Chapter 239

The Tyndall brothers met Rebecca for the first time, so they couldn't figure out that this little girl was as pure and innocent as she looked on the surface, or her acting skills were superb, but in fact she was deeply scheming.

"I have Conti's mailing address, but I can't tell you."

Joan was forced to take over the conversation.

"Why not!" Rebecca pouted angrily.

"Wouldn't you be angry if I shared your mailing address with strangers without your permission?"

"This..." Rebecca was speechless.

"Don't talk about these digressions, did you pass by here by chance, or did you have something to do with me?"

"I'm passing by, but I do have something to ask for your help." Rebecca smiled apologetically at Brother Tyndall, then turned to Joan and said, "You entertain your friends first, and it's not too late to talk about my business another day." .”

Seeing that Rebecca turned to leave, Roger quickly gave Dick a wink, and then hurriedly said goodbye to Joan, so as not to disturb him and Rebecca's "business" talk.

Rebecca accompanied Joan and sent the two old friends from the hometown out of school until the Tyndale brothers boarded the public carriage and waved goodbye.

"Joan, let's find a secluded place to sit and talk, shall we?"

Joan nodded, and walked along a path paved with white cobblestones to the depths of the willow shade.

There are benches under the shade of trees, mostly occupied by young couples in pairs.

Joan and Rebecca walked around a long way before they found an empty chair near the pond and sat down side by side.

In the early summer afternoon, the sun is warm, the warm wind is blowing, and the willow branches are swaying.

The calm pond has circles of golden ripples, and the lazy and leisurely atmosphere makes you want to doze off.

"Joan, have you heard of the name Andrew Snow?"

Rebecca spoke softly, as if she was afraid of destroying the peaceful and peaceful atmosphere deep in the shade of willows.

Joan frowned slightly, searching his memory, and vaguely remembered hearing Mr. Havel mention this name, but couldn't remember who the other party was.

"I don't know this person well, what does he do?"

"Mr. Andrew Snow is the Customs Director of Leiden Port, and also the Commissioner of Taxation appointed by His Majesty the Emperor. He is fully responsible for collecting various taxes in the Alfheim Colony. Among all the officials of the colonial government, his power is Second only to Governor Norfolk and General Gates."

After listening to Rebecca's explanation, Joan finally remembered.

Mr. Havel once chatted with Xiaomiao about cross-border smuggling, and said that after Andrew Snow became the head of the Port of Leiden Customs, he issued a series of laws and regulations to crack down on smuggling, and also submitted a proposal to the municipal council to expand the size of the anti-smuggling fleet. budget proposal.

These tough regulatory measures made Mr. Havel lament that the smuggling business is getting harder and harder to do.

Since Yangbo Trading Co. mainly focuses on import and export trade, it is inevitable to flirt with the smuggling fleet at sea.

Once the smuggling channels are cut off, the prices of some in-demand commodities imported from the Old Continent, such as tea, sugar, and high-end industrial products such as clocks and watches, will rise sharply, and the business of Yangbo Trading Company will definitely be affected.

The municipal council has not yet approved Andrew Snow's proposal to strengthen the anti-smuggling military and police, but the tough new director of customs has brought a chill to the market in Leiden Port, causing widespread dissatisfaction among business people.

Leiden Port is the largest trading port in the Alfheim colony. Most of the local merchants rely on maritime trade to make a living. Their interests are not completely consistent with those of the home country government, especially when it comes to tariffs.

Joan doesn't know much about tax issues, but based on his personal experience, he suspects that most traders in the colony are suspected of tax evasion, and even regard smuggling as a routine means of making huge profits, even if they dare not publicize it. At least not ashamed.

In contrast, the merchant class generally harbored strong hostility towards the imperial bureaucrats responsible for tax collection and even the ordinary tax police, and regarded them as "running dogs" of the imperial authorities.

Around the contradiction between "taxation" and "resistance to taxation", serious splits occurred in the municipal council of Port Leiden.

Some members insisted that all walks of life should pay taxes according to the law, which is an obligation that must be fulfilled as a citizen.

More congressmen took the opposite position, emphasizing that the imperial authorities monopolized the export trade of the colonies, deliberately lowered the prices of agricultural products and raw materials in Alfheim, and prohibited the sale of the above-mentioned commodities to foreign merchants with higher bids.

In this unfair trade environment, the imperial authorities imposed heavy taxes, and the colonial merchants could not survive at all. In order to survive, they could only choose to evade taxes.

In fact, not only businessmen are like this, farmers are also the same.

Joan remembered that his hometown, Delin Town, was the "Lao Lai" who had been in arrears with taxes for many years.

As for whether this matter is done right or not, the public says the public is right, and the mother-in-law says the woman is right. In the final analysis, the ass decides the head.

Joan has never been interested in politics, so he asked Rebecca directly: "The Commissioner of Customs seems to have nothing to do with us, what's your intention in saying this?"

"Actually, Mr. Andrew Snow is a distant relative of our Custis family. Of course, my father has rarely seen him since he left home. However, just yesterday evening, I received a letter from Mr. Snow."

"I haven't contacted you for a long time, and I suddenly received a letter. The director probably has something to ask for your help."

"You guessed it right." Rebecca nodded with a wry smile, "Mr. Snow complained to me in the letter, saying that his family's manor was bewitched by some evil spirit, and a ghost suddenly appeared, making the family restless. "

"Haunted?" Joan frowned. "This is a strange thing. Didn't Mr. Snow ask the priest to exorcise him?"

"Yes, but the priests he invited were useless. Not only did they fail to drive away the ghosts, they were also tossed about by the ghosts so badly that they had no choice but to run away."

Rebecca covered her mouth and smirked, making no secret of her schadenfreude at those crappy colleagues.

"Mr. Snow really couldn't help it. For some reason, he remembered that my distant niece was a new disciple of Sister Claire, so he wrote this letter to me, asking me to ask Sister Claire to help eliminate the ghosts that harass Snow Manor. "

Joan knew that Rebecca's teacher—Sister Clare, the dean of the seminary—was a 10th-level priest Timothy, the most powerful and respected divine spellcaster in Port Leiden.

It was quite reasonable for the Commissioner of Customs to ask the old lady for help.

"What did Sister Claire say?"

"She declined."

"The ostensible reason is lack of time. In fact, we all know that Sister Claire has always opposed violent taxation, and she even hates Mr. Snow who advocates tough taxation."

Rebecca smiled wryly.

"However, the other party is still a high-ranking government official. Sister Claire didn't want to openly offend Mr. Snow, so she sent me, a young apprentice, to the Snow Manor to deal with errands. If it's just ordinary undead that are causing trouble, I'll deal with it."

"It's okay to go and have a look."

Joan tries to encourage Rebecca.

"You are a level 5 Pastor Timothy who came from a serious class, and a disciple of the dean of the seminary. You are different from those magic sticks who don't have much real skills and only play tricks to cheat money. You are best at dealing with undead creatures."

"That's what I said, but I..."

Rebecca looked ashamed, as if she couldn't speak.

As a priest, Rebecca is theoretically good at dealing with undead.

But now she's running into a small, non-technical snag.

Today is five more, and there is another chapter behind.