A War That Could Not Be Stopped

After roughly flipping through the materials, Dumbledore set the documents down and sneered. "Count, such an obvious attempt to drive a wedge between us is rather low-grade, isn't it? Everyone knows that Austria is our ally. Why should we fear an Austrian threat? On the basis of these documents?"

Naturally, the French Government was not wholly ignorant of Austria's threat. Nor was this the first time Dumbledore had seen the materials Jeffrey Friedman had provided.

The only difference lay in the figures. Every country was the same in this regard. Due to politics and personal inclinations, information gathered on competitors was often given a touch of artistic embellishment.

In Dumbledore's view, the Prusso-Polish Federation merely wished to emphasize the "Austrian threat theory," and had deliberately exaggerated Austria's strength.

The materials compared every kind of statistic between France and Austria, with Austria holding a comprehensive advantage across the board. After skimming a few sets of figures, Dumbledore lost interest.

With a Frenchman's pride, he did not believe it was true. The Paris Government had also gathered intelligence on Austria, and its conclusion was that the overall strength of France and Austria was evenly matched—France even held a slight edge.

Jeffrey Friedman's heart sank. He privately wondered whether the figures had been exaggerated too much, allowing Dumbledore to spot the problem.

After all, in an age without satellites or the internet, even gathering information about one's own country was exceedingly difficult and consumed vast amounts of manpower and resources.

Gathering information about other countries went without saying. If they truly sent people to conduct statistical surveys, they would probably be treated as spies before they had even begun.

Usually, information was gathered through public channels: estimating the number of import and export vessels, consulting local economic newspapers, and reviewing annual reports published