Shadow of great britain

Louis took a look at the gentleman who spoke. He was of medium height, wearing a dark brown dome hat, a windbreaker that was swaying in the wind, and a big beard that had fallen into the rain.

Although the beard makes him look much older, in the past, Louis would have thought he was a mature gentleman in his forties. However, this work experience in the Police Intelligence Bureau taught him many useful skills in identifying people. Louis briefly observed the gentleman's smooth sideburn skin and youthful eyes, and quickly judged that the man in front of him was This gentleman should not be more than thirty years old.

Louis made a conclusion in his mind and became more confident even in his words. He asked with a smile: "Let me guess, you and Mr. Babbage know each other, and Mr. Babbage was once a professor at Cambridge University. Cass, Professor of Mathematics. In that case, are you his student? A distinguished graduate of Cambridge University?"

When the gentleman sitting opposite heard this, he just clasped his pipe and shook his head: "I really want to go to Cambridge to study. It would be an even greater honor for me to be Mr. Babbage's student. After all, just like you That said, he once held the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge, the position that Sir Isaac Newton once held. But unfortunately, the tuition at Cambridge is too expensive and I can't afford it."

Although Louis was disappointed that his guess failed, he was not too sad. Because guessing that others have experienced this kind of thing, it is normal to guess wrong in most cases. After all, he is not the character in the novel-the scheming detective Hastings.

Thinking of this, Louis suddenly became playful. He wanted to take the opportunity to tease his detective friend: "Arthur, what do you think?"

As soon as the words came out, Louis found Arthur sitting aside, holding his chin and looking at a unique scimitar hanging on the gentleman's waist.

It was indeed a magical weapon. The blade was curved inward, and there was a V-shaped groove at the connection between the blade and the handle, like a dog's leg.

Arthur suddenly opened his mouth and asked the strange gentleman: "Have you ever been in India?"

The gentleman was stunned for a moment when he was asked. He nodded hesitantly: "I served in Madras, India for five years and just retired from there at the beginning of this year."

Arthur thought for a while and asked: "Are there any Gurkhas stationed near the unit you are serving in?"

"Gorkhas, you actually know the Gurkhas."

Mr. Stranger was surprised and said: "There are no Gurkhas near the unit I serve in, but the unit I serve in is itself composed of Gurkhas. The Gurkha Regiment of the East India Company, the soldiers there are all from Nepal. Mountain, olive-skinned, brave little man.”

Louis was surprised when he heard this: "Sir, you are a British man. Why did the East India Company arrange for you to serve in the Gurkha Regiment?"

"No, no, you misunderstood. I am an officer, not a soldier." The stranger waved his hands repeatedly: "Before I retired from the army, I held the rank of second lieutenant in the army and was responsible for commanding a thirty-man infantry platoon in the Gurkha Regiment."

Louis smiled and asked: "Isn't that great? Why don't you continue there? If you are lucky and fight a few good battles later, with your advantageous age, maybe you can still do it in the future. Become a general. I remember, didn't the Duke of Wellington make his fortune from India?"

When the stranger heard this, he just took a puff of cigarette, shook his head and sighed.

"Man, you think things in the army are too simple. I had the same idea back then, so I took the little inheritance my father left me and donated it to become a second lieutenant in the Indian Army. At that time, I thought Well, although the conditions in India are not as good as those in Britain, many big figures in Britain made their fortunes there. Maybe I can copy their path to success.

I thought I would suffer more when I was young so that I could enjoy the blessings when I get older. But after arriving in India, I realized that my idea was too naive. Everyone knows that the Duke of Wellington made his fortune in India, but no one told me that when the Duke came to India, his eldest brother Richard Wellesley was serving as the Governor-General of India.

If it weren't for his brother's relationship, His Excellency the Duke would never have been able to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Anglo-Malaysian War with the rank of colonel. Although His Excellency the Duke later proved that he was indeed the greatest army commander in British history, during the Fourth Anglo-Major War, he was just a fledgling boy. He had only fought one battle in Europe at that time, and he also fought Lost. Although he has never lost since then.

I don't say this to attack His Excellency the Duke, I just want to explain a fact. If His Excellency the Duke did not have this kind of relationship with his brother, then it is absolutely impossible for him to be reused in India after losing the war. It was even impossible for him to become a colonel. Instead, like me, he stayed in the position of second lieutenant for five years and then retired sadly. "

The stranger's sour remarks also piqued Louis' interest.

He asked: "Although I know that there is such a thing as donating officers in the British army, didn't you already pay the money when you went to India?"

The stranger sighed helplessly: "I only paid second lieutenant's money. If I want to be promoted, I have to add more money step by step. In recent years, India has been relatively peaceful, and there are no wars, so it is almost impossible to be promoted based on merit." Sex. So, if you want to climb up, just one sentence - just get the pounds in place."

Louis took a deep breath and said, "This is so dark!"

Arthur asked: "How much does the rank of second lieutenant in the army cost?"

The stranger hugged his knees and smoked a cigarette: "Take an ordinary line infantry regiment as an example. Among the military ranks that can be purchased, the lowest second lieutenant is 450 pounds, and the most senior lieutenant colonel is 4,500 pounds. If you want to go to the cavalry and close range Guards Regiment, then you have to add more money. You should know the Coldstream Guards Infantry Regiment, right?

It’s that ace infantry regiment whose motto is ‘second to none’. Their military rank prices are also second to none. I heard that the price of a lieutenant colonel in Coldstream has been raised to 9,000 pounds some time ago.

Although my rank of second lieutenant was not from Coldstream, because I wanted to go to India, and India was recognized as a fat place, I was bleeding heavily at that time. I asked someone to get this position with great difficulty for 700 pounds. "

When Arthur heard this, he smiled and said, "Now I finally understand why you can't afford the tuition at Cambridge."

The stranger smiled self-deprecatingly: "Who says it's not the case? Although my father left me a fairly rich inheritance, he couldn't help me and had to go to India to serve as a soldier! If I had chosen to study at Cambridge, at most Spending only 500 pounds can cover my living expenses in college, and with the remaining money, I can buy a small house for myself in London. Unfortunately, I can neither afford to study at Oxford nor Cambridge. This year In the first half of the year, in order to find a cheaper school, I had already gone to the Principality of Württemberg in Germany to study at the University of Heidelberg."

When Louis heard this, he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

Although he felt that it was quite miserable for him, as a descendant of the Napoleon family, to be mixed up like this, but seeing the existence of guys with the same disease could always relieve his psychological pressure a little.

Louis comforted him kindly: "Don't be too sad, people's luck will change. You have had bad luck in the past few years, maybe God intends to arrange for you to have a smoother path in the future? And Heidelberg University has not What you said is so unflattering. Although its reputation in Britain is not as famous as that of Oxford and Cambridge, it is still a good university. I remember, wasn't Mr. Hegel a professor there?"

"Hegel?" The stranger shook his head and said: "He left long ago and is now the president of the University of Berlin. But I saw him when I went to Berlin to play. He seemed to be in poor health. He seemed to be in poor health during his speech. I couldn't even muster the strength. However, although Hegel's lecture did not make me fully happy, I still saw some exciting gadgets at the University of Berlin. If not for this, I would not have dropped out of Heidelberg University in a hurry. , just ran all the way back to Britain."

Louis asked curiously: "Oh? Did you find something good?"

The stranger said: "Well... I don't know if you two know anything about electromagnetism. It is a new invention in electromagnetism. An electromagnetic telegraph made by Baron Pavel Schilling, a Russian diplomat in Berlin.

It utilizes the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction and uses 6 wires to transmit the signal, 1 wire to transmit the call at the beginning, and 1 wire as the common wire for the current return. Six more magnetic needles were designed to express different information through the combination of their deflections, corresponding to the codes of 32 Russian letters.

I was shocked when I saw this new invention at the time. Although this telegraph was still very crude and the transmission distance was only four or five feet, I felt that as long as we improved on this basis, we would definitely be able to make a leap forward. The telegraph machine that carried long-distance messages throughout Europe.

On the night after watching the demonstration of the invention, I lay in bed tossing and turning and couldn't fall asleep. I had been wasted in India for five years, but God sent me an opportunity to turn around. If I could invent the telegraph, I would immediately be one of the richest young men in Britain, just like Mr. Wheatstone, who invented the record player.

And if you want to get a telegraph machine, your best option is to return to Britain. All Europe knew that Britain was the leader in the new discipline of electromagnetism. Michael Faraday, William Sturgeon, Arthur Hastings, etc., these names are enough to show that Britain has taken the lead in the field of electromagnetism.

When Baron Pavel Schilling demonstrated his new invention at the University of Berlin, he also acknowledged the driving influence of Faraday and Hastings on the birth of the telegraph. Without that final electromagnetic induction paper, the electromagnetic telegraph would not be logically valid. So it was not a difficult decision for me to give up my medical degree at the University of Heidelberg and return to Britain. My life was nearly ruined by the Army, which was the worst it could do, so I didn't mind gambling on the telegraph machine again. "

When Louis heard this, his expression suddenly became a little strange, and the corner of his mouth twitched as he glanced at Arthur beside him.

Arthur burned out the last bit of tobacco, took off his pipe, knocked on the bench and poured out the ashes: "In that case, I seem to know who you are."

"Huh?" The stranger frowned: "Do you know me? You also served in India. We have met before?"

Arthur took out two coins from his arms and handed them to the shoe shiner, then smiled and extended his hand to the stranger: "Are you Mr. William Cook? Charles told me before that he met a new man who had returned from serving in India. Friend, since you are a friend of Charles, you are also a friend of mine. It is a pleasure to meet you, and I would like to take the liberty to introduce myself. I am Arthur Hastings."

When the stranger heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then his mouth suddenly opened wide. It looked like two goose eggs could have been stuffed into his mouth.

"Are you...are you the famous Mr. Hastings? Mr. Wheatstone has mentioned you to me before. I didn't expect to meet you outside Gresham College by such a coincidence today."

"Huh?" Arthur raised his eyebrows and said, "Charles mentioned me to you? What did he say?"

Cook quickly held Arthur's hand: "Mr. Wheatstone asked me to be more careful with you. Of course, it may be that I misunderstood the meaning or heard it wrong. After all, he was busy at that time. After studying the telegraph machine, he just mentioned this to me casually. It's possible that he was talking nonsense."

Louis also smiled and extended his hand to Cook: "Mr. Wheatstone is really not very good at communicating with others, but he is a kind and honest man. Mr. Cook, I can only say this much."

Arthur didn't mind being joked about, but he had to establish a good relationship with Cook before the joke became reality.

After all, although Wheatstone was not good at communication, he was very good at making scientific inventions. The guy who can be recognized by him must be very talented and accomplished in scientific research.

Arthur asked: "Mr. Cook, although your decision to gamble on the telegraph machine is indeed courageous. But I think it is too risky to drop out of Heidelberg University hastily. If you don't succeed this time, what are your plans in the future? How to live?"

"this……"

Cook was stunned by Arthur's question. It's not that he hasn't thought about this problem, it's just that people sometimes just don't want to face it.

Cook smiled bitterly and said: "To be honest, I don't know. But when I was serving in India, I still saved some money. Plus some inheritance left by my father, it should be enough to support me for a while. . But if you want to continue studying for a degree at university, I’m afraid there’s no chance. After all, university tuition fees in Britain often start at three hundred pounds.”

"Well..." Arthur shook his head slightly and said, "I can't say that. At least I know that there is a university that is quite cheap. Do you know the University of London?"

"University of London?" Cook sighed: "Mr. Hastings, don't make fun of me. Don't they even have to give out degrees? And judging from its reputation in society, Studying there will not only fail to enhance your own value, but may also bring negative effects. After all, a school that does not have a prayer room and promotes atheism will not be accepted by many people."

"You can't say that." Arthur said: "The University of London never promotes atheism, we just don't actively promote theism."

"If you don't preach theism, isn't it atheism... No, that's not right... Wait, us? Mr. Hastings, don't you..."

Louis smiled and introduced in time: "Yes, Mr. Hastings graduated from the University of London. By the way, the Royal Charter of the University of London has been officially approved by Parliament. If you are interested in a degree, you can indeed go there. If you read one, you can at least leave yourself a way out, right?"

Arthur joked after hearing this: "But even if you don't go to London University, it doesn't matter. After all, in the Royal Society, even a high school graduation can be regarded as a high degree of education. Mr. Faraday often joked that he only went to elementary school. , There is actually no inevitable connection between doing research and going to university. Degree certificates from multiple universities cannot change much, but occasionally they can give people a little blind confidence that they think they are very knowledgeable."