Shadow of great britain

London No. 1, Wellington House, Apsley House.

The Duke of Wellington leaned on the bright red velvet sofa chair and looked at Arthur, who was neatly dressed in a police officer's tuxedo, a black hat on his head, spotless white gloves, and a police officer's knife hanging on his waist.

The gray-haired Duke of Wellington tapped his fingertips on the table and said, "You seem to be in good spirits, young man."

Arthur just smiled: "If you had called me here a few days ago, I wouldn't have this expression."

Wellington took a sip of tea: "Really? But that's right. You used to be too close to me and Peel. After the Whigs came up, those who found you uncomfortable would inevitably have to deal with it. But it depends on you With this look, is it possible to get through the crisis smoothly?"

"So be it."

Arthur didn't want to hide his relationship with the Whig Party. After all, for someone like the Duke of Wellington, it was completely unreasonable to target a small shrimp like him.

According to Arthur's understanding of the world, beggars and millionaires are rarely jealous of each other. Beggars are only jealous of beggars with higher incomes, and the same is true for millionaires.

Everyone likes to compete with opponents of the same level. If they jump over the level to fight monsters, it is either because they are desperate or because they are overestimating their capabilities.

Arthur said: "This time when the Whigs came up, I was almost finished. But you should know that I graduated from the University of London. And the new Lord Justice Brougham happened to be the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of London. , I have attended several of his lectures before, and he had a pretty good impression of me, so he easily saved me this time."

"Brougham?"

When Wellington heard the name, he suddenly said: "I almost forgot about him. That eccentric lawyer and his bad temper. It's not easy for you to have a good relationship with him. But you His luck was indeed good. The Whig Party came to power just after the death of the late King George IV. If the late King had not passed away, Brougham would never have been able to get the position of Justice. You know, the late King had nothing to do with the Brougham Gang. Queen Caroline has always been obsessed with winning the divorce case."

At this point, Wellington changed the topic: "However, it is you who came to see me today. Does Scotland Yard plan to hand over all my security work during the London meeting to you?"

Arthur heard this and joked: "I hope you won't be angry about this. The security work of Viscount Palmerston, the other British representative at the London Conference, the Foreign Secretary, is personally responsible for the security work of Director Rowan. I will be responsible for you, level Maybe it’s a little low.”

When the red devil on the side heard this, he couldn't help but snickered: "Oh! Arthur, you little bastard. You are planning to punish Luo Wan to death. The Whigs are laying mines for him." Not counting, he turned around and stumbled him again on the Tory side.”

Sure enough, when Wellington heard this, he raised his eyebrows and said: "Ha! Luo Wan's ability to adapt to the situation is quite strong. But let him do whatever he wants. Anyway, I am only attending the meeting as a consultant this time. According to legal procedures, Palmerston's security level should be higher than mine."

Arthur leaned over with a smile and said: "With your broad mind, you really don't care about these minutiae, but even though you don't care, as the person in charge of security, I still need to conduct detailed inspections of the topography and environment inside and outside Apsley House. Investigate to make sure nothing goes wrong during the meeting.”

When Wellington heard this, he stood up and knocked on the iron window of his house with his fingers. He joked to himself: "Actually, there is nothing to investigate. Look at this window. It cannot be stronger." "Thames" Didn't the newspaper say that my whole body is made of iron? If you want to assassinate me, the Iron Duke, just getting a few bullets won't work.

But if you want to investigate intelligence, just do it. I can understand your feelings. Knowing nothing about the terrain, troop strength, deployment, and weather before the war will always make people feel unsure. By the way, for this London meeting, when you have nothing to do, you can have a good chat with Mr. Francois Vidocq, who is responsible for the security of French Ambassador Talleyrand.

But in terms of police intelligence work, the French "Security Brigade" under his jurisdiction can be said to be the best in Europe. If you can learn one and a half tricks from him, I believe it will help improve your work ability. "

Safety brigade?

As soon as Arthur heard the name of this organization, he immediately understood what the Duke of Wellington meant.

In fact, when it comes to the establishment of police organizations, France is far ahead of the UK.

As early as 1667, King Louis XIV of France ordered the establishment of the Paris Police Department. However, because the Paris police's law enforcement style was too violent, it was almost difficult to distinguish the French police from the army in the early days, and even at that time The top officer of the Paris police also holds the rank of police lieutenant general.

During the French Revolution, the Paris Police Department was reorganized into the Paris Police Directorate. After Napoleon became emperor, it was reorganized into the Grand Paris Police Department. Their law enforcement style and scope of responsibilities gradually moved closer to the modern municipal police.

But although the Paris police are gradually becoming civilized, their historical traditions are there after all. Even becoming civilized is only relative. In most cases, the Paris police still adhere to the hard principle that guns are better than mouths. .

Precisely because of their notoriety, even British colleagues like Arthur and the Paris police were also affected.

When Scotland Yard was first established, London citizens almost equated them with terms such as repression, violence, and blood. This was one of the important reasons why Scotland Yard's front-line patrols often encountered attacks on their daily patrols.

But no matter what, in today's world, countries such as the United Kingdom and France, which claim to be role models for the world, hope to use as little violence as possible and try their best to bridge domestic conflicts. After all, no one wants to have this happen on their own territory. Revolution.

In order to make itself look civilized at least on the outside, the Paris Police Department has come up with all sorts of crooked ideas.

As early as more than ten years before Arthur proposed the establishment of LPS to Sir Peel, the French, who are quite creative in this area, had already taken the lead in carrying out the practice of domestic security intelligence work.

The Francois Vidocq mentioned by the Duke of Wellington was the founder and head of the intelligence department of the Paris Police Department. This old spy with outstanding work ability and great achievements for the Paris Police Department had Has a pretty impressive resume.

Mr. Vidocq accidentally killed someone in a sword duel at the age of 14 and had to flee his hometown. After changing her appearance, she came to Paris alone, but fell in love with a French actress. However, this sibling relationship did not end well in the end, and Mr. Vidocq spent all his money.

It happened that the French Revolution broke out at this time, so Mr. Vidocq took advantage of the situation and sneaked into the army. At first, his performance was considered good, and he performed very bravely in the first half of the battle.

But soon, his pushy and unruly character got him into big trouble. He proposed a duel to an officer who was always against him, but was rejected.

Unconvinced, Vidocq directly drew his sword and attacked in a sneak attack. In a 1V15 battle, he successfully killed two officers and proposed hanging after being subdued.

Before the execution, Mr. Vidocq, who has always been bold, certainly would not sit still and wait for death. He gave full play to his high-strength force and led the prisoners to escape from the prison, humming all the way back to his hometown.

His unlucky father was also shocked after learning about his son's experiences over the years. He could only pat his son on the shoulder and said sincerely: "Sooner or later, you will die on the streets. You'd better get married quickly. , at least leave a seed for our old Wei family."

Vidocq also honestly followed his father's advice and found a girl from his hometown to get married.

Fortunately, within a few months of Vidocq's marriage, his wife gave birth to a fat boy.

But Vidocq was holding the child, but he couldn't figure out why he felt something was wrong.

No, aren’t they all pregnant for ten months? Why was my son born at six months? Could it be that he is gifted?

Unable to figure it out, Vidocq finally left his hometown town on a rainy night and ran back to Paris. Soon after, he was imprisoned again for fighting.

His many experiences in prison finally made him enlightened in prison. He learned the high-end craftsmanship of making fake certificates from an old French pickpocket, and was imprisoned repeatedly for this.

The Grand Paris Police Department, who couldn't stand him, finally put him in a naval prison, but they obviously underestimated Vidocq's ability. It didn't take long for Vidoc to get a navy uniform from the guard by bribing him. Then he boldly escaped from prison.

When he was captured again, the Grand Paris Police Department raised his risk rating to the highest level, so this time, he was sent to Toulon Prison, the most heavily guarded and managed prison in France.

But Vidocq escaped from Toulon Prison again based on the principle that "as long as the mind does not slip, there are always more solutions than difficulties".

He and the Grand Paris Police Department have been fighting like this for ten years, "You give 3 and I give 4, you give 5 and I give 6." With these experiences, Vidocq's reputation in France is getting bigger and bigger, and many French Friends in the underworld regarded Vidocq as an idol.

But at a banquet held by the Paris underworld to celebrate Mr. Vidocq's successful escape from prison, Vidocq just sneered, took out an ID card from his coat pocket and slapped it on the table: "Sorry, I'm a policeman. ."

Soon after, the Grand Paris Police Department publicly announced that the distinguished Mr. Eugene François Vidocq had abandoned the dark side and turned to the light. He would serve as the chief executive of the police intelligence department of the Grand Paris Police Department and be responsible for leading the newly established Paris plainclothes police force. Detective Team - Sreté.

And this Sreté was the predecessor of the Paris Security Brigade mentioned by the Duke of Wellington.

The Paris Security Brigade, which has absorbed a large number of former criminals, is invincible under the leadership of Vidocq. With his many years of connections in the Paris underworld and his understanding of criminal psychology, he has become the leader of the Paris Security Brigade in just a few years. Reduced the crime rate in Paris by forty percent.

In order to praise Vidocq for his work achievements, the overjoyed French King Louis XVIII directly pardoned all the crimes Vidocq had committed in the past.

Of course, the reason why Vidocq was so successful was not entirely dependent on connections and experience.

He also introduced many technological innovations and institutional reforms in police work, such as undercover police, ballistics, criminal file preservation systems, plaster casts of criminals' shoe prints, indelible ink, crime scene protection mechanisms, etc.

Precisely because Vidocq was so successful, Scotland Yard also studied his various innovations when it was first established, and incorporated some of them into Scotland Yard's "Police Implementation Manual".

Arthur also had the idea of ​​going over to meet this old man, but the funds for Scotland Yard's activities were too tight, and the Tories had previously been unable to protect themselves. Even if Sir Peel trusted him again, it would be impossible for him to do so. During the political turmoil in London, Arthur was allowed to travel to Paris at public expense.

But unexpectedly, if Arthur didn't go to find Vidocq, Vidocq would come to his door himself.

However, having a capable person like Vidocq, who has been in charge of the Paris security intelligence system all year round, come with him also shows how much the French attach importance to the London Conference.

But when Arthur thought of this, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

He frowned slightly and muttered: "Although it would be more professional to let the police do the security work, why did you send Vidocq here to get Alexander back?"

Arthur suddenly felt a shiver in his heart. If he lost Alexandre Dumas at the London Conference, it would be no small matter.

Although Alexandre Dumas is not a high-ranking official, due to the previous exaggeration by the news media, this fat man has become an important symbol of Britain's defense of justice.

Although this face-saving issue is actually of little significance, it can profoundly affect the public opinion environment and party support rates.

Although most people in the UK do not have the right to vote, this does not mean that the Whigs and Tories dare to ignore their voices. The imagination of the people is the power base of politicians.

For this kind of problem where the person directly responsible can be found, the two parties don't mind naming someone to apologize.

If something happens by then, even if Lord Brougham wants to protect him, he may have to weigh the pressure of public opinion.

When he thought of this, Arthur suddenly felt that he needed to meet with the famous Mr. Vidocq immediately.

Although I am afraid it will be difficult to pry the truth out of his mouth, even if I can get some sporadic information, it will be of great benefit to Scotland Yard's operational arrangements during the meeting.

While Arthur was thinking about these things, Duke Wellington, who was leaning on the sofa and holding a glass of red wine, suddenly spoke again.

"Arthur, would you mind doing me a small favor?"

Arthur came back to his senses and asked with a smile: "Are you busy with a private identity or a public identity?"

The Duke of Wellington shook the red wine glass: "It doesn't matter, both are fine. If you use only one identity, I'm afraid you won't be able to handle this problem. And since you are responsible for my safety during the London meeting, then I will give you the following The two orders should be reasonable, right?"

Arthur did not refute this. He thought about what Duke Wellington had said before, and suddenly said with a smile: "Do you want me to act like Mr. Vidocq?"

"No, I need you to do better than him."

The Duke of Wellington stood up and walked around: "Although I know this may be difficult for you, we have some differences with the French and Russians on the issue of Belgian independence. There are some things that I can ask from my perspective. It's not very convenient, but if you inquire from below, you might get some unexpected surprises.

For the French, you can start with Vidocq. As for the Russians, I heard from several friends that there was a new pianist at the Allmark Club recently, named Arthur Hastings? That little gadget you brought called a gramophone is also very satisfying.

At the club dinner last week, I heard from Mrs. Cowper that Mrs. Leven, the wife of Count Leven, the Russian ambassador, also ordered one from you? I don’t know about that gramophone. Did you send it to her? "

The Duke of Wellington had already said this, how could Arthur not understand what he meant?

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, took off his hat and smiled bitterly: "Your Excellency, you really gave me a problem."

The Duke of Wellington laughed loudly. He patted Arthur on the shoulder and said: "Young man, you just need to exercise more. But don't be too stressed about this matter. Although the Whig Party and the Tory Party belong to different parties, We are in different camps, but we have always been consistent on external affairs.

As long as you can get this thing done, the Whigs will be happy too. Of course, even if it doesn't work, it's not a big deal. Anyway, with Brougham here, you probably won't have any problems. "

After hearing this, Arthur raised his head and glanced at the pendulum clock in the corner. The hour hand was exactly at twelve o'clock. The bell rang. Arthur put a hand on his chest and bowed slightly: "Your Excellency, take your orders."

There is one more chapter, later