Chapter 516 Tax Reform 1

Chapter 516 Tax Reform 1
Hansel Abbott hummed a little tune as he left his office with a brisk gait.

Just now, the people from the lord’s residence came over to inform that Count Gleiman wanted to summon the chief officials of the various ministries of the Council of State to a meeting.

Hansel was in quite a good mood lately.

Last month, as the heir to the throne, Earl Gerd Rodney came to Lake Town, on behalf of the royal family to talk business with his current boss Paul Gleiman, at first Hansel was asked to take the lead in introducing him, and luckily, the two earls ended up talking to each other, and Gerd Rodney left a letter specifically thanking him. This makes Hansel flattered, after all, Gerd Rodney in the royal heir ranking that is a number of the front.

As for why Earl Gelder asked Hansel to introduce him, it was because Sir Hansel Abbott, in addition to his identity as the head of agriculture in the Alda Council of State, also had another identity – the royal representative in the Northwest Gulf.

Hansel had once been deeply proud of this identity, but now was slowly figuring out the flavor. The so-called royal commissioner, most likely is when the Jingyao city guards rebellion, the big princess Catherine highness has no place to put those from Jingyao run to her army voluntary “service” of the noble children, so the new royal commissioner’s name, these noble children kicked them to the country, to a blind for clean.

Otherwise, why …… why …… did not have a single copper plate of salary sent to him until now?
Otherwise, why stayed in Jingyao that is nominally the superior of the royal commissioner everywhere in the intelligence department head every time to see him is a look of love and disregard.

Alas, if it is really the talent that Her Royal Highness Princess Catherine sees, it was left to serve in the army at that time, such as his own old classmate Matthew.

After the end of the rebel war, Matthew even borrowed this seniority, directly by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to help him seek a coveted position.

And he was still in the Northwest Bay to blow the wind.

Thinking of this, Hansel’s heart was clogged for a while, and the steps under his feet were not very brisk. He hurriedly shook his head to shake these unpleasant memories out of his mind.

His mind returned to Earl Gerd Rodney, who as the king’s nephew was theoretically the second in line of succession to His Majesty’s throne – after his father.

The current king of Aldo only had two daughters, and there had never been a precedent in Aldo’s history for a woman to succeed to the throne, so the crown would most likely fall on the head of His Majesty’s younger brother, and since Gerd was the eldest son of the king’s younger brother, there was a high probability that, barring any accidents, the crown would end up on Gerd’s head.

The reason why he is said to be the second in line to the throne is that if anything happens to Gelder’s father, then the crown will fall directly on his head.

This should have been the case, but the presence of Princess Catherine put a twist in the procedure above. While Hansel was still staying in the King’s capital, Crystal Glory, there were rumors that the King was very keen on having his brilliant eldest daughter inherit the throne.

Would the king change the centuries-old tradition for his daughter? If His Majesty the King had this intention, would the nobles accept his arrangement?

Hansel shook his head again, banishing these thoughts from his mind. Whether or not His Majesty had such an intention, and whether or not the nobles felt the same way, it was not his turn to speak, as a lower-ranking nobleman with half “low” blood who was sent to the border area.

Now his desire to return to the royal capital of Jingyao is not as enthusiastic as before. In Lake Town, he was the respected head of the Council of State, one of the top officials appointed by the Lord, but back in Jingyao, he would immediately revert back to his previous unpleasant status, and become the shame of the nobles of Aldo. If it was when he first came here more than four years ago, the scene in Alda at that time would have given him a huge sense of disparity, but now Alda, no, even the entire Northwest Bay, had undergone a sky-rocketing change.

Yes, it was still the frontier of the kingdom, but it had become the “rich” frontier of the kingdom.

Take a look at the wide and straight avenue that runs through the north and south of Lake Town, which is made of the same size, polished and flat stone slabs.

Hansel had never seen such a street in any other city in the kingdom, except for the capital city of Jingyao. Most of the streets in those other cities were dirt, the better ones had a layer of gravel on top, and when it rained, they became muddy and difficult to pass through.

Worse still, the streets of other cities are filled with almost any kind of garbage, even human and animal feces, and when walking on the streets, one has to endure or get used to the unspeakable smells.

On the other hand, in the streets of Lakeville, the Council of State has set up a special organization to manage the hygiene of the streets, and spends money to hire people to break up the streets every day, and at the same time introduces a law that heavily punishes those who destroy the public hygiene. Under all the strong measures, the hygiene of the streets of Lake Town could be said without exaggeration to be the best in Aldo. In this regard, even the king’s capital, Jingyao, could hardly match it.

On such a road, a loaded carriage formed an endless river, and the traffic was so busy that the Council of State had to formulate traffic rules that seemed very complicated to outsiders, and the Ministry of Public Security also sent people to stand guard at each intersection, using a set of unified and standardized gestures to instantly instruct passing vehicles on how to pass through.

Lakewood is now a thriving city, and not the static kind of thriving, but one that is trending toward more and more prosperity. It was a city with a strong manufacturing industry, with new workshops and buildings going up every day, and people coming from the neighborhood and further afield every day to make a living.

Of course, the busyness of the main north-south highway was mainly centered in the newer parts of the city on the southern shore of Lake Wessex, while the section in the center of the lake – the true center of the lake, the small island that sat surrounded by the lake – was still quite empty.

Because of the specially designated administrative district here, the original low-rise residential houses had been replaced by a government office building, and the original residents had been relocated to the new town and compensated with beautiful buildings.

After the size of the Council of State became increasingly large, those important departments, such as the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Commerce and so on, had their own independent office areas or buildings.

The Ministry of Agriculture, like the one Hansel was in charge of, stayed in a three-story building, and the whole building was owned by their Ministry of Agriculture.

Because the various departments are concentrated on a small island, not far from each other, officials in the office, but also to the street to slip a little, and encountered people across the exchange of work content, is really convenient.

I apologize for not being more timely, there was more going on last night. And in the early morning, the child launched a fever, messed up the hands and feet.

(End of chapter)