Chapter 932 - 395: Differential Machine_3
The textile worker who suddenly dropped dead in front of him made him raise a question of the soul: why has productivity increased dozens of times over, yet workers must put in even longer hours of labor just to maintain the same standard of living as before?
If he were to take this question to the Differential Machine for an answer, Wu Chang could already imagine it: before the problem was solved, Stilan would merely be in dire straits; after it was solved, it would likely be reduced to scorched earth.
He bundled all the intelligence from the mechanical workshop into his personal space, then returned to Bai She Avenue to discuss how to handle what had happened last night.
The next morning, when the residents of Grimland woke up and saw Bai She Avenue looking like a ruin, they immediately fell into panic.
What had happened—was it a violent clash among the Stilan Council’s top brass, or had someone launched an armed coup?
Some early risers saw the Conservative Party’s Sunny Day Doll still hanging in Garden Square, and their brains spun out even more conspiracy theories.
Fortunately, Wu Chang and the others were prepared: they revised the Hills Newspaper overnight, describing the previous night’s attack on the front page headline.
An entity like the Steam Council, of course, cannot be exposed to the public.
First, it implicates too many parties; second, the Steam Council has no name recognition, and people would not believe in it.
After discussion, they decided to dump all responsibility for last night’s attack onto the Peace Church.
They claimed it was an assault launched by the Peace Church: to retaliate against Stilan’s long‑term suppression of the Peace Church, its believers had attempted an Assassination last night on Prime Minister Glad and Chief Justice Gascogne.
Although the Peace Church succeeded, in the very first moments after the incident, the Secret Security Department and the Police Hall fought with Bravery and captured all Peace Church believers involved in the Assassination; the details are currently under interrogation.
The report looked utterly far‑fetched, but most Grimland citizens believed it.
From the founding of Stilan, it has been in constant conflict with the Peace Church; that it is a notorious arch‑villain is common knowledge, and it enjoys extremely high name recognition among the Stilan populace.
Many difficult unsolved murder cases can be perfunctorily explained away as blood‑sacrifice rituals arranged by Peace Church believers.
Quite a few
In the general understanding of the public, the Peaceful Sect is rotten to the core: they’ll do any evil deed, and they have the Ability to do any evil deed.
A small portion of the populace remains skeptical, but since they have no evidence, they can only air some harmless conspiracy theories.
Finding someone to take the blame is easy; calming the ensuing turmoil, however, will take a long time.
The first issue to deal with is the questioning from the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party.
In this attack, the leaders of both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party died unexpectedly; Prime Minister Glad is easier to explain, since he was killed by the Executioner who broke into the police station and executed him in front of many witnesses.
There are enough eyewitnesses to prove that Glad’s Death was an accident.
The Conservative Party’s side is harder to account for: the Chief Justice and his entourage were neatly strung up on lampposts. This method of killing reeks too much of revenge and is hard to reconcile with the style of the Bai She Avenue attack.
But no one cared about the Conservative Party’s questioning.
The rise of the Liberal Party had already been pushing the Conservative Party to the margins; with the repeal of the Corn Laws and their failure to secure industrial regulatory authority, and now the Death of the Chief Justice, the Conservative Party has become a toothless tiger.
It won’t be long before the Conservative Party is completely hollowed out and reduced to a mere mascot in Stilan’s political arena.
No one will care what grievances a mascot has.
Power is conserved: when someone loses it, someone else gains it.
After the Bai She Avenue attack, two people gradually stepped into the spotlight, one of them being Randy.
The successive exit of the popular Prime Minister candidates made Randy the top favorite for the next Prime Minister; together with his recent high profile, people quickly turned their attention to this once‑low‑key Minister of Internal Affairs.
Especially after it was confirmed that Randy bore no obvious party label—that he was unlikely to favor either side and seemed more like a figure maintaining balance—various factions expressed support for his appointment.
Right now, everyone is weakened and needs time to recover.
If Randy is being endorsed by the politicians, the other person, Queen Olivia, is being endorsed by the people.
Rather than "endorsed," it’s more accurate to say she is their last option.
After Glad’s Assassination, Olivia no longer cared about the Liberal Party’s feelings and had Connor expose the truth behind the Pine Tree Coal Mine explosion.
Combined with previous cases, the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, and the Industrialist Association all blew up in scandal.
After going through the whole circle, workers and the lower classes concluded that neither politicians nor factory owners were worthy of trust.
They looked around and, in the end, fixed their gaze on Her Majesty the Queen Olivia, who has vigorously promoted science and, in recent years, gradually stepped into the public eye.
Perhaps only Her Majesty the Queen can truly support them and truly lead Stilan to greatness.
As the last option, Olivia gained enormous popular support.
The upper and lower houses of Parliament sensed that something was wrong: they feared Olivia would restore royal power, but with the leadership decapitated, they struggled to organize any effective action and could only pin their hopes on some sufficiently prestigious politician taking a stand.
But every senior cabinet minister had, to some extent, taken part in the "Peace Church attack case."
Of the three great cabinet ministers, only two remained: Minister of Internal Affairs Randy supported Olivia’s stance, while Foreign Minister Evans was found to have ties to the Steam Council and was currently under house arrest by the Secret Magic Knight Order, unable to speak out.
The Chief Justice died in the attack, and the Minister of the Navy, who holds military power, is suspected of close dealings with the Peace Church; right now he is busy cutting ties and doesn’t dare say a word.
Thus, Olivia smoothly took in the support of the populace.
Riding this east wind, Olivia announced that at the upcoming end‑of‑month World Industrial Exposition she would showcase Stilan’s national strength and let all nations see the direction in which the future of the World lies.
She would also formally reveal the existence of the Extraordinary Steam Engine at the exposition and put them into use across all sectors, drastically shortening people’s working hours so that they would no longer suffer because of work.
For a time, "the Queen equals progress," and talk of Olivia restoring the glory of the royal house could be heard everywhere.
People’s support congealed into an invisible Power, coiling above the skies of Grimland.