Shadow of great britain

Thanks to the semi-open structure of the theater, the scenery on the second floor of the Astrid Amphitheater is much better than that of the boxes in a closed theater.

In front of the box is an extended balcony. Looking up, you can see the stars and the moon. Looking ahead, you can see the center of the theater stage.

There, the theater staff were nervously preparing props for tonight's performance, including countless iron cans, several meters-long copper pillars and rose-red curtains falling inch by inch.

In the private room, Lionel Rothschild looked with a little surprise at the young man who was leaning on the balcony sofa while sipping wine and writing a few sentences quickly from time to time.

He turned to Arthur and asked, "Arthur, who is this?"

Arthur chuckled softly: "Sorry, Lionel, I forgot to introduce you. This is the famous German poet-Mr. Heinrich Heine. You must know his "Collected Poems of Heine" Have you seen it?

In terms of his understanding of society, Mr. Heine can write such forward-looking and philosophical lines as "Burning books begins with burning people, and ends with burning people."

When talking about the sorrow of love, he can also write about the sorrow of "I have occupied your heart for a long time, but you have forgotten it".

Congratulations, Lionel, I'm honored to inform you that The Anglican just gained an incredible author. "

Arthur turned his back to Heine, and while speaking words of praise to Heine, he smiled and winked at him.

Lionel was stunned at first, and then quickly understood the hidden meaning in Arthur's words. He lowered his voice and asked: "In that case, Mr. Heine's new work, those offensive remarks about Rothschild... …”

Arthur also smiled and responded in a low voice: "Lionel, Britain is a country with a free press. We cannot censor a new work. But at the same time, the editorial board of "The British" also agreed that it should be avoided as much as possible. Controversial remarks. We all understand that risks can never be avoided, but at the moment, in my opinion, the risks are generally controllable."

When Lionel heard this, he couldn't help but smile and patted Arthur's chest with the back of his hand: "Arthur, it seems that even if you are not a policeman, you will do well as a stockbroker. You are right, we We are not afraid of risks, they are everywhere, we focus on controllable risks, and for me, this is enough.”

Arthur took out the red wine from the cupboard and poured a little bit into each of the two goblets. He gently raised the wine glass to clink it with Lionel.

The wine glasses collided with each other, making a crisp sound. The ripples of the wine only reflected the slightly upward corners of his mouth: "Lionel, most of the malice in the world comes from not understanding or understanding too well." . If you can chat with him, maybe Mr. Heine will withdraw the manuscript later."

Heine heard the conversation behind him and couldn't help but stand up and look back. He glanced at Lionel, frowned and asked Arthur: "Mr. Hastings, who is this person next to you?"

This time, without waiting for Arthur to reply, Lionel took the initiative to greet him with a smile: "Mr. Heine, it's a great honor to see you here. Let me introduce myself, I am a banker and also a member of the " One of the investors of "The British" and a loyal supporter of yours. To be honest, I always buy two copies of your collection of poems, one for reading and one as a collection. If you don't mind, Just call me Lionel."

"Banker? Investor?"

Heine quickly caught the key words in Lionel's words. He pondered for a long time. In the end, in his heart, his respect for the funder slightly outweighed his disgust for the banker.

Heine held Lionel's hand: "Nice to meet you, sir. I am also very honored to be able to share my travel experiences and insights with readers in "The Englishman"."

Lionel complimented: "Your lyric poems are definitely top-notch even in Europe. I'm a little embarrassed to say that I used your love poems to impress my wife. I really thank you for helping me." A love won.”

"Oh? Really?"

Heine smiled awkwardly when he heard this: "It seems that you are luckier than me. Most of those love poems were written by me to my cousin. When I finished writing these things, I felt that German literary works I am afraid that there is nothing more outstanding and emotional than these poems. But what is unexpected is that my cousin obviously does not understand literature and has no emotions. If there is anything I regret in this life, it is I didn’t kill that couple of bitches at that time.”

As soon as Heine said this, Lionel, who had always been well-behaved, immediately stiffened his smile. He maintained that smile and turned to look at Arthur beside him. His eyes were full of doubts and doubts, as if he was looking at him. Arthur asked: "Are you sure the guy standing in front of me is Heine? The top lyric poet in Germany?"

Arthur also understood what Lionel was thinking. He calmly opened his coat, took out the pistol from the holster and handed it to Heine. He said apologetically: "Mr. Heine, I'm sorry. Hearing this news, I will send you a gun to express my condolences."

Seeing this, Lionel quickly pressed Arthur's hand back: "Arthur, are you crazy? Are you planning to encourage Mr. Heine to have an honorary duel? That might kill him!"

Arthur raised his eyebrows: "What's the big deal about a duel? Before Mr. Heine went to seek revenge and engage in an honorary duel, I had already fought first."

Seeing this, Heine waved his hand: "Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Hastings, but I don't need a pistol. I can afford it myself. Well... maybe it's better for me to call you Arthur now. In short, You are quite a friend."

Heine patted Arthur on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry about me. I was just a teenager back then and didn't understand women yet. That's why I fell into trouble with her. I was only about 20 years old at the time, very young. It's easy to believe the lies in the book, thinking that women have no personality, and you can impress them as long as you are sincere enough.

But now I have used my own knowledge and practical experience to prove: women are not without personality, they just have new personalities every day. Damn it! At that time, no one told me the second part. Arthur, you are still young, you must learn from my experience! "

Arthur held his chin and thought for a moment: "Is this the only experience you have gained? Is there anything else?"

Heine picked up the wine glass and swung it around twice. He paced around the room and said, "Well... I'm afraid it's the principle of getting along with your lover's father. But I feel that those are all minutiae. It doesn't matter if you can't learn it. As long as You can charm her so much that her father won't be any resistance at all."

"My lover's father?" Lionel asked: "Are you talking about your cousin's father, your uncle - Mr. Solomon Heine?"

As soon as Lionel finished speaking, Agares, who was sleeping on the sofa wearing pajamas and a nightcap, lifted the quilt and looked around: "Solomon? Where is Solomon?"

Arthur glanced at the Red Devil, but he was quite sensible and had no intention of commenting on his star-chasing behavior.

Heine looked at Lionel in surprise: "How do you know my uncle's name?"

Lionel smiled and said: "I have said before that I am a fanatical supporter of yours. I have collected every review of your poetry collection. And the experience of a famous person like you is not a secret. Besides, Mr. Mendelsohn and I are also friends. His father is a well-known local banker in Hamburg. And your uncle, Mr. Solomon Heine, is also a successful man in the banking industry in Hamburg. It is too easy for me to ask him about the Heine family. It’s easier.”

"So that's it..." Heine couldn't help but curled his lips: "Then did he tell you the little story about me and my uncle?"

Lionel inquired: "Are you talking about that incident at the banking banquet in Hamburg?"

Heine raised his eyebrows, shook his head and said, "You really know."

Arthur, who has always been sensitive to intelligence, asked unwillingly: "So, what is it?"

"This..." Lionel glanced at Heine beside him and smiled apologetically: "It may be a little inconvenient to say."

Heine said: "It's nothing. If you don't say anything, then I'll speak for myself. It's all in the past anyway. And I haven't changed my opinion until now. This is how I live, and no one can change me." Not at all. Only cowards who have done something bad would cover it up, and I never bother to do that."

Heine cleared his throat and then said: "As you just mentioned, my uncle is a banker, so not long after I became an adult, my father sent him to study business. But my uncle The man is so vulgar that he hardly pays attention to anything except money. Moreover, he hates my writing poetry and scolds me for writing these things all day long, so I might as well learn to keep accounts quickly.

But he must understand that my patience is limited, and he will have to pay the price sooner or later for scolding me like this. So, at a political and business gathering in Hamburg, I took advantage of my drinking power to talk about parenting knowledge with the ladies around me. I loudly announced to the ladies: 'Prenatal education is very important. My mother read elegant literature when she was pregnant. works, so I want to become a poet. And my uncle's mother read gangster novels when she was pregnant with him, so my uncle became a banker. ’”

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help pinching his chin and nodding slightly: "You should have told this story earlier! Now I finally understand why your cousin sneered at you."

Lionel, who is also a banker, looked uncomfortable as if he had eaten a fly. He coughed and said: "Mr. Heine, actually my wife is also my cousin. In my opinion, our experiences are all Almost the same. They both come from banker families, both love their cousins, and even use the same poems when courting. But the difference between success and failure may be a subtle way of expression. Sometimes, euphemistically It’s also important to express dissatisfaction.”

Heine raised his glass and clinked it with Arthur and Lionel: "You are all right, so aren't I trying to be more restrained now? At least I no longer plan to say that Metternich has hemorrhoids. ”

Lionel had just put the wine into his mouth and had not yet swallowed it, but when he heard these words, Heine almost choked to death.

He leaned on the sofa and coughed repeatedly: "Mr. Heine, I have to say that there is a reason why you can become a poet. Just a word, a word can produce power that ordinary people cannot reach. You have such talent, you can use it in the future You should be more careful when you get up!"

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door of the box. A neatly dressed waiter walked in hurriedly and whispered beside Lionel: "Sir, the most noble person in Britain." The guest has already left from St. James's Palace. Do you think you should go downstairs to prepare first and give him a grand welcome outside the theater?"

When Lionel heard this, he quickly asked: "Does Your Majesty have any other entourage with him?"

The waiter replied: "The news just came back that he only brought a few close attendants, most of whom are ministers of the Palace Affairs Department."

Lionel heard the words and said: "Then don't make it too grand, just give a simple welcome. Everyone knows that His Majesty the King doesn't like to make any grand ostentation, and his most annoying hobby is limited to drunken banquets. He just gave a few lengthy speeches in front of a bunch of guests. Judging from his entourage, he came to see the duel this time just for temporary entertainment and not for any political purpose. His Majesty probably just dislikes the palace ball tonight. It’s so boring, he really hates these social things.”

When the waiter heard this, he nodded and added: "Master, there is news just now that although His Majesty did not bring any outsiders this time, the few outsiders seem to include the two brothers Henry Angelo. I heard that both of them had just returned from the Balkans this afternoon and were summoned to St. James's Palace by His Majesty the King."

"Brother Angelo?"

When Lionel heard this, he couldn't help but frowned: "This... this is a bit difficult to handle."

Arthur saw Lionel in trouble and followed him out of the door. He asked, "What's wrong?"

Lionel said with some embarrassment: "Arthur, I'm afraid you and Bertrand have to show some real skills today. The arrival of His Majesty the King has brought some unknown variables. He seems to have brought two people with him." Here comes the expert in the family. You must have heard of Brother Angelo, right?”

"Henry Angelo?" Arthur thought for a moment: "I know there is an Angelo swordsmanship school on Bond Street. Is it related to them?"

Lionel nodded: "Yes, that school was founded by their father. Since old Angelo passed away, the school has now been handed over to the two brothers. If they had not gone to the Balkans to study some time ago, Hungarian swordsmanship is gone, it is absolutely impossible to watch Bertrand running wild in London."

Arthur asked: "I heard you say that these two brothers are very powerful?"

Lionel took a deep breath: "I don't know whether they are powerful or not. But among the two brothers, Angelo's Scottish Highland broadsword skills were listed by the 42nd Royal Scottish Highland Infantry Regiment, also known as the 'Black Guard'. The entire regiment is trained in basic swordsmanship. Little Angelo is even more outstanding than Big Angelo. The close combat swordsmanship he customized for the sailors of the HMS Excellence has now been listed as a standard training subject for the Royal Navy.

And his martial arts book "Infantry Sword Training" is listed as a British infantry and cavalry sword training guide. As you know, His Majesty the King has served in the Royal Navy for more than ten years, so he has great respect for the Angelo brothers who have formulated the standard swordsmanship of the army. A while ago, I heard that His Majesty the King seems to intend to appoint them to the Army and the Royal Navy respectively. Master of Swordsmanship. "

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help but muttered: "Eight hundred thousand London Forbidden Army Chief Instructor? That's interesting..."

Seeing Arthur's calm look, Lionel sighed and said: "Arthur, our script is probably fine for laymen, but facing experts like the Angelo brothers. And they are still standing As for His Majesty the King, if...if this spreads out, our reputation will not be very good. Even if it doesn't spread, we at His Majesty the King's side will..."

Arthur thought for a while and suddenly said: "Lionel, you are right. It seems that our script has to be temporarily changed."

"Do you have any idea?"

"There are ways, but the specific implementation depends not only on me and Mr. Bertrand. Lionel, you are also very important tonight."

"Me?" Lionel asked blankly: "What exactly do you want me to do?"

Arthur waved to him and whispered in his ear: "Listen to me, when the duel begins, you first stabilize His Majesty and Brother Angelo..."

I will make up for the arrears due to the alliance leader tomorrow.