Chapter 1366: Courage
"Ah... I'm so sorry, Tulip," the young man nicknamed 'Courage' said, his face full of guilt. Then he pointed to the priest lying on the ground. "Um, shouldn't we get him out of here first?"
Sorel sighed helplessly, bending down to grab the priest's arm.
But both she and Courage were rather slight, and despite sweating profusely, they only managed to drag the over 90-kilogram priest for about ten meters.
Just then, two maids passed by on a nearby path, looking their way. "Is something wrong here?" they asked.
Sorel straightened up, just pondering how to get rid of them, when Courage grabbed her and bolted. "Oh no, we've been spotted..." he cried.
Sorel was instantly exasperated. These young people in the Brotherhood now, while their sense of justice was beyond reproach, were truly useless.
Indeed, over the past few years, older members like Twilight and Thunderstone had either joined the army or inherited family businesses. Now, she had become the Brotherhood's Grand Mentor, leading over ten newly joined noble youths as they continued to right wrongs and uphold justice.
Sorel looked towards a room on the west side of the back hall. Deputy Abbot Rieu's evidence of crimes was likely hidden there—according to information they had received, he had mortgaged large tracts of the monastery's land and used the proceeds to lend at exorbitant interest rates to the poor, accumulating untold unscrupulous wealth.
At that moment, most of the monastery's senior monks were at the Monastery of the Brothers of Saint-Prodo, undergoing examinations by the Holy See, and she didn't want to miss this rare opportunity.
"Leave it to me!"
The young man shot a provocative look at the two maids, beckoned to them, and called out, "Come on, enemies of the people!" then bolted towards the prayer room.
The maids exchanged glances, dropped what they were holding, and, shouting "Stop thief!" chased after him.
Miss Tulip shook her head in frustration. Given the commotion the young man was causing, she probably only had ten minutes at most.
She pulled down her hat brim, turned, and slipped into the back hall's corridor.
Meanwhile, beside a carriage parked not far from the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Robespierre glanced at his pocket watch, made a gesture to the support team captain beside him, and declared gravely, "Begin, Monsieur Mairal."
Mairal looked at the solemn and imposing abbey, asking nervously, "Is this truly permissible, Director?"
Robespierre's tone was calm as he replied, "Of course. I will bear all consequences."
Mairal nodded, took a deep breath, and led the support team, who had been waiting nearby, towards the abbey.
The support team was the Tax Bureau's department responsible for searches and handling violent tax resistance.
At the abbey's entrance, Mairal exchanged a few brief words with a supervising priest. The latter was clearly unwilling to cooperate, so Mairal immediately forced his way in.
The priest hastily called for the abbey's guards to stop him, but the over sixty members of the support team surged forward, protecting Mairal on both sides.
Seeing the flintlock muskets strapped to their backs, the guards only dared to make a show of shouting, but always kept ten paces away.
"This is sacrilege! The Lord will punish you!"
The supervising priest shouted, flustered and exasperated, but the task force members completely ignored him—these were all individuals personally selected and trained by Robespierre. Under his influence, they possessed an extraordinary devotion to justice and the welfare of the people. As long as they believed what they were doing was right, even if the Pope himself stood there, he couldn't stop them.
Robespierre then instructed his assistant beside him, "If there's news from the other locations, please inform me immediately."
"Yes, Director."
Indeed, today the Tax Bureau would simultaneously move against large abbeys in over twenty cities, with the goal of obtaining their tithing records from previous years.
Although Joseph had only instructed the Tax Bureau to establish new departments and prepare for taking over the collection of tithes.
However, as Robespierre sent people to compile data on population, income, and other statistics from various regions, it was quickly discovered that even by the lowest estimated standards, the amount of tithes that should have been collected didn't seem to match the figures the Church released annually.
He informed Marat of this, but the Notary Investigation Bureau had been busy for nearly two months and had yet to find much evidence—after the orphanage incident last time, the Church had begun to 'mend' its flawed accounts. Coupled with the extreme complexity of the tax system, the Notary Investigation Bureau also lacked professional personnel.
Nevertheless, Marat, relying on his intuition, also believed there were likely major problems involved.
In those days, Robespierre had been recalling the selfless ideals and fearless courage he had possessed when he confronted the Tax Farmers years ago.
Ultimately, he made a decision: he would bravely fight for the people of France once more!
Thus, he ordered all support teams under the Tax Bureau to gather in the over twenty cities most likely to have problems. At exactly three o'clock this afternoon, they would search these abbeys under the guise of reviewing tithing records.
He was taking an enormous risk by doing so. One must remember that the Church's annual expenditures were extremely high, and even if a shortfall was discovered, they could still find various reasons to employ sophistry.
Even if he truly managed to prove the Church's embezzlement of tax funds, given the Church's immense influence and power of appeal in France, they would most likely brand him as "impious" or some similar accusation, ruining his future.
He had already made up his mind: if things went wrong, he would take all responsibility, resign from his position as Director, and go to Italy or North America to resume his career as a lawyer.
In any case, Chaumette and the others had already matured and could step up at any time, ensuring the Tax Bureau could continue to operate normally.
In the abbey's back hall, Sorel had thoroughly searched the Deputy Abbot's office but still hadn't found the evidence of crimes she was looking for, only a large stack of mawkish love letters between him and his mistress.
Just then, a commotion erupted outside, indicating that a large group of people was heading her way.
Her heart instantly tightened. She hadn't expected the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés's guards to be so quick and numerous.
She took a few steps to the window, just as she was about to jump out, when she saw several guards approaching, armed with clubs.
She frantically ducked and darted to the side of the main door, then heard heavy footsteps in the corridor as well.
She inwardly groaned. Her only two exits were blocked, but the guards shouldn't know which room she was in. If she just hid first, once the searchers entered the room, she might have a chance to slip away unnoticed from behind them.
She quickly surveyed her surroundings, pulled open the door of a massive bookshelf, and slipped inside.
The footsteps outside grew closer. Sorel tried to squeeze herself into the corner as much as possible, but her hand suddenly brushed against a palm-sized secret compartment.
She pulled out several thick notebooks and carefully pushed the cabinet door open a crack. Using the faint light filtering in, she vaguely saw place names and dense rows of numbers written on them.
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