Investigation

Neither the King nor the Cabinet were entirely comfortable with simply having the Admiralty conduct its own investigation. After all, the Admiralty wasn't their professional Admiralty, and given the extent of its infiltration, expecting them to uncover the truth on their own was like hoping Napoleon would suddenly develop stomach cancer.

The reason the Britain felt the Admiralty had been so heavily infiltrated was because it was incredibly difficult for the spy to steal the technical data.

First, while Joseph considered naval mine technology to be incredibly simple—producing blueprints in a day and samples in a month was no problem at all—it was truly high-tech in the eyes of others at that time. There was a considerable amount of related blueprints and documents, making it no easy task for spies to steal them out.

In this era, there were no spy cameras or microfilm, so stealing information wasn't as simple as opening a file folder, pulling out the documents, and snapping a picture. A spy either had to take out paper and pen and copy it down right there (in this time, even typewriters hadn't been invented yet), or rely on an amazing memory to memorize everything and then recite it from memory later. However, even if a spy had a photographic memory, reviewing all this information would still take a considerable amount of time.

This kind of thing can't be done by one person alone; it must be the result of a group of people working together. Therefore...

"Minister William is far too optimistic. He actually said, 'There's a France spy in the Admiralty.' Given the circumstances of this case, how could there only be one spy in the Admiralty? Your Excellency, if what you've told me is accurate, then I'm certain there's a whole nest of spies there!" Deputy Commissioner Eisinger Stanton of the London Police Department stood up and said to Prime Minister Addington, who was sitting across from him.

Prime Minister Addington nodded and said, "Mr. Stanton, please sit down. You know the seriousness of this case. His Majesty the King is already aware of it. He is very angry, and the consequences will be severe. We must now dig out that one or that whole group of spies. In addition, we, myself, and many cabinet ministers, believe that the police department is not really suited to handle these kinds of matters related to espionage and military secrets. Our country needs a specialized agency to handle these kinds of cases."

Deputy Chief of Staff Stanton's eyes lit up immediately.

"This agency, operating under the Army's name, is called the Sixth Investigation Section —a decoy, really. But it reports directly to the House of Commons and the Prime Minister, wielding immense power. It has the authority to conduct closed-door investigations of members of both houses, as well as any high-ranking government official, and enjoys a very high administrative rank, salary, and pension. You know, such an agency needs someone truly knowledgeable, not those who only know how to spout bureaucratic jargon and are utterly clueless... to hold a position of general management. Yes, just a general management position; the actual head will be someone connected to the Royal Family, but he won't be handling the day-to-day operations. Do you understand? If you perform exceptionally well in this investigation, I personally, and some of my friends, would prefer you for this position. Do you understand what I mean?"

Deputy Chief of Staff Stanton, of course, understood what this meant. This new agency was so powerful and influential that a position of director was certainly not for a seasoned detective from a common background like himself, who had risen entirely through personal merit. In fact, becoming a deputy in such an agency was already a stroke of luck. Moreover, it was a deputy position of "management," with only one director above him who essentially only received a salary and did no real work. This was truly...

Of course, Stanton understood that this Yes, Prime Minister said. The most important thing the Prime Minister said was, "Personally, and some of my friends, prefer that you take on this role," not "the country" or any similar words that needed "your service."

On the surface, this statement seems to imply that he has other competitors, so he must work even harder; however, it actually carries a deeper meaning. "You must stand on our side."

Although the Admiralty leak scandal didn't appear in any newspapers— the France, to protect their spies, naturally wouldn't bring it up (in fact, the France never imagined there was a spy case and a leak scandal involved)—the Britain newspapers were either tabloids with no way of getting the information, or newspapers with connections understood that it wasn't the right time to reveal it yet. Everyone was just watching with bated breath.

However, keeping such matters completely secret is almost impossible, especially in an era before the establishment of a secrecy system for this kind of thing. This is even more true for those important figures. Whether they were Tory Party or Whig Party, most of them knew about it.

Everyone knows the seriousness of this matter, but they also know it's a rare opportunity to strike at their opponents. By using some technical means during the investigation to implicate certain unpleasant individuals, they can be utterly defeated in the political arena.

Everyone hoped to seize this opportunity to drag in some annoying people they didn't get along with; everyone also became more vigilant to avoid being slandered and framed by some insidious and wicked people.

Prime Minister Addington, taking advantage of his position Yes, Prime Minister, established this institution primarily to cut off the France spies' reach into Britain state secrets; however, it was also a good thing to incidentally eliminate those scoundrels who were harming England.

Therefore, Deputy Secretary Stanton understood that what the Prime Minister meant by "outstanding performance" was not merely his ability to quickly identify "spies"—that was only the basic requirement, far from "excellent." To achieve "excellent" results, he would have to be able to implicate others whom the Prime Minister needed to be implicated.

Doing something like this is, of course, very risky. Those people aren't harmless little rabbits; they have their own power, and they won't just sit and wait to die. If the prime minister falls in the power struggle, then you'll fall in with him.

But as the saying goes, "fortune favors the bold," and taking a gamble can turn a two-wheeled carriage into a four-wheeled one. It's worth the risk.

"Mr. Prime Minister, I understand. I am at your service. I will report to you immediately as soon as there is any progress." Deputy Secretary Stanton, who had just sat down, immediately stood up again.

What do you need?

"Your Excellency, I need your authorization to immediately take all personnel from the 'Mine Research Group,' as well as all related service staff, into custody to assist in the investigation. I also need a somewhat secluded location for a thorough investigation of these individuals..."

Stanton's various requests were largely met, so he told the Prime Minister that there was no time to lose and that he had to act immediately lest someone else beat him to it.

"Very well, in that case, I won't keep you any longer. If you need anything else, you can ask my secretary, Hilbert. You can also tell him what kind of help you need. If even he can't make up his mind, but you think it's very important, then you can come to me anytime, 24 hours a day. Now, go to work."

"Yes, Prime Minister!" Deputy Secretary Stanton saluted Prime Minister Addington, then turned and left.

According to Deputy Commissioner Stanton, this case is actually not difficult to solve. First, the number of people who have access to relevant information is quite limited. This greatly narrows down the scope of the investigation. Then, they can be investigated one by one during this period to see if they had time to commit the crime independently and to see who they usually contact. By investigating in this way, as long as the work is done carefully, there is no need to worry about not finding the problem.

As for achieving an "outstanding" result, that depends on interrogation skills. Although his targets this time are all respectable people of status, some methods may not be effective. However, Deputy Commissioner Stanton believes that as long as the questioning is skillfully worded, the prisoners can be made to say what he needs to say. Of course, if he encounters someone who is unreasonable and unwilling to maintain their "respectability," Stanton also has ways to make them feel pain without leaving a trace.

As Secretary Stanton left the Prime Minister's office, the Prime Minister's secretary Hilbert, came to greet him.

"Mr. Hilbert, we need to act immediately. Can you come with me?" Stanton said.

"Okay," Hilbert said, "Where do we go now?"

"We need to get all the personnel associated with the 'Mine Research Group' under control right now," Stanton said. "Don't let anyone else get there first."

As it turned out, Stanton's decision was extremely timely. Just an hour after they had taken control of all the personnel of the "Mine Research Group," sealed up all the relevant data, loaded them onto carriages, and taken them to a manor house on the outskirts of London that the Prime Minister had just designated for the new agency, another group of people arrived at the "Mine Research Group," only to find it empty.

This group was the same "other party" that Stanton had been worried about, the one that might have gotten there first. They were the newly established Royal Counterintelligence Investigation Group, directly under the King and the House of Lords.

"Unfortunately, we're a step too late," said the officer in charge.

"Sir, what do we do now?" a detective asked.

"Go and see if you can find them, see where they took them," the officer in charge said. "The rest of you, immediately take control of their families. Be quick, we can't afford to fall behind them this time!"