Hermione, Be the Minister of Magic with Me! - Chapter 186

“What’s unexpected?” The clerk of the Tuofan clothing store next to him immediately retorted, “Have you not seen the history of the competition? Cheating has always been a tradition in the Triwizard Tournament, and this is the same.”

“Speaking of which, I heard from my children at school that Karkaroff is missing? Was it secretly arrested for a crime?”

“Really? Why haven’t I heard of it? It’s not written in the papers.”

“That’s the weirdest thing, that it wasn’t reported in the newspapers.”

Everyone was talking about Karkaroff’s disappearance. After their discussion was over, Mundungus found that everyone’s eyes were on him again.

So he continued: “Later I heard that when the Aurors were interrogating Karkaroff, they found that he was under the Imperius Curse, and he had a strange mark tattooed on him…”

“Imperial Curse!” Everyone was surprised.

Although it has been more than ten years since the first wizarding war, everyone is not so forgetful and knows what the Imperius Curse is.

Is there any more. Who is controlling him? ‘ someone asked immediately.

This time they were disappointed, because Mundungus shook his head.

“Don’t look at me like that, that’s all I know.” He said regretfully, “My brother is only from the sports department after all, and in the end he only saw Karkaroff being arrested by a few people in black robes. Go, he doesn’t know what happened next, and he just heard about the Imperius Curse…”

Although Mundungus didn’t reveal more, everyone found it very believable.

After all, this is just an illegal trader who usually does some petty theft. It’s good to know some things. If he and everyone broke the news with a bunch of internal secrets of the Ministry of Magic, then everyone would be suspicious.

But this is enough, because everyone will associate.

“Speaking of which, the Ministry of Magic must know something,” said Vezeek suddenly. “Lockhart suddenly came and bought a lot of supplies, and he paid real money. And asked who he bought it for, He’s been hesitating.”

When I asked about it, he said it wasn’t for the Ministry of Magic. “The people at the joke shop also revealed their own sources of information.

“He had a total of seven sizes of robes made to order, obviously not for one person

“And why didn’t he buy it in Hogsmeade, why did he have to come to Diagon Alley?”

After discussing for a long time, the doubts in everyone’s hearts became deeper and deeper. Although they could not draw any conclusions, they always felt a little heavy in their hearts.

After leaving the Leaky Cauldron, Mundungus first pretended to be drunk and walked around, and then turned into Knockturn Alley when no one noticed.

In front of a fortune-telling booth in Knockturn Alley, a person was already waiting there.

“Hey, Munger! How’s it going, is it all right?” Lockhart beckoned to him

Mundungus Fletcher walked over quickly and sat down with Lockhart.

“Where’s my money?” He seemed impatient.

“Don’t worry.” Lockhart continued to hang his appetite. “Our agreement is to see the effect… What do those people say?”

The dumplings were very good, and they were already thinking about it. “Mundungs ​​said proudly,” The possibility of Karkaroff’s disappearance has been demonstrated from various angles, but none of them are close to the truth. “

Now Mundungs ​​can be said to be very proud. As a person who knows the “truth”, watching a bunch of big people who he usually needs to look up to make random guesses, he sincerely has a sense of superiority in IQ.

How could Lockhart not understand his current state – it is precisely because of this rare experience of being above others that many low-level sailors enjoy this job with very little income until they find out. The job is really lucrative so far.

So he took out five gold coins and stuffed them into Mundungus’ hands.

“So little?” Mundungus was a little disappointed.

Although 5 Galleons is not a small amount for a person like him, at least equivalent to about two weeks’ income, but after learning that Lockhart had just spent a lot of money on something, he had some inconvenience. A realistic vision—especially against the backdrop of recent price increases in the wizarding world.

But he didn’t know that Lockhart had other considerations – it’s not that he couldn’t give more, but for Mundungus, a hungry wolf who had just discovered the taste of his prey, you really couldn’t – feed it all at once , otherwise there will be trouble.

“It’s just a talk, this is enough money, I suspect that even if I only take one Galleon, those of your colleagues will rush to do it.” Lockhart said.

Mundungs ​​knew this too, but was still a little disappointed.

“Okay, five out of five, at least you’re better than Dumbledore, he never pays me for work,” he muttered.

He took the money and turned to leave, but Lockhart held him back.

“Why?” he asked.

“You’re satisfied with only 5 Galleons? You haven’t finished my work yet!” Lockhart pretended to be surprised, “Next, we have to continue spreading the news… In order to fight the evil Dark Lord, and make money! “

Mundungus was stunned for a moment, then rekindled hope: “How do you say?

Mundungus is similar to other people living in the gray area: lazy, timid, and often forgetting his life for small profits.

But the reason why he was able to be pulled into the Order of the Phoenix by Dumbledore was not only because he did have an intelligence network composed of his own gossip, but also because Mundungus was somewhat moral, or paralyzed himself. sense of honor.

Despite being in a grey area, as long as he is still working for a great man like Dumbledore, he can continue to deceive himself that he is still a moral man.

Lockhart is very clear about the thinking of such people – it seems that there are also a group of self-proclaimed “patriotic sailors” in the navy. They never accept overseas political orders, but only commercial orders.

Although this kind of patriotism seems a bit ridiculous to outsiders, and it is not much better than prostitutes saying patriotism, but from a certain point of view, they are really much stronger than a certain Yu who defected.

Lockhart has no intention of delving into the moral philosophical propositions in it. He only knows that if used properly, people like Mundungus can also play a huge role.

It’s like when Dumbledore was alive, he usually only let Mundungus do intelligence work, and would never take him to the battlefield, which is very wise, because he only

Can do this kind of work.

And after Dumbledore was dead, Moody had Mundungus in the Battle of the Seven Potters, which was outrageous.

The result is not unexpected, Moody was sold by Mundungus, who was hit by the Death Eater Imperius Curse during the battle. It can only be said that Moody’s vision and methods are indeed worse than Dumbledore.

Of course, Lockhart would not make such a mistake. Making the best use of people is the minimum quality and ability of a superior.

So he threw a pie at Mundungus.

“I want you to contact your peers and appear in front of these people in Diagon Alley in various roles and in various names for the next half month, to spread the information I formulated… Of course, I will pay you, Each person has 80 Galleons of activity funds. As the general manager, I will give you 100 Galleons, and other expenses will be calculated separately, how about it? It’s a good deal to earn that much in half a month, right?”

“Really?” Mundungus was a little moved.

“Of course, this is for the magic world.” Lockhart looked serious, “Those **** bureaucrats of the Ministry of Magic want to cover up the truth, we must find a way to reveal the truth to everyone, even if the means are not very bright. “

Mundungus nodded again and again: “Yes, we can’t let those fat-bellied officials do their best.”

Although he was still a thief, Mundungus felt unusually righteous when he said this.

He is fighting alongside “The Greatest Wizard” Dumbledore and “Master of Dark Magic” Lockhart!

But Mundungus immediately remembered something: “So, why can’t we just tell them the truth, but solve the problem in a way like… well, spreading rumors?”

“The reason why rumors and conspiracy theories are believed is because they cater to the cognition of some people.” Lockhart is not secretive, “and the first step to influence public opinion is to control the source of information, regardless of the source of information, we Whether to spread it to the audience truthfully or to contaminate it based on our position, we must first control the information, and the first step in controlling the information is to make it acceptable to the masses and to cater to the inherent perceptions in their minds. concept.”

Judging from Mundungs’ expression, Lockhart knew that he didn’t understand, but it didn’t matter, because he just wanted to use such “unconscious” words to get Mundongs to give up.

It would be too hard for a wizard to have a wizard who didn’t go to primary school to understand information communication, which is only taught in Muggle university classrooms.

Sure enough, Mundungus surrendered.

“Just tell me directly what I need to do.” He said very single,

“I don’t read much, just don’t lie to me.”

“Liar to you? Didn’t you get the money?” Lockhart mocked. “Whether what I say is true or false, the money you got in your hand is not false, is it?”

“That’s right.” Mundungus gave up thinking completely.

The three hundred and ninetieth chapters are rearranged

Lockhart worked hard and finally planted a seed of doubt in Diagon Alley, the most frequent location for wizards to exchange information, which is considered to have achieved his first goal of achieving “issue control”.

As long as the issue was kept within the limits he wanted, no matter what the outcome of the discussions among the wizards in Diagon Alley, the final outcome would be in the Order of the Phoenix’s favor.

The reason is very simple – just like the “Han Han’s fake comment” that was once very popular, Fang Zhouzi, a master of manipulating public opinion, used various methods of distorting facts, polluting information sources with partial generalization, and even using pyramid schemes to coerce public opinion. Label everyone who defends the client as a “stakeholder”

So no matter how much Han Han proves himself, it is useless, no matter what the result is, he has already lost the battle of public opinion. Because as long as the public starts to talk about whether his works are substitute works, even if only 1% of the people finally believe Fang Zhouzi’s rumors, it will be a failure for Han Han. Because no one believed in ghostwriting at all, but now 1% more people believe it.

This is the benefit of the issue of naval control—as long as the goal of making people talk is achieved, then the next question is whether to win more or less, and there is no question of whether to win or not.

It was because Yongzheng did not understand this truth that he came up with a “Dayijue Milu”, and honestly admitted, “I gave my father a bowl of ginseng soup the night before, but he died the next day. “This kind of remarks turned out to be completely different from his purpose of refuting rumors.

It is also fortunate that his son Qianlong understood, and when he came to power, he sealed this book, which was not so much a defense as it was to help the rumors spread more widely, otherwise there would only be more people who believed in the rumors of tampering with the edict.

After completing the issue control, the next thing Lockhart wants Mundungus to do is

It has surfaced, which is the second step in the influence of public opinion—the mutual verification of information, while attacking the enemy’s trust chain.

The reason why people are deceived by repeated lies is because in people’s subconscious, a single source of information, that is, “orphan evidence” is unreliable. When only multiple independent sources of information prove it together, its credibility It will be greatly improved, but the problem is that this kind of thinking will also bring opportunities to the navy who spread rumors.

As the so-called “three people become tigers” and “Zeng Shen killed people”, the initial rumors seem so unbelievable, but after many people’s statements, people will subconsciously believe it, because in this person’s opinion, he /She got the “facts” of “there are tigers on the street” and “Zengshen killed people” from many independent sources.

But in fact these are not “independent sources of information”, but branches of a tainted source of information. The rumor that there are tigers on the street is actually made up by the same person. He passed it on to many people, and then many people passed it on to the king. Not many people saw the tiger.

The reason why the navy uses multiple vests and sizes is also because of this – when a navy has demonstrated some plausible views, the public will definitely not believe it.

But if there are many navy trumpets appearing as netizens in different vests, and one person “proves” some of the rumors, then bystanders will definitely think “so many people say that XXX is not good, then he must have some problems. “Even if each piece of “evidence” could not stand up to careful scrutiny.

That’s what the anti-GMO gangs use—because most people don’t have biological expertise, they don’t understand why transcribing DNA can’t directly affect the human body, and how small is the probability of gene transcription mutation producing toxic proteins, Subconsciously, the expert’s caution that “does not rule out the possibility of being poisonous” is regarded as a “guilt”

It is precisely because the public cannot judge right or wrong, so everyone can only choose from the information sources that seem to be reliable. Therefore, as long as anti-GMO people mobilize enough people or media to collectively express their trust in a certain information source (such as a public known who runs a company to grow organic vegetables and collect IQ tax), they will follow the letter in a herd mentality.

It doesn’t matter if an authoritative expert such as Yuan Longping comes out to sing the opposite, because in the public opinion environment, the identification of an “authority” also needs to go through the communication process to reach the public’s mind. They only need to control the communication process, and there is no need to control all the authorities. .

Therefore, anti-GMO people can also create a group of “pseudo-experts” who have no academic authority to compete with them through the method of mutual verification of multiple information sources. Even distorting and intercepting part of the views of real experts to cater to the views of conspiracy theorists to achieve their own goals.

Although these methods are not visible, but if these methods are used in the right way, they can be regarded as waste utilization.

Because no one is perfect, and every individual in the public also has his own work, it is impossible to know every field of knowledge in detail and have the ability to distinguish independently.

Therefore, in areas that they do not understand, the “public” as a whole must only accept some flat views, or believe in certain opinion leaders. Therefore, these public opinion influence methods are also helpful for the dissemination of real information, it just depends on who uses it and what the purpose is.

Lockhart took this into account when he spread the message – if he, like Dumbledore, directly communicated to all wizards that Voldemort had been resurrected, he would first be met with backlash from the Ministry of Magic, and then There will be a group of unwilling ostriches to echo the “authority” of the Ministry of Magic, and then the Ministry of Magic will use the power of the media to bring members of the Order of the Phoenix – especially the core members such as Lockhart, Dumbledore and Harry one by one. Shaped into a clown, through a series of “independent information sources” to influence the public’s judgment from multiple perspectives.

In order to avoid this passive situation, Lockhart felt that he had to first use specious rumors to make the Ministry of Magic give up its vigilance, making them think that the public was just guessing and didn’t know, and that the Order of the Phoenix had not revealed the truth.

But they won’t know that Lockhart is using this method to bring down the Ministry of Magic

Credibility in public opinion, that is, the “chain of trust” that attacks the Ministry of Magic’s information sources, and before the Ministry of Magic officials try to control public opinion, they are made into “liars” who are not trusted by the public, and “a raccoon dog” The same goes for the Daily Prophet.

In this way, when “the conscience within the Ministry of Magic” such as Lockhart and Kingsley jumped out to admit that “some people did hide the truth”, the angry public had already had this awareness and psychological preparation. , they will subconsciously take their words as true, and it becomes very easy to tell the truth at this time.

But Lockhart also has to pay attention, that is, he still has to work in the Ministry of Magic system after all, and he can’t offend all the officials of the Ministry of Magic and the media to death.

So he wants to pull out a vote of conscientious allies within the Ministry of Magic while Mundungus conducts public opinion influence activities according to his instructions, neutralize some of the unsettled people, and finally put them when he admits the truth. Also pulled into their own camp, so that they have no way to refuse.

The same is true of the media. The Daily Prophet is going to be defeated as a “villain”, but Lockhart’s official media “Witch Weekly” can win over and make them the “conscience of the media”.

These things may seem complicated, but to him, who is used to seeing the political disputes between the British House of Representatives and Downing Street, these are only basic operations. Muggles can also teach wizards a good lesson in this regard.

If there are no surprises, Lockhart should be able to see the results of his work within a month, and when the work is completed, he will definitely surprise Fudge.

And what Lockhart has to do next is to quickly test the purebloods.

manner.

What was their attitude towards Voldemort when he returned?

If they were really just being coerced, then Lockhart wouldn’t mind trying to win over them—it wouldn’t be impossible to even show them a clear path. but if he

They were determined to go to the dark with Voldemort, and Lockhart also had a way to deal with them.

But Lockhart felt that they might not all be determined to go on, at least anyone could guess that Malfoy’s thoughtfulness.

Voldemort can too.

Chapter three hundred and ninety-six old slugs come to the door

Because the Ministry of Magic will continue to pretend to be peaceful, the Ministry of Magic has not only spent less energy on the Big Five competition in recent times, but has become more.

It was very helpful for Mundungus to spread the rumors, because as long as the Ministry of Magic didn’t realize the seriousness of the problem, they wouldn’t pay attention to the little things on Lockhart’s side.

Lockhart arranged a duel entertainment game between the third and fourth games as a buffer. Considering that in the third game, several Academy Warriors had already played sparks, and they must be somewhat dissatisfied with each other.

Therefore, this duel entertainment competition is actually a “shooting competition” for players to openly resolve disputes, and the venue is also in Slytherin’s secret room. Only VIPs who have paid enough money can enter the game.

In the dueling club, the warriors can challenge unconvinced opponents at any time. As long as they meet the duel rules, they can fight as they please, and even bet a little bit of prize money.

In addition, in this entertainment competition, students who are not warriors are also eligible to challenge the warriors, and even tourists who come to Hogwarts are eligible to participate. As long as they are willing to apply in advance and sponsor a sum of money, they can also share with their favorite The warriors come to a duel on the stage.

Although this is not an official competition, in the eyes of Fudge, who has a happy funeral, this entertainment competition is as important as the main competition. Because this kind of competition is very intense and exciting, and there are many tourists participating, the audience and sponsorship it can attract are not less than the main competition.

Lockhart wanted to see, he had given him every chance, Voldemort dared to exchange money, and let the Death Eaters enter the secret room to challenge Harry.

And Dumbledore also has some opinions on I. He believes that Ben Bai is under the supervision of him.

, Even if the Death Eaters entered the secret room, they would never even attack Harry.

“All the ticket revenue and VIP participation fees for this entertainment game will be donated to Durmstrang.” Dumbledore said in an unusually high-spirited manner, Wuye and others are having a hard time right now.