Shadow of great britain

As night fell, Louis Bonaparte took a carriage back to the Golden Lion Hotel after a busy day.

Due to his sensitive status, he was not sent by Arthur to deal with the Liverpool City Council and the Port Authority, but was given the task of overseeing cholera prevention efforts.

I don’t know whether it was because the 200,000-pound Liverpool urban renewal plan had an effect, or whether the various departments in Liverpool felt guilty because of Arthur’s assassination and had to find ways to make up for it in other ways.

All in all, Louis has done a pretty good job in preventing and controlling cholera from what he has seen today.

In addition to strictly enforcing the provisions of the Cholera Prevention Manual, the Liverpool Board of Health carried out painting work in crowded or dirty areas, and put large amounts of lime into sewers and drains for disinfection.

Moreover, they also flexibly learned from the prevention and control experience of India, the birthplace of cholera.

Hindus often burn resinous substances and smoke them to produce a strong pungent, smelly smell as a traditional way to combat disease or plague.

In Britain, municipal authorities, on the advice of experienced doctors, switched from resin to bitumen, tar or sulfur.

Of course, this practice must be carried out by professionals. A few days ago, the Oxford Health Board burned tar barrels to prevent epidemics, which resulted in an unfortunate street explosion.

In order to prevent another local explosion, the Liverpool authorities, who were extremely sensitive to explosions, could only bite the bullet and replace cheap asphalt with more expensive sulfur.

They are quite clear about when to save money and when not to save money.

At Arthur's suggestion, wells in cholera outbreak areas were also closed on the grounds of exploring the source of the disease.

Several local porter breweries in Liverpool generously shouldered the important task of providing clean and reliable drinking water to residents near wells. One brewer even excitedly published an infectious speech in the pages of a local newspaper. .

——When cholera breaks out, we are at a loss. We don’t know what we can do. But when the Board of Health notified the Liverpool Brewers Association a few days ago that Liverpool beer was suspected of having therapeutic properties, we decided to come forward without hesitation. We rely on the city of Liverpool to make our wealth, and our wealth comes from the public's recognition of our products. If Commissioner Hastings insists that beer can save Liverpool, then what reason do we have to refuse to provide this cure to the citizens of Liverpool? On behalf of the Liverpool Brewers Guild, I hereby announce that during the time of cholera all our beer will be sold at half price, and that those supplied to the Board of Health for the relief of our poor countrymen will be supplied at cost. Guys, job losses due to port quarantine? It doesn't matter, even if you live in the workhouse, you can have at least two glasses of free beer every day from the health board!

Although Louis doesn't know much about medical treatment, in his opinion, although these beer manufacturers are suspected of false advertising. But seeing as these guys do provide a lot of clean drinking water, and even actively donate to the health committee's medical funds, there should be no need to trouble them.

Besides, there were many people who were causing trouble for them, and the priests were almost intolerable to the beer merchant's "beer cure theory." Even when cholera was not occurring, they often listed alcoholism as an unforgivable evil in their proclamations. Regarding advertisements that encourage people to drink alcohol, the clergy have always upheld an attitude of eradicating evil.

Even recently, they pointed the finger at Arthur, who closed the well and provided beer instead.

They mocked the young superintendent of Scotland Yard as a barrel of Royal British wine rolled down the railway tracks from London, even with a St. Edward's coat of arms on the label.

However, Arthur did not take the attacks of the priests too seriously. After all, on the small island of Britain, whether it was God, Jesus or the king, they all had to be attacked. If you don't get scolded, it will appear that you are not a gregarious person.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with what the priests said. Drinking is indeed not a good habit. Even the priests' other claims seemed reasonable to Arthur.

Apart from anything else, at least these conservatives, who are very old-fashioned and have a long life span, are indeed worthy of learning from most people in terms of their living habits.

If the timing hadn't been inappropriate, perhaps Arthur would have considered supporting their initiative to ban alcohol, opium, gambling, prostitution, etc.

But right now, in order for brewers to generously cooperate with the epidemic prevention work, they can only let the priests curse for a while longer in church announcements.

The British royal wine barrel with a St. Edward's emblem on the label has a larger capacity than ordinary wine barrels. It is not a problem to accommodate the priests of Liverpool.

Louis returned to the hotel, said hello to his colleagues around him, and went straight to Arthur's room on the second floor.

Unexpectedly, before he could knock on the door, he saw Alexandre Dumas walking past him, swaying one step at a time.

The fat French man joked playfully: "I advise you not to go in casually. Maybe this year the criminal investigation department will have sufficient funds for health care."

"Huh?" Louis raised his eyebrows, and a strange smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "No way? Arthur got into Liverpool's bad habits so quickly?"

Dumas shrugged his shoulders: "How do you know he caught it in Liverpool? Maybe this habit was developed in London. Working in the government is indeed easy to corrupt people, and the speed of corruption is comparable to hell. Look at our Officer Hastings, how disappointed would his supporters be if they knew what he had become?"

Louis just smiled and replied: "Come on, Alexander. Lord Byron, Paganini, etc., these people's private lives are much messier than Arthur. I just said, a man who can write books and play the piano How could an outstanding artist be too tidy emotionally? This cannot be called a scandal, after all, he did not use purity as a selling point in the first place. What everyone appreciates about him is his talent."

After saying this, Louis gently pushed open the door with a malicious voice: "Let me see, it's time to end, right?"

However, the situation in the room clearly disappointed him.

There is a sofa, a desk, a tea set, and a chair. Everything in the room is normal except that the coffee table is missing for some reason.

Maybe there is something abnormal here, but Louis, who has been ruined by the smell of sulfur all afternoon, can no longer tell whether there is a mysterious smell that shouldn't be there.

Arthur, who was reading, raised his head and glanced out the door: "Alexander, Louis, you two came just in time."

"Huh? What do you want from us?"

The two of them walked to the desk familiarly, Louis poured a cup of tea, and Alexandre Dumas took away the plate with snacks.

"Oh?" Before Arthur could speak, the sharp-eyed Alexandre Dumas spotted the book in his hand: ""The Biography of Napoleon"? I didn't expect you to be interested in this kind of book."

When Louis heard the title of the book, he couldn't help but take another look at the cover of the book. He curled his lips and shook his head and said: "These biographers are writing nonsense. Some of them have never even met Napoleon. How many genuine stories can they write?" Something? Arthur, if you want to know about Napoleon, you might as well ask me directly."

Arthur closed the book: "Of course I know you are much more reliable than the biographer. And I didn't buy this book, but it was left by a lady who came to see me today."

"Oh...ma'am..."

Louis' eyes changed, and he smiled and said: "Is she an admirer of Napoleon? This is actually normal. Many ladies admire strong men like Napoleon. The world doesn't know how many centuries later, Caesar the Great and Alexander the Great finally succeeded There are people. Therefore, it is normal for ladies to have a preference for him. Do you know? Although there are still many ladies who prefer him now, they are still far less than when he was alive. "

Arthur held the tea cup and asked: "I remember that besides Josephine, he also had relationships with many lovely ladies, right? What was his first love called... Oh! By the way, Eugenie. Desiree Eugenie · Clary, a young lady from the Clary family, a wealthy French businessman. Napoleon also wrote her a book "Crison and Eugenie", using novels to express his love, which sounds quite romantic."

Louis nodded and said: "Yes, my uncle started his fortune from Eugenie. Her sister later married my uncle Joseph Bonaparte and became the queen of Naples and Spain. Do you remember my uncle? That's right. The one who lives in Regent Crescent.”

Arthur nodded slightly and said, "It sounds like the relationship is a bit complicated."

"Of course, it's confusing to sort out the Bonaparte family relationships."

Louis said: "But my uncle's first love is still very important to him. If Eugenie hadn't secretly given him 98 gold coins, my uncle, as an ordinary little officer, would never have been able to arrive in Paris in time. Naturally, It would have been impossible to have the subsequent Coup of Brumaire, let alone the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte I."

Arthur asked: "So it seems that Napoleon was a betrayer? He seemed to have dumped his first love after falling in love with Joseph. However, he always felt guilty about this, so he arranged for his first love A promising husband. Later, this husband became the adopted son of King Carl XIII of Sweden. After taking power, he turned against Napoleon and led Sweden to join the anti-French alliance. Napoleon's first love, Eugenie, suddenly changed. Becoming Queen of Sweden and her son becoming Crown Prince of Sweden? What is this? A ladylike mix of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet?"

Alexandre Dumas laughed and said: "Maybe I can write a novel based on this experience."

"Well……"

Louis didn't know how to answer this embarrassing question. He changed the topic and said: "That was all a matter of the previous generation. But looking at it now, Eugenie's ending will definitely be better than marrying my uncle. My uncle is in the relationship between men and women." He did do a lot of wrong things in terms of relationships, and many of the ladies he had romantic relationships with were actually very good. Not only Eugenie, but the Polish lady was also very good. My mother said that she was a very kind and gentle person, Much more tolerant than my grandmother.”

"Your grandma?"

"Oh..." Louis explained: "You probably don't know. Napoleon's empress Josephine is my grandmother. My mother is the child of Josephine and her ex-husband Alexandre de Beauharnais. She was persuaded by my grandmother I married my father, Napoleon’s fourth brother, the former King of the Netherlands, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.”

"Oh my God!" Arthur covered his head and pretended to be surprised: "I thought the incident between Portugal and Brazil was already chaotic enough. Did it turn out that the Bonaparte family was also like this?"

"It's no big deal."

Louis scratched his nose: "You have to know that aristocratic affairs are always so confusing, and there are too many interests involved. To be honest, sometimes I actually envy civilian families, at least there is no hypocrisy in them. Not like there were so many in the court. I don’t want to deny that... my mother and father’s marriage... was not a very happy one, but they were both very good parents, but they just weren’t suitable together.”

"Well..." When Alexandre Dumas heard this, his eyes suddenly became strange and the corners of his mouth twitched.

Arthur looked at him strangely: "Alexander, what's wrong with you?"

"Ah..." Alexandre Dumas tilted his head to the side, pointed to the landscape painting on the wall and said, "It's a very good painting. I haven't noticed this before. The owner of the Golden Lion Hotel has good taste."

When Louis saw this, he glared at Dumas with an evil look on his face. Although Arthur didn't know why Dumas was laughing, he knew it clearly.

The fat man is doubting his ancestry.

Because his mother had an unscrupulous extramarital affair with Charles Joseph, Count of Flaot, such rumors often circulated in the streets of Paris - Louis Bonaparte was not a member of the Bonaparte family, he was The blood of the Périgord family flows through his body.

As for why it is the blood of the Périgord family, that is because Count Flaut has always been considered to be the illegitimate son of the French Ambassador Mr. Talleyrand.

Therefore, if this is true, then Louis is equal to Talleyrand's grandson.

This is something Louis cannot accept in any case.

It is already hard to admit that he is not a noble Bonaparte. If he were Talleyrand's grandson again, he would have to commit suicide by jumping into the Thames River.

For this reason, young Louis once asked his mother face to face many times whose child he was.

The answer from his mother's mouth reassured him every time. He was a noble Bonaparte.

But even though he said that, the issue of bloodline was always a knot in his mind.

He often compared the portraits of his father and uncle, trying to find similarities, but sadly, he did look more like his mother.

Arthur also noticed Louis' emotional changes.

It was the first time since he was released from his cell by Scotland Yard that he noticed that the young man could be so depressed.

In order to take care of his emotions, Arthur could only suppress his curiosity and change the topic to the right path.

"That Napoleon's lover you just mentioned, the Polish lady, is she very good?"

When Louis saw Arthur asking questions, he had to put the unpleasant things aside for the time being: "Mrs. Mary Valewska is indeed a very gentle woman, and her fate is far more painful than my uncle's first love. If I hadn't If I remember correctly, she should have been born into the famous Polish family Laszinska, and when she just came of age, she was arranged by the family to marry Count Svaleski, a powerful man in Poland..."

"Isn't this nice?"

"If you just look at power, it's really good."

Louis said: "But Count Svalewski was already over 70 years old at that time, and Mrs. Valewska was only 18 years old. But although Mrs. Valewska was reluctant, she still abided by her marriage. She fulfilled her duty as a wife. When my uncle led the army into Warsaw and fell in love with her at first sight, she was unwilling to violate basic Catholic morals and rejected my uncle's advances many times."

Alexandre Dumas was surprised: "Oh, this does seem to be a decent lady. But why did she fall into the arms of Napoleon later?"

"Um……"

Louis shook his head: "It cannot be said that she fell into the arms of my uncle, but that the Poles pressed her into the arms of Napoleon. Since Poland was divided by Prussia, Russia and Austria, they have always wanted to restore the Kingdom of Poland.

Therefore, when the Poles discovered that Napoleon was in love with Mary, they began to send people to lobby the lady. All the patriots in Poland ran out and wrote letters to persuade Mary. They said: 'If you were a man, you would dedicate your life to your country. As a woman, you can make other sacrifices. Although the sacrifice will be painful, you have to force yourself to do it. ’

Moreover, Mary's husband, Count Swaleski, also began to persuade her, and took the initiative to sign a divorce agreement with her, willingly giving her to Napoleon. From this time on, Mary finally began to accept my uncle.

She lived in Paris and gave birth to a son to my uncle. In order to respect the opinions of the Poles and Mary, the child was not named after Bonaparte, but after the old count's surname - Walewski. My uncle promised Mary that the child would become King of Poland when Poland was restored.

Mary's reward for my uncle was to never leave her for the rest of her life. Even when Josephine stepped down as queen and my uncle decided to marry the Austrian princess, she never said a word of complaint or other excessive words. She was really a very kind and considerate lady, and even a lively and critical person like my mother spoke very highly of her. "

Arthur nodded slightly when he heard this. He opened the title page of "The Biography of Napoleon", pointed to the name on it and said: "I probably know about Mary. But about her child, the King of Poland, he Are you in London now?"