The Ministry of Truth's Plot

Seeing that the "old thief" successfully enter the Ministry of Truth building, Deputy Director Oliveira was not annoyed at all, but rather even more excited.

"So it's the Ministry of Truth! What kind of conspiracy are those guys from the Ministry of Truth plotting?" Deputy Director Oliveira wondered. Everyone knew that the Ministry of Truth and the Ministry of Police had never gotten along. After all, their operations overlapped considerably. Since ancient times, competitors have been enemies. What's more, they also had a dispute over budgets. This pushed the conflict between the two departments to the point of near irreconcilable enmity, almost comparable to the navy and army of a certain Eastern country in later generations.

If we could uncover the secret activities being carried out by the Ministry of Truth, or even allow the Ministry of Police to intercept them, Minister Fouché would likely be very pleased.

Under normal circumstances, Deputy Director Oliveira would have no chance of being promoted to director. However, if he makes a contribution in this matter, then the position of director seems to be within reach.

However, Deputy Director Oliveira did not attempt to investigate the matter on his own. He was not so arrogant as to think he could investigate the activities of the Ministry of Truth by himself; this matter had to be reported first.

Deputy Director Oliveira then went directly to the Ministry of Police —matters involving the "Ministry of Truth" are of very high priority and confidentiality, and relevant intelligence can be directly reported to the Ministry of Police.

"What's the Ministry of Truth up to now? They've probably discovered something. But whatever they're up to, keeping an eye on them is definitely the right thing to do." Assistant Minister Leon quickly received the relevant report and immediately gave this instruction.

The Ministry of Truth is indeed plotting. This is perfectly normal, as plotting is one of the Ministry of Truth's most important tasks; they are pursuing hundreds of conspiracies simultaneously every day. However, by sheer coincidence, the Ministry of Truth has indeed discovered industrial espionage activities near Fifth Factory, but they haven't yet determined whether these industrial spies are foreign or domestic. Therefore, the case is still proceeding according to procedure.

However, at that very moment, the Ministry of Ministry of Police suddenly stormed in and, with lightning speed, uncovered the entire spy ring. This greatly angered Lucien, who even began to suspect that there might be spies from the Ministry of Ministry of Police on his side.

So Lucien conducted a departmental reorganization within the Ministry of Truth, utilizing intelligence agents planted within the Ministry of Police. He uncovered several traitors who were physically in the Ministry of Police of Ministry of Truth but loyal to the Ministry of Ministry of Truth Ministry of Police, receiving stipends from both. Then, Fouché also began his own reorganization of the Ministry of Ministry of Police ...

While departmental restructuring is important, it must not be neglected in carrying out serious business. After all, when it comes to simply making arrests, the Ministry of Police is more professional. The Ministry of Truth has been able to maintain its dominance over the Ministry of Police not only because Lucien is related to Bonaparte, but more importantly because the Ministry of Truth is better at orchestrating high-level conspiracies. (At least that's what Lucien thinks.)

For example, in Britain today, the Ministry of Truth's conspiracy is being carried out systematically.

In the period following the establishment of peace, London's publishing industry was quite vibrant. A large number of France newspapers began publishing their English versions in London.

Among them are publications like * Science Truth Daily , known for its focus on telling the truth; The Businessman, which primarily provides economic information and is generally reliable, though occasionally makes mistakes due to its eagerness to grab news; * Popular Entertainment, whose ultimate goal is to entertain the masses; * the Sun *, specializing in gossip; * Charlie Woodpecker *, a dedicated comic book magazine; Nature, a highly serious and professional publication specializing in mathematics and basic science; and * the Lancet *, which focuses on medical issues, among others.

The emergence of this series of newspapers greatly enriched the spiritual and cultural life of London. More importantly, except for the last few, these newspapers were generally very cheap. For example, the * Science Truth Daily *, a daily newspaper that was a thick four-sheet octavo, only cost four pence per copy. It was so cheap that it would be a good deal to buy it as wrapping paper.

But the * Science Truth Daily * wasn't the best deal; the * London Merchant * was a favorite among those who needed to sleep in cold rooms. This newspaper was a 16mo format, but each issue contained eight pages. Of course, like the * Science Truth Daily *, all but the first page were filled with advertisements—mostly deceptive, some not (a very small minority). And it was cheaper, costing only three pence.

Because of their low price, these two newspapers were an instant hit in London. London loved to sell them together. They would run along the streets, hawking their wares. "Today's news is really good! Two newspapers for only seven pence!"

Besides these two newspapers, the magazines * Popular Entertainment * and * Charlie Woodpecker * were also highly praised. The latter, in particular, published political satire cartoons titled Yes, Bishop, set in Louis XIII's France, which made the Britain laugh out loud.

As a result of years of war, the France and Britain had never held a good view of each other. The upper classes of France and Britain were hostile to each other due to their rivalry over interests, while the lower classes of France and Britain also hated each other because of propaganda from above.

However, the satirical cartoon "Yes, Bishop," modeled after Richelieu, France's most powerful prime minister, was particularly appealing to the Britain. Watching the selfish Richelieu, along with his foolish nobles, the self-aware Richelieu, the greedy priests, and the dim-witted knights and officials, all make fools of themselves, naturally delighted Britain readers.

However, some perceptive Britain have noticed that the jokes in Yes, Bishop seem quite relevant to the current situation in Britain. Many plot points and lines evoke various Britain events. Sometimes, a speech or decision made by the Britain Prime Minister just last month appears in Yes, Bishop the following month, only the protagonist is the France Richelieu. Perhaps only a fool wouldn't realize that Richelieu, at least the Richelieu from * Charlie Woodpecker *, isn't just the France Prime Minister from over a century ago; he also serves as the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. For one thing, some of the physical characteristics and mannerisms of Bishop Richelieu in the comics are very similar to Prime Minister Addington.

So soon, the current Prime Minister Addington acquired the nickname "Bishop Richelieu." At first, Prime Minister Addington was quite proud of it, after all, Bishop Richelieu was one of the greatest figures in Europe history. However, he soon understood what it meant.

After carefully reading the serialized story "Yes, Bishop" in "Charlie Woodpecker," he was so angry his face contorted. He almost issued an order to immediately shut down "Charlie Woodpecker." If it weren't for the fact that the Whig Party members were actually very supportive of his idea in private, he might have really done it.

The Whig Party were extremely disappointed that Prime Minister Addington had done nothing—if he had, the accusation of violating free speech could have been immediately leveled against him.

Moreover, some Whig Party guys have long been eyeing * Charlie Woodpecker *. If * Charlie Woodpecker * is shut down, they plan to immediately take over the entire editorial department and create * Charlie Woodpecker Richard Woodpecker. At that point, the serialized comic will probably no longer be Yes, Bishop, but will directly become Yes, Prime Minister.

"I won't fall for that!" Prime Minister Addington said to himself silently.

While * Charlie Woodpecker * was merely hated by the Tory Party and loved by the Whig Party, * the Sun * truly enjoyed the affections of all of Britain. This is because the voyeuristic interest in private matters, especially the private matters of public figures, is a universal human desire. In this respect, the Britain and France are no different.

The Sun operates in the same manner in Britain as it does in France, consistently focusing on gossip, especially about high-ranking officials. For example, Lucien is the most frequently featured France official in the French edition of the Sun —he appears in the Sun more often than all other ministers and above combined.

In Britain, Tory Party could always find stories of Whig Party's affairs in the English edition of the Sun; and Whig Party shouldn't feel it was unfair, because they could always find unspeakable stories about Tory Party bigwigs and certain individuals elsewhere, or even in several other places. And they were not good at denying these stories, because the more they denied them, the more people believed them.

However, the newspaper had a different effect in France and Britain. In France, telling people that Lucien was a womanizer and had illegitimate children with many women would simply be seen as proof of Lucien charm and good character. But in Britain, where a "Victorian mentality" had emerged that "high society conversations should not involve anything below the waist, even piano legs should be covered to avoid unpleasant associations," such things were not necessarily a good thing. To the more conservative Britain, this only demonstrated one thing: moral depravity.

As for scientific publications, they subtly showcased France civilization to the Britain. Because these publications offered very high fees, many Britain scholars gradually began to submit their work to them.