Chapter 275 – Abolition of nobility
Chapter 275 – Abolition of Nobility
Richard saw that Donn was white and chubby, and looked like he was seldom exposed to the wind and sun this year, so he had no confidence in what Donn said.
He stared at Tang En’s eyes and said seriously, ”The major grain depots, have you scrutinized them? Grain depots are the most problematic places, you have to personally go down and look at them, anyone who sells grain, regardless of the proximity of the relationship, should be dealt with severely. Because the grain issue is related to the stability of our regime, anyone who embezzles on the grain issue is challenging the foundation of our rule and is an enemy of the Harland family. There must be no relaxation for such people, and one must be dealt with as soon as he is found.
Did you personally visit the fields for the summer and fall harvest work?
I put you in charge of agricultural work, not to be a good old boy. If you dare to harbor them, I will expel you from the Harland family and abolish your noble status, even your descendants will be implicated and removed from the Harland family.”
Hearing Richard speak so seriously, Donn instantly didn’t dare to lie and said with trepidation, “I haven’t inspected every grain depot, and most of the data mentioned are reported from below. I think the officials below, should not dare to deceive us, right?”
Hearing this, Richard slapped the table fiercely and said, “Nonsense. From tomorrow onwards, you take people down there and scrutinize every grain store. The grain in the territory must be counted out, and you’ll be held responsible if anything goes wrong.”
In the last few years, the Harland family had been growing faster and faster, and Richard’s might was also growing. Even third uncle Bernie and second uncle Powell did not dare to oppose Richard’s opinion, and the family members were becoming more and more respectful towards Richard.
Seeing his cousin get angry, Donn was suddenly terrified inside and had no confidence in the lower officials.
Early in the morning of the second day, Richard directly ordered the establishment of a joint inspection and investigation team, disciplinary inspection, intelligence, food departments to draw the person in charge.
Richard appointed Hayden as the head of the investigation group, brother George, cousin Donn, second uncle Powell and others are members of the group, a comprehensive investigation of the territory’s grain storage reserves, the food system dirt clean up.
The investigation team went down and caught the following by surprise, removing and investigating more than a dozen officials of the grain system and counting the grain stocks in Harland’s territory.
Sure enough, the actual grain inventory did not match the reported data, counting the old grain, the territory’s grain reserves have been less than 100,000 tons.
A dozen food system officials, from three years ago has begun to embezzle the reserve grain, only before the frequent inspections of Li Zha, the scale of embezzlement is relatively small, only a few dozen tons a year, one or two hundred tons.
Compared to the territory’s huge grain stocks, these small rats basically couldn’t be found out.
This year, Li Zha was out on the battlefield for most of the year, and when he came back, he didn’t have time to inspect and punish corrupt officials. The burden of the food system officials has become much bigger, and this year, more than twelve thousand tons of grain were sold in one year of embezzlement, and more than twenty-five thousand gold coins of stolen money were embezzled.
The inspection team found out the huge corruption case, Powell stayed in the grain depot to stabilize the situation, Hayden, Donn, George three brothers rushed to find Richard to report the situation, Donn even wrote a resignation letter on the way, ready to take responsibility.
After receiving the news from the three, Richard did not panic in the slightest and immediately gave his opinion on how to handle the situation.
“All corrupt officials are sent to the mines to dig, their relatives are relegated to slavery and not pardoned within three generations, and they are not allowed to join the army or go to school in the future, let alone be admitted as officials. Their sponsors, should also be dealt with seriously, those who caused serious damage should be dismissed and investigated, and those who are less responsible should be deprived of the right to sponsor for three years, and the matter should be recorded in the archives.”
The middle and senior officials of the Harland Territory all have the right to recommend officials, the civilian system of officials above the county level, and the middle level bureaucrats of the headquarters, can all recommend officials. Officers above the rank of captain in the army could also nominate juniors to serve as junior officers.
However, if something goes wrong with the recommended officer, the recommender will be held responsible. In serious cases, they would also be implicated. In order to avoid being held responsible, smart bureaucrats at the middle and senior levels would use their power of recommendation carefully and would not easily recommend people of low ability or moral character.
Seeing that Tang En was somewhat coy, Richard instantly guessed something, he frowned and said, “What, are you still going to preach pleading to them? Get the hell out of here right now!”
Seeing that Richard could no longer suppress his fire, Tang En fled the mansion in a panic.
When Donn left the mansion, Richard turned to George and asked, “What’s wrong with Donn?”
George was the eldest son of Mrs. Ora, less than twenty years old this year, serving as the Harland Territory’s intelligence adjutant, assisting Noel in managing the intelligence work.
In terms of ability, George was relatively average in his work. Nowadays, the intelligence work of Harland Territory was so complicated, and George was so young that he was already the number two person in the intelligence system, and it was normal for him not to be able to do his job.
Richard’s use of George was a bit over-exaggerated. Without having worked out at the grassroots level, being in a high position at a young age is actually not a good thing for members of the Harland family.
The same was true for Donn, who was only twenty-six or twenty-seven years old at a young age, and was already serving as the highest official in the agricultural system of the Harland territory. In terms of ability, Donn was actually not competent.
He simply did not have the ability to play mind games with the bureaucrats below him. Faced with the flattery of the lower level bureaucrats, Donn did not have the ability to discern the truth, much less control these people.
“The officials that Donn recommended have gone wrong in this investigation.”
“How many?”
“The officials that Tang En has recommended in the last three years, all of them have problems.”
According to the system of the Harland Territory, the right to nominate middle and high-level officials was greatly restricted, and only one official could be nominated each year.
Tang En was already the highest official in the agricultural system, and the officials he had nominated naturally ascended to the fast lane and found big backers, all of whom were placed in important positions. These people were all close associates of Tang En, and behaved recklessly and with the most serious corruption.
This time when the investigation team went down, Tang En also tipped them off, except that the preparation time was too short, and these people simply couldn’t get back more than 10,000 tons of grain stocks.
Richard aimed his gaze out the window and asked indifferently, “Is there a hidden agenda behind this?”
“The daughter of one of the officials is Donn’s lover.”
Upon hearing this, Richard sneered and said, “After all, you can’t avoid the infiltration of wealth and color, and you can’t stop the sugar-coated bombs. You guys should take this as a warning, don’t easily cite an official without the ability of a fiery eye. If you want to find a beautiful woman, you should also keep your eyes wide open. You are members of the Harland family, if you break the law, I will never be lenient in dealing with you. It’s almost time for the Goddess Birthday Festival, so send someone to notify Uncle Sam and discuss your opinion on how to handle Donn.”
Donn was the eldest son of the third uncle, and was considered a member of the Harland family with a high status.
Third Uncle Bernie was already a sixth-ranked warrior, his war service was not far from being knighted, and after the next orc invasion war was over, there was a high probability that he could be promoted to a hereditary baron. Donn is the third uncle’s first successor, Richard dealt with the fact that he needs to communicate with the main members of the family and listen to everyone’s opinion before making a decision.
Seeing Richard in a bad mood to the extreme, George quietly exited the room. The room was quiet, after waiting for a long time Hayden broke the calm and said, “Richard, what are you going to do with Donn?”
“What I said is clear enough, he has not done his duty as a member of the Harland family, so naturally, he should be driven out of the Harland family, take back his family name, and abolish his noble status.”
Hayden held his hands hard on the tabletop and said with some trembling, “Donn is our younger brother, third uncle’s eldest son, you have not left any room for error in dealing with him like this, and you are a little too hard on your relatives. Even if Third Uncle doesn’t say anything, I’m afraid that inwardly he will still have a problem with you.” “Third uncle has four sons, there are even seven or eight illegitimate sons outside, he has a dozen heirs in this branch, Tang En’s ability is not good, he can pick another heir.
For so many years, we have always punished corrupt officials harshly, if we punish Tang En too lightly, what seriousness does the law have? Could it be that our laws can only deal with the officials below us and give blind indulgence to the Harland family’s corruption?
If we can’t ensure fairness, how can we collect people’s hearts?
Many of the corrupt officials we disposed of in the past have made a war record. Now many people are staring at Dunn to see how I will dispose of him? In order to avoid the officers and soldiers from being saddened by the death of a rabbit and to maintain the seriousness of the law, I prefer to make an example of Tang En and dispose of him in a strict and serious manner.
I want to tell members of the Harland family that they have to take responsibility for their wrongdoings. If Uncle Sam has an opinion, let him suppress it in his heart; if he dares to make trouble, I will hold him responsible.”
Seeing Richard so resolute, Hayden was clear that Richard had been dictatorial since childhood, and it didn’t matter who persuaded him to do what he recognized.
If Richard was bent on having his own way, even his father, William, could not change his opinion.
The Harland family has developed to this extent, Richard is the most critical person.
Richard has two counts under his name, while William only has a baronial collar. The reason why the surname Harland is honored is also by Richard’s prestige.
Richard’s influence in the territories also far exceeded that of the previous generations such as William and Bernie.
The territory’s sixteen thousand army would only listen to Richard’s orders. Because this army was built by Richard. The backbones of the army were all Richard’s close friends.
Among the members of the Harland family, Richard is the one who holds the key power.
“Since you’ve made up your mind, it’s best to communicate with Uncle San before announcing it, so that you don’t fall out.”
Richard patted Hayden’s shoulder and said, “Don’t worry about this, my harsh disposal of Donn is a good thing for the development of the Harland family. In the future, if Margaret and Philip do something wrong, I will deal with them equally harshly.”
After sending Hayden away, Richard wrote a letter to Third Uncle, telling him his opinion on punishing Donn.
Seeing Richard punishing his heir so harshly, Third Uncle Burney showed his displeasure, but Richard’s opinion was very firm, he must abolish Donne’s nobility.
Third uncle Bernie found William to plead for mercy, still did not play a role, in order to avoid the conflict open, Bernie can only be annoyed to agree to Richard’s request, abolished the Tang En noble status.
Before the Goddess Birthday Festival, Donn left the Harland family in disgrace and went to settle in Nolan.
Losing his noble status, it was impossible for Donn to have a good development in Nolan. Class solidification in Nolan was far more serious than in the Northland, and it was difficult to leap up the ranks.
Tang En’s lineage was already ordinary people, although his third uncle Bernie subsidized Tang En with some money, Tang En could only become a small merchant in Nolan. Even if his descendants become hereditary nobles after their war achievements, they still need the nod of the main line to restore the Harland family name.
Such a severe punishment was enough to alert members of the Harland family.
After dealing with Donn, the Goddess Birthday Festival was approaching, and Richard called the senior civil officials of the territory together to do the annual summary.
The Harland territory was divided into two counties, with Rogue as the county governor of the southern foothills of the Eagle Mountains and Powell as the county governor of the eastern part of the Grota River.
The territory has just completed the reform of the county system, and the work is so complicated that it needs to wait until next year to get it all straightened out.
“Has the territory’s population count been completed this year?”
Rogue replied, “The population count has been completed, this year the territory’s fertility rate is still high, over five percent, and we have a population of about three hundred and forty-one thousand people on the household register. This year we moved our population from the Grand Duchy of Starnik in four installments, counting the families of the captured soldiers totaling one hundred and thirty thousand people, in addition to receiving ninety-six thousand people from the eastern county of Grota River. This year, the new population of the territory is particularly large, about two hundred and fifty thousand people. The total population of the territory has exceeded five hundred and seventy thousand.”
Despite having predicted this figure, Richard was still pleased to hear Rogge report it.
A population of five hundred and seventy thousand people had already surpassed the southern count territories.
The four counts in the south of Grant Kingdom had a population of only 300,000 to 400,000 people in their territories.
The four marquis territories in the east were a bit larger, with a total population of five to eight hundred thousand people. In terms of population, the Harland territory was already equivalent to the level of a marquis, and its military strength was a few points stronger than the four eastern marquises.
“How many indentured servants do we have in our population, and how many free people do we have?”
Logue has a good memory and is very attentive to government affairs, many of the territory’s data are firmly in his mind, after hearing Richard’s question, he blurted out, “The territory has 56,000 indentured servants who have become free people this year, in addition to the eastern counties of the Grota River which originally had 13,000 free people, together with the territory’s original 93,000 free people, the territory’s free people are about 162,000 people. ”
“Do the free people of the eastern county of Grota River need us to divide the land?”
The eastern county of Grota River is the original Earl Roger’s territory. This county’s freeholders were inextricably linked to King Roger, although those who were close to King Roger had returned to Nolan in the past few years, and the rest of them Richard couldn’t possibly relegate to indentured servitude in order to avoid destabilizing his rule.
“Most of the free people in this county are soldiers’ families, these soldiers almost all serve in the royal guards, part of them have saved enough money and will move to Nolan one after another in a few years. But no matter what, according to the policy we should still give them a share of the land.
Exactly how to divide the land will have to wait for the end of the farmland statistics, anyway, it’s the standard of five acres of land per capita. The extra land that the free folk have, we recognize that as well.”
Seeing that Logue was more thoughtful, Richard nodded and said, “This matter should be taken care of, and try to ensure fairness when dividing the fields.”
(End of chapter)