After learning of the news that Wess had been defeated by the Munster Bucks, he decisively chose to abandon the attack. Although the Munsters must have been very tired after a fierce battle and a rapid march, and could not immediately enter the battle, the results of the battle on the front of this night were too small for them to pack up even the five thousand men of Connaught and the garrison of the imperial capital, and if they continued to attack hard, then when the Munster army was repaired, the enemy would probably begin a counteroffensive.

When Dawes came to ask for guilt, Vittin directly asked the chief of staff to see Dawes instead of him and told him to rest. Wei Ting was indeed angry at Dawes's failure, but he also knew that it was not appropriate to vent his anger on Dawes. Munster's army supported so quickly, it was indeed something he did not expect, and in the face of enemy reinforcements, and his own weak forces, Dawes's defeat was also helpless.

However, that doesn't mean Dawes isn't at fault. He only came back with a company of guards and a few stragglers, which added up to less than two thousand men, and such a heavy loss was completely due to Dawes's personal ineffective command. Moreover, of the nearly 6,000 people who were killed, fled, or captured, the vast majority of the Vittin cavalry was the majority, and sooner or later, the Vittin would have to settle accounts with Dawes.

The captain of the Viting Corps sat in his tent, and the sound of artillery fire around him had stopped with the temporary truce, but the sudden silence of the night made Viting even more uneasy. He almost wanted to tear Dawes alive when he heard this, but he eventually restrained his impulses, and in order to avoid being angry at the sight of Dawes, he did not see Dawes.

Now the commander of the Southern Army has a terrible headache, this defeat has caused heavy losses to his troops, and now he only has 2,000 cavalry in his hands, and it is already very difficult to suppress the other division commanders like in the afternoon, not to mention that Raymond's 72nd Division has no losses at all. Wei Ting can now imagine how Raymond will laugh at himself next, and in addition to hurting face, he really feels that his position as the commander of the Southern Legion is also a little unstable, and when Prince Michel VII comes to the front, maybe he will really take away his position as the commander of the legion, and let Raymond, who is not against him, sit.

Although Wei Ting was now dying of sorrow about these things, he could not do anything about it. Raymond's 72nd Division is strong and strong, and in the current situation of the Southern Army, who has soldiers and who has the final say, even if it really makes trouble with the prince, Wei Ting does not think that the prince will not protect that Knoyer.

When Wei Ting was so worried that he began to pull his hair, the chief of staff walked into the tent, but his face was not much better than Wei Ting.

"We have already counted that only five hundred and eighty-four of our three thousand horsemen have returned, and most of them have lost their horses. As a fellow party who has both glory and loss with Weiting, the chief of staff is also really heartbroken for these lost troops, "I asked the guard company to guard against our camp closely, and it is better not to sleep tonight." ”

Wei Ting smiled bitterly and looked at his chief of staff with some sadness, "Where can I sleep now!"

"Alas-" The chief of staff sighed, the current situation was really bad for their 63rd Cavalry Division, "I knew that I would follow the Einsatzgruppen to act, and sure enough, it was unreliable to hand over the troops to outsiders." Now we are the least manipulative division other than Dawes's 75th Division. ”

Vitin clenched his fists. "Originally, I asked Dawes to command the Einsatzgruppen in order to use this credit to win him over, who would have thought that this guy would be more than successful and more than defeated, and bury both of our brigades!" said Wei Ting, slamming into the case at hand.

"What now? Tomorrow I can't say that Raymond is going to force the palace. ”

"We'll see when the time comes. Now Wei Ting has no choice, just break the jar and break it, "If he wants the command, give it to him, this situation can only wait, wait for Michelle's army to have a decisive battle with the enemy." ”

The chief of staff sighed and nodded, the current situation is that there is no way for anyone to take over. After losing a division, the Southern Army had little advantage in the face of the enemy's strong defenses and Munster's reinforcements.

————————————

Unlike the gloomy and misty atmosphere of the Southern Legion, when Dewei received the good news from Lanz Town, Tiamat Palace suddenly rejoiced. The empire has been passive since Michel VII declared war, and this victory has greatly encouraged the hearts of the imperial capital, and also cleared the haze of the attack a day earlier.

The Emperor immediately made the announcement and sent a telegram of commendation to General Sissel, Viscount Jericho, and Baron O'Brien. As the heroes who won the first victory of the empire, although only verbal rewards were given at present, after the war, the emperor was bound to give these meritorious men practical rewards.

Now in the Madok Conference Hall, the atmosphere of the military meeting is also much more relaxed. Before this, although the emperor and ministers were full of confidence in the victory of the empire, after all, the imperial capital was going to fight against more than 100,000 rebels in the south with an inferior force of 40,000 troops, and many people still had worries in their hearts. And in this great victory in Lantztown, Viscount Jericho and General Sissel blocked the enemy south of the Landes River, and Baron O'Brien annihilated and captured nearly 3,000 enemies, which finally put these people's hanging hearts down.

The emperor got up the next day and received this good news, which made him feel good, and he rarely showed a smile at the military meeting, and even made some small jokes.

However, while most people were happy with the victory, there were still some who were overshadowed by the gloom, such as Interior Minister Prince Beria, who was absent from today's meeting.

Yesterday, because of the attack on the emperor, he was scolded and beaten by the emperor again. At that time, the emperor who returned to the palace of Tiamat was in a bad mood, and when he saw Beria, who had been recruited by the court attendants, he slapped him first.

The court attendants and the royal guards were present at that time, and the emperor had no intention of saving face for his son, and almost rode on Beria, beating the diminutive Beria with his huge fists. Beria was beaten by her father so much that she couldn't stand up, her face was broken, and she was finally carried back to her room by the court attendants.

No one pleaded with Beria in this matter, firstly, no one dared to offend the angry emperor, and secondly, this time Beria did commit an unforgivable mistake. Once again, the Ministry of the Interior failed to detect the movements of the south, allowing the enemy's spies to run to the imperial capital and cause such chaos and destruction that the emperor removed him from his post and Beria had nothing to say. Now that he can keep the position of Minister of the Interior, it can be regarded as the emperor's soft-heartedness in the relationship between father and son.

After receiving the good news the next day, Beria, who had not yet recovered from his wounds, hurried back to the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and even sent his own secretary to attend the military meeting in his place. In the Ministry of the Interior, Beria's subordinates were afraid of their ministers like imperial officials were afraid of the emperor, especially now that Beria was in an extremely bad mood, no one dared to commit it in his hands.

Of course, there are some exceptions, such as Herbert, the director of the investigative bureau, who is extremely trusted by Beria.

He rushed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs as soon as he received notice from Beria that he wanted to see him. Walking into the minister's office, he immediately noticed that it was different from what it had been before.

The curtains were drawn so tightly that no light could penetrate at all, and the whole room was pitch black. The chandelier had also been deliberately adjusted, and the light shone in the direction of the doorway, while the rest of the room, especially Beria's desk, did not shine at all, and although Beria's people were sitting behind the desk, Herbert, who was standing in the doorway, could not see his face at all.

Seeing the office arranged like this, Herbert immediately understood that Beria was not only in a bad mood now, but also that the dark side of his heart had been completely released. Even though he is usually very trusted, but now Herbert has to be careful and keep his head down and not look at his boss.

Seeing the cautious appearance of his most powerful subordinates, Beria's self-confidence in being defeated by the emperor regained some of it. He spoke slowly, his voice low, not revealing his emotions at all.

"How's Count Jericho's surveillance, has he looked for you since the last contact?"

"No, Your Highness. Herbert replied with his head bowed, "Count Jericho doesn't move out of our sight now, but he seems to have been in frequent contact with the Herbert family lately. ”

"Thirteen lessons?" Beria raised his voice a little, "what did he do?"

"Because the specific situation involves the thirteenth lesson, my people have not been able to investigate it carefully, and there are only some clues. Based on the report of the informant who was installed in the Jericho Mansion, I sorted it out:

On the evening of April 1, Count Jericho informed his servants that he would not return that night, but the next day the servants found that Count Jericho had already appeared in the mansion early in the morning, and the doorman did not know when the Count had returned. And the steward of the Jericho family also disappeared the next day. Count Jericho's explanation to the servants is that the butler has resigned and returned to his hometown, I have checked, the butler has indeed not appeared in the imperial capital since then, but there is no record of this person leaving the imperial capital at the station, and it is likely that he was killed by Count Jericho without anyone knowing.

On the third of April, the day on which Count Jericho met with His Majesty the Emperor, he returned to the mansion with Miss Hecate of the Thirteenth Lesson, and I checked that they had eaten together in a dining-room, but it is not known whether they had said anything during the meal. After returning to the mansion with Miss Hecate, they soon departed with another man, and went to an inn on Kinness River Street, after which Count Jericho sent the coachman back, and the Count did not return to the mansion alone until evening. As for the identity of that person, according to the informant's description, it should be Jan Noe Darres of Lesson 13. ”

"Jan Noe Dares?" Beria interrupted Herbert's report, "the name seems familiar. ”

"It's the illegitimate son of that lady Darres. ”

"Oh—I remember, it's Miss Lisa Diana Noe Darres. Beria looked up, a look of remembrance on her face hidden in the darkness, "That young lady, no, Mrs. Hecate. Now that I think about it, it's a bit of a pity. ”

Herbert didn't answer, and he didn't dare to talk about his boss's affair at this time.

After a moment of silence, Beria waved his hand and motioned for Herbert to continue.

"As to whether there is any special connection between Count Jericho and the Hecate family, I have not yet found out. Why Mr. Darex appeared at Jericho's mansion is also under investigation. According to the current source, they did not realize that there was one more person in the mansion until Miss Heckat came to pick up Mr. Darres. Moreover, when Mr. Dareth was taken away, he had many wounds on his body, and he looked very weak. I speculate that on the night of April 1st, Count Jericho must have had a confrontation with Mr. Dares, and brought the wounded Mr. Dareth back to the mansion. ”

"On the night of the first of April, wasn't that the day when Count Jericho came to you?"

"Yes, it was about half past eight when I parted from Count Jericho, and I am investigating where he went after this. However, because the surveillance of Count Jericho began after that day, the information available so far is limited. ”

Beria touched her chin, and her small eyes behind the lenses narrowed. Although he worked with Count Jericho once, he didn't really regard Swain as a colleague, and while wooing Swain, Beria has been investigating Swain's details. Beria had long remembered the basic information, and after all, he was the prince, and at the same time he also held the position of Minister of the Interior, so he could know a little bit about some relatively secret information, after all, the Thirteenth Division was nominally subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. However, none of this explains how Swain learned about the identity of the director of Herbert's investigation.

He pulled a file out of a drawer and pushed it to the edge of the table. "Look at it. ”

Herbert stepped forward with his head bowed and took the paper. He didn't dare to look up, and kept his eyes off Beria's face, not because he was afraid, but because he had also heard about Beria being broken by the emperor. In order to avoid embarrassment, he was still cautious.

Opening the file bag, Herbert found that it was a record of a letter sent from a post office under the Ministry of Communications. Although this record only records the emails sent by Deweide in one day, there are still dozens of pages. Herbert, of course, did not read page by page, he followed the name, quickly flipped through it, and in a short time he saw a record circled in red handwriting.

When Herbert saw this record, he couldn't help but be a little surprised, he subconsciously wanted to raise his head to look at Beria, but as soon as his head moved, he immediately held back.

"Count Jericho sent a letter to Michel VII late last month?"

"That's right, I asked Lesson 9 to check the people that Count Jericho had come into contact with since he arrived in the imperial capital, and then I found this record at the post office. ”

Herbert pursed his lips and pondered. This record is at the end of March, and judging by the date, Michel VII should have received the letter a few days before his rebellion, after all, once there was a rebellion in the south, the letter would not reach Michel VII. Herbert did not consider this a coincidence, and Michel VII launched a rebellion soon after receiving the letter, and apparently his rebellion had a lot to do with the letter. If it were someone else, it might have been a coincidence, but among the reasons for Michel VII's rebellion was the de jure claim against the Midnight County that Count Jericho was too closely involved in the matter.

"It seems that Count Jericho had a lot to do with the rebellion of Michel VII. Moreover, the prince rebelled on April 1, and two days later was the originally scheduled canonization ceremony, which was a bit too coincidental. ”

"Remember what I told you before? The Marquis of Metternich suggested to His Majesty that Viscount Jericho be given a sword to Count Jericho at the canonization ceremony, and now it seems that Count Jericho really doesn't want Viscount Jericho to have too much influence within the Jericho family in the title of Earl of Midnight. ”

Herbert nodded with a calm face, Swain's previous cooperation with them was to make Viscount Jericho lose the right to inherit the title of Earl of Midnight, so it was natural for him to want to prevent this canonization ceremony that was unfavorable to him.

"However, is his approach a little reckless for this purpose? It is not certain what the letter is about, and it is not clear whether Count Jericho was an accomplice of Michel VII, or whether he deliberately instigated the war as an outsider. ”

"There are so many uncertainties about this midnight earl, and it is a mystery how he knew that Michel VII was preparing a rebellion. However, our Ministry of the Interior is not the Ministry of Justice, and it is not necessary that the evidence is sufficient to do things, as long as there is a suspicion, you can do it. ”

"Yes. "Obviously, the information channel of Count Jericho is more mysterious than they thought, this person can not only know Herbert's identity, but also know about the plot of Michel VII's rebellion, which makes people feel creepy to think about it.

"Then do you want to report to Your Majesty anything that Count Jericho might have to do with the Southern Rebellion?" asked Herbert.

"What do you say?" Beria's tone aggravated.

Herbert immediately understood what Beria meant, and Beria did not intend to let the Emperor know about it, but wanted to use it to blackmail Count Jericho.

Still, Herbert hesitated. "Pardon me, but is Count Jericho really that valuable?"

"He can know your identity and the news of the rebellion in the South, and with this skill, he is very worthy of wooing. Anyway, you continue to monitor him now, and when the current situation is over, I will think about how to use this person. ”

"Yes. Herbert bent over, ready to take his leave. Since Beria had already said the words "in short" to indicate the end of the conversation, Herbert was naturally more sensitive.

But Beria stopped him again.

"Herbert, you are my most trusted subordinate, and I see your abilities. Now I have something very important for you to do. ”

Beria banged on the table with his knuckles, not saying anything right away.

For a moment there was only the sound of percussion in the room, and the silence made Herbert uncomfortable. He understood that the so-called "urgent matter" must be something that needed to be kept absolutely secret, and judging from Beria's performance just now, this matter might even have to be kept secret from the emperor. So he still bowed his head respectfully, quietly waiting for Beria's next words.

"There's a man named Manfred Schneider in Thirteen, and I want you to come into contact with him. ”

Hearing Lesson 13, Herbert knew that his inner guess had been confirmed. But he didn't show it at all, and he didn't even ask what to do after contact.

"Remember, it's up to 'you' to do it!"

"Yes. ”

After Herbert left the office, Beria was still sitting behind his desk, tapping his knuckles on the table.