The art of moving money from one hand to the other

After gathering clues, the Police assured Lemair that they would find the killer as soon as possible and left two officers to protect the Tax Bureau.

Lemair's original plan was to have his men familiarize themselves with the business at the market or factory, but after several attacks, he had to order everyone to stay at the Police Department while working and to go home in groups of three.

Even so, Tax Bureau staff continued to be attacked for some time afterward, and more than a dozen rioters even came to the Police Department and threw stones and incendiary devices into the offices, nearly burning down the Tax Bureau building. The group was only dispersed when the Police stationed at the Tax Bureau opened fire.

Subsequent police investigations confirmed that the attackers at the Tax Bureau were not gang members and that their actions were discreet and seemingly highly professional. However, they were unable to locate the attackers in a short period of time.

Panic gripped the Tax Bureau, and some Taxation officials even submitted their resignations to Lemair.

Left with no other option, Lemair had to submit a report to Paris requesting that the Tax Bureau be equipped with guards.

Paris.

In the office of the France Tax Bureau, the newly appointed Inspector Commissioner Robespierre frowned as he looked at the mountain of reports piled on his desk, his face ashen.

These reports are mostly from local Tax Bureau reporting attacks. In the past ten days or so, two Taxation officials have been killed and more than 40 people injured. Although the Police system is making every effort to track down the perpetrators, only three or four people have been arrested so far, and the situation is extremely dire.

Most of the Tax Bureau officials requested additional security detailing, while some directly offered to resign.

Robespierre knew very well that the Tax Bureau's funds were barely enough to pay compensation to the wounded, let alone provide any guards.

He suddenly felt an immense pressure on his shoulders— Fuerke, the Tax Bureau Count, was mainly in charge of tax matters, while he was responsible for everything else. If this matter was not handled properly, it would affect the entire country's tax revenue.

After much deliberation, he first wrote a passionate speech to boost morale and at least reduce the number of Taxation resigning.

As for security, he couldn't think of any good solutions, so he got up and instructed his servant, "Please prepare Carriage; I need to go to the Tuileries Palace."

Yes, for now, he can only apply to His Crown Prince for some funds to increase the security of the Tax Bureau.

The second floor of the Tuileries Palace.

Joseph carefully examined the documents in his hand, confirmed that the amount was correct, then picked up his pen to sign and stamped the document.

Standing opposite him, Matthew de Lefebvre, the president of the French Reserve Bank, respectfully took the document and asked, "Your Highness, the current flow of funds seems a little too fast. I'm worried it might arouse suspicion."

"Do you think we should further split those two transactions involving Poitou and Burgundy, and then 'reclaim' them next week?"

Joseph thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Your suggestion is very reasonable. Let's do it your way. By the way, we must be careful to maintain secrecy. All personnel involved must be verified by the Intelligence Bureau before use."

"Yes, Your Highness."

If anyone saw the document in Baron Lefebvre's hand, they would most likely be astonished by the amount on it—it contained several applications for the transfer of funds, totaling a staggering 13 million Franc!

In reality, the France Finance currently has no funds of hundreds of millions of Franc, let alone weekly inflows of tens of millions.

Joseph had previously raised only 50 million Franc through insurance, wealth management, and Real Estate.

Moreover, apart from the income from Real Estate, the other funds belong to Insurance Company. Although they can temporarily access them, they would never actually be spent as part of the Finance budget.

Therefore, if the Tax Farmer System is abolished, Brienne will only have 26 million Franc available for Finance next year. At most, within a month, France officials' salaries, government operations, and infrastructure projects will all come to a standstill.

To stabilize the situation, Joseph needed to obtain a loan from the Tax Farmers.

At least 150 million Franc.

But he knew that the Tax Farmers relied on the government's lack of funds; they could only continue operating by paying the Tax Farming Income. Under these circumstances, they would absolutely insist on continuing to farm taxes.

Therefore, he must first create the illusion of abundant government Finance in order to disrupt the plans of the Tax Farmer Magnates.

So Joseph used the 50 million Franc he had as a "prop" to pull off a smokescreen.

He knew very well that Tax Farmers had informants in various banks and were certainly able to find out the amount of funds on the government's books.

He first had people deposit the money in foreign banks, and then openly French Reserve Bank under the guise of a loan.

The French Reserve Bank then allocated funds to local banks—mostly its branches—in batches through French Reserve Bank grants.

Because this money is part of next year's budget, the provincial Governor can only look at it and cannot touch it.

The next step is to operate covertly.

Local banks secretly lent money from provincial government accounts as short-term loans, then immediately transferred it back to the headquarters of the French Reserve Bank in Paris. Once the local governments saw the funds in their accounts, they basically stopped checking the books—no one would suspect that the Minister of Finance and the "central bank" would misappropriate local funds.

All of these loans were handled by people personally appointed by Joseph. After the loan agreements were signed, they were taken directly back to Paris by senior executives of the French Reserve Bank, locked in the Safe of the governor of the French Reserve Bank, and guarded by the Intelligence Bureau 24 hours a day.

Subsequently, the money borrowed from local Finance will be deposited back into foreign banks and flow back into the accounts of the French Reserve Bank.

This is the truth behind the findings of the Tax Farmers Guild that "more than 100 million Franc have flowed into the French Government's accounts, with large sums of money continuing to be deposited every week."

In reality, this is the result of repeated operations involving 50 million.

To ensure the secrecy of this "left hand to right hand" operation, Joseph specifically appointed more than ten branch managers and Assistant branch managers of the French Reserve Bank, who were responsible for handling all funds related to the "reverse loan."

It's all about psychological warfare.

If the Tax Farmers Guild remains calm even after seeing that the government has raised enough funds, then there's nothing Joseph can do.

But he was very confident that as he used his methods one after another, those profit-driven guys would definitely give in.

After Baron Lefebvre left, Eman, accompanied by a Robespierre with an anxious expression, knocked on the door and entered.

The latter, his face etched with shame, stammered after bowing, "Your Highness, I must report some information to you... Tax Bureau across the country have been subjected to numerous attacks; two Taxation officials have been murdered and dozens injured."