Shadow of great britain

The Metropolitan Police, 4 Whitehall Street, Westminster, London.

Today's Scotland Yard is still busy. Police secretaries from various London police stations shuttle between offices and halls carrying stacks of daily documents.

However, when everyone is busy, they will involuntarily slow down when passing by the Police Intelligence Bureau office.

No one could figure out why Superintendent Hastings, who was in the spotlight, had piles of metal wires piled up in his office.

Everyone squatted outside and watched for a long time, and finally someone couldn't help but asked: "Is this any new equipment issued to the Intelligence Bureau? Superintendent Hastings no longer looks down on the police officer's knife, so Are you going to get some materials and make some nine-tailed whip yourself?"

The police officers who retired from the army couldn't help but shuddered when they looked at the pile of metal wires: "Nine-tailed whip... I haven't heard this word for many years since I retired. But use this thing to deal with gangsters." , is indeed much more practical than the police officer's knife. Back then, the toughest man in our 93rd regiment could not stand ten strokes of the whip before he screamed like a bitch screaming for bed."

"Haha, you are indeed a tough guy after ten times. If you really just use the nine-tailed whip to beat us, we will admit it. But I don't know which son of a bitch started to stipulate the use of the nine-tailed whip. The executioner must be the drummer in the regiment, it really depends on whoever has the strongest skills, what a fucking bastard!"

"Brothers, just be satisfied. At least we only have to take off our shirts when being whipped by the nine-tail whip."

"What do you mean by this? Is there anyone whose bare buttocks have been spanked by the nine-tail whip? We are not children. Only those young boys will be spanked by the teacher!"

"Hey! You really guessed it right! Have you forgotten? Many of our officers graduated from regular military schools. Most of them were greeted by such naked buttocks and nine-tailed whips when they were young. It's just children My body is weak and I can’t bear the nine-tailed whip, so I heard that birch branches dipped in water are usually used instead in military schools.”

"Oh... I said, why are those guys so psychopathic? It turns out that they still have such a painful past?"

"The number of psychopaths in our Army is actually quite low. After all, many of our officers here did not go to formal military schools, but graduated from normal public schools. Although generally public schools also take off their pants and spank them, But the degree is definitely not as severe as a military academy.

But those sea rats in the Royal Navy are in dire straits. Their officers are just a handful of military academy graduates. When they were in class at the military academy, who dared to pat their chests and vouch for the fact that their buttocks had never been whipped?

However, the Royal Navy is more respectable than our Army. If those officer trainees only make a small mistake on the ship, they will be called to the cabin alone for execution. Only when he made a big mistake would he be taken to the deck and executed in public. And if you commit the unforgivable sins, such as rebellion and mutiny, then you may wish yourself well. "

"What? Isn't the worst case scenario just hanging to death? What could be more serious than this?"

"Whether it's serious or not depends on your luck. To be more specific, it depends on how many ships were anchored in the port at that time. They will sentence you to two hundred fifty to three hundred lashes, and then use this number to divide all the ships in the port. ship, and then we will take you to all the ships in the entire fleet and execute you one by one over a period of several months.”

"Hmm...that does sound pretty asshole."

"That's not the most asshole. The most asshole is that according to the rules of the Royal Navy, you have to make up the whip yourself. If the quality of the whip is not up to standard and it breaks during the execution, then the previous whips will not count. , have to start over.”

"hiss……"

The police officers all gasped when they heard this, and some even interrupted quickly.

"Stop talking, stop talking, I feel like my back is itching again. Grandma, when I was whipped in the past, I just thought about never coming back again. But I haven't been whipped for so long, and I'm a little uncomfortable with the taste. miss……"

"Sam, do you think you are cheap?"

"What Sam said is actually right. Whips are really addictive sometimes. I know someone who does this kind of business. I've been there several times before. The price is fair and the service is good. Most importantly, Ms. Our techniques are not as rough as our drummers, and the strength is just right."

"This...Scarlet, don't let me go astray. I just wanted to save money recently."

"Sam, look at how poor you are. No wonder you're still stuck at the rank of sergeant. If you don't give yourself adequate rewards, how can you have the motivation to keep climbing up? Besides, it's only a shilling. You go up. Where else can you buy such a complete range of torture instruments and find such skilled craftsmen for one shilling? Oh! You simply don’t know that when the lady whipped it down, I felt so comfortable that I felt like I had seen God!”

"Scarlet, you don't need to spend a shilling to see God, and you don't even need a whip. Don't wander around my precinct at night armed. You'd better put on your gold pocket watch. I guarantee you a night." You can see God right away. Even if you haven’t seen it yet, at least you are very close.”

The police secretaries were standing in front of the office door talking nonsense when they suddenly heard the sound of hard footsteps coming from behind.

Everyone turned around and saw that the visitor immediately extended his hand to say hello enthusiastically: "Officer Bonaparte."

Louis glanced at the police officers gathered together and asked in confusion: "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing." Officer Sam responded casually: "Just seeing the nine-section whip in Superintendent Hastings' office reminds us of the prosperous days of gunfire."

But as soon as he finished speaking, his feet were stepped on by the police officer next to him.

Only then did Sam realize that he seemed to have said the wrong thing, because he seemed to have spent all those great years in the war against the Bonaparte family.

Sam quickly changed his words: "Your uncle is indeed an outstanding military genius. I can even say that before Waterloo, his performance in military command was almost perfect. It's just that I didn't see it with my own eyes. This happened somewhere. It is indeed a pity in this sense. Please forgive me, I joined the army late.

But fortunately you are here, maybe you can consider replicating the Napoleonic tactics that the Bonaparte family is best at at Scotland Yard. I assure you that the Duke of Wellington cannot side with the London gangsters; he will definitely side with us this time. "

When the police officers heard this, they couldn't help shouting: "Are you planning to take the Duke of Wellington straight to Paris?"

Officer Scarlett taunted Sam: "Sam, now I finally understand why you are progressing so slowly. You deserve to be unable to afford the whipping."

Louis was not too angry when he heard this. On the contrary, he just felt a little helpless.

If possible, he certainly didn't want to hang out with these British soldiers. But now that the Bonaparte family has lost power, compared with other European powers such as Prussia and Austria, Britain can be said to be the best choice as a place to settle.

Louis could only change the topic and reminded them: "With all due respect, you may have misunderstood the things in the office. Those are not the materials for making the nine-tailed whip, but some insulated metal wires. The Police Intelligence Bureau is currently using some New technology is trying to build a more efficient communication system between the headquarters and various police stations, and these wires are one of our attempts."

"Brand new technology? Metal wires?"

When the illiterate veteran police officers heard this, it took them a long time to understand what these fashionable new words meant.

"I see. Everyone knows that Superintendent Hastings likes these new gadgets. I remember before, didn't he often give lectures on ballistics and toxicology to our mid-level police officers?"

"And he seems to know Mr. Faraday. I read in the newspaper before that Superintendent Hastings has made great achievements in electromagnetics? This new technology should also be related to electromagnetism, right?"

"Using electric shock as punishment for those prisoners who refuse to confess? This is a great technique!"

Louis was so confused by their speculations that he didn't know where to start explaining, but if the explanation didn't make sense, then he wouldn't explain it at all.

Anyway, Arthur had already informed before that, considering the cost and the immaturity of wired telegraph technology, this technology would only be trialled between several police stations close to the headquarters for the time being.

Moreover, several police stations that have been issued wired telegraph machines will also assign special officers from the Police Intelligence Bureau to manage and debug the telegraph machines.

If the wire telegraph technology jointly developed by Wheatstone and Mr. Cook passes the reliability verification of the Police Intelligence Bureau within a year, then Arthur will consider large-scale promotion at Scotland Yard.

In other words, all the wired telegraph equipment built in advance were all obtained by Arthur from Wheatstone.

Louis took out his pocket watch, took a look at it, and suddenly said: "Everyone should go to the conference room to report first. The regular police meeting of each police district this week will begin soon. If you are absent, Sir Mayne will probably be furious. , after all, today is the first London Metropolitan Area regular police meeting after the reorganization of Scotland Yard."

"Oh! Oops! I almost forgot about this."

After being reminded by Louis, the police officers realized that they had almost delayed their business.

The people who were chatting and laughing just now suddenly dispersed and rushed down the spiral staircase to the conference room on the third floor.

Louis glanced at the group of police officers who came and went like rain, just snorted slightly, and then walked into the office holding the documents.

He had just pulled out his chair and was about to sit down when he suddenly looked up and found Arthur hiding behind a pile of wires behind the director's desk.

Louis asked dumbfounded: "Arthur, so you are here?"

Arthur took out the cigar box unhurriedly and lit one slowly: "What else? Where else can I go during working hours?"

Louis stood up and took out sherry from the wine cabinet and poured two glasses, one for himself and one for Arthur: "If those guys know that you are sitting in the office, they probably won't dare to talk outside. "

Arthur nodded slightly and said: "You are right, that's why I can't let them see me. Louis, you don't know, when I was a patrolman on the front line, it was always convenient and quick to inquire about news in the hall. Headquarters The secretaries and guards were happy to chat with me.

But since I've been in this damn office, my channels at Scotland Yard have narrowed to a certain extent. Take Luo Wan's previous plan to take action in the Criminal Investigation Department as an example. I, the person in charge, was actually the last one in the department to know. "

"So, you came up with such a damaging trick? But Arthur, with all due respect, you can't know everything. As the director of the Police Intelligence Bureau, you don't even know what underwear Mr. Disraeli wore when he went out today. We all know that we have already reached this level, what else do you want?"

Arthur sat in the pile of wires as if he had put a swimming ring on himself: "I'm not interested in what underwear Benjamin is wearing. If our agents can provide me with some more valuable information, I don't mind asking Benjamin I don't know anything about my clothes.

But the fact is that they can't get anything else, so they can only watch Benjamin write something that is not there. After all, that guy looks like a colorful peacock standing on the street. If you want to know what color the peacock's butt is, do you still have to wait for him to open his tail? This is not something difficult. "

Louis glanced at Arthur's funny look and laughed loudly and said: "If you bury yourself in the wires, aren't you afraid of electromagnetic induction?"

Arthur took a sip of wine: "Louis, although I don't want to criticize your knowledge in electromagnetism, the necessary condition for electromagnetic induction is that you must move. A motionless person like me cannot generate an induced electric field."

Upon hearing this, Louis put his elbow on Arthur's shoulder with regret and said: "Arthur, please don't say that. If you don't move, the ladies will be very disappointed."

Arthur unfolded the newspaper and said: "It seems that you have recently made a major breakthrough in the censorship of books and newspapers, but as your boss, I also want to remind you that at your age, it is best not to censor too much."

When Louis heard this, he just pursed his lips and smiled and said: "Instead of worrying about me, you should worry about Alexander. Banning a few books will not put a big burden on my body, but if I do it like Alexander did, it will... …”

"Alexander?" Arthur turned to look at Louis: "What happened to our great writer?"

"I don't know. Maybe he was inspired by "Red and Black" some time ago. He seems to be addicted to playing Julien recently. Of course, Alexander's purpose of doing this is much simpler than Julien, or his Means and ends are inherently highly consistent.”

Arthur picked up the wine glass and said: "Can't you just say that his romantic nature has exploded again? But it's not a big deal. Isn't the atmosphere in France very open to begin with? And as the author of "The Count of Monte Cristo", Alexander There has always been no shortage of female supporters. I had expected this fat man to attack them."

Louis smiled and said: "If it were just like this, I wouldn't tell you about it. In fact, I learned from the Astley Amphitheatre, which collaborated with "The British" to adapt the script. , Alexander seems to be using his authorial power to woo actresses who want to be cast."