Shadow of great britain

In a small roadside cafe, Arthur found a seat by the window and casually ordered some French desserts such as baked bruschetta, croissant and Montblanc.

Not long after the desserts were served, Arthur saw a tall gentleman with shiny oily hair open the door of the cafe.

Wind chimes floated, followed by the sound of Arthur raising his hand to say hello.

"Mr. Coconut Tree, I haven't seen you for such a long time, but you are still as young and beautiful as ever."

The coconut tree saw Arthur and walked over with a small leather bag. He joked like a self-deprecation: "Fortunately, you came here alone today. If I see your friend again, I will have to treat him well." Please rub my steel plate-like pectoralis major muscles."

After Coconut Tree said this, he took a look at several small desserts on the table: "You are quite troublesome, but to be honest, although these small desserts taste good. But the meal I miss the most is the time before I was prosperous. After finishing work every day, I go to a low-end tavern with my old friends to eat pies that are still stained with plant ashes."

Arthur was in no hurry to get to the point.

Ever since his encounter with Mr. Vidocq, he had been trying to recruit the legendary detective and his team.

Although Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department has been built from scratch in Arthur's hands, when it comes to the use and management of the detective department, there should be no one better than Vidoc in the world.

In the course of more than a year of communication and correspondence between him and Vidocq, Arthur's respect for this old French gentleman in his fifties has continued to deepen.

Whether it is Vidocq's pioneering modern police techniques such as ballistics and physical evidence, or his Paris plainclothes detective team who has applied makeup and disguise to a superb level, easily placing dissidents in Paris under surveillance, or the Paris plainclothes detective team. It is the secret file of the Ministry of Security that records all underground criminal organizations in Paris. It is something that makes Arthur salivate.

It can be said that if Vidocq is willing to come to London and find another job, Arthur can now delegate all the command of the Criminal Investigation Department to the grandfather of the detective industry.

Perhaps for the officers of the Grand Paris Police Department, a capable and restless guy like Vidocq is a troublesome existence.

But for Arthur, the rootless duckweed of Scotland Yard, watching Vidocq make it big in Scotland Yard is not a bad thing. After all, with his personal strength, it is really difficult to compete with Scotland Yard's original stock - senior police officers who came from the army.

He just went to Liverpool, and Director Rowan almost destroyed his hometown.

If the Minister of Home Affairs, Viscount Melbourne, had not taken into account the feelings of Lord Justice Brougham, Arthur might have been able to carry his bag and completely move his frontline from Scotland Yard to the newly established London District Attorney's Office in a while.

However, as the old saying goes, there is no prince who lasts for sixty years, so naturally there cannot be a chief judge who lasts for sixty years.

Although Lord Brougham is apparently very secure in his position as Lord Chancellor, anyone familiar with the British political landscape knows that a radical like Brougham cannot remain in a high position for a long time under normal circumstances. .

The reason why he could serve as justice at this time was just an expedient measure for the Whig Party to promote parliamentary reform and thereby stabilize its ruling position.

This is true not only of Lord Brougham, but also of the current Prime Minister, Earl Grey.

Once the parliamentary reform is completed, but these two radicals still insist on promoting other liberal reforms, it will not be long before this position will have to be replaced.

Based on Arthur's understanding of Lord Brougham, his mentor is obviously not an easy character to compromise.

Therefore, if you want to make yourself invincible in the turbulent current situation, there are only two reliable paths to choose.

One is to maintain good cooperative relations with both parties at the same time. For those officials responsible for choosing sides, it is undoubtedly a foolish behavior to firmly choose sides.

But having said that, it is not easy to maintain good relations with both parties at the same time. If you don't do it well, it is very likely that both sides will not be pleased, and you will end up in a situation where you will be attacked by a group of people.

In order to solve this problem, you have to spend some time building your own basic market. As long as the fundamentals are solid, both the Whig Party and the Tory Party must weigh whether the gains gained from doing so outweigh the losses before taking action.

In other words, Arthur must have some reasons why the big guys can't replace him, some excellent work performance, some good social reputation, and preferably some trivial personal relationships mixed in.

And Vidocq can help Arthur solve the first problem.

Coconut Tree recalled: "It was really a wonderful era. We were all still young at that time. The boss was not called Vidocq yet. He preferred to use pseudonyms when going out to do things, such as 'Jean Louis' or ' Julius' something.

I still remember the first time our boss took us on a mission. We were standing on the street in front of his residence on San Francisco Street, smoking cigarettes, when we suddenly noticed a few guys carrying heavy packages coming from an alley. Came out.

But they spotted us as soon as they came out, so they turned back, as if they were avoiding the lights and pedestrians outside. We were about to go up and question him, but the leader stopped us with his hand and told us not to alert the enemy. Let's follow them first. These poisonous snakes will eventually come out of their holes again.

As a result, as soon as we followed up, we heard someone behind us shouting the leader’s pseudonym ‘Jean Louis’. We turned around and saw that it was Frost, a gentleman we had befriended when we were still hanging out on the street.

The other thieves discovered that they were acquaintances, so they all came out of their hiding places, and they all smoked and exchanged fires together and called themselves brothers. The thieves told us that the police seemed to be targeting them. The leader then offered to let us go in front to explore the way for them. When these gangsters heard this, they thanked them profusely and said, "Everyone on the road said that Jean-Louis is moral. When I saw him today, Sure enough, this statement is not false'.

They took us all the way to the lumber yard on St. Sebastian Road, where they kept the stolen goods. Then Frost proposed that he would go to the next house to negotiate the price with his boss, saying, "My reputation is not good, but if Jean Louis goes with me, the negotiated price will definitely be higher than usual." On some'.

The idiot Frost was afraid that the boss would not agree, so he promised that if the deal was concluded, he could give us 30% of the deal. As a result, the leader arrogantly followed Frost to the stolen goods den and took over the place. "

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help but ask: "It's enough for Mr. Vidocq to do this once or twice. If more people are arrested, don't the people on the road behind know his true identity?"

The coconut tree caught a croissant and replied while eating it.

"Those people only know that the Grand Paris Police Department recently came to Vidocq, an expert in catching thieves, but there are only a few who have actually seen what Vidoc looks like. In the perception of the gangsters in Paris, 'Jean Louis ' and 'Julius' are still well-known experts on the road.

Moreover, the leader has already made arrangements for his identity. Every time he appears as 'Jean Louis' and 'Julius', he will be arrested together with the gangsters. In order to deceive prisoners, he often put himself in the same cell with mortals. Once he met a guy who was overly cautious, and he even arranged a scene to save him from the prison room. The end result was of course well received. "

When Arthur heard this, he smiled meaningfully and replied: "Now I can finally understand why Mr. Vidocq was able to reduce the crime rate in Paris by 4% in the first year of the establishment of the Security Department. Ten. From this point of view, it is really a wrong decision for the Paris Police to exclude him from behind."

Coconut Tree tore off a piece of bread and threw it into his mouth. He leaned back on the chair and rolled his eyes. "This is not the only wrong decision they made. Moreover, the methods they used to force their boss to resign were really bad." .”

"Are you talking about the cloak?"

"Not only that, before that, they had sent people to spread a lot of disgusting false news in Paris."

Coconut Tree was filled with anger when he thought of those things: "To be honest, Mr. Hastings, you know, I am a gentleman, a French gentleman, romantic by nature, and I also like to talk about love with ladies. Back then, I followed my boss and rose to great heights in Paris, so after I had some savings, I started to focus on relationships..."

Arthur picked up the tea cup and took a sip: "Mr. Coconut Tree, you don't have to go to all the trouble to set the stage. Just say how many lovers you have. I understand what you mean."

The coconut tree laughed loudly and said: "At this point, you really don't look like an Englishman. Frankly speaking, you are almost an Italian. Yes, I have a lover, a charming Jewish girl. In fact, I I have been thinking about her since I was 20 years old.

But at that time, I was a thief who had eaten his last meal, and he was from a serious family, so it was naturally impossible. But things changed later. I became an important member of the security department, with money and status, so our relationship developed rapidly.

But what I didn't expect was that in order to bring down the leader, Du Plessis actually sent someone to bribe her. Let her spread gossip everywhere: 'One night, I was dressed up and ready to go out to find my darling. As a result, when I was passing by Yanzi Road, I was followed by one of my suitors. He told me that my Darling was having a passionate affair with another woman. I didn’t believe it, so he took me to a courtyard. As soon as I entered, I heard the sound of screaming. I lay down on the window and took a look, only to realize that it was Vidocq and my dear. He was violently assaulting an elderly washerwoman. ’”

When Arthur heard this, he almost spit a mouthful of tea into the coconut tree's face.

The coconut tree said with a dark face: "Mr. Hastings, you also think this joke is ridiculous, right? Damn it, those donkeys, in order to force us to leave, even spread such gossip They said we raped a sixty-year-old washerwoman, why didn't they say we raped a sow?"

Arthur raised his handkerchief and wiped his mouth: "I think if you had stayed strong and not left, you might have raped the sow later. But fortunately, Du Plessis has gone away now, and Mr. Vidocq has returned. After joining the Security Department, the current situation should be better, right?"

The coconut tree smiled mockingly: "Is it getting better? Of course, when they first invited us back, they naturally treated us as saviors. But now, look, why am I in London now? Isn't this matter worth considering? Thinking about it?"

Of course Arthur knew what the coconut tree said, he was just pretending to be confused.

Due to his long-term correspondence with Vidocq, Arthur, if not fully aware of the dynamics of the Paris police, could at least be said to have a thorough knowledge of the situation.

Since the July Revolution, the Grand Paris Police Headquarters, headquartered on Rue de Jerusalem in Paris, has been like a bus stop, with all parties taking the stage.

Starting in 1830, in less than two years, the Paris Police Department had seven directors.

Mr. Kashmir Perrier, the French Minister of Justice who was a banker, has not yet figured out who should be appointed to manage the Paris police.

If we look at it from a normal person's point of view, the appointment of leaders of the police station should naturally be selected from experienced police officers.

But unfortunately, as representatives of the big financial bourgeoisie, the appointment of officials in the July Dynasty followed a different set of logic.

They first recommend businessmen with a steady style.

For this reason, in September of this year, Mr. Perrier officially appointed his old acquaintance, Mr. Henri Zhisouquet, who had served as an apprentice in his bank for seven years and eventually founded his own bank, to take over the Grand Paris Police. hall.

Compared with several of his predecessors, Mr. Risokai obviously did a much better job. But after Paris was hit by cholera like Britain, the Paris police, who had just been on the right track, soon got stuck in the mud again.

London dispatched military police and cavalry guards to deal with cholera, and Paris was not much better.

After cholera claimed the lives of more than 300 people in one day, many mobs attacked government offices in Paris.

The busy Paris police were rumored to have taken the opportunity to put cholera virus into Jewish drinking water.

At this moment, the political atmosphere in Paris has naturally become highly sensitive.

In London, cholera and parliamentary reform were mixed, and a large-scale uprising could break out at any time under the dual pressure.

In Paris, cholera may penetrate the already unstable rule of the July Dynasty at any time and bury Louis Philippe's new dynasty in the coffin.

At this moment, Vidocq, with his complicated composition, was naturally not immune to suspicion from above.

Vidocq, who was born on the street, had joined the Bourbon Legion in his early years and served the Napoleonic government. In addition, he had many contacts with members of the Second Paris Literary Society such as Hugo, Musset, and Alexandre Dumas.

Therefore, in the view of the July Monarchy government, he was likely to have contact with any Bonapartist, orthodox royalist or republican faction.