He plays the  game dirty. Luckily, he's the most egregious fool on theplanet. Fancies  himself as a shrewd devil set up limited company in hong kong, too,  which mades his folly themore transparent.""That's usually the way.""His notion  of cracking an egg is to shoot a  nuclear blast at it. Witnessthe tax on Temple  property he tried to impose just after the old king diedtwo years ago. Remember?"Hardin  nodded  thoughtfully, then  smiled.  "The priests  raised a  howl.""They raised one you could hear way out to Lucreza. He's shown more cautionin dealing with the priesthood since, but he still manages to do things thehard  way.   In  a  way,   it's  unfortunate  for  us;   he  has  unlimitedself-confidence.""Probably an over-compensated inferiority  complex. Younger sons of royaltyget that way, you know.""But it amounts to the same thing. He's foaming at the mouth with eagernessto attack the Foundation. He scarcely troubles to conceal it. And he's in aposition to do it, too, from the standpoint of armament. The old king builtup a magnificent navy,  and Wienis hasn't been sleeping the last two years.
In fact,  the tax  on Temple property  was originally intended  for furtherarmament, and  when that fell  through he increased the  income tax twice Cloud Email.""Any grumbling at that?""None of serious importance.  Obedience to appointed authority was the textof  every sermon  in  the kingdom  for weeks.  .""All   right.   I've   got    the   background.   Now   what's   happened?""Two weeks  ago an Anacreonian merchant ship  came across a derelict battlecruiser of  the old Imperial Navy. It must have  been drifting in space forat least three centuries."Interest flickered  in Hardin's eyes. He sat up.  "Yes, I've heard of that.
The Board of Navigation has sent me a petition asking me to obtain the shipfor  purposes   of  study.   It  is  in  good   condition,  I  understand.""In entirely  too good  condition," responded Verisof,  dryly. "When Wienisreceived  your suggestion  last  week that  he turn  the  ship over  to theFoundation, he almost had convulsions.""He hasn't answered yet.""He won't  ?except with guns,  or so he thinks. You see,  he came to me onthe day  I left Anacreon and requested that  the Foundation put this battlecruiser into  fighting order and turn  it over to the  Anacreonian navy. Hehad the  infernal gall to say that your note of  last week indicated a planof the Foundation's to  attack Anacreon. He said that refusal to repair thebattle cruiser  would confirm  his suspicions; and  indicated that measuresfor the  self-defense of Anacreon would  be forced upon him.  Those are hiswords. Forced upon him! And that's why I'm here."Hardin laughed gently.
Verisof  smiled and  continued, "Of  course, he  expects a refusal,  and itwould  be  a  perfect  excuse  ? in  his  eyes ? for  immediate  attack.""I see  that croisieristes, Verisof. Well, we have at least six  months to spare, so havethe ship  fixed up and present it with my  compliments. Have it renamed theWienis as a mark of our esteem and affection."He laughed again.