Franz glanced at the battle report from Pressburg, then casually tossed the British propaganda pamphlet into the trash.
The Anglo-Saxons' propaganda offensive was indeed formidable. In just a few days, all kinds of leaflets and pamphlets had already reached the Franco-Austrian border.
Clearly, the British weren't simply that good at moving supplies. There was a mole on the European continent.
At the same time, in a printing house on the outskirts of Paris, a fat middle-aged man sat with his hands tied behind the chair.
All ten of his fingers and all ten of his toes had been chopped off. Blood from his wounds had begun to clot into dark-red clumps.
Several people were talking in Russian. They had already identified the mastermind behind the operation. Their next target was the boss who had come from Britain.
These Russians had been in France for five years. Their original mission had been to assassinate Queen Victoria of Britain.
But after the mission failed, they had refused to be silenced and had instead chosen to eliminate the Third Bureau's cleaners.
Afterward, they scattered throughout Paris until a powerful figure sought them out. Then they were brought together again and returned to their old trade.
Franz had recruited these Russians not because they were especially capable, but because they were relatively easy to handle—and easy to pin the blame on.
And given Nicholas I's way of doing things, people were more inclined to believe that the Russians were responsible.
The Russians might face a more difficult diplomatic situation, but for Austria, this would make the Russo-Austrian Alliance even stronger.
After all, the Russo-Austrian Alliance was the core and foundation of Austria's diplomacy at this point—and the reason Franz dared to go to war with the Great Powers.
With the Russo-Austrian Alliance in place,