Make France Great Again-Chapter 857 - 848: Shadow War Under Intelligence (Continued 1)
As the National Intelligence Bureau underwent position adjustments, Ambassador Kaotz, the British Envoy to England, stared in disbelief at the telegram.
The military officer standing beside Ambassador Kaotz couldn’t help but call out softly, "Ambassador! Ambassador!"
Ambassador Kaotz, coming to his senses, retracted his shocked expression and replaced it with a helpless smile, shaking his head as he complained to the military officer, "What on earth is London thinking, expecting an ambassador like me to gather intelligence!
Really, what on earth are our secret lines deployed in Paris doing!
How can they fail at such a minor task!"
Ambassador Kaotz’s words caused a dramatic change in the military officer’s expression, as discussing the deployment of secret lines in Paris within the embassy was inadvisable.
Should intelligence personnel be caught, it could easily lead to a diplomatic crisis!
The military officer hurriedly reminded Ambassador Kaotz, "Ambassador, be cautious with your words!"
Ambassador Kaotz also realized that his previous statement was somewhat impudent, quickly changing the subject to ask the military officer, "By the way, are there any other instructions from Britain? Like what method we should use to investigate this matter..."
The military officer shook his head and replied to Ambassador Kaotz, "London only sent this one telegram, and said nothing further!"
"So, it seems they want us to decide on our own how to extract information about the movements of the French Fleet!" pondered Ambassador Kaotz, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"That seems to be the case!" The military officer, unsure himself, tentatively asked Ambassador Kaotz, "Should we send a telegram to London asking them?"
"Better not!" Ambassador Kaotz shook his head and told the military officer, "From my understanding, they would only tell us to act as we see fit!"
"Then... Ambassador, what should we do now?" The military officer asked Ambassador Kaotz once again.
"It’s best not to handle this matter openly!" Ambassador Kaotz slightly furrowed his brows and spoke calmly, "After all, openly probing another country’s military deployments can easily lead to conflict!"
After hearing Ambassador Kaotz’s reply, the military officer immediately understood his intention.
Ambassador Kaotz was planning to utilize the secret lines buried in Paris for the investigation.
However, the military officer worriedly reminded Ambassador Kaotz, "Ambassador, shouldn’t we discuss this with the Ministry of War? Those people are associated with the Ministry!"
"What’s there to discuss!" Ambassador Kaotz responded assertively to the military officer, "Don’t forget! These people are also under my direct command!"
The 19th century in Europe was still a time when "Knightly Spirit" had not faded, so intelligence work wasn’t heavily prioritized. (In simple terms, they were too lazy to differentiate.)
This caused intelligence organizations in many countries, except France, to remain mixed with police systems, leading to frequent occurrences of internal and external confusion and chaotic intelligence.
The system’s controllers were unable to obtain genuinely useful intelligence.
Britain was an exemplar in this regard, believing, as the maritime overlord, that no one could defeat its navy, leading to an exceptionally dismissive attitude towards intelligence work in Europe.
The intelligence organization originally affiliated under the Ministry of War had to adhere not only to the Ministry’s leadership but also to the control of various embassies’ ambassadors and consuls.
Although on regular days ambassadors couldn’t be bothered with the secret lines’ survival, in situations like this, the ambassador could forcibly require the secret lines to connect with him.
This greatly increased the risk of exposure.
And such a situation would require several more decades to improve.
Only after being hurt by the Boer War did Britain start valuing the role of intelligence.
Famous organizations that emerged later were born after the Boer War.
"Yes, sir!" The military officer stopped talking, not wanting to upset Ambassador Kaotz over this matter.
"Contact those people immediately and make them find out where exactly the French Empire’s fleet is heading!!" Ambassador Kaotz ordered the military officer.
"Understood!" The military officer nodded and replied to Ambassador Kaotz.
At that moment, neither the military officer nor Ambassador Kaotz realized that all their conversations in the corridor were being eavesdropped on by a maid in the corridor’s room.
At this moment, the maid was pressing herself against the door, trying hard to listen to the plotting between the military officer and Ambassador Kaotz.
After the military officer and Ambassador Kaotz left, the maid muttered quietly, "Secret lines? French Fleet?"
After repeating a few times, a hint of greed flashed in the maid’s eyes, knowing that her chance to make money had arrived.
If she sold this information to those people, she could receive a considerable reward.
Thus, the maid began to act. She quietly twisted the door knob open, rapidly slipped out of the room, and shut the door.
Next, the maid went to the embassy’s kitchen, pretending to inquire about today’s lunch. The chef saw her idle behavior and immediately got upset, handing her a list to go purchase needed ingredients.
Given the chance to leave, the maid feigned ignorance, leading the chef to insist that only she could handle it.
So the maid had to go alone with the list to shop, leaving the embassy and walking towards the department store, while her eyes occasionally scrutinized her surroundings.
Soon, he saw Felix Soto in civilian clothes.
At this moment, Felix Soto was immersed in the joy of promotion, completely unaware that another promotion opportunity was beckoning to him.
The servant deliberately walked up to Felix Soto, then pretended to twist his ankle and bump into Felix Soto.
"Damn it, can’t you see?" Annoyed, Felix Soto couldn’t help but curse.
"Sorry, sorry!" The servant lowered his head to apologize to Felix Soto.
Only then did Felix Soto realize, wasn’t this the servant he "planted" in the British Embassy?
The servant continued to apologize to Felix Soto while giving him a meaningful look.
Felix Soto immediately understood, and pretending to look fierce, he grabbed the servant’s hand and said, "Come on, let’s find a place to have a good talk!"
Seeing this, the gentlemen around felt disdainful of Felix Soto’s behavior, but no one was willing to step forward to help the poor servant.
Just like that, Felix Soto pulled the servant to a secluded location and quietly asked, "What do you have?"
In a calm tone the servant said, "I need some money!"
"I’m asking what do you have!" Felix Soto clenched his fist threateningly.
"I need some money!" The servant remained unfazed, his expression indifferent.
Felix Soto immediately changed his attitude and asked the servant, "How much do you need?"
"600 British Pounds!" the servant told Felix Soto.
British Pounds were equivalent to nearly ten years’ wages for a mason in the 1850s, and the annual income of a Middle-Class individual (close to upper-class, with upper-class income starting at 1000 British Pounds per year); when converted to francs, it was almost 19,200 francs.
Such information was indeed quite expensive!
"How do I know your information is worth 600 British Pounds? What if you’re deceiving me, then what should I do?" Felix Soto asked in return.
"I suppose it’s easy for people like you to kill someone, right? If it’s not worth it, you can kill me!" the servant answered Felix Soto.
After pondering for a moment, Felix Soto nodded and replied to the servant, "Alright! I promise you!"
"Give it to me!" the servant stretched out his hand to Felix Soto.
"I don’t have that much money right now!" Felix Soto said dryly, then assured the servant, "Rest assured, as long as your information is accurate, I will apply for the funds from our upper management!"
"How much do you have now?" The servant also knew Felix Soto surely didn’t have much money on him.
Felix Soto rummaged through his pockets and found that he only had a note for 3000 francs and some scattered gold coins.
"This is all I have!" Felix Soto responded to the servant.
The servant took the 3000 franc note and said to Felix Soto, "You still owe me 16,000 francs!"
"I got it! Hurry up and tell me what you know!" Felix Soto urged the servant to speak quickly.
The servant explained the eavesdropped information to Felix Soto in broken language, causing Felix Soto’s eyes to light up; it was indeed a message worth 600 British Pounds.
"I’ll give you the remaining money after the upper management approves it!" Felix Soto reassured the servant.
"Alright! Quickly then!" the servant nodded and said to Felix Soto, "We have many more opportunities to collaborate in the future!"
Felix Soto understood the servant was warning him, and he hurriedly replied, "Rest assured! I’ll be quick!"
Felix Soto parted ways with the servant, then rushed to Marcel Yale’s office.
"What’s up?" Marcel Yale looked surprised at the division head who hadn’t gone out for long.
"Director, I have a piece of intelligence!" Felix Soto reported the information to Marcel Yale.
Marcel Yale appeared even more surprised, promptly asking Felix Soto where he had obtained the information.
Felix Soto narrated in full detail about encountering the servant, leaving Marcel Yale feeling somewhat incredulous after hearing it.
He examined Felix Soto up and down, then said to him, "I’ll send someone to verify this matter! However, your luck is quite good!
I hope you can continue to maintain this luck!"
"Director, about the funds..." Felix Soto murmured softly.
"Go report it to the finance office yourself!"
