Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 820 - 83, Small Cabinet

In the evening, a manor on the outskirts of Vienna was brightly lit. Under the cover of a soirée, Ledyard quietly stepped into a hidden chamber.

"Now that everyone is present, let’s begin,"

spoke none other than Count Witters, the Deputy Minister of the Austrian Treasury, a powerful figure who ranked among the top thirty in the Vienna Government.

The other individuals in the room were naturally no ordinary people either. Aside from Sir Ledyard, responsible for external communications, the rest were senior government officials.

Had someone familiar with Austrian politics been there, they would have recognized officials from the Treasury, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Tax Bureau, Police Department, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Commerce and Industry, representing six key departments of the government.

The gathering was practically a mirror image of a Small Cabinet; if their meeting was exposed, the Vienna Government would experience a massive earthquake of a scandal the next day.

However, at that moment, all these distinguished individuals sat upright, their faces tense with anxiety, as if the sky had fallen.

Director of Internal Affairs at the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Paul Bodis, was the first to speak: "The current situation is very grave. Your Majesty is quite dissatisfied and has ordered a thorough investigation.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Anti-Graft Office, and the Police Department have all become involved, and even the Intelligence Service might have a hand in it.

Director Gennaro has sensed trouble within the organization, issuing direct orders that investigation team leaders report to him and him alone.

As the Director of Internal Affairs, I only have access to parts of the investigative materials. The extent to which the investigation has progressed is still unclear.

Having said that, Paul Bodis’s emotions dipped.

Deep down, he regretted getting involved; he wasn’t short on money, it was just that he couldn’t resist the temptation and had meddled in this mess.

He was on the verge of retirement next year, and just at this critical moment, the anti-Semitic movement broke out, laying bare all the previously hidden issues. A single misstep could blemish his late career.

Unfortunately, there’s no cure for regret in this world. The capitalists’ money was not easy to take; accepting their money meant having to perform tasks for them.

The net of heaven has large meshes but lets nothing through. Even the most secretive transaction of interests leaves traces once it encounters power trading.

All the Jewish capitalists involved are now in prison, and any one of them cracking could potentially expose the rest.

Of course, these transactions were all carried out through intermediaries. From start to finish, none of these high officials had shown their faces, and in theory, they could abandon the pawns to save the king, claiming ignorance.

But this is only a theoretical possibility. The crux of the matter isn’t whether they took the money, but that they did, in fact, facilitate the implicated Jewish capitalists.

An occasional incident could be regarded as accidental, but can repeated occurrences still be considered accidental?

Even if the arrested Jewish capitalists remain stubborn and refuse to confess, by slowly following these traces, there is still a possibility of them falling under suspicion.

In politics, evidence is sometimes unnecessary. Evidence is merely a weapon to put them in jail, not a necessity. Many times, mere suspicion is enough to oust them from power.

This was not a good thing; issues that could be suppressed while in power didn’t necessarily stay under control when one was forced to retire to a simple life.

Austrian government accountability is everlasting. Even if they met God, ill-gotten gains could still be reclaimed, let alone from the living.

To emerge unscathed, one must clean up all these messy affairs completely. That was the reason why they had gathered to discuss strategies.

Count Witters nodded his approval, "This was to be expected. From the moment the government suddenly ordered the arrest of the Jewish capitalists, it signified that the higher-ups were already suspecting a mole within the government.

The key issue is that we were too negligent, forgetting that the patience of the higher-ups with the Jewish capitalists had reached its limit, leading to the disasters of today."

Capital has no national borders, but capitalists do, yet Jewish capitalists belong to those without borders.

Originally, everyone was equally corrupt, but it’s just that typical capitalists have a higher degree of allegiance to Austria, opting most of the time to stand with their homeland when national interests are at stake.

Except for the Jewish capitalists, who have always aligned with their own interests, never considering the national good and even often opposing the government for their benefits.

With such comparisons come injuries. The reckless behavior of the Jewish capitalists naturally incurred the dissatisfaction of the Vienna Government.

However, Jewish capitalists, blinded by their own interests, could not see this; instead of correcting their ways, they continued to challenge the government’s bottom line time and time again.

The anti-Semitic movements that have erupted across the European Continent could hardly be considered unjust. The actions of various national governments against Jewish capitalists are generally well justified.

Whether it’s manipulating stock prices, hoarding rare goods, substituting inferior products for good ones, mistreating laborers, or colluding with hostile foreign forces to plot... all are deeds Jewish capitalists have personally engaged in.

This is also the root cause of why Jews quickly fell into a situation where everyone was against them after the outbreak of the anti-Semitic movement.

With concrete evidence, even if they wanted to defend themselves, they wouldn’t know where to start.

Even interest groups like Count Witters, with close ties to Jewish capitalists, did not stand up to defend Jews during the anti-Semitic movement.

Of course, this is also related to the targets locked down by the Austrian Government, which focused on that small group.

Everything was done strictly according to the law, and in the face of solid evidence of crimes, even ordinary Jews largely felt that those capitalists got what they deserved.

Interior Director Paul Bodis of the Anti-Corruption Bureau shook his head, "It’s not just for these reasons, the more crucial point is that the pig has been fattened up.

Just from the assets that have been sealed up so far, we’re already over 3.5 billion Gods Shield, plus the confiscated cash and some assets that have not yet been accounted for, it is possible that we’ll exceed 4 billion Gods Shield eventually.

This amount of assets is equivalent to over a decade of the Central Government’s fiscal revenue, or six times the combined fiscal revenues of all the Sub-States.

Even if the government sells these assets at a two-thirds discount, that’s still several billion Gods Shield.

With this money, our Near East development project will no longer be short of funds. Domestic city renovation and road expansion projects can also get underway.

This is almost the same as our job; for corrupt officials who are capable and cause lesser damage, even if we have evidence, we usually fatten them up before slaughtering."

From his disdainful tone, it was clear that Paul Bodis had no fondness for Jewish capitalists. If it hadn’t involved him, he would have kicked them while they were down.

No, he had already kicked Jewish capitalists while they were down. To be precise, it was the high-level officials of the Austrian Government who collectively stabbed the Jewish capitalists.

Even the best orders require someone to carry them out. A look at the number of Jewish capitalists arrested showed just how well the various government departments collaborated this time.

Aside from a few lucky ones who were not in the country and temporarily escaped disaster, most of those targeted were caught.

The seizure of assets was the same, being completed in a short period due to the cooperation of various departments.

Theoretically, they still had time to pass along warnings.

As high-ranking officials in the Austrian Government, regardless of how secretive the Cabinet was, they would have received the message before the ordinary police got their orders.

Of course, the main reason for everyone to give up on passing along messages was the risk involved.

Simply put, everyone was partners in interest only; no one truly considered Jewish capitalists one of their own.

No one knew beforehand that the government would conduct such a thorough investigation, and many present entertained the idea of taking the opportunity to eliminate the Jewish capitalists and avoid future trouble.

Count Witters said, "Whether it was about raising pigs or not, it is now irrelevant. The Jewish capitalists are doomed this time.

The urgency of the moment is to find a way out for ourselves.

Sir Ledyard, you’ve had contact with them. Is there any chance they’ll stubbornly refuse to admit guilt?"

The transparent Ledyard hurriedly replied, "Count, capitalists are spineless. Even if we have their families in our control, it’s hard to force them..."

Count Witters nodded, "In that case, we must resort to extreme measures.

Albert, you are a specialist in this area. Do you have any good plans?"