Shadow of great britain

For Arthur, who had worked in Scotland Yard for a long time, escorting prisoners to prison was not a rare thing, but it was the first time for him to go to prison himself.

In London, most untried suspects, especially those involved in civil crimes, would be temporarily detained in detention centers or detention rooms in various police stations until the court pronounced a verdict, and then they would be detained in debtor prisons or criminal prisons according to their crimes.

But France obviously did not divide it so finely in this regard. Since the French government had not yet clearly defined the difference between criminal and civil crimes, and even in many provinces in the interior, they would not directly detain debtors, so most cities in France did not set up institutions such as detention centers.

Therefore, even if they really wanted to detain some minor criminals, they could only put them in prison with criminals.

And Arthur, who was identified as a troublemaker in a pub, was of course no exception.

The police led Arthur, who was handcuffed with heavy iron chains, through the courtyard of the primary court and came to a door that was studded with nails and looked short and old.

There was a hole on the door that was sealed with an iron sheet. The jailer knocked on the door three times with the back of his hand, and the iron sheet was pulled open from the inside, revealing a pair of bored eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm here to send a few new prisoners who made trouble in the pub. Their case will be heard in a week, so they will be locked up here for a few days first."

Click.

There was a sound of a stiff iron bolt opening, and the door was pushed open from the inside.

"Come in."

Arthur looked up and saw a corridor behind the door, and a row of rooms under the corridor. The room ceiling was equipped with funnel-shaped wooden boards, which were lit from the yard above, and the jailer's house was separated from the cell by an underground arcade.

As for the environment in the cell, to be honest, it was not much better than the notorious Old Ship Prison and Newgate Prison in London.

The cell was dimly lit, and the air was filled with damp and moldy smells, which could be smelled even when standing on the ground above the room.

The prisoners were tightly locked in a small space, with beds densely packed together.

The sanitary facilities here were also extremely simple, with dirt and maggots accumulating in the gaps between the floor tiles and the walls. Many prisoners had to solve the problem of going to the toilet in the corners of the cells. Years of accumulation, coupled with the lack of ventilation, inevitably led to the accumulation of sewage and a foul odor.

The living environment was so poor that the food was not much better. The prisoners' diet was extremely simple, usually with only a small amount of moldy bread and turbid water supplied on a regular basis. Malnutrition and hunger were the norm.

Even if an anorexic patient stayed here, it would only take more than a month for him to realize how happy eating was. Of course, the premise of all this was that he did not die from the various infectious diseases raging in the prison before he was released from prison.

However, although all the prisoners here were as thin as monkeys in the Amazon jungle, there were still many wealthy gentlemen.

Their domineering demeanor seemed like Napoleon, and in fact, their power here was indeed comparable to that of an emperor. Yes, they are all jailers.

You rarely see a thin jailer here.

This is mainly due to several reasons.

First, compared with other jobs, this is a very leisurely job.

Second, jailers are like the owners of rural inns, and they don't have to pay rent. The government's funding for prisons is a fixed quota, and they feed the prisoners badly, so they will naturally eat well.

Finally, for the accommodation of prisoners, jailers, like the owners of rural inns, will arrange it according to the financial resources of the guests.

If you are willing to pay ten sous, you will be assigned to a room with thatched beds.

If you are willing to pay a five-franc silver coin, you can live in a small single room with a window here.

And if you are willing to pay a gold Louis worth twenty francs, you can completely treat this place as a temporary hotel and live there permanently. Your room will be arranged at the front row of the underground arcade, avoiding the poisoning of the miasma deep in the prison.

And your room will be facing the jailer's room. Not only can you ask them to bring you some takeout when they go out, but you can also chat and play cards with them when you have nothing to do.

The police stood outside the door and gave the warden a few simple instructions, implicitly pointing out that Arthur's status was special, so he asked him to be given certain preferential treatment.

Such situations are common in prison, and the jailer did not express much dissatisfaction. And he could also see that this young man was different from ordinary street criminals, so he was willing to keep him company.

He led Arthur to the VIP suite facing the jailer's residence, took out the key and opened the cell door.

He found Arthur staring at the cell in a daze, and thought that the young man thought he was being treated poorly, so he explained: "This one is the best."

The walls of the cell were stone, covered with moss, and looked quite damp. The window hole above was very high and equipped with iron bars.

The guards paced back and forth in the corridor, their regular steps could be heard clearly in the room, and the monotonous voice like the tide reminded the prisoners all the time: Don't try to play tricks, we are watching you!

To ​​be honest, these details and environment have a great impact on the mental state of ordinary people. Therefore, the number of mentally ill people in prison is usually no less than that in mental hospitals.

I don’t know if it’s because of the police’s instructions, so the jailers here are very polite to Arthur. They told Arthur that he could take a walk in the yard before dark, but that he had to return to his cell before going to bed.

The most ordinary freedom of taking a walk has become an extraordinary privilege here.

Arthur looked back at the dirty bed and thought about how many fleas there were in the mattress. Sitting here was like opening a zoo on his body.

With such a bed, Arthur would rather sit on the straw pile on the ground than lie down on it for even a moment.

He sat on the ground on dry straw and asked the jailer to get paper and pen on the pretext that he wanted to write an appeal.

He just used his legs and knees as a desk to write the novel, amidst the footsteps of the guards and the half-dead groans of the prisoners.

Arthur thought he might have to spend the whole night here without anyone around him to talk to.

But after all, God showed mercy to this Catholic who was not a devout believer, even though the miracle of his resurrection from the dead was performed by the devil.

The cell door creaked open again, and several more prisoners were escorted into the prison.

One of them, wearing a big-brimmed hat and covered in mud and wine, was Vidocq.

The fifty-year-old Parisian detective and the warden seemed to have known each other for a long time. He just blinked at the other person and instantly made the other person understand what was going on.

Vidocq originally followed the flow of people and walked inside, but after all, he was still uneasy about the young British guy who was fishing for the first time to enforce the law, so he stayed in front of the cell for a while.

The warden understood his hint, so he said calmly: "Old man, you are lucky, our room is not enough. You stay here tonight, and you can change it when someone is released tomorrow." Go to another room."

Vidocq entered Arthur's cell, sat down on the straw, took off his hat to fan himself, and asked in a low voice: "I think you had a good chat with the girl named Clara. You are making progress there." Yet?"

Arthur also stopped writing and replied in a multi-purpose manner: "She seems to like scholars very much, so I had a pretty good chat with her. But she didn't seem to have any intention of introducing me to work under Gwawei, and she even asked her to I stay away from that group of people.”

"This girl has a good heart, but she is much better than those beasts in the Paris Police Department."

Arthur raised his eyes and glanced at Vidocq: "What? Just for a short while, they tripped you up again?"

Vidoc sneered: "Just now when I went to the street to ask them to send police teams to raid the pub, they didn't even look at me seriously. In the past, when I was still in the security department, they were even afraid of the name of my head of the security department. But as soon as I resigned, it was like I had nothing to lose. Just now in front of the court, the court clerk was still holding on to my previous criminal record, but he didn't think about it. The entire criminal record system in Paris was made up of. I built it. How dare he question his ancestor!"

Arthur laughed and said, "Then how did you make them obey your arrangements?"

"It's very simple."

Vidocq didn't hide it either: "I told them that this case was personally supervised by the Chief of Police, His Excellency Risoke. If they don't listen to my instructions and something goes wrong in the end, it will be their fault."

Arthur raised his eyebrows and joked: "Mr. Vidocq, you are indeed very brave. If I were in London, I would dare to threaten the court staff like this unless I could hire a bunch of London's top lawyers. Fight the case for me or I’ll have to pack up and leave the next day.”

Vidocq said: "Brother, you are from England, so I can understand. The judges there even dared to declare the king unconstitutional more than once, but this is Paris, and our situation is different. You may not know that there is a person in Paris As a people who specialize in official business, they are ranked between the first and third levels on the government budget list.

In this nation, the lowest annual salary can be one thousand two thousand, and the highest one can get six thousand. Moreover, this kind of nation that relies on others also has many despicable, cowardly and despicable characteristics. The most obvious one is an involuntary, mechanical, and instinctive fear of the boss of the department. Although to them, these big guys are usually just an indistinct document signature.

But in the eyes of those obedient people, the words director, minister, minister, and your Excellency represent a kind of authority that is so sacred that there is no room for appeal. The superior in the minds of these small civil servants is like the pope in the minds of Christians. What they do can never be wrong. The minister's actions, words, and everything said in his name contain an irresistible light.

No matter what document it is, or how ridiculous the argument is, just adding that embroidered signature can cover everything up, making everything he orders people to do legal. All ridiculous ideas, as long as they come from your mouth, are not taboo. Those things that Kecha Chong is unwilling to do for his own benefit will be ordered as soon as he hears the word "Your Excellency".

The government is like an army. Everyone just obeys with their eyes closed. This system does not allow your conscience to rise, annihilates your humanity, and over time, turns a person into a cog in a government agency. To deal with such pustules who are eating from the public, all you have to do is use these titles to intimidate them, and even the smartest guy will lose the courage to argue with you in an instant. "

Arthur smiled and shrugged, and returned his attention to his novel: "It seems that you have worked in the Paris Police Department for more than 20 years, and you have accumulated a lot of grievances. But according to me, There are a lot of pustules in government departments, wouldn’t it be that someone as talented as you can climb up?”

Vidocq sighed: "This is due to your lack of understanding of them. I'll tell you one thing and you'll know. It's the guy you had a fight with at the entrance of the detective agency a few days ago. Guy, do you know what he thinks of criminals?

He once told me privately: 'To deal with those British steel-like guys, as long as they dare to resist even a little bit when being arrested, we can kill them immediately. What I hope most is that the criminals use force directly, so that we can kill him on the spot. In this way, lawsuits, guard fees, and prison food can all be saved, while at the same time eliminating harm to society. The formalities of prosecution, summons of witnesses, travel allowances, execution of judgments, all the legal steps to deal with these scoundrels cost far more than the small allowance we get, and they also save time. One stab into the belly of these scumbags can eliminate hundreds of crimes and teach many scoundrels not to dare to go beyond the scope of misdemeanors. This is called police work being done well. According to the theory of true philanthropists, this method is the prevention of crime. ’

Although these guys are as stupid as Yorkshire pigs when facing your Excellencies, when it comes to dealing with those who are not prominent, they are more shrewd and vicious than vampires and witches. "

When Arthur heard this, he just put down his pen and shook his head: "Mr. Vidocq, I don't agree with your opinion."

"Oh? Do you have anything to say?"

"I've had Yorkshire pigs, more than one, and they're not that stupid."

Vidocq laughed loudly when he heard this and patted Arthur on the shoulder: "Brother, it seems that you are in good condition. In this case, you will take care of the girl Clara. I will go and talk to Gwawe later. The guys below said in circles, if we get the forged evidence as soon as possible, we can also follow the clues to find out the whereabouts of the assassin. "

Vidocq said so, but Arthur and him were not of the same mind.

After all, whether in terms of life experience or historical origin, the British and the Juanists, the swineherds and the farmers are closer to each other than to the July Monarchy government of Louis Philippe.

However, Arthur wouldn't mind very much if he could help this old guy like Lavidock. After all, in addition to the peasants who were responsible for taking action, the royalists also had the orthodox nobles who were responsible for planning behind the scenes, as well as funding from unknown countries.

For a newly minted Foreign Service agent, these are good opportunities to add luster to his thin resume.

Not to mention, the girl named Clara seemed to be the former mistress of Mr. Thiers, the little giant in Paris and dean of counselors.