MTL - Iron Powder and Spellcasters-Chapter 401 Echoes of the mountains (middle)

  Chapter 401 The mountains echo (middle)

  [Interrogation Record]

the first time

   Time: 13th, March, 560

   Starts at 8:10

   Ends at 9:30

   Inquirer: John Thomas, Lieutenant Colonel, Commander, 6th Battalion, 7th Army

   Recorded by: Sijingen Miller, Lieutenant, Captain of the Gendarmerie at Solingen State Garrison Headquarters

  Interrogated: Alfonso de Paiva

  [The content of the inquiry is recorded as follows]

  Q: Say your name.

   Answer: Alfonso de Paiva.

  Q: What is the family situation?

   Answer: Mother, two younger sisters, and one younger brother.

  Q: Not married?

   Answer: No.

  Q: The name you use in Solingen is Alfonso de Paiva?

  A: No, my identity in Solingen is Kapfen, a fur merchant.

  Q: What is your real identity?

   Answer: Royal Safety Commission, Commissioner II, State Director of Solingen

  Q: What are your responsibilities?

  A: (Silence for a moment) The intelligence collection of Steel Castle and Solingen, as well as the intelligence of the six autonomous states, will also be collected and screened in my hands, and then sent to North Monta.

  …

   is all poured out of the same mold, and the questioning process of the Monta Gendarmerie is no different from that of the Veneta Gendarmerie.

   And Lieutenant Colonel Thomas should be determined to handle the case without any leakage, so he asked a lot of necessary but not critical information at the beginning of the formal trial.

  Winters scanned the unimportant content at a glance and pulled the scroll to the back.

  …

  Q: Tell me about the fire on the night of March 10th.

   Answer: (silence).

  Q: Why don't you speak.

  A: I don't know where to start.

  Q: Start with the earliest place you can think of. For example, when did you learn about the arson plan? Who told you again?

  A: I didn't know the plan from start to finish. The messenger only told me what to do, not why.

  Question: Messenger?

   Answer: Your Majesty... Henry III's most trusted executor. I don't know his name, only that he is the messenger.

  Q: When was the first time you saw the messenger?

   Answer: A month ago.

  Question: Who brought him here?

   Answer: No one, he came to find me by himself.

  Question: Then how do you know he is the messenger?

  Answer: He has a token, he can match the code, and he knows my identity.

  Q: What token?

  A: An iron ring, and a key.

  Q: The key?

  A: The commissioner of the Royal Safety Council is given a steel lock when he is appointed. Each lock corresponds to a key. The key represents the absolute power of the emperor. The man came to me with my keys.

  …

   "Key? Ring."

   Winters thought about it, and immediately thought of the plain steel ring and the small string of keys found in the secret room.

   With the exception of liquid fire, iron bombs, and gunpowder, everything stored in the chamber—including those bagged ballast—was taken by Winters as trophies and not handed over to the Monta Army.

   To be precise, Winters never mentioned cards, keys and rings to anyone who didn't know.

   Lieutenant Colonel Thomas, who heard about the "key" for the first time, asked a lot about the key: what material, what style, what size, etc.

   Winters blinked, flipped through the section, and continued searching for key information.

  …

  Q: Tell me about the riots, who are those assassins?

   Answer: I don't know.

  Q: Don't know?

  A: I don't know. The Security Council is not an assassin killer and only does passive information gathering. The movement of troops, fluctuations in the price of flour, the personalities and tendencies of city councillors and state legislators... these are the things that I usually inquire about.

  Q: What happened to those assassins?

  Answer: If the emperor wants to get rid of someone who is an eyesore, or if he thinks it necessary to use force, he will send those swordsmen. As for who those swordsmen were? We don't ask, and they don't tell.

  Q: Tell us how you incited the riot.

  Answer: (sarcastic smile) If there is no firewood and straw, what is the use of flint and scythe?

  Question: I am asking you a question.

  A: Last year was cold and rainy, and the crops failed. The price of wheat remained high after the fall, and even rose to one guerdu per bag after the winter, as did the price of barley and oats. People had to add more acorns, lentils, peas to the flour. Even so, there is still less and less bread that wages can buy. Also, do you know how many workshops are still in arrears with the wages of their helpers? Do you know…

  Ask: (knocking on the table) Answer questions that are asked of you, don’t answer questions that are not asked of you.

  Answer: (gasps) The mule workers held back their breath because they were still holding on to the hope that the trade ban would be lifted, employers would sell their stockpiles, and pay off their wages. So as soon as the news of the Clarion came back, disappointment was immediately replaced by anger. A cry of "take back what we deserve", a brave person taking the lead, is enough to channel their anger into action.

  A: You see, the riot is out there, it's going to happen sooner or later, I just speed up the process. And you are so arrogant that you turn a blind eye to the wrath of the silent. Do you know where the mule workers meet regularly? Do you know how many associations there are among mule workers? Do you know who is the most prestigious man among the mule workers? You don't know because you treat them like mules.

  Question: (coldly rhetorically) So you all know?

   Answer: (spread hands).

  …

   Winters sighed.

   For the resettlement of the victims, the Solingen military and administrative departments have not yet come up with a proper plan.

After the    fire, the rent and bread prices of Steel Castle skyrocketed, and even many residents who were not affected by the disaster were complaining.

  Citizens who can afford the rent or residents who have relatives to go to can stay in the city for the time being. And those poor people who have nothing in the first place have no way to go to heaven and no way to enter the earth.

   If Colonel Berne had not temporarily recruited a large number of young and middle-aged men to fight the fire and provide food and accommodation, the second round of riots in Steel Castle would have broken out now.

   Servette's massive rebuilding plan looks good to Winters, and could even be the only hope for Steel Castle.

   Clearing the ruins and rebuilding the houses required a lot of labor, and Servetus' ambitious plans even included dredging river channels, repairing roads and expanding urban areas.

Through some honest and reliable partners, Winters was the first to get a complete copy of the draft that Servetus submitted to the executive committee - the hand of the emperor fell, but the steel castle still did not escape being penetrated like a sieve fate.

  Unfortunately, no matter how good a mason is, he can't make bricks without straw.

   Servetus had a good plan, but no one was willing to pay. Even if there is a road of "borrowing with city assets as collateral", the chances of success are very slim.

  Because what Servetus needed was not a small amount of money, but a huge amount of money, the gold brought by Winters could only temporarily quench his thirst.

   Debt must be repaid in the end, and the debt is secured by city assets, and in the end it is up to the property owners with civil rights to make up for it.

   And "turning the city from a good asset into a debt hole" is exactly what the "Steelcastle Citizens" do not want to see.

  According to information obtained by Winters, the executive members of the city council are more inclined to the "evacuation" plan.

   is to distribute the unemployed and homeless people in this state to other autonomous prefectures to reduce the burden of food and housing in Gangbao, and then slowly raise funds for reconstruction.

   As for the evacuees, what will happen next? The executive committee tacitly did not discuss the topic.

   So when he negotiated the scrap iron purchase agreement with Servette before, Winters was not nervous at all, and even omitted the back and forth link, and directly offered Servette a price of a ton for the purchase.

   It’s even a step-down price—that is, the larger the total, the lower the unit price.

  Because "the original purchase plan has been achieved, and we continue to purchase scrap iron, we have to take unnecessary risks. Of course, there are more freight charges."

  Servette with a livid face, walked away on the spot.

   But in the end...it ended with a friendly handshake.

   Winters blinked, opened the scroll of inquiry records, and continued to look down.

  …

  Q: Now let’s talk about your plan.

  Answer: (sighs) I have already said that it was not my plan, it was the messenger's plan. I don't understand the messenger's plan. I know your interrogation tactics and it is unnecessary to ask me this question repeatedly because I am telling the truth.

  Q: Then say what you were involved in, what you knew.

  A: I only know that there were four teams of people moving at the same time that night. I was responsible for delaying your entry into the city and creating time for others to perform their tasks.

  Q: Four teams? Which four teams?

  Answer: One team each from Nancheng, Beicheng, and Old City, as well as my team.

  Q: How many people are there?

   Answer: I don't know. I don't know how many people the messenger brought, I only know that he gave me twenty-two swordsmen.

  Question: Twenty people can stir the steel castle?

   Answer: There are some outsiders who are unaware of it. (tired) You don't need torches to light a house full of firewood.

  Q: What are the tasks of each team?

   Answer: My, you know. The team in the old town was responsible for guiding the rioters and getting in the way if necessary. Those who go to Beicheng, as far as I know, should go to kill Baiying. The team in Nancheng was led by the messenger himself, and I don't know his purpose. I guess... uh, still don't guess.

  Q: Tell me about Bolso da Este, the White Eagle.

  A: A lot of contraband and personnel came to Monta and Steel Castle by his way.

  Question: Does he know your identities?

   Answer: (laughs) I probably don’t know. Or pretend not to know.

  Question: Why did he help you?

   Answer: Because he also has a lot of contraband that he wants to transport into North Monta.

  Question: Since he helped you, why did you kill him?

  A: Why can't he kill him? He is a man to you, not worth a penny to us. As for why kill him? I don't know what the messenger thinks. Maybe it was because the messenger personally visited him, so he wanted to silence him? I have no idea. Besides, the messenger wanted to kill more than him.

  Q: Who else will the messenger kill?

  Answer: (lazy) The councillors and forge masters who are closer to Veneta will kill more, and those who are close to the provinces will also kill a few, and act as a pretense.

  Q: Why?

   Answer: I told you, I don't know. (Hesitates for a moment) If you want to hear it, I can tell you my guess.

  Q: Tell me.

  Answer: The messenger wants to break the faction balance in Steel Castle, get rid of the characters of the Veneta faction, and then anger Veneta. Alas, it doesn't really matter what the messenger wants, what matters is what the emperor wants. I guess, I have a vague feeling that Your Majesty may not want to see Nan Monta interfere too much in the situation of Prato.

  Q: Is there any connection between getting rid of the White Eagle and preventing Monta from interfering with Prato?

   Answer: (reluctantly) Have you ever played chess? There are always some people who have already seen the next few moves in their minds when they make the move in front of them. Your Majesty - Henry III was a man of foresight, prophesying that his family would eventually conquer the world. I often get feedback on the intelligence I submit, and sometimes even detailed instructions. I can feel that although the Empire has only fought in the north and east all these years, His Majesty's eyes have been on the Shady Mountains, on you. "

  Question: I still don’t understand, killing the pro-Veneta people will only lead to bad relations between Monta and Veneta, how can it be that ‘Nan Monta doesn’t interfere too much with the situation in Prato’?

  A: How do I know? I also want to ask you, is it possible that a massacre with the footprints of the Union Provinces could hit the South Monta government and make you dare not act rashly?

  Q: (exchanging glances) What you said was speculation.

  A: (impatiently) Yes, and I told you a long time ago that what I said was speculation.

   (brief silence)

  Interrogated: (asked tentatively) What is the current situation in Nancheng?

   QUESTIONER: Possibly burnt to white ground, possibly undamaged. Why do you care about the situation in Nancheng?

   Answer: (bitter) Nancheng is the place where the messenger is personally responsible, and there are advisors. There should be burnt to the ground, right? But the baron handed me four Newron bells, and I didn't know what to think again.

  Q: You still didn’t say why you care about the current situation of Nancheng.

   Answer: (sighs) What I say next is all guesswork.

  Q: Please say.

   Answer: I don't know the full picture of the messenger's plan. But according to the way he distributes his troops, and the location of the storage points and safe houses - I have told you the storage points and safe houses, all in the North City. So I guess... the messenger is trying to destroy two districts of Steelcastle at once.

  Q: South City and Old City?

   Answer: Yes, keep Beicheng. Nancheng was more difficult to handle, so he personally led the team.

  Q: Why?

   Answer: It may be better for his plan to keep the rich. Moreover, if a person's limbs are cut off, and only the head remains, then he will not live long.

  Q: Why is it better to keep the rich?

   Answer: (reluctantly) As I said, don’t speculate on the messenger’s thoughts. The messenger is the emperor's secret hand, and his plan is ultimately to realize the emperor's ideas - should think about what the emperor wants.

  Q: What does the false emperor want?

  Answer: (Unconsciously nervous) What I said below is all based on the premise that the emperor 'does not want to see Nan Monta interfere too much in the situation of Plato', and it's all my guess. Can you not record it?

  Q: Tell me.

Answer: If Your Majesty does not want to see the situation in which Monta left and right about Prato, then destroying a steel castle in a mere area, although it is a disaster for you to destroy the world, but for Your Majesty, it is like erasing a drop of ink from the map - The handwriting is too small and too small.

  Q: (brows are tightened more and more)

Answer: (involuntarily swallows saliva) If His Majesty wants 'Monta not interfere with Prato', then his way to achieve his goal must not be 'Let Monta retreat', but 'Let Monta even think about it' It is impossible to interfere with Prato'. Because he doesn't give his enemies a choice, he doesn't even give his subjects a choice - that's his style.

  Q: What do you want to say?

  A: (hesitating) I think the Steel Castle thing might just be the beginning. If His Majesty doesn't want to see you reach out to Plato, (pause) Famine, war, plague... He must have a way to achieve his purpose, to keep you trapped in the mountains and not take a step. Because he is the one who holds the authority, from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth - that's what the prophecy says.

  Q: (contemptuously) We don’t believe in the prophecies of the false emperor’s self-deification.

   Answer: (smiling miserably) But every citizen of the empire is convinced of this.

  …

   The record of the first - actually the second - interrogation ends here.

   Winters slowly put away the scroll, his mind still occupied by Alfonso's warning.

   "Have you finished reading?" asked Colonel Bern on the sickbed.

   "It's over." Winters put the scroll into the copper sleeve and asked with a smile, "Can I take this copy with me?"

   "Copy?" Colonel Bern squinted: "This is the original, and it's the only copy! It's going to be sent to the Clarion Fort today. You can seal it for me after reading it!"

   Winters brushed the oil lamp with his hand, and the wick burst into flames. He picked up a copper spoon filled with lacquer and put it on the flame to bake patiently.

   Colonel Bern raised his eyebrows: "Can you use magic?"

   "It's okay to light a fire." Winters replied in a relaxed tone, but he still didn't give up: "Can I transcribe a copy?"

   "Okay." Colonel Bern snorted softly: "You stay in Monta, you can copy as many copies as you want."

   Winters stopped talking. He melted the varnish, poured a little on the buckle of the copper sleeve, and took Colonel Bern's signet ring and put it on it.

Colonel Berne hated iron and said: "Do you know how many people will be involved in this little roll of parchment? What consequences will it have? If you want to go back to Plato, you should stay as far away from it as possible. !"

Winters sighed: "I hope it will calm down the big men in the province and Veneta, and let them know that there is a dragon on the other side of the mountains waiting for us to kill each other - as for Palato leave it to Plato to deal with it by himself."

"Boy, do you think that the big man in your mouth doesn't know that there is an evil dragon on the other side of the mountain now? But what do they still want to do?" Colonel Berne took the sleeve and sneered: "Let them consider these things. Well, it's enough for us to do our duty as a soldier."

   Winters sighed again. After a while, he cheered up, stood up, and raised his hand to salute Colonel Bern meticulously: "I haven't thanked you for raising the carriage for me. Thank you very much."

"It's all scrapped carriages from the river. You're willing to pay for it, but I want to thank you for the people of Steel Castle." Bernie waved his hands in disgust: "Go away. Don't let me see you again. is you."

   Winters didn't move: "I have something else I want to tell you."

   "What's the matter?" Bernie frowned.

   "It's not a big deal." Winters cleared his throat and asked, "What do you plan to do with the body of a suspected court mage?"

   "What else can we do?" Colonel Bern was inexplicable: "It is sealed as evidence, waiting for someone to check."

   "That can't be done. The corpse of the court mages is not the corpse of an ordinary person, and the corpse of the court mages should also be trophies. What's more, the court mages were all killed by me, so they can't all belong to you, right?"

  Colonel Bernie laughed angrily: "Then what do you want to do?"

   Winters answered confidently: "Of course one and a half!"

  Colonel Berne was choked for a long time, unable to speak, and it took a long time before he calmed down: "Okay! Then one person and half. But how do you take it away? There is no ice cellar, how can you embalmed?"

   "Of course I have a way. There are five corpses in total, and I'll take two and a half."

   "Three for you. Get out!"

   Winters raised his hand to salute and walked neatly out the door.

   As soon as the door was opened, Colonel Bern's voice came from behind: "Wait!"

  Winters held the doorknob, turned around and asked, "Do you have any instructions?"

   "You kid, you are so **** indifferent!" Colonel Bern slapped his palm on the edge of the bed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Don't even say a word of goodbye."

"I'm not leaving today." Winters scratched his short hair, and explained embarrassedly, "I still have work to do in Steel Castle. When I leave, I will come back to say goodbye to you. ."

"No need. Don't come." Colonel Bern was silent for a moment, and then said: "I joined the army at the age of sixteen and entered the military academy at the age of twenty-four. After so many years of military service, I have never seen a few people who lost their temper. One-eyed dragon is one, you... Barely one. If you walk out of this room today, we may never see each other again."

   Colonel Bern turned his head to look out the window: "Boy, take care, don't die on the battlefield."

   "You too." Winters raised his hand in salute.

   "What do you have to do in Steel Castle? Do you need my help?"

   "No, trivial matter." Winters' mouth curled into a smile: "I'm just waiting for an answer."

   [Add more! ]

   [This chapter is mainly to fill in the pits, I re-read it myself, there are so many pits that need to be filled for the time being. If there is still a hole to fill, please book friends remind me. If it is a "can be filled" pit, I will fill it in this chapter. If it is a hole that "cannot be filled temporarily" or "has been filled and no need to refill", then I...then I will cover my eyes...]

   [But tomorrow (today) should really be gone. If something goes wrong, you may have to go back to work urgently. ]

   [Everyone must be healthy in the new year! ]

   [Thank you for your collection, reading, subscription, recommendation ticket, monthly ticket, reward and comment, thank you all]

  

  

   (end of this chapter)