The Lord Of Blood Hill

Chapter 606: Fiscal Separation

In the city lord's manor in Rainze City, in Peace Haven's southern region, Henwell listens to everyone's reports.First is government affairs.

Victor's new secretary-general reports to Henwell on the situation in Peace Haven proper.

"Spring plowing has already begun one after another, and everything is progressing smoothly. The reservists have all been given one month of leave. After spring plowing ends, they will return and continue training. The two schedules should not interfere with each other too much."

Henwell raises a hand to interrupt him. "Prioritize spring plowing first. The coming war basically has nothing to do with us anymore. Peace Haven has already survived this crisis. Everything should focus on the people's daily lives."

"If there are no major changes in the war over the next month, have Victor prepare a plan to dismiss the emergency reservists."

"We cannot let nearly 200,000 reservists spend these months working for nothing. Although many of them volunteered to enlist, we cannot make no gesture at all."

"First, have Victor allocate a temporary budget of two million gold coins from this year's finances."

"This covers those 200,000 reservists, as well as everyone who contributed unpaid labor to the war effort."

"The money is not much, but at least it shows the attitude of us administrators."

"Second, have the Military Merit Office contact the foundry and make a batch of Peace Haven Defense Medals. Issue one to everyone who helped with the war."

"This is important if we want to build the people's sense of belonging to Peace Haven. It must be done well, and it must look good."

"Finally, to stimulate production and trade, issue an announcement in the name of the Administrative Office and myself. This year's tax reduction will be half."

"Have Melissa sign the decree on my behalf and announce it across all Peace Haven."

The secretary-general hesitates for a moment, but can not help speaking. "My lord, our finances truly are rather tight this year. I wonder if this matter could perhaps be delayed?"

Henwell shakes his head gently. "It cannot be delayed. After the war, we must restore the people's confidence as quickly as possible. These things have to be done."

"You do not need to worry about the money. Go back and have Victor find Melissa. Borrow a sum from my personal assets for now and use it to hold things up first."

Strictly speaking, Henwell is Peace Haven's sole lord, and everything here is his private property.

However, Henwell has separated Peace Haven's public finances from his own finances.

Peace Haven's industrial and agricultural production, trade taxes, construction investments, and other government income and expenses all fall under the Peace Haven Finance Office.

The head of the Peace Haven Finance Office is a woman. Even in a relatively open-minded place like Peace Haven, a female chief official is rare.

But no one dares look down on this female director.

The woman, Wendy, was once Henwell's head maid. She is one of the earliest people to follow Henwell.

After Henwell discovered that she had a decent talent for mathematics, he personally taught her mathematical knowledge.

She is also the only vice dean of Peace Haven Comprehensive Academy and teaches senior mathematics there.

Before Peace Haven's administrative team was built, Wendy, as head maid, had always helped Henwell manage the finances.

Later, after Peace Haven's military and administrative systems were established, the chief financial officer still had not been decided.

Wendy continued to hold the position, and she has good relations with many of Peace Haven's senior officials.

Everyone greatly respects this clever and gentle woman.

Except when the annual budget for the next year is approved. At that time, a group of grown men look at Wendy's firm gaze and have no solution at all.

Throwing tantrums and arguing would be too ungentlemanly, so they can only smile, coax, and pester Wendy, trying to make her approve a little more budget for their departments.

After enough time passed, Jax from the Technical Research Institute actually managed to win over Peace Haven's goddess of wealth.

Henwell personally presided over their wedding, and even Duke Jansen and his wife came to congratulate them.

Wendy was originally a maid arranged for Henwell by Jansen's wife, Grace. Now Grace has also accepted Wendy as her adopted daughter, giving her a more distinguished background.

After winning the beauty, Jax immediately boasted happily that his department's budget would definitely be much higher in the future.

But before he could stay happy for long, many of Peace Haven's senior officials jointly submitted a petition to Henwell, demanding that Jax be barred from participating in the Technical Research Institute's funding applications.

That was not all. After Wendy married, she handed over the personal financial authority she had originally managed for Henwell to Melissa.

After all, those are Henwell's private assets. When Henwell had just married, there were many things Melissa still found hard to handle.

Now, as time passes, Melissa has also become familiar with Henwell's personal assets.

As Henwell's wife, she is naturally the most suitable person to manage Henwell's personal wealth.

Half of the Technical Research Institute's finances are actually supported by Henwell's personal funds.

So from now on, those gold-swallowing people at the Technical Research Institute will have to go to Melissa for money.

Is Henwell rich?

Of course he is rich.

Extremely rich.

When Melissa spent a month sorting out all of Henwell's assets, she had been mentally prepared, but she still could not help feeling shocked when she saw that huge number.

How could one lord possibly own all this?

Very soon, Melissa became even more shocked. Her man's wealth was absurdly large, and his annual shares from various projects were enough to leave even her, a duke's daughter, dazed.

But when she saw the wealth Henwell spent every year, Melissa felt dizzy.

Henwell's personal investment in various projects alone was equal to Duke Marcus's entire annual fiscal revenue.

This did not even include some of Henwell's charitable projects. Medicine, education, agriculture... The annual bonuses in these areas alone could drag down the estate of an old, powerful count.

Although Henwell is very good at making money, he also spends money far too fiercely.

Melissa felt great pain over this wealth, but after Henwell explained the meaning behind spending this money, she still gritted her teeth and accepted it.

Gradually, Melissa discovered that when a person has too much money, money becomes nothing more than a number.

Only after understanding the inside story does Melissa realize that there is a reason Peace Haven is powerful.

After Henwell earns wealth, he does not accumulate it like other nobles. Instead, he thinks of every possible way to spend it.

In Henwell's words, gold piled in a warehouse is only a pile of precious metal.

Only when it is made to flow and exchanged for labor of equal value can gold be given true value.

Henwell has a great deal of personal money, but he does not interfere in Peace Haven's government affairs with it.

At first, people including Victor did not understand Henwell's approach.

But gradually, they discovered the benefits of the separation of the leader's wealth from the faction's wealth.

Most of Peace Haven's public financial income is spent back on Peace Haven itself. Salaries for military and administrative personnel alone take up one-seventh of fiscal expenditure.

Peace Haven has a massive, even bloated administrative system, but Henwell still insists on keeping these people and paying their wages.

He even recruits more administrative personnel every year. At first, everyone also failed to understand this burden.

But later, after Peace Haven took the eastern and western regions, as well as the northern area, enough administrative personnel were invested there quickly.

The internal government operations of those three regions were brought into line with Peace Haven's central region in only half a year.

That is why Henwell insists on retaining administrative talent. He wants every expansion to be digested quickly.