Not long after, the tavern attendant placed a large stack of black paper in front of Earl Evan.
Earl Evan smiled and nodded towards the other party, and the attendant bowed and then stepped back.
"This is the welfare lottery?"
Shalia took out a piece of black paper, looked at the white numbers on it, and asked curiously.
Earl Evan also took one, looked it over carefully, and then took out a kindling candle and lit it.
The black piece of paper produced an orange flame, which burned to the part of the white number, and then an indigo flame burst out, and at the same time, a unique burnt smell spread rapidly.
Earl Evan threw away the lottery ticket that was about to burn out, and said, "This is the same paper as the bond, but the dye is different."
"so what?"
"When the bonds came out, I guessed that Earl Angelet had mastered more advanced papermaking technology. Now it seems that this is indeed the case. This shows that neither lottery tickets nor bonds can be forged."
"What is Earl Angelet planning for issuing this lottery ticket?"
"What do you think he's plotting?"
Shalia played with the welfare lottery ticket in her hand, and pondered seriously:
"To tell you the truth, just looking at the welfare lottery tickets in front of me, I can't help but want to know whether they have won the lottery, although I also know that even if they win the lottery, it is only a reward of a few thousand copper coins. But I still can't help but think about it, as if they have a kind of magical power.
For a daughter of a prince like me to be able to have such a temptation, it can be seen how attractive these welfare lottery tickets are to those common people. "
"That's right!" Earl Evan pointed to the drinkers downstairs who were still discussing the welfare lottery, and said with emotion, "Earl Angelet has such a precise grasp of people's hearts at such a young age, it's simply terrifying! "
Shalia stared at Earl Evan with her big bright eyes, and said with a smile, "This is the first time I've heard you praise someone so highly."
Earl Evan shrugged his shoulders and said with a wry smile: "As a person of the same age, Earl Angelet's power has long surpassed mine, so how could I not be convinced.
What's more, he was born in an inconspicuous baron family, but I am a descendant of a paladin family, hehe, sometimes I even feel that I am not worthy of the blood of a paladin. "
Shalia curled her seductive red lips, and said, "Earl Angelet isn't that powerful, is he! His current status is more due to the Saint Hilde family, if he hadn't married Wei Wei La St. Hilde, how can he be so smooth all the way?"
Earl Evan shook his head seriously and said: "No, it's not the St. Hilde family he relies on, but the St. Hilde family relies on him!"
Seeing his fiancée's disapproving expression, Earl Evan sighed, "If you carefully study the history of the last two northern rebellions, you will understand that without Earl Angelet, the current Lord of the Northern Territory would have to change his surname to the Holy See." En."
Shalia seemed a little unconvinced, and said: "But even so, Earl Angelet spent his ingenuity on the inferior people and issued these welfare lottery tickets just to earn a small amount of money, which is really out of the aristocratic demeanor."
"No, no, no, this is not a small amount of money." Earl Evan shook his head repeatedly, "I don't know the specific probability of winning the welfare lottery, even if it is one in a thousand, but many of the rewards are ten copper coins, For a small prize of 100 copper coins, the possibility of the grand prize is estimated to be only one in ten thousand at most.
Calculated in this way, compared with the proceeds from selling welfare lottery tickets, those bonuses are not worth mentioning at all.
Take a look at the grand sale of welfare lottery tickets in Ice Rock City today. Let me assume that each of the 300,000 civilians here only buys one welfare lottery ticket per month, and that is an income of nearly 900,000 copper coins! "
"That's not a lot, it's just nine hundred gold coins. If I remember correctly, the royal family's annual tax revenue is more than nine million gold coins."
Earl Evan rolled his eyes, sighing secretly that his fiancée was of noble birth, ignorant of the sufferings of the world, and even compared it with the royal family's tax revenue.
So, he had no choice but to explain patiently: "Don't forget, the income of these 900 gold coins is only for one month, and it's just a city of Ice Rock City.
If the welfare lottery is gradually spread throughout the northern border and affects tens of millions of people, do you still think this income is a small amount? "
Shalia was speechless for a while, and then suddenly realized after a while: "Evan, tell me, is this a different kind of tax?"
"Smart!" Earl Evan snapped his fingers and praised, "You can think of this, and you finally understand part of Earl Angelet's ingenious design."
"Part of it? Does the welfare lottery have other uses?"
"Of course. If you think Earl Angelet just wants to use this kind of lottery to make money, then you will underestimate this genius."
"Then what is Earl Angelet's plan?" Shalia asked seriously with her beautiful eyes rolling.
Earl Evan took a sip from his wine glass and said leisurely, "What do you think about the original intention of this welfare lottery design?"
Shalia recalled what the tavern waiter said just now, and said with some uncertainty: "Is it really to help the poor? Isn't this a high-sounding excuse that Count Angelet came up with?"
"Hahaha, Sally, you underestimate Count Angelet's demeanor and style."
"Is he really planning to use the lottery proceeds to help the poor?"
"Yes." Earl Evan nodded affirmatively, and then shook his head, "But he didn't do it out of kindness, at least not entirely."
"What is that for?"
Earl Evan's eyes flickered, and he asked back: "Think about it again, which institution is currently responsible for helping the poor in the Glorious Empire?"
"It's the church."
"Then why did they do it?"
"Why?" Shalia was a little dazed, "Isn't it the mission of the church to help the poor?"
Earl Evan smiled, and asked again: "So the church really doesn't ask for anything in return when it helps the poor?"
"what do you want to say in the end?"
Earl Evan lowered his voice, and said: "The poor are more devout than the rich, the elderly are more devout than the young, and the sick are more devout than the healthy... Sally, these poor people at the bottom of society are actually the most steadfast supporters of the church. group."
Shalia's beauty frowned again, as if she understood what Earl Evan meant.
Earl Evan drank the wine in his glass and said leisurely: "Salvation is a responsibility, but it is also a right!
And Earl Angelet, he wanted to steal the authority of the church! "
Shalia was horrified, her beautiful eyes widened, and she looked at her fiancé in disbelief.
Earl Evan put down his wine glass slowly, and said with a smile, "Okay, the commoners' wine is finished, it's time for us to taste the wine of the nobles."
Shalia hadn't recovered from the shock just now, and said after a while: "You mean the Red Castle?"
"That's right. Wouldn't it be rude not to pay a visit to the master when you come to Ice Rock City?" Earl Evan took it for granted.
Shalia blinked her big beautiful eyes, and said hesitantly, "But... Earl Angelet is not in the Red Castle right now."
"That couldn't be better!"
Earl Evan smiled lightly, threw a few copper coins on the table as tips, and then got up and walked out.
Shalia was stunned for a moment, and quickly followed.
(end of this chapter)