"I heard that the finance minister has been very distressed recently. Many people have gone to his place to demonstrate?"
In the office, the prime minister's sudden question stunned the assistant who was packing up the documents for a moment.
In the past, the prime minister didn't care much (he rarely appeared in the previous paragraph). Most of the time, he just read the newspaper, drank coffee or flower tea, and when necessary, represented the emperor in some work carried out in the field.
He would sit or stand at the scene, and then read the speech entrusted to him by the emperor.
This was also the origin of his nickname, "Mascot." He almost never expressed his own thoughts. Most of the time, he was just a decoration, a symbol.
Now that he suddenly asked this question, the assistant was a little unaccustomed, but he quickly reacted. "Yes, I heard that someone even smashed the windows of the finance minister's house with a stone."
"That's terrible!"
The prime minister's face showed a kind of … anger?
The assistant wasn't sure if what he saw was anger because he vaguely saw a smile when he lowered his head. Soon, when he took a closer look, it was gone. He didn't know if it was his imagination.
The prime minister frowned slightly and pondered for a moment. "Demonstrations and demonstrations are normal, but there shouldn't be such violent behavior. Inform the police station to disperse the crowd and tell them the reason."
The assistant's answer was a little late by a few seconds. His thinking clearly couldn't keep up with the prime minister's thoughts. He needed to think seriously for a few seconds to discover some hidden problems.
When he figured it out, he suddenly felt a little hot. "If we do this … will it anger the demonstrators?"
His voice was very soft and low. What he wanted to express was not his resistance to this order, but a supplement.
The prime minister raised his head and glanced at him. "Don't tell me you think that letting these irrational demonstrations go is the right choice?"
"If they can throw stones inside today, they might shoot inside tomorrow. Do as I say."
His voice wasn't loud, but it brought a lot of pressure. The assistant knew that he had made a mistake, so he immediately agreed and trotted out of the door.
The prime minister looked at the slowly closing door and shook his head. The silence over the years had not only changed him, but even the sensitivity of his assistant had become so low.
What he wanted to do was to anger the demonstrators. Otherwise, how would the next big show start?
A few minutes later, the Imperial Capital Police Chief received a call.
"Hello, I am … The Prime Minister is very concerned about what happened yesterday."
"The demonstration of the citizens of the Imperium should be a way to express their opinions, not a way to promote violence. I hope that you can disperse the crowd as soon as possible and bring a stable order to the capital."
The police chief who was holding the phone didn't have much of an expression. It was all nonsense, but out of politeness, he still dealt with it a little. "It's not that we don't want to do it, it's just that there are too many people and it's easy to cause a riot."
"We've already sent the police to stand guard. Nothing like this will happen again."
The person on the other end of the phone was not satisfied with his answer. "You don't have to explain what you've done. What you have to do is to disperse those people. They have already broken away from the definition of a demonstration under the Empire's laws. They are evolving into a violent group."
"For the safety of the ministers, you should take on the responsibility of the police chief. This is not a discussion, this is an order."
"Or are you unwilling to carry it out?"
The Prime Minister's attitude was unprecedentedly tough. This also made the police chief feel that something was wrong. Everyone knew that the Prime Minister was now just a decoration.
Almost all national policies and political discussions and decisions were directly discussed and decided by His Majesty the Emperor and the ministers. Most of the time, the Prime Minister was equivalent to listening from the sidelines. Occasionally, he would express his own opinions, but there were not many who adopted them.
Now that the Prime Minister's residence was suddenly so tough and aggressive, the police chief realized that a storm was coming.
He quivered. A small figure like him had no ability to resist at all in a struggle of this level. He immediately said in a low voice, "I think I know what to do. I will disperse the crowd outside the Prime Minister's residence as soon as possible to ensure the safety of the Imperial ministers' lives and property."
Three minutes later, orders were issued from the Imperial Capital Police Department, including the Second Police Department, who also received a request for cooperation.
The Guevra Empire had a total of nine police departments. The First Police Department was responsible for the daily work of the police.
The Second Police Department was the armed police. Their job was to suppress riots. After all, this was not a free country. Sometimes, some unruly people would cause trouble.
The Seventh Police Department was part of the secret police. They were responsible for arresting criminals in the country who could threaten national security.
The other police departments also had their own duties. To a certain extent, they replaced the position of the army in the Empire.
During the war before this, there was even a call from society. Instead of letting the army go out and embarrass themselves, it was better to send the police out as soldiers.
Of course, this argument did not receive the support of the police. They did not want to throw their lives away. However, this also reflected that in the Guevra Empire, the police were still a very powerful department, even surpassing the army.
The First and Second Police Departments quickly responded. They sent some armored vehicles and armed police to the scene of the incident to deal with the matter.
At the same time, the Prime Minister of Finance was not sitting in his home in fear as the outside world imagined.
Although he did not go anywhere at home, there was no such expression on his face. Other than the anger of those people who were not slow to react, there was no panic.
He did not believe that the people would storm his residence. Storming the private residence of a noble was a serious crime in the Empire. It was the kind that could lead to life imprisonment.
If serious consequences were caused, it was possible to directly enjoy the punishment that only nobles could enjoy – hanging.
Moreover, it was to be hanged in the Empire Square in front of many people. Although this treatment seemed to be a kind of glory for some people, it did not mean that people were willing to be hanged in front of people.
Many years ago, there was a saying among some bandit gangs that "Even if you die, you will be hanged" to express your ambition for the future of your profession.
Not only did the Prime Minister of Finance not care about the people at the door, he even arranged for some people to think of ways to take the next step. He was now in a race against time. He would do anything to fight for time, whether it was cheap or not.
He wanted to portray himself as a victim and gain sympathy. It would be better if he could get hurt. Of course, now was not the right time for him to show up.
It was like someone punching you in the face and immediately apologizing. In anger, you would never forgive this person. You must hit back.
But if this person ran away after hitting you, and after three to five days, another person came to persuade you to let it go. This person then stood up and took the initiative to apologize. In fact, you would feel that it was not a big deal. In addition to showing your generosity, you might even chat with the other party.
Now, the people's money had just been cheated because of the mistakes caused by the finance department's staff. These people were angry. Even if the Prime Minister of Finance knelt down at this time and begged for their forgiveness and returned their money, they would not listen and would even scold him.
But wait, wait for these people's emotions to pass, then cooperate with the results of the investigation. In addition, he appeared to be wronged or even injured and asked for the people's forgiveness. The people were very likely to forgive him.
Of course, he would also come up with a corresponding way to deal with the remaining money that had not been transferred away in time, as well as a plan to deal with the others.
Therefore, the most important thing now was not to show anything. That would only make things worse.
As long as he could buy some time and gain the support of some people, he would have more time to solve some problems.
He would clean up from the inside, throw out some people, and then the matter would be solved.
He had already arranged for people to talk to some listed companies with heavy shares, hoping that these people could cooperate with him and pull up the index.
As for the operation, it was very simple. He would frequently change hands to maximize the factor, then pull up the share price of these heavy shares, stop the decline of the financial index, and then pull it up again.
This was beneficial and harmless to those listed companies. When the company's share price increased, the value of their shareholders would increase, including the wealth of the aristocrats behind them.
Once this matter was dealt with, he would find a few unimportant subordinates and throw them out as scapegoats. He would also accept the interference of some external forces, such as the Emperor placing his own trusted subordinates among them, in order to try and solve the difficult situation first.
He had plenty of ways to turn the situation around bit by bit.
He had thought about the whole plan all day. He thought that there was no problem with the plan. He just needed to wait quietly for the results.
But at this time, the noise from outside the window made him frown. He heard orderly footsteps. This kind of sound could not appear from ordinary people. Other forces had intervened.
He immediately stood up and walked to the window. Then, he saw armed police …
The police were holding a weapon similar to a long-pole hammer in their hands, but the hammer head was metal. Now, their hammer head was metal covered with a layer of rubber.
It was very painful to hit a person, but it was unlikely to cause irreparable results. For example, it would smash a person's head. It would only make the person faint.
The orderly police phalanx pressed forward step by step. The patrol car behind them began to broadcast, asking people to disperse immediately and leave here. Otherwise, these people would be held accountable by the law.
The finance minister looked at these people, stunned. He never thought that the police would meddle in other people's business when he, the "victim", did not call the police.
He turned his head abruptly and returned to the table with a murderous expression. He picked up the phone and dialed the police chief's number, but unfortunately, no one answered.
If he could look in front of the window for a while, he would find the police chief in the phalanx …