Chapter 492: The church is the king of making money (recommended, please give me everything!)
Beaumont had previously promised that the Crown Prince would cooperate with him in rectifying the bureaucracy, but he has been very concerned about it during this period. He has publicly condemned officials who are on trial for corruption whenever he can.
At the same time, at his request, churches in various places would bring Gehazi's portraits around the city to give speeches from time to time - Gehazi was a man in the Bible who was punished by God for being greedy for money and suffered from severe leprosy. Become extremely pale. At least the painting looks very visually impressive.
However, as the situation gradually calmed down, the church has not mentioned it much recently. Beaumont suddenly mentioned these things now, in fact, he wanted to show off in front of Joseph.
Fouche took the wine from the priest's hand, glanced at Beaumont who was chattering away, snorted disdainfully, and muttered:
"Oh, those officials are not as greedy as you."
Joseph looked back at him curiously: "What should I say?"
Fouche realized that he had made some mistakes, but under the gaze of the Crown Prince, he could only whisper:
"Your Highness, many people in the church know that Archbishop Beaumont's property is three to four million francs. This money..."
He was born as a priest, so he knew a lot of information inside the church.
When Joseph heard this, he took a breath, frowned and nodded.
He also knew that as a first-level priest, how could he not be greedy? In particular, France has strictly restricted the church's power to interfere with the secular world. Those in the church are left with the pursuit of making money.
However, for now, he can only choose to temporarily cooperate with the church. After all, the church is more honest than the aristocracy and relies more on the royal family, so it is easier to control.
If you want to carry out reforms at the national level, you must recruit forces that can be used by yourself and separate the first and second estates, that is, the cooperation between the priests and the nobility.
After the various reforms in France are basically completed, the rectification of the church will definitely be put on the agenda.
Apart from anything else, the fact that one-tenth of the country's land is in the hands of the church makes it impossible to let it go.
You must know that historically, after the success of the French Revolution, the National Assembly relied on confiscating the church's land and using these lands as anchors to issue paper currency "coupons", which barely managed to survive the initial financial crisis.
In addition, the church is still collecting the tithe. Although the actual tax rate is not 10%, but about 7%, it is still a huge burden on the country's economic development.
After everyone had received the Holy Communion, Beaumont also ended his criticism of corrupt officials and turned to wink at the priest on the side.
The priest hurriedly took out a piece of paper with patterns and densely printed text, and held it up to show it to everyone.
Beaumont smiled and said: "This is a 'wealth guarantee coupon' launched by the church in compliance with God's revelation. After purchasing this coupon, you will be blessed and avoid being harmed by greedy people."
Joseph's eyes widened in shock. The church was really good at drawing inferences from one instance to another. It could even think of a coupon for such a trivial matter!
But he could only watch.
After all, in order to deceive the church into saving money, he promised to let the church sell "improved indulgences".
It can be seen that the church has been creating various coupons to make money over the past year.
Joseph smacked his lips subconsciously, looking forward to what he would gain after reorganizing the church.
…
The capital of Corsica, Ajaccio.
In the room on the second floor of Congressman Girolamo's house, Bartolio, who is also a Congressman, pushed a few pieces of paper to the middle of the table, then looked around at the people in the room and said: "This is from Mr. Ennio from Charleston. Oh, he went to the United States on my behalf 4 months ago.”
Another Corsican congressman picked up the top piece of paper in confusion and read: "There have been only three Mrs. Massimo in the town of Naboth in Charleston for the past 30 years, and two of them are still alive. , another died earlier in the year.
"The deceased Mrs. Massimo had never mentioned that she had Corsican relatives before, and she was very poor, with all her family property adding up to less than $30.
"But people in the town saw that after her death, a man with an Italian accent came into contact with her nephew, her only relative, and then her nephew began to claim that she had been to Corsica. ”
"so……"
Bartolo slapped the table hard and said angrily: "So Mrs. Pauley doesn't have any American aunt at all! Even if she did, she would only be left with an inheritance of US$30 at most, not US$10,000!"
"Please look at this again."
He pulled out two documents from those papers and handed them to the congressman beside him.
The latter could not understand English and handed the document back to him.
Bartolio poked at the two pieces of paper with his fingers and said: "These are certification documents issued by the Charleston City Hall. This one is for a villa on the west side of Charleston, and this one is for a villa in the southern suburbs. There are huge cotton estates, they all belong to Mrs. Pauley.”
"Didn't you say that Mrs. Paoli did not inherit the inheritance?" Girolamo, the spy, immediately pretended to be confused.
"This is not a legacy at all. Look at the transfer time on it." Bartolio gritted his teeth and said, "At the end of April, it means that this is a newly purchased property by Mrs. Pauli!"
Girolamo pointed to the price on the certification document and said in surprise:
"The house and land combined are worth $100,000. Where did she get so much money?"
All seven members of Congress in the room suddenly became darkened.
Oscar Pauli has always claimed that he is dedicated to restoring the country and has no property at all. The house he lives in in London was donated by supporters, but now he suddenly has a huge sum of US$100,000.
Without anyone reminding them, they immediately thought of the £25,000 grant, or US$120,000, which was accidentally burned a few months ago.
The property purchased by Pauli in the United States, plus the US$10,000 his wife inherited in the Netherlands, coincides with this figure.
"I think it's clear," Bartolio said, "Paulie betrayed us."
Someone raised a question: "But, he has no reason to do this..."
"No, he has." A thin brown-haired man who had never spoken before said, "In fact, we obtained intelligence at the beginning of the year. The British seemed to be negotiating in France and might no longer provide Mr. Pauli with shelter."
The person who spoke was the official in charge of the intelligence agency of the Corsican Restoration Organization. He took a deep breath and continued:
"I reported this to Mr. Paoli, but he told me not to worry about it, saying he was not afraid of the French."
Girolamo immediately responded: "It seems that Mr. Paoli was preparing to leave the UK from then on."
He originally wanted to tell himself that the British no longer protected Pauli, but unexpectedly someone was a step ahead of him.
The brown-haired man thought: "No, it's not just leaving England. I think he might have made a deal with the French."
(End of chapter)