Chapter 771: The Ever-changing Demon Lord
After waving goodbye to the sweaty Yang Shiwei, Gu Jing put on his top hat and returned to the spaceship.
The spaceship carried him and his entourage away from Yang Shiwei's ship and returned to the space city of Lingze Star, and stopped directly outside the apron of the Imperial Tax Office Building.
He strolled back to his office.
This was the exclusive office of the Alliance Imperial Tax Envoy, and it now belonged to him.
The Imperial Tax Working Group is now a permanent organization, and its job is to coordinate the payment of imperial taxes by various government agencies and local governments in the alliance.
They also manage the imperial tax difference trade originally on Lingze Star.
But when all of this added up, something went wrong.
The Working Group has too much authority. When the Alliance Plan was first implemented fifteen years ago, the tax pressure on the Alliance was relatively large. Even military spending had to be cut, not to mention other things.
Taxation, local development investment, trade investment, military expenditure, special project investment... all compete for money. And the imperial tax is particularly urgent, and it is a hard target that must be completed every year. Therefore, the working group was given a very high authority.
The military is not easy to mess with. The military budget has already been cut according to the governor's opinion. Are you still asking for money to save your face?
Special project investments are not easy to deal with either. These are specially approved funds, and some are kept confidential to such an extent that even the Prime Minister of the Union, Ossena, is not allowed to ask about them, let alone the working group.
Therefore, they could only focus on the two major items of trade and local development. There were many conflicts, and even the forced taxation by the working group caused some things that could be called "persecution". There were also many people in the government and legal departments who were fighting against the working group.
After all, the alliance is not a real utopia, and problems will arise. Some of the actions of the working group have indeed had a negative impact on the economic development and people's livelihood of the alliance.
This alone was not enough. The working group held great power, especially later on, when the amount of imperial tax differential trade increased rapidly, and under their control, the breeding of corruption was inevitable.
Not everyone has received training at Zhongsi College, as Zhongsi College cannot offer so many classes; and not everyone has attended the special training class at Zhongsi College, that is, received special training for political commissars.
Others, without such experience, would not be able to get high positions. But the corruption of the little devils is often more deadly because there are more of them.
Fortunately, the political atmosphere in the alliance is still good after years of strict enforcement and serious treatment, and the corruption situation is not particularly serious.
The Union's Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Anti-Corruption Agency jointly took action and swept the working group. Those who should be shot were shot, those who should be imprisoned were imprisoned, and those who did not do anything wrong but whose subordinates did it were treated as dereliction of duty if they knew about it but did not report it; if they really did not know about it, they would also be held responsible for leadership and demoted and transferred to other positions.
After cleaning up the Imperial Tax Working Group, the Alliance still felt it was not enough and then drastically reduced the power held by the working group.
The first step to remove the imperial tax differential trade from them was to set up a special Lingze Trading Company, a state-owned enterprise, which was affiliated with the Alliance Ministry of Commerce.
Then, the work of tax collection was also taken away from them. The alliance already had a tax system, and local governments also had their own financial institutions. In the first few years, before the development, when the pressure of imperial tax was still relatively high, a working group was needed to supervise. In the past seven or eight years, it is no longer necessary.
After these functions were cancelled, the only thing left for the Imperial Tax Working Group was to conduct the delivery of imperial taxes on Lingze Star and coordinate the taxes that needed to be paid by various localities, trade lines, and chambers of commerce. It was no longer as prestigious as it was at the beginning.
Even so, the central government of the alliance is still a little worried, and every year it sends special envoys to Lingze Star. The level of the tax envoy is higher than that of the director of the working group, but it is a temporary job appointment. When they come to Lingze Star, they often bring teams from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the General Office of Integrity. Obviously, the task of the tax envoy is not to do specific work, but to represent the higher power of the official alliance, deal with the Imperial Taxation Department, and also supervise the working group that has had corruption problems.
This is how Gu Jing got his position as the tax envoy at the moment.
In fact, Yang Shiwei's initial thought was not wrong. Gu Jing did come here to "gild his resume" and "brush up his resume".
The Alliance has also gradually felt the pressure of the Imperial Tax. Especially recently, Ambassador Salihovich ended his ambassadorial work in Holy Terra, returned to the Alliance, and served as the Minister of the Alliance's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also brought back a lot of first-hand intelligence from Holy Terra, and combined with his personal experience of more than 20 years in Holy Terra, he had a deep understanding of the political arena of Holy Terra. He clearly warned the Alliance that the change in the wind direction of the central empire was heading in the direction that the Alliance was gradually losing control.
However, it has not come to the surface yet, and the rift between the two sides is probably still brewing.
The alliance has made a lot of preparations and plans for this, but before this trend becomes a real threat, it still has to deal with it as it should.
In the past 15 years, the GDP within the alliance has been growing rapidly at a rate of more than 10% in the early days; in recent years, it has slowed down a lot, but is still above 6%.
The alliance has enough capabilities to deal with all of this.
It was against this background that Gu Jing came to Lingze Star.
After completing this mission as the tax envoy, he will continue to study in the Union Ministry of Finance for a few years after returning, and then be sent out to serve as a local official, or continue to work in other government departments of the Union central government for a few years, or even join the army.
Let him choose.
In this regard, he is very grateful to his father.
Gu Hang never asked him to become a certain kind of person, but he never relaxed his education of him since he was a child, and even kept him by his side all the time. Even when he was only a few years old, he did not avoid talking to him about some important things, and even allowed him to "speak without restraint."
Even if he didn't understand at that time, he was exposed to a lot of things and his knowledge was not narrow.
Since childhood, I have not only received personal instruction from my father, but also from various famous teachers.
Then when he became an adult and wanted to go to college, his father supported him. After graduation, he wanted to gain experience in various departments of the alliance. Even if he couldn't become an heir, he at least wanted to be a useful person and contribute to the development of the alliance. His father also supported him.
So what is he going to do?
He has to do his job well to make it worthwhile.
This was the case when he was studying, and his academic performance was one of the best. After graduation, he joined the Alliance Tax Department, and his work ability was also demonstrated.
He never denied that he had the deepest background and received the greatest help.
But at the same time, he can confidently say that his academic performance and work performance are among the best, even without the bonus of his background.
Now, as a tax envoy, he knows that his duties are of great significance to the alliance and are by no means dispensable, so of course he has to do better.
After sitting in the luxurious office chair for a while, he roughly figured out what to do next.
"Send the memorandum that Yang Shiwei tried to get me to sign, as well as the one he later signed, to Angry Owl Star, along with my suggestions."
"The imperial central government has a clear opinion on raising taxes, and it is a foregone conclusion. Since they have already sent Yang Shiwei to conduct preliminary negotiations on raising taxes, no matter what the result is, further pressure will inevitably follow."
"The memorandum I asked Yang Shiwei to sign repeatedly emphasized that the Alliance Plan is sacred and inviolable. The core of it is that the Alliance tax amount should continue to be fixed at 2.1 trillion and should not be changed."
"This will become our weapon in subsequent negotiations with the Empire."
"Instead of waiting for things to develop further, it is better to use this incident, the memorandum signed by Yang Shiwei, and his corruption and abuse of power as a breakthrough point and take the initiative to attack."
"I plan to send the account books of Yang Shiwei's transactions with various forces in the hands of the Central Bureau of Investigation to Holy Terra, contact the people on the list, and speak out together with the Holy Terra forces that made money from the differential trade. Together, we can build up the alliance's voice in the central political arena of the empire and take the initiative."
"When necessary, this document can be made public, along with the details of the income earned from the normal differential trade. It is expected that this may create a political storm bomb in Holy Terra."
"Comrade Salihovich, please give us your opinion. Do you agree with this implementation?"
Gu Jing looked a little silly as he spoke in the empty office.
He didn't turn on any communication devices, nor did he have any recording equipment. It seemed like he was just talking to himself.
However, after he finished speaking, an arc of electricity suddenly flashed beside him.
A monster about half the size of a human, its body made of mild electric current, appeared.
The body condensed by the electric current had wings on its back, and the arcs outlined feathers one by one, making it look lifelike. On its half-human body, its neck stretched out very long, and on top was the head of an eagle. In its clawed hands, it held a long staff.
If someone who has a thorough understanding of demons sees this scene, he will surely exclaim: This is a very scary demon image, which comes from the least common type of demon.
People call this powerful demon who serves the most unpredictable and moody evil god the Lord of Change!
Of course, this wasn't the real Wanbian Demon Lord. Looking at the lightning-made appearance, it was clear that this was the product of Gu Jing's father.
But in a sense, it is indeed a changeable demon king.
Gu Jing has been smart since he was a child. He inherited many good genes from his parents.
And smart and wise people are always more likely to attract the attention of Tzeentch.
But he himself is not extremely smart. He is just very smart among ordinary people.
But considering his status, one can't help but covet it.
A magic lord named Xie Fuliqi, who was standing next to Gu Jing at the moment, set his sights on him.
The Lords of Change are good at conspiracy. They will never show up easily unless it is a critical moment. They are completely different from the Great Daemons of Khorne who always like to rush out at the first opportunity. They are even two extremes.
Shefrich patiently roamed in the subspace outside the Kingdom of Storm God, carefully hiding himself and projecting a tiny bit of influence onto Gu Jing.
It didn't even try to seduce Gu Jing, it just gave him some 'wisdom'.
Easier to understand when reading, clearer to do math, more mature in speech...
No matter what kind of parents they are, even those like Gu Hang and Ye Lixia, don’t they want to see their children be smart from a young age?
No.
Over the course of a few years, Gu Jing's natural intelligence became a matter of course. Coupled with the education he received, his reputation as a child prodigy and genius became increasingly well-known within a small circle of people.
At this point, it starts to continue executing.
In Gu Jing's dream, it transformed into a kind professor, just like the teacher he had during the day, and talked to him. Most of the time, they talked about knowledge, but occasionally, Shefrich would tell Gu Jing some poisonous knowledge.
He would tell Gu Jing that you will never be able to inherit the alliance in this lifetime because your father is immortal.
Your father is not necessarily human.
You are destined to live in the shadows all your life.
You have to do something to let the world know that you are not just Gu Hang's son, you are unique...
Xie Fulichi never dared to tamper with Gu Jing's mind by direct means, because that would only be discovered by Gu Hang.
The master of the storm has become an existence that people dare not offend in the subspace. Perhaps Shefrich's master can easily wipe him out as long as he can catch Gu Hang, but the kingdom of the storm cannot catch him under the protection of the cold sun that symbolizes the emperor of mankind.
But Xie Fulichi didn't have the ability to confront him directly.
He could only use this indirect and persuasive words to plant some seeds in Gu Jing's heart since childhood.
He expected his conspiracy to take root and sprout after decades or even hundreds of years.
By then, there will surely be a grand conspiracy and turmoil within the alliance.
His master, the one he fears and admires the most, will surely give him an outstanding reward.
Perhaps he could even be promoted to the level of a god or a great demon because of this!
However, when Gu Jing was 9 years old, he saw the old professor in his dream, just like many times in the past.
Sheffield invaded again.
But before it could say a few more words to Gu Jing, the sky in the dream suddenly became overcast.
Then, it saw Gu Hang’s figure.
He let out a strange cry and changed back to his original form, becoming a human-shaped bird, flapping his wings and trying to escape. But the violent thunder bound it in Gu Jing's dream, and it couldn't escape at all!
(End of this chapter)
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