Chapter 385: Interrogation
Chapter 375 Interrogation
The uprising in the Austro-Italian region failed, and the repercussions did not end there. The Vienna government was furious, and Franz immediately ordered a nationwide investigation.
It was a shock not to be investigated. From Lombardy-Venetia to Hungary and Galicia, there were traces of the rebel party.
Countless people who had been in contact with the Hungarian Independence Organization were summoned, and no arrests had been made by this time, though there was already a great deal of panic.
Those who were involved were greeting Stephen’s entire family at this time. If you want to rebel, why are you writing to us?
Why don’t you have any sense of secrecy when you’re doing such a difficult job? The whole world knows about it, no wonder the rebellion is not successful.
Many people regretted that they should have reported the case directly in the first place. As a result, a thought missed the opportunity, but the letter was also destroyed by their cleverness, and now things are no longer clear.
Did they participate in the rebellion or not? Knowing or not knowing? This has become the key to the problem, there is not enough evidence, the police did not arrest them, just a routine summons.
But this is also very troublesome, once involved in the rebellion, all the connections, this time are useless.
Atisa was in regret at this time, he knew that the Hungarian Independence Organization would not be able to make things happen, and cut off contact with them in advance.
He did not expect that the police would still come to his door, as a person who had contact with the head of the rebel party and who had exchanged letters before the outbreak of the rebellion, he naturally became a key suspect.
Atisha nervously said, “Sergeant Patiwat, please believe that I am innocent. I just happened to meet Stephen of the Rebellion Party at a party, and I don’t know him well at all.”
He never dreamed that the Hungarian Independence Organization would actually start a rebellion in the Italian region, isn’t this a pitfall?
Don’t look at Stephen’s invitation to participate in the uprising, but it only stated the time of the uprising, but not the specific place of the uprising. Atisa took it for granted that the Hungarian Independence Organization was going to start an uprising in the Hungarian region and lacked funds, so they were going to ask him for favors.
If the insurrection took place in the Hungarian region, limited by the communication of this era, the Hungarian police would not have been able to find out about his contact with Stefan.
Sergeant Pativat said with an expressionless face, “Mr. Atisa don’t be nervous, no one is saying that you are a rebel, otherwise I wouldn’t be the one talking to you.
Right now you are just under suspicion, we are just making a routine inquiry, to clear this suspicion, please answer my questions truthfully.
You and Stephen were seen talking to each other, and at that party in the Mark estate you talked for more than half an hour.
That’s more than a stranger, and as far as I know there were many other friends of yours at the party at the time, and you didn’t talk to any of them for that long.”
Atisa hurriedly explained, “At that time, the head of the chaotic party, Stephen, hid his identity, ostensibly he was a colonial merchant, and I am very interested in overseas colonies.
Mr. Sheriff, you know this. Nowadays, if you want to obtain a knighthood, the easiest way is to go overseas to open up a colony in exchange for military service, and I’m also preparing to form a colonization team to go overseas to colonize.”
Unsatisfied, Sheriff Patiwat continued to ask, “As far as I know Stephen was in the mode of recruiting mercenaries to cover for the chaotic party to enter the country.
These were mostly Italians. I’m sorry, Mr. Artisa, I don’t mean to discriminate against Italians.
But Italian mercenaries having no combat power is recognized in the European continent.
The colonial teams that recruited Italian mercenaries on a large scale all paid a terrible price. Currently there are more than 100,000 mercenaries on the entire Austrian colony while there are less than 1,000 Italian mercenaries, which can already explain a lot.
From the very beginning, Stephen has been in the form of a laughing stock. It was on the basis of this anomaly that we, the police, were able to deploy in time to put down the rebel party.
However, the head of the chaotic party still escaped. It has been established that someone provided them with cover to evade our police search.
Don’t be nervous, Mr. Atienza. I didn’t say you provided them with cover, just that the answers you gave me were questionable.
If you want to set up a colonization team, there are too many people to consult. If you really can’t you can pull a random sailor from the docks and they’ll tell you how unreliable Italian mercenaries are too.
There are even friends of yours who have formed colonization teams, so why with all those people did you not consult them, but rather discuss this topic with someone who carries the name of a fool?”
Atisa cried and laughed as he explained, “Sergeant Pativat believe me, there are not so many reasons, it’s simply because it’s cheap.
You can hire two Italian mercenaries for the price of one German mercenary under the same conditions, which is a huge labor cost advantage.
It’s only the natives we’re dealing with, we don’t need too much fighting power. For the same amount of money, I can get more troops by hiring Italians, and will have an advantage in the labor export business.”
He was telling the complete truth, but unfortunately that didn’t assuage Sheriff Patty Watt’s suspicions. Fishing for law enforcement was not something that was known at Pativat’s level, so Atisa’s explanation rather heightened his suspicions.
Sheriff Patiwat frowned and said, “Mr. Atisa, you should be clear that this is the last chance now. If you still refuse to tell the truth, the consequences will be very serious if you are finally found out.”
Atisa hurriedly assured, “I can swear in the name of God that everything I said is the truth.”
Sheriff Patiwat asked in an icy tone, “Mr. Atisa, according to the intelligence before the outbreak of the rebellion you received a secret letter which was written by Stephen in his own handwriting. Why would he write to you if you had only met once?
Don’t tell me that you fell in love at first sight, you’re not a beautiful woman, you don’t have such a strong charm.
As the head of the rebel party Stephen has always been careful to minimize contact with the outside world, why would he risk writing to you?
Could it be that as a felon on the run for over a decade, he wouldn’t know that any unusual behavior would trigger everyone’s attention and increase the risk of exposure?”
Atisha knew that something was about to go wrong, Sheriff Patiwat was on to him. Normally, Patiwat would have asked about the contents of the letter, not pursued why Stephen had written to him.
As a big capitalist, Atisa’s connections were so extensive that in normal times he wouldn’t give a small sheriff a second thought.
But now it was different, there was a rebellion involved, and no one dared to speak up on his behalf.
If he said the wrong thing, he could be accused of harboring the rebels. Bureaucrats are not fools, the Vienna government has never had zero tolerance for matters involving the rebel party, and the lessons of the Revolutionary era are still being learned.
Atisa replied with a frown, “That’s a question you should ask Stefan, I have the right to refuse to answer that question.”
Sheriff Pativat sneered, “Of course, that is your right. Now I demand that you provide me with this secret letter, the contents of which are relevant to whether or not you are implicated in the Chaos.”
Atisa began to curse in his mind, how could he provide the letter when it had already been burned? Besides, if the contents of the letter were really exposed, he wouldn’t have to leave today.
“I’m sorry, this kind of messy letters, I receive many of them every day and don’t even read them. It’s usually disposed of as scrap, I can go back and look for it, I’m not sure I’ll be able to find it.”
Instead of continuing to dwell on the issue, Sheriff Pativat threw out a new question, “Mr. Artisa, there have been reports that you have ties to the Italian Independence Organization.
The youth art and culture training course that you and your friends have established is a propaganda organization under the Italian Independence Organization in an attempt to divide the great Austrian Empire.
Now will you please give a reasonable explanation as to why the training organization’s curriculum includes Lombardy-Venetia independence?”
A shock went through Atisa’s mind, and he knew there was trouble. If this problem was discovered during normal times, it would still be possible to let the training institution teachers take the blame and just fire them.
Now that it happened to collide, it became a reason for the police to suspect him. Being targeted by the police at this time would definitely not be a good thing.
As a big capitalist, Atisa had too many things that were not known to the public, and if anything was found out, it could send him to jail.
Things that could be easily solved by using connections in normal times could now become a death wish.
If he couldn’t dispel the suspicion of Sheriff Patty Watt in front of him, his tragic life was almost certain.
The Vienna government has never been soft on suspected rebels, as long as there is a crime to send them to prison.
Atisa hurriedly explained, “Sheriff Patiwat, this is all a no-brainer. The curriculum of the Youth Art and Culture Training Class never involves politics, you can send someone to investigate, our teaching materials are all specialized.
If anyone dares to promote separatist ideas, we are all expelled immediately upon discovery, these are all slanders.”
The charge of splitting the country was one that Atisa could never afford to carry. If this was true, then he would be dead.
Even if he had independent tendencies, this could not be said! In this regard, the Vienna government absolutely from the strict treatment, as long as shouting a slogan of independence, the rest of his life are accounted for in.
Sheriff Patiwat sneered and said, “Mr. Atisa, given your lack of cooperation, we have no way to clear your suspicions. So you are officially informed that you are detained from now on.
In the future, you will likely face charges of both conspiracy to start a rebellion and secession. Please give a clear account of your problems as soon as possible and cooperate with the government’s actions.”
Atisa’s face changed drastically, and he hurriedly said, “I want to see a lawyer, I want to file a complaint, you are illegally detaining me.”
He really panicked, now if he was detained by the police, even if it was finally proven that he was innocent and had nothing to do with the chaotic party. As long as the police found out his other charges, he would be convicted just the same.
Convicted according to the law, no one can find fault. Especially at such a critical time, he was also involved in the rebellion, even the widest connections would be zero, and he couldn’t even find someone to help him.
Sheriff Patty Watt said indifferently, “Of course, this is your right. But you are suspected to two major charges of conspiracy to rebel and secession, we have the right to ban you from contacting the outside world for the next week.”
Atisa’s face was ashen, one week was enough time to change a lot of things. Without him personally presiding over the big picture, God knows how many problems would be exposed.
(End of chapter)