Novels online

I see emperor stats-Chapter 124

rally

“I heard from Mareus-sama that it is so.”

“… … !?”

Zhuge Hwa-yeong nodded, and Bayen made a puzzled expression.

'What is the black market and what do I care about?'

Bayon's gaze went to Mareus' face, who had unknowingly mentioned him.

He opened his mouth while stroking his beard.

"haha… That old man will explain.”

* * *

It was a few months ago. Even that day, the government offices in the northern central city, Stefan, were busy.

It has already been about two years since the Northern War, and the place that was developing in full swing had a lot of work to do.

Needless to say, who was the busiest?

"Mareus-sama, a report on Bern's development progress has arrived."

“It is said that the residents there are seeking relief due to the cold wave that fell in the northwestern region.”

Mareus was looking at the papers while scratching his head.

'Objectively, it's not that the number of talented people is insufficient, but the land is too big! For the time being, it seems that it will be difficult to avoid a shortage of manpower.'

Yes! The northern part of the colony this time was large enough to occupy 1/4 of the empire's territory, and as they tried to develop it quickly, the northern part was always suffering from a chronic lack of manpower.

The bureaucrats, including Mareus, were distracted with a murderous workload two to three times that of the central government. In addition, he was the general manager, so he had to go to the capital regularly, and there were quite a few things that Julius asked for.

'I want to see what kind of hardship this is at an age where I have to watch my grandchildren... … .'

“I will go in.”

I'm sorry.

The door to his office, which had been breathing heavily inwardly, opened again.

“Mrs. Mareus, I have compiled a report on this month’s tax.”

"oh! You work hard too.”

The name of the young man he greets with a smile, which is rare, is Byan. These days, he was favored by him and was a talented person who stood out in the North.

'I wouldn't want anything more if all the newcomers handled their work as well as this guy, heck... … .'

At first, I thought he was still a young kid, but I liked how he learned quickly and was very meticulous, unlike a young man in the middle of his life.

Recognized for his composure and ability, recently, handling of financial issues such as taxes is to the extent that all but the final payment is handled on the Bayon line, so it goes without saying how high the reliability of his ability is.

'In addition, His Highness Julius asked him to use the medium, so sooner or later, should I entrust this guy with the secret deal with the Blue Dragon Merchant?'

"I'm sorry, Mareus-sama, but there are some questions about this report, so I think I'll have to report it separately."

"huh?"

Before he could finish his thoughts, Bayen opened his mouth with a slightly nervous expression.

“Tell me. What the hell is going on?”

“Actually, over the past few months, I’ve been looking at the ledgers sent from major northern cities, and there seems to be something I made a mistake about.”

“What do you mean?”

He, too, had seen all of Bayern's reports. Even in the eyes of Mareus, the best administrator in the empire, his report was flawless.

“Can I sit down for a moment? It will be easier to see at a glance if you do the calculations.”

“Do whatever you want.”

Looking at his questioning expression, Byian sat down at the table in the office and took out the abacus from his bosom.

Tadak!

The speed at which he flipped the abacus was lightning fast.

“First of all, these are the tariffs of major northern cities, including Stefan.”

The tariffs referred to here were taxes paid by commercial associations within the city or upper tiers that had permission to distribute.

"hmm… … .”

“And this is a list of the current guilds active in the northern city. There are also transaction statements submitted individually by them.”

Bayen spoke the last words in a cautious tone.

“When I compared them, I found that there was a fairly large margin of error, between five and seven percent, in all cities.”

“What else am I saying, heh heh… … .”

Mareus burst into laughter as if it were bland. Because it seemed like a non-issue to him.

“Isn’t that level of error always present in the original customs book? It's embarrassing, but not all regulations are followed like swords in the empire.”

'As expected, he's still young, so he has the ability but lacks flexibility.'

In his experience, customs revenue was not always protected like a knife. He paid in kind instead of money, but there were cases where the market price suddenly plummeted.

However, Bayern put on a serious expression again.

"It's not that I didn't think about that point while watching the practice for several years, even if I was inexperienced."

“What do you mean?”

“These cities I have listed are large, but they are new cities, so no nobles have been granted them as fiefdoms yet. In addition, I think the peculiarity of the north should be taken into account.”

“… … .”

Mareus was no fool. He had too much to deal with and there could have been something he missed too. After pondering for a while, he opened his mouth again.

“There are certainly some suspicious parts, but is that why you want to investigate?”

“I brought it because I thought I lacked experience to judge. However, I don't think it's something to be overlooked when you see that the books don't match evenly over several months.”

“Huh… … .”

The peculiarity of the northern part, which Bayern said, is that unlike other regions, it is a city that has been carefully planned and developed from the beginning.

Most of the residents were immigrants, so their identity was clear. Errors were unlikely in the emerging cities, as the Empire conducted regular and meticulous census to secure tax revenue.

'There's no lord yet, and there's no indigenous forces or merchants to commit corruption, right?'

Of course, there was a possibility that the guards or low-level officials guarding the castle gate could personally commit corruption, but Bayen's opinion was that it was impossible to pierce such a hole in the ledger.

In an instant, Mareus' eyebrows rose. That means!

“Are there people in the North who make a big deal out of tax evasion?”

“I can’t give you a definitive answer, but I think it might be.”

“… … .”

At some point, Mareus' hand was trembling slightly.

'How dare some scum do such an outrageous thing in the land that Your Majesty entrusted to manage!'

bang!

He slammed the desk hard and stood up.

“Bring all the people in charge of those licensed to trade in the northern city!”

It seemed that the northern part of the country was in the middle of a bloody wind due to the tax investigation, but the result was unexpectedly bland.

A few days later.

“The culprit has not been found?”

"yes. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a culprit in the guild or combination.”

“Huh really?”

The investigation was vigorously conducted, but the ledger was empty, but the culprit could not be found.

'Not at the top? But there's no way the account book is wrong?'

Concerned with his head wrapped around his head, Mareus eventually had no choice but to visit the Blue Dragon Merchant. It was because there was an order from Julius to consult with them if something went wrong.

and after a few weeks

* * *

Julius opened his mouth with an interested expression.

"So you're saying that the reason the books were empty had something to do with the black market?"

"That's right. I was able to catch the black market stealthily making its way among the trade unions of the north. At the time, there wasn't enough research on what kind of group it was, but... … .”

According to Zhuge Liang's explanation, this was the main method of the black market. Secretly infiltrate the power using the powerful person or the top of the region. And in the case of a big city, it gradually increases its power by taking control of the slums or black markets.

Julius clicked his tongue. If you use commerce, there is a high probability that the cults will be spread across the entire continent more widely than you think.

“Tsk! Now I know why they were able to quickly get their hands on the newly developed northern part.”

“Everyone is my negligence.”

“How could that be your fault?”

He comforted Mareus, who was smiling bitterly. Although Bayon was credited with the discovery, it was only because Mareus, who was in charge, was wise that he recognized it and entrusted the investigation to the Blue Dragon Merchant.

Having comforted him with that, Julius turned his eyes to Bayen as well.

“And Bayon, you did a great job this time. I will never forget this.”

“How can you earn credit for diligently fulfilling your responsibility? It is an undeserved compliment.”

Bayen, who had a bewildered expression, didn't know why Julius was praising him.

“No. Did you know that some of the comments left by the players are about the finances of the country?”

"I do not know."

Julius smiled and opened his mouth again.

“There is a saying. It's not that the country doesn't have money. There are many thieves in the country!”

'Did you ever say that?'

Everyone in the hall had question marks on their heads. Was there anything like that in the player's words? Even the civil servants, Mareus and Bayen, had never heard of it, but could the prince lie?

In addition, Bayon, who was the one who heard that, nodded inwardly.

'It's a bit radical, but in a way it's the right word.'

In his opinion, the secret to generating money that was not there was to prevent waste in the first place.

'Even Mareus-nim was dubious at first, right?'

In fact, the reason Mareus initially laughed at his report was because he was usually morbidly obsessed with numbers. Even during his academy days, there were quite a few people who got tired of him.

However, in this case, his meticulousness clearly paid off.

Julius also knew that, so he pulled out plausible words from the Help and told him.

'As far as I know, he said that the secret to rising to the position of prime minister at a young age was that meticulous personality.'

As he, who was about to rise to the rank of crown prince, praised the player loudly while citing the words of the player, Byan couldn't help but be thrilled.

'Honestly, I don't know what kind of achievement he made, but he knows me!'

Julius looked at him with a smile as he lowered his head like that, and soon turned his gaze back to Jegalse.

“So what is the result of digging around like that?”

If it was an organization that was so densely spread out, it would be meaningless to wipe out only a part of it. Finding the stronghold and catching and killing the eccentric called the archbishop would be the top priority.

“It seems to take a little more clues.”

At this moment, Jegal Hwa-yeong had a slightly downcast expression. It was only natural that they had to send Sega's two top players back to the east right away, but they weren't making much progress in the intelligence department.

"hmm?"

However, despite the report, Julius did not particularly complain. He made a rather unexpected offer.

“Then, could you have predicted the approximate location?”

“For now, it is certain that there are no northern and central parts of the empire. Their tracks we found just ended in the capital. I'm sure he cut his tail there.”

'also!'

He smiled inwardly and continued.

“Then, if we can find traces of them in the southern part of the empire, the time to find their base will be shortened considerably?”

“… … !?”

This word was identical to the meaning that he knew the clue, so Zhuge Hwa-yeong replied with a confident expression.

"If it's clear that they have a base in the south, I think we'll be able to show results in a month!"

Julius grinned.

“That went well. Actually, the last person I will call here will have that information.”

drooling.

At the same time, the door to the secret room opened once again. The person who had the 'clue' that Julius said entered.

"this person is?"

The person who entered was an old man with white hair. As soon as he entered, he looked in the direction of Julius and dropped to his knees.

“Thank you very much for protecting the honor of Your Highness.”

“I just kept my condition with you. Long time no see, Victor!"

He was trembling all over with an indescribable expression on his face. In fact, no matter how many achievements the grand duke had in the meantime, how could he be forgiven for treason for raiding the imperial palace?

However, Julius not only fulfilled the condition he thought was impossible, but also gave the archduke additional honor. It was no wonder that he shuddered with emotion.

In that way, all the people Julius had enlisted finally gathered.

Nuada became his reliable ally in the North!

The Eastern Jegal Sega, equipped with information, schemes, and military power!

Mareus, Bayon, and Devan will be the heads of politics, internal affairs, and the military, respectively!

Beatrice and Keynes, the most talented members of the Knights Templar!

Finally, Victor, who is in charge of Gladius, who was originally the power of the Grand Duke, but finally came into his arms!

All of them were excellent talents, and even though Jegal Sega's power was significantly lacking, Julius thought that this was enough to hit the black market.

“Then, since everyone has gathered, I will explain this meeting to those who are not familiar with it.”

There were still many mysteries he didn't know about, but what was clear was that his full-fledged fight had just begun.