The tide turned

Baron Guesdon, Assistant the Municipal Commissioner of Caen, gripped the newspaper tightly in his hand. The weather in France in mid-April was still quite cold, but fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead.

The headline on the front page of the newspaper read, "Public Notary Investigation Bureau Launches Operation, Uncovers Corruption Among More Than 40 Senior Officials."

He saw in the news article that high-ranking officials, including the Governor of Poitou and the Municipal Commissioner of Poitiers, had been arrested. Pages two and three of the newspaper were filled with details of their corruption.

Because these 40-plus people were all high-ranking officials, the lowest rank being a Judiciary Assistant in the City Hall —equivalent to a deputy mayor—and officials of lower rank were not qualified to remonstrate with the Versailles Palace, the incident caused a great stir, and the whole country was paying attention to it.

What made Guesdon nervous was not their positions, but what they had in common.

He had already learned through his bureaucratic circle that these 40-plus people had expressed their opposition to abolishing the Tax Farmer System to the Versailles Palace.

It can't be such a coincidence!

So it's quite obvious that the exposure of these people's corruption is a punishment from the Royal House! It seems that the Royal House is very determined to carry out tax reform this time, even going so far as to "take care of" the Governor.

Baron Guesdon felt a chill run through him as he recalled the remonstrance he had sent to the Versailles Palace two weeks earlier.

He accepted 8,000 Franc from the Tax Farmers Eurydice in exchange for "advising" the government against abolishing the Tax Farmer System.

He originally thought it was just a simple remonstrance, something he had done many times before. Especially when the Duke of Orléans was still alive, he had opposed things like tax reform and Necker's arrest, and there had never been any problems.

Unexpectedly, things turned out this way.

More than 40 officials were arrested... Guesdon slammed the newspaper to the ground, stood up abruptly, and ordered his valet to leave.

His own hands aren't clean either; in fact, no official's hands are clean. When the Public Notary Investigation Bureau comes knocking, he might not only lose his job, but could even go to jail!

Therefore, a solution had to be found as soon as possible. The only solution he could think of was to unite with other officials who opposed the tax reform and make a bigger splash. As long as enough people were involved and the voices were loud enough, even if the Royal House had any dissatisfaction, they would not be able to punish so many officials at once.

"Damn Eurydice!" he cursed, and was about to leave when the butler came quickly and handed him a letter.

"Sir, this was just returned from Paris. It seems there's a problem with their Postal Service system."

Guesdon was taken aback; wasn't this precisely his own remonstrance against tax reform?

He quickly tore open the envelope and found the letter inside was still there; he was overjoyed.

Now I'm no longer an opponent of Reformist Faction, and the Public Notary Investigation Bureau won't come looking for me!

He rushed to the fireplace and threw the letter onto the fire.

He thought for a moment, then immediately returned to his Study, picked up a pen, and wrote a letter fully supporting the abolition of the Tax Farmer System, which he then had his butler send to the Versailles Palace.

The Royal House's stance is clear; not taking sides now would be foolish. Compared to that, the Tax Farmers's meager interests are far less important than preserving his official position.

In his luxurious Villa in the Southern Suburbs of Paris, Fuld Orthodox God casually discussing the amount of Tax Farming Income he would receive next year with several bigwigs from the Tax Farmers Guild.

"Since last year, sales to Germany and the Mediterranean Sea coast have increased significantly. I estimate that this year's total tax revenue will increase by about 70 million Franc," Vankiewicz said, stroking his wine glass. "The government will certainly require us to increase the Tax Farming Income. I suggest that next year's Tax Farming Income be increased by 30 million Franc."

Harper immediately shook her head:

"You are far too generous. We need to collect taxes in Luxembourg and the Southern Netherlands, which will significantly increase our costs, potentially raising the Tax Farming Income by up to 10 million Franc."

Fuld laughed:

"If we simply lower this year's tax revenue figures, how will the Minister of Finance know the actual increase in tax revenue? Therefore, the Tax Farming Income we propose should remain unchanged, or at most increase..."

As he was speaking, his trusted steward knocked and entered, and he immediately became somewhat displeased:

"Mr. Geoffroy, is there something urgent?"

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

Fuld glanced at the headline and his expression changed drastically; he snatched the newspaper away.

"Those Austrian Bitch are so audacious, arresting more than 40 officials who opposed tax reform!"

He handed the newspaper to Harper:

We need to do something quickly.

Those officials who were arrested had all received money from them. Although it was only their subordinates who gave them the money, it was still better to make some preparations in advance.

Harper was somewhat surprised that the Public Notary Investigation Bureau had found so much evidence of corruption so quickly, but she soon smiled.

"Don't worry, it's only about 40 people. We've invested over a million Franc in this matter, and there will be many more remonstrances piling up on Her Majesty the Queen's desk. Does she really think she can send hundreds of officials to prison?"

"That would be wonderful," Vankiewicz laughed, "It would get all the France bureaucracy on our side."

Fuld asked, still concerned, "Shouldn't we allocate more funds to involve more officials?"

"Your suggestion is helpful."

After a brief discussion, the group decided to spend another 200,000 Franc to bribe officials and escalate the situation further.

However, that afternoon, their informant at the Versailles Palace reported that the Queen had only received about 40 letters of remonstrance. Due to a malfunction in the Postal Service system, some letters were burned in the Warehouse, while most were sent back to their place of origin.

Harper and the others exchanged bewildered glances. What a coincidence! In this way, the group opposing tax reform would be limited to just over 40 people, and the officials behind them would certainly distance themselves from them immediately!

Sure enough, soon some of the officials who had taken their money quietly returned it, and the people they sent to bribe the officials were unsurprisingly turned away. Some were even beaten up by the officials in a show of feigned incorruptibility.

A few days later, a source at the Versailles Palace sent another message saying that officials in various regions were beginning to express their support for tax reform, especially those who had previously accepted bribes from them, who were extremely enthusiastic.

Immediately afterwards, Paris newspapers were filled with headlines such as "Tax Reform Receives Widespread Support, Tax Abuses Will Be Corrected," which listed the officials who expressed their support for the reform and included their praise of it.

Soon, more officials followed suit. For a time, supporting tax reform almost became the politically correct stance for France bureaucrats.

Meanwhile, the behind-the-scenes bigwigs of the Tax Farmers Guild hurriedly convened a meeting.