Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 580 - 491: The Church is the King of Amassing Wealth

Before Archbishop Beaumont had promised that the Crown Prince would cooperate with his campaign to reform the bureaucracy, and indeed, he had been very committed to it, seizing every opportunity to publicly denounce those corrupt officials who were undergoing trial.

Meanwhile, at his request, various Churches occasionally paraded around the city displaying images of Gihazi — a biblical character who was punished by God for his greed with a severe case of leprosy that left his whole body ghastly white. The images were visually striking, at the very least.

However, as the situation gradually calmed down, the Church had recently ceased to mention this matter. That Archbishop Beaumont was bringing this up now was simply to show off in front of Joseph.

Fouche took the wine from the Priest and glanced at the endlessly chattering Beaumont, snorting dismissively and muttering, "Ha, as if those officials are greedier than you."

Joseph, curious, turned his head back and asked, "What do you mean?"

Realizing he had misspoken, but under the gaze of the Crown Prince, Fouche reluctantly whispered, "Your Highness, many people within the Church know that Archbishop Beaumont’s wealth amounts to three or four million francs, that money..."

Being of a priestly background, he knew quite a bit about the inner workings of the Church.

Bearing the news, Joseph exhaled sharply and nodded with a frown.

He knew too that a high-ranking priest, such as an Archbishop, was bound to be corrupt. Especially since France had strictly limited the Church’s influence on secular power, leaving those within the Church solely with the pursuit of gathering wealth.

For now, he could only choose to temporarily cooperate with the Church, which, compared to the nobility, was somewhat more honest and more dependent on the Royal Family, thus easier to control.

If he wanted national reforms, he needed to win over forces that could serve his purposes, and to create divisions between the first and second estates, that is, between the Priests and the nobles.

Once the various reforms in France were essentially complete, regulating the Church would also inevitably come onto the agenda.

Not to mention, with one-tenth of the national land in the hands of the Church, it was impossible to let that go unchecked.

Historically, after the grand commands in France, the National Assembly survived the initial financial crisis by confiscating Church lands and using these lands as anchors to issue "assignats."

Furthermore, the Church was still collecting a tithe tax, although the actual tax rate was about 7%, not 10%. This was still a huge burden on the national economic development.

After everyone had received Holy Communion, Beaumont concluded his assault on the corrupt officials and hinted to a nearby Priest.

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The Priest quickly took out a detailed, text-filled paper with decorative patterns on it, raising it for everyone to see.

Beaumont beamed, saying, "This is the ’Wealth Protection Indulgence’ that the Church has introduced following the revelation from Jesus. After purchasing this indulgence, one shall be blessed and thereby avoid harm from the greedy."

Joseph was immediately stunned and his eyes widened. The Church really knew how to expand on ideas; even such trivial matters could be transformed into a marketable indulgence!

However, he could only watch.

After all, to coax the Church’s reserves, he had promised that the Church could sell "improved versions of indulgences."

From this, it was evident that the Church had not spared any effort in concocting various kinds of indulgences to make money over the year.

Joseph subconsciously licked his lips, now even more eagerly anticipating the future gains from regulating the Church.

…

In the capital of Corsica, Ajaccio.

Inside a room on the second floor of Corsican deputy Girolamo’s house, another deputy, Bartolomeo, pushed some papers to the center of the table and then looked around at the others, saying, "This was sent by Mr. Oneill from Charleston. Oh, he went to the United States on my request four months ago."

Another Corsican deputy picked up the topmost paper with a puzzled look and read, "In the past 30 years, there have only been three Madam Massimos in Narrabeen Town in Charleston. Two of them are still alive, and the other passed away early this year.

"The deceased Madam Massimo had never mentioned having Corsican relatives during her lifetime, and she lived in poverty, her entire estate totaling no more than 30 US Dollars.

"However, some townspeople saw that, after her death, a man with an Italian accent, who was her only relative, her nephew, had contact with her, and afterward her nephew began to claim that she had been to Corsica."

"So..."

Bartolomeo slammed the table forcefully and exclaimed angrily, "So Lady Paul probably doesn’t have any aunt in America! And even if she did, she would at most inherit 30 US Dollars, not 10,000 US Dollars!"

"Please look at this."

He pulled out two documents from the papers, handing them to the deputy next to him.

Since the latter couldn’t understand English, he handed the documents back to Bartolomeo.

Bartolomeo pointed vigorously at the two papers, saying, "These are certificates issued by the Charleston City Hall. This one is for a villa on the west side of Charleston, and this one is for a huge cotton plantation in the southern suburbs. They both belong to Lady Paul."

"Weren’t you saying Lady Paul didn’t inherit anything?" Girolamo immediately feigned confusion.

"This isn’t an inheritance at all, look at the transaction dates," Bartolomeo said through gritted teeth, "the end of April, indicating that Lady Paul has recently acquired these properties!"

Girolamo pointed to the prices listed on the certificates, exclaiming in shock, "The house and the land together are worth a total of 100,000 US Dollars, where did she get so much money?"

All eight deputies in the room suddenly became stern.

Oscar Poli had always professed his devotion to the restoration, claiming he owned no property, and even the house he lived in London was gifted by a supporter. Yet now, he suddenly had 100,000 US Dollars.

Without anyone prompting, they all thought of the 25,000 British Pounds, which was about 120,000 US Dollars, sponsored funds that had been unexpectedly burned a few months earlier.

The property Pauli had bought in the United States plus the 10,000 US Dollars his wife inherited in the Netherlands exactly matched this amount.

"I think it’s pretty clear," Bartolomeo said. "Pauli has betrayed us."

Someone raised a doubt: "But he has no reason to do so."

"No, he does," the previously silent, thin man with brown hair spoke up. "Actually, from the beginning of the year, we had intelligence that the British seemed to be negotiating in France and might no longer offer asylum to Mr. Pauli."

This was the official in charge of the Corsican Revival Organization’s intelligence agency. He took a deep breath and continued, "I reported this to Mr. Pauli, but he said he wasn’t afraid of the French and told me not to bother about it."

Girolamo immediately added, "From that moment, Mr. Pauli was preparing to leave England."

He was supposed to reveal himself the fact that the British no longer protected Pauli, but someone had beaten him to it. Explore more adventures at novelbuddy

The brown-haired man pondered, "No, not just leaving England. I believe he might have made a deal with France."