Deficit Crisis (Revised)
After taking Leonard's class, Elena immediately made a road construction plan. She first took out the territory map of the Viscount's Mansion and roughly estimated the length of the roads in the territory. Then she found the treasurer of the Viscount's Mansion and asked about the cost of road construction.
Finally, we came to the conclusion that we had no money and couldn’t afford to repair it.
Elena settled for the second best and decided to repair the roads around the town of Fussen first, then she did some calculations.
The money is still not enough.
Poor.
Elena was deeply worried about the financial situation of the Viscount's Mansion.
How can you be so poor?!
It was almost a deficit!
Why is she so poor even though she has become a lord?
Elena was anxious and worried. She had never really lacked money since she was born, but for the first time she experienced what it meant to be so poor that she couldn't sleep.
Lying in bed tossing and turning, Elena thought about increasing income, reducing expenditure, and even robbing the rich to help the poor.
Elena's eyes flashed with a wolfish light.
In the end, it was the education she received over the past ten years that saved her three views.
Elena tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and suddenly thought of the missing pension, the death pension of those knights who died in the battle, and their families did not receive the full amount of money.
Elena sat up suddenly. Could it be that there were termites among her men?
Great, the presence of termites means that the family property can be confiscated, and once the property is confiscated she will immediately have income.
Elena's eyes lit up again.
The next morning, Elena summoned the treasurer.
"Why wasn't the pension paid in full? Maren's family only received 8 silver coins. Where did the missing 2 silver coins go?" Elena asked directly.
The finance official, who was questioned face to face, did not panic or feel guilty. Instead, his face showed confusion and as if it was a matter of course: "Because I have to pay taxes."
Pay, pay taxes?
Elena's anger was frozen.
"Pay taxes? What taxes?" Elena's expression was a little stiff.
"Inheritance tax," the treasurer replied respectfully. "The law code clearly states that inheritance tax is levied at 20%. Maren's pension is 10 silver coins, so 2 silver coins will be taxed, and his family will receive 8 silver coins. This money has already been paid."
Elena was completely frozen. She had already drawn inferences about her own inheritance: "So, if I inherit the property of the Viscount's Mansion, I still have to pay 20% tax?"
The financial officer smiled, unaware, and gave her a knowing blow: "Yes."
Holy shit! We're really in the red! We're really going bankrupt!
Elena's eyes were dull.
"Actually, Miss, you don't have to worry so much. When the tax month ends next month, the financial situation of the Viscount's Mansion will be much better." The financial officer said with a smile.
"Tax month?" When Elena heard him mention this, she immediately remembered the tax month that Eli mentioned when they had a conflict.
"Next month is tax month?" Elena confirmed with the treasurer again.
The treasurer smiled and nodded. "Yes, the taxes and grain for this spring will be collected next month."
"How much can you collect?" Elena asked.
"It hasn't been levied yet, so it's hard to say how much we can collect in the end. Take last autumn's tax month as an example. We collected 70 gold coins in taxes last autumn." The treasurer puffed out his belly slightly. These taxes were his contribution. He was a competent treasurer.
"70 gold coins are enough to pay the inheritance tax. I've calculated that after deducting the taxes to be paid to the Earl's Mansion and the Empire, and then deducting various exemptions from the mansion's fixed assets and current assets, the mansion only needs to pay another 29 gold coins. Miss, you can rest assured." The financial officer comforted Elena.
Elena, who originally had infinite hope, first heard the number 70 gold coins, and then heard the number 29 gold coins, and her hope suddenly wilted.
It is collected twice a year, in spring and autumn, 70 gold coins are collected each time, which means only 140 gold coins a year, which is so little!
And also have to pay inheritance tax.
Another 29 gold coins in inheritance tax must be paid.
So where on earth did Joyce get the courage to spend so much gold coins to hire Leonard to protect him?
What a prodigal son!
If you are afraid of death, why go to Padres Meadows!
Elena suddenly felt so angry that she wanted to hit someone.
"However, miss, please allow me to remind you that road construction is not an urgent matter. The funeral of Master Elro and Master Joyce is the most important matter at the moment. In order to dispel the covetousness of restless people, and to enhance your status in the social circle, so that everyone will take seriously and recognize your title, this funeral must be held grandly." The treasurer said seriously.
Elena's heart skipped a beat. It had to be grand! This meant spending money, a lot of money, and spending money like water!
Damn, this is really driving me to death.
When Elena set her sights on the funeral, she was shocked to realize that the initial expenses for the funeral had already cost 17 gold coins, and she would have to continue spending gold coins. For example, she would have to invite Earl Barnett and the lords of the surrounding territories to attend the ceremony, and she would have to arrange food and lodging for them and their servants. She would also have to distribute mourning bread to the townspeople of Fussen, two loaves per person, which would cost a lot of money.
There is not much money left in the treasury of the Viscount's Mansion.
Elena felt unwell.
Not only is it bad, it's also hopeless.
After Elena traveled through time, she had always been the only owner of the Viscount's Mansion. The dead Elro and Joyce only existed in the mouths of others. Elena had never seen their bodies, so she had no sense of reality and ignored the funeral in her heart.
Now that Elena paid attention, she found out that their bodies were temporarily stored in the church because they died in an attack by demon wolves.
In this world, people killed by monsters have a certain chance of undergoing mutations. They will not become zombies or dead bodies, but will become vengeful spirits.
Therefore, people of status and position would request to be placed in a church after being killed by monsters, and ask clergy to purify and comfort their souls, so that they would not become resentful spirits and be completely destroyed by mages, priests or knights, or be captured by undead mages and turned into magical materials, which would be more terrifying than simple death.
Of course, the purification and requiem of the church will not be free, and the families will voluntarily contribute some money to express their respect and gratitude.
The Viscount's Mansion contributed 13 gold coins, and the other 4 gold coins were used to buy coffins and clothes. In fact, there were some other expenses, but they were all small amounts, and compared with the 17 gold coins, they were completely insignificant.
Elena was so overwhelmed by the lavish funeral expenses that she couldn't eat. She sat listlessly in the study, flipping through the expense records and the account books of the Viscount's Mansion almost in a self-torturing manner.
Not enough money! Not enough money! Not enough money!
What a crappy territory this is. It's not even as poor as a novice account at the beginning. It's obviously heading towards deficit and debt.
In the following days, Elena devoted herself to the funeral. Not only did she ask about every expense, she even compared goods and bargained in person, regardless of her decency, striving to get the best value for money for every expense.
Under Elena's forced control, the major expenses of the funeral were barely controlled within the deficit line of the Viscount's Mansion. As for the minor expenses, Elena could only use the reputation of the Viscount's Mansion as a guarantee and wait for the taxes to be collected before paying.
Elena hid in the study and worked hard to calculate. After deducting the small expenses for the funeral, the salaries of the officials in the Viscount's Mansion, and the salaries of the servants in the Viscount's Mansion from the taxes collected next month, there would be barely 30 gold coins left.
But she still owed Leonard money and was waiting for the installment payment.
Elena felt that this time travel was a huge loss for her.
She has lived a carefree life for eighteen years and has never worried about money.
It turns out that her time travel was not due to luck, but bad luck in another form.
"Miss, please take a look at the banquet menu on the day of the funeral." The old butler knocked on the door and came in, handing over a long list.
Elena subconsciously frowned as she had to spend money again. She raised her hand to take the list, which listed a long list of delicacies from land and sea, chicken, duck, fish and meat, with several kinds of wine and desserts written below.
"So much to prepare!" Elena began to feel distressed again.
"No need. The kitchen just lists the dishes available in this season. You can choose from them, miss. As long as there are more than 10 dishes and more than 3 kinds of wine, it will be fine." The old butler knew that the owner was worried about the expenses and gave some thoughtful advice.
"In other words, there are at least 10 dishes and only 3 types of wine?" Elena confirmed again.
The old butler nodded: "Yes."
Elena felt relieved and immediately picked up a pen to select from the list. However, after picking and choosing three times, Elena still couldn't make a decision.
It's expensive no matter how you calculate it.
Elena stared at the long list in front of her for a long time, her expression gradually becoming ferocious.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
