บท 88: Internal and External Separation
Translator: Cinder Translations
...
On the morning of September 27th, Paul Grayman was in his office, reviewing the report documents sent from Port Frand.
These documents described the intentions of merchants who were interested in cooperating with him.
After summoning the merchants to a meeting in Port Frand, many immediately signed up. Over the following days, more and more people responded to the Lord's call at the Government House.
However, the officials of the Government House advised caution, suggesting that production technologies and crafts should not be handed over casually. They proposed assessing the qualifications of the merchants, examining their credibility, financial strength, and other aspects. Otherwise, if their operations failed, it could tarnish the Lord's reputation.
Paul agreed that this suggestion was correct and ordered the Government House in Port Frand to conduct thorough screenings of the registered merchants.
After careful screening, it was confirmed that in the near future, there would be 3 salt mines, 5 canning factories, 6 paper mills, and 8 porcelain factories established in and around Port Frand.
Meanwhile, the canning factory invested in by the Lord himself was beginning construction near the town of Alden, expected to soon produce large quantities of canned goods for the kingdom's armies fighting in the south.
Interestingly, those merchants who had already been authorized insisted tearfully on donating a certain percentage of shares to the Lord. Seeing their persistence, Paul could only "accept" their offer. Besides collecting taxes and technology usage fees, he would also receive dividends from the profits.
It seems these merchants still have some doubts about him.
At that moment, he suddenly remembered something and called out, "Bernard."
The chief secretary immediately entered and approached his desk. "What orders do you have, Lord Grayman?"
Paul said, "Gather Steward Ford and all the directors of the Government House to the Lord's Mansion. I have something to announce."
"Understood, your command."
The chief secretary turned to leave, but as he opened the door, Paul stopped him again. "Wait, first bring steward Philip here for me."
...
Steward Philip quickly arrived at Paul's office.
Since Bernard became chief secretary, the workload on the old steward had lightened considerably. Now, he mainly handled domestic affairs within the Lord's Mansion.
Paul stood up, facing the steward. He gestured towards the chair in front of his desk and said, "Philip, please sit."
"This..." Philip's brain momentarily froze. Masters didn't typically gesture like this towards their servants.
After a brief daze, the old steward became flustered. A dreadful thought crossed his mind:
"Could the Earl be planning to dismiss me?"
Recalling his recent work experience, he couldn't recall any mistakes. So, was this about him being deemed too old and useless, to be sent home for retirement?
Lost in his anxious thoughts, the steward fell into a stupor.
Seeing Philip's change in expression, Paul walked around to the front of his desk, placed a hand on his shoulder, and gently pressed him down into the chair.
He had great respect for this steward who had cared for him all these years. With his mother passing early in his life and his father busy with estate affairs, it was this steward who had raised him.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Philip touched the chair, he jumped up again. Recovering, he spoke in a fearful tone, "How can a servant sit in front of the master? Please, Lord Earl, spare me."
Paul pressed him back into the chair again, saying, "Sit down. This is both a request and an order."
Finally, Philip sat down.
Paul also returned to his seat and sat down. He clasped his hands together, leaning his arms on the desk, and looked at the old steward.
"Philip, you have tirelessly served in the Lord's Mansion all these years, taking care of both me and my father..."
"Lord Earl, please don't dismiss me..." Philip suddenly burst into tears, startling Paul greatly. How did he come to that conclusion?
But from the old steward's perspective, wasn't Paul's opening implying that he was about to be dismissed? His parents were old servants of the Grayman family, serving in the Lord's Mansion their entire lives. Philip himself had been assisting in the mansion since he was young, becoming his father's personal attendant.
After the previous steward retired, Paul's father passed the position on to him, which had been over twenty years ago.
Having spent nearly fifty years of his life in the Lord's Mansion, Philip had deep emotional ties to the place. If he suddenly had to leave for retirement, he truly didn't know how he would carry on.
Paul hastily waved his hands to explain to the old steward, "Philip, I have no intention whatsoever of letting you go."
"Think about it, you handle all the daily affairs in the Lord's Mansion. If you were to leave, things would fall into chaos."
"Not dismissing me? That's great!" Philip felt a bit relieved.
He said apologetically, "I'm very sorry, Lord Earl, I let my imagination run wild."
But why was the Earl suddenly so serious?
Seeing the steward calm down, Paul sighed with relief and continued, "I called you here for another matter. Although it's not about dismissing you, I wanted to discuss it with you first to make sure you are comfortable."
"As long as it's not dismissing me, I'm all ears, Lord Earl," Philip said solemnly.
"Then here it is..."
"Um... it's actually about the finances of the Lord's Mansion. I want to separate it into internal treasury and external treasury. You will still be in charge of the internal treasury, while the Government House will handle the external treasury."
Upon hearing Paul's words, the old steward felt as if he had made a mistake. With a pained tone that almost seemed squeezed from his throat, he asked, "Lord Earl, did I miscalculate something in the accounts?"
Paul replied seriously, "Of course not. Every time I review the accounts, I find no errors or omissions. You manage the finances excellently."
Hearing the Lord Earl's reassurance, Philip felt slightly relieved.
In Paul's view, the income in the estate mainly consisted of two aspects:
Firstly, there were taxes within the estate, including agricultural taxes, commercial taxes, and various other peculiar and diverse taxes as seen by Paul.
Secondly, there were profits from various industries under the Grayman family name, including the production from farms across the region and profits from various factories and shops.
Both sources of income were unified into the treasury of the Lord's Mansion.
As for expenditures, they also consisted of two aspects:
Firstly, there were private expenses of the Lord, including Paul's own living expenses, maintenance of the Lord's Castle, and salaries of mansion servants, etc.
Secondly, there were public affairs expenditures within the estate, including salaries of various officials, military expenses, and infrastructure projects such as bridge repairs, road construction, and canal digging, etc.
Both types of expenditures were sourced from the treasury of the Lord's Mansion.
On regular days, Philip directly handled the Lord's private expenses, including procurement of various goods and payment of servants' salaries directly from the treasury.
Meanwhile, public affairs expenditures were budgeted by the responsible officials in advance and then submitted to Philip. If the budget amount was large, Philip would first report it to Paul for approval. Philip would then withdraw the funds from the treasury and hand them over to the relevant officials. For smaller amounts, Philip would make decisions independently, withdrawing funds from the treasury, and submitting detailed accounts for Paul's review at the end of each month.
However, with the increasing income and expenditures, Paul felt it necessary to reorganize the financial management.
(End of the Chapter)
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