Chapter 1483 The Shield of the British Empire (First update, please subscribe)
The small accident that happened on the streets of Moscow would not affect the Empire's assistance to the Roman Empire. After all, the Roman Empire had already pledged its allegiance with 300,000 people.
Of course, in the eyes of many people, this small incident in Moscow is not worth mentioning and will hardly attract anyone's attention. After all, this kind of thing is simply normal.
Similar things had happened in the past, but they were just violent activities by some bold fanatics who opposed the Tsar.
Although the incident in Moscow did not attract the attention of the outside world, a few days later, intelligence about the incident was sent to London and to Mansfield Cumming.
"The basic situation of the bank robbery in Moscow has been found out - it was organized and carried out by a group of socialists. Although the bank was their main target - in order to obtain funds for their activities, they also distributed leaflets during the operation to arouse the citizens' hatred of the Roman officials. In the Roman Empire, there are widespread radical groups that oppose the rule of the Tsar..."
Listening to the reports from his subordinates, Mansfield Cumming's brows were furrowed. As the head of MI6, he vaguely realized that this seemed to be an opportunity. If he seized this opportunity, MI6 could not only prove its own value, but could even end the war.
MI6 has only been established for three years!
Five years ago, Charles Oatley, Director of Naval Intelligence, was appointed Secretary of the British Defense Committee. When his assistant Maurice Hankey was in charge of the national intelligence agencies, he was surprised to find that there was not even a single British agent in the whole of Europe.
This reality, although shocking, is so real that most countries still believe that Britain has the most extensive and sophisticated intelligence agencies in the world.
In order to change this situation, three years ago, with the support of the Defense Committee, Oatley proposed the establishment of a secret intelligence agency to be responsible for all matters of intelligence gathering. This proposal was approved by the cabinet.
It divided the Secret Intelligence Service into two parts, responsible for the same areas of work, foreign and domestic. The foreign part was led by Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Mansfield Cumming, and later expanded to become the British Army Intelligence 6.
Although Cumming's background did not seem particularly suitable for secret intelligence work, he still performed his job well, and when he accepted the appointment, he was promised that there would be no restrictions on the funds paid to the unit's activities.
Faced with such attractive conditions, Cumming was naturally very happy to take on the responsibility. In the past three years, Cumming racked his brains to build an overseas intelligence network in enemy countries including Ming Dynasty, Rome, France, etc. This network may not be as successful as the Naval Intelligence Office, but it has been working effectively. This intelligence from Moscow is the most obvious example.
"Broad opposition..."
Muttering this, Lieutenant Colonel Cumming, holding his pipe, walked to the window. It rains a lot in London in the spring. Standing in front of the window, I watched the colorful umbrellas coming and going on the street below.
The director of the British Empire's MI6 first took a puff of his cigarette, then held the pipe, as if thinking about something. Then he picked up the pipe again, took two puffs silently, and then spoke.
"Is there any way we can get in touch with them?"
"What?"
"I mean the opposition within the Roman Empire. We should get in touch with them."
"Get in touch with the opposition? Why..."
Vernon Kyle stopped abruptly and looked at the lieutenant colonel, his eyes lit up and he spoke excitedly.
"I understand. Are we going to use those opposition groups to create civil unrest in Russia?"
Lieutenant Colonel Cumming nodded and said.
"Russia is a country that can mobilize tens of millions of troops. Maybe their troops are stupid and their generals are incompetent, but as long as they get good equipment, they will be like a flood, destroying everything, including the German defenses. Although the "Battle of Tannenberg" they launched failed, we can see that this "steam roller" still has terrifying power. In the days to come, after getting the help of the Ming Empire and France, this steam roller will only become more and more powerful. If we want to stop them from crushing us in Europe and Persia, we can't just rely on the power on the battlefield..."
After a pause, Lieutenant Colonel Cumming took a puff of his pipe before speaking.
"In addition to the power of war, we also need to use their internal strength. There are a large number of groups in Russia that oppose Russian rule. Among them are suppressed minorities, such as the Turks. They seem docile on the surface, but they yearn for independence in their hearts. There are even some Poles, who are the same. Well, the largest number are the Socialists and the Narodnaya Volya. They have been persistently opposing the Tsarist rule for many years. They are the power we need to use."
Holding the pipe in his hand, Lieutenant Colonel Cumming raised the corners of his lips, and then a smile appeared on his face. "The enemy of our enemy is our friend. They need to obtain funds through robbery, but what if we provide them with funds and weapons?"
Then, Lieutenant Colonel Cumming continued:
"It may not cost much, maybe only a few hundred thousand, or one or two million pounds. We just need to select some people, support them, and provide them with money. Of course, we can also provide weapons to the Turks. These weapons are ready-made. After all, the Germans seized hundreds of thousands of weapons in Tannenberg. We provide these weapons to everyone who is willing to shoot at the Russians, whether they are Turks, Poles, or Finns. As long as they are willing to shoot at the Russians, then we can arm them!"
"Yes, sir, I think that's a good idea."
Vernon Kyle looked at the lieutenant colonel, thought for a moment and said.
"But we need to choose the right person, someone who is willing to cooperate with us. After all, sir, we are now the enemy of the Roman Empire."
"They are also enemies of the Roman Empire. The enemy of my enemy is my friend!"
When Mansfield Cumming said this, there was no joy on his face. He stood there quietly, looking out the window, watching the people coming and going outside the window. Then, he smoked again, and after exhaling a puff of smoke, he said.
"I believe there will always be someone willing to cooperate with us."
After saying this, he deliberately cast his gaze on the portrait of Her Majesty the Queen on the wall, and suddenly, he spoke again.
"It's like there are people among us who are collaborating with the enemy."
"Cooperate with the enemy? Do you mean spy?"
"Yes, I believe that someone among our top leaders has betrayed the British Empire, or that there are spies from the Ming Empire infiltrating our top leaders."
Kamin said, nodding.
"Intuition, although it's just intuition, I believe it must be true..."
Vernon Kyle looked at the boss in confusion.
"If it's true, who could it be?"
“That’s what we need to figure out.”
Cumming thought for a moment, then said.
"I have been thinking about this issue since I founded this organization. I believe there must be spies from the Ming Dynasty inside the British Empire. We can send spies to them, and they can also send spies to us. This is inevitable. I believe that their spies were sent earlier and may have even bribed some of our senior officials. This is one of the reasons why we are at a disadvantage in this war."
After expressing his innermost suspicion, Cumming looked at Vernon Kyle and said.
"So we have to find those people no matter what! If we can't find them, we may lose this war."
"If it is true, for the benefit of the British Empire, we must get rid of those spies. The only question is, do we have any clues in this regard?"
There are definitely no clues in this regard, and even the spy is just Cumming's personal speculation.
Do they really exist?
It was not until Kyle left the office that this thought popped up in Cumming's mind again. Although he had no evidence to prove the existence of those people, the more he told him, the more they must exist.
Not only do they exist, but there are a lot of them... the only question is where are they?
The old group is down, so I created a new book club group: 739209015. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
