On the northwestern border of Genoa with the province of Javia, there is a low mountain range and jungle running north-south.

Known on the map as the Lubek Forest area, it is part of the southern extension of the Orte Mountains.

It's a four-day horse-drawn carriage ride from Rhônburg, which straddles two provinces and is closed to traffic, making it difficult for the regime to penetrate deeply.

Since ancient times, many bandits and fugitives have been active in this area, and those smugglers have often mixed there, which has also become a local tradition.

Because it's hard to tell the difference between the common people and the villains, the locals are busy farming, and when they're not farming, they put down their hoes and do things that are not officially allowed.

Hernandez is the leader of one of the largest smuggling rings.

He regarded smuggling as a business, with a specialized intelligence organization, escort arms, and sales network, as if he were a large trading company.

His smuggling list included tobacco, salt, sugar, liquor, and even arms, all of which were monopolized by the state, making him a thorn in the side of the government and tax-inclusive companies.

Hernandez was never carried away by huge profits, and he earned a good reputation for being generous to his men, generous and friendly to the local people, and often helping the local people.

As a result, Hernandez's smuggling gang became Lubek's underground government, and was even able to preside over civil lawsuits.

Such a character has nothing to do with Sean, and he is a character in the blacklist of the tax company.

Cohen, the head of the Genoa Tax Company, offered a reward of up to 100,000 gold louis for Hernandez's head, and repeatedly sent brigades of tax police to arrest him, but each time he lost his troops and made him disgraced.

Now Hernandez is in trouble with Sean, because according to information from the True God priest who is a missionary in the area, Hernandez has taken in several suspicious people - one of whom is highly suspected to be the Magi himself.

This is also very likely, because the sea route is cut off, and the northern part of Genoa, whether it is the secret police or the garrison, has laid many checkpoints, and only the western side of the detour is the safest.

What is not known to outsiders is that Hernandez was also one of the disciples of the Magi and financed the Sage's cause.

It just so happened that the Pope of the True God Church knew.

To this end, Roland Hill was ordered by Sean to take his elite forces and go to the Lubek area. Despite the precise maps drawn by insiders, it is extremely risky to penetrate into an area where the target person has a deep base of people.

Roland Hill's 10-man squad, disguised as smugglers, was spotted by Hernandez's eyes as soon as they entered the Lubek Forest, and the two sides launched several ambush and counter-ambush battles, which ended with Roland Hill's voluntary retreat.

Still, Roland Hill has paid a great price for the smugglers.

Because Roland Hill used a new rifle that was still in top secret, it represented an overwhelming technological innovation, with revolutionary innovation and progress in range, accuracy, firepower, rapid fire, portability, and use in harsh climates.

Roland Hill took advantage of a heavy rain and 10 men killed 100 of Hernandez's henchmen, and the opponent's flintlock pistol was completely dumb in the heavy rain. If Hernandez hadn't been more familiar with the terrain and geography here, he would probably have confessed in this firefight.

The secret police, in all the conflicts, were in an extremely awkward position. Daley watched from the sidelines, carefully scrutinizing the details after each conflict, but that didn't stop him from reaping the rewards.

So soon someone sent him a bullet casing found from the scene.

Unlike the previous paper-mounted buckshots, such as the bass bullets that are widely used in the army and a wide variety of imitations (the bass boss has fought countless patent lawsuits for this), this is a copper cylindrical bullet with a special device in the middle of the tail of the cartridge case, which is of course much more expensive than the paper-mounted buckshot.

Daley guessed that this was the confidence of Sean's secret weapons to dare to go deep into the jungle.

Bullets weren't his focus, not even the secret armament.

He has a tacit understanding with Sean, and all the bloodthirsty and traitors who have been killed or arrested have become proof of his request for credit from his superiors, and Sean will not make these public anyway.

As the head of the Genoese secret police, he became more aware of the current internal situation in the empire, and the more he knew, the more pessimistic he became about the future.

Relatively speaking, the director of Genoa Daly lived a relatively happy life, because as long as the people lived well, they would not challenge the authority of the government.

Inside, he didn't want to be like his northern colleagues.

......

Audrey has returned south.

If it weren't, she would have been embarrassed to see Percy Robinson.

Percy had a short beard, and he was a little richer than the last time they had met, and it was now difficult for even those who knew him best to recognize him when they met him.

"I'm married. The first thing he said when they met surprised Sean.

Percy smiled, "I feel guilty about an ordinary woman who counts every day to take one shilling as two flowers, and she doesn't even know my real name. ”

"Well, I bless you. Sean shrugged.

Apparently Percy himself was satisfied, and maybe that was the life he wanted. His intelligence network is already showing its strength, but the main focus is on the Holy City.

"Something called revolution is quietly growing, and it only needs an opportunity when it will destroy everything, even itself. Posey is also pessimistic about the future of this world, which does not prevent him from having high hopes for Sean, "So, we have to be prepared so as not to be caught off guard." ”

"I feel it too, and that's exactly why I'm calling you back. "Posey, you know, my old dream was to be a rich man, and Vichy is my paradise. But it's not okay to still have that kind of idea. How much power there is, how great is the responsibility. You can think of it as an ambition, and in essence, I'm no different from Bieber-Lincoln, but if you put people like Bieber and the Magi in power, we're all going to be doomed. But I have to admit that I was a little hasty enough to take the sage out of my wrath, which was not a wise move and cost me a lot. ”

"So ......"

"So, why can't I have that authority?" said Sean, "at least I have the power to protect myself in the future." ”

"In Genoa, you have to establish your authority and absolute influence, and in the Holy City you have to make yourself a good nobleman who is loyal and patriotic, and very open-minded, and you want to make a group of people your potential allies. "Posey Road.

"That's right. But such allies may not be reliable, Posey, remember my advice, and in times of truth, only on your own. Sean said, "What I need you to do now is to spread out your intelligence network in an all-round way, and I can no longer rely on the Pope to provide me with information, he actually wants to use my hand to get rid of the sage." ”

"But I need time and a lot of money. ”

"Of course, there will be no shortage of money. "But God is fair, and He gives everyone the same amount of time, so time can only be snatched because time is running out." ”

Percy agreed.

At this manor not far from Fort Partnham, Sean discussed many details with Posey, who never took the initiative to mention Audrey.

After Posey leaves, Sean finally makes a public appearance and returns south to Poitou.

In the more than a month since Sean disappeared, all kinds of rumors against him have been flying all over the sky.

Despite the hard work of his henchmen Pierre and Feige, Sean's career has come to a standstill, and there are always unexpected situations.

This made Sean once again revisit a truth, capital and interests always love empathy.

But with Sean's appearance, all kinds of rumors immediately disappeared without a trace.

Sean's first stop was Kang's Shipbuilding Company, and his arrival immediately restored the confidence of the panicked company employees and workers, and various measures to resume production were immediately implemented.

Sean personally presided over a new round of bidding for the shipyard, and he targeted the elimination of suppliers who hindered the resumption of work on the grounds of demanding payment during the period of his absence, and at the same time he established a more standardized production process and higher quality standards to strive to complete the Navy's orders faster and with higher quality, because this is the most urgent matter at the moment.

The most exciting news of this was that the Bass, the Count of Koval and the Siyes showed excellent combat effectiveness.

In terms of firepower, they can't compare with those giant sail warships, but in the battle with the fish demon, they are the most suitable, their own survivability is extremely strong, as long as they bring enough fuel, the fish demon can't do anything with these iron guys.

Therefore, the Navy placed another order, bringing the total number of orders to 30 ships, and asked if Kang's Shipbuilding Company could build larger tonnage warships.

Even the ambassador of the Xia Kingdom personally came to Poitu to visit the shipyard and was interested in importing such warships, of course, they wanted to imitate them. The Xia people can only think about it for the time being, even if Carlos II agrees to export this ironclad ship, the order can only be scheduled until the end of next year.

And Kang's northern counterparts of Shipbuilding want to replicate the success of ironclad ships, and it will take at least two more years.

Many people asked to see Sean, but Sean refused to meet on the grounds that he was busy with work.

In fact, he was busy for a month, and it was not until the beginning of September 1833 that he had time to look back at his work.

Siyes was the first person Sean met besides his own employees and the Governor and Mayor of Poitou.

Siyes was embarrassed because he had been convinced of Sean's "death" and had secretly contacted the Koval family in an attempt to gain access to Sean's estate.

The future of these new industries is coveted by all, unless he is blind.

But out of the shrewdness and prudence of the merchants, Siyes retreated, especially when he saw news of raids on bloodthirsty and traitors.

It was precisely because of this embarrassment that Siyes and the consortium he represented encouraged the Governor's Palace to prepare for the construction of three railways with a total length of about 1,000 kilometers, and to provide a long-term and huge low-interest loan to the Kang Railway Company, which was seen as a gesture of favor to Sean.

Sean laughed at the suggestion.

In fact, he could not have made a public break with a figure like Siyes, and he took it when he saw it, and resumed drinking and talking.