eurekapd Chapter 382 Alice Makes Contact with the Fussac Empire
Chapter 382 Alice Makes Contact with the Fussac Empire
Chapter 382 Alice Makes Contact with the Fussac Empire
After Robert and Earl Hall had initially agreed on their future course of action, the carriage carrying the two of them stopped outside Earl Akhova's mansion.
But Robert did not get out of the carriage for a long time, which attracted the attention of other passing nobles, and the butler who came out to greet him could only lead a long line of servants to stand at the door and wait.
Soon, even the horses in the carriage were losing patience. Ignoring the driver's instructions, they kept snorting and pounding on the hard road. Finally, a quarrel that aroused endless curiosity came from the carriage, and the sound grew louder and clearer.
Finally, in a fit of anger, Robert actually climbed out of the carriage and returned to the Earl of Ahova's mansion, completely disregarding Earl Hall behind him.
Meanwhile, a group of servants who were spying around on their master's orders saw Earl Hall sitting inside the carriage, his face turning ashen, through the carriage door that had been pushed open.
After a long pause, Earl Hall seemed to suppress his anger and, unusually, gave the coachman a stern order:
"What are you waiting for? Go home! Do you want me to make a fool of myself here?"
The coachman, whose legs were already trembling, didn't care about anything else. He scrambled to sit in the front and hurriedly drove away from where he was, heading towards Earl Hall's mansion not far away.
As Earl Hall's carriage drove away, several servants who had been hiding and spying nearby rushed to their respective residences to inform their masters of the exciting scene they had witnessed.
Earl Hall and the most prominent Earl Ahova had a falling out over the issue of land restrictions for noble titles.
Count Akhova slammed the door and left, while Count Hall turned pale and even lost his temper—a rare occurrence for him!
This will be a momentous event that will shake up the entire political arena of the Kingdom of Rune. Notifying one's master a second earlier will allow the master to think about how to respond in advance.
Servants who had served the nobility for generations were politically astute and were well aware of the seriousness of what had just happened, so they dared not slack off in the slightest.
Robert, who was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the study on the third floor, having taken off his heavy coat with the help of the butler, couldn't help but smile slightly when he saw this chaotic scene.
The butler, standing behind Robert, didn't have the leisure to hang the clothes on the hanger. Watching the scene below, a hint of worry flashed in his eyes, and he couldn't help but speak up:
"Your Excellency, were you perhaps a little hasty just now?"
Regardless, the Earl of Hall is the leader of the Conservative Party, and no matter how significant the differences of opinion, it is inappropriate to confront him in public; such an act would only create more trouble for the future.
Before the butler could finish speaking, Robert gently shook his head, interrupting him, and said meaningfully:
"You don't understand. This is the only option that is most beneficial to the Horn family."
After saying this, Robert told the butler to leave first, without offering any further explanation.
The butler could only leave Robert's study with a face full of doubt.
Although Robert's approach to Earl Hall was long-term and he didn't expect him to do anything for him in the short term, it didn't mean he wouldn't use this opportunity to his advantage.
Robert's proposal at today's royal conference to loosen the link between noble titles and land holdings is sure to trigger a huge reaction.
As soon as this news spreads, large factory owners, capitalists, and capable but uninherited noble scions who want to obtain noble titles will flock to him.
Those who oppose this policy, whether they are established nobles with large landholdings or newly arrived nobles who want to shut down the system, will certainly gather to oppose it.
This group closely mirrors the core support base of the now-deceased Duke Negan.
After the death of the old Duke Negan, some of them rejoined Charles Negan's service, some pledged allegiance to Prime Minister Algheth, and some turned to Earl Hall, while only a handful turned to Robert.
This wasn't because Robert was young, but because Robert was too divided from their political leanings.
Many others are still fighting their own battles, or even trying to band together for mutual support, cautiously observing the attitudes of the bigwigs.
Since Charles Negan was outmaneuvered by Evan, who used Lord Hibbert's dirty laundry to force Earl Hall to make significant concessions and win the Parliament's Budget Committee, his influence has soared.
Many people said he had the demeanor of the Duke of Negan, and thus chose to support and side with Charles Negan.
However, Earl Hall's reputation suffered greatly because of this incident. Many people, unaware of the truth, said that he was too old to withstand the brilliance of the younger generation, and his political influence declined rather than increased during this period.
Now that Robert had determined that Earl Hall would become his supporter, he could not stand idly by and watch such a thing happen.
Because of the Fussack Empire's machinations, Prime Minister Agushid will most likely have to resign in the next few days, leaving behind a considerable political force.
Compared to his nephew Charles Negan, Agoshid actually trusted Earl Hall's abilities and promises more. After all, while others might not know the inside story of Earl Hall's last concession, Prime Minister Agoshid knew it all.
Therefore, Count Hall will actively negotiate with Prime Minister Agushid in the coming days to see how to take over the political power he left behind.
In order to prevent the political influence left by Agushid from being taken away by Charles Negan, it was essential to raise a banner.
The argument between Earl Hall and Robert in front of everyone was precisely to raise this flag.
In short, Robert used himself as a raft to help Earl Hall gain influence under Prime Minister Agushid, to win over the conservative forces that Robert could not openly pursue, and to strike at Charles Negan.
If this is accomplished, Earl Hall will become the banner of the conservative forces in the Kingdom of Rune, completely taking over the niche that Duke Nigan originally occupied.
Robert was able to solidify his position as the leader of the reformists.
From now on, the two sides can appear to be at loggerheads, but in reality, they can wage a tacit war that no one will notice.
For Robert, the political struggles in the Kingdom of Rune in the future would be a boring game of fighting with his left hand against his right, while secretly undermining the power of George III and even the Augustus family.
In theory, as long as the Augustus family's extraordinary strength remains intact, they can overturn the table and start over at any time.
But after a world war, how could the Augustus family, as a major participant and even at the center of the storm, possibly remain unscathed and unharmed?
Even if they were good at protecting themselves, they couldn't withstand Robert's help to his people from over a thousand years ago.
Once the Augustus family's strength is weakened to a certain extent, Robert will have a lot more room to maneuver.
Robert's eyes were deep and unfathomable, a faint, cold smile playing on his lips as he watched the sun gradually set.
Although he had received news that the Fussac Empire had begun to take action, Klein still couldn't afford to be idle.
Thanks to his status as a journalist, Klein easily learned everything that had happened at the Fussack embassy that day.
Even if he didn't inquire, the Fussac Empire would send him a telegram detailing everything and requesting his cooperation in the relevant actions.
Since Klein submitted his plan to disrupt the finances of the Kingdom of Rune to the Fusak Empire, he no longer needed to think about how the Kingdom of Rune should respond or how to deal with them.
After all, the Fussac Empire has a large group of "conspirators" who are good at these things.
In the Fusak Empire's deductions, no matter how the Kingdom of Rune's government decides to resolve this crisis, the first step will always inevitably involve "news control."
Only by temporarily suppressing the matter at the Fussack Embassy through "news control" can more time be bought to adjust one's strategy.
The Fusak Empire naturally didn't want the Kingdom of Rune to catch its breath, nor did it want to give them time to deal with the situation. Therefore, they had long ago asked "Alice" to mobilize her forces to find a secret printing shop in Backlund and prepare all the materials needed for printing.
Klein's mission tonight is to make contact with the people from the Fursac Empire and obtain the relevant printing plates. In fact, Klein no longer wants to cooperate with the Fursac Empire.
Because he not only used his identity as a journalist to learn everything that happened at the Fussac Embassy, but also through his colleague Michael Joseph after he joined the company, he found out about the internal decisions of the Kingdom of Rune and learned that George III and the government of the Kingdom of Rune had conceded defeat and were coordinating the sale of their medicines at a low price.
At this point, Klein had already achieved his goal: continuing to help the Fussac Empire by distributing leaflets and inciting public anger was tantamount to aiding and abetting evil.
Klein was forced to cooperate with the Fussac Empire, only wanting to use its power to subdue the government of the Kingdom of Rune and force George III to submit. He had no intention of becoming an accomplice in their chaos in the Kingdom of Rune.
From this perspective, Klein also underestimated the speed at which George III and the government of the Kingdom of Loen surrendered.
Klein had originally predicted that the Fusak Empire and the Kingdom of Rune would fight for at least a few days before the Kingdom of Rune would obediently surrender.
Their surrender was so quick that Klein is now in a dilemma, unsure how to end things.
If Klein undertakes the mission for the Fursac Empire, it will trigger a new wave of uprisings in Backlund, resulting in a bloodbath.
But if he doesn't carry out the mission from the Fusak Empire, then the identity of "Alice Einhorn" that Evan entrusted to him might be exposed, and then he would be letting Evan down.
After getting to know her better over this period of time, Klein was all too aware of just how precious the identity of "Alice Einhorn" was; it could only be described as "priceless."
If this identity is exposed by him, he will never be able to face Evan again.
In this state of extreme turmoil, Klein could only decide to take it one step at a time and make contact with the people of the Fussac Empire first.
After Klein returned home, he opened his secret wardrobe, rested his chin on his hand, and after some thought, chose a neutral, tight-fitting outfit. He wore a linen hood, a thick scarf, and black knee-high leather boots, looking dashing and sassy.
Burying his face in the thick blankets, Klein glanced at the full-length mirror, felt there was nothing wrong, left the apartment, hailed a carriage on the street, and headed towards Queens.
Backlund was no different from what it had been a few days before. The weather was still cold, and people lay groaning helplessly everywhere. Judging from their clothes, they had been living decent lives just a few days ago, but in just a few days, they had fallen from the clouds to hell.
The situation will improve in the next few days!
Klein withdrew his self-light and silently prayed in his heart.
As the carriage moved forward, the streets became wider and wider, and there were fewer and fewer homeless people on the streets, and even some normal people appeared.
This situation was even more common in Queens. Looking at the brightly lit shopping streets and the carriages coming and going, Klein even thought that he had traveled through time and space to another metropolis, and that the scene he saw was just a dream.
Klein quickly recovered from the scene before him, paid for the carriage, and headed towards his destination, the Earl's Café.
As Klein moved, his face, hidden beneath the scarf, softened, and his figure, clad in tight clothing, became increasingly slender, making him appear quite tall.
Soon, Klein arrived at the Earl's Café and gave the waiter a private room number that he had just learned via telegram, along with the accompanying code.
Upon hearing this, the waiter led Klein to a secluded private room without saying a word, and then left without asking any further questions.
Klein looked around, then took off the scarf around his neck and performed a divination to confirm that there were no surveillance measures in the private room and that the rendezvous would be safe.
Soon the door to the private room was opened again, and a man wearing a mask with many mysterious symbols on it entered.
The man didn't speak after entering. Instead, he looked Klein up and down. His blatant gaze made Klein feel nauseous and gave him goosebumps.
Just as Klein was getting impatient and about to speak, the man withdrew his gaze, took out two engravings from somewhere, placed them on the table in the private room, and then pushed them in front of Klein.
Klein reached out and took the two woodblock prints, and found that, as he had expected, in addition to recounting what had happened at the Fursac Embassy that day, there were also many inflammatory statements, all of which were inciting the people of Backlund to rise up against the corrupt government of the Kingdom of Rune for their own lives.
What Klein found most ingenious about this leaflet was that it focused its criticism on the government while downplaying the Augustus family's responsibility.
After all, it was the royal family that had ruled the Kingdom of Rune for a thousand years. It was not easy to incite the people to rebel against the Augustus family, but it was relatively easier to get the people to rebel against the government.
It could even be said that it was advising the people to raise the banner of "respecting the king and punishing the traitors" when they rebelled.
This insidious leaflet, so revealing of human nature, sent chills down Klein's spine.