parentshiftbook Chapter 1219 - 1146: Identifying Problems (2)
Chapter 1219 - 1146: Identifying Problems (2)
"We're guessing they must have come to pick up Kapen.""Didn't the Cheka have a very tight grip over the ry Court Barracks before?" The moment Hakuto heard the words 'Gray Furnace Town military-industrial zone', he couldn't hold back anymore. "What on earth has been going on lately?"
"It's not the Cheka's fault." Horn, for once, spoke up in their defense. "It's a problem of travelers, and it's a problem of timing."
Now that the Holy Alliance is holding the Expo, in order to attract enough tourists and foreign capital, inspections inevitably have to be relaxed.
And with the surge in numbers, it's only natural that Flanlaya Spies would slip in under cover of the chaos, while the Cheka's manpower has remained at normal levels, leaving them a bit stretched thin.
Seeing everyone fall silent once again, Madlan slowly spoke: "The evening edition of the Royal Times of Falan has already gone to print today.
The headline is 'Holy Alliance Spring Locomotive Scandal Erupts Again, Fraud Inevitable', and they even attached an illustration of the locomotive explosion.
And it's not just Falan. Leia's Long Song Newspaper ran a statement from the Great Shepherd of Golden Horn Bay, saying this is the Holy Father's punishment.
Even inside our own Holy Alliance, some people are putting up notices on the streets and alleys, saying the Holy Alliance is treating the Expo like a joke and embezzling the believers' money to fill an endless pit of fake technology…"
No need to say it—anyone with half a brain can see that Falan and Leia are working in concert.
And judging by the speed with which Falan put out a paper in the afternoon over an explosion that happened in the morning, it's obvious they'd printed it in advance and came prepared.
Between nations, there's only interest.
Back then, when Leia was caught out, the Holy Alliance and Falan both took a hefty bite out of them.
Now that they've got something on the Holy Alliance, if the other two countries don't strike back, that really would be strange.
As for how effective all this is, Harbin gave a bitter smile: "Three groups from the Dawn Federation delegation have already come by to ask if they can postpone their visit to the locomotive demonstration. They say they might be late because of… prior commitments."
As if Harbin and the others couldn't tell whether those commitments were real or fake?
They're already here in the ry Court Barracks—what commitments could they possibly have?
Even though the Dawn Federation delegation is using high emotional intelligence to show goodwill to the Holy Alliance, there's still a subtext behind it.
Even the Dawn Federation people assume that the Spring Locomotive explosion will inevitably delay the Running Horse Pact, which is why they're rushing to show they're "sharing the burden" for the Holy Alliance.
But can the Holy Alliance really fulfill the "Running Horse Pact" on time?
Even Horn felt a headache coming on this time.
He often says time is on the Holy Alliance's side.
Even if they fail this time, as long as the Holy Alliance still stands and continues to ride the tide of the age, there will surely be a next time.
But if they succeed this time, how much time would that save?
At the very least, it would be far faster than slowly attracting investment and spreading industrialization—because an Expo is, after all, a product exhibition.
Horn has no desire to let the very first Expo be a major flop: it would damage their external credibility and stir resentment among the believers at home.
"And there's the Crab Yellow Castle Monarch." Qianqian added, "His messenger just arrived at the ry Court Barracks this morning, saying that if our locomotive can't be properly demonstrated on schedule, then he'll have to reconsider the equity split in that canned food plant cooperation we talked about."
"Was it sent from the Monarch's mountain villa, or from his old home in Crab Roe Castle?"
"Crab Roe Castle."
The air in the conference room instantly solidified.
Everyone knew that for over a decade now, the Great Monarch has basically been a mascot, or something like a purely ceremonial head of state.
The real power holder is his eldest son, Theodora's brother—Bobo.
The canned food plant deal in Crab Roe Castle is the key to opening up the Norn market for the Holy Alliance, and Bobo can basically be taken as the representative of the liberal nobles in Norn.
If the deal falls through, it won't just jeopardize future railway stock for the locomotives; it'll slow the Holy Alliance's entire commercial layout in Norn.
Busak has been fighting for this for four or five years now, hoping to secure his position as Evangelist with this cooperation.
If something goes wrong, he really might just keel over in a faint on the spot.
"Then… then can't we first make a fake locomotive shell? Something that looks real, just to fool the foreign merchants? And after the Expo we can slowly fix the real one?"
A young engineer sitting in the back row asked in a small voice, and the moment the words left his mouth he realized how stupid they sounded, hurriedly lowering his head.
René shot him a cold glance: "You think the Empire's scholars and engineers wouldn't be able to tell? If they expose us, the Holy Alliance's reputation will be ruined, worse than if we didn't exhibit anything at all."
The young engineer's face turned instantly scarlet, and he no longer dared to speak.
Horn cleared his throat, picked up the locomotive's design blueprints on the table, flipped through them for a bit, then raised his head to look at everyone: "Let's first straighten out the problems we're facing, all right?"
The cardinals and those in charge present all nodded again and again.
"First problem: machining precision is insufficient. Large components are manageable, but small components can't be manufactured within ten days. Is that correct?"
Horn's pen flew swiftly over his notes for a moment; then he looked up at everyone.
They could only nod; there was nothing else to say.
"Second problem: incoming travelers are crowding out transportation routes. Within ten days, if we rely on shipping, it'll be very difficult to bring in all the materials, correct?"
In the conference room, people looked at one another; again, nothing but nods.
"All right, then the third problem: Flanlaya Spies are sabotaging us from within, while Leia and Norn are stirring up rumors outside, throwing people into a panic. Correct?"
"Correct…" Only René answered calmly.
"Then for these three problems, let's pool our wits and see if we can come up with ways to solve them." Horn put down his pen and had someone copy the problems and paste them up on the wall. "By dawn tomorrow we must have something—not necessarily good solutions, but at least some solutions."
Madlan looked around at everyone: "Who'll take the first one?"
"Uh…"
The conference room instantly filled with a humming chorus of "uhs", almost enough to make the teacups on the table vibrate in sympathy.
Looking at the Stag Chamber, now as silent as a library, Horn had to admit that this time the Flanlaya Spies really had done a neat job.
They had exploited the surge of people into the Holy Alliance, the relaxation of border controls, and the manpower shortfalls to deliver a precise blow to the Holy Alliance.
Still, it was also because the Holy Alliance had grown used to winning, because its propaganda had been too absolute and its tone too lofty, leaving no room for error.
In truth, although the Spring Locomotive is important, it's still largely a gimmick.
The locomotive and the Expo could have been neatly separated.
Yet now, just because of this gimmick, the entire Expo has been called into question. That really is losing the big for the sake of the small.
Horn had already filed this incident away; once this is over, they will definitely convene to review it in detail.
It must serve as a living lesson for the next time.
He glanced up at the time and shook his head helplessly: "It's already five thirty. How about this: go have dinner first, relax your brains a bit, and we'll reconvene at six thirty. How about it?"
The people in the Stag Chamber finally let out a breath of relief.
After all, keeping them shut up in the Stag Chamber, unable to reach the resources they can mobilize outside—who would dare claim they've truly got a solution?
Bear in mind, the Holy Alliance's official institutions and its private sector are closely intertwined.
From County Governors to cardinals, everyone holds a stack of cards accumulated from their daily work.
The simplest example: if Falan or Leia wanted to borrow money from the public or needed civilian assistance for some project, that would be harder than reaching the heavens.
The state's credibility is so poor, and their day-to-day ties with the public so thin, that they only show up when they need something.
Thanks to the Holy Alliance's unique institutional setup, it can mobilize internal civilian forces with great ease and knows them very well.
This is also why Horn dares to boldly "store wealth among the people", while Falan and Leia don't.
Besides the Holy Alliance's being newly founded with good credit, it's because the Holy Alliance can both store and deploy.
If Falan and Leia tried to imitate the Holy Alliance and store wealth among the people now, the money would immediately flow into Holy Alliance ventures instead, leaving them no opportunity to use it.
Just as chairs scraped and people stood up, producing an ear-piercing sound—
At the end of the table, someone suddenly raised his hand and stood.
"Wait, Your Eminence."
Horn looked up; it was Leonardo. His eyes were red, and his body was even trembling slightly.
This whole mess had largely been caused by his eldest disciple Kapen's defection.
Even now he still couldn't accept that fact, let alone that he himself had recommended Kapen into the locomotive project.
"Leonardo, don't rush to blame yourself. This isn't your fault." Horn stepped around the others, walked to his side, and patted him on the shoulder.
He had to adopt this posture; otherwise Leonardo would inevitably be ostracized in the future.
Leonardo gave Horn a grateful look: "Your Eminence, what I mean is—I have a way to solve the fine-machining problem."
Horn was taken aback. In his view, the last two problems were relatively easier; the first one was the hardest.
This was a tech tree they hadn't unlocked yet; the hard conditions simply weren't there.
"How?" Harbin, standing nearby, almost thought Leonardo had gone mad from the shock of this incident.
"Your Eminence, have you forgotten? Aside from Princess Hilov's Microscopic Eye, the Holy Alliance also has microscopes!"