Shadow of great britain

Just by sharing a box of tobacco, Arthur quickly became passionate with the two military attaches.

The three of them chatted and talked about everything, from the customs of England to the snowy land of Russia. In the end, because of the same professional resonance, the three of them couldn't help but scolded their ignorant superiors and themselves for being secretly favored by celebrities. .

In the trivial words, Arthur finally vaguely constructed a basic impression of this big eastern European country.

In the past, Arthur's knowledge of Russia in the 19th century was nothing more than a few outstanding writers, serfdom and a vague administrative system that were criticized by the writers.

As for the understanding of the mysterious organization of the Russian Imperial Office, it is limited to a little bit of simple information.

But now, the concept is finally a little clearer.

The Imperial Administration of Russia was formerly the Office of His Majesty the Tsar established during the reign of Peter the Great. It was changed to the Imperial Secretariat during the reign of Catherine the Great. Its status continued to improve during the reign of Paul I, and it was officially renamed the Imperial Administration.

However, throughout the 18th century, the Imperial Office was a secret and undisclosed organization, and the scope of the Office's powers had no fixed number or legal basis. It purely depended on the Tsar's mood.

After 1812, in response to Napoleon's attack on Russia, the Imperial Office was officially declared open to the public, and its functions and superior-subordinate relationships began to be close to those of the Qing Dynasty's Military Aircraft Department. The General Office was not responsible for any department, but reported directly to the Tsar. Reporting work, they were responsible for collecting and conveying all matters and decrees of interest to Alexander I.

For example: communicating with the commander, settling prisoners of war, arranging army supplies and camping, etc.

Fortunately, there were no machine guns at this time, and there was no means of quickly transmitting orders such as telegraphs. Otherwise, Alexander I, who was sitting in St. Petersburg and giving instructions, could have requested the front line to move the machine gun position five meters to the left through the Imperial Office.

After the Napoleonic Wars, the power of the Imperial Office began to expand, and it successfully made this uncontrolled power explicit in the form of articles.

The Regulations of His Majesty's Office directly stipulate that the existence of His Majesty's Office is to handle matters directly under the Tsar's personal study and decision. All matters here are handled directly by the Tsar, or by the chief of the Tsar's authorized office. The scope of the Tsar's wishes could not be determined, and therefore neither could the powers and institutions of His Majesty's Office.

To sum up this passage, it almost means that the power of the Imperial Office is unlimited.

Soon after, the power to evaluate and promote senior Russian officials and evaluate the performance of local administrative and police agencies was also tightly controlled by the Imperial Office.

In front of it, all other departments in Russia are afraid. Anyone who offends the Imperial Office will have a happy ending in his political career.

The expansion of power naturally brought about a substantial expansion of the size of the institution. The Imperial General Office quickly expanded from one department to four departments in just a few years.

Among them, the First Department is responsible for supervising the work of all departments. Except for the Navy Department and the War Department, all department heads and even the Orthodox Attorney General must report to the First Department every morning.

The Second Chamber holds legislative power in its hands, and the Russian Ministry of Justice is only responsible for implementing the decisions of the Second Chamber.

As for the third hall, it is even more heavyweight.

To be precise, the Third Hall contains almost all the powers that Arthur, the superintendent of Scotland Yard, could not even imagine.

The third department has five divisions. The first division is responsible for political investigation, secret surveillance of domestic revolutionary organizations and social activists, and handling of political cases.

The second branch is responsible for combating separatism and religious radicals.

The third branch is specifically aimed at foreign intelligence. It not only monitors foreigners within the country, but is also responsible for spying on foreign information.

The fourth branch is mobile. They are responsible for handling domestic public opinion emergencies and major events, and collecting important information.

As for the fifth department, their job responsibilities are mediocre compared with those of several brother departments. It is specifically responsible for the review of cultural publishing fields such as books, newspapers, and dramas.

In order to ensure that the Third Office can complete its work smoothly, of course they also have their own executive agency, which is the well-trained Russian military police spread across the country.

It is directly responsible to the Tsar, has no legal constraints on its power, and can dispatch military police at any time and at any time. All these factors make the Third Chamber the most troublesome department in the Imperial Office and even in Russia.

Being a police officer can be considered the pinnacle of being a third-party police officer. At least in Britain, Arthur couldn't even think about it.

On this small island, let alone establishing an organization like the Third Hall, there are still a lot of people who are reluctant to even establish an ordinary security organization like Scotland Yard.

Not long ago, various London dioceses complained in Parliament: "I originally thought that the establishment of Scotland Yard would reduce the parish's security expenses a lot, but at the end of the year, I found out that in previous years, it only cost 170,000 pounds for the London dioceses to hire their own sheriffs. But Scotland Yard’s funding this year has exceeded 250,000 pounds. For such a costly thing, why not just disband it?”

However, although the clergy of various dioceses have mentioned this, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been extremely tough on this issue, and there is no talk of disbanding Scotland Yard.

As the saying goes, it is easy to establish a department but difficult to dissolve it.

Maybe the priests are really thinking about the parishioners and need to reduce the security tax, but from the perspective of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this is taking away my power!

You can evacuate Scotland Yard today, but are you planning to evacuate our Ministry of Internal Affairs tomorrow?

Want to lower taxes? sure! You go and apply to Parliament to disband the Royal Navy. What is the use of burning so much military expenditure every year?

You ask them to build two fewer ships and use the money spent on building battleships to subsidize parishioners.

When Arthur mentioned this place, the two bearded military attaches also made him laugh.

The more they looked at this British guy, the more they liked him. They were thinking about where to invite him for a drink in the evening. Suddenly, a man with wavy curly hair, holding a cane, wearing a black trench coat and a big hat walked out of the embassy. middle-aged man in brimmed hat.

When the two military attaches saw the old gentleman, they hurriedly smiled and stretched out their hands to say hello: "Guten tag! herr metternich."

When the old gentleman heard this, he raised his hand and touched the brim of his hat lightly, then walked down the steps with heavy and powerful steps, and soon left the embassy gate.

Arthur frowned slightly, the other person seemed to be speaking German.

Although during the teaching process at the University of London, in order to enable students to understand the official documents of European countries during the Middle Ages, the History Department offers courses in Latin and Greek, German is obviously not within the scope of teaching.

However, although Arthur has never learned German, he has watched some German videos in his previous life. Unfortunately, he only knows one reactionary slogan - Heil Hitler, but it is obvious that this is not what the other party said today. It was at least half a century before that Mr. Mustache was born.

When he was about to ask the military attache who the old gentleman he just passed by was, before he could speak, he suddenly heard a burst of laughter.

"You must be Mr. Hastings?"

Arthur turned his head and looked around. The person speaking was a beautiful lady wearing a beige brocade dress, two emerald earrings, a diamond necklace hanging on her white neck, and a pigeon blood red ring on her lace white gloves. .

In London, there are many rich ladies and even more beautiful ladies, but there is probably only one who is rich and beautiful and can live in the Russian Embassy.

Arthur took off his hat and saluted: "Madam, it's nice to see you."

Mrs. Leven looked at Arthur with a smile: "It's exactly as Emily described. You are indeed a typical British gentleman. Just looking at your appearance, no one would have imagined that you would be someone who has been dealing with criminals all year round. Scotland Yard Sergeant."

When Arthur heard the compliment from his wife, he did not dare to take it lightly. After all, he knew very well that the beautiful lady in front of him could cause waves in Europe by just fanning her pleated skirt.

Arthur smiled and handed the gramophone in his hand to the servant beside him, then took out his wallet from his pocket, took out four concert tickets and handed them over.

"Madam, I am very happy to be able to help you with some trivial matters. Thanks to your and Mrs. Cowper's enthusiastic support, I have successfully joined the London Philharmonic Society. After discussing with Mr. Moscheles, we plan to This weekend there will be the first public performance of the Philharmonic Society's Third Symphony Orchestra at the Coburg Theater. If you can bring your family or friends to attend the concert during your busy schedule, the London Philharmonic Society will be honored .”

Mrs. Levine took the ticket and the program list attached to the ticket, and just glanced at it, her eyes lit up and said: "Oh! God! Are you sure you are not mistaken? Except for you, there will be no one else in this concert. Mr. Moscheles and Mr. Mendelssohn will also be on stage?”

Arthur nodded with a smile and said: "Yes, the association attaches great importance to the debut of the Third Symphony Orchestra. As the head of the association, Mr. Moscheles always holds his breath and wants to make the Third Orchestra's reputation instantly. Therefore, He specially summoned Mr. Mendelssohn who was traveling in Italy.

In addition, I can also tell you privately that Mr. Moscheles is trying his best to attract Mr. Cipriani Porter, who teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London, to join this concert. Judging from the information I have received from Mr. Moscheles so far, Mr. Porter’s franchise situation is very optimistic. "

Even a lady like Mrs. Levine couldn't help but feel a little excited when she heard the unprecedentedly powerful lineup for this concert.

Ignaz Moscheles, chief conductor of the prestigious London Philharmonic Society and academic member of the Royal Academy of Music,

Felix Mendelssohn, the talented pianist who became famous in Europe at the age of 21 and the author of "A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture\

,"There is also Cipriani Porter, the best piano player of Mozart and Beethoven in England.

Plus a Paganini from Scotland Yard who is not famous now, but will surely become popular quickly in the future - Arthur Hastings.

Such a luxurious lineup is enough to support a large-scale performance such as the Christmas party. It is only used for a routine Sunday concert. In Mrs. Levin's view, it is really overqualified.

Arthur saw that Mrs. Levine had some intention, but it did not rise to a decisive level, so he continued to add: "Of course, although Moscheles, Mendelssohn and Porter are all absolutely powerful pianists, But they pale in comparison to the special guests at the concert.”

When Mrs. Levin heard this, she couldn't help covering her mouth with white gloves: "You mean, there are still masters?"

Arthur smiled and nodded: "I heard from Mr. Moscheles that his teacher, Mr. Muzio Clementi, the mentor of all British pianists, will attend this concert."

"Muzio Clementi?" Mrs. Levin couldn't help but open her eyes when she heard the name, and said in surprise: "Hasn't he not held a concert for more than ten years?"

Arthur smiled and said: "As you said, Mr. Clementi began to engage in music education more than ten years ago and no longer attends concert performances. But this time is an exception. He is old, so He plans to announce his retirement soon. This time, it should be his final performance.

It is precisely because of this that I will try my best to request you to attend this concert on behalf of Mr. Moscheles. He wants to give a decent farewell concert to his mentor. Mr. Moscheles would be grateful if a celebrity like you would be willing to attend. "

When Mrs. Levin heard this, she finally no longer hesitated.

Although the name Muzio Clementi was not as prominent as Mozart and Beethoven in later generations, in 19th-century Europe, this master who composed more than 110 piano pieces in his lifetime was on par with Mozart and Beethoven. legendary pianist.

Even in the UK, his fame and praise surpass Mozart and Beethoven. This romantic pianist from the Apennine Peninsula is definitely a well-deserved leader in the British music industry.

Mrs. Levin immediately said: "Please rest assured that it is a great honor to attend Mr. Clementi's farewell performance. Even if you don't take the initiative to ask me today, I will definitely take the initiative to help you in the club." Mr. Clementi promoted the concert.

Traveling to Vienna without hearing the performances of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven is equivalent to gaining nothing; traveling to London without hearing Mr. Clementi perform is equivalent to living in vain. It just so happened that I had a friend come from Austria recently, and I could take him to taste Clementi's playing style and compare it with the pianists in Vienna. "

"Friends from Austria?" When Arthur heard this, he was stunned for a moment. He suddenly remembered the German phrase spoken by the two Tsarist Russian military attaches just now - Herr Metternich.

Metternich?

Metternich?

He suddenly looked back, but the old gentleman had long disappeared behind him.

Damn it!

The one just now was the Prime Minister of the Austrian Empire - Clemens Metternich?

What is he doing at the Russian Embassy?