Chapter 418: Public opinion war in Austria
Second floor of Schönbrunn Palace.
Austrian Foreign Minister Baron Turgut sent Talleyrand out of the hall with a smile on his face: "That's about it, Archbishop Talleyrand. The formal note will be sent to Paris next week.
"Thank you France for its outstanding contribution to defeating the rebels in the Southern Netherlands. Oh, His Majesty the Emperor also specially ordered that a banquet be held in Brussels to send off the French warriors. The rest will be left to General Leo."
Talleyrand nodded calmly:
"Please thank His Majesty for your arrangement on my behalf. Long live the Franco-Austrian Alliance."
"Long live the Franco-Austrian Alliance."
When Talleyrand walked out of the main entrance of Schönbrunn Palace, his face immediately became gloomy. He took out his notebook and flipped through it. He looked at the line on it and said to the valet:
"Go to 31 Uzberg Street."
That was the residence of Baron Ferrari. Although he was a staunch anti-Prussian, his influence was not great. However, Talleyrand has met with all the anti-Prussian leaders in the past few days, and all he can do now is to unite with as many anti-Prussian ministers as possible.
At the same time, in the VIP room of the "Red Boot", the most luxurious technical institute in Vienna, Viscount Marter, a senior official of the Vienna secret police who had just enjoyed the ecstasy service, picked up a glass of gin - this kind of spiked wine. It is said to have the effect of aphrodisiac--he drunkenly squinted his eyes and signaled to the fat man opposite:
"It's really costing you money today, Mr. Kugel, so don't worry about that."
What Mr. Kugel ordered was the top-notch set meal for 80 florins a day. Even Viscount Malte would not be willing to spend this.
"Thank you so much, my dearest friend." Kugel raised his glass, "To Miss Alina."
That was the "technician" who served Malte just now.
The two drank it all in one gulp. Marte had obviously drunk too much, but his eyes suddenly focused, he sat up straight, patted his forehead and said: "I almost forgot, I haven't signed the review authorization yet. …”
Press censorship in Austria is handled by the secret police, and he is the top official in charge of press censorship.
He pulled up his messy clothes, staggered to the door, and shouted toward the VIP room:
"Erich, bring me my briefcase."
Soon, Malte handed the signed authorization letter to his entourage and ordered:
"Go back to the office immediately and give this to Harper."
"Yes, sir."
Erich took out his "Red Boots" and waved to the carriage parked across the street - he did not dare to use the Viscount's car casually.
"Grabbon Street."
"Okay, sir." The coachman responded, waving his whip to drive the animals.
However, the car only walked less than 1 kilometer in the direction of Graben Street before it suddenly turned into a remote narrow alley.
Erich suddenly felt that the car stopped. He was about to ask the driver when the car 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..."
As soon as Erich was halfway through speaking, he was knocked unconscious with a stick.
A masked man opened his leather bag, took out the authorization document inside, and handed it to the short man next to him:
"Mr. Baudoin, this should be it."
The latter immediately lay down 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 "Marter's signature" to the strong man:
"That's it."
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 people from the newspaper office huddled together and were anxiously shouting to the uniformed person behind the desk: "Sir, when will Viscount Malte come back?"
"It's already past 4 pm. If we don't review it, it will be too late for printing!"
"Please tell us where Viscount Malte is, and we will invite him back ourselves..."
Yes, this is Austria's news censorship agency, and Marte, the censorship chief, is still discussing life with the technical girl in "Red Boots".
"Please be quiet, everyone!" a square-faced secret police officer shouted impatiently, waving his hand.
He is Marte's assistant Harper, the deputy official responsible for news review, but without Marte's authorization document, he cannot conduct censorship work.
However, the authorization document had already been torn up by agents of the French Intelligence Service and thrown into the trash.
At this moment, a middle-aged man with an unattractive appearance wearing a felt hat squeezed through the crowd and winked at the square-faced official.
Harper understood and led 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, please excuse me."
The latter took the note and looked at it, and saw that it read: I have read the content submitted for review by "Life and Pravda" today. Please approve it. Behind it is the signature of Viscount Marthe, but there is no personal seal.
He frowned and looked at the man in the felt hat:
"Where is the Viscount?"
The latter showed a mysterious smile: "I am with a certain lady. Do you need a specific address?"
"Ahem, no need." Harper waved his hand, but still said cautiously, "Show me your manuscript."
"Okay, sir." The man in the felt hat hurriedly handed him a pile of manuscripts.
Harper turned over a page, and the headline at the top was "Victory at Liegnitz, Prussian bandits defeated."
He was not surprised. There were also rumors in the past two days that Marshal Lacy had won the battle in Silesia, and Lignitz was the southwestern province of Silesia.
The man in the felt hat immediately added:
"Our war correspondent just sent back the news at noon, and the official announcement should be issued tomorrow. This is how our newspaper will become a first-class newspaper."
"You reporters are faster than the Marshal's messengers." Harper smiled and looked down. The press release said that the Austrian army annihilated 4,000 Prussian troops in Liegnitz and captured 1,000 prisoners. With a large number of artillery, the battle line has been pushed to the northeast of Lignitz. According to the current war situation, Lignitz may be recaptured within this month.
"This is really big news." He was also quite excited, "I finally taught the damn Prussians a lesson!"
The man in the felt hat immediately took out 10 florins and put it into his pocket:
"Sir, please hurry up."
Not long after, he came out of the secret police building, followed by about a dozen people from other newspapers.
"Are you really willing to sell the news to us?" one of them asked anxiously.
"certainly."
No news from any newspaper has been approved today, except for the manuscript of "Zhizhi et Pravda".
And just now the people from "Life and Pravda" told them that they can sell the press release to them for only 30 florins per house.
Although there will definitely be a lot of similar news by then, it is better than having to compensate customers due to the suspension of publication and having a negative impact on the reputation of the newspaper.
In the afternoon of that day, nearly half of the newspapers in Vienna were printing the news of "Victory at Liegnitz, Prussian bandits defeated".
Early the next morning, the whole of Vienna was in a sensation!
(End of this chapter)