Shadow of great britain

The carriage whizzed past, bringing with it a gust of wind, gently swaying the branches and leaves of the sparse trees on both sides of the street.

The fire bursting from the muzzle was like a sudden flash of lightning.

The happy atmosphere just now was torn apart by the sudden gunshot, deafening, like thunder echoing in the narrow streets.

Two people, four pistols, and twenty-four bullets, like dark clouds in the sky covering the sky of Paris, and like a sudden drizzle on the street, crackling and hitting the walls of the Kaidaosai Mansion.

After a brief shock, the guards who were responsible for protecting the king's safety quickly realized what was happening at the moment. The captain of the guards shouted and ordered his team members to fight back with the help of the wall cover, while standing in front of the king and escorting him back to the hall of the mansion.

"Your Majesty, it's too dangerous outside, please go back to the hall first!"

At first, Louis Philippe was also stunned by this unforeseen assassination for a long time, but he soon calmed down.

Although Parisian caricaturists often compared him to a "duck pear" and satirized his stupidity, incompetence and weakness all day long, a real "duck pear head" would never be able to fish in troubled waters and ascend the throne during the turbulent July Revolution.

When Louis Philippe was young, he once joined the Jacobin Club. In the early days of the Great Revolution, he served under General Dumouriez, commander of the Northern Army Group, as a major general of the French Republic Army. He defeated the Prussian and Austrian coalition forces in the Battle of Valmy and later occupied Belgium with the Northern Army Group.

When the National Assembly executed Louis XVI and many generals of the Northern Army Group received dismissal orders from the National Assembly because of their defeat in the Netherlands, Louis Philippe smelled the breath of danger at the first time.

While the National Assembly issued an arrest warrant for the generals of the Northern Army, he persuaded his superior General Dumouriez to join him in Austria overnight.

After joining Austria, Louis Philippe did not choose to join the anti-French coalition army to fight, but moved to Britain and watched coldly. Because of this, he had the opportunity to ascend the throne as the so-called "citizen king" with a clean identity during the July Revolution.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, being assassinated is a misfortune, but Louis Philippe felt relieved when he was sure that it was just an assassination.

After experiencing the Paris Republican Uprising last June, an ordinary assassination was really a breeze and drizzle.

Louis Philippe retreated all the way under the cover of the captain of the guards. At this time, he did not forget to order: "Try to capture him alive. I want to know who did this assassination."

The captain of the guards heard the king's "rude request" and just ignored it, but he had to agree to it first: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Louis Philippe returned to the hall of the mansion intact under the escort of the guards, but Arthur, who had just stood side by side with Louis Philippe, was not so lucky.

Arthur covered his bleeding shoulder, gritted his teeth and jumped to the wall and squatted. While dodging, he did not forget to curse: "Fuck, why do I always have to do this?"

Dumas saw that he was injured, and hurriedly stood in front of him and pressed his head down: "Who asked you to chat with Louis Philippe! What do you think? I said that the French assassins are the best in Europe, right?"

The experienced Victor hurriedly tore off Arthur's scarf and coat. He took a look at the wound and was slightly relieved: "Brother, you are lucky. It's just a little skin scrape. I will wrap it with a scarf to stop the bleeding. We will find a surgeon later."

"See what! Who shot me just now? Did you see it clearly?"

It is not known whether it was because the pain stimulated Arthur's adrenaline, or because being shot again evoked his memories of swallowing his anger in the past two years, but Arthur, who has always been calm, did not have the slightest idea of ​​​​quitting this time.

"Alexander, do you have a gun?!"

"How could I possibly bring a gun to a banquet like this? The security check at the Kaidao Sai Mansion is so strict that I can't even bring a needle in!"

As soon as Dumas finished speaking, he heard a sharp neigh of a horse, followed by the sound of wheels rolling.

Then, someone in the crowd shouted, "Run! The carriage is full of explosives, they set it on fire!"

Even Victor and Dumas, two brave guys, were shocked to hear this, and their faces turned pale. They didn't even dare to look back, and they reflexively held Arthur's arms on the left and right and rushed towards the bushes in front.

With a bang, the heat wave of the explosion suddenly hit, instantly igniting the various green plants that beautified the environment in the Kaidao Sai Mansion.

The purple-pink trumpet petals on the branches of the sycamore tree were shaken by the shock wave and flew all over the sky, and the broken bricks and tiles flew everywhere like bullets, hitting Dumas and screaming in pain.

Victor's jaw was also cut by the flying pebbles, and blood slid down his cheek, soaking the fine dress he had just bought.

Arthur covered his shoulder blade and looked back. The classical and luxurious Kaidao Sai Mansion was now on fire. The young man who drove the carriage to rush the gate of the mansion had been blown to pieces. One of the two gunmen who had just stood on the roof of the car and fired had been shot all over and fell in a pool of blood.

As for the other gunman, Arthur could see him hiding in the alley across the street to change bullets through the wall that had a big hole blown out. Behind him, there were two partners responding.

Along with the explosion, there were screams in the Kaido Sai Mansion.

There was a chaos in the mansion. The gentlemen and ladies who had been talking leisurely and dancing just now were all panicked. They were running around like headless flies, neither daring to rush out nor squatting in the mansion. Burned alive.

At this time, it was the captain of the guard's roar that pointed out their target: "Jump out of the window!"

After the more prudent gentlemen found a way to escape, they immediately picked up the stools next to them and smashed the window open. As for the more rude gentlemen, they directly chose to jump through the glass and jump out.

The ladies who were dressed up to attend were suffering from their puffy skirts. Even if they wanted to jump out of the window, they couldn't be as flexible as the gentlemen. Fortunately, some gentlemen were still calm-minded, and they couldn't care less about avoiding suspicion at this time. Question, he directly hugged his female companion around the waist and stepped out of the window like a hurdle.

However, after all, there are only a few gentlemen with long legs, so most of the poor mandarin ducks' landing postures are not very elegant.

Among the people in distress, Mr. Draisaitl, a banker in his fifties, was always strong. He carried his daughter on one shoulder and his dance partner on the other. He ignored their screams and slaps and walked directly from the main entrance of the mansion. The fire broke out among the rubble. He proved with practical actions how well-trained the French people who served as soldiers during the Revolution were.

However, even with Mr. Draisaitl's performance, he was still not the most eye-catching person in this life-and-death escape.

Because another woman in men's clothing rushed out of the fire scene behind him. What was even more surprising was that she was carrying a man on her shoulders and holding another one with her left hand.

The one she carried on her shoulders was Arthur's old friend Chopin, and the one she pulled together to rush out of the sea of ​​fire was the poet Musset, who was currently in the limelight.

When Alexandre Dumas saw the woman, he couldn't help but cursed: "Damn it, George Sand, that tomboy! I've warned him before, don't touch my dear Frederic, he's not that casual. Man, it seems she didn’t take my words seriously at all!”

However, Arthur had no interest in listening to Dumas' complaints. He glanced at the assassins across the street who were fighting fiercely with the guards. Regardless of his shoulder injury, he directly picked up his cane and climbed over the gap in the wall to sprint forward.

"Arthur, where are you going?"

As soon as Alexandre Dumas finished speaking, he saw Vidocq running out with an excited face.

"Mr. Vidocq! Danger!"

As Vidocq ran, he turned and shouted at him: "Alexander, you don't understand, danger is the most suitable climate for people like us! Where did your courage to attack the arsenal that day go? I heard Honoré before He said that you didn’t do your best on the day of the July Revolution, and there was actually no resistance at the arsenal. You just took advantage of it. Isn’t this true? "

"Mr. Vidocq! Do you believe what Balzac says? He is just fucking farting!"

Alexandre Dumas was originally thinking about safety issues, but when he was so irritated by Vidocq, he no longer cared about safety or unsafety. Instead, he slammed his hat on the ground, picked up a brick on the ground, and followed. Vidocq rushed out together: "I just thought about getting a gun to be safer. Without a gun, I, a sharpshooter, can't do it. But with a brick, I can make do."

While Alexandre Dumas and Vidocq were arguing, one of the three gunmen across the street was shot dead. The remaining two saw that the situation was not good. After emptying the bullets, they threw away their pistols and began to attack the fleeing crowd. Run.

When the guards saw the assassins trying to run away, they also left their bunkers and chased after them, intending to swarm them and knock them to the ground.

Upon seeing this, the three assassins jumped directly into a taxi that had no time to turn around, grabbed the reins from the coachman's hand, and rushed towards the guards running towards them: "You Orleans faction also want to fight us head-on. !"

"Spread out!"

The wheels stirred up sewage on the street, and the Guardsmen hurriedly avoided it. Another round of scattered gunfire followed, and the carriage was penetrated by more than a dozen bullet holes. He groaned and covered the bullet with one hand. The belly of the gun, but the other hand was firmly holding the reins.

Pedestrians on the street screamed and made way for them. Just when they thought they were about to escape, a figure emerged from the crowd.

Arthur jumped up and stepped on the pedals of the carriage. The cane he carried with him got stuck into the door armrest to help him stabilize his body.

The two assassins sitting in the car were breathing heavily. The sudden appearance of a human face outside the car window startled them. Before they could recover, Arthur had already opened the car door and jumped in. .

The three people immediately struggled together in the carriage. The sound of the three people fighting caused the already unstable carriage to overturn instantly. The two horses pulling the carriage slipped and fell to the ground, and the carriage slid along the street. , and did not stop until it overturned two lamp posts and hit the top of a roadside shop window.

One assassin was thrown out of the car by inertia, while the other was unlucky and knocked unconscious.

Arthur's strong body was also severely torn by this series of impacts, but fortunately his head was not seriously injured, so he was still able to climb out of the car with strength.

Arthur had just climbed out of the carriage, and the first thing he saw was not the assassin who was thrown out, but a group of Parisians who were watching the excitement.

When these people saw Arthur climb out, they exclaimed at his strong body and discussed his identity and purpose.

Some enthusiastic citizens directly pointed out the assassin's escape route to Arthur.

"Sir, are you looking for the man in the black coat and white pants? He went there."

Arthur subconsciously wanted to take off his hat to thank him, but when he raised his hand, he found that the hat had flown away: "This information is very valuable. If I can finally catch this guy, you can go to the Breaux Detective Agency at 21 Rue Crochet-Perce to collect the reward another day."

Arthur said this, but his feet did not stop at all. He followed the direction pointed out by the passers-by and chased into a deep alley.

It was not until he entered this area that Arthur knew why Victor always liked to brag that he was a living map of Paris.

Although London's urban planning is not much better than Paris, thanks to the Great Fire of London in 1666, at least the streets in the central area of ​​London were rebuilt on a large scale, so there are traces to follow.

But Paris obviously did not have such a good treatment. Most of the planning here is constantly expanding on the basis of predecessors. One alley is stacked on another, and there are forks in all directions.

Every time Arthur walked a distance, he would look down to see if there was fresh blood on the ground. However, after chasing for hundreds of meters, what finally appeared in front of Arthur was not the imagined road, but a dead end.

Arthur raised his head and looked at the more than two-meter-high wall in front of him, took a deep breath, stepped back a few steps, and then turned over with a kite, stepping on the wall bricks.

He had just stood still and hadn't raised his head when he heard an angry voice in front of him: "Is Louis Philippe worth your life? You've really worked hard to follow me all the way here!"

Arthur stood up straight and gently patted his muddy hands: "I'm not Louis Philippe's man. I'm chasing you just to ask you for an explanation."

"Really? That's great. We also want to ask you for an explanation."

Click, the sound of bullets being loaded.

The black muzzle of the gun was against the back of Arthur's head, and two strong men pressed his shoulders from behind, one on the left and one on the right.

"If you're not Louis Philippe's man, then who are you? Could it be Metternich's man?"

PS: I recommend a new book "The Raven of Naples", in which the protagonist travels back to Italy in the 1960s and becomes the pet crow of a gangster lady.