I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 532: Lavoisier the Tax Farmer
As the peasant on the execution platform continued to speak, more than 10,000 people in the square clenched their fists in anger and gritted their teeth.

Especially when he said that after his sister died, the shameless tax farmer forced him to pay the fine of that year, and the amount was as high as 80 livres including interest, the crowd could no longer hold back and burst into a tsunami-like roar:

"Death to this devil!"

"Kill him! I don't want to wait any longer!"

"Let him go to hell!"

However, the nobles who came to watch were not very excited - the miserable life of a countryman could only make them shrug their shoulders regretfully, but it was difficult for them to empathize with him.

There were even some guys with bad character who had done such things as raping girls from poor families, and they were still whispering to each other and making obscene laughter.

The supervising officer waited for the farmer to finish speaking, then, taking advantage of the moment when the atmosphere in the square reached its highest point, loudly read out the High Court's verdict, and then signaled for the execution to begin.

A drumbeat sounded, and the angry people immediately quieted down, all looking towards the tall execution platform.

First, the priest came to the tax collector, said some routine prayers, and asked him to confess.

Then, the priest made the sign of the cross and stepped aside. An executioner wearing a black mask and with arms thicker than an ordinary person's legs picked up the "long-handled guillotine" placed aside and strode to the side of the criminal.

Only then did Joseph realize that the "guillotine" was actually an extremely large two-handed heavy sword. Together with the hilt, it was as tall as an adult, and it flashed a dazzling cold light in the sun.

Berni, a tax farmer who was lying on a crossbeam with a wooden yoke around his neck, suddenly became frightened and began to wail loudly. But the next moment, the executioner swung his heavy sword like a windmill. Before anyone could see what was happening, the sword had already swept past the wooden yoke. Immediately, a column of blood spurted out, and Berni's head rolled to the ground like a fallen coconut.

The executioner stepped forward, picked up the head, held it high and showed it to the crowd, which immediately caused deafening cheers.

People waved their hands and screamed loudly. The depression, resentment and unwillingness that had been accumulated in their hearts for a long time were released along with the gushing blood.

The tax farmer system has been a scourge to the country for too long. Almost everyone has suffered from their cruel hands and has had their last penny taken away from them. They hate them to the core, but they can do nothing about them.

From the moment this head was chopped off, people knew that the group of tax farmers would no longer exist!
The future life will be more full of hope!

The peasant who had previously denounced Berni's crimes was now in tears, murmuring his sister's name, and walked down the wooden platform with the help of the executioner's assistant.

Afterwards, another tax collector was taken to the execution ground.

The same process as before, the victim first came to the stage to denounce his crimes.

However, the person who came up this time was a middle-aged woman whose clothes were old but neat and decent, and whose every move was quite well-mannered. It was obvious that she was a noble.

She glared at the death row inmate behind her and began to tearfully talk about how the latter had used the "delayed tax payment" trap to cause her husband to gradually accumulate heavy debts and eventually have to sell the family business.

Even her daughter, who was engaged to a young and talented lawyer, was broken off because of her family's decline. In the end, this small noble family that had been passed down for hundreds of years had to move to the slums of the Saint-Antoine district. There was foul-smelling sewage everywhere around the house. Her husband had to copy documents for more than 10 hours every day to barely make a living. He was overworked and groaned in back pain every night until midnight.

This time, although ordinary people also shouted "Execute him", their voices were much quieter than before. After all, at least the lady's family could still have enough food to eat.

The nobles present were in great anger - these dirty, shameless tax farmers actually used despicable means to persecute a respectable and long-standing noble family into such a miserable state, into the abyss of misery! Damn it!

They immediately became like other civilians, cursing in the most vulgar language, waving their arms desperately, their faces flushed with excitement.

After the tax collector had his head chopped off, the nobles also jumped and cheered without caring about their image.

Next, another civilian victim came to power...

In this way, the victims who publicly recounted the crimes of the tax farmers switched back and forth between commoners and nobles. Soon, the onlookers forgot their respective identities and began to denounce the tax farmers unanimously.

As the evil heads were chopped off one by one, the crowd in the square seemed more united, and even began to dance to the beat of the execution drums.

This was Joseph's plan. He wanted the victims who had been persecuted by the tax farmers for a long time to make public accusations, thus arousing people's sympathy and anger, and making the purge of the tax farmers more justifiable.

At this time, no one, whether commoners or nobles, would have any sympathy for the tax farmers, as evidenced by the excited and crazy crowd in the square.

In the future, no matter how he dealt with the Tax Farmers Association, there would definitely not be much resistance. No, it should be said that the more he cleaned up the Tax Farmers Association now, the more support and support he would get from everyone!

It was not until dusk that the execution finally came to an end, and the two executioners left the scene tiredly. Because it took a lot of time to accuse the tax farmer of his evil deeds, they only chopped off 19 heads that day, and the blood piled up in the corner of the execution platform.

Joseph also watched here for a whole day. Fortunately, he had seen more tragic scenes on the battlefield, so he was able to keep his emotions stable. However, even so, he decided not to participate in the subsequent executions. After all, this primitive execution method was still too bloody. He was not a pervert who would get excited by watching such things. At the current execution speed, heads might be chopped off here for more than half a month.

……

Two days later.

Joseph was looking through the assets of the convicted tax farmers and the documents verifying the illegal income submitted by the tax bureau, but suddenly he frowned.

He suddenly saw a familiar name - Lavoisier.

The documents show that during the more than ten years that this great scholar was contracted to collect tobacco taxes in Paris, he had been diluting the tobacco he handled, thereby making huge illegal profits - approximately between 8 and 10 livres per year.

Joseph couldn't help rubbing his forehead. The historical materials he had read before said that Lavoisier's beheading by the Jacobins was a huge mistake, which caused French chemical research to stagnate for decades.

Now it seems that although his beheading was a bit too severe a sentence, he was by no means completely innocent. The tax farmer was a big melting pot, and it would be difficult for any person with noble character to keep himself clean once he entered.

(End of this chapter)