Chapter 283: The Assassination Case
Within the crowd, a short-haired Slav stared at the car not far ahead.
The moment he thought of what he was about to do, he could not help shrinking back.
Just as he intended to turn and escape, a middle-aged man pressed against his back from behind.
Before the Slav could speak, a photograph was handed to him.
On the photograph was his lovely daughter.
On the back, there was only one sentence.
[Life or death.]
The Slav swallowed hard.
A few seconds later, as if he had finally made up his mind, he pushed through the crowd and moved forward.
Meanwhile, inside the car, Boris III was still hesitating.
He was thinking about whether Bulgaria should join the European Union, and what kind of rhetoric he should use to delay Jörg's persuasion.
Germany's victories had not stopped him from maintaining his usual policy of neutrality.
In the Balkans, or rather, in all of Europe, Bulgaria was currently the only country that had not issued an official diplomatic condemnation of Britain.
This alone was enough to show that on the entire European continent, only Boris III was still maintaining true neutrality.
And the reason he did so was simple.
He believed there were still variables in the situation to come.
But he never imagined that the muzzle of the Grim Reaper had already slowly locked onto him.
Stepping out of the car, Boris III was nearly blinded by camera flashes.
In front of the cameras, he revealed his usual kind smile and was just about to walk up the stairs.
But from the corner of his eye, he noticed a commotion in the crowd.
Someone seemed to be shouting his name.
He looked back.
A gap had suddenly opened on the side of the street supposedly controlled by the German Wehrmacht.
Boris III rubbed his eyes slightly, thinking he had seen wrongly.
Just as he was about to continue forward, the shouting grew louder.
A certain dangerous sound was swallowed by the noise of the crowd.
In a blur, Boris III saw someone raising something.
It looked like…
A camera?
Bang!
The next moment, a bullet pierced his chest.
Blood scattered across his clothes, exceptionally glaring beneath the flashing cameras.
The restless crowd suddenly fell into dead silence.
The killer did not flee.
Instead, he raised his pistol high and shouted, "Long live the Bolsheviks."
"Go to hell, dictator."
Those were the final words Boris III heard.
In a daze, his body fell heavily to the ground.
His vision sank into darkness.
Mannerheim stared blankly at everything before him.
The sudden contrast between a grand ceremony and an assassination scene left his mouth slightly open.
The leaders of various countries also fell into panic and confusion.
Gustav, who was the first to realize what had happened, forcibly suppressed the corners of his mouth from rising.
It seemed his hotel was about to become a historical landmark.
The farce did not last long.
As if they had already received instructions, the armored troops dispersed the crowd within ten minutes and completed armed control of the scene.
Only some reporters were left behind.
Everything was crisp and efficient, almost like a stage play.
Inside the hotel, José Sanjurjo leaned close to Jörg and asked in a low voice, "Herr von Roman, with such an accident happening today, should we not call off the European Union leaders' meeting?"
"Perhaps we should find a safer time to sign the alliance."
Everyone nodded repeatedly.
Compared with the alliance, they cared more about their own lives.
Only Pétain seemed to understand something and offered no opinion.
Instead, he asked an attendant to bring him a glass of red wine.
"Call it off?"
Jörg's gaze swept across the room.
"Why should we call it off?"
"The Russians want to use violence to terminate Europe's first step toward unity."
"If we retreat now, Stalin will laugh out loud."
"If we retreat, it means the armies and nations behind us are all bowing their heads to Soviet Russia."
His voice grew heavier.
"Continue the leaders' speeches."
"If you are afraid, I will stand at the front."
Then Jörg turned to Mannerheim.
"Marshal Mannerheim, are you afraid?"
Once these words were spoken, Mannerheim, who felt as if an invisible hand had pushed him forward, had not yet fully recovered from the shock.
Russians assassinating a leader of the Western world on such an occasion.
Even if Stalin were arrogant, he would not do something so crude.
An individual action?
Mannerheim looked at Jörg, who had been the first to issue statements against Soviet Russia.
A terrible conjecture lingered in his mind.
But since things had already reached this point, he could not abandon this stage that had been built for him with human lives.
"I am not afraid."
Mannerheim's voice was firm.
"And I believe that none of you gentlemen will be afraid either."
"Because just as Herr von Roman said, a united Europe will not fear any threat."
"I originally thought Soviet Russia was merely a hungry bear coveting territory."
"But now I realize that it is far more greedy, and far more deranged, than we imagined."
"Without question, Europe has reached its most dangerous hour."
"We must unite."
"We must confront this enormous threat together."
As Jörg began to applaud, the entire venue erupted into thunderous applause.
"Marshal Mannerheim is right."
Jörg's voice followed immediately.
"Soviet Russia is a common threat to all Europe."
"They possess vast territories, yet also possess an endless appetite."
"The assassination that just occurred is not only a provocation."
"It is even more than that."
He looked at every leader present.
"It is a declaration of war."
After speaking, Mannerheim walked out through the doors and delivered a speech to the reporters.
The corners of Jörg's mouth rose slightly.
Dealing with intelligent people was always this simple.
Looking around, many people had already realized that something was wrong with this assassination incident.
But under Mannerheim's call, they could only suppress their doubts and closely follow Jörg out the door.
One after another, they declared that Europe was facing a common threat.
The impact caused by the assassination was enormous.
Doubts followed almost immediately.
For example, why had the German Army, known for its rigor, experienced such a lapse?
Why had the assassin not been discovered at the first moment?
But before these doubts could spread through everyone's hearts, public attention was drawn away by an overwhelming flood of theories about the Soviet Russian threat.
The leader of a European Union member state had been assassinated.
No matter how many questions existed about the incident, as long as dirty water was poured into Soviet Russia's pocket, even if it was only water, others would think it was urine.
And because the leaders of various countries had all delivered speeches at the Budapest Grand Hotel regarding the Soviet Russian threat, the incident quickly rose to the level of common European security.
Its momentum even faintly overshadowed the war between Britain and Germany.
The European Union, which had only been established for one day, immediately convened an emergency parliament and began discussing whether to implement the policies of a unified European government.
This was exactly what Jörg wanted.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the German Ministry of Propaganda held two press conferences.
The first reaffirmed the importance of European unity and repeatedly emphasized security issues.
The second began putting pressure on the British government.
It emphasized that supporting the Soviet Russian government at this time meant standing on the opposite side of all Europe.
And if the British government was willing to make concessions for the security of Europe, Germany was willing to provide a surrender treaty instead of endless war.
In Britain, Churchill's plan was suddenly disrupted.
He had only recently declared that Soviet Russia would become Britain's partner.
But now, the incident had risen to the level of Western society confronting Soviet Russia.
This meant that if he supported the Soviet Russian government in launching an attack on Finland, what he would face would no longer be Germany alone.
Jörg could use legal legitimacy to mobilize the armies of all Europe and launch landing operations.
More importantly, this incident had frightened the nobility.
And the public did not want to be pushed outside the framework of the Western world.
This was what Churchill least wanted to see.
But he wanted surrender even less.
....
https://discord.gg/KvMN2CFsMR
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03].