nownovels Chapter 374 Leveraging Power
Chapter 374 Leveraging Power
Chapter 374 Leveraging Power
Mr. Luke was one of the wealthiest middle-class people Klein knew, yet he had now come to the point of having to sell his house.
Although Mr. Luke's reluctance to sell his Coim Corporation shares was partly the reason for this decision, it still couldn't hide his predicament.
Mr. Luke's case demonstrates the immense harm that the plague orchestrated by George III inflicted on ordinary people.
But the reason he orchestrated all of this, besides filling the government's financial deficit, was mainly to find the "Black Emperor," which shows the trouble the "Black Emperor" caused him.
Anything that makes the enemy uncomfortable is something I believe I should do with all my might.
Once this storm has passed, I'll bring the "Black Emperor" back to life and make George III suffer.
In the past few days, Klein has been traveling back and forth throughout Backlund, going wherever the people are helpless and wherever the situation is serious. He has witnessed too many human tragedies, to the point that Ince Zangwell is no longer his number one enemy.
Because of his experiences during this period, Klein harbored too much resentment, which sometimes made him unable to resist the urge to take action against the police officers who were trying to arrest him. However, he eventually suppressed this thought with his strong willpower.
Of course, during this time, it wasn't just the tragedies of the poor in the East District that saddened him, but also many things that gave him great comfort and allowed him to see the brilliance of humanity that is usually hard to see.
Despite having the cooperation of Miss Justice, Miss Judgment, and Miss Magician, he still fell into traps several times.
When faced with enemy pursuit, there were always strangers who would risk their lives to cover his retreat, guide him, or even take bullets for him.
What pleased Klein the most was the passive attitude of his old colleagues and former employers when they were hunting him down.
If it weren't for his former colleagues repeatedly turning a blind eye, he might have been dead long ago.
Because of his old colleague's leniency, he didn't lose faith in all the higher-ups and see everything as bleak.
"I hope that the operation I plan tomorrow will bring this attack by the Kingdom of Rune to a halt."
In the past, Klein's greatest wish would have been simply to save as many people as possible from this great plague.
With Evan's support, Klein was no longer satisfied with simply saving a few people; he wanted to end George III's conspiracy and save everyone.
Evan's words made sense: the best way to deal with a country's regime is to introduce an equally powerful one.
After acquiring the identity of "Alice Einhorn", Klein awakened the political acumen of her past life as a veteran, and combined it with her understanding of the Kingdom of Rune to write a report of more than thirty pages to the Fusak Empire.
From the suspicious movements of the Augustus family to the financial collapse of the Kingdom of Rune's government, from last week's Backlund riots, to the witch's role in it, from the relationship between the two countries, to the fact that the Kingdom of Rune would never willingly admit defeat on the issue of the Southern Continent, and so on.
Anyway, after all that talk, the gist of it is that the Kingdom of Rune is using the Great Plague to plunder the people's wealth to make up for its deficit, and the Fusak Empire cannot stand idly by and must also join in.
After the report was submitted to Petrov Andrei of the Fussac Empire, he dared not neglect it and submitted it to the Einhorn family without making any changes.
Although Petrov Andrei had no idea that "Alice Einhorn" had been replaced, he knew that anything delivered under that name should be treated as an order from his superior, and he should do whatever he was told without any compromise.
As expected, the report caught the attention of the Einhorn family, who noticed its omissions and immediately ordered Alice Einhorn to submit a follow-up solution.
At this moment, Klein took out the plan he had written before, called the "Frsac Aid Plan". The main content of the Frsac Aid Plan is that the Frsac Empire should adhere to the basic principles of humanitarianism, put aside past grievances, and actively assist the suffering people of Backlund. Moreover, it should be done in a grand manner, and actively coordinate with the Kingdom of Feneport to provide the Kingdom of Rune with urgently needed medicines.
These matters must be communicated to the government of the Kingdom of Rune through official diplomatic correspondence, and even the embassy of the Fusak Empire in the Kingdom of Rune must personally appear to explain and actively promote them so that the people of Backlund know about them.
In short, he did everything possible to prevent the Kingdom of Rune from regaining its healthy finances, and as Klein expected, he received a telegram agreeing to his plan just hours after sending the report to the Fusak Empire.
Thinking of the telegram he received a few days ago, personally signed by the Emperor of the Fussac Empire, Klein was now extremely excited, and at the same time, felt a little proud.
With his political acumen from his past life and his knowledge of history in this life, Klein knew all too well what the relationship was between the Fusak Empire and the Kingdom of Rune.
If the Fussac Empire actually does as he plans, then the Augustus family will be in a very awkward predicament.
If the aid of the Fussac Empire is refused, then an upheaval even greater than the previous riots will be inevitable, and the legitimacy of the Augustus family's throne will be shaken.
As mentioned before, the ruling logic of the Kingdom of Rune is not like the "I am the world" concept of other northern continent countries. Instead, it is more like a "social contract theory" with a certain degree of advancement. The king is responsible to the people, and there is an implicit contract between them.
This is why the previous king was able to complete the social reforms so quickly with the help of the old Earl of the Akhova family.
This ruling ideology aligns closely with the bourgeoisie and is highly conducive to cultivating the bourgeoisie.
Therefore, before Roselle's emergence, the social structure of the Kingdom of Rune was relatively advanced compared to other countries, and the lives of its people were also better than those of other countries. This is also why the Kingdom of Rune was able to recover after suffering several defeats in major battles in the early and middle stages of the Fifth Era.
The conflict between the ruling and ruled classes in the Kingdom of Rune is less severe than in other countries.
If the Kingdom of Rune refuses the aid of the Fusak Empire, it will break the rules established by its founder, Augustus I, and he may even lose his position as an archangel.
Moreover, the people had come to accept this ruling ideology after so many years of rule by the Augustus family.
When they discover that the ruling government does not adhere to this governing philosophy, will anyone still believe in the title of "Emperor who has ruled for three generations"? Will it still be recognized by the people?
But once the title of "Emperor" fails to resonate with the people, then George III need not prepare to be promoted to "Black Emperor," and the ceremony can be considered to have been discontinued.
However, accepting the help of the Fusak Empire would be tantamount to acknowledging its leadership, essentially surrendering the Kingdom of Rune in the struggle for hegemony in the Northern Continent.
Building confidence is very difficult, but collapsing is very easy.
Once everyone thinks you've given up, everyone will rush to abandon you, especially at the national level.
At that time, the Kingdom of Rune will forget about any grand plans or struggles for hegemony. Even its allies will collectively turn against it, and under the call of the Fusak Empire and the Church of the God of War, they will devour it like wolves.
Moreover, even if the people of Backlund survive by accepting aid from the Fusak Empire, what good would that do for the government of the Kingdom of Rune?
The government's plan to seize wealth and make up for the deficit has completely failed. Their previous schemes have backfired, and their past actions will become the noose around their necks.
Therefore, if they do not want to fall into this dilemma, the government of the Kingdom of Rune and the Augustus family have only one option: to reject the "goodwill" of the Fussac Empire externally and to carry out sweeping reforms and changes internally.
Only by turning the knife on the ruling class itself can they find enough money to both make up for the fiscal deficit and prevent the Fussac Empire from taking advantage of the situation.
However, once internal strife begins, the previously relatively harmonious power struggle within the Ruen political arena will completely lose its bottom line, and the two sides will enter into a fierce life-or-death battle.
Of course, George III might also use this opportunity to completely complete his reforms, perfect his ascension ceremony, and even allow the Kingdom of Rune to rise from the ashes.
Klein couldn't care less about that now. As long as he could thwart this plan that would cost the lives of the people of Backlund, even if it really helped George III, Klein would accept it.
Of course, Klein wouldn't write all of these thoughts in his report to the Fussac Empire.
After all, to persuade the Fusak Empire to follow the path he set, it was necessary to emphasize what kind of trouble such actions would bring to the Kingdom of Rune, rather than what changes they would bring to the Kingdom of Rune.
Of course, Klein also anticipated that even if he didn't write anything, the "conspirators" of the Fussac Empire, who had been scheming for years, would be able to deduce what consequences this plan would bring.
From any perspective, this plan is a low-risk, quick-return, high-return, and win-win solution for the Fussac Empire.
This can also be seen from the exchanges between the Fussac Empire and Klein in the past few days.
The Fussac Empire took this matter very seriously, sending telegrams to Backlund almost daily to coordinate related actions.
Is George III ready to face tomorrow's challenges?
Klein looked in the direction of Sodraco Palace in Queens and couldn't help but sneer inwardly.
North District, Daily Observer newspaper office.
Veteran reporter Mike Joseph arrived at his workstation early, ready to hand over the interview transcripts he had compiled the previous night to his editor.
During this time, he risked infection to conduct interviews in the slums of the East End, took many photos, and even did something that the government should have done: count the number of deaths.
Judging from the data, the East District can already be described as a place littered with corpses. Mike even wondered if Backlund would become a living hell if the plague continued to spread.
Perhaps we are already living in hell.
Even though we're already in hell, the big shots in Queens are still completely oblivious.
Mike was very pessimistic about the future, believing that the government was acting too slowly and that the pandemic response was a complete failure.
Today, he will hand over the findings of his hard work over the past few days to the editor-in-chief, using the newspaper to remind everyone of the severity of the crisis and to encourage everyone to step forward and take action.
But just ten minutes later, he knew his hopes had been dashed.
"I'm sorry, Mike, I can't submit this report!"
"Why?" Mike Joseph frowned and asked loudly.
"Because all reports about the Eastern District, especially those about people dying from the plague there, cannot be published. This is an order from the Press Censorship Board!"
The editor-in-chief patiently explained to his capable subordinate.
Why?
Michael Joseph still didn't understand why the outbreak in the East End couldn't be reported, "because the government doesn't want people to know about the East End." Today's editor was very patient.
Mike Joseph fell silent. After all, he was no longer a young man in his twenties and had already witnessed the dark side of society. So he immediately realized that it wasn't that the big shots didn't know about the situation in the East District, but rather that they knew too much about it and simply didn't want to get involved right now.
In that instant, Michael Joseph instinctively thought of Russell after he became emperor, standing on the grand balcony of White Maple Palace, holding a glass of red wine, looking down at the demonstrators below, and coldly saying: "People's joys and sorrows are not shared, I just think they are too noisy."
After speaking, Emperor Roselle turned and left the balcony, entering the hall to be crowned "Emperor," while gunshots rang out outside the palace to suppress the demonstration.
This period of history is very famous, and the Republic of Intis still uses it to criticize Rosell for his crime of betraying the GM.
Supporters of monarchs around the world also use this as evidence—only a ruthless emperor can lead a country to prosperity.
The reason Roselle was able to achieve the greatest success in the Fifth Age was because he was essentially a qualified 'monarch'!
A monarch does not need empathy!
"Is a monarch who disregards the deaths of his people the only qualified monarch, the only qualified emperor?"
For a moment, Mike Joseph couldn't tell what was right and what was wrong.
At the same time, an unspeakable question arose in my mind.
Was His Majesty George III, who led such a ruthless government, a competent monarch?
Just as Mike Joseph was in a state of confusion, the editor-in-chief interrupted his chaotic thoughts, handed him an invitation, and said sympathetically:
"Last night, the embassy of the Fussac Empire suddenly sent us an invitation to a press conference. Since you're free right now, why don't you go on behalf of the newspaper?"
"The Fussac Empire's embassy? What do they want?"
Mike glanced at the invitation in his hand and asked in confusion.
"I don't know, those barbarians are probably drunk again. Alright, you can go and get ready."
The editor-in-chief waved for Mike to leave, and after watching him go, threw the report Mike had just submitted into the wastebasket.
>