Shadow of great britain

Louis stood in front of the window and watched Becky Sharp disappear at the corner of the busy street with her skirt and umbrella held up. When he came to his senses, he looked back and saw Arthur crouching in front of the case, writing and drawing. What are you wearing?

Louis came closer and took a look, only to see that what was written on the manuscript paper was neither the latest issue of "The Detectives of Hastings" nor the electrical paper that Faraday urged Arthur to submit, but a document with drawings. Sword manual with text description.

Louis smiled and leaned against the wall and joked: "Arthur, look, what do I see? An encyclopedic scholar, a contemporary Aristotle! Are you now not just satisfied with being in the literary world and Do you intend to leave monographs in the scientific world, and even plan to occupy a place in the field of sword fighting? Are you a little too knowledgeable? "

Louis' joke did not cause Arthur to stop writing. While completing this swordsmanship instruction manual, he even had room to explain the reasons.

"Although I don't think I can be compared with Aristotle, this does not prevent me from quoting his famous saying: People think I am smart, but I know that I actually know nothing. I do this It's not because of how smart I am, but because of His Majesty's order.

That day at the theater, the Duke of Wellington, in order to make His Majesty the King happy, tried his best to persuade him to carry forward the martial spirit he had during his early service in the Royal Navy, make full use of the resources at hand, and re-edit the basic swordsmanship training for the Royal Navy, Army and Police Forces. . Originally, the two British masters of swordsmanship, the Angelo brothers, were both in the box, so I couldn't say anything about this kind of thing.

But perhaps it was because we released so much liquid carbon dioxide in the theater that day that it confused His Majesty’s mind. Or maybe it was because he valued my service experience in Scotland Yard and felt that an active police officer like me would be more experienced in street fighting. All in all, I am now one of the drafters of the Basic Sword Training for Police Forces. "

"So, that's why you can't take a break even if you report sick?"

Louis Bonaparte couldn't help laughing when he heard this. He joked: "The king's order? If you really don't want to do this job, why don't you just find a reason to refuse? Anyway, Britain is the parliament. Forget it, we little policemen are not like judges who need the king’s approval before we can take office, so we just need not to offend the Minister of the Interior, okay?”

When Arthur heard this, he put down his pen and stretched his waist and said: "Perhaps the King of England is not as powerful as France, let alone as arbitrary as the Russian Tsar, but if you really don't treat His Majesty the King If you take it seriously, you will be punished soon. Louis, you can't take everything written in newspapers in other European countries seriously.

Those guys who crazily praise Britain may not really know much about this island. Most of them are just venting their dissatisfaction with their own country by touting other countries. In this regard, Mr. Heine we met before is a typical example. You have been reading his books recently. How many of his praises about France do you think are genuine? "

When Louis heard this, he recalled some of Heine's classic sentences and couldn't help but frown slightly.

Heine's words of praise for France were certainly useful to Louis as a descendant of the Napoleon family.

But what he couldn't bear was that Heine not only praised France during the Napoleonic period, but also often sang praises for the current French July Monarchy.

Heine even referred to his decision to move from Dusseldorf to Paris after the French July Revolution as "leaving the muddy swamps to get some fresh air among the woodlands."

In order to vividly demonstrate his attitude towards this pilgrimage-like migration, Heine also told Arthur and Louis a short story about his move.

When Heine walked to a small seaside town in northwest France, he suddenly saw many farm carriages moving slowly on the road. There were many women, children and old people sitting in the carriages, and the men were walking slowly behind the carriages. It was surprising that The strange thing is that these people are actually speaking German.

Heine claimed: "At this moment I felt a sharp spasm, a feeling I had never experienced in my life. The blood in the whole body suddenly rose to the ventricles, hitting the ribs, as if the blood was rushing out of the chest. , as if the blood had to rush out quickly. My breath caught in my throat. Yes, what I encountered was my country itself."

When he was in Germany, Heine often angrily scolded the Germans in newspapers and magazines for their inherent mediocrity and spinelessness. The reason why he came to France was to get away from his outdated motherland.

But when he met this group of people who spoke the same language as him in a foreign country, and saw that their bodies were covered with dust, and more than ten people could only share less than a pound of black bread to eat, he said: " This scene moved me painfully. All the memories of living abroad, experiencing hardships, and seeing the difficult situation of my motherland disappeared from my mind. Even its shortcomings suddenly made me feel respectable and lovely. . I even expressed reconciliation with its shallow and narrow political views. I shook hands with it and every farmer from Germany, as if I was shaking hands with the motherland itself, expressing my hope of reconciliation."

Heine asked: "Why did you leave Germany?"

They replied: "The land is good and we would like to stay there."

"But we can't stay any longer."

Of course, these honest farmers who fled from Germany did not have the gorgeous rhetoric of Heine. They just used plain language to tell Heine the sufferings of living in Germany and the various activities of the German rulers.

An eighty-year-old man explained to Heine that the reason why they left their hometown was for their children. The children are still young and can adapt to life abroad more easily. They may find happiness abroad in the future: "What else will we do? Let us A revolution?"

Their words and lamentations made Heine feel like his heart was about to be torn apart. He felt angry and a little sad at the same time.

As he wrote in his forthcoming Travel Sketches: "I dare to swear before all the gods in heaven and earth that one-tenth of the pain these peasants endured in Germany was enough to cause thirty-six pains in France." The revolution caused thirty-six kings to lose their thrones and heads. However, sadly, such a revolution did not occur even once in all thirty-six states of Germany."

When Louis thought of this, he always felt a little confused in his heart.

On the one hand, he felt the same as Heine's words, but he and Heine were thinking in different directions.

As a young man with liberal views, Louis could understand Heine's mood very well. But as a proud Bonaparte, he found it difficult to agree with Heine's frequent clamor to chop off the king's head.

Louis shook his head and said: "Although I don't hate Mr. Heine. But in my opinion, his request may be a bit too much. He believes that Germany needs not only an open atmosphere like Paris, but also the same openness as London." Parliamentary system. And all this seems to me almost impossible.”

When Arthur heard this, he did not deny it. He is reluctant to disclose his opinions to others, preferring to listen rather than express himself.

Moreover... Arthur has always maintained a very high priority in observing his own secretary to the emperor.

Arthur just smiled and asked: "Then what do you think Germany needs?"

Louis pressed his hands on the window sill. He stared at the cold rain outside the window and responded decisively: "I think this question is very simple. What Germany needs most at this time should be Frederick the Great."

"Oh..." Arthur protracted, as if deliberately teasing Louis's mood: "Are you talking about the tyrant from Prussia?"

Louis did not deny the nickname Arthur gave to Frederick the Great. He just quoted Voltaire's famous saying to defend Frederick: "As Voltaire said: A thousand mice are not as democratic as one." The arbitrariness of the lion. It can also be seen from the death of Socrates that the so-called democracy of all is nothing but a terrible folly.

Therefore, starting from the ancient Greek period of Plato and Aristotle and continuing until the Renaissance, people have been pursuing the existence of the philosopher king. As long as he can implement religious tolerance, reform education and the legal system, rationalize administration and improve people's living standards, then he is a philosopher king who is in line with the national interests, and Frederick the Great undoubtedly achieved this in Prussia.

Although he was unable to abolish serfdom throughout Prussia due to the obstruction of the nobles, at least he succeeded in doing so in his immediate territories. It is true that he formulated very strict military regulations and launched many wars. Many of his actions could be regarded as a tyrant, but we must not forget that he was the first enlightened tyrant in Europe to realize limited freedom of the press. "

Seeing that his attitude was so determined, Arthur was not interested in having a heated debate with him on this issue.

He did have some minor differences with Louis on this issue, but he had no intention of going to war over it.

As Mr. Disraeli, another good friend of Arthur's, said - If you want to win someone's heart, whether it's friendship or love, the easiest way is to allow the other person to refute you.

Arthur nodded slightly and said: "Frederick the Great did have many merits, and in my opinion, at least he did much better than his father. After all, his father spent 70% of his fiscal revenue All of them were used to expand the army. What is even more unbearable is that he not only likes to kidnap strong young men all over Europe to join the army in Prussia, but also often kidnaps tall women in the same way to breed with them. Seeking to create an elite force that he thinks is as indestructible as the Cyclops in ancient Greek mythology."

When Louis heard this, the emotions that had just risen were suppressed instantly. He looked weird, as if he wanted to laugh but felt that he shouldn't laugh.

Louis asked: "Is the history education at the University of London just about teaching you these obscure and weird knowledge all day long?"

Arthur shrugged and said: "No, Louis, this knowledge is not unknown. I haven't mentioned it to you yet."

"Huh?" Louis asked curiously: "Is there anything more bizarre?"

Arthur took a sip of tea: "Because of my relationship with the Royal Society, I can borrow some unknown materials from their collections. I happened to find some information from there when Sir Isaac Newton was the president. , ordered his subordinates to write an article attacking Mr. Leibniz. It mentioned an incident, saying that when Frederick I, the father of Frederick the Great, was in power, he once called Leibniz in front of him and severely punished him. He scolded him severely and said: 'He is simply a piece of trash, he can't even stand guard.'"

Louis thought Arthur would reveal some shocking secret, but this sudden turn of events made him unable to hold back his laughter. "I thought you already had a rich collection of jokes about my uncle," he said. I didn’t expect that you not only like to collect anecdotes about the French emperor, but you also don’t plan to let go of the King of Prussia?”

Arthur looked innocent and said: "Who knows? Maybe I will add the Russian Czar to my story collection in the future? But having said that, whether they are kings or emperors, they are all human beings. I have always felt that everyone They both have one nose and two eyes, so there should be no difference. Louis, maybe you can be emperor in the future. Although you may not be able to catch up with Frederick the Great, I think you will at least be better than Frederick as emperor. It's much better in this life. After all, as long as you are a normal person, you will not be able to interrupt the priest's prayers when he is dying like him."

"Interrupting the priest's prayer? So what's going on?"

Arthur said: "At that time, Frederick I was about to die. The court chaplain chanted beside him: 'I came into this world naked, and I left naked.' Unexpectedly, Frederick When I heard this, I struggled to get up from the bed. He said: 'No! You can't let me go to see God completely naked. Go and get my military uniform!'"

When Louis heard this, he smiled so much that his eyes narrowed. He leaned against the window and crossed his arms and said, "Arthur, you obviously don't take these emperors and kings seriously at all. In that case, why do you still You have to hold your nose and reluctantly carry out the orders of the King of Britain and write some basic police sword skills? Obviously, whether it is the Emperor of France or the King of Prussia, they have much more power than the King of Britain."

Arthur took a sip of tea, put down the cup and said calmly: "Louis, you have been here at Scotland Yard not long ago. Have you had a detailed understanding of the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829?"

"this……"

When Louis heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed: "I have memorized all the regulations of Scotland Yard, but I really don't understand the Metropolitan Police Act in such detail."

Arthur just smiled when he heard this: "It doesn't matter, I will recite it to you. Article 1 of the Metropolitan Police Act: His Majesty the King has the right to establish new police agencies to maintain the security of London and surrounding areas. His Majesty the King can Appoint two persons to serve as leaders of the police agency and to engage in the management of the police under the direct supervision of a government minister.”

"Well..." Louis frowned and said, "Is there anything special about this?"

Arthur just shook his head when he heard this. He stood up and patted Louis on the shoulder: "This article is not special, but it explains a truth, and it is also logically stipulated in the "Greater London Police Department Management Regulations" General outline. From a legal perspective, the Metropolitan Police and its affiliated London Metropolitan Police only swear allegiance to the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and are not directly led by the government.

As for the Home Secretary, he is in charge of Scotland Yard because he has been temporarily appointed by His Majesty the King as Chief Executive of the Metropolitan Police. Therefore, the fact that I complied the "Basic Swordsmanship Training Manual for the Police Force" under the order of His Majesty the King has nothing to do with who I don't care about, because I am only responsible to the source of my power when performing my tasks. "

When Louis heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then he held his chin thoughtfully. He thought for a while, and suddenly showed a smile: "Interesting."

Arthur also smiled and replied: "There are many interesting things in the world, and this is just one of them. I have said before, even His Majesty the King of Britain is far from as weak as you think. It's just that in "Britain, His Majesty the King and our Cabinet have developed a delicate balance over nearly half a century, so they are reluctant to use their power in most cases."

Louis opened the window and took a deep breath: "Arthur, every time I chat with you, I always gain something. But let's not talk about it. Over at the Royal Society, when you went to Mr. Faraday to borrow performance instruments, you didn't make a promise to him. Will you submit a paper? How are you preparing for that thing? I am planning to go there today, do you want me to take it to you on the way? "