I will be crowned king

The difference engine and everything...are still where they were?

Looking at the proud chief of staff, Anson couldn't help but tilt his head; to be fair, this was indeed a very smart idea. With the size and weight of the difference machine, it wanted to transport it normally, but it also had to be fast enough without causing any trouble. A little movement, almost an impossible triangle.

If you want to go fast, you will definitely cause commotion, and you definitely can't use conventional means; if you want to avoid causing commotion, don't think of going fast, and it's hard to guarantee that it can still be transported out intact; if you want to transport it normally, you have to do it well. It is absolutely impossible to prepare for being targeted quickly.

After weighing the balance, staying where you are and pretending that the thing is no longer there is almost the only perfect choice, but there is still a small question: "How did you prevent others from noticing?"

"It's very simple. This is all thanks to your 'whispering' friend." Carl's lips raised: "If I understand correctly, only he knows this secret location, right?"

"really."

Anson nodded slightly. In terms of caution, even Anson couldn't help himself - without the unexpected factor of Maurice Périgord, the probability of "Whisper" leaving Clovis City alive was actually not low; and he There is a high probability that only he himself knows about the specially prepared "secret base".

"Then the problem is very simple. What I need to do is not to find the thing and hide it, but to hide the place where it is, and then let others believe that 'Whispers' has a secret base, but the location is not in that place. ." Karl spread his hands and said:

"When you told me about this, although you didn't name the specific person, since it was related to the technical consultant, you must have kept it a secret from the Seeking Truth Cult and Clovis Cathedral."

"As far as I know, the trainee priest who was bribed by Miss Franz is called...ah, the guy named Karin Jacques. He seems to be an informant of the Inquisitor, right? I made a deal with him, and he helped me Hiding it from the judge, I helped him place a child named Little Johann...yes, the one who was later sent by Wilhelm Gottfried to inform him."

"That guy was also a smart man. He helped me find a garbage treatment plant similar to that one, but in a more peripheral location in the outer city. We took more than a dozen people to clean up the place, including the garbage left inside. They were all evacuated, and some noise was created to facilitate the inquisitors to take the bait." Karl became more and more proud as he spoke:

"It doesn't even matter if the inquisitors continue to investigate, because that place was originally a temporary stronghold of the 'Whisper' gang. We are not completely deceiving people. Of course, we can't guarantee that the inquisitors will definitely be fooled... Now it seems, It works well.”

"It's that simple?"

Anson was a little unbelievable. The power and intelligence of the Truth-Seeking Cult in Clovis City were so pervasive. How could such a crude act of stealing and substituting be concealed from them?

"Easy?!" Karl rolled his eyes: "Yeah, of course it's easy to say, but it takes just one day...it takes just a few hours to find the location, disguise, layout and spread false news. It's true. It’s quite simple!”

"The most important thing is that from the beginning, I didn't think this kind of thing could be hidden from the inquisitors for long - don't forget, your technical advisor has long been targeted by Clovis Cathedral. If it weren't for Allen... Secretary Dao En tried every means to hide it, fearing that it would have been discovered by now."

This is true... Anson nodded slightly. He had indeed missed this point. It was only a matter of time before he was exposed or discovered. The key point was that the other party could not catch the evidence, let alone let the judge know that he now had a difference machine in his hand.

After all, it is the most advanced technical equipment currently possessed by the Holy See, and its importance even exceeds that of the steam core; as long as this final crystallization of wisdom and research results of Saint Isaac is not mastered by others, the Holy See can continue to maintain its own leadership in knowledge and research. absolute monopoly position.

But it is precisely because of this that Anson wants to get a difference engine no matter what... There is no concept of whether this kind of strategic weapon is good or not, only whether it is good or not; the only thing that makes him curious is why Maurice P. Rigor would hand over such an important thing to a gang leader easily, and he didn't seem to have any intention of recycling it after it fell into his hands.

There must be something wrong here, but even if he has to pay a certain price, Anson is ready to bear it - after this time, who knows if he will still have the possibility of using the differential engine as a cutting-edge prototype.

"In short, although I don't understand why you are so interested in that machine, I advise you to hurry up and be prepared for the inquisitor to come to your door." Opening the curtains of the car window, the chief of staff finally took a break and looked out the window. :

"Here we are."

The carriage slowly stopped outside the factory gate. Anson and Karl got out of the carriage one after another. They looked back at Lieutenant Colonel Julien who was driving, pressed his hat brim and saluted him, and then silently drove the carriage to the street outside.

"I didn't tell him anything, and he didn't ask anything." Karl came closer and said, "Don't worry, if there is anyone in the entire army who will never betray you, the commander-in-chief, it must be Julien."

"Oh, what about you?" Anson looked him up and down: "When will my loyal Chief of Staff betray his Commander-in-Chief?"

Karl, who rolled his eyes, said nothing and walked leisurely towards the inside of the factory; Anson shrugged and followed closely through the factory gate.

It was not the first time for both of them. After only five or six minutes, they arrived at the gate of the "Whispers" secret base and walked down the stairs inside.

At this time, the interior of the basement was completely different from the last time I came here - except for the difference engine that had not been moved in the center, the shelves on both sides were already filled with manuscript papers, surrounding the difference engine like a library. It was placed in a full circle; as for Wilhelm Gottfried, he was sitting in the open space directly in front of the difference engine, staring at a drawing full of ancient runes in a daze.

Yes, Anson could recognize that the content on it was ancient runes - after all, he had seen a lot of them in the new world - but he couldn't understand the specific meaning at all.

Seeing that the technical consultant with two dark circles under his eyes was deep in thought, the two of them were very sensible and did not take the initiative to approach and disturb them; well, another reason was that the technical consultant had obviously not taken care of his personal hygiene for a long time, and there was odor emanating from his body. The smell has almost reached the point where it is visible to the naked eye...

Anson and Karl looked at each other and took a half step back in perfect agreement. Standing at the entrance of the basement stairs, they suddenly felt that the air was much fresher.

One minute, five minutes, quarter of an hour...

"Huh-huh-huh-..."

It wasn't until they heard the faint snoring that the two of them realized that William Gottfried seemed to have... not blinked from just now until now.

The Commander-in-Chief, whose mouth twitched slightly, glanced meaningfully at his loyal adjutant; the latter took a deep breath with helplessness on his face, clenched his right hand against his chin, and then...

"Cough...cough!"

"……Um?!"

William was shocked, and looked at the two humanoid creatures that suddenly came into his field of vision in a daze. It took him a long time to finally come to his senses:

"Is...is it you?"

"It's me." Anson smiled and nodded, but did not step forward: "Good morning, His Excellency William Gottfried, I hope I didn't disturb your rest."

"Oh, then your wish will definitely come true."

While scratching his head, which was no different from a chicken coop, the confused technical consultant stood up unsteadily, his movements somewhat like a vaguely dancing snake.

"I was studying the core principles of this difference engine last night and fell asleep almost an hour ago... What you just did caused very serious damage to my health."

"Oh, very serious?"

"It's not serious, it just greatly increases the probability of sudden death." Speaking lightly, William picked up the drawings on the ground and stared at the difference machine with burning eyes: "Compared with getting it, it's not worth it at all. carry."

“Although this machine is about the same size as the one in the basement of Clovis Cathedral, its computing power is almost five times that of the latter; not only that, in addition to the most basic calculations, it can even complete information classification and processing. Works—provided you have the instructions for it.”

Instructions... Anson thought for a moment: "Then do you know how to do it?"

"No, that's why I brought up the instruction manual." William shook his head and turned to look at Anson with a knowing expression.

"But even if it doesn't, it doesn't affect its use. Well... the one in the basement of Clovis Cathedral can also do it with human assistance, but it will waste many of its functions, which is not worth the gain."

"Information classification and...processing?" Karl next to him showed a curious expression, turned to look at Anson beside him, and raised his eyebrows.

"To give a simple example, if it is sunny all day today and there is no rain or snowflakes in the morning or evening, what is the probability that Clovis City will be able to see the sun tomorrow?"

William held on to the difference machine and looked blankly at the chief of staff who asked.

"It's very simple, zero." Karl answered without hesitation: "This is Clovis City, and the probability of seeing the sun during the day is basically negligible."

"Exactly, so how did you arrive at this result?"

Wilhelm Gottfried tilted his head and asked, but immediately gave the answer: "It's very simple, because you have key information on this issue - hearsay and personal experience of Clovis City, Gives a very high probability answer.”

Karl nodded subconsciously, and it took a full minute before he finally realized that something was wrong.

"Wait, you, you mean this thing can do this?!"

"No, it can't." William shook his head: "Because its capabilities are far more than that."

Carl Bain: "..."

"Continuing with the previous question, Chief of Staff, based on your own experience, you can conclude that there is a high probability that Clovis City will not be able to see the sun tomorrow. Do you know if the sun will appear, at which point in time will the probability be greatest? If it rains tomorrow, what is the rainfall amount, in which area, and what is the time span and frequency?”

William was expressionless: "A person's time is limited, which means that the information he can obtain and process in a short period of time is also limited, and he may even respond based on his experience, education level, and whether he has mastered the corresponding professional knowledge. The result of the processing creates a bias and leads to a completely fallacious result.”

"Then, what do you mean, it can do all these things?" Karl's expression clearly still found it hard to believe.

"The premise is to give it enough information, and then..." William snapped his fingers: "In ten minutes... half an hour at most, it can tell you everything you want, in detail. you."

"And this is only its most basic function. The machine in front of you is no longer the same model in the basement of Clovis Cathedral; no, it should be an extension of a certain new technology. The basic structure is already the same as the traditional one. The difference engine is quite different."

"I used the difference machine in Clovis Cathedral to successfully predict Lord Anson Bach's actions before. The success rate was about 35%. If I use this machine... well, it should be able to reach 100%. Sixty."

"Six percent..."

Karl couldn't help but gasped, and at the same time looked at Anson with disbelief: "You...how did they allow this kind of thing to fall into your hands?!"

"I can still answer this, because Mr. Anson Bach... or any ordinary person cannot master the real use of this machine." William Gottfried intercepted again:

"This is the legacy of Saint Isaac's wisdom. The most cutting-edge technology in the world of order is completely different from the original difference engine. The various principles and technologies carried on it have far surpassed the level of ordinary scholars - the Holy See has not provided any guidance at all. When major colleges open up this level of research, they probably don’t even have the opportunity to get in touch with it.”

"But you are different." Anson suddenly said:

"William Gottfried, a professor at St. Isaac's College who is wanted by the Inquisitor for studying ancient runes... Based on your research level and the importance of the Holy See, you can never be described as an 'ordinary scholar'."

"Indeed, but my main research direction is mathematics and runes. The difference engine also involves some mechanical principles and physics. The most important thing is that I have never been exposed to the difference engine in the past." William Gottfried Shen Voice:

"Fortunately, ancient runes are a science used to communicate... Through runes, you can grasp far more information than what you can observe with the naked eye and accumulate experience, and directly obtain the most fundamental things; in short, I I can't tell you the operating instructions for this differential engine, and I can't take it apart and put it back together again, but I can tell you what it can do, what it can't do, and..."

"...How can we create a machine that is exactly the same as it?"