The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1517 Fisherman Fool
However, there are only a few people who are willing to stop in time. Most corrupt officials still choose to go down the same path to the end, and some even want to fight back.

Of course, all this was already anticipated by Franz, so the executive forces of the Austrian Imperial Supervisory Committee have always been equipped with military weapons.

Even the strongest mercenaries could not snatch people from the hands of the Austrian Imperial Supervisory Committee's executive forces, and during Christmas most real civilians would stay at home or in pubs to celebrate the holiday.

There aren't many people wandering around the streets, so it's not difficult to find these people.

However, this inventory also revealed some situations that Franz had not expected. At this time, the United Power Department Store, the largest department store in Europe, actually suffered losses in Vienna last week.

Franz knew without even thinking that there was a big problem here. This was not an era of small profits but quick turnover. At this time, the gross profit margin of United Power Department Store's products easily exceeded 100%.

If this can still result in a loss, Franz should just go and farm.

The results of the investigation were somewhat unexpected. It turned out that several senior executives were completely unaware of the situation, and the finance and accounting departments did not do anything wrong.

Several senior executives were mediocre people, and the finance and accounting staff were all from aristocratic families. They were very satisfied with their current income, and at the same time, out of fear of Franz, they did not dare to do anything.

The supplier was also Franz's man, and no problems were found either.

However, through comparison, the real culprits were quickly found out: several warehouse managers and sales clerks. Their method was very simple: just add or subtract a zero after the incoming and outgoing goods.

Then they delivered the goods to the place they designated in a dignified manner. In order to cover up their tracks, these people made up some false names such as Duke Momore and Lady Salika.

In the past, their homes might not have been worthy of these titles, but now they were just the opposite. Even the duke's mansion might not be as luxurious as theirs.

After all, these people have embezzled 90% of the profits of the most profitable company in the world at that time. It would be unfair if they were not rich.

However, most of these people did not flee, but planned to earn money for a few more months.
Only one person escaped to Venice and prepared to go to the United States, but due to the existence of departure tax, this ordinary person carrying a whole box of gold was stopped without surprise.

He was stopped and wanted to pay the departure tax, but the customs officials soon discovered that with the warehouse manager's annual salary, he would not be able to earn that much gold even if he worked for another 500 years.

So the temporary detention turned into criminal detention.
Venice and Vienna had been communicating by telegraph as early as 1846, and as soon as the two sides communicated, they immediately guessed the ins and outs of the matter.

However, in order to restore the original appearance of the whole incident, the Venice Customs, together with the local police and gendarmerie, performed a great memory recovery technique.

After 72 hours of intensive treatment, the warehouse manager confessed everything.

The supervisor was named Claudio Reilly, a native of Vienna who had been interviewed for the job at the United Forces Department Store after the Civil War and had quickly bribed his way up to become a warehouse manager.

In the early days of his tenure, Claudio Reilly worked diligently for fear of losing his job due to any mistakes. However, one night when he was checking, he found that container No. 35 should have 13 boxes and 6 bottles of Blanc de Blancs wine, but after searching for a long time, he only found 13 boxes and did not find the six extra bottles that should have been there.

So Claudio Reilly reported the matter, but the warehouse manager, out of fear of trouble, colluded with the sales manager and turned it into a loss.

But at this time, Claudio Reilly did not have the courage to do what the supervisor did. After all, the supervisor was of noble birth, while he was just a commoner. The salary offered by the department store was already very high, and he did not want to take the risk.

However, Claudio Reilly soon discovered that the real wine thieves were two stevedores. This time, they not only stole the expensive wine, but also took three meters of fine oriental silk.

Claudio Reilly bravely picked up the riot baton and spoke tremblingly.

"You are not allowed to leave! Put your things down!"

The two stevedores didn't care at all and just walked towards him with the bottles of wine.

At this time, Claudio Reilly was so scared that he wanted to scream but found that his throat seemed to be blocked and he couldn't make any sound.

However, the two stevedores did not do anything to Claudio Reilly, but simply threw the empty bottles into the defective goods box.

The tall and strong stevedore said, stroking Claudio Reilly's head.

"New here, right?"

Claudio Reilly answered automatically.

"Yes."

"The things belong to the emperor, but your life is your own. Remember that."

The tall and strong stevedore patted Claudio Reilly's cheek again and turned away, while another stevedore at the side stuffed an opened bottle of wine into Claudio Reilly's arms.

"Brother, don't make yourself miserable. The emperor has plenty of money, we are just spending it for him."

It was a long time before Claudio Reilly suddenly woke up, his whole body soaked in cold sweat.

"Fortunately it was a dream."

Claudio Reilly said to himself, but when he looked down and saw the bottle of wine in his hand, he was suddenly startled.

The bottle of white wine fell to the ground, and the aroma of wine filled the air.

This bottle of white wine was several months' salary for Claudio Reilly, he stared at the wine on the ground in a daze. Suddenly, Claudio Reilly leaned down and began to lick it like an animal, and after a long time, he stood up and crushed the residue of the bottle, and then threw it into the defective box.

Claudio Reilly took another bottle and hid it in his arms before leaving the warehouse, and when he returned home he was drunk.

The next day Claudio Reilly thought about what happened the night before. He felt regretful and scared, and hated the thieves even more.

The sudden knock on the door scared Claudio Reilly so much that he shrank into his quilt. He prayed to God to give him a chance and promised to be a good man and never steal again.

"Mr. Riley, you're going to be late. Here's your breakfast, left at the door."

However, a noise was heard outside. It turned out to be the landlady coming to deliver breakfast, not the secret police of the Austrian Empire.

Claudio Reilly heaved a sigh of relief, and after breakfast he went to the warehouse of the department store as usual. Claudio Reilly thought that someone would investigate the matter, but surprisingly, everyone acted as if nothing had happened, and no one cared about the empty bottles and glass shards in the defective box.

After that, Claudio Reilly began to live a carefree life, spending lavishly on things that only the big guys could afford to eat and use.

He ate red wine and Mangalica pigs (sheep pigs) every day, smoked authentic Cuban cigars, wore silk produced in the East, and even bought a grand piano in his home.

Although Claudio Reilly doesn't understand music, it doesn't prevent him from enjoying his life and he gradually becomes cheerful.

Soon Claudio Reilly discovered that there were many people like him, who were all so unscrupulous. He even began to thank the two stevedores for helping him open the door to a new world.

However, Claudio Reilly also learned from others that the past managers of the department store were very powerful, especially the former Mrs. Adjani, who could tell who did what with just a quick glance.

The methods used were extremely cruel. At the very least, they could cause people to lose everything and be expelled from Vienna. At the worst, they could be exiled to Africa or even disappear from the face of the earth.

However, at this time, these executives were all officials and aristocrats, and these people didn’t understand and were too lazy to care, so they gave these grassroots people the opportunity.

All in all, Claudio Reilly came at the right time.
Claudio Reilly thought that these good days would end sooner or later. What if the new manager checked the goods in the warehouse, wouldn't he be in trouble?
Claudio Reilly is no longer the young man who has just started out. He now has a wide network of contacts. After all, those big shots also want to do business with him.

Claudio Reilly thought that escaping to the United States was a good choice. After all, the American dream that the United States had been promoting at the time was:

"The American ideal of a better life through hard work, the idea that people must prosper through their own hard work, courage, creativity, and determination, rather than relying on a particular social class or the assistance of others."

Claudio Reilly is deeply infected by the American dream. He hates this country where blood and birth determine everything.

Of course, what Claudio Reilly really longs for is the country where you can get everything with money, so he must get enough money before going to the United States.

Stealing things and selling them like he was doing now was too slow, and he couldn't find that many buyers.

He wanted to develop new customers but was afraid of meeting someone who was upright. Previously, there was a short-sighted guy who approached the nephew of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and not only did he lose his job, he was also sent to hard labor in the mines for thirty years.

Claudio Reilly was a smart man. He quickly came up with a solution, which was to contact the supplier directly.

The supplier first provides a list of goods, Claudio Reilly sells them to the supplier at half price, and then submits a purchase order.

In this way, Claudio Reilly and suppliers don't need to move the goods in and out, and they can just exploit the bugs and keep making money.

Of course, in order to successfully complete this BUG, ​​Claudio Reilly still needs the help of some people, and these people can naturally also share the dividends from this Schrödinger transaction.

Unfortunately, Claudio Reilly's knowledge was too shallow, and he underestimated the evil of human nature. Those people rushed to imitate Claudio Reilly's approach, which eventually led to the loss of United Power Department Store.

As this clue surfaced, the previous conclusion was overturned in an instant. Several senior executives of the supplier were arrested, and soon a group of secret police and officials in charge of the investigation were also implicated.

In just one month, the number of people involved in the case soared from 243 to 3755. Franz was sure that if he continued to investigate, he would be able to find a large number of people.

However, Franz did not intend to expand the scope of the crackdown. He would only investigate the middlemen. He would not hold those who purchased goods through the middlemen accountable, because the arrests in recent days had already caused panic in the people of Vienna.

Of course, we still need to conduct a thorough investigation internally. In addition to the department store itself, those suppliers, especially those under the royal family, must be thoroughly investigated.

Apart from that, there are those protectors within the government and the secret police. If these people are not dealt with, this kind of thing will happen again.

The incompetent leadership team of United Power Department Store must naturally be dismissed, but Franz does not intend to pursue them too deeply. After all, he himself was responsible for putting them in high positions.

It seems that professional things still need professionals to do it. Franz did not plan to select the new manager from the government or the palace, he directly recruited from all over Europe.

Other offenders were sentenced according to the law depending on the severity of the case, but some secret police members involved in confidential matters were secretly executed without trial.

In the end, 177 people were sentenced to death and 3152 were sentenced to exile in Africa.

However, the recovered funds and the confiscated amounts still could not make up for Franz's losses. The only thing to be thankful for was that he provided more than 3,000 immigrants to the colony.

The person who was most surprised by the whole incident was not Franz, but the various supervisory agencies of the Austrian Empire. They had been keeping an eye on the big men and so-called rebels and had never imagined that a group of small people could cause such a big case.

At this moment, Fleglova finally experienced Franz's words that corruption is everywhere.

After that, the Austrian Empire's supervisory power was significantly strengthened and tilted towards the bottom, and the waste in the empire's factories and companies was significantly reduced.

This is naturally a good thing for the Austrian Empire. Reducing waste means reducing costs, and lower costs make it easier to gain a larger market and earn more profits.

However, it would be difficult for Britain and France, because their markets would be further squeezed by the Austrian Empire, and even with the continuous expansion of trade, even their local markets would be threatened.

In fact, at that time, the Versailles store of the Austrian Imperial United Powers Department Store was the company that paid the most taxes in Paris and even in France.

Napoleon III had a love-hate relationship with the company. He loved it because it was always active in paying taxes and really paid a lot of money. He hated it because it was not a French company and he could not touch it because of the Austrian Empire.

However, most French people do not feel this way. After all, the name Versailles is very French. In addition, it is located in Paris, so many French people think that this is their own department store.

French newspapers did not dare to criticize the company. After all, their voices were not as loud as Franz's, and this department store was, in a sense, a witness to the friendship between Austria and France.

Before the government of Napoleon III had enough strength to challenge the Austrian Empire, it had to carefully nurture this friendship. After all, the buffer zone between the two countries almost no longer existed, and the House of Orleans and the House of Bourbon had never given up their claims to France.

Louis Napoleon did not like the feeling of being dependent on others at all, but unfortunately he did not have the power to change it at that time.

This Christmas was not without good news for Napoleon III. The telegraph cable connecting Dover in England and Calais in France was finally connected.

This brought France and Britain closer, but Napoleon III was not happy for many days.

A week later, a French fishing boat mistook the submarine cable for a strange-looking seaweed. Six fishermen successfully cut it with axes and saws, and dragged the 16-kilometer-long cable to the market to sell.