Chapter 3

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Chapter 3: Killing Two Birds With One Stone

"Here are… last month’s letters, Your Highness, handed over to you."

Catherine kicked open the door to the prince regent’s office, holding a mountain of letters in her hands, and then forcefully dumped them on the desk, scattering them all over the place.

Leader One was shocked, realizing he didn’t know he would receive so many letters every month. There must be over a thousand of them.

"You are the head of the royal affairs office and also my chief personal secretary. Replying to letters is your job, so why are you suddenly throwing them all to me?"

"I’m sorry, Your Highness. I have recently been appointed as the commander of the Royal Guard Cavalry by the General Staff Department. With military duties keeping me busy, I’m afraid I can’t handle both roles."

Catherine enjoyed the feeling of riding a horse at full gallop, whether during the day or at night.

She had great personal martial skills and excellent military abilities, the military was willing to use her, and Catherine decided to focus mainly on military affairs.

Leader One agreed to her two resignation requests.

The new Director of the Royal Affairs Department and the Chief Private Secretary to the Prince Regent will take office tomorrow, a young and promising man, 41-year-old Warren Freeman, who previously served as a secretary at the Prussian Ministry of Finance.

This was Anna’s recommended candidate. Anna specially came to seek an audience with the prince regent, praising him vigorously.

"Alright, let her have the position, you don’t need to boast about how talented she is," Leader One said nonchalantly.

Anna successfully placed someone close to Leader One recently. The matter had been discussed, but she didn’t leave. Instead, she sat on the sofa in the prince regent’s office, sipping wine bit by bit.

Leader One thought Anna wanted to talk to him, so they chatted.

But after Leader One brought up several topics, the other party lost interest. The awkward atmosphere of the conversation was too poor, so Leader One just ignored it and focused on today’s tasks.

Anna would occasionally glance at him, but if Leader One looked back, Anna would turn her head away.

It was a cozy afternoon. The sunlight shone in through the big window behind Leader One, making it warm and comfortable. Being with Anna brought a different experience. Even though they rarely spoke and didn’t talk about daily life or government affairs, the peaceful time together made both Leader One and Anna happy. The office seemed like a separate world just for the two of them, away from the outside.

Anna noticed the line where the sunlight entered the office. She shifted her body to sit on the part of the sofa where the light was shining.

Thinking again, Anna realized that having wine in the warm light might not be good, so she moved her hand holding the wine glass into the shadow.

Leader One also noticed Anna’s action. She didn’t want to stay in the shadow for long. Being a Chief Secretary, a high-ranking official, meant having power but staying in the background. Anna wanted to become a public minister, even a prime minister.

Oh, a prime minister! There was indeed a prime minister in Prussia, who was a distant cousin of Karl, but didn’t make much impact, almost like a puppet of Baron Schultz.

Anna served as a secret government official. She needed to understand how government agencies worked in secret, get used to opposition from the political arena. When she transitioned to public roles, she could avoid being controlled by bureaucrats. Becoming a minister or prime minister, Anna knew the opposition she faced would be even greater.

The cozy time was short-lived. At four o’clock in the afternoon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs had an appointment.

"The political world in England has begun a storm. Queen Victoria is trying to regain her power. Following your instructions, Your Highness the Regent, the Foreign Ministry has provided Queen Victoria with all support except assistance."

As the Minister of Foreign Affairs spoke, he glanced at the prince regent and then at Anna, looking inquiringly, waiting for instructions.

Anna put down her red wine glass and started explaining her plan to help Queen Victoria.

In the first stage, we offer her all support except verbal agreement or disagreement, silence is key.

In the second stage, we subtly show our concern for the political situation in England and discreetly support Victoria without making it obvious.

In the third stage, we publicly express more explicit support.

In the fourth stage, we provide Queen Victoria with crucial evidence to bring down the Duke and Duchess of Kent.

The process of Queen Victoria seizing power will last 1 to 2 years, possibly longer depending on economic crises and their aftermath. Prussia won’t need to do much except to offer a small help during the critical period of seizing power.

Leader One, "Victoria’s matters are secondary. I want to take advantage of this situation, Anna, can you think of a plan?"

Anna started thinking of a way that benefits both England and Prussia.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs stood in his office, glancing between the prince regent and his Chief Secretary, hesitant to sit down or say anything.

Leader One pointed to a black labelled file box behind him, for the Minister of Foreign Affairs to give to Anna.

Anna quickly looked through the documents in the box and immediately came up with an idea.

"In the fourth stage, we will capture these five smuggling groups, seize all their assets, expose their bribery with the Duke and Duchess of Kent, and publish the crimes of the smuggling groups in large headlines for several days."

"Great, let’s do it then," said Leader One.

Smuggling is a topic that can never be avoided, especially in the early 19th century when Prussia’s comprehensive industrialization made smuggling rampant.

Prussia’s official trade company signed an import-export agreement with England for engineering and industrial machinery. They bought second-hand machinery from bankrupt factories in England and resold them to emerging domestic factories.

However, the official channels had limited quantities of second-hand machinery and could not acquire the latest and most advanced technology from England, which was also quite expensive.

Although the prince regent offered subsidies to many enterprises to purchase these machines at low prices, the prices were actually not low after adding tariffs.

Smuggling groups took advantage of this situation to make a fortune. They bribed the Duke and Duchess of Kent of England, bribed everyone along the entire smuggling chain, including the Royal Navy (of course). They obtained the highest-end machinery from the prohibited list through illegal channels, including the fully automatic steam-powered lead bullet production line from the Royal Arsenal in England, and even England’s newly developed rifling machine from last year.

The smuggling group bribed many factory owners in England. The corrupt factory owners would deliberately bankrupt their factories, sell the machines, then buy new machines to start a new factory, bankrupt it again, and repeat the cycle. This caused a big problem for the English industry because all the advanced technology was leaked. The Prussian Engineering Institute was very pleased with what they found out.

The rampant smuggling trade was mainly caused by the Duke and Duchess of Kent in England.

During the critical period when Queen Victoria took power, Prussia would arrest and punish five super smuggling groups, confiscate all their assets for the country, and then publicize the whole event through newspapers. This would greatly damage the Duke and Duchess of Kent.

Leader One reminded, "Remember to cultivate a few more super smuggling groups."

Anna assured, "Don’t worry, I know the process well."