33: Chapter 33 I Want to Be a Legal Scoundrel

"Very well, I promise you that once it is done, you will replace the original main line of the Silver Thorn Family. You will be elevated from a branch member to the new head of the Silver Thorn Family."

Victor's tense shoulders instantly relaxed, and a flicker of irrepressible joy flashed in his eyes, though he still maintained the final shreds of aristocratic dignity:

"Remember what you said. If you can't handle those people and the Silver Thorn Family falls, I will never let you have an easy time, even if I have to risk my life."

Fu Haoran scoffed and didn't respond.

A stray dog who had lost all his elite troops and had nowhere else to turn—did he really think he was in a position to make threats?

Victor clenched his fists, turned around, and hurried away with his men, his figure looking hurried and wretched.

He knew very well that since all his tens of thousands of elite troops had been blown to bits, he would inevitably be purged by his niece, Martha, upon his return.

Fu Haoran was his only retreat, and the "pledge of allegiance" he had offered, while appearing full of sincerity, was actually a trap.

"Hmph, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. I, the Governor, am drawing a big pie; whether or not you can catch it depends on your own ability."

As an old aristocrat and veteran politician, Victor knew very well that one should never burn all bridges unless absolutely necessary.

While he certainly needed to offer a pledge of allegiance, he needed even more to borrow Fu Haoran's hand to eliminate his rivals and clear the obstacles to his return to power.

After Victor left, Wade leaned in: "My Lord, how much of this old fox's pledge can be trusted? What if he's leading us into a trap..."

"A trap?" Fu Haoran smiled. "His tens of thousands of elite troops were blown away by me; returning means certain death. He is betting his life that I can win."

"Besides, even if the intelligence is fake and he tricks us, would he even break even?"

Yuri, sitting with his legs crossed, suddenly scoffed: "Governor, didn't you realize that old fox has bad intentions? I bet there are quite a few traps buried in this pledge of allegiance."

"Look," Yuri pointed at the coordinates, "these warehouses, vaults, and cargo ships are all under the names of the nobility."

"The laws of the Empire and the Hive City explicitly protect the private property of the nobility. The Governor has no authority to touch them. If you dare to seize them by force, hehe, the Planetary Defense Navy will have a reason to intervene directly."

"They'll label you a traitor," Yuri shrugged. "By then, you won't be far from death. I don't want to be buried with you; I haven't saved enough money to buy a small freighter and run away yet!"

In the interstellar era, the strength of the Navy far exceeds that of the Army.

This was the fundamental reason why the nobles were so fearless; they controlled a sizable navy.

Fu Haoran frowned. Victor's intelligence was genuine, but he hadn't provided a reason to take action.

"In my opinion, this old fox Victor wants to offer a pledge of allegiance, but he doesn't want to completely offend the other nobles."

"He is dying for you to go and raid them, so that after the raid, you get swarmed by the collective nobility, and he can sit back and reap the rewards," Yuri said with certainty.

"More importantly, once you seize by force, all factions in the Hive City will panic and band together. We will instantly become the public enemy of the entire Hive, and it will be an all-out war with no end in sight."

Fu Haoran raised an eyebrow without denying it: "I know. That's why we cannot act ourselves."

Wade was stunned: "Not act ourselves? Then how do we get the supplies in those warehouses?"

"Or... should we wait and see if they reveal a weakness?"

"We can't afford to wait," Fu Haoran shook his head. "There is only a little over two years left for the Tithe. The sooner we deal with these nobles, the better."

Yuri spread his hands: "Then what do you propose? Seizing by force is treason, and not seizing means we won't get the money."

Fu Haoran was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly looked up.

"We won't raid, we won't fight, and we won't kill anyone." Fu Haoran stood up and walked to the window. "We will only audit taxes."

"Audit taxes?"

"Yes." Fu Haoran turned around. "The Imperial law only mandates that the Tithe must be paid. As for how that Tithe is obtained, they don't care."

"Whether it's stolen, seized, or swindled, it doesn't matter."

"Failing to pay taxes is a crime."

"In that case, why don't we follow suit?"

Fu Haoran's smile was exceptionally bright at this moment.

"How do you intend to follow suit?" Yuri asked urgently. He found that he was increasingly unable to understand the young man in front of him.

"Of course, by making everyone in the entire Hive City pay taxes!" Fu Haoran said as if it were a matter of course.

"I will issue a tax decree in the name of the Hive City Governor, requiring everyone in the entire Hive to pay taxes annually. I don't care where their money comes from—whether it's stolen, seized, smuggled, or swindled."

"As long as they pay the tax, I will consider it legal."

"Failing to pay taxes is a crime: arrest, confiscation, and imprisonment."

"I will treat others the same way the Imperial tax authorities treat me."

Yuri didn't react for a moment.

Wade was also confused: "Governor, what do you mean by this?"

Fu Haoran pulled up his data pad and briefly explained the methods used by the IRS in the 2K World.

Yuri was stunned for three seconds, then managed to blurt out: "This brain of yours... which Inquisition did you break out of?"

After listening, Yuri was the first to jump up: "Are you crazy? Recognizing illegal income as legal? From now on, everyone in the Underhive will be robbing, and everyone in the Mid-Hive will be in constant fear!"

"By then, our command center will probably have people coming every day to pay taxes on their loot, making it busier than the black market in the Underhive!"

Wade frowned: "Imperial law..."

"No, you haven't grasped the essence of it." Fu Haoran said confidently.

"I only said I wouldn't ask where the money comes from; I didn't say looting is legal."

"Robbing? Go rob the coordinates Victor gave. Those are aristocratic private properties—the kind that don't pay taxes."

"Remember to pay 50% after the raid, and you'll be clean from then on."

Fu Haoran was very certain: "There will always be people who steal from their own, and there will always be people willing to take the risk."

"As long as someone tastes the sweetness and stories of getting rich overnight spread, more and more people will follow suit."

Yuri was the quickest to react, immediately realizing that the brilliance of this move lay in pointing out a direction for everyone.

It didn't require them to act personally, and it remained within the rules.

If the nobles could use gangs to annoy them, why couldn't Fu Haoran use the poor to take revenge on the nobles?

Brilliant!

"But what if the victims report it? The Adeptus Arbites won't just sit by!" Yuri bluntly pointed out the key issue.

"The Adeptus Arbites aren't under your jurisdiction."

Fu Haoran asked with a smile: "It's simple. Those people must produce evidence proving that the money is theirs and that they have paid taxes on it."

"If they haven't paid taxes, they must pay the arrears, plus a fine several times the amount. These are all explicitly stipulated in Imperial law."

Yuri's eyes widened, and he exclaimed: "In this way, the nobles will either face astronomical fines or have to swallow their grievances!"

High, truly high.

Yuri had to admit that Fu Haoran's heart was too dirty.

Even if the nobles were robbed, they would have to swallow their anger!

Wade, being the honest one among the three, still couldn't quite accept it and advised: "Governor, will this really work? What if someone impeaches you to the Administration..."

"They can't impeach me," Fu Haoran said righteously. "I am, in the name of the Hive City Governor, temporarily proposing the establishment of a tax department, requiring all income—legal or illegal, formal or gray—to be truthfully reported for taxation, all for the purpose of filling the gap in the Imperial Tithe. Who can find fault with that?"

"Impeach me? They should first think about their own warehouses—dare they report them?"

"Not reporting is tax evasion."

"Reporting is admitting to hoarding illicit funds."

"Either way, they're dead. Who has the free time to impeach me?"

"Otherwise, when the Inquisitor from Terra comes down, we'll all be hung on the spires of the Hive City for public display, as a joke for those nobles."

Fu Haoran pulled up another blank report form: "And I have more to add."

"People from the Underhive, as long as they pay enough taxes, can apply to move to the Mid-Hive and receive protection from the Planetary Defense Force. Those in the Mid-Hive can move to the Upper Nest."

"In addition, there is plenty of empty space in the Hive City. I plan to vigorously develop real estate in the Mid-Hive, expand the Hive City, and accommodate the people from the Underhive. It stabilizes public sentiment and earns another profit—why wouldn't I do it?"

Wade was still a bit hesitant: "But Governor, the people in the Underhive won't trust us at all. They'll think, after we pay the taxes, what if you turn around and arrest us?"

"Especially the remnants of the Iron Hand Gang. Since Jack died, they must be very hostile toward us."

"Whether they believe it or not, we'll know once we try," Fu Haoran waved his hand. "Release the policy, and then leak some vague coordinates of noble warehouses. Afterward, have our men disguise themselves as Underhive drifters, raid a small warehouse first, pay the taxes, and then move into the Mid-Hive openly and honestly."

"Once someone leads the way and tastes the sweetness, we won't need to do anything else. Even the remnants of the Iron Hand Gang won't be able to resist the temptation."

"Wait, isn't this just acting like a hoodlum?" Yuri asked in return.

"Yes, it is acting like a hoodlum," Fu Haoran smiled. "And a legal hoodlum at that."

Yuri was greatly shocked, feeling that he had been too kind in the past.

He even suspected that his Governor was a follower of some Blue Bird cult!