Shadow of great britain

London, Greenwich Borough, Woolwich Royal Arsenal.

A carriage stopped in front of the arsenal, and solid black riding boots stepped on the slippery floor tiles.

Arthur raised his hat slightly. During the lunch break, there was still a group of big and small workers playing football on the playground in the arsenal today, but he was not in the mood to go up and play with them today, let alone sit on the sidelines to give some instructions. of interest.

After all, it is more suitable for the French to do the job of coaching the arsenal to play football.

As one of the areas with the highest security level in London, the guard work of Woolwich Arsenal is carried out by the Royal Horse Artillery Regiment that has been stationed here for a long time. Although it is rest time, in view of the frequent small-scale riots in London in recent years, After the incident, the soldiers still did not relax their vigilance. Patrolling soldiers in teams of three could be seen everywhere in the streets near the arsenal.

Arthur stepped out of the carriage, took out his ID from his pocket and showed it to the arsenal guard: "Arthur Hastings, senior superintendent of the Metropolitan Police Department, head of the Criminal Investigation Department, formerly a chemist at your company Engineer Mr. James Marsh was commissioned by the Royal Society of Medicine to assist Scotland Yard in investigating a murder. I heard there was some progress on his side this morning, and I came to talk to him about the case."

The armed guard took a look at the certificate and nodded immediately: "Mr. Hastings, please come in. The local police station has informed us in advance that you will be here at noon today. Mr. Marsh is already waiting in the chemical laboratory. You."

Arthur nodded: "This case is very urgent, so I won't say much more. Please lead the way."

Under the leadership of the guard, Arthur walked through the playground of the arsenal and entered the production workshop. As soon as he entered the factory, he saw rows of strange machines neatly arranged. By identifying the instruction marks on the machines, Arthur roughly understood Here's what this is.

The steam-powered hammer produced by Naismith Company, the gun stock, rifling, and barrel lathe produced by the factory owned by Henry Maudsley, the father of machinery, as well as a machine with only the year of production clearly visible, and other labels are blurred. 1776 horizontal boring machine, etc.

Since various machines have spanned the ages, spanning the entire 18th century to the 19th century, the glorious present and past of the entire British machinery industry are almost all condensed in this production workshop that can accommodate thousands of people working at the same time.

When Arthur saw this, he couldn't help but joked: "Some of the antiques here have been used for half a century. Hasn't the Ordnance Bureau considered allocating funds to the arsenal to buy new products?"

When the guard heard this, he smiled and replied: "When there is no war, it is usually very difficult to ask the parliament for funds. But I am lucky this year. The superiors have approved some new funds. Look over there, isn't this just Is there a lathe dealer coming to sell you door-to-door?"

Arthur looked up, and sure enough, at the back of the production workshop, there was a gentleman wearing a black bowler hat and a dark green vest, who was enthusiastically introducing something to a senior officer in a neat light red military uniform. As he spoke, he directed the apprentice next to him in thick blue work clothes to take out the drawings and show them to him.

Seeing this, Arthur smiled and replied: "It seems that it won't be long before the Woolwich Arsenal will be able to get some new products. If you ask me, you should have stopped producing the Baker rifled rifle long ago. That thing has been discontinued from It was used during the Napoleonic Wars, and it is still used for more than 20 years. Even if the army is not tired of using it, we at Scotland Yard are tired of it. And carrying such a long flintlock rifle to patrol the streets is indeed very easy to cause trouble. The dissatisfaction of the citizens of London. Have you considered setting up a production line for portable handguns, preferably the firing type. I think Mr. Forsyth's 'perfume bottle' firing bolt design is quite good, although it takes a bit of effort to maintain. , but I can’t help but that thing looks really beautiful.”

When the guard heard this, he couldn't help but glance at Arthur, and he said: "You are quite knowledgeable, sir. But it is true that the rifles used by the infantry are not convenient for the police officers of Scotland Yard to use when patrolling." It's best for you to carry a pistol."

They were discussing the pros and cons of various types of guns animatedly, when suddenly a burst of enthusiastic greetings interrupted their conversation.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. If there is nothing wrong with my ears, then one of you must have just said that you are interested in percussion pistols?"

Arthur turned his head and looked around. Standing behind him to greet him was a young man with wavy curly hair. His face was red, and his skin was slightly rough, as if it had been washed by wind and sand for a long time. Some of it was vaguely visible on the knuckles of his right hand. There are hardened and yellowed calluses, and there are circles of white cloth leggings tied from the calf to the ankle. A brass monocular telescope is placed squarely on the inner end of the cowhide tube behind the buttocks.

Seeing his appearance, Arthur couldn't help but ask: "Are you a sailor?"

The young man was stunned by Arthur's question, and then asked in surprise: "How do you know?"

The guard helped Arthur and replied: "Yankee, haven't you ever read a detective novel? Go buy the latest issue of "The Englishman". The Scotland Yard police officers in "Hastings" are all That's right. Not to mention that the person standing in front of you is a senior police officer from Scotland Yard."

The young man asked doubtfully: "Are the police officers so good?"

"Are you a Yankee?" Arthur looked the young man up and down: "No wonder, I said your accent is a bit strange."

The young man seemed dissatisfied with being identified as an American. He blushed and replied: "Sir, it doesn't matter where I am from, but what matters is that I can provide you with the percussion pistol you want. I've been here almost three days, and none of these old London bureaucrats take me seriously. I assure you, my Colt revolver is by far the best in the world. Portable weapons, if Scotland Yard police officers are equipped with this product, it will definitely be of great help to you! In the past, you had to reload after firing a shot, but now you can knock down six enemies with one reload. This is a six-fold increase in combat power, are you sure you really don’t want to consider it?”

"Colt revolver?" Arthur was stunned for a while when he heard the term. He pondered for a long time, and then he remembered the name he had seen in a military magazine, and asked tentatively: "Ser Muir Colt?”

When Colt heard Arthur directly say his name, he opened his mouth in shock and didn't know what to say: "You...you can see that I have been floating on the sea for a year, why don't you even think about me?" Do you also know his name?"

When Arthur heard this, he just took out his pipe mysteriously: "Yes, the detective is like this."

When the guard on the side saw Arthur trying to make a fire, he was so frightened that he snatched the match and the matchbox together: "Oh my God! Mr. Hastings! There is a gunpowder warehouse next door. Are you going to blow us up together?" "

Only then did Arthur remember where this place was. He quickly put down his little hand that had nowhere to rest, and smiled awkwardly: "Sorry."

He glanced at Colt again for a moment, thought for a while and then said: "Wait for me here for a while. When I finish my work, we can continue to talk about your pistol later. Although I can't intervene. Scotland Yard makes overall equipment purchasing decisions, but I still have the right to make independent decisions on some small matters within the department.”

After saying this, Arthur said to the guard: "Let's go, sir, let's go to the laboratory first."

Colt, who was standing behind him, was stunned and then showed a look of joy. The nineteen-year-old American boy shouted at Arthur: "Mr. Detective, I haven't had lunch yet, I'm going outside." The cafe is waiting for you! You are so clever, you must know which cafe I am talking about, right? Let’s see you there!”

As soon as he finished saying this, Colt turned his head and ran outside. He jumped while running, and from time to time he clenched his fists and punched the air.

It can be seen that this guy is very happy about the opportunity to get a new order.

Seeing this scene, Arthur just turned his head and asked the guard beside him: "How many cafes are there outside the factory?"

"Just one family."

"That's fine."

Under the leadership of the guard, Arthur walked through the workshop and came to the small red brick building not far behind the workshop.

After walking through the front hall with cement pavement and just reaching the second floor, Arthur smelled a strong pungent smell.

He thought about it carefully for a while, and felt that the smell seemed familiar.

After thinking for a long time, Arthur finally determined that the taste was very similar to the French pesto that Alexandre Dumas grew in the garden.

Just when Arthur thought the guards were taking him to the laboratory restaurant of the arsenal, as the door was pushed open, what caught Arthur's eyes was neither a fiery scene of cooking nor a sweaty chef.

The overall layout of the room is no different from the laboratory reserved for chemists of the Royal Society. Various colorful solutions and transparent beakers are filled with several shelves, and on the experimental table in the center of the room, there is a heated beaker.

The guard tapped the door lightly with his finger and called out, "Mr. Marsh."

The man who was standing in front of the beaker, frowning in thought, looked up and spotted Arthur and the guard. He asked, "Who is this next to you?"

"Mr. Arthur Hastings, Superintendent of Scotland Yard."

"Ah! So it's you, come in quickly." James Marsh invited Arthur into the room, pointing to the bubbling heated liquid in the beaker, and introduced: "I have to say that Scotland Yard has taken this case very seriously. Very lucky. If this case had happened a few weeks ago, the truth might have been lost."

When Arthur heard this, he asked: "So...Mr. Marsh, did you discover anything interesting?"

"It's not interesting to talk about, but I think this should be a tragedy."

Marsh said: "I won't let you ramble on about this kind of life-threatening matter. You may have also learned some news from the Royal Society of Medicine. Not long ago, I just discovered the method of detecting arsenic residues. The arsenic test method. The beaker in front of you is filled with hydrochloric acid, bisulfate and food residues extracted from the victim's stomach. According to the arsenic test method, when these mixtures are heated, if the food residues are mixed with arsenic elements, Arsenic trihydrogen will be produced. Of course, to put it more clearly, it is the strong garlic smell you smell now."

"Arsenic?" Arthur couldn't help but frowned when he heard this element.

Talking about arsenic may be too academic. If we talk about its common name - arsenic, then it will be familiar to everyone.

Arsenic is a poison with a long history. Whether in the East or the West, its history of being used to kill people can be traced back to several centuries BC.

First of all, as James Marsh said, for a long time, humans have not had scientific means to stably detect arsenic residues.

Secondly, as a perfect poison, arsenic itself has no taste. When it is dissolved in water, it will only make the water slightly sweeter, so it is not easy for the victim to notice that he has been poisoned.

Moreover, symptoms after poisoning, such as diarrhea, vomiting, etc., can also be easily confused with other diseases.

After all, these days, several epidemics that rage in London all year round almost always involve diarrhea and vomiting. After being poisoned, most people will just think that they are unlucky to be sick.

The most important point is that arsenic is very easy to obtain. Since the Industrial Revolution, various metal smelting industries have been in full swing in Britain, and various arsenic compounds, which are by-products of the metallurgical industry, have also been carefully packaged and treated as mice by factory owners. We sell medicines, fly paper and other special pesticides to prevent pests.

What’s even more outrageous is that beauty-loving ladies from all walks of life in London have been using all kinds of arsenic-containing cosmetics since the time of Elizabeth I. Such cosmetics range from the simplest cream to various high-end perfumes and other products. Traces of arsenic can be found in all.

There is also an arsenic-containing product called Fowler's solution among the medicines recognized by London residents as being effective against malaria.

Thinking of this, Arthur finally understood why Bernie Harrison acted so confidently.

Because death caused by an overdose of arsenic, it is really not possible to convict him of murder unless Scotland Yard has a complete chain of evidence that the perpetrator committed the crime.

Otherwise, even if the test results of the food in his stomach are obtained, he cannot be completely convicted.

There are many ladies in this society who take the initiative to take arsenic in pursuit of rosy skin, and not a few die as a result.

It is really not an easy task to overturn a member of the House of Commons, especially a perfume merchant who is proficient in this matter, through such a small matter.

Arthur couldn't help but fell into deep thought when he thought of this.

He was thinking about how to convict Bernie Harrison, but unexpectedly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Agares rushing through the wall.

The red devil seemed to be frightened by something, and grabbed Arthur to go out: "Arthur! Damn it, come out and take a look, I saw those damn idiots fishing for people by the Thames River again! "