The Fox of France

The Ministry of Truth's efficiency is not particularly high, especially when it comes to handling issues they have monopolized, which the Ministry of Public Security cannot intervene in. Like all bureaucratic structures, they always delay. If it can be completed in the afternoon, it will not be done in the morning; if it can be postponed to tomorrow, it won't be handled today.

As for propaganda against the United States, it was originally something that the Ministry of Public Security could not intervene in. Thus, although the principles had been set by Lucien, the work was still far from truly beginning in full swing until one day, Lucien received a report.

This was a highly confidential report, one that in all of France, apart from Lucien, only a few were qualified to see. Not even Napoleon or Joseph could view this report, nor were they even aware of its existence. It is said that in all of France, only two such highly confidential reports existed—one within the Ministry of Truth and the other within the Ministry of Public Security.

The title of the Ministry of Truth’s report was "Research and Judgment on Recent Actions of the Ministry of Public Security". It was believed that the corresponding report by the Ministry of Public Security was likely titled "Research and Judgment on Recent Actions of the Ministry of Truth". Typically, the hostility between departments with overlapping functions is always very severe, even surpassing all other enemies. This is similar to the feuds between navy and army fools or between different intelligence agencies.

"Peterson, make a call and get Gauthier, Victor, and Beclère here immediately. Tell them to drop whatever they're doing and come here now, right now, as fast as lightning!"

Although Lucien demanded these men to come immediately, it still took some time on the road. Moreover, it was now peak time for leaving work, as Lucien was accustomed to starting his work in the afternoon or even in the evening. Thus, it took about an hour for them to arrive at Lucien's office. However, this delay also gave Lucien some time to control his emotions.

"Take a look at this." Once everyone was seated, Lucien pulled out a piece of paper from a folder for everyone to see.

After everyone had passed the paper around and read it, Lucien put it back into the document bag and asked, "What are your thoughts?"

Beclère, responsible for North American intelligence, immediately said, "They are stealing our job! According to the division of labor, cultural matters are our responsibility, their meddling will disrupt our plans."

"They will definitely claim they also have authority over religious matters. They will certainly say that," said Gauthier.

"The guys from the Ministry of Public Security really have no shame. As long as they can be shameless, they definitely will be," Victor commented. "I've never seen such brazen people."

They all together cursed the Ministry of Public Security as bastards, and Fouché as a shameless chameleon.

Lucien sat on the side, watching everyone vehemently cursing the Ministry of Public Security. After they had vented for a while, he finally spoke up, "You can curse from this afternoon until dawn tomorrow, but will that kill Fouché?"

Everyone then fell silent.

"Alright, now let's discuss our strategy," Lucien said.

The paper they had just reviewed indicated that their people had noticed that the Ministry of Public Security had sent a large number of spies to North America through means such as priest training. They might have even learned about the Ministry of Truth's next moves—which was not surprising, as just as the Ministry of Truth considered the Ministry of Public Security their primary enemy, the Ministry of Public Security regarded them in the same way. It was said that if someone in the Ministry of Truth could obtain secret documents from the desk drawer of the British Prime Minister, they would definitely earn Lucien's praise; but if someone could get documents from Fouché's drawer, they would become Lucien’s most trusted confidant. The same was true for Fouché's side.

After a moment of thought, Victor spoke, "The Ministry of Public Security has already started to move. Our plans are an open secret; we can't hide them from Minister Fouché—that old fox is just too cunning. So, Your Excellency, I think we should take a dual approach.

"On one hand, Your Excellency should go to the First Consul to discuss our plans thoroughly and seek further support; on the other hand, we need to accelerate our actions. The First Consul is always impatient, and even if we gain his support, when he asks Minister Fouché to scale back his scheming, will Fouché listen? He might agree outwardly, but he won't really stop trying to outdo us or set traps. Just as if the First Consul asked us not to trouble the Ministry of Public Security or sabotage them, we would only agree on the

surface while continuing our activities, albeit more covertly. But being covert naturally reduces efficiency. We speed up a bit, they slow down a bit, and thus, the main share of the cake remains ours. Mr. Minister, now, I think this is the only way forward."

Lucien nodded in agreement. During the previous discussion, he had already come to the conclusion that they had to proceed on both fronts. He then told the others, "I'm going now to see Napoleon; you get moving on this and don't dawdle any longer, do it quickly, the faster the better!"

So, Lucien immediately went to the government, complaining to Napoleon about Fouché's infringement. Napoleon, however, was unimpressed and remarked, "Lucien, you fool! You have far more resources at your disposal than Fouché, and yet you can't manage on your own and come running to me? Aren't you ashamed?"

Despite saying this, Napoleon still sent someone to remind Fouché, "Don't mess everything up."

Napoleon's message was clear: competing for credit was acceptable, but undermining each other was not.

With the "threat" from the Ministry of Public Security, the operational efficiency of the Ministry of Truth immediately improved. After all, if the credit for this operation was stolen by those bastards at the Ministry of Public Security, then everyone could forget about their performance evaluations. Thus, the entire Ministry of Truth, either genuinely or ostensibly, rallied around Lucien with the highest efficiency to initiate a sweeping critique in the United States, aimed at uprooting the reactionary thoughts of the notorious British pirate culture.

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