Urban Sims

Give that boy a reward of money?

Shaked his head.

There's no need. That kid holds 30% of the shares of the pharmaceutical manufacturing factory and has recently earned more than 3 million gold coins. He is a wealthy man and does not need monetary rewards.

beauty?

How about giving a concubine or a royal daughter to be that boy's wife, and using a beautiful woman to trap that boy?

King James had thought about this idea and asked the boy for his opinion. Unexpectedly, the boy was not interested and said that he was still young and his parents were not around, so he could not get their blessing, so he did not want to get married yet.

"What does that kid mean...want me to pardon his family?"

King James understood what Leylin meant, and he also had this idea. In the recent palace meeting, he mentioned this issue many times, and received support from a group of nobles, who all believed that the Leylin family should be pardoned... At the court meeting, King Jaime for the first time had some supportive voices.

but……

These voices are too weak for now.

The three great dukes controlled most of the aristocratic power. With the joint opposition of the three great dukes, King James's pardon proposal still failed to pass.

At least for now, it is not very realistic to pardon the Leilin family, unless the power of the "Loyal King Party" grows stronger.

Don’t think about sending beauties for now.

"We can only give him an official position and a title, so that his status can be promoted from a commoner to a noble." Roberts suggested.

King James nodded and granted the title to the lord. This is where the king's power lies. Whether it is a duke, marquis, earl, viscount, or baron, the king can enfeoff all levels of titles, unlike lower-level nobles. Notwithstanding the restrictions, granting a higher-level title requires the permission of the superior noble.

The king has no restrictions and can grant almost unlimited titles as long as the reasons are justifiable.

"What title should be given to that boy? Earl or Viscount?"

King James asked, considering that boy's contribution, it would not be an exaggeration to give him a duke. 10 million gold coins. If anyone can send so many gold coins to the royal family, it would not be an exaggeration to give him a duke.

"Let's give it to the viscount. The title given to him at once is too high. What contribution will he make next time? What reward should the royal family give him?"

Roberts said, he had a vague hunch in his heart: with that kid's ability, he would not be limited to setting up a pharmaceutical production factory, he might also do other big things.

"Viscount?"

King James hesitated: "Isn't this reward a bit light... Give him a Viscount of the land or a Viscount of the landless?"

A landless viscount refers to a viscount with a fief, and a landless viscount naturally refers to a viscount without a fief... There is a big difference between the two.

"Except for the swamp in the south, the only land in the kingdom that can be sealed is the landless viscount."

"Isn't this...the reward too light? I'm afraid someone will take advantage of this loophole and take advantage of the situation to lure that kid away!"

King James was hesitant. He was usually a stingy person, but after being a king for so many years, he had basic political wisdom. If the reward was too light and the meritorious officials were dissatisfied, someone would definitely take advantage of it.

"Then give him a larger official position."

"What official position?"

"Treasurer of the Kingdom."

"The financial controller whose power is second only to the palace minister? If you give him such a high official position, will he be able to do it?"

"I don't know. That boy told me that as long as he is given the position of treasurer, he can make the royal family never run out of money."

"What did that kid say?"

King James' eyes widened in disbelief.

He was wasting his time worrying about his feelings. It turned out that the boy had already set his reward for him and had set his sights on a high position - the financial controller.

Should I give him this position?

"Let the royal family never be short of money. If he can really do this, he can't hold the position of financial controller for a few days..."

King James' thoughts became vivid.

And he also felt that the current financial controller, Old Ford, was too old. Not only did he always say that the treasury had no money, he often reached into the royal family's inner treasury and asked the king for money. Recently, he heard that the royal family had made a fortune. After a large sum of money, he asked for 3 million gold coins, as if the royal family's money was blown by a strong wind.

Thinking of this, King James decided: lay off Old Ford first!

…

the next day.

Zhou Ming was called into the palace and participated in today's palace meeting.

At this meeting, King James announced his reward: granting him the title of viscount and encouraging him to continue his efforts.

Many nobles expressed support for this reward from the king and congratulated Zhou Ming.

Although the three dukes and their followers had some complaints, the landless viscount had not yet crossed the line in their hearts, so they did not say anything.

Duke Rudolf even thought: The king's reward was so light, that boy must be dissatisfied, wouldn't he have the opportunity to take advantage of it?

After he decided to go back, he sent someone to deliver an invitation, talk to the boy again, say something bad about the king, and win the boy over... He estimated that he had a 60-70% chance of success.

However, the next two things announced by the king made Duke Rudolf's narrowed eyes suddenly widen, and all his plans were wiped out.

First of all, the king fired Old Ford, the chief financial officer. The reason was that the kingdom's finances had been in deficit for many years and there must be major problems. Old Ford was to blame. He thought that he was old and allowed him to resign.

Then it was announced that the newly promoted viscount, Viscount Lemoton Leylin, would be appointed as the new financial controller of the kingdom to rectify the kingdom's finances and solve the increasingly severe financial problems.

Then, King James squinted his eyes and began to watch the show.

good!

King Jaime was going to give the boy a hard time... to reward him for his careful calculation.

You must know that Old Ford, who has been the financial controller for more than 40 years (longer than King James has been in power), is not someone to be trifled with. He is even the second person in the kingdom, besides Duke Rudolf, who dares to The one who sprayed spittle all over the king's face.

Now that the Kings have fired him and replaced him with a 17-year-old boy, how can Old Ford endure it?

Sure enough, less than two seconds after the king's appointment decision was announced, Old Ford exploded.

Like a furious lion, he rushed in front of Zhou Ming with three steps and two steps at a time, raised the crutch in his hand, and was about to hit him.

"What?"

Zhou Ming grabbed the end of his crutch and looked puzzled: "Why did you hit someone?"

"The one I hit is you!"

Old Ford's eyes were red, and his chest was heaving violently: "I have worked hard for the kingdom for decades, tearing down the east wall and repairing the west wall, and managed to maintain this kingdom. Without me, Old Ford, this kingdom would have been over!"

"Who do you think you are, you bastard? You just built a factory and helped the king make some money. Do you have as much contribution as me? Do you know how much effort I put in? You bastard, I will beat you to death." !”

The more Old Ford thought about it, the angrier he became. He dropped his crutch, brandished his old fist, and beat Zhou Ming.

"Well done Mr. Ford!"

Duke Rudolf cheered loudly and even wanted to step forward to help, punching the kid twice.

Today's palace meeting suddenly became extremely chaotic, like a farce.

"enough!"

Zhou Ming roared and shouted to stop the irrational Lao Fudou.

Pointing at him and saying:

"Old Ford, I have evaluated the value of various properties in your name. It is about 10 million gold coins. Everyone knows that you are a famous miser. There are only four old servants in your family. You can't bear to eat or wear clothes. Your salary is every month. It’s only 1,800 gold coins, but may I ask, where did the various treasures worth 8 million gold coins hidden in the cellar of your castle come from? The kingdom’s three border defense corps, with more than 3 million stones of military rations every year, are mixed with hundreds of thousands of What's going on with the rocks, sand and sawdust? I don't need to say more about it, right?"

He said to Old Ford, whose face changed greatly: "When you go back, recruit a few more warriors to look after your home. You don't have any guards. Do you really think that others can't find your treasure?"

Boom~

Everyone was shocked when they heard Zhou Ming's revelation and looked at Old Ford.

Old Ford, who is known as the poorest among the nobles, the miser of the kingdom, and has devoted his life to the kingdom, is actually a big rat?

Isn't this surprising?

King James asked with an ugly face: "Ford, does your family really have 8 million treasures hidden?"

He felt unbelievable. All the time, he did not trust any of the officials in the palace. He only trusted Lao Fu. He often rewarded him with some property and servants to improve his life. Lao Fu took all back to subsidize the national treasury. He also I was moved several times... but I didn't expect that Lao Ford had been acting and had 8 million hidden in his family!

"No! Really not!"

Old Ford knelt down and pointed at Zhou Ming: "Your Majesty, this boy is wrongly accusing me!"

Zhou Ming held his hands and said, "Mr. Ford, please retreat with dignity. Don't force me to continue to reveal the news."

He then said to King James: "Your Majesty, there is no need to track down Mr. Ford anymore. The little money he is greedy for is just a small amount of money. Don't worry too much about it. Let him retire peacefully."

Everyone is staring at King James again to see what decision he will make?

If the king insists on investigating, just send a team of soldiers to Lao Ford's house and get 8 million treasures.

If the king misses his old friendship and lets Lao Fude go, Lao Fude, who is over ninety years old, can live his old age well.

King James' expression changed for a moment.

Looking at Old Ford who was kneeling on the ground, crying out for injustice and shivering, he was almost certain: what that boy Leylin said was true.

After thinking about it again, he waved his hand irritably: "Let's go!"

As if he had received an amnesty, Lao Fu was helped out of the palace.

Everyone looked at Zhou Ming differently now.

Including King James.

A question arose in their minds: How did this boy Leylin see through Old Earl Ford, and how did he get the news?

Of course Zhou Ming would not tell them, what are the characteristics of a miser? What is the psychology of corrupt officials? What are the daily behaviors of corrupt officials who pretend to be honest officials? These people don’t understand these things in the category of behavioral psychology.

In short, after learning about the upper structure of the Yadud Kingdom and the personalities of the main officials from the old fox, Zhou Ming concluded at first glance: Old Ford is a big rat!

Then I took some time to walk around Lao Ford's house, and I found something surprising.

It happened to come in handy today.

Take Old Ford off the stage.

but……

This does not mean that Zhou Ming can securely assume the position of financial controller of the kingdom.

The three Dukes have yet to nod.

The three duke's henchmen, who accounted for most of the palace officials, had not yet nodded.

The Kingdom's Financial Controller, how could he get such a key and important position?

In order to gain support, Zhou Ming said three more sentences:

"The day I take the position of Financial Controller, the salaries of all officials will double!"

Support rate increased to 50%.

"On the day I take the position of Financial Controller, the tribute taxes that all nobles with fiefdoms need to pay will be reduced by 50%!"

The support rate increased to 80%.

"The day I take the position of Treasurer, the royal family's expenses will no longer be linked to the treasury, and no more gold coins will be taken from the treasury!"

Support rate increased to 100%.

Now there is only one opponent left - King James who originally proposed to let Zhou Ming be the financial controller.

"No! Absolutely not, messing with my kingdom like this will cause chaos!"

but……

The king's opposition was ineffective. Faced with the strong support of all noble officials, the 360-degree rolling support, and the death-defying support... King James could only suppress his blushing face and look at this project amidst the cheers of the ministers. Appointment passed.

At this moment, King James really wanted to kill someone.