, and officials with lower positions were not qualified to make honest remarks to the Palace of Versailles - the shock caused was very great, and the whole country was paying attention to this matter.

What made Gasion nervous was not the positions of these people, but the things they had in common.

He had already learned through his own bureaucratic circle that these more than 40 people had expressed their opposition to the abolition of the tax farmer system to the Palace of Versailles.

It can't be such a coincidence!
So it is obvious that the corruption of these people will be exposed as a punishment from the royal family! It seems that the royal family is very determined to reform the tax system this time, and they are willing to "solve" even the governor.

Baron Gasien thought of the frank advice he had sent to the Palace of Versailles half a month ago, and suddenly felt cold all over.

He accepted a bribe of 8 francs from the tax farmer Eurydice and promised to "make suggestions" to the government on his behalf to oppose the abolition of the tax farmer system.

He thought it was just a simple remonstrance, which he had done many times before, especially when the Duke of Orleans was still alive, he had opposed tax reforms, the arrest of Necker, and nothing had ever happened.

I didn't expect it to turn out like this.

More than 40 officials were arrested... Gasion threw the newspaper to the ground, stood up suddenly, and ordered the servant to go out.

His ass is not clean either. It should be said that no official has a clean ass. When the Notary Investigation Bureau comes to his door, he may not only lose his job, but even go to jail!

Therefore, a solution must be found as soon as possible to deal with this matter. The only way he could think of was to unite with other officials who opposed the tax reform and make a bigger noise. As long as there were enough people involved and the voices were loud enough, even if the royal family was dissatisfied, it would be impossible to punish so many officials at once.

"Damn Eurydice!" he cursed, and was about to go out when he saw the butler coming quickly and handing him a letter.

"Sir, this has just been returned from Paris. It seems there was a problem with the postal system there."

Gasian was stunned. Wasn't this exactly his frank advice against tax reform?

He quickly opened the envelope and saw the letter inside was still there, and he was immediately overjoyed.

Now I am no longer against reform, and the Notary Investigation Bureau will not come to me!
He ran to the fireplace as fast as he could and threw the letter onto the fire.

He thought about it, immediately returned to his study, picked up a pen and wrote a letter fully supporting the abolition of the tax farmer system, and asked the butler to send it to the Palace of Versailles.

The attitude of the royal family is very clear. If you don't take sides at this time, you will be a fool. In comparison, the interests of the tax farmer are far less important than keeping his official position.

……

In a luxurious villa in the southern suburbs of Paris, Ford was discussing the amount of next year's tax with several bigwigs from the Tax Farmers' Association with a relaxed look.

"Since last year, the sales of goods to Germany and the Mediterranean coast have increased significantly. I estimate that the total tax revenue this year will increase by about 7 million francs." Jacques Albert de Borrole stroked the wine glass in his hand, "The government will definitely ask us to increase the tax package. I suggest that the tax package be increased by 3 million francs next year."

Hope immediately shook his head: "You are too generous. We are going to Luxembourg and the Southern Netherlands to collect taxes, and the cost will increase significantly. The tax package will increase by at most 1 million francs."

Ford smiled and said:
"As long as we lower this year's tax bill, how can the chancellor know the increase in tax revenue? Therefore, the tax amount in the negotiation package we proposed should remain unchanged, and at most increase..."

As he was speaking, he saw his trusted butler knocking on the door and entering, and he immediately looked unhappy:
"Mr. Geoffroy, what's the hurry?"

"Yes, sir. Look at this." The butler handed him the latest edition of Paris Business Daily.

Ford only glanced at the headline, and his face changed drastically. He snatched the newspaper away:

"The Austrians are so bold that they have arrested more than 40 officials who opposed tax reform!"

He handed the newspaper to Hope:

"We have to do something quickly."

Those officials who were arrested had all received their money. Although it was only their subordinates who gave the money, it would be safer to make some preparations in advance.

Hope was also somewhat surprised that the Notary Investigation Bureau found evidence of corruption so quickly, but he soon smiled:
"Don't worry, there are only about 40 people. We have invested more than one million francs in this matter, and there will be more remonstrances piled on the Queen's desk later. Can she send hundreds of officials to prison?"

"It would be great if she did that," Borore also laughed, "that would make the entire French bureaucracy stand on our side."

Fold was worried and asked, "Should we add some funds to get more officials involved?"

“Your advice is helpful.”

After a brief discussion, the few of them decided to take out another 20 francs to bribe the officials and make the matter even bigger.

However, that afternoon, their insider in the Palace of Versailles reported that the queen had received only more than 40 letters of remonstrance. Later, due to an accident in the postal system, some letters were burned in the warehouse, and more were sent back to the place of origin.

Hope and the others looked at each other in bewilderment. How could such a coincidence happen? In this way, the group opposing the tax reform would be limited to those 40-odd people, and the officials behind would definitely cut ties with them immediately!

Sure enough, soon the officials who had taken money from them before quietly returned the money, and the people they sent to bribe the officials were unsurprisingly turned away, and some were even beaten by the officials who pretended to be honest.

A few days later, the insider in the Palace of Versailles sent another message saying that officials from all over the country had begun to express their support for tax reform, especially those who had received money from them before, who were extremely enthusiastic.

Immediately afterwards, newspapers in Paris were filled with headlines such as "Tax reform is widely supported, tax abuses will be corrected." The articles listed the officials who expressed support for the reform, followed by their words praising the tax reform.

Soon, more officials followed suit. For a time, supporting tax reform had almost become politically correct for French bureaucrats.

On the other hand, the bigwigs behind the Tax Farmers Association hurriedly convened a meeting.

(End of this chapter)