It is not difficult for Frank to understand why the strong-natured John Lauer would take such a desperate path, and only hate himself for not being able to perceive the other party's intentions earlier. At this moment, he no longer cares about the success or failure of John Lauer's life, he doesn't care about the trouble this red-haired man has brought to him, he just regrets the loss of a close friend from the bottom of his heart.

The old abbot crept up to Frank, said a few polite words of conformity, and finally pointed to the sheets and made explicit hints to him.

"Your Highness, Mr. John's deathbed drawing a picture with his own blood on the sheets seems to have some purpose......"

Frank wiped the corners of his eyes, picked up John Lauer's body in both hands, and transferred it to the desk next to him. Looking back at the bed sheet again, without the cover of the corpse, the blood-stained image was clearly presented in front of his eyes, and the scarlet sword-shaped object cut a string of equally scarlet chain-like devices into two pieces, what did this mean?

A strange thought flashed through Frank's mind.

"It's ...... Far Eastern flag?! ”

"As His Highness can see, before his death, Mr. John painted a picture of the flag of the Far East with his own blood, and left a last word, asking that the sheets painted with the flag be wrapped around him and buried, and only a true patriot would leave such a wish." The abbot smiled strangely, "It's a pity that Mr. John loves not the Assanian Empire, which gave him great fame, nor his birthplace, Fizhen, but the illegal secessionist regime established by the rebels in the Far East. ”

"What do you mean by that?!" Frank couldn't take it anymore and turned to glared at the abbot, "Are you trying to slander John as a spy sent by the Far Easterners?" ”

"Your Highness, don't be angry, for we might as well imagine that if Mr. John was really a spy sent from the Far East, then what he did would be even more meaningful. For example, the catastrophe caused by his indiscriminate issuance of imperial gold money is likely to be a pre-designed conspiracy of the rebels in the Far East, and Mr. John played a key role in penetrating the upper echelons of the empire and carrying out this conspiracy, which eventually caused the empire's economy to suffer heavy losses, and the people's wealth was looted, and the resentment was overwhelming...... And all the tragedies that happened in the Reich were not exactly the scenes that the rebels in the Far East were happy to see? ”

"What nonsense are you talking about! No one will believe such far-fetched nonsense, and I will not allow you to tarnish John's reputation with conspiracy theories! Frank scolded.

The old abbot shrugged his shoulders and said with a face full of grievances: "In fact, this is not my conjecture alone, have you seen the group of tabloid reporters outside the door, Your Highness?" They all share the same opinion, and I am sure they will publish this speculation in the newspapers in a sensationalist style. After today, the same conspiracy theories will prevail in the holy city of Assan, and indeed throughout the empire, as for Mr. John's reputation...... It's a pity that even without that blood-stained Far Eastern flag, he would have no reputation to speak of. ”

Frank suddenly remembered John Lauer's last letter to himself, in which he had "nothing to lose", perhaps including the reputation he valued most during his lifetime, and it was sad to look back on it.

"No matter what you say, I can't tolerate John carrying this ridiculous stigma behind him!" Frank turned and walked out the door and said coldly, "I'd like to warn those pen-wiggling fellows that if they haven't lived to the point of impatience, they'd better not let their imaginations run wild about John's death!" ”

"You can't do that!" The abbot suddenly raised his hand to stop Frank, his face was extremely solemn, "Your Highness, that group of tabloid reporters were all invited by Mr. John before he died, and what I said just now was also explained by Mr. John, if you really care about this friendship, then please accept Mr. John's arrangement, and don't let him die with regrets." ”

Frank was dumbfounded. Could it be that all this is directed and acted by John Lauer himself?

It sounded strange at first, but the old abbot's sincere look showed that he was not lying. If you think about it, it really looks like John Lauer was the work of that madman, not to mention that he had already hinted at it in his last letter.

Frank now does not suspect that John Lauer directed and acted in the "Far East espionage case", but he is puzzled why John Lauer has such a strong grudge against Roland that he will risk his life and reputation to direct the anger of the imperial government and opposition to the Far East.

It's not hard for Frank to imagine the consequences of this "spy scandal" getting spread. Although the whole thing is absurd, the details are unbearable, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is a deliberate frame-up, but this conspiracy theory is undoubtedly very much in line with the public's appetite, and it is also in line with the hearts of the military radicals.

The financial crisis has discredited the reformers of the empire, the collapse of the Mueller cabinet is imminent, and the conservative forces have seized the opportunity to incite public opinion.

Since reform doesn't work, the only option left is to start the war machine. At the right time, the "spy scandal" triggered by John Lauer's suicide will provide a pretext for the new cabinet to take revenge on the defective parties in the Far East, and thus win public support. Under the influence of such a frenzied atmosphere in which almost the whole people wanted to fight, no matter how unwise and unreasonable the military action against the Far East was, it was as if it were ready to be launched.

Thinking like this, Frank felt a deep sense of powerlessness in his heart.

……

After the bubble of the imperial gold money burst, the financial crisis quickly swept the whole country, even the Far East, which was separated by a Ulino moat, and a number of commercial banks in different parts of the country were collectively run on the bank to varying degrees in late August 1624.

Fortunately, the Central Bank of the Far East, which is not the central bank of the empire, prepared a plan to deal with the financial turmoil as early as March last year, sending an audit team to conduct a carpet inspection of financial institutions across the country. These young and intelligent central bank inspectors, like the "ministers of the imperial mission" as mentioned in the folk tale, are eager to use a magnifying glass to inspect the accounts of various financial institutions, and grasp the small problems of sesame seeds and mung beans, not to mention blatantly falsifying accounts.

From March last year to the end of the year, financial institutions in the Far East were "sifted through the central bank's audit department", and all non-compliant institutions were forced to suspend operations, rectify within a time limit, and meet the legal requirements for capital adequacy ratios and reserve ratios before they were allowed to reopen.

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