Flowers, Swords and France

With the tiredness of the early morning, Charles woke up from the ** with difficulty. The hangover left last night still gave him a headache.

It seemed that he could see that Charles was not in a good mood. After visiting Lucien Leflair's family, Albert took him to a pub to play for most of the night yesterday. This guy always has no shortage of places to play.

After being drunk, Charles stumbled out of the pub at one or two o'clock in the morning. Fortunately, there were many rental carriages parked outside the pub at this time (the drivers knew how easy it was to pick up customers in such places in the early morning), so he was able to return to his secret residence and have a good rest for the night.

It must be said that such a hangover can really reduce stress easily. After playing for such a night, Charles felt that the pressure accumulated in his heart disappeared a lot invisibly.

Yes, after a party with the banker Baron Bovan and the future imperial prince Joseph Bonaparte, his heart, which was already full of worries, was even more stressed and heavy. This heaviness could not be told to anyone, and he could only keep it in his heart alone.

Out of a sense of urgency, Charles went to Lucien Leflair's house yesterday, and revealed his identity directly to him and his wife, almost scaring them on the spot. Fortunately, as he expected, the couple did not seem to want to report him, but agreed to seriously consider his proposal and also promised to convey it to Count Dillion's mansion for him.

Charles's purpose of this visit was thus easily accomplished. .

He hoped to use this young couple to get in touch with the family of the Minister of the Seal, and to have some relationship with the army - although he knew that there would definitely be some risks in doing so, it would be much safer than looking for someone in the dark. And from his understanding of Lucien and the Dillion family, the risk is almost negligible.

Therefore, Charles is now feeling a little nervous and expectant.

If nothing unexpected happens, it won't be long before the second lady of the Dillion family, the glasses-wearing girl Matilda, will come to find him. He thought to himself.

After getting up, he washed up hastily, and then planned to check what notices there were today as usual.

With the help of a rented carriage, he came to a small cafe, sat in a usual seat, drank a cup of coffee, and took a newspaper on the table.

After leaving the cafe, he opened the newspaper.

…………

What!

Damn it!

After reading the note written in code, Charles's face instantly became extremely ugly.

"Seized? Damn it! What's going on!"

======================================

As usual, Kong Ze arrived at the Ministry of the Interior where he worked on time early in the morning. Following the route he had long been familiar with, he slowly walked through the hall with a very rhythmic pace, and then bypassed one layer of corridors and stairs after another, and walked to the door of his office.

At this time, he suddenly found a subordinate standing in the corridor at the door of his office.

He looked haggard, disheveled, and bloodshot eyes, and it was obvious that he had not slept well last night. When he saw Kong Ze coming, he showed joy on his face and walked over quickly.

Kong Ze gestured to him to shut up, and then opened the door of his office.

Now he was the only one who had the key to the office. The department had planned to assign him a secretary, but he refused directly because he could not find a suitable candidate. He was ready to find a suitable candidate to fill the vacancy - Kong Ze would rather work harder than let an incompetent person get too close to him, so as not to be accidentally dragged down by others. At most, he would spend more time on those meaningless documents.

After walking into the office and sitting on the chair, he looked at his subordinates expressionlessly.

"Is there anything to report?"

"It's very important, sir." The subordinate spoke quickly, his face a little anxious.

Kong Ze picked up a page of official documents on the desk and carefully glanced at the duty schedule he had drawn up on it.

"You were patrolling near Bobul Street last night, right?"

"Yes, sir." The subordinate suppressed the anxiety on his face and answered respectfully.

"What's wrong? Did you find anything?" Kong Ze's tone was still very calm, but he had some expectations in his heart.

"Several people wanted to transport a large number of weapons to my patrol area, and then I seized them. They disguised themselves very well, pretending to transport coal, but fortunately they were exposed in the end and were caught by us."

Kong Ze's eyes widened half a circle in an instant, and then he quickly regained his composure.

"Caught the smugglers of weapons? Very good, it seems that you did a good job. How many weapons are there?"

"That's exactly what I want to tell you, sir, a lot, a lot." The subordinate answered while taking out a page of paper from his arms, "Please see, this is the list we counted for this batch of arms overnight yesterday..."

The "calmness of the leader" that was forced to be collapsed instantly, and the excitement of the hound finding the prey covered up all other thoughts in Kong Ze's mind at this moment.

"Give it to me!" Kong Ze almost shouted.

Then, as if remembering something, he imitated his own minister and added with a smile that was common on the minister's face, "You've worked hard."

However, it seems that he has not learned it well enough, and the smile he forced on his face looks very inconsistent on this stiff face, and his pale face can't let people see how much encouragement and sincerity there is.

But as a subordinate, how else can people answer?

Naturally, he can only answer with a smile. "Thank you, sir."

Kong Ze took the list directly.

Even if he had some psychological preparation beforehand, he was still shocked by the list of items and numbers.

"There are so many?! What's going on? Are those republicans so rampant?!"

He muttered in a low voice, then raised his head and looked at his subordinates eagerly.

"Did you catch anyone?"

"Two were caught, and a few ran away." The subordinate answered immediately.

"Very good!" Kong Ze stood up and walked to his subordinate, "You did a very good job, don't worry, I will commend you to the minister."

He said this sincerely, and the more useful his subordinates were, the happier he was. Excitement had completely occupied his mind. Obviously, he had disrupted a conspiracy, and he felt that he was one step closer to a new great achievement.

What would be the next reward? Status or money? Or promotion?

The original text is available at 6 # 9 @Books/Bar!

"But..." The voice of his subordinate suddenly pulled him back from this dream world.

Kong Ze saw from the corner of his eye that his subordinate was a little hesitant.

"What's wrong?" He stared at the subordinate closely and asked, "Are there any other situations?"

"Well... uh..." The subordinate still looked hesitant.

"Speak!" Kong Ze raised his voice impatiently.

The subordinate slowly came over, and then whispered to his superior.

"From the workmanship and the marks on the gun body, those weapons seem... seem to be military equipment..."

"What?" Kong Ze was shocked, and then looked back at his subordinate.

The subordinate felt a little guilty under the gaze of his superior, but still sat up straight.

"Are you sure?" Kong Ze's eyes had become extremely cold.

"I dare not say it is definitely..." The subordinate answered cautiously, fearing to anger this difficult boss again, "but from the surface, it is very likely... It is very likely that it is a firearm produced by a state-owned arsenal for military use... Of course... Of course... We cannot completely rule out the possibility of counterfeit goods..."

Seeing his subordinate's look, Kong Ze understood in his heart that since he dared to say so, he must be very sure that this is indeed a military firearm. And the so-called "cannot completely rule out the possibility of counterfeit goods" is just the habit of the staff who are used to not saying anything final.

Kong Ze left in front of his subordinate and then slowly paced in this small office.

The subordinate lowered his head and dared not disturb his boss's thoughts again. However, perhaps because he was afraid of getting himself in trouble, he finally carefully suggested to his boss.

"Sir, considering all the possibilities, I think we should not get too involved in this matter..."

Kong Ze frowned slightly.

He understood his subordinate's feelings very well, and he also knew what he really meant.

"I know how to deal with this matter. Just obey orders. Go and arrest everyone first." After a long silence, he slowly answered.

"Yes!" The subordinate quickly stood up and answered loudly, and then left the office with a look of relief.

After the subordinate turned around and left, Kong Ze sat back in his seat and fell into deep thought.

He knew very well that such a large number of stolen and sold military firearms must have been participated in by officers behind the scenes, otherwise it would not be so calm, and it might be a large [***] gang.

But he also knew very well that military affairs were not something he could easily intervene in. His duty was not to uphold justice but to maintain the rule of the dynasty. If he rashly intervened in such a case, let alone whether he could investigate it, even if he could, those people in the army had always been lawless and could do anything. What if someone secretly shot them one day?

So he had to deal with this issue carefully.

At the same time, there was another question that made him think more deeply.

Who were these weapons sent to? For what purpose?

If it was just officers who stole and sold the army's weapons and supplies, it would be easy to say. If there were high-ranking officers in the army who secretly supported those republicans or other rebels...

When he thought of this, he was a little horrified.

In any case, he would report it to the minister first, and then interrogate the arrested people. After thinking for a long time, he finally came to a conclusion. (To be continued.)