Chapter 270
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Meanwhile, Prince Hector got the information about the failure of Operation from his men and one of the local heads of the church . He roared at his guards and asked, "What the h.e.l.l is Alistair doing? How the heck did the Templars fail such an easy mission with such sort of funding? Are all of my subordinates this Incompetent?"
One of the head spies from Prince Hector"s maternal family spoke a bit cautiously, "Lord from our information, it seems some of the Ministers and prince"s support Lord John and are trying to gain his favor . I have heard that Prince Jabal is even trying to contact Lord John for his vast information network as well as his contacts with demons and other species . And it seems you have Lost Lord Plato"s favor because he seemed to have figured out our last conspiracy which started the rebellion and war of Lord John . From our information, he was very angry when he got a detailed report on the causes and effects of the start of war and rebellion by Lord John . Lord Plato believes that Lord John wouldn"t have rebelled if we didn"t put him the corner and if he had no choice nor any good opportunity . He believes that Lord John used your Greed and Duke Fjord"s greed u0026 revenge to start a righteous rebellion . He believes that from the way John was prepared with his weapons and ammunitions Lord John was already prepared for war u0026 Rebellion and deliberately incited our Greed as well as the greed of the Imperial Court to put himself in a corner which Lord John cunningly used to start a rebellion with the support of his ministers and all the people at North-frontier city . Plato guesses that Lord John already had the weapons and waited for such a long time because he wanted the support of People and wanted them to see the greediness of Aelius via his Printing Press and newspapers . He believes it was quite a big Political maneuver by Lord John to secede successfully without any big problems internally . Lord Plato currently wishes for a harmonious relations.h.i.+p with the Sky Kingdom so as to root out Radiant Church and not make 2 enemies at the same time . His Majesty also came to the same conclusion after watching the detailed on Lord John"s rebellion and he is of the same opinion as Lord Plato, he doesn"t want 2 big enemies at the same time i . e Radiant Church Internally and the Sky Kingdom Externally . "
The spy hesitated a bit and spoke, "His Royal Highness, the family believes that you reconcile with Lord John for now so as not create any problems for the family and even General Endo is missing from the last war . "
Keeping his emotions in check after hearing the report, Prince Hector ordered him, "You can go for now, I will give my answer to the family later on . And bring Alistair to my room as soon as he comes to the manor . "
As soon as the Spy from his mother"s family left the manor . Prince Hector slammed the Wine gla.s.s at the table as he recalled the report in anger and roared, "d.a.m.nit, All of them traitors . These guys surely won"t have a good end . They dare to ditch me when I am down . All of them want to support that Inferior Lowly Merchant and want me a Royal Prince to reconcile with that Rebel . I will have to discuss with Alistair on how to reject them . Anyway, that d.a.m.n merchant and I can never reconcile in this life from the way he tarnishes my reputation . Those d.a.m.n n.o.bles even dare to mock me behind my back because of that newspaper . This hatred and humiliation can only be washed in blood . "
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Plato got the information about the commotion at barracks from his disciple so he immediately mobilized his men to be prepared if any actions were taken by Prince Hector or his Ministers at the Imperial court .
The first thing he did was to immediately schedule a meeting with the Finance minister Joel as he knew that the Finance Minister was in quite a tense situation because of the previous war and deficits for various departments, From which the most important was the Agricultural department which was in shortage of skilled farmers and funds for tools .
The Finance minister Joel and Defense Minister Plato were in finance minister"s office for a meeting,
Looking at Finance Minister"s busy and angry face Plato smiled a bit and spoke, "It seems you are quite busy these days . It must be quite hard raising funds for your proposed policies and the luxuries of Princes . Right?"
He furrowed his brows and spoke angrily, "Are you here to mock me? And whose fault is that? The warmongers from the Army have ruined all of my planning and policies for the next 10 years . Hmph . If you have no business then p.i.s.s off I am already quite busy on squeezing all the villages and cities for funds . I might as well impeach a few n.o.bles who have offended me in the past to raise some funds for the treasury . "
The finance Minister Joel murmured in a very soft voice, "It would have been better if you had won the war against them and plundered . Anyway, I should first target the corrupt heads of departments to raise more funds . "
Expecting this answer from him, Plato made a deliberate sad expression and spoke, "I understand your dilemma and that is why I am here to reduce your problems . We were successfully able to agree on a deal with Marquis John, No, King John, now he is a king . However, there are currently some problems where you have to help me . " Plato deliberately paused and waited for him to ask .
Understanding Plato"s tone, The finance minister nodded and asked, "What sort of problems are you facing? Do you need any help? Are there any ministers who are blocking this deal because of their usual kickbacks? If the deal with Lord John is concluded, I will be personally supporting you so that my policies can be implemented and my position remains safe . Otherwise, we will come to a standstill for the next 3-4 years just to recover because of the last war . Just no war with Sky is good enough as it won"t squeeze our funds . "
Plato nodded and spoke, "That"s true . I will get straight to the point . I want you to attack and stop the ministers supporting Prince Hector in the court tomorrow when cooperation with Sky is raised . They will be hindering our plans to conclude this deal and so would the Radiant Church u0026 their p.a.w.ns after the plans for this deal are announced . The very fact that medicines from Sky can be bought cheap as compared to the services of the radiant church will be affecting the influence of the radiant Church, We can also earn quite a sum when we redistribute those medicines in Aelius . You must attack them for the previous war which was instigated by Prince Hector and Tell the court that all the concerned polices will have to be sc.r.a.pped due to lack of funds, resources and manpower . Make your proposal short but understandable so that his Majesty and ministers have a good reason to support your proposal . "
The finance minister thought for a moment and spoke, "My position will be in jeopardy if we can"t recover from this so I am going all-in for this . Okay, I will be using my influence and speak with other ministers and lords who have it hard in their domains . I will be personally speaking in court and blame the warmongers so your lot needs to be prepared for defense as well . You guys can divert the blame to Prince Hector"s conspiracy because of Personal Vendetta putting our nation and economy in jeopardy . And yes I want you to help me nab down the corrupt heads of various cities and villages so that I can raise funds for the treasury . "
Finance Minister Joel continued, "As for the p.a.w.ns of Prince Hector and Felix . I will simply threaten them with corruption and tax evasion charges so that they get on the defensive . They have evaded taxes on a lot of items for quite a long time anyway . This time I will like to see how they act arrogantly . I will prepare a good and fine Net for them tomorrow . "
Plato nodded satisfyingly as he was able to bring the finance minister on his side, He spoke, "Good, So I reckon our deal is completed . Here is a copy of my negotiations with Lord John . If you want to amend anything or add any particular clause, please do so . Tomorrow there will be a showdown at the court so we have to be prepared . 2 days later I will be personally going to Sky to conclude this deal with Lord John, You too can come if you want . I want to meet him personally so that I can gauge him . As for targeting the heads of departments, I will be sending my Disciple to help you . "
Plato left after a long meeting was concluded . Both Plato and Joel had big smiles on their faces as they achieved their objectives .
Joel too sighed as he had no choice but to grab this chance and read the details on the negotiations with Sky, he murmured, "I guess I too have no choice but to cooperate with Plato in this endeavor . It seems we didn"t lose quite a lot in our negotiations with Sky as we expected . The only variable is the Printing press which can attack any ministers other than royalty . Medicines will be able to ward off the influence of the Radiant Church so we shouldn"t be worried much about them . This will anyway create a showdown between Radiant Church and The Sky Kingdom . As far as the selling of people is concerned, it shouldn"t be much, we have loads of slaves who aren"t productive enough . I should start visiting the ministers and prepare for tomorrow"s showdown . I wish I had more time to scrutinize this deal . Anyway, I can read it on my way . "