industrial lord

Chapter 819 Public Speech
The morning mist, like a milky white veil, hung low over the city of Wessenburg.

The chimneys emitted thin wisps of smoke, which were swallowed up by the mist as soon as they rose, blending into a deeper gray-white.

The sound of wheels echoed through the streets, and the city was gradually awakening.

In the bedroom, Frederick looked at the familiar ceiling and pulled the blanket over himself.

Regarding the matter of succession, Maria was persuaded by her mother and godfather from a political standpoint, and planned to conceive in January and give birth at the end of the year.

So Frederick was pulled into the bedroom the night before, as soon as he returned from Mushroom Village.

Frederick got up, washed up, and, wearing leather trousers and a short-sleeved shirt, went to the parade ground of the guard company behind the mansion.

The guards were doing their morning exercises. Frederick sparred with them for a while, worked up a sweat, and felt very comfortable taking a bath in the bathroom.

The radio in the bathroom is playing today's morning news, reporting on winter rat extermination campaigns across the country, including cleaning corners and filling rat holes in buildings, putting rat poison in sewers, and flooding rat holes in fields with toxic fumes.

Frederick closed his eyes and thought to himself, "The rats in the city and the fields are easy to deal with, but the rats in the country are a different story."

Political maneuvering is not as complicated as it is in dramas and novels. Many twists and turns mean many loopholes. Those who truly succeed are basically those who seize the weaknesses their opponents reveal and then strike hard.

There are many things to do now, and we must not alert the enemy or make them suspicious.

A document arrived in Frederick's hands, and at the same time, a traffic news report came on the radio: several Gauls had drowned last night after their drunk driving car overturned into the river.

Frederick thought this was a good opportunity, and the first thing he would do after starting work was to write a personal letter to both Louis the Elder and Louis the Younger to reconnect.

Incidentally, launch a campaign against drunk driving within the Duchy of Wessen.

No secrets stay hidden forever. When Frederick mysteriously disappeared, the Archduke of Mainz also disappeared, and some people with ulterior motives connected the two.

Some people sensed something was amiss and began searching for clues in the policies of the Duchy of Wessen.

Amidst the vigorous campaign against drunk driving, a piece of news instantly excited them, and like countless others, they rushed towards Wesenberg City.

January 19th, 6 PM.

Winter days are short, and the sky is already tinged with a somber indigo.

The square in front of the government building in Wesenberg began to absorb the crowds that were pouring in from all directions, like a sponge absorbing water.

Residents in the city were carrying the elderly and children, farmers in the suburbs had their headscarves covered in snowflakes, factory workers were in groups, and school students were wearing neat uniforms... They were all wrapped in thick wool coats or cotton winter clothes, and many of them were carrying their own small hand warmers or holding thermos flasks filled with hot water.

Many of the other people were tourists from other places, who carried their backpacks in front of them and tried to squeeze to the front.

The square was surrounded by a forest of flagpoles.

At the top of each flagpole, the red flag with a gold double-headed eagle of the Duchy of Wessen fluttered in the north wind.

The fiery red symbolizes courage and passion for life; the brilliant gold represents wisdom and hope for the future; the double-headed eagle faces right, guarding tradition and roots, and left, gazing at change and the dawn.

There was a flag every twenty steps, and under the deepening twilight and the glow of the newly lit braziers, it looked like a forest of blood and fire that was constantly pulsating.

James was wrapped in an inconspicuous dark gray wool coat with the collar turned up high, obscuring the lower half of his face and his newly grown light blond beard, making him look no different from any other ordinary citizen around him.

He arrived early and squeezed into the front, slightly to the right of the crowd, about fifty meters from the makeshift podium in front of the government building. This distance was close enough for him to clearly observe the speaker's facial expressions and subtle movements; yet far enough to avoid being recognized by Grand Duke Weisen, whom he had met once before.

As the crowd grew larger, his icy blue, rigorously trained eyes rapidly scanned the throng.

He carefully observed the soldiers' deployment; they were scattered around the perimeter of the square and at the entrances to the main passageways, and a path more than two meters wide had been created in the center of the square.

Suddenly, he sensed some strange gazes.

Those were some "ordinary citizens," at least a dozen people. Although they also looked around and talked with the crowd, their posture was too stable. Their shoulders were relaxed but ready to strike. The trajectory of their gazes was clear and regular, and they maintained a uniform distance between each other that covered key points.

James was certain that these peers were just the most basic bait, and the real veterans were lurking somewhere.

He was thankful that his mission this time was only to bring his eyes and ears; if he had any ill intentions, he would probably be in grave danger.

Three days ago, he received a coded message from his superiors in the Kingdom of Anglo-Saxon: the Archduke of Mainz had left Cologne for three days for unknown reasons. Around the same time, the Archduke of Wessen also disappeared from public view.

The fact that the two are both concealing their whereabouts suggests that they are most likely meeting secretly at some location.

To date, Grand Duke Wessen has remained virtually silent about the ostentatious visit of the Anglo Kingdom's fleet, and the Anglo Navy's need to know his true thoughts has reached a neurotic level.

James's task was simple: Grand Duke Wesson was giving an unprecedented public speech today, and the Admiralty thought it might be related to them, so they had to record it word for word and send it back.

The words in the newspaper don't tell the whole story. James needs to make further judgments from the tone and actions: Is Grand Duke Wesson preparing to openly show his strength and declare confrontation, or is there a deeper and more roundabout plan?
"Look! The gate is open!" a young student next to me shouted excitedly.

"Rumble..."

The two heavy oak-clad iron doors of the government building were slowly pushed open by four guards, emitting a deep and long groan, as if a giant beast was awakening.

First to step forward were two rows of guards, armed with pea-spear rifles, the tips of their bayonets gleaming coldly.

They stood solemnly on either side of the marble steps, like two rows of silent steel sculptures.

The clamor of tens of thousands of people in the square gradually subsided, transforming into a buzzing silence filled with anticipation.

People stood on tiptoe and craned their necks.

When the huge bronze bell on the clock tower at the edge of the square struck its seventh heavy chime.

Almost simultaneously, all the soldiers maintaining order in the square raised their guns in salute and looked toward the gate.

Frederick von Weisen walked out of the government building alone.

James instinctively held his breath.

Tonight, Frederick, dressed in his white Air Marshal uniform, walked onto the podium, and the audience immediately fell silent.

The next moment, he suddenly raised his hand and waved to the crowd below.

James felt the cheers around him explode around him like a "boom".

(End of this chapter)