Dragging his exhausted body back home, Ledes let out a sigh of relief. Fooling people was easy, but fooling a group of old foxes was not so simple. If he had a choice, Ledes would never have accepted such a troublesome job, even if it meant gaining access to broader connections. The more he learned, the more Ledes understood the cruelty of this circle. Nobles also needed to compete. A noble with no power, no wealth, and no land was, in reality, not much different from anyone else. Of course, even an empty-titled noble, as long as they were willing to lower themselves, could still live better than ninety-nine percent of ordinary people. Generally speaking, getting rich was simple if one abandoned their principles. For example, marrying into the family of a nouveau riche. As long as one had a hereditary title recognized by mainstream society, upstart millionaires from the Americas would flock to them, offering houses, cars, and money. It was almost too easy. In fact, Ledes himself was one of these fallen nobles. Otherwise, he would never have acted as a bridge in the world of power and money exchanges. Any noble family with a bit of a foundation would never do such dirty work. Although it seemed profitable and could bring a wide network of connections, it also cut them off from true high society. No matter how good the surface relationships seemed, the label of being a noble already marked them as belonging to a different world. Once a crisis hit, when danger arrived, someone like Ledes could easily be abandoned as a pawn. Compared to those bigshots hiding behind the scenes, it was Ledes who was the most nervous. If the captured Jewish capitalists started talking, it was uncertain whether the bigshots behind them would get into trouble, but Ledes would definitely not escape unscathed. The butler reminded him, “Baron, someone delivered a secret letter this afternoon. They repeatedly insisted that it must be handed over to you personally. It’s said that the contents are extremely important.” Casually taking the letter, Ledes inspected it carefully to make sure there were no signs of tampering before opening it. After spending a moment reading, Ledes asked cautiously, “Did the messenger say anything else?” The butler shook his head as he replied, “No. The messenger seemed very nervous. After handing over the letter and giving a few instructions, he immediately left. Oh, and when he left, he was riding in a gray car. Judging by that, he should be quite wealthy.” At that time, there weren’t that many famous brands, and the fashion industry was still dominated by custom tailoring. Without detailed study, it was difficult to tell at a glance. The best way to judge a person’s financial status was to look at their means of transportation. If someone could afford a car worth several thousand, or even over ten thousand guilders, they were definitely not ordinary. Ledes nodded, the wrinkles on his forehead deepening even further. After hesitating for a moment, he slowly said, “Prepare the car. I’m heading out.” There was no other way. The content of the letter was simply too shocking. Although it did not directly threaten him, the underlying message of “If I go down, I’m dragging you down with me” was clearly there. Although the Jewish capitalists had been imprisoned, not all of their backup plans left on the outside had been cut off. No one knew whether among those backup plans there might be evidence of their “power-for-money” dealings. If such evidence existed and was exposed, Ledes would be doomed. Since the bigshots behind the scenes could silence the imprisoned capitalists, they could just as easily get rid of him, the middleman. In fact, the reason Ledes had survived until now was largely thanks to his inherited noble title. After all, killing him would attract the attention of the Austrian government and would also violate the rules of the noble circle. Otherwise, Ledes would have been eliminated long ago. ... At the Vienna Palace, the undercurrents brewing within the country did not escape Franz’s notice. Perhaps the corruption of a few officials would not normally draw the intelligence department’s full attention, but within such a large group as the Jewish community, how could there not be a few spies? The fact that the entire illegal Jewish capitalist network could be taken down at once was the best proof. Even the internal split among Jewish groups within Austria owed much to the intelligence department’s efforts. Looking at the intelligence reports in his hand, Franz’s expression turned frighteningly dark. Had the evidence not been right before his eyes, he would never have believed that Jewish capital could reach into the upper levels of government. Originally, Franz had intended to show some leniency. But now he has changed his mind. For the sake of the empire’s long-term stability, it would be better to resolve the problem once and for all. “If we hadn’t investigated, we wouldn’t have known. But now that we have, it turns out there are so many parasites within the empire. Given the current special circumstances, I have decided to set up a Special Task Force. The team will be led by Count Witters, the Deputy Minister of Finance, with Paul Bodis, Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s Internal Affairs Division, and Alberti, Deputy Minister of Police, serving as deputy heads. Their mission: thoroughly investigate these lawless capitalists and the protectors behind them!” The formation of a task force wasn’t surprising, but the personnel appointments left everyone puzzled. Minister of Finance, Mark Leo von Joseph, objected, “Your Majesty, investigating cases requires specialists. It should be handled by the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Ministry of Police. Count Witters, the Deputy Minister of Finance, has no experience in this area. Having him lead the investigation might be…” Assigning specialized work to specialized people had always been the Austrian government’s guiding principle so cross-departmental appointments like this were extremely rare. If it had been for something else, even something loosely connected to the Ministry of Finance, Mark would have gladly fought to give his people more opportunities, expanding the Ministry’s influence. But this time was different. The Ministry of Finance reaching into the judicial system was a frightening thought. As a seasoned political veteran, Mark did not believe this was truly the Emperor’s intention. Franz smiled faintly and handed over the intelligence report in his hand. “Take a look at this, and you’ll understand why I made this decision.” In just an instant, Mark’s face darkened. The list of implicated individuals covered nearly all of Austria’s major departments, many of them wielding significant power. It was practically a “mini cabinet” of its own. It could be said that this was, in the past thirty years, Austria’s largest corruption scandal in terms of the amount of money involved, the rank of the officials implicated, and the severity of its consequences. If this information could be confirmed, the Austrian government would soon face a major political reshuffling. Unfortunately, in this case of power-for-money dealings, these individuals had not personally stepped into the fray. On the surface, there was no evidence directly linking them to collusion with the capitalists for illegal gains. Their involvement was inferred because they had repeatedly abused their positions to provide convenience to these capitalists, including deliberately suppressing many cases involving them. Such actions had, in effect, made them protectors of criminal forces. Knowing it was one thing, but Austria was a country governed by the rule of law. Without solid evidence, even Franz could not simply arrest and prosecute these officials. Of course, being unable to convict them did not mean there was no way to deal with them. Given the scale of the scandal, it would still be possible to charge them with “dereliction of duty.” However, this carried little weight. Dereliction without causing serious consequences would at most force them into early retirement, spending their days looking after grandchildren, and would not constitute a criminal offense. By assigning these officials to lead the investigation, Franz was, in fact, using poison to fight poison. The crimes already uncovered were enough to ensure those capitalists ended up in prison. With so many eyes watching from the outside, no matter how much favoritism was shown, it would be impossible to simply let these people go. And prison in these times was no easy place to survive. Even if they escaped the death penalty, a single order of exile would be enough to make those pampered individuals unable to survive. For example: being exiled to the icy wastelands of Alaska to mine for gold, or being sent to the desert to plant trees, or being exiled to the colonies to build railroads. According to incomplete statistics, criminals sent to mine gold in Alaska had an average life expectancy of only about 2.7 years. In some mines with particularly harsh climates, the average survival time might not even reach three months. Those assigned to desert greening projects had an average life expectancy of just 2.6 years, with some areas seeing survival rates of only half a year. Relatively speaking, the criminals who worked on railroad construction survived the longest, but even then, few lasted more than five years. Generally, after two to three years, most would already be physically broken. These disasters were caused not only by the harsh natural conditions, but even more by officials blindly pursuing achievements, eager to leave these hellish places quickly, and completely neglecting the safety of the prisoners. Facing such a death sentence and realizing that the ones pushing them to the brink were the very same people they had once gotten rich with, anyone would feel a deep sense of betrayal. At the edge of life and death, whether to betray these former allies in exchange for a lighter sentence was not a hard decision for most. Franz might not have solid evidence of the crimes committed by these officials, but that did not mean the capitalists lacked such evidence. If the officials wanted to avoid disaster themselves, they had only one option: to silence the capitalists first. Exactly how they would do it, and whether they would succeed, was none of Franz’s concern. As long as the two sides started fighting each other, no matter who won or lost, the problems hidden in the shadows would gradually come to light. When the time came, they could simply be dealt with according to Austrian law. *** https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH)
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