Going east from the palace hall through two large courtyards is the official office of the finance minister of the Burgundy County. The official office is a three-story white brick and red tile building with fifteen rooms. The porch and stairs are carved with various patterns. There is also a sculpture in the courtyard in front of the official office, which looks very exquisite and luxurious.
In the period of the Marquis of Ivrea, there were more than twenty officials, big and small, here. It was the money tree and gold bag for the entire Burgundy County Palace. The iron warehouse and the palace's treasures were all located in the basement of the official office. Therefore, it was always guarded by heavy armored guards of the palace chamberlain.
However, at this time, the Chancellor of the Exchequer's office was empty of its former bustle. There were only ten people in the entire office, including two escort soldiers armed with spears and wearing armor. Flanders and Baldwin had not yet moved a large amount of money to the iron warehouse for storage, or they did not have any extra money to store here.
Since there was no money, the defense was also very lax. The two soldiers only made a few token inquiries before letting Art into the official office.
Matt grabbed a middle-aged man who looked like a clerk coming down from the stairs, "Sir, where is the official office of Baron Galvin?"
The middle-aged man glanced at Art up and down, saw the dress he was holding on his chest, and knew that Art must be a newly promoted noble, so he politely replied: "My lord, you mean the counselor, Viscount Galvin, right?"
"Viscount Galvin?" Art asked in a low voice.
"Well, Lord Galvin. I am his son-in-law. Could you please tell me which official room he is in?" Art continued to ask.
The middle-aged man raised his hand politely and pointed upstairs, "The innermost room upstairs is Lord Galvin's official room."
At thanked him, he stepped up to the second floor and walked straight to the innermost door.
Through the door, Art could barely hear fragmentary sentences such as "fruits, deadlines, privileged trade". It took a while for the sound to stop, and then Galvin sent people out.
The man was quite old and somewhat fat. He was wearing a suit of finely tailored raw silk and satin. He was dressed like a wealthy businessman. He was obviously a businessman who wanted to seek refuge in Flanders.
"Art, you are finally here, come inside." Galvin saw Art and ushered him into his office.
At this time, Galvin was no longer dressed in the palace just now. He had changed into a light and warm cotton robe.
Galvin made Art sit on the armchair in front of the long table, turned around and took the wine bottle from the high table by the fireplace, and filled Art with a glass of wine.
Art stood up and took it, "My father-in-law..."
Galvin pushed Art back into the chair, indicating that he didn't need to say anything more, then returned to sit behind the wooden table and said softly, "I know everything."
"Did you show any unusual behavior in the palace today? Or were you dissatisfied?" Galvin leaned forward and stared at Art nervously.
Matt shook his head.
"That's good!" Galvin leaned back in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Father-in-law, what is going on? I have already made great military achievements on the Western Front battlefield, and led the army through life and death in the Eastern Territory. The soldiers under my command suffered numerous casualties. Why do you treat me with an empty title of Viscount?" Art's tone was a little excited. No one would accept such perfunctory. It's good that Art can hold his breath and not rebel in court.
Galvin looked out the window. There was no sound of pedestrians in the porch. He smiled and said to Art: "The roots are lush and the leaves are big, and the trees are big and attract the wind. Your reputation in the East is too great and your military achievements are too prominent. A cold wind blew in the palace."
Art didn't quite understand what his old father-in-law Wen Zou Zou said, and looked at Galvin in confusion.
Galvin patiently answered the question, "After the military exploits of recovering the four fortresses in the east reached Besançon, there were different voices from the palace regarding the reward for your military exploits."
Att listened intently.
“The County of Burgundy will soon announce that it will cancel the title of the Free Count and return it to the Principality of Burgundy and become the Marquis of Franche-Comté region of the Principality (Note). According to the regulations of the Principality, the newly-established Marquis Region can have two palace counts, four border counts and one leading count. These counts are all real counts. In addition, the Principality has also restored the title of a few forest counts in recent years. This forest earl is the acting duke. He is a lord who manages hunting grounds, forests and other uninhabited barren lands. His status is lower than that of the first three types of counts, but he enjoys a high degree of privilege in the territory."
"I will definitely continue to be promoted to the palace earl after the uncle returns to the clan. Your military exploits in the East are dazzling enough. What's more important is that your wife is Flanders's cousin, so he hopes to get you a false title of forest earl, and then real title. Tyniec County and appointed you as the actual military deputy in charge of the army (one of the important ministers, you must be a count)..."
At's eyes almost widened, and he couldn't believe his ears.
Galvin nodded to confirm, "Recently there has been a rift between Flanders and Count Baldwin. After Besançon was conquered, Baldwin maintained that he was a local noble family in the north of Burgundy, and he had some strange thoughts. Flanders also intended to cultivate new nobles to suppress the entrenched old-school powerful officials."
Matt lowered his tone, "So there is opposition?"
Galvin nodded, "Baldwin definitely disagreed. He refused on the excuse that the war between the East and the West was not over yet and many heroes had not been rewarded. He only agreed to canonize you as a Viscount of the Frontier according to the pre-awarded document. At most, he would grant you the entire Baron Valley and the southern wasteland of Tyniec, or give you a piece of the county of Thorncodor as a fief after the Western Territory is captured."
"Baldwin's group has a strong attitude. Hard, Flanders still has to rely on the Baldwin faction, so the matter can only be put on hold for the time being, so he may just promote you to the title of title, and the fiefdom appointment will be given to you after he is enthroned by the Duchy of Burgundy and the Kingdom of France. However, Flanders has privately hinted to me that he will still work hard to get a young earl in the south. Just don't spread this matter around, so as not to cause trouble. "
Before Art could recover, Galvin lowered his voice and said, "Earl Baldwin seems to have known something about you. You have to be more careful. You still have to go to Earl Baldwin's place. That old guy is not big-hearted."
"You have made too much noise on the border, and the war profits you have obtained are also very rich. I am afraid that Baldwin's eyes have been fixed on your purse for a long time. There are rumors that he also covets your southern goods trade route."
Att was a little angry, "He already had a share of that trade route, what? He Do you still want to monopolize it?”
Galvin quickly pressed his hand to lower his voice, "After Flanders entered the palace, he has asked me to temporarily serve as deputy finance minister with the title of viscount. I will not take action against your business in Baldwin. Now Flanders has not yet taken deep roots in the North, so we must not stand on the opposite side of Baldwin..."
After Galvin finished speaking, Art's mind was churning for a long time, and the office room became quiet for a while.
"My father-in-law, I will visit Earl Baldwin right away. You have to worry more about your cousin Flanders at the palace. In addition, since you are now the deputy finance minister, I have to help you stabilize your position. You can stabilize the country's finances. Only in this way can Lu Commercial Bank go further. "
Many local old-timers were not convinced that Galvin was promoted to viscount as a baron and took on the unusual position of earl. Many local old-timers were not convinced. He was worried about how to gain a foothold in the court. It would be good for Art to help him gain a foothold.
Matt stood up and walked to Galvin's side, leaned over and listened, "I led troops in the east to sack the Swabian border and captured 1.72 million pfennigs. What I reported to the court was that I gained 920,000 pfennigs. The battle in the east cost me 760,000 pfennigs, and I had to leave at least 500,000 to deal with the next situation. In addition, Baldwin had to give at least 50,000 pfennigs as a gift."
"Of the remaining 400,000 pfennig, I will allocate 100,000 to Felix, and I will hand over the remaining 300,000 pfennig to you. With this money at hand, you can at least be stronger in what you say. You can hint this matter to Don Flanders. Brother, please don’t make it known.”
Galvin, the deputy finance minister, is currently short of everything, but the most important thing is food and military pay. This 300,000 yuan is not much, but at least it can solve the immediate problem of supporting the army.
"I will hint to Flanders. With this generous gift, I think Flanders will pay more attention to your promotion to earl, and your efforts will not suffer." Galvin nodded affirmatively. He was originally worried that Art was determined to monopolize the gains in the Eastern Territory. Since Art proposed it himself, it is of course better, and he can also have an explanation to Flanders.
"Father-in-law, now that the war has reached a stalemate, the next step is to see who can have the money, food and materials to last one more day. The final winner will be who can last one more day."
Galvin sighed, "That bastard Bernard has moved all the tax surplus of the entire county for more than ten years to the city of Thorne. Now we will definitely not be able to support it with the strength of the two provinces of Jonne and Lucesne. The finance minister (the head of the Earl of Longchal in Flanders) has gone to the southern countries to lobby, hoping to borrow enough money and supplies through the relationship between Flanders and the southern countries."
"You haven't thought about asking for Holy Order funds. The Holy Order is the largest financial backer in the Christian world. If we can obtain their loan, it will not only alleviate the financial crisis but also get unexpected support. The Holy Order will never allow its borrowers to be eliminated." Galvin touched the ring on his hand and said, "You and Flanders have an idea. Flanders has already appointed Bishop Olof to lobby the Holy Order, hoping to use the tax of the country for twenty years to offset the loan of five million pfennigs."
"Five million? Are you willing to lend money from the Holy Order's treasury?" Art knew that the current situation in the County of Burgundy was unclear, and the Holy Order might not be willing to lend a helping hand, not to mention that the amount was not small.
"Originally the Holy Group was unwilling, but in recent months we have not only captured Besançon but also driven away the Swabians from the east. The Holy Group saw our strength and sent another envoy to discuss the matter in the past two days.和附加条件很多，弗兰德正在同对方协谈......」
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离开高尔文的公事房走出宫廷的路上亚特五味陈杂。
"False title of earl? The new king drew a big cake for me~" Art sighed softly.