I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 340 Want to dispel rumors? I'll help you
Dozens of kilometers west of Mysore city.

This place is close to the Kannur area controlled by the British.

At this time, in a luxurious building in the style of the Maurya Era, Callum Griffith, a senior representative of the British East India Company, was looking at Jahanzeb with a dark face: "Are you sure these were done by the French?"

"Well, I have no evidence, Mr. Griffith." Jahanzeb, the Sultan's personal secretary, said "no evidence" with a firm tone, "These rumors appeared after the French came to Mysore. As far as I know, the French have been secretly instigating the Sultan to attack British territory."

The Prime Minister of Mysore, or "Vizier", was just a ceremonial position. Above the four core powerful ministers and below the Sultan, there was also a position of Sultan's secretary, who had very heavy power.

However, even such an important official colluded with the British after the Second Mysore War and used the power of the British to consolidate his position.

Griffith was not surprised to hear this - in India, Britain and France have never stopped stabbing each other in the back. It's just that since the Seven Years' War, when French forces basically withdrew from India, they haven't made such a big scene again.

Logically speaking, France has no interests in the Indian Peninsula any longer. Given France's current financial situation, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, they should not have invested so much here.

But Griffith, in a cautious manner, still told Jahanzeb: "I hope these rumors will disappear within a month.

"If you can do that, you can buy half a shipload of cheap fabric or iron from me."

British textiles and ironware were very popular in India. If one could get half a shipload of low-priced goods, he could sell them at almost double the price, making a profit of at least 20,000 to 30,000 pounds.

Jahanzeb was overjoyed. He immediately turned his wrist and said seriously, "Dear representative, I promise that you will not hear those rumors tomorrow morning."

When he returned to Mysore, he immediately issued an order through the administrative system to arrest people across the country who spread rumors and slandered the British.

In Sheikh Khan's summer villa, several Mysore officials from the same faction as Sheikh Khan looked at Salah anxiously.

They had received the news that Jahanzeb had ordered a massive arrest of rumormongers. In just three or four days, thousands of people had been thrown into prison, many of whom were sent out by them.

The most troublesome thing is that what Jahanzeb did this time was "reasonable" - he eliminated the rumors. Even if the Sultan reported it to them, they would not be able to accuse Jahanzeb of anything wrong.

After a while, a thin "Umda", a senior officer of Mysore, said with a gloomy face: "Not many people dare to talk about the British these days. Even when I sent my men to spread the news, no one dared to listen."

Another person nodded immediately: "If this trend continues, the British incident will soon be forgotten by everyone. Moreover, Jahanzeb will also enhance his authority by mobilizing officials on a large scale."

Sheikh Khan sighed and said to Salah, "Mr. Consul, it seems that we need to find a new way to deal with Jahanzeb."

The latter had been thinking with his head down, but now he looked up with a smile on his face: "General, do you remember why we spread the 'story' about the British?"

"Of course, it is to stir up hatred against Britain and bring down pro-British people like Jahanzeb."

"That's right." Salah nodded. "In fact, people's hatred of Britain cannot directly affect the pro-British faction. Something else is needed to ignite public opinion. "And right now, Jahanzeb's arrest of the rumormonger has given us this opportunity."

Sheikh Khan and others looked at each other, then at Salah: "What are you going to do? Send more people to spread the news?"

"No, we help Jahanzeb catch the rumormonger." Salah made a grabbing gesture with his hands and said fiercely, "We must catch him more fiercely than him and make everyone start to fear!"

A few days later, the Mysore military also began to "respond" to Jahanzeb's orders, arresting people who spread rumors about the British across the country.

Their arrest standards were stricter than those of administrative officials. As long as someone accused someone of having said something bad about the British, the soldiers would immediately go to the person's home to arrest him or her in the name of "executing the orders of the Sultan's secretary."

Especially in Mysore and Srirangapatna, the two political and economic centers, tens of thousands of people were thrown into prison. Prisons that could only hold a hundred people were now crammed with thousands of people.

Then even the barracks were filled with prisoners.

At first, Jahanzeb thought that the military wanted to show goodwill to him, and he happily sent people to reward the soldiers who caught the rumormongers - this made people more certain that it was the Sultan's secretary who mobilized the army to arrest people. So in addition to the British, Jahanzeb was also included in the story of the public opinion war.

But Jahanzeb soon realized that something was wrong. These military guys were so crazy that even one of his wife's relatives was arrested because the latter did not refute when he heard people talking about the British on the street.

At present, everyone in Mysore is in danger and dares not even go out, for fear that if they meet someone on the street talking about the British, they will be in trouble.

At the same time, people's hatred towards the British became stronger - people are like this, the more you don't let them say something, the more they believe it.

Soon after, even Tipu Sultan was alarmed and summoned Jahanzeb to discuss the large-scale arrests. The latter knew that the matter was too big, so after explaining the rumor, he immediately told the Sultan that he would identify the arrested people as soon as possible and release them immediately if they were not particularly serious rumormongers.

A rally was then held by Sheikh Khan's political inner circle.

"Jahanzeb was reprimanded by the Sultan and had to start releasing people." The skinny "Umda" looked very happy. "This will be a big blow to his prestige."

The other person nodded and said, "After this lesson, he will definitely not dare to arrest people at will in the future. We can continue to send people to tell those 'stories' about Britain."

A few people remembered that this was Salah's brilliant idea, and turned to look at him. Just as they were about to praise him, they saw Salah said seriously: "Jahanzeb will release the first batch of arrested rumor mongers the day after tomorrow morning. This is our best chance, and we must seize it firmly!"

"Ah? A chance?"

Salah looked at Sheikh Khan and said, "Please mobilize all the people and send them to all parts of the country to prepare in advance...

"Wait until noon the day after tomorrow and then launch them simultaneously..."

(End of this chapter)