I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 418: Public Opinion War in Austria

The second floor of Schönbrunn Palace.

Austrian Foreign Minister Baron Thugut escorted Talleyrand out of the hall with a smile on his face:
"That is all, Archbishop Talleyrand. The official note will be sent to Paris next week.

"Thank you for France's outstanding contribution to defeating the rebels in the Southern Netherlands. Oh, His Majesty the Emperor has also specifically instructed that a banquet be held in Brussels to send off the French warriors. General Leo will take care of everything after that."

Talleyrand nodded calmly:

"Please thank His Majesty for his arrangement. Long live the Franco-Austrian alliance."

"Long live the Franco-Austrian alliance."

When Talleyrand walked out of the main gate of Schönbrunn Palace, his face immediately turned gloomy. He took out his notebook and flipped through it. Looking at the line of words on it, he said to the servant:

"To 31 Wurzbergstrasse."

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

At the same time, in the VIP room of the most luxurious technical academy in Vienna, the Red Boot, Viscount Malte, a senior official of the Vienna secret police who had just enjoyed a soul-stirring service, picked up a glass of gin - this kind of liquor with added ingredients is said to have aphrodisiac effects - and squinted his eyes drunkenly, motioning to the fat man opposite:

"I'm really sorry to have cost you a lot today, Mr. Kugel. Don't worry about that matter."

Mr. Kugel treated us to the best meal of the day, which cost 80 florins. Even Viscount Malte usually couldn't afford this.

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

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

The two drank it all in one gulp. Malte was obviously drunk, but he suddenly fixed his eyes, sat up straight, patted his forehead and said:
"I almost forgot, I haven't issued the review authorization yet..."

Press censorship in Austria was the responsibility of the secret police, and he was the highest official in charge of press censorship.

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

"Erich, get my briefcase."

Soon, Marte handed the signed authorization letter to his attendant and instructed:

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

"Yes, my lord."

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

"Graben Street."

"Okay, sir." The driver responded and waved his whip to drive the animals.

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

Erich suddenly felt the car stop. He was about to ask the driver when the 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... Ouch——"

Erich had just finished speaking when he was knocked unconscious by a stick.

A masked man opened his briefcase, took out the authorization document, and handed it to the short man next to him:
"Mr. Baudouin, this should be it."

The latter immediately lay 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 "Marte's signature" to the strong man:

"Okay."

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 newspaper people were crowded together, anxiously shouting to the uniformed people behind the desks: "Sir, when will Viscount Malte come back?"

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

"Please be so kind as to tell us where Viscount Malte is, and we will go and ask him to come back ourselves..."

Yes, this is the Austrian news review agency, and the review director, Malte, is still discussing life with the technician in the "Red Boots".

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

He is Malte's assistant Harper, the deputy official in charge of news review, but without Malte's authorization documents, he cannot carry out the review work.

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

Just then, a plain-looking middle-aged man wearing a felt hat squeezed through the crowd and winked at the square-faced official.

Harper understood and took 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. Thank you for your help."

The latter took the note and read it, and saw that it said: I have read the content submitted by Life and Truth today, please approve it. At the back was the signature of Viscount Malte, but there was no personal seal.

He frowned and looked at the man in the felt hat:
"Where is the Viscount?"

The latter gave a mysterious smile: "With a certain lady, do you need a specific address?"

"Oh, that's not necessary." Harper waved his hand, but still said cautiously, "Show me your manuscript."

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

Harper turned the page and saw the headline at the top: "Great Victory of Liegnitz, the Defeat of Prussian Bandits."

He was not surprised, as there had been rumors in the past few 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 news at noon. The official announcement should be issued tomorrow. Our newspaper will rely on this to become one of the top newspapers."

"You reporters are faster than the Marshal's messengers." Harper smiled and looked down. The press release said that the Austrian army annihilated 4 Prussian soldiers in Liegnitz, captured 1, and seized a large number of artillery. The battle line has been pushed to the northeast of Liegnitz. According to the current war situation, Liegnitz may be recaptured within this month.

"This is really big news." He was also quite excited. "Finally, we've taught those damn Prussians a lesson!"

The man in the felt hat immediately took out 10 florins and stuffed them into his pocket:
"Master, please hurry up."

Not long after, 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 manuscript from Life and Pravda.

Just now, the people from Life and Truth told them that they could sell the press release to them for only 30 florins per household.

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

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

The next morning, the whole of Vienna was in an uproar!
(End of this chapter)