Shadow of great britain

Liverpool, old docks, street in front of the Golden Lion Hotel.

Since leaving the tavern, Arthur has been scouting along the roads in nearby neighborhoods.

As a well-trained Scotland Yard police detective, he quickly identified several locations where he could conduct long-term surveillance of hotel rooms. These places were likely to become the refuge of the killer in the mouth of the Red Devil.

Although Arthur never believed the jokes that came out of Agares' mouth, the information this time was bought with his soul.

The contract was signed in black and white and stamped with the six-pointed star official seal privately engraved by the Red Devil, so Arthur couldn't help but not believe it.

No matter what Arthur thought, he didn't think Agares would be willing to fake it for such a small business.

After all, the power of law is not something that can be managed with a blind eye like the London Stock Exchange. If Agares dares to be careful about his soul contract, he will definitely get the iron fist of law and be revoked. His indefinite business license.

As far as Arthur knows, the devil's industry does not allow people to work without a license. Even Barr, the devil leader, has to abide by the rules. No matter what, it is not Agares's turn to violate it. .

When he thought of this, Arthur couldn't help but smoke a cigarette and muttered for a while: "In my opinion, it seems better to build Britain into a hell than it is now. At least they are pretty disciplined, and the quality of front-line salesmen is They are also generally stronger. After all, except for hell, I have never seen the second-in-command anywhere have to personally go to the front line to attract customers."

But although Arthur believed that the Red Devil was not alarmist about the issue of killers, this did not prevent him from thinking about who would be idle enough to travel from London to Liverpool to assassinate a cabinet commissioner.

As a Scotland Yard police officer, and a half-assed one who was temporarily promoted to this position to save the situation, Arthur attracted such hatred before he even had time to make some dog-hating remarks. No matter how you think about it, this is unreasonable.

According to Arthur's experience in investigating criminal cases, any case involving personal injury has only a few reasons.

Either because of personal grudges or financial interests, coupled with a small amount of spiritual issues such as faith, these three aspects are enough to explain the causes of all the murders Arthur handled.

In terms of personal grudges, as the Superintendent of Scotland Yard, it was certainly impossible for Arthur not to offend someone. At the very least, those prisoners who were sent to prison by his own hands must all want his life. But it is very difficult to find those who have the courage and financial resources to hire a killer to deal with Arthur.

In terms of financial interests, Arthur simply settled the accounts.

Shares in Thames Tunnel and Brunel Road and Bridges, which Lionel Rothschild recommended he buy, have climbed out of their value troughs over the past year.

After the Ministry of Finance issued 200,000 pounds of municipal engineering investment bonds, the Thames Tunnel project quickly received financial support from the government. The tunnel project that had been stalled was also restarted on a large scale at the beginning of the year. The world's first underground railway built using shield technology is now nearing completion.

As a result of this good news, the tunnel company's share price has doubled.

As for Brunel Road and Bridge Construction Company, another company in which Arthur holds shares, as Lionel said, their design plan for the Avon Gorge Bridge successfully won the bid, and the stock price rose accordingly.

Today, the net value of these two stocks has climbed to 1,700 pounds.

In other words, after Arthur, who had a dark eye, accidentally broke into the stock trading market, he had already made a 70% floating profit in the first year of his small trial.

He quietly defeated 99% of the stockbrokers on the London Stock Exchange, and also let London stockholders see what a black hand is.

Before Arthur rushed to Liverpool to take office, the two companies had just announced this year's dividend payment plan.

Although the two companies that had just emerged from trouble were not as generous as insurance companies and banks, Arthur still received more than his legal salary income this year - 130 pounds.

If you add in the gifts received by Arthur, the investment in "The British", the pocket money earned from part-time concert work, as well as the Hyde Park mansion and Scotland Yard's high-level police meetings at regular intervals, I don't know where to start. Where did he get the money? Even if it is conservatively estimated, the assets he currently controls are more than three thousand pounds.

If Arthur could be a little darker and get some money from the Police Intelligence Agency's activity funds, then he could push this data even higher.

If someone is dissatisfied with Arthur in terms of assets, then the only person he can think of is Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, the major shareholder of "The British". After all, in order to help him win the election, Arthur loaned out all his money in one go. A huge sum of five hundred pounds.

But then again, this is just a joke after all. Arthur didn't think that his Jewish friend would be murderous for defaulting on the loan. After all, there were too many people who were in debt with Disraeli, and even five hundred pounds was not the largest loan.

Although Mr. Disraeli has made a lot of money this year, he still owes a lot of debt due to his early newspaper business. Even not counting the money from Arthur, Alexandre Dumas and others, he still has an unpaid foreign debt of up to 4,000 pounds.

Mr. Disraeli was usually more worried about whether his creditors would hire a hitman to kill him than to hire a hitman to kill his creditors.

Arthur even suspected that this boy wanted to be elected because he took a fancy to the civil immunity of the members.

In this way, he could avoid the fate of being thrown into debtors' prison while Parliament was in session, and could justifiably hide in the Palace of Westminster and become a deadbeat.

However, even without civil immunity, Britain's creditors are relatively tolerant of MPs.

As far as Arthur knew, in the bankruptcy court in London, there were lawsuits against businessmen, men of letters, factory owners, and generals.

Several famous figures in the Royal Navy had to move overseas to avoid debts, including the Royal Navy Admiral Sidney Smith, whom Arthur had met before.

Mr. Elder Carter, the legend of the University of London, is also suspected of having this consideration in joining the Royal Navy. At least Arthur can be sure that this kid didn't even pay the rent when he went to play Life of Fantasy.

However, although Britain's species diversity can be witnessed in the ecosystem of the Bankruptcy Court, among the numerous cases, there is only one case in which a member of Parliament was prosecuted.

If Disraeli, the biggest stakeholder, had no motive, Arthur would have had no choice but to attribute religious reasons to the would-be attackers.

Although Britain has achieved religious tolerance very early, this does not mean that non-Conformist Christians can really be on an equal footing with Anglican Christians.

Catholics were only allowed to become members of parliament last year, but there is still explicit discrimination against other faiths such as Judaism at the political level.

At the executive level, discrimination against nonconformists was even more intense. Even Scotland Yard, which has a Catholic superintendent of police, often incorporates religious beliefs into the criteria for judging criminals.

If there are two suspects, one an Anglican and the other a Catholic, then the Catholic will certainly be subject to a more rigorous interrogation.

Whether in the government or among the people, British society is still full of distrust of Catholics. Although they believe in the same God, the British believe that Catholics are spies sent by the Pope.

If they were not careful, they would cede the entire country to Gregory XVI in the Vatican.

And it would be even worse if this Catholic happened to be Irish.

In the eyes of ordinary British people, these two identities combined are synonymous with evil walking on the earth. While being lazy, unclean, and of low quality, he was also disloyal to the king.

Because of this, before the establishment of Scotland Yard, once the London Sheriff discovered that an Irishman was suspected of committing a crime, it was equivalent to immediate execution as if the evidence was conclusive.

The luckier thing about Arthur than the Irish Catholics is that he is an Englishman, and he is also a small farmer who came out of a pigsty in the York countryside. The most valuable thing is that he also has an insane person brought by the devil. Uncle small farmer.

Therefore, although Arthur's Catholic faith seems a bit unreliable, the agricultural element in him makes him become a solid person.

And because Mr. Hastings is as careless about religious affairs as ever, he may not go to the Catholic Church several times a year. Moreover, this guy graduated from the University of London, a stronghold of atheism.

Therefore, after inspecting Arthur's files, Sir Peel finally mentioned him to the position of senior police officer with confidence.

Although it may seem unbelievable, in the British government, a person with no faith has an advantage over a Catholic believer.

In his own words, Arthur has been able to reach where he is today. Half of it is due to hard work, more than half is due to luck, and the final word is his perseverance in fishing.

There is no way, it is too difficult to pretend to be a devout believer.

When he first joined Scotland Yard, he only got a few shillings a week. What kind of drama could he do with them?

With Arthur's attitude, if someone really came to assassinate him because of religious issues, then Arthur felt that the assassin sent would not necessarily be an Anglican. The Catholic Church seemed to have more motivation to eliminate him who seemed to be a "fake convert" , a state religion spy who regretted his past.

Arthur pondered for a long time but couldn't figure it out. Suddenly, the sixth sense he had honed in the East District reminded him that someone seemed to be approaching behind him.

Arthur put his hand on the holster calmly, and as soon as he turned aside, he heard a polite greeting from behind.

"Good day, Mr. Hastings."

"Um?"

Arthur turned his head, but the first thing he saw was not Gladstone, but Agares squatting on top of the woodcutter's head.

Arthur was slightly stunned. He ignored the red devil squatting on the commanding heights of future Britain, but immediately remembered Gladstone's identity.

"Mr. Gladstone, I really didn't expect to see you here."

"I just learned about the news that you were sent to Liverpool. What is your impression of Liverpool? Do you want me to introduce you to some scenic spots worth visiting?"

Arthur smiled and pointed to a block in front of him: "You don't have to worry about this matter. The people of Liverpool are very enthusiastic. I was stopped by a few ladies not long after I arrived in Liverpool yesterday. They pulled me While giving me a detailed introduction to the customs and customs of Liverpool, they also warmly invited me to their home. The only drawback is that their accomplices, the children hiding behind me, don’t have clean little hands.”

When Gladstone heard this, he couldn't help but said awkwardly: "They are all used to this kind of life. I have tried to persuade them before. For example, I invited ladies and children to listen to me on the premise of inviting them to afternoon tea. "Bible"."

"Oh..." Arthur joked: "Now it seems that they didn't listen. However, Mr. Gladstone, your efforts are not in vain. At least the afternoon tea and onion rings are real. In their bellies. If you can put forward a proposal to distribute free afternoon tea in the House of Commons after being elected as a member of Parliament, at least I will support you personally."

Just a simple joke, and a smile appeared on Gladstone's face again: "Mr. Hastings, although giving out afternoon tea is simple and straightforward, it cannot solve the problems of poverty, crime and moral decay in Britain."

Arthur took off his hat and fanned the air and said: "No way, I am a simple-minded Scotland Yard policeman. I can't understand what you are saying is more complicated. If you say: giving out free afternoon tea can make ladies let go of me." Arms, I understand what that means. But if you were talking to me about protective tariffs, navigation regulations, or the Corn Laws, I'd be a bit confused."

Gladstone was dubious when he heard Arthur's words. He didn't think Arthur was really as simple as he said. After all, a truly simple man could not sit in the position of Superintendent of Scotland Yard.

But in terms of resume, Arthur seems too single.

Whether it's investigating cases, sword fighting, playing the piano, or doing electrical research, most of Arthur's abilities are professional.

On the surface, his rapid promotion was probably due to his superiors' commendation for his excellent professional qualities. Of course, Gladstone could not rule out the possibility of a deal going on behind the scenes.

But it had only been a year since Arthur rose from a farm boy to become the Superintendent of Scotland Yard. How much money could he get to run relationships in such a short period of time? Not everyone has a father who can spend 80,000 pounds at any time to give his son a wife.

Gladstone smiled and replied: "You are too self-effacing. If you can understand the relationship between magnetism and electricity, you can understand the Corn Laws. If you don't understand it for the time being, it just means you haven't spent your time on it. That’s all.”

"That's right." Arthur deliberately patted the document bag in his hand when he heard this: "My thoughts are all on this now."

"Is this a customs declaration form?"

"Huh?" Arthur asked with a smile: "How did you know that the customs declaration form is with me?"

Gladstone responded with a smile: "I heard it from a friend. He started working in foreign trade when he was twelve years old. When he was sixteen, he joined the Customs Department. Calculating time, this is already his time in the Customs Department. It’s the seventh year.”

The red devil squatting above Gladstone heard this and asked knowingly: "Arthur, what were you doing at the age of twelve? Oh! I almost forgot that when you were twelve years old, you first entered the leadership and finally began to qualify. Manage the pigsty.”

"It hasn't changed now." Arthur glanced at him, and then replied with a smile: "In that case, maybe I have met him. If you are free another day, you can introduce him to me. But about this job It's a document... Unfortunately, Mr. Gladstone, you guessed wrong. This is not a customs declaration. In order to investigate smuggling information today, I went to the street to have a brief chat with local residents, but all I asked was useless. It’s really a waste that I’ve been writing notes for so long.”

"Intelligence? Transcripts?" Gladstone asked, "What did the citizens tell you?"

Arthur thought about it for a moment and pulled out the words he had prepared long ago.

"It's nothing more than complaints that the city council has too strict controls on Liverpool. Shopkeepers said: Since the emergency was declared, sailors in the port have been locked on board and cannot go to the city to spend money.

Dockers say: Due to port controls, there are fewer and fewer jobs available every day. Squatting on the pier for a day may not be able to make a few orders. Some of them can only eat one meal a day in order to save money.

Factory workers are complaining that dockers are competing for their jobs. Wage prices in Liverpool have been falling recently, but the prices of daily necessities are rising. If this continues, I'm afraid that the next time London sends people to Liverpool, it won't be the Chancery and the Home Office, but the War and Colonial Affairs Department. "

Gladstone widened his eyes and said: "Department of War and Colonial Affairs?"

Arthur nodded: "Yes, martial law. Although the cabinet has been very cautious about using this method since the Peterloo massacre, but given that there have been riots of thousands of people in Liverpool, I cannot rule out the possibility of martial law. sex."

Having said this, Arthur took out a few more pieces of paper from the document bag and handed them to Gladstone: "I also found out some things that I don't need, but you might be interested. To be honest, Mr. Gladstone , although you were not elected as a member of parliament, your campaign slogan of 'eliminating corruption' won my heart. In order to show my support for you, I am willing to provide some clues to your speech. Of course, I cannot guarantee this. It’s true, because I have neither the energy nor the ability to investigate these things.”

Gladstone took the pieces of paper, glanced at them lightly, and immediately understood what was contained in them.

Although he didn't know much about it specifically, he had always heard about it in the circle. Moreover, he also heard the implication of Arthur's message. He wanted to solve the problem properly instead of going to Liverpool to cause trouble.

Gladstone folded the document silently and then invited with a smile: "Thank you for your support. To express my gratitude, I would like to invite you to a social dance tonight. The guests are all the most popular people in Liverpool." Talented young people, I believe you will have something in common, and I wonder if you are interested in participating?"