Chapter 275: Abolition of Nobility
Richard saw that Tang En was white and fat, and it seemed that he had rarely been exposed to the sun and wind this year. He immediately lost confidence in what he said to Tang En.
He stared at Tang En's eyes and said seriously: "Have you carefully checked the major grain depots? Grain depots are the places where problems are most likely to occur. You must go and see in person. Anyone who resells grain, no matter how close or distant the relationship is, must be severely punished. Because the grain issue is related to the stability of our regime, anyone who embezzles in the grain issue is challenging the foundation of our rule and is an enemy of the Harland family. We must never relax on such people, and we must kill them one by one.
Did you go to the fields in person to see the summer and autumn harvests?
I asked you to be responsible for agricultural work, not to be a good person. If you dare to protect them, I will expel you from the Harland family. , abolish your noble status, and even your descendants will be implicated and removed from the Harland family. "
Hearing Richard's serious words, Tang En did not dare to lie, and said tremblingly: "I did not check every grain depot, and most of the data I said were reported from below. I think the officials below should not dare to deceive us, right?"
Hearing this, Richard slammed the table fiercely and said: "Playing nonsense. Starting tomorrow, you will take people down and check every grain depot carefully. The grain in the territory must be counted, and you will be responsible for any problems. "
In recent years, the Harland family has developed faster and faster, and Richard's prestige has become greater and greater. Even Uncle Bernie and Uncle Powell did not dare to oppose Richard's opinion, and family members respected Richard more and more.
Seeing his cousin angry, Tang En was immediately panicked and lost confidence in the lower-level officials.
Early in the morning of the next day, Richard directly ordered the establishment of a joint inspection and investigation team, and the discipline inspection, intelligence, and grain departments were to select responsible persons.
Richard appointed Hayden as the leader of the investigation team, his younger brother George, cousin Tang En, second uncle Powell and others were all members of the team, to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the territory's grain storage reserves and clean up the dirt in the grain system.
After the investigation team went down, they caught the lower level off guard by surprise inspections, dismissed and investigated more than a dozen officials in the grain system, and counted the grain reserves in Harland's territory.
Sure enough, the actual grain reserves did not match the reported data. Including the old grain, the grain reserves in the territory were less than 100,000 tons.
More than a dozen officials in the grain system had begun to embezzle the reserve grain three years ago, but Richard's inspections were frequent in the past, and the scale of embezzlement was relatively small, only dozens of tons, one or two hundred tons a year.
Compared with the huge grain reserves in the territory, these little mice were basically undetectable.
This year, Richard has been fighting outside for most of the year, and he has no time to inspect and punish corrupt officials after returning. The burden of officials in the grain system has become much heavier. This year, the grain embezzled and sold exceeded 12,000 tons, and the embezzled stolen money exceeded 25,000 gold coins.
The inspection team uncovered a huge corruption case. Powell stayed in the grain depot to stabilize the situation. Hayden, Don, and George hurried to Richard to report the situation. Don even wrote a resignation letter on the way and was ready to take responsibility.
After receiving the news from the three, Richard was not panicked at all and immediately gave his opinions on how to deal with it.
"All corrupt officials will be sent to mines, their relatives will be demoted to slaves, and they will not be pardoned within three generations. They will not be allowed to join the army, go to school, or be admitted as officials. Their recommenders will also be dealt with seriously. Those who cause serious losses will be dismissed and investigated. Those with less responsibility will be deprived of the right to recommend within three years, and the matter will be recorded in the archives."
All middle and senior officials in the Harland territory have the right to recommend. Officials above the county level in the civil service system and middle-level bureaucrats at the headquarters can recommend officials. Officers above the battalion commander of the army can also recommend soldiers as grassroots officers.
However, if there is a problem with the recommended officials, the recommender will also be responsible. In serious cases, they will be implicated. In order to avoid taking responsibility, smart middle and senior bureaucrats will use the right of recommendation carefully and will not easily recommend people with low ability and moral character.
Seeing that Tang En was a little timid, Richard instantly guessed something. He frowned and said, "Why, are you still going to plead for them? Get out of here right now!"
Seeing that Richard could no longer suppress his anger, Tang En fled the mansion in a panic.
After Tang En left the mansion, Richard turned around and asked George, "What's wrong with Tang En?"
George is the eldest son of Mrs. Ola. He is less than 20 years old this year. He serves as the intelligence adjutant of the Harland Territory and assists Noel in managing intelligence work.
In terms of ability, George's performance at work is relatively average. Nowadays, the intelligence work in the Harland Territory is so complicated. George is already the second-in-command of the intelligence system at a young age. It is normal that he cannot do his job.
Richard's use of George is a bit of a stunt. It is not a good thing for members of the Harland family to be in a high position at a young age without training at the grassroots level.
The same is true for Tang En. He is only 26 or 27 years old, and he has already served as the highest official in the agricultural system of the Haland Territory. In terms of ability, Tang En is actually not competent.
He simply does not have the ability to play tricks with the bureaucrats below. Faced with the flattery of lower-level bureaucrats, Tang En has no ability to distinguish the truth from the false, let alone control these people.
"The officials recommended by Tang En have problems in this investigation."
"How many?"
"All the officials recommended by Tang En in the past three years have problems.
According to the system of the Haland Territory, the right to recommend middle and senior officials is greatly restricted, and only one official can be recommended each year.
Tang En was already the highest official in the agricultural system, and the officials he recommended naturally got on the fast track, found a big backer, and were all placed in important positions. These people were Tang En's confidants, acting unscrupulously and being the most corrupt.
This time when the investigation team went down, Tang En also tipped them off, but the preparation time was too short, and these people simply couldn't get back more than 10,000 tons of grain reserves.
Richard looked out the window and asked coldly, "Is there any hidden story behind this?"
"The daughter of one of the officials is Tang En's lover."
Hearing this, Richard sneered and said, "After all, money and sex are inevitable, and sugar-coated bullets cannot be resisted. You should take this as a warning. If you don't have the ability to see through the fire, don't easily recommend officials. If you want to find a beautiful woman, you should also open your eyes. You are members of the Harland family. If you violate the law, I will never show mercy when dealing with you. The goddess' birthday is coming soon. Send someone to notify the third uncle and discuss opinions on how to deal with Tang En."
Tang En is the eldest son of the third uncle and is a member of the Harland family with a high status.
Third uncle Bernie is already a sixth-level warrior. His military exploits are not far from being knighted. After the next orc invasion war, he will most likely be promoted to hereditary baron. Tang En is the first heir of the third uncle. Richard needs to communicate with the main members of the family to deal with him and listen to everyone's opinions before making a decision.
Seeing that Richard was in a very bad mood, George quietly left the room. The room suddenly became quiet. After waiting for a long time, Hayden broke the silence and said, "Richard, how are you going to deal with Tang En?"
"I have made it very clear. He did not fulfill his responsibilities as a member of the Harland family. Naturally, he must be driven out of the Harland family, his surname must be taken back, and his noble status must be abolished."
Hayden held the table with both hands and said tremblingly, "Tang En is our younger brother and the eldest son of Uncle San. You are too harsh on your relatives by treating him like this. Even if Uncle San doesn't say anything, he may have opinions about you in his heart."
"Uncle San has four sons, and there are seven or eight illegitimate children outside. There are more than a dozen heirs in his branch. Tang En is not capable, so he can choose other heirs.
Over the years, we have punished corrupt officials. If the punishment for Tang En is too light, what seriousness does the law have? Can our law only deal with the lower officials, and blindly allow the Harland family to embezzle and corrupt?
If fairness cannot be guaranteed, how can we win the hearts of the people?
Many of the corrupt officials we dealt with before have made military achievements. Now many people are watching Tang En, watching how I deal with him? In order to avoid the officers and soldiers from mourning the death of the rabbit and the fox, and to maintain the seriousness of the law, I have to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, and deal with Tang En severely and severely.
I want to tell the members of the Harland family that they must take responsibility for their mistakes. If the third uncle has an opinion, let him suppress it in his heart. If he dares to make trouble, I will hold him accountable. "
Seeing Richard so determined, Hayden knew that Richard had been arbitrary since he was a child. No one could persuade him if he had made up his mind.
If Richard insisted on his own way, even his father William could not change his opinion.
The Harland family has developed to this point, and Richard is the most critical person.
Richard has two earldoms, while William has only one barondom. The reason why the Harland surname is noble is also due to Richard's reputation.
Richard's influence in the territory is far greater than that of William, Bernie and other previous generations.
The 16,000 troops in the territory will only obey Richard's orders. Because this army was built by Richard. The backbone of the army is also Richard's confidant.
Among the members of the Harland family, Richard is the one who holds the key power.
"Since you have made up your mind, it is best to communicate with your third uncle before announcing it, and don't make a conflict."
Richard patted Hayden on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry about this. My severe punishment of Tang En is a good thing for the development of the Harland family. In the future, if Margaret and Philip do something wrong, I will also severely punish them."
After sending Hayden away, Richard wrote a letter to his third uncle, telling him his opinion on punishing Tang En.
Seeing Richard punishing his heir so severely, Third Uncle Bernie was very unhappy, but Richard was very determined to abolish Tang En's noble status.
Third Uncle Bernie found William to plead for mercy, but it still didn't work. In order to avoid the conflict from being made public, Bernie could only angrily agree to Richard's request and abolish Tang En's noble status.
Before the Goddess's Birthday, Tang En left the Harland family in disgrace and settled in Nolan.
Without his noble status, Tang En could not have a good development in Nolan. The class solidification in Nolan is far more serious than that in the northern border, and it is difficult to leap up the class.
Tang En's lineage is already an ordinary person. Although Third Uncle Bernie funded Tang En with some money, Tang En could only become a small businessman in Nolan. Even if his descendants made military achievements and became hereditary nobles, they still needed the nod of the main line to restore the Harland surname.
Such a severe punishment is enough to alert the members of the Harland family.
After dealing with Tang En, the Goddess's Birthday was approaching, and Richard summoned the senior civil servants of the territory to make an annual summary.
The Haaland Territory is divided into two counties. Rogge is the county governor of the county on the southern foot of the Eagle Mountains, and Powell is the county governor of the county on the eastern side of the Grotta River.
The territory has just completed the reform of the county system. There are many things to do, and it will take until next year to sort them all out.
"Has the population census of the territory been completed this year?"
Rogge replied: "The population census has been completed. The fertility rate in the territory this year is still very high, exceeding 5%. Our registered population is about 341,000. This year, we will come from the Grand Duchy of Stanik in four batches. The migrant population, including the families of captured soldiers, totals 130,000. In addition, the population of the county east of the Grotta River is 96,000. The new population in the territory this year is particularly large, and the total population of the territory has reached 250,000. More than 570,000 people.”
Despite his prediction of this data, Richard was still very happy after hearing Rogge's report.
The population of 570,000 has exceeded that of the counties in the south.
The four earls in the southern part of the Grant Kingdom only have a population of 300,000 to 400,000 people.
The territory of the four eastern marquises is larger, with a total population of 50,000 to 800,000. From a population point of view, the Harland territory is already equivalent to the level of a marquis, and its military strength is somewhat stronger than that of the four eastern marquises.
“How many indentured servants are there in our population and how many free men are there?”
Rogge has a good memory and is very attentive to government affairs. He keeps many data in the territory firmly in mind. After hearing Richard's question, he blurted out: "Fifty-six thousand indentured servants in the territory have become free citizens this year. In addition, Grotta There were originally 13,000 free citizens in Hedong County, and together with the original 93,000 free citizens in the territory, the number of free citizens in the territory was approximately 162,000. "
"Do the freemen of the county east of the Grotta River need us to divide their fields?"
The county east of the Grotta River was the original earldom of Roger. The free citizens of this county are inextricably linked to King Roger. Although those who are closely related to King Roger have returned to Nolan in the past few years, it is impossible for the remaining people to be demoted to indentured servants by Richard, so as not to The rule is unstable.
"Most of the free people in this county are the families of soldiers. Almost all of these soldiers are serving in the Royal Guards. Some of them have saved enough money and will move to Nolan in a few years. But no matter what, according to the policy we still They should be given land.
The specific method of dividing the fields will have to wait until the farmland statistics are completed. Anyway, it is the standard of five acres of land per capita. We also recognize the extra land created by free people. "
Seeing that Rogge had considered it carefully, Richard nodded and said, "We must pay close attention to this matter and try to be fair when dividing the fields."