#460 - Minister Pete (asking for monthly ticket recommendation)

"When did the Floo Network get split up? Did no one object to the German Ministry of Magic making such a decision?"

Although the situation in Germany is quite unique, so a split isn't particularly strange, the process certainly wouldn't have been as smooth as one might imagine, and Anduin suspected there was something fishy going on.

The radical faction within the Silver Spears must have been involved in the German Ministry's division.

Anyway, according to the information Thunderbird revealed, Germany, as the club's headquarters, has been supporting many resistance organizations, probably taking advantage of this divided and contradictory situation.

Fusha Hui couldn't help but frown and sigh softly after hearing Anduin's question, "Alas, the Floo Network was split up starting 5 years ago..."

After Fusha Hui's detailed explanation, Anduin finally understood what was going on.

It turned out that in the past decade, as the division continued for longer, the atmosphere within the German Ministry of Magic became increasingly worse, with constant calls to divide the German wizarding world according to the existing national borders.

But in reality, such remarks were just a popular idea at the time, not yet a mainstream consciousness, or rather, although there were many calls for division, there were no violent conflicts.

Moreover, those advocating for division were just a group of factions with significant conflicts; they would occasionally express divisive opinions at wizarding gatherings or Ministry of Magic meetings.

However, they didn't receive very clear support from others, nor did they receive any clear opposition.

In fact, it's the same in Muggle society; usually, those clamoring to promote a certain bill or behavior are just a minority; they just make more noise, which doesn't necessarily mean they have a lot of support.

But more often, there are neutral parties; their attitude is, you guys do your thing, it's none of my business, I'll just watch the show.

And in a society like the wizarding world, where both individual wizards and wizarding families are relatively independent, there are even more people who remain neutral and silent; not everyone wants to express their opinion.

According to Fusha Hui's recollection, although the wizards clamoring for division were making a lot of noise at the time, with many reports in the newspapers, in ordinary families like hers, it didn't seem like there were that many wizards who really wanted to split up.

At most, they were a little disgusted with the wizards living on the other side, but it wasn't to the point of having to divide into two countries.

Most people just had some small emotions and dissatisfaction, but it was still acceptable.

But at this time, the German Ministry of Magic appointed a new Minister, named Dario Pitt.

After Dario took office, it was unclear whether he took those divisive ideas seriously, thinking that this was the demand of most German wizards, or for some other reason.

He actually tried to divide the German wizarding world in half.

And he lobbied the German Wizengamot members for this purpose.

The German Ministry of Magic is actually similar to the British one, with a Wizengamot council, which is a combination of a parliament and a court, with members including local famous wizards, representatives of large wizarding families, senior officials of the Ministry of Magic, and so on.

For example, Anduin was nominated as a reserve councilor for the British Wizengamot council, and in the future, he is very likely to become one of them; this is also considered a reward from Minister Bardnor and others, after all, Anduin brought extremely high returns to the British Ministry of Magic in the previous trade agreement.

Generally, if the Ministry of Magic wants to implement any new policies, it needs to obtain more than half of the Wizengamot council's approval; if it is to implement any major policies, it even needs to obtain the consent of more than 70% of the council members.

For example, in Britain before, Minister Bardnor's promotion of using the Killing Curse on Death Eaters was considered an ordinary policy, requiring more than half of the councilors' approval, while after the Dark Lord disappeared, the liquidation of Death Eaters and the search of wizarding families were major policies, requiring the support of more than 70% of the members.

Of course, exonerating Sirius Black, due to the complexity and impact of the incident, was also a major case.

And the bill to divide Germany was certainly a major strategy, so Minister Pitt had to get at least 70% of the German Wizengamot members to agree before the bill could be passed.

Logically speaking, such an outrageous bill should not have been passed.

But the final result was that such an outrageous bill was actually successfully issued under the efforts of Minister Pitt!

And currently, two divisive bills have been passed by the Ministry of Magic, one of which is to separate the Floo Network between East and West Germany, so that East Germans cannot directly reach West Germany through the Floo Network and must transfer through the Ministry of Magic.

The other bill is to separate the 'Duden Building' in the middle with a wall, dividing it in half like the Berlin Wall.

The so-called 'Duden Building' is somewhat similar to Diagon Alley in Britain and the Karah Market in Egypt, belonging to the trading center of the German wizarding world.

It's just that Germany is more special, actually concentrating the market in a single building, just like a department store in Muggle society.

And because the current Duden Building is located within East Germany, wizards in West Germany who wanted to go to Duden Building for shopping had to transfer through the Ministry of Magic, so the German Ministry of Magic passed another bill, dividing Duden Building in half, with one half being assigned to the West German territory, and allowing West German wizards to directly reach this part through the Floo Network.

So now, after several years of efforts, Minister Pitt has successfully divided Germany's transportation and commercial center.

According to Fusha Hui, Minister Pitt is now preparing to raise funds to build a 'West Duden Building' in West Germany, so that both sides will have a commercial center, and the current Duden Building will no longer need to be physically divided.

Moreover, after dividing transportation and commerce, Minister Pitt seems to be considering dividing the German Ministry of Magic in half as well, eventually turning Germany completely into two countries.

After listening to Fusha Hui's account, Anduin couldn't find any other words to describe Germany besides outrageous.

A Minister of Magic who is keen on splitting the country is someone he has never seen before; this Minister Pitt made Anduin frown; this person's behavior made him feel very wrong.

Not just him, but the entire German Wizengamot was very strange; they were actually able to pass a bill to divide the country, which was really absurd.

And after such an absurd thing happened, the ordinary wizards in Germany naturally couldn't sit still; they usually didn't react to those divisive behaviors because it didn't have any impact on their lives.

And the fact that those separatists were making a lot of noise was also indirectly expressing their dissatisfaction, so they would occasionally support these separatist organizations.

But the premise was not to actually split up; those ordinary wizards didn't even have the slightest defense in their hearts, and the divisive bill was passed inexplicably, which made those ordinary wizards very dissatisfied.

So, if I live in East Germany and work in West Germany, I have to go to the Ministry of Magic to transfer? Wouldn't that be a waste of my two Sickles?

Wizards need to spend two Sickles each time they use the Floo Network, a quarter of which goes to the Ministry of Magic as transportation tax; this also accounts for a large part of the Ministry of Magic's financial income.

So in the eyes of many ordinary wizards, this is the Ministry of Magic taking the opportunity of the divisive bill to make money in disguise, because after the bill was passed, the Ministry of Magic earned more revenue from the Floo Network fees.

Therefore, basically every day, people would run to the Floo Network Management Office of the German Ministry of Transportation to make trouble, in order to vent their dissatisfaction.

At the same time, those ordinary wizards also slowly opposed the divisive behavior in newspapers and other media; it was also because of their opposition that the divisive bill failed to be further promoted in recent years.

Otherwise, the Floo Network has been separated for 5 years, how could the divisive bill not be further promoted.

The internal situation in Germany is very chaotic now; a group of politicians led by Pitt in the Ministry of Magic, and some separatist organizations among the people, are trying to promote the divisive bill to completely divide Germany into two parts.

While a small number of senior officials in the Ministry of Magic, as well as a large number of ordinary people, are strongly opposed to the division; this division has seriously affected their lives.

Recently, these two groups of people have been arguing incessantly; if they continue to do so, it may evolve into violent conflicts; even more seriously, it may trigger a civil war.

But what puzzles Anduin very much is why most of the senior officials of the Ministry of Magic are actually standing on the side of the separatists, while only a small number of senior officials and Wizengamot members oppose the division.

Could it be that the division can bring some benefits to these officials, or is there another hidden reason?

At the same time, among the folk groups, the separatist side is obviously more organized; they will launch petitions in the name of the group, submit petitions, and publicize them in magic newspapers and magic radio stations.

While the opposition is much more loose; most ordinary wizards just curse in anger in their lives, and basically have no opportunity to speak out on public platforms; the main reliance is on a few respected and famous wizards to speak out, belonging to the kind where there are many people but they can't exert their strength in one place.

"If there are no accidents, the Silver Spears are supporting these separatists behind the scenes; I don't know what their purpose is; if they still retain the ideas of the Saint Party, the target should be to destroy the 'Statute of Secrecy'; what's the point of engaging in division in Germany?" Anduin muttered in his heart, it seems that the water in the German wizarding world is deeper than imagined.

However, after understanding some of the local situation, Anduin also understood why Dumbledore, Minister Bardnor, Newt, and others are so concerned about the situation here and so eager to destroy the Silver Spears.

It seems that the Silver Spears' handwriting is much larger than imagined; they are now not just doing smuggling, but subverting the regime; if they really succeed, Germany will also be divided as a result.

It's just that Anduin hasn't figured out how the other party did it.

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