A meeting

In the Police Intelligence Division Intelligence Team office. [̲̅6][̲̅9][̲̅s][̲̅h][̲̅u][̲̅x][̲̅.][̲̅c][̲̅o][̲̅m]

Fouche, his face dark, stared coldly at the Intelligence Team leaders before him with dead fish eyes, and said in a hoarse voice, "Disgrace! This is utterly disgraceful!"

The Intelligence Team members lowered their heads in grievance, not daring to utter a word.

Fouche said, enunciating each word clearly, "I'll give you ten more days. If you still can't get anything useful, I'll have a few reporters sit in your seats! Do you understand?!"

"Yes, we understand!" they all replied in unison.

They were genuinely desperate—their subordinates had gone to great lengths to uncover some clues about the corrupt judges of the High Court, and excitedly had their "informant" give them to Marat. Unexpectedly, Marat smiled and handed the "informant" a small Pamphlets. Their "major discovery" had already been printed in it, and was far more detailed than what they had found. By the next day, it was the talk of the town in Paris.

They simply couldn't understand how these reporters could investigate faster than they, the professional intelligence gatherers...

The group could only secretly resolve to obtain crucial intelligence that would shock these reporters and redeem themselves!

Fouche stormed off. Several Intelligence Team leaders immediately began whispering among themselves:

"I've hooked up with Weijinie's maid and Dibore's mistress. What about you?"

"My men got the combination to the Weijinie's Safe and even managed to infiltrate two people, but they didn't have a chance to make a move..."

"I've copied down all the letters from those judges. Do you guys want to take a look?"

"My informant has access to the High Court's Records Archive. If all else fails, we can just steal all the files out?"

The Paris High Court.

In the Meeting Room Hall, Grand Justice Vezinier's words were repeatedly interrupted by the noise of protesters outside. He angrily rushed to the window and shouted down, "Can't you just be quiet? You bunch of ill-mannered bastards!"

One of the incredibly strong protesters immediately threw a fist-sized clod of earth, which nearly flew into a third-floor window.

Weijinie was startled and quickly retreated to the conference table, his face darkening as he roared, "What are those Police doing? Why haven't they arrested the rioters yet?!"

A judge sitting on the left, his eyes filled with melancholy, covered his ear and said, "Those Pamphlets are the key; they're the ones inciting hatred against the High Court. Without them, the crowd would have dispersed quickly."

Weijinie nodded slowly, but asked with great puzzlement, "Viscount Dibore, aren't these Pamphlets mostly under the control of that person at the Royal Palace? Why would they be used to attack the High Court?"

"Who knows?" Dibore said. "Perhaps we should ask him for advice."

The judge with the Hook-Nosed Judge standing next to him said in a deep voice, "You go to the Royal Palace. I'm going to the Police Department! These damned Police, all they do is slack off. I'm going crazy with these lowly people!"

Soon, amidst the boos of the protesters, several Carriage scrambled out of the High Court and headed off in two different directions.

In the Study of the Royal Palace, the Duke of Orléans looked at the two middle-aged men before him and asked, "So, what do you think?"

The judge from the High Court, who had just left, lamented the recent public pressure on the High Court and asked him to come up with a solution.

He also knew that there had been a proliferation of Pamphlets that were out of his control recently, and it was time to take action. So he immediately summoned his two most talented Writers to discuss countermeasures.

A man with a high-bridged nose and somewhat Italy features flipped through the Pamphlets in his hand, and said hesitantly, "Duke Grace, to be honest, these novels are very engaging... I mean, ordinary people with limited knowledge would find them quite interesting."

A handsome man with blue eyes continued, "And it's very cheap. I heard it only costs 1.5 Denier per serving. You see, it even has 5 illustrations."

"So," the Duke of Orléans nodded, "I need you to write something more interesting as soon as possible to overshadow these Pamphlets."

"As for the price, you don't need to worry."

As a seasoned manipulator of public opinion, he knew very well that a 16-page Pamphlets with 5 illustrations would cost 5 to 6 sous. But in order to regain control of public discourse, he could only sell it for 1 sous and 5 Denier.

Moreover, judging from the scale of those Pamphlets ' distribution, it's estimated that at least tens of thousands of copies were sold. In other words, to achieve the same sales volume, one would have to lose three to four thousand Livre a day.

The Duke of Orléans frowned. He could afford the money, but who was this other party, willing to pay so much to deal with the High Court?

Could it be Brienne?

He gave a cold laugh. "Trying to challenge me with public opinion? Then try it!"

Weijinie rushed to the City Hall and headed straight for the Police Department, only to be told by a clerk that the Police Commissioner had gone to Brittany to purchase police equipment.

Brittany is located on the West Coast of France, and a round trip takes at least half a month.

"What about the Assistant to the Police Commissioner?" Weijinie asked helplessly.

The clerk respectfully replied, "We're going to Brittany too."

Weijinie was furious. "Who's in charge here now?!"

"The Police Commissioner didn't say..."

Frustrated, Weijinie had no choice but to return to his Carriage and prepare to find the Police Commissioner of the Louvre Palace District.

However, when he arrived at the Louvre Palace District Police Station, he was told that "Police Commissioner Mr. Alden has taken all the key officers to the Paris Police Academy for training."

The next day, Weijinie arrived at the Paris Police Station, only to learn that Alden had gone to the Police Academy's training ground in the Southern Suburbs, more than ten kilometers away.

And so, he and Alden circled around for three days, but still couldn't catch him.

Ultimately, he planned to request additional police officers from the neighboring Saint-Germain District to disperse the protesters outside the High Court. The Saint-Germain District Police Commissioner expressed his willingness to help, but stated that he needed an inter-regional transfer order from the Police Commissioner before he could proceed...

Mirabeau watched the scenery outside the Carriage window rush past, unconsciously stroking his cane, his brows furrowing involuntarily.

To be honest, he really didn't want to participate in today's meeting—he had already received news from the previous Cabinet Meeting and knew very well that the Crown Prince was now on the same side as Brienne. And he had just attended a gathering denouncing Brienne a few days ago; what could he possibly have to say to the Crown Prince?

But Mr. DuPont insisted that this meeting was very important and repeatedly urged him to come.

Although his relationship with DuPont was not particularly close, DuPont was a major financial backer of several politicians who were on good terms with him, and also the president of the French Chamber of Commerce. He himself ran a large number of Workshop and shops, and many of his businesses relied on the Chamber of Commerce, so he couldn't afford to offend DuPont too much.

Child of Divine Grace? He smiled and shook his head. No matter how gifted he was, he was still just a thirteen-year-old child. Was Brienne trying to use his status to negotiate with him?

(End of this chapter)