"It's the Internal Revenue Service director you nominated, Alexander—", Jefferson indignantly blurted out a name.
Charles' expression changed drastically, and he looked at Jefferson with displeasure.
"What's wrong with Hamilton?"
"Someone reported that Hamilton, he took advantage of the Continental Congress' opportunity to add a General Headquarters and strengthen tax supervision over the states.
This time, several new tax items have been imposed.
I went to ask Continental Congress Secretary Thompson, and he confirmed that Hamilton has indeed provided a large amount of additional funding to the secretariat recently, and also promised even more benefits in the future.
At a time when the country and the people are facing economic difficulties, he actually increased the exploitation of common people, which is truly shameful.
Such a person is absolutely not suitable to continue as the director of the Internal Revenue Service, Charles, you must deal with him!" Jefferson said sternly.
A trace of displeasure flashed across Charles' face.
Was this a declaration of war against his own consortium's interest group?
Hamilton could already be considered the first core member absorbed by Charles' consortium interest group outside of the Continental Congress, and this was widely known.
Moreover, from the moment Charles nominated him to be the first director of the Central Bank, he was immediately identified as belonging to Charles' faction.
As an outstanding economist, he performed very well during his tenure as director of the Central Bank and the Internal Revenue Service.
The tax policy has always been implemented according to the standards set by the Continental Congress, with no obvious violations of this principle.
Now, it's only because a large amount of taxes are being levied on the states, which has harmed the interests of many who, under the banner of democracy, are actually free anarchists.
That's why he has been attacked multiple times.
But because there was no concrete evidence, those people couldn't do anything to Hamilton.
Now, Jefferson is speaking about Hamilton like this, and in a personal capacity, asking Charles, Hamilton's introducer and protector, to punish Hamilton.
Charles naturally felt very displeased with such a despicable approach.
At the same time, he immediately realized that such a despicable idea was definitely not Jefferson's personal opinion, but rather a bad idea from someone in the democratic faction he led.
"Thomas, what evidence do you have to prove that Mr. Hamilton made a mistake by over-collecting local taxes?" Charles said indifferently.
He didn't want to fall out with Jefferson over this small issue, and he guessed that those who came up with this bad idea thought the same.
It's just that they didn't know Hamilton's position in his heart.
If Jefferson insisted on dealing with Hamilton, then he wouldn't mind falling out with Jefferson to protect him.
"Charles, what evidence is needed for this?
The facts are right before everyone's eyes!
Previously, the Continental Congress even had to ask state governments for collateral for banks.
Now, it already has money to increase the salaries of Continental Congress Representatives.
All that money came from Hamilton's Internal Revenue Service.
Where did he get so much money?
The last request to increase supervision over state taxes was mainly to increase military expenses.
It wasn't for him to directly use for bribing Continental Congress Representatives." Jefferson said as a matter of course.
"Hmph, Thomas.
You are not someone who doesn't understand economics, nor are you someone who doesn't understand politics.
If you just think carefully, you'll know that if Hamilton had really over-collected state taxes, those Mr. governors would have already run to the Continental Congress to make a fuss.
Now they have no objections, so why are you democrats jumping out first?
Is it an abuse of power?
Everything still needs to be supported by evidence." Charles directly revealed his displeasure.
If Jefferson said more, they might really fall out.
Normally, if it were someone else, Charles might make appropriate sacrifices and compromises for the sake of factional interests and the overall situation.
But now the target is Hamilton, his designated factional spokesperson, so how could he sacrifice him?
However, thinking about why the democratic faction targeted Hamilton, it's also understandable.
Ever since Charles designated Hamilton as the future spokesperson for his faction, he had always supported him.
Originally, with the expansion of the Internal Revenue Service's power, some people wanted to follow the precedent of the Central Bank's power expansion and kick out this young man, Hamilton, replacing him with a prominent figure.
But Charles, who was intent on nurturing Hamilton, overruled all objections and insisted that Hamilton continue to serve as the director of the Internal Revenue Service.
And Hamilton, who achieved success at a young age, did not have Charles' experience of two lives.
In his conduct, it was inevitable that he would be a bit too proud.
Offending some people he looked down upon was unavoidable.
Coupled with the democratic faction's consistent opposition to the existence of centralized power and interests, this Internal Revenue Service, in their view, was simply the greatest driving force providing blood for the centralized system.
Naturally, they wished they could remove the hardworking Hamilton from office sooner.
"Uh, Charles…"
Jefferson was a bit embarrassed, not expecting Charles to speak to him, an old friend, in such a way for a young, low-ranking official.
For a moment, he didn't know what to do, racking his brains to prepare other words to persuade Charles.
"Thomas, you don't need to say anything more about Hamilton's matter.
If you really think he has a problem, you can file a complaint with the Philadelphia court.
We will follow all regular legal procedures.
Although your democratic faction's main force is lawyers, I believe you will not disregard the law." Charles clearly stated his position.
Jefferson spread his hands helplessly.
This was probably Charles' final answer.
Although he hadn't originally intended for Hamilton to resign, as a condition of exchange, he wanted Charles to agree to restrain the power of the Internal Revenue Service, in exchange for not pursuing Hamilton's responsibility.
Who would have thought that Charles would react so strongly for Hamilton, even directly expressing his willingness to go through normal legal channels?
He was practically saying that for Hamilton, he was willing to fall out with an old friend and engage in a direct struggle between the two factions.
"Charles, don't force the matter onto our faction.
This so-called faction, in reality, is just you people who like to be with Bankers and merchants, forming a faction for common interests.
We are all just friends who believe in democratic ideals, united under a common belief.
We do not have direct interest representatives and will not conflict with your interest-maintained factions." In the end, it was Jefferson who took the initiative to compromise.
Although he was the leader of the democratic faction in the Continental Congress, he was not enthusiastic about party struggles at the moment.
Charles, however, sneered inwardly upon hearing this.
People united for a belief have common interests.
That common belief is actually common interests.
However, since Jefferson had already directly said he didn't want to conflict with his faction, Charles naturally couldn't insist on continuing the fight.
His expression softened, and he began to smile, saying:
"Yes!
Our entire country is still in peril right now.
If we are not united internally at this time, then we will certainly not have a good future.
At this moment, all actions taken for the national interest should be appropriately tolerated by us.
Regardless of whether it infringes upon individual rights.
At this time, if individual rights are sacrificed, there is still a chance for compensation in the future.
But if one clings to personal interests and is unwilling to cooperate with the overall national situation, then when the country falls apart, individual rights will also be lost."
Jefferson smiled helplessly, unwilling to argue with Charles.
He found that the gap between his political philosophy and Charles' was growing wider and wider.
—
Fortunately, both sides considered the overall interests of the country and the people, except that he focused on the people, while Charles focused on the country.
Jefferson was not encountering such a clash of ideas for the first time.
His consistent approach to such conflicts was to temporarily set them aside and discuss them again after the war was won.
This time was no different.
With Jefferson's proactive concession, Charles naturally couldn't conflict with Jefferson anymore, and the two ultimately maintained their hard-won friendship.
However, after seeing Jefferson off, Charles immediately ordered someone to invite Alexander Hamilton, the cause of the matter, to ask him what he had done recently to offend people.
Although Hamilton's Internal Revenue Service had increased a lot of business, he also added a few subordinates, so he wasn't very busy and quickly arrived at the Diana family castle.
"Offending people?
No, I've always honestly followed the authorization of the Continental Congress, drawing a portion from the state taxes as the collective funds for the Continental Congress, completely through normal channels.
Even if there were some initial complaints during the collection, everyone is used to it now, so there definitely wouldn't be any more dissatisfaction." Hamilton, who was asked, was utterly confused.
"Then have you formulated any new targeted tax plans?" Charles pressed with concern.
This fellow had previously proposed several new tax collection plans, almost driving the Continental Congress Representatives mad.
Hamilton gave a self-deprecating smile:
"Even if I had a new plan, the Continental Congress wouldn't agree.
Why would I propose it!
Last time, they even passed a resolution prohibiting me from proposing tax increase suggestions.
Alas, those old fogeys, if only all of them were as farsighted as you, Charles.
They only know how to oppose tax increases, oppose all taxes, but they don't know that without taxes, where would their salaries come from?
When they starve to death, how will they work for this Continental Congress?"
"Haha!
Good that there isn't." Charles smiled with relief.
But he muttered to himself that every Continental Congress Representative had their own legitimate income and gray income.
If they relied solely on the meager subsidies for Continental Congress Representatives, these Representatives would indeed all starve to death.
However, he also opposed tax increases and had special income, which was not something good to say openly.
"You didn't do anything to offend people, but did you offend anyone?" Charles asked again.
Living in the same city, with his abilities, if Hamilton had really done anything to offend people, he would usually know.
Now, all information proved that this young economist, apart from his private life becoming more colorful, had not done anything special.
"Offend people?
Hmm…" Hamilton pondered.
Charles looked at him, knowing in his heart that he must have offended some important person.
"Actually, you can't say it's offending people, it's just Mr. Samuel Adams.
Last time, they said they were uneasy about General Washington leading such a large army, and believed that Mr. John Adams of Virginia should take charge of a portion of the army.
I happened to overhear it and said a few words to them.
Their faces were very bad at the time, but they didn't say much to me and just walked away.
I don't know if I offended them." Hamilton said hesitantly.
"You said a few words to Samuel Adams?" Charles gave a wry smile.
This person was an extreme democrat, far more radical than Jefferson and Adams.
It was likely that Hamilton's few words in support of Washington leading the army would have him classified as a supporter of dictatorship.
"Haha, that shouldn't be a problem.
Didn't he always oppose turning the Continental army into a standing army, saying it wasted manpower and resources?
This time, I just said it directly: as long as I am in charge of the Internal Revenue Service, I can guarantee sufficient military funds to maintain a strong standing army, and there are no difficulties at all.
On the contrary, it is people like them, with ulterior motives, who are delaying the establishment of our standing army.
Alas, these short-sighted people.
When I served in the Continental army, I felt that the biggest shortcoming of our army was that it was not a standing army.
Every soldier had no confidence in future promotions, at most just wanting to kill the British out of a burst of passion, never thinking about becoming an officer or a general.
Such unambitious people, who only want to serve their time and leave, during battle, absolutely few would be willing to truly study how to fight a war." Hamilton said with regret.
Hamilton's talent, whether in politics or on the battlefield, showed outstanding performance.
Historically, in the war of Independence, he also demonstrated his genius, rising from an ordinary soldier to Washington's adjutant in just a few years, exhibiting extremely high talent in assisting Washington with operational planning.
If he hadn't become an adjutant and lost the opportunity to personally go into battle, his achievements at the end of the war of Independence might have been even greater.
It's a pity that whether it's the future American army or the current Continental army, their biggest enemies are often not their opponents on the battlefield, but the Congressmen and Representatives sitting on Capitol Hill.
Any soldier has reason to regard those Congressmen as their enemies, and those Congressmen, without needing a reason, already regard soldiers as their enemies.