Chapter 1286: Chapter 1285: You Might Not Believe Me If I Told You
Upon hearing Lynch’s seemingly joking speculation, the Prime Minister instinctively realized that this might be the real reason!
And the young man in front of him might be involved in this assassination case against Emperor Gafura!
With this thought, the Prime Minister’s expression became softer, not stiff at all, as if he had never considered Lynch’s possible involvement in the assassination case.
"Your perspective is quite interesting, but the idea itself is flawed."
The two of them conversed casually as though discussing minor matters, and Lynch raised an eyebrow, "What’s flawed?"
The Prime Minister’s face showed more smiles; he clasped his hands, fingers interlocked, thumbs resting under his chin.
This way, while speaking, his mouth’s movements were less visible, "For those stronger than us, we ought to consider pursuit, not obstruction."
"Only by becoming strong ourselves can we have a place on the world stage."
"But if we only make those already on the stage leave, for us, we still can’t get on that stage!"
Lynch applauded the Prime Minister’s idea a few times, "This notion seems quite positive."
The Prime Minister didn’t deny it; rather than hindering others, strengthening oneself was the essence of his statement.
If I become strong, it equates to others becoming weak. This sounds flawless, yet such a viewpoint is quite rogue.
The weak becoming strong, the strong are also becoming stronger, and faster than the weak, thus the strong stay strong and the weak stay weak.
These words hold value only when spoken by the strong.
The Prime Minister sensed Lynch’s scorn and disdain from his reaction, though it didn’t show on his face.
"Let’s skip this topic. Who do you think is most likely to act?" He laughed twice, "So many things occupy my time, perhaps you could offer some help?"
"Peng Jieao people!" Lynch immediately gave him an answer.
The Prime Minister asked, "Why do you think so?"
"Because you are arch-enemies."
The Prime Minister stayed silent, Lynch stared at him; they both knew it couldn’t be Peng Jieao.
For such matters, if not exposed it’s fine, but once exposed it inevitably becomes a war of annihilation, both sides deploying all forces in wild assault till one side crumbles completely.
Thus, Peng Jieao wouldn’t be foolish enough to assassinate Gafura’s Emperor, the Prime Minister understood this, Lynch did too.
Moreover, Peng Jieao currently wasn’t under Gafura’s military influence from any angle. They wouldn’t need to risk such foolishness.
Subsequently, Lynch indulged in many "speculations", including rebellious forces from Amelia or even the Governor, presenting various reasons that seemingly made sense but felt increasingly pointless upon scrutiny.
Until the Prime Minister grew mildly irritated, Lynch gave him the answer he wanted but dared not desire.
"...I’ve said so much you aren’t satisfied, so what do you think of Bail Federal?" Lynch’s brows and eyes bore a smile, the more relaxed he was, the more intense the Prime Minister’s emotions became.
"Perhaps Bail Federal is a good mastermind. We recently crushed your invincible fleet, also accomplished numerous surpasses in military fields, in international status and influence, we’re quite close, and everyone sees us as opposing players."
"From these perspectives, we seemingly have more reason to do so than others."
"The Federation wants to rise, Gafura is both an ally and enemy; only by pillaging enough nutrients from Gafura can the Federation truly become strong..."
The Prime Minister followed Lynch’s lead, "So you orchestrated such an assassination event, aiming to disrupt our development."
"You know Gafura better than other Federation people. With your ability and wisdom, you must be able to see Gafura is undergoing an important transformation now."
"Thus you decided, if not to interrupt, at least to jostle this transformation process, thereby delaying us from realizing all our ideas."
"Frankly speaking, the new Bail Federal is indeed terrifying; your Navy, that Admiral, Truman, even you..." The Prime Minister stared at Lynch, the smile on his face diminished, "...are like this too!"
Lynch’s expression showed little change, "This seems like a compliment?"
Prime Minister rubbed his face, "Where is the assassin?"
"The Emperor likely won’t survive, we need to give the people an explanation, hand over the assassin."
Lynch still maintained a conversational, or storytelling demeanor, "You’d have to ask yourselves, I don’t know nor do I know where the assassin is."
"Perhaps...he escaped on a submarine?"
Prime Minister sighed deeply, murmuring Lynch’s name, "You really are a troublesome fellow..."
He paused as he spoke, "Conversing with you is very unpleasant. I know the orchestrator of all this is right before me, yet I can’t take any action against you, which makes me loathe myself."
This was just a guess, a hypothesis. Not to mention lacking enough evidence to arrest Lynch, just the proximity of Federation Fleet to Gafura’s Main Island was enough of a headache for him.
Once given an opportunity, the Federation Fleet would surely approach the Main Island, even if they do nothing, just circling it would suffice to disgrace Gafura!
The Prime Minister did not doubt this at all, just as he said to Lynch earlier, Truman was the most frightening figure in the new generation of the Federation in his view.
He possesses the decisiveness of a military man, yet has the cunning of a politician. Unlike traditional politicians, he does not always put force as a last resort or evade the issue of force.
In Truman’s eyes, force is just another means, a method, indistinguishable from other means and methods.
This also led to the new Federation Government often discussing the use of force to resolve issues first in foreign affairs, causing headaches for diplomats from many countries.
A rapidly expanding country that talks about "war" at every turn might be intimidating you, but you dare not gamble the future of a nation on whether their words will become reality.
In this regard, whether it’s the Prime Minister or Gafura’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, diplomats have finally experienced the helplessness that diplomats from other countries have felt before.
Faced with the Prime Minister’s "complaint," Lynch neither denied nor admitted, as either would make him appear like a clown.
The Prime Minister quickly composed himself, apologized to Lynch for his emotional outburst, and casually asked, "Since you succeeded, you must be planning to withdraw. When do you intend to leave?"
"In three days..."
The Prime Minister nodded slightly, remembering the date, "I’ll arrange for someone to see you off then, hoping you won’t return."
"Every time you come, you bring us a lot of trouble!"
Actually, until this moment, the Prime Minister can’t be sure if this matter was indeed Lynch’s doing, or that of the Federation.
It’s hard to make this judgment.
Lynch then left the Prime Minister’s residence, and less than an hour after his departure, the Emperor was declared dead due to unsuccessful resuscitation efforts following severe injuries.
An Emperor who dominated Gafura for nearly thirty years, an Emperor who ignited and launched the war that sparked the world war, an Emperor who won in World War I, just fell to the hands of a bullet.
The Emperor’s death cast a shadow over the Imperial Capital and all of Gafura, despite the sunny weather, people could only see heavy clouds.
Subsequently, the Prime Minister confirmed this and proposed that the succession of the Imperial throne would be completed once the Eldest Prince was released from prison, and upon completing his sentence, he would automatically become this nation’s Emperor.
But until then, the country’s power would temporarily be held by the Prime Minister and the ministers, pushing the country’s institutional reforms forward.
This assassination of the Emperor made the Prime Minister increasingly aware of the defects of the monarchy or a solo ruler system.
In contrast, in the Federation, when the President dies, the Vice President immediately steps in, if the Vice President dies, then the others follow according to the Cabinet seating position.
With the dual system of Congress and Government, even if several top-level leaders were to die, it wouldn’t significantly impact the nation.
Gafura needs this too!
Later, the Prime Minister dismissed the head of Gafura’s police headquarters and sent him to prison on charges such as "negligence of duty."
As for when he might be released... probably no hope in this lifetime.
The Prime Minister directly took over the duties of the head of headquarters, initiating a search across the entire Imperial Capital.
At around seven in the evening, it was at the peak of the search.
"Someone fired again..."
In the dining room, Lynch was enjoying his dinner, the young Count was somewhat worried about the gunshots outside, as was his mother.
The "noble police" specifically assigned to deal with the nobility had just visited here. The officers in this force had some connections with the nobility, albeit not very close.
Thus, they could pose a threat to the nobility in terms of identity and political status.
Moreover, with the special order abolishing privileged rights for nobility taking effect, the halo of nobility had been stripped away.
The police did not commit any offenses; they simply searched the house inside and out thoroughly.
There was nothing offensive, and they left very respectfully.
Although the privileges of the nobility were abolished, people’s attitudes toward them did not instantly change.
The sporadic gunfire in the city persisted throughout the night, and those who left their homes early the next morning would never forget the snow stained red with blood everywhere.
It’s said those were left by arrested criminals; the Prime Minister granted the police considerable power, allowing them to directly kill any suspicious individuals.
Actually, he knew that this approach wouldn’t help find the assassin.
If it could, the head of headquarters would have already found them.
His purpose for doing this was to maintain the stability of the Imperial Capital.
Only if the Imperial Capital isn’t chaotic, Gafura won’t be chaotic!
Therefore, some people are destined to be sacrificed!
