Leakage Incident

When Paul returned to the hall, the officers were still enthusiastically discussing the next stage of their operations.

He shouted irritably, "Stop! All of you, stop!"

Everyone looked at him in confusion. The count had been gone for a while. Could it be that he had eaten the gunpowder he invented himself?

"Our entire foundation has been exposed! It's infuriating," the count said angrily. He then described his meeting with the two clergymen in an exaggerated manner, explaining how they had been suspicious and relentlessly questioned him, while he had endured the humiliation and tried to prove his innocence.

"What? Those two are far too rude! Are they looking down on their own lord just because they're clergymen?"

"Your Excellency, you have the authority to drive them out of your territory. Have the diocese send over a polite priest."

"How strange. Father Anderson doesn't seem like that kind of person. My family lives right next to the church, and he's always been very kind."

"That's right. I know Dean Leonard as well. He's a little old-fashioned, but he's a very decent man."

Knight Schroder slapped the table hard. Everyone immediately stopped arguing and looked at him.

"Everyone, I believe you've got the wrong focus. A soldier actually disregarded the prohibition and disclosed military secrets to someone else. Even if the other party was a clergyman, who can guarantee that there are no fallen souls among religious figures? What if they took our secrets and traded them to our enemies for personal gain? The losses to our army would be incalculable. That is what His Excellency is worried about. Am I right?"

"Yes! Yes, exactly! You... you people!" Paul was heartbroken and looked as though he hated them for failing to live up to expectations. How could the officers he had personally promoted be so lacking in vigilance?

The officers looked at one another, their faces flushing red. For a moment, the hall was unbearably awkward.

In the end, Bryce broke the silence. "Your Excellency, how do you think we should handle this?"

"What else can we do? We absolutely can't let this go unchecked. Investigate! We must find out who leaked the information. Anyone who went to the church after the battle is a suspect. Better to kill a thousand by mistake than let one slip through."

Two days later, the person who had leaked the information was caught. A public trial was quickly held. They had to make good use of this negative example and draw a red line in the hearts of all the officers and soldiers.

"...The dangers of leaking information are clearly stated in the confidentiality regulations... Speaking without restraint means treating your comrades' lives as if they don't matter... Even among clergymen, there may be fallen souls..."

In front of the entire army, the count lectured for two hours, spraying spittle as he spoke.

Finally, he looked at the information leaker, who was kneeling on the ground and trembling violently.

"Now, I hereby pronounce..." Seeing the leaker tremble even more violently, he hesitated. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to be ruthless. "Since this is the first such incident, I sentence him to ten years of hard labor for the time being. However, if anything similar happens again, I will have the offender hanged. I mean what I say."

All the officers and soldiers were terrified when they heard this. The information leaker, meanwhile, looked as though he had been granted a pardon and repeatedly knocked his head against the ground. "Thank you, Your Excellency, for sparing my life."

The leakage incident served as a reminder to Paul Greiman that it was time to establish an intelligence agency. It would not be limited to military affairs. As his territory developed, political and economic intelligence from the outside world would also become indispensable. Moreover, they needed to protect their own secrets and prevent other forces from spying on them in secret.

He summoned Butler Philip, who currently seemed to be the most loyal and reliable person, to discuss the matter. Unexpectedly, the old steward said he was unequal to the task and recommended someone else to take charge of it.

Paul looked astonished. "Cecil? Why do I feel that this person isn't very reliable? I remember that on the day I inherited the lordship, that fellow even said I was 'just a child—what could I possibly understand?'"

"Can't you tell? He was coordinating with Bryce. Later, Bryce's performance intimidated those who harbored ulterior motives."

So that was what had happened? One had played the good cop, while the other played the bad cop.

"The Cecil Family has served the Greiman Family for generations as well. They were already following your ancestors before the migration to Northwest Bay. Old Cecil was once your grandfather's Intelligence Director and was highly experienced in intelligence work. Cecil learned many techniques from his father. However, after your father inherited the lordship, he believed intelligence work was completely unnecessary and sent him to manage forestry instead."

"Oh?" Paul became interested. This really was like finding a pillow when he was sleepy.

"How about this? Call him over. I'll see what kind of person he is first."

That afternoon, Cecil, the head of forestry, arrived at the lord's castle. Paul tested him during their conversation and found no problems. So he really had been deliberately putting on an act that day to coordinate with Bryce?

Paul then announced that Cecil would be appointed Intelligence Director of the territory. Until a suitable replacement was found, he would continue serving concurrently as head of forestry.

"Sorry for the trouble, but I'll pay you double."

"Serving Your Excellency is my duty. I wouldn't dare call it trouble." Cecil knelt on one knee. The gloomy look he had worn earlier was gone, and he spoke with solemn dignity.

"Very good. Get up. Let's go to my study and discuss in detail how we should carry out your future work."

Paul and Cecil discussed in detail the establishment of the intelligence agency and the protection of secrets within the territory. Paul didn't know how advanced the intelligence techniques of this world were, so he brought up everything he had read in the web novels and online ramblings of his previous life for reference. Cecil agreed to the following measures:

1. Secrets within the territory would be divided into three levels: secret, confidential, and top secret. "Top secret" referred to the most important secrets; their disclosure would cause particularly serious harm to the territory's security and interests. "Confidential" referred to important secrets; their disclosure would cause serious harm to the territory's security and interests. "Secret" referred to ordinary secrets; their disclosure would cause harm to the territory's security and interests.

2. Personnel handling secrets would be divided into three levels: "core secret personnel," "important secret personnel," and "general secret personnel." Core secret personnel could access top-secret, confidential, and secret information. Important secret personnel could access confidential and secret information. General secret personnel could access only secret information.

3. A specialized agency needed to be established to manage confidential matters. It would be responsible for classifying secrets and assessing the levels of personnel handling them. Its provisional name would be the Bureau of Secrecy.

4. Even personnel with a high clearance level could not access lower-level matters outside their area of authority without permission from the relevant department.

5. A dedicated code system for intelligence work had to be established.

During their discussion, Paul learned that similar measures to some of those listed above had actually already appeared in this world. Cecil was simply extremely surprised that a half-grown child could know about them.

Finally, Paul ordered that the immediate focus of intelligence work be placed on gathering information about pirates, particularly the Shark Bandits, who had occupied Zealand Port. He planned to completely eliminate all the pirates within his territory within three months and open up the route to the sea.

Cecil asked for a sheet of parchment and carefully recorded all the details the count had instructed him to handle.