NOVPUBIn a world where even giving a meal worth more than 50,000 won to a public servant causes a scandal, it would be unimaginable.
In the Toscana Empire, however, when meeting public servants, especially high-ranking ones, you must neverme empty-handed.
Otherwise, you’ll be labeled as the worst kind of person.
"I heard that His Majesty has sent a secret order appointing you as the next Minister of Commerce, so I came to offer a small help." 𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘱𝑢𝑏.𝘤𝑜𝘮
After my greeting, I handed over a box ofokies carefully made by our family to theunt.
At first, he had a harsh expression as if to protest, wondering if such an impolite act was acceptable, but as soon as he grabbed the box, his expression turned into a smile again.
"Is this the trend among the young people these days, giving gifts like this?"
"I’ve thought long and hard to prepare this small gift to please Count Sardinia. Did you like it?"
"I do like it very much. At first, I was disappointed, but when I received it, Iuld tell it was filled with your sincere effort. It was refreshing."
High-ranking individuals, especially members of parliament, receive an awful lot of gift sets.
Regardless of whether they are from the ruling party or opposition, middle-ranking officials receive so many that their assistants are often forced to send dozens of them off.
And I don’t know how it is now, but in the past, the proper way of gifting was to arrange apples on top and fill the bottom with 10,000-won bills.
Since there’s no such custom here, I decided to try it, and the results were remarkable.
"I think I’ll send a gift like this to Count Marchesi next time."
"I’m glad to hear that you like it so much."
"By the way, I also wanted to ask you about the Ministry of Commerce. This works out perfectly. I would love to sit down and have a leisurelynversation over theokies, but I’m terribly busy right now."
Sardinia, just the name alone sounds like ituld be the name of a kingdom’s king.
Indeed, the Sardinia family was once the royal family of the Kingdom of Sardinia, hundreds of years ago.
However, after the kingdom was destroyed by the Toscana Empire, the royal family was absorbed into the Toscana nobility, making them an unusual case of a legal nobility.
Given their background, they often carry an air of arrogance among the nobility.
‘If only things weren’t so urgent, weuld have spent three hours chatting while eating theokies.’
"The Ministry of Commerce’s jurisdiction involves taxing merchants. To do that, we need to deploy auntants to investigate how much they make every year."
Just like it’s impossible to turn stones into gold, it’s also impossible to take money from someone who has none.
Furthermore, when imposing taxes, they should be set arding to the individual’s ime and asset levels.
If that principle is violated, theuntry wouldllapse in an instant.
"The auntants you trained will do better than me in this investigation, so there’s no need to worry about that. I’m just making thingsmplicated if I get involved."
"Wouldn’t it be better for the auntants to do their job well under your supervision, sir?"
"I appreciate that you’rencerned about my reputation, but you know, you’ve managed a business and a family, haven’t you? If I meddle in things I can’t do, it’s like sprinkling ashes on a perfectly baked bread. And, there’s no way I’ll be criticized for not doing the bookkeeping audit as well as they do, but if I start interfering here and there, it will actually tarnish my honor."
When high-ranking individualsme to the field, especially in urgent situations, we often think this:
‘Do they really think their presence will help?’
As Count Sardinia said, they know it too.
They know thatming here will only createnfusion at the scene.
Yet, because the public image is much more important, they gather reporters, take hurried photos, and deliver euraging speeches.
Here, nobles don’t need to act to show a good face to the public, so they don’t do such things.
Even so, it’s still impressive for a high-ranking official to say that they’ll step aside when they don’t know the essential inspection work of their own department.
‘Powerful people, after all, have a tendency to want tontrol everything.’
"The most important thing right now is the tax rate. What do you think would be an appropriate percentage?"
"It would be best to set the tax rate differently depending on the merchants’ or thempany’s revenue."
"Wouldn’t it be more efficient and simpler to set a uniform tax rate? Like for serfs, maybe 60%, no, now 50%. I can’t set 50%, but a tax rate of 30-40% should be acceptable."
"That would increase taxes in the short term, but in the long term, it would be a decision that would harm the Toscana Empire."
The critical difference between serfs and merchants is whether they can flee when the situation gets bad.
Serfs lose their land rights and essentially bme nothing when they leave their homeland...
But merchants, when things go bad enough, can run away with their money.
Starting over somewhere else may not be easy, but there is a huge difference between something with a slim chance of success and something impossible.
"If you impose a 40% tax, even wealthy merchants and those running mid-sized businesses will move their headquarters and operations overseas."
"Yes, it would be impossible to impose taxes on goods sold overseas."
"The money earned by merchants should be spent within the Toscana Empire. If that money flows overseas, it’s the same as making the Toscana Empire poorer."
Count Sardinia looked at me and asked.
"If I impose a 40% tax, what will you do?"
What else would I do? I’d move my business overseas.
I’d relocate our headquarters and staff to the Duchy of Milania or somewhere.
"I will remain here as a noble of the Toscana Empire."
Upon hearing my answer, the Count sighed.
"Don’t be too greedy. Alright then, what tax rate do you think is appropriate?"
"For annual sales under 10 goldins, 10%, from 10 to 100 goldins, 13%, from 100 to 1,000 goldins, 17%, and over 1,000 goldins, 20%. This way, everyone will pout but will have no choice but to pay."
"20%, huh. Well, that’s certainly a much bigger help to the empire’s finances than the gifts merchants often bring. But, °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° what if merchants stop giving gifts? How will we handle the pay for the legal nobles and civil servants? Their lives will bme very difficult."
That’s a threat.
Imposing taxes on merchants is the Emperor’s will, so I’ll take that intonsideration, but if their salaries drop in exchange...?
The angry legal nobles and central bureaucrats will surely try to destroy our Rothschild family.
But, I can fully understand their position.
Whether it’srrupt ime or whatever, it’s been an accepted practice until now, and if it’s suddenly cut off, people will start to suffer.
‘Ofurse, they’ll blame me.’
"If we start taxing merchants, the budget will naturally increase, right? We’ll have to pay the salary equivalent to the value of the gifts merchants used to give."
"That sounds like the most reasonable approach."
While serfs are just poor people with no rights, making them easy tontrol with mere responsibility, merchants, though lacking political power, have more money than the nobles.
If we enforce only obligations, they’ll either revolt or, most likely, resort to underhanded tactics I can’t even imagine.
‘If we’ve paid taxes, we should get therresponding benefits.’
"And the most important thing is, when wellect taxes, we must protect them from the abuses of the nobility."
In life, for everything you receive, you must give something in return.
"That way, merchants will realize that their only way to survive is by trusting and relying on His Majesty the Emperor."
"Receiving the money while strengthening imperial power. It’s a brilliant idea only you would think of."
The organizational structure of the Three Estates perfectly symbolizes absolute monarchy.
Religion, Nobility, Merchants.
These three propose policies to the King and lead theuntry.
I’llntrol the merchant aspect, and through religious reforms, I’ll reduce religion’s role to the moral and emotional stability of the people...
‘I’ll have half the Empire in my hands.’
"It’s an honor."
"Good, let’s do that. I’ll suggest the same to His Majesty."
And before I implemented the merchant tax system, I met separately with the person who would be the practical leader of the auntants.
While auditing, I planned to make life difficult for those who might be hostile or try to check against our family.
