Shadow of great britain

After bidding farewell to Vidocq, in the quiet living room, Alexandre Dumas and Arthur were busy writing.

Suddenly, the sound of a key opening the door broke the tranquility of the living room.

Elder walked in carelessly with a magazine under his arm. He glanced at Alexandre Dumas and Arthur, then looked around, and asked, "It's just the two of you? Isn't Charles here?"

Arthur leaned on the chair and stretched out: "Charles went to the Linnean Society at Burlington Palace to participate in museum activities. I heard that the Linnean Society recently received a new batch of paleontological specimens. Charles seemed to be interested in that batch of things. very interested."

"Oh! Thank God, he finally did something serious." Elder said: "I also support his behavior. Studying monkeys all the time will make him lose interest in natural history."

"Studying monkeys?" Alexandre Dumas took a sip of coffee: "But I heard Charles say that his main research object is you."

"Fucking fart!" Elder yelled angrily: "I'm more advanced than a monkey."

Hearing this, Arthur took a sip of tea and said, "Elder, there is no need to rush to compare in this matter."

Elder was speechless by the two of them, so he could only tease Darwin when he was not present: "But did Charles really go to the Linnean Society to do research? I remember Alexander said before that he was working with someone recently. Are you dating a mysterious young lady? You guys think he might be... Well, to be honest, I passed by a restaurant just now when I was going home, and through the window glass, I saw a beautiful woman at a table. Lady and a little bald guy.”

Alexandre Dumas said: "In Britain, a man is bald. You can't judge a person's identity based on this. And Charles can't be considered bald. If it is reasonable to say that he is just in his twenties, he unfortunately died early." The growth is not very lush in the forehead area.”

"Huh?" Elder said unyieldingly: "He's bald because he's a man? What's going on with Arthur?"

Alexandre Dumas glanced at Arthur's thick black hair, put his arm around his shoulders and replied: "I have told you before, Arthur is an old Frenchman."

Elder asked again: "What about me?"

Alexandre Dumas replied: "You? I tend to think that you are more advanced."

When Elder heard this, he couldn't help but cover his aching heart, his legs became weak and he hit the bookcase behind him.

He sadly discovered that since Alexandre Dumas joined their camp, there was one more person who could outshine him, a top student in the Department of Classical Literature at the University of London, in terms of words.

What's even sadder is that this guy is actually from France.

"Alexander, you fellow, now I know why King Louis Philippe of France wants to hang you so much."

But Alexandre Dumas was not only angry when he heard this, but also thanked him proudly: "Elder, I never thought that I could hear praise from your mouth."

Elder took out the magazine from the creaking nest and slapped it on the table: "You kid, you don't want to get in, do you?!"

Before Dumas could reply this time, the Red Devil, who was sitting on the table wearing glasses and looking back and forth between Dumas and Arthur's manuscripts, saw Elder's magazine and was suddenly stunned. He pinched his chin and muttered to himself.

""Lady's Wardrobe"? Arthur, your idiot friend still has this kind of interest? Fortunately, we are not in the Middle Ages, otherwise he would have had his head chopped off sooner or later. It is clearly written in the Bible that women cannot wear Wear men's clothes, and accordingly men do the same thing."

Elder seemed to have noticed something was wrong with the books he slapped on the table.

He looked down at the cover of the magazine, slammed his head and shouted, "Damn it! Why did I get my sister's book?"

Arthur just drank tea: "Forget it, Elder, you don't have to argue hard. The people sitting here are all our own people, and everyone will not report you. If you are not busy, you can give me some help next time." Our LPS intelligence personnel are undergoing training. I have just exchanged work experience with a cross-dressing master. Sometimes, if you can make good use of the advantages of men disguising themselves as women, you can often gain unexpected intelligence advantages."

Seeing that Arthur didn't believe it, Elder was about to get angry, but when he heard the second half of the sentence, he frowned and asked: "A man dressing up as a woman? When did Scotland Yard start doing this? Can the Ministry of Internal Affairs allow you to do this? Something?"

Arthur put down his tea cup and sighed: "If it were the Tory cabinet period, they probably wouldn't allow us to do this. After all, there are quite a few clergymen among the Tory supporters, and their ideas are also biased towards Traditionally conservative. But now the world is dominated by the Whig Party. The Whig Party even dares to mention parliamentary reform. I think wearing a skirt for the purpose of gathering intelligence should not be considered a big crime, right?"

Alexandre Dumas suddenly laughed for no reason when he heard this.

Elder was startled by him and asked, "Alexander, why are you laughing?"

Dumas wiped away tears from laughter and said: "What Arthur just said reminded me of something Mr. Vidocq mentioned to me before. When he was young, in order to avoid arrest and hanging, he The prostitute who lived next door to him borrowed a dress.

The result may be that he wears too much makeup to look beautiful. Not long after he ran out, he was almost pushed to the ground by a group of drunken hooligans and "justice was executed". Fortunately, he was physically strong and carried a knife as a self-defense weapon. Otherwise, this incident would probably have shadowed him for the rest of his life. "

Elder shuddered when he heard this. He gave a thumbs up and said angrily: "This guy sounds like an old Parisian."

As soon as Elder finished speaking, there was another polite knock on the door outside the house.

The door opened, and Arthur looked at the gentle smiling face standing outside the door, and couldn't help but said in surprise: "Mr. Rothschild?"

Lionel Rothschild took off his black top hat and said with a smile: "I'm really sorry for the unannounced visit."

Seeing his face that was slightly flushed by the wind, Arthur smiled and gave up his seat and asked, "Would you like to come in and sit for a while? It's already November, and the weather outside is quite cold. .”

Lionel certainly had no reason to refuse Arthur's invitation.

As the heir to the London branch of the Rothschild family, there must be a reason for him, a busy man, to come here specially.

After Lionel entered the door, he first said hello to Elder and Alexandre Dumas. After chatting with a few people and drinking a few cups of tea, Lionel, who had warmed up, finally started to run towards the theme.

He took off his white gloves and placed them on the table. He asked with a smile: "You may not know that your friend Mr. Disraeli is an old friend like me. I heard him say that you are planning to get a new one recently." Literary magazine, called The British?"

When Arthur heard the other party take the initiative to mention this matter, he probably had an estimate in his mind.

In order to help his son integrate into British society, Disraeli's father had him give up his Judaism and convert to the Anglican Church at an early age.

But in the final analysis, Disraeli was still a Jew by blood, and he was also a well-known social figure.

Although Disraeli did not have a good reputation, for the Rothschild family's political goal of continuously expanding Jewish influence, being famous is better than not being famous.

In addition, Disraeli was a serious Jewish boy and a true native of his own country. It was not surprising that the two could be mixed together.

As long as Disraeli's demands were not excessive, Rothschild was naturally very willing to provide him with some help within his ability.

Arthur remembered that Disraeli had mentioned before that he might seek a magazine sponsorship from the Rothschild family, so was Lionel's sudden visit today for this?

Arthur guessed Lionel's thoughts and said with a smile: "Benjamin told me about this before. He told me that in addition to being keen on public undertakings such as charity and education, the Rothschild family also We are also considering entering the fields of news media and literature and art.

And among the entire Rothschild family, you are the one who knows the most about art. So let me guess, are you going to submit an article to a magazine today, or are you going to place an ad in a magazine? "

Lionel smiled and replied: "Writing manuscripts or something, although I also have the intention to do this, the works I wrote are really difficult to be elegant. Especially after I watched the first chapter of "The British" After reading the content to be published in one issue, I feel that the little ink in my belly pales in comparison, so I better not humiliate myself in this regard.

Arthur, you should know that although the London real estate consulting company I manage has some stable clients, it still lacks a certain reputation compared with several large London real estate companies. According to my observation, it won’t be long before “The Englishman” will replace “Blackwood” and become the new benchmark in British literature.

If you can place ads on "British", it will definitely bring a huge boost of support to the company. Of this I have no doubt. But it is obvious that literary magazines will encounter certain operating difficulties in their early stages. I heard Benjamin say that it seems like your money is a bit tight at the moment? "

Arthur looked at Lionel's smiling face and finally understood the purpose of his visit today.

It seems that he doesn't just want to place ads, but if possible, he also wants to obtain a part of the magazine's equity.

Lionel also noticed the change in the expression between Arthur's eyebrows. He had known that this negotiation would not be easy.

In fact, when Disraeli found him at first, he just thought it was his Jewish friend who was possessed by the actor who came up with some unreliable ideas.

But when he learned that Arthur was actually involved, this new magazine named "The British" soon attracted Lionel's attention.

As we all know, Rothschild never believed that doing business was just about doing business. An investment of about a thousand pounds was simply insignificant compared to the overall huge size of the Rothschild family.

But if we can continue to gain from this investment the friendship of Arthur Hastings, the protégé of the new Lord Chancellor Lord Brougham, the most promising police officer of Scotland Yard, and the rising star of British science, even Rothschild The De family was tied to him.

Even if the business loses money, the hidden income from this investment can completely make up for the financial loss.

In fact, after the collapse of the Tory Party and the discovery of Duke Wellington's indifferent attitude towards Jewish liberation, the Rothschild family was also thinking about whether to change the family's main offensive position from the Tory Party to the Whig Party.

However, such a major political shift obviously cannot be made up of within the family overnight.

Lionel's father, Nathan Rothschild, is now in a state of fear of wolves and tigers. It is too low-cost to continue investing in the Tory Party, not to mention the Duke of Wellington's previous indifference to the liberation of the Jews. The Tories' opposition status alone also made him wary.

And if they directly abandon the Tory Party and turn to the Whig Party, then the Rothschild family's previous efforts to flatter the Tory Party for more than ten years will be in vain.

And no one can guarantee when the Tories will come to power again. If this happens, then the next time the Tories come to power, Rothschild will inevitably be destroyed.

This approach of putting eggs in one basket is not in the family's interest from an investment perspective.

Seeing that this year is coming to an end, the Rothschild family has only a fraction of the political donations they have prepared for this year. Just when they don't know where to spend the remaining money, Arthur's appearance gives a clue. new possibilities.

After conducting a detailed background check on Arthur, Lionel was pleasantly surprised to find that his police officer friend seemed to be at the balance point between the Whig Party and the Tory Party.

On the Tory side, Arthur was admired by the Duke of Wellington and a confidant of Sir Robert Peel.

And on the Whig side, this guy was one of the first graduates of the University of London, the educational base of the Whig left. And there is news from within Scotland Yard that in order to keep his favorite pupil, the new Lord Justice Lord Brougham had a fight with the Ministry of Home Affairs before he took office.

All in all, it seems that the bosses of both parties will not be angry if they invest their money in Arthur.

And being able to gain such a degree of favor from both parties, this twenty-year-old young man will at least become the person in charge of the Metropolitan Police Department and even the entire British local security system, even if the future is bad.

If you can have a good relationship with him, even if he cannot fight for political rights for the Jews, at least he can ensure that the Rothschild family's properties in London will not be attacked by the mob.

This kind of implicit long-term benefit that lasts for decades only requires an investment of one or two thousand pounds.

For this kind of deal, Lionel can only sum it up in one word - cheap.

Lionel smiled and said: "Of course, we only hope to occupy a small share of the equity in "The British". After all, as Benjamin said, the life of this magazine is ultimately in the hands of you founders and writers. inner.

The Rothschild family currently has two plans. One is to provide a capital injection of two thousand pounds. In addition, the real estate company under my jurisdiction also has an idle site near Fleet Street, which can be used by the magazine to store printing machines.

With this money and venue, even if "British" always operates at a loss, it will be enough to last three to five years. After paying so much, in exchange, the Rothschild family needs 25% of the equity and an eight-year free advertising agreement.

As for the other option, that is, for the sake of my friendship with Benjamin and you, Rothschild will use five hundred pounds to directly obtain advertising sponsorship for five years. Arthur, you should know that even in the most popular literary magazines or news media like The Times, their advertising space is at most this price.

But then you might want to consider selling your current shares in Thames Tunnel and Brunel Road and Bridge. "

Having said this, Lionel took out the stock receipt from his arms, put it on the table and pushed it over.

He smiled and said: "Just like I promised you before, the rise of these two stocks is very good. In the past two months, they have risen by 20%. If you plan to sell If so, I can buy them from you now for twelve hundred pounds. With this money, I believe the magazine can run smoothly for a few years and help you get through the difficult period."

Lionel took all the circumstances into account, and the share of equity he demanded was not excessive.

Buying 25% of the equity of a start-up magazine for two thousand pounds, and also helping to provide printing space, is almost the same as saying "I am sending money to you".

Although Arthur feels that the valuation of "British" will definitely not be low in the future, it will take at least a long period of five to eight years to reach the price given by Lionel today.

You know, the other party is not open-minded. Rothschild dared to invest so much money in "The British" almost entirely because of Arthur's favor.

Since the other party was so sincere, Arthur naturally had no reason to refuse.

Although the Duke of Wellington did not agree to liberate Judaism, even he could not refuse Rothschild's friendship when faced with the pound, let alone a Scotland Yard superintendent like Arthur?

He stood up, couldn't help but smile and sigh, he held Lionel's hand and said: "Lionel, I have to admit that Rothschild always seems very bold when it comes to investment. "

Lionel also smiled and blinked: "No, Arthur, on the contrary. Do you remember what I told you? What Rothschild lacks most is courage. What we pursue is steady flow and stable income."

There will be more in the evening