The brilliance in Verus Butler's eyes flickered for a moment, then disappeared immediately, becoming just like the other big guys at the scene, looking as though the matter had nothing to do with him.
As the director of the Imperial Security Bureau, he knows more about intelligence than all the big guys present. Although he did not dare to order his subordinates to privately investigate these top officials of the empire, other tasks would inevitably involve the secrets of some of the big guys at the scene.
Whenever encountering such a situation, Varus Butler would consciously eliminate any information involving the big guys that was irrelevant to the mission, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.
Varus Butler is low-key, cautious, and thoughtful. He has made no major mistakes or achievements as the director of the Imperial Security Bureau for many years. He seems a bit mediocre, but he can be regarded as a qualified director of the Imperial Security Bureau.
In fact, it's not that he doesn't want to be high-profile, and he doesn't want to make all the changes with the Imperial Security Bureau he controls, but the actual conditions of the Kabasi Empire do not allow him to do that.
The Kabasi Empire Security Bureau is theoretically directly responsible to the emperor, and it has been this way throughout the long history of the Kabasi Empire. However, since the current emperor Louis XIII came to the throne, Louis XIII personally ordered that the Imperial Security Bureau has become dual-responsible to the emperor and the imperial prime minister. In other words, if anything happens to the imperial security chief, he must report to both His Majesty the Emperor reported and asked for instructions from the Prime Minister of the Empire. At the same time, this method is kept confidential and is not allowed to be spread to the outside world. There is no corresponding clear legal document to fix it. Everything operates in a black box manner. This brought up a serious problem. No one made it clear whether matters should be handled according to the wishes of the emperor or the prime minister of the empire. Neither the two direct superiors of the Imperial Security Bureau, the Imperial Emperor or the Imperial Prime Minister, gave an answer.
Yet history has given the Imperial Security Bureau results. Because after Louis XIII came to the throne, Duke Pat has been serving as prime minister, and at the same time formed a steel-like alliance with Earl Donald. The political and military affairs of the entire empire are firmly controlled by the Pat-Donald faction. If the Imperial Security Bureau wants to carry out any mission, it naturally cannot escape and requires the cooperation of other departments of the empire. To put it bluntly, it needs the support of Pat Donald's group. As time goes by, the Empire's Security Chief has slowly become a pawn of the Empire's Prime Minister. He must first take the advice of the Empire's Prime Minister on everything.
Those directors of the Imperial Security Bureau who did not act in accordance with this principle were punished, either removed from their posts, investigated, or secretly imprisoned.
On the surface, they must listen to the emperor, but in fact, they must listen to the opinions of the imperial prime minister. The Imperial Security Bureau is caught in the middle and is in a dilemma. Naturally, its director must be careful every day, otherwise a disaster may happen that day.
Varus Butler has been able to sit firmly as the director of the Imperial Security Bureau for a thousand or two thousand years, and his grasp of all kinds of proportions has long been perfect!
However, since the retirement of Duke Pat and Earl Donald, the situation has undergone some changes. When Verus Butler usually started working, he did not report to Chamberlain, the trusted prime minister, but asked Duke Pat for instructions. Regarding this relevant knowledge No one raised any objections.
But the cautious and sensitive Varus Butler clearly felt that something was wrong in the atmosphere. First Pat and Donald were a little impatient. His Majesty the Emperor of the Second Reich deliberately did not mention Pat and Donald, the three princes of the Third Reich. He jumped up and down to make friends with high-ranking officials and dignitaries. The fourth trusted Prime Minister Chamberlain to rule by doing nothing. The fifth Madison family secretly purchased materials for building warships.
These strange behaviors of the empire's top officials made Varus Butler tremble with fear, fearing that he would accidentally be involved in some conspiracy vortex.
However, Varus Butler also realized that it was time for major changes in the empire's top management. The two most powerful officials in the empire, Duke Pat and Earl Donald, have retired. Emperor Louis XIII is too old. Various high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the empire are secretly placing bets in various ways in order to benefit from the great changes in the empire in the future.
It was also under this delicate situation that Varus Butler began to communicate with the Seventh Prince, and revealed to the Seventh Prince the last 'shadow operation' led by Pat and Donald against the Fulo Federation.
Seeing Madison's performance in front of him, Varus Butler could tell at a glance his true purpose, which was to establish his prestige among the Pat Donald faction. Moreover, Varus Butler also learned from the reports of some of his subordinates, I've heard about Madison's dissatisfaction with Pat and Donald.
Madison has always wanted one of his own to serve as the commander of a fleet of the Imperial Guards, but Pat and Donald rejected them all. The reason was that Madison should be in charge of the White Tiger Theater where he oversees the division, and the capital area of Trantor. He shouldn't worry about military affairs.
The ten largest Imperial Guard fleets affiliated with the capital area of the Empire's Trantor Star have fierce combat capabilities and a long history. They are one of the core armed forces of the empire and are mainly responsible for the security of the capital area. They have overwhelming power over fleets in other theaters of the empire. Strength advantage. m.
In order to maintain the combat effectiveness of the ten Guards Fleets, the Empire has them stationed in rotation in the Tyrannosaurus Galaxy, the forefront of the conflict between the Empire and the Fulo Federation. Therefore, the Empire's Ten Guards Fleets are not like the Central Forbidden Forces of other dynasties. They can only They were doing some ceremonial tasks, their combat power was scumbag, but they were actually an elite fleet among the elite.
Not only did Madison pay attention to the ten fleets of the imperial guard, but other military leaders of the empire were also covetous. For example, Alex Levien, the commander-in-chief of the Suzaku Theater who also belonged to the Pat Donald faction, once wanted to The request for a commander of the Guards Fleet was also decisively rejected by Pat and Donald.
In short, the ten fleets of the empire are the heart and soul of Pat and Donald. They must have them in their own hands to feel at ease.
However, after Pat and Donald retired, one of the ten Guards Fleets of the Empire was still snatched away, and that was the 8th Guards Fleet.
With the strong support of Emperor Louis XIII, the commander of the 8th Imperial Guard Fleet was awarded to Liu Qi, an imperial soldier of Panhua origin under Kemal.
While this incident made the Pat Donald faction angry, it also aroused their vigilance. The strength of the Kemal faction, supported by Emperor Louis XIII, increased so fast that they actually reached out to the ten fleets of the imperial guard. . Afterwards, they retaliated wildly against the Kemal faction and removed the captain positions of 18 planets, but it was not enough to make up for the loss of a guard fleet.
This incident also made Madison jealous. As the Minister of Defense of the Imperial Ministry of Defense, he was on the same level as Kemal's Chief of Staff. Kemal was not only the leader of the faction, but also seized the Imperial Guards Fleet that he had always wanted. one of them.
According to various signs, Verus Butler guessed that Duke Madison had plans to break away from Pat Donald's faction. Varus Butler did not truthfully report the information he had to Pat and Donald. Because Varus Butler understands Duke Madison's psychology, doesn't he himself pave the way for a retreat in the current tumultuous situation?
Sure enough, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs did not speak out in the end. They were waiting for Madison to express his views and then follow up.
By this time, all the members of the Pat Donald faction had expressed their opinions, and the only ones left were the Kemal faction and the three princes.
The three princes and their highnesses were ordered not to offend either of the two factions. If the three of them want to inherit the throne of the emperor, they naturally need to work hard to gain the support of the two major factions. It is normal to have such an idea.
Pat Donald's own group could all express their opinions, so the three princes' subordinates naturally shrank back and kept silent, waiting for the development of the matter.
"The imperial army has entered the first level of combat readiness. Isn't it too hasty? Isn't it just some people's demonstrations? Just let the imperial police handle it. At the worst, let the garrison fleets on each planet assist! Those parade teams, there is nothing Heavy equipment cannot harm the foundation of the empire. If we deal with these ordinary people, we will activate the imperial army's first-level combat readiness. It seems that our empire is afraid of these parades, and it may even encourage those who participated in the parade. In the future, they Demonstrations are always going on. Do our imperial armies have to activate the first level of combat readiness every time? The military's activation of the first level of combat readiness is not as simple as talking about it. Every time it is activated, warships take off, fighter planes take off, and interstellar airborne troops from all planets across the country Assembling on standby, this all costs money. It can be said that in the first-level combat readiness state, military expenditures are burning crazily every moment! I would like to ask all the adults who are doing this, where do these military expenditures come from? This year’s imperial army’s The military expenditure gap has reached 36%, and until now the Imperial Ministry of Finance has not given our Imperial Staff a solid solution. If the army's first-level combat readiness is frequently activated, it will only make the gap in military uniforms even bigger!"
Greenpan, the deputy chief of staff of the Imperial Staff, who is in charge of the financial budget and appropriation of the imperial army, raised a very real problem. The imperial army has no money.
Finance Minister Sumner jumped out quickly and said: "Your Excellency Greenpan, our Ministry of Finance has long organized manpower to study solutions to solve the financial gap for the army. However, the empire is now in a serious economic crisis, and there is a shortage of money everywhere. The Ministry of Finance must It always takes some time to solve your difficulties!"
He did not want to be unable to activate the first level combat readiness of the Imperial Army due to insufficient military expenditures, thereby affecting the stability of the Empire and becoming a scapegoat for handling the Panhua National Parade issue. Now he showed Greenpan that the Ministry of Finance was working hard to solve the military's financial gap. The problem is that the army cannot shirk not activating the first level combat readiness of the imperial army for this reason.
Sumner had no confidence at all whether the financial gap of the imperial army could be solved in the end, but this did not prevent him from getting over the current problem.
Greenpan is Kemal's right-hand man, and his attitude is actually Kemal's attitude!
Some people died, but not completely...
