Chapter 417: Public Opinion War in Austria

Chapter 418: Public opinion war in Austria

Second floor of Schönbrunn Palace.

Austrian Foreign Minister Baron Turgut sent Talleyrand out of the hall with a smile on his face:

"That's about it, Archbishop Talleyrand. The formal note will be sent to Paris next week.

"Thank you France for its outstanding contribution to defeating the rebels in the Southern Netherlands. Oh, His Majesty the Emperor also specially ordered that a banquet be held in Brussels to send off the French warriors. The rest will be left to General Leo."

Talleyrand nodded calmly:

"Please thank His Majesty for your arrangement on my behalf. Long live the Franco-Austrian Alliance."

"Long live the Franco-Austrian alliance."

When Talleyrand walked out of the main entrance of Schönbrunn Palace, his face immediately became gloomy. He took out his notebook and flipped through it. He looked at the line on it and said to the valet:

"Go to 31 Uzberg Street."

That was the residence of Baron Ferrari. Although he was a staunch anti-Prussian, his influence was not great. However, Talleyrand has met with all the anti-Prussian leaders in the past few days, and all he can do now is to unite with as many anti-Prussian ministers as possible.

At the same time, in the VIP room of the "Red Boot", the most luxurious technical institute in Vienna, Viscount Marter, a senior official of the Vienna secret police who had just enjoyed the ecstasy service, picked up a glass of gin - this kind of spiked wine. It is said to have the effect of aphrodisiac--he drunkenly squinted his eyes and signaled to the fat man opposite:

"Today has really cost you money, Mr. Kugel, so don't worry about that."

What Mr. Kugel ordered was a top-notch package of 80 florins a day. Even Viscount Malte would not be willing to spend this.

"Thank you so much, my dearest friend." Kugel raised his glass, "To Miss Alina."

That was the "technician" who served Malte just now.

The two drank it all in one gulp. Malte had obviously drunk too much, but his eyes suddenly focused, he sat up straight, patted his forehead and said:

"I almost forgot, I haven't signed the review authorization yet..."

Press censorship in Austria is handled by the secret police, and he is the top official in charge of press censorship.

He pulled up his messy clothes, staggered to the door, and shouted toward the VIP room:

"Erich, bring me my briefcase."

Soon, Malte handed the signed authorization letter to his entourage and ordered:

"Go back to the office immediately and give this to Harper."

"Yes, sir."

Erich took out his "Red Boots" and waved to the carriage parked across the street - he didn't dare to use the Viscount's car casually.

"Grabbon Street."

"Okay, sir." The coachman responded, waving his whip to drive the animals.

However, the car only walked less than 1 kilometer in the direction of Graben Street before it suddenly turned into a remote narrow alley.

Erich suddenly felt that the car stopped. He was about to ask the driver when the car door was suddenly opened. Two masked strong men dragged him out of the car and said in a deep voice:

"Robbery!"

"Let me go! I'm a secret police officer..."

As soon as Erich was halfway through speaking, he was knocked unconscious with a stick.

A masked man opened his wallet, took out the authorization document inside, and handed it to the short man next to him:

"Mr. Baudouin, this should be it."

The latter immediately lay down on the wooden table of the carriage and began to carefully copy the signature on the authorization letter. More than ten minutes later, he handed a note with "Marter's signature" to the strong man:

"That's it."

The latter looked at the note, put it away carefully, and then tore the authorization letter into pieces.

In a three-story building on the south side of Raben Street, a large number of people from the newspaper office huddled together and were anxiously shouting to the uniformed people behind the desk:

"Sir, when will Viscount Marthe come back?"

"It's already past 4pm. If we don't review it, it will be too late for printing!"

"Please tell us where Viscount Malte is, and we will invite him back ourselves..."

Yes, this is Austria's news censorship agency, and Marte, the censorship chief, is still discussing life with the technical girl in "Red Boots".

"Please be quiet, everyone!" a square-faced secret police officer shouted impatiently, waving his hand.

He is Marte's assistant Harper, the deputy official responsible for news review, but without Marte's authorization document, he cannot conduct censorship work.

However, the authorization document had already been torn up by agents of the French Intelligence Service and thrown into the trash.

At this moment, a middle-aged man with an unattractive appearance wearing a felt hat squeezed through the crowd and winked at the square-faced official.

Harper understood and led him into the office on the second floor.

After closing the door, the man in the felt hat took out a piece of paper and handed it to Harper:

"Sir, this is specially approved by Viscount Malte, please excuse me."

The latter took the note and looked at it, and saw that it read: I have read the content submitted for review by "Life and Pravda" today. Please approve it. Behind it is the signature of Viscount Marthe, but there is no personal seal.

He frowned and looked at the man in the felt hat:

"Where is the Viscount?"

The latter showed a mysterious smile: "I am with a certain lady, do you need a specific address?"

"Ahem, no need." Harper waved his hand, but still said cautiously, "Show me your manuscript."

"Okay, sir." The man in the felt hat hurriedly handed him a pile of manuscripts.

Harper turned a page, and the top title was "Great Victory at Liegnitz, Prussian Bandits Defeated".

He was not surprised. There were rumors in the past two days that Marshal Lacy had won a victory in Silesia, and Liegnitz was the southwestern province of Silesia.

The man in the felt hat immediately added:

"Our war correspondent just sent back the news at noon, and the official announcement should be issued tomorrow. Our newspaper must rely on this to become a first-class newspaper."

"You reporters are faster than the Marshal's messenger." Harper smiled and looked down. The news release said that the Austrian army annihilated 4,000 Prussian troops at Liegnitz, captured 1,000 prisoners, and seized a large number of artillery. The front line has been pushed to the northeast of Liegnitz. According to the current situation, Liegnitz may be recaptured within this month.

"It's really big news." He was also quite excited. "Finally, we've taught the damn Prussians a lesson!"

The man in the felt hat immediately took out 10 florins and stuffed them into his pocket:

"Sir, please hurry up."

Soon, he came out of the secret police building, followed by a dozen people from other newspapers.

"Are you really willing to sell the news to us?" One of them asked anxiously.

"Of course."

No news from any newspaper was approved today, except for the manuscripts from Life and Truth.

And just now, the people from Life and Truth told them that they could sell the news to them for only 30 florins each.

Although there will definitely be a lot of similar news at that time, it is better than compensating customers for suspension of publication and causing adverse effects on the reputation of the newspaper.

That afternoon, nearly half of the newspapers in Vienna were printing the news of "The Great Victory of Liegnitz, the Defeat of the Prussian Bandits".

The next morning, the whole of Vienna was in an uproar!