Shadow of great britain

After bidding farewell to the chaotic District 12, Arthur and Louis quickly returned to the restaurant where they had dined.

As soon as they entered the room from the back door, they saw Thiers wiping his mouth with a napkin. His hand was slightly raised, and his posture seemed to want to ask the waiter for another dessert.

However, after he noticed Arthur and Louis returning, he slowly lowered his raised arm. Thiers slowly put down his napkin with a faint smile on his lips: "It seems that today's meal We can only eat here.”

Arthur took the bill from the waiter's hand. He glanced at it briefly, then casually took out a Napoleon gold coin from his coat pocket and flicked it into the waiter's hand.

"You have a good appetite, Mr. Thiers. Would you like another steak?"

"Thank you for the hospitality. However, I think I have eaten enough." Thiers rubbed his belly, moved his chair, stood up and smoothed his frilly white scarf: "How is the progress over there?"

Arthur walked to the table and poured a glass of wine, leaning against the window sill and taking a sip: "They probably won't cause you any more trouble. If someone comes to you again in the future, just do it business."

Thiers smiled and picked up the wine glass and drank the rest of the wine: "I like this answer. I wish you a good night. Enjoy it. The real day in Paris has just begun."

After saying this, Thiers put on his coat and hat, and without looking back, he boarded the open carriage that had been waiting outside the restaurant for a long time.

Thiers leaned closer and said something in the coachman's ear, and the coachman suddenly raised his whip and slapped the horse on the butt.

Along with the water splashing on the ground and the dim lights of the evening streets, Thiers and his servants quickly disappeared at the end of the street.

Needless to say, there is no need to think too much. The Minister of the Interior, who is currently very popular in Paris social circles, must have an appointment with some beautiful lady tonight.

However, Arthur and Louis were not as lucky as Thiers. Although they also had an appointment tonight, it was not with the ladies, but with a group of Italian rough men.

Louis glanced out the window and asked Arthur: "Where should we go next?"

"We have made an appointment to meet at a theater in the Saint-Germain district. But we are not in a hurry..."

Arthur pointed to the group of monitors outside the window who were shivering in the cold rain and cold wind, and said: "Let's treat these gentlemen to a meal first. Don't eat more. I'm afraid they will be in trouble later." You may not be able to survive it.”

…

How can we contact dangerous elements under heavy surveillance?

Going to the opera house to watch a play is a pretty good reason.

There is a wonderful performance at the Opera House tonight. The famous Parisian actor Mr. Levasseur, who has returned from a long illness, will play the role of Bertrand the Devil in Meyerbeer's "Robert the Devil".

Although Arthur has not seen "Robert the Devil", because his friend Mr. Heine once wrote a literary review for this musical and "blackmailed" Mr. Meyerbeer for a thousand francs, Arthur is very interested in it. This scene can be regarded as a famous name that has been admired for a long time.

The plot of this scene is actually not complicated. It mainly tells the story of the protagonist Robert, a child born to the devil Bertrand and a human woman. He did many bad things because he was driven by the devil father.

After he was deported to Sicily, Robert fell in love with the princess Isabella. Despite this, he is always controlled by the devil's father, Bertrand.

Although Robert's friends tried to warn him against Bertrand, Robert did not listen.

After going through hardships, Robert finally woke up. Finally, at a gathering of demons held by the devil, he was instructed by the devil's father to pick a magical green cypress branch.

Robert entered Isabella's room with a green cypress branch. Under Isabella's persuasion, he broke the green cypress branch and lifted the magic. The devil Bertrand disappeared. Robert and Isabella Lovers will eventually get married.

For Arthur, who is used to reading such romance novels, this plot is not new.

But I don't know if it's because of the lack of entertainment, or because he has done similar things before, but Agares, a devil who has lived for thousands of years, actually watched it with gusto.

However, in front of the enthusiastic Parisian audience, Agares reacted like a normal person, while an unmoved guy like Arthur became an outlier.

This has always been the case in Paris. The master's works can always attract the elites of the upper class to watch and cheer. "Robert the Devil" is obviously such a popular work in society.

However, even if Arthur does not like the plot of "Robert the Devil", in addition, the huge scale of the performance, the luxurious scenery regardless of the cost, the magnificent pomp, and never to put it bluntly, the recitative must use an orchestra. The accompaniment of the performance and a large number of spectacular ballets and chorus plots are enough to be worth the price of admission.

Thanks to Arthur's connections in the Paris literary and artistic circles, he could sit in a well-located main box at any theater if he wanted to.

The private box he made an appointment for today was reserved by the theater manager for the fat man all year round in order to curry favor with Alexandre Dumas.

Not far from this box is the exclusive territory of some prominent nobles and cabinet members.

The boxes can be seated at any time, but when the curtain goes up and the show officially begins, guests can't move around in the aisles. If they want to walk around in the adjacent box or visit friends, they can only wait until the intermission.

Arthur and Louis happened to be a step late, so the two unlucky guys could only stand at the entrance and watch the first scene of "Robert the Devil" patiently.

The absence of the two of them did not dampen the guests' enthusiasm for watching the play. When Arthur opened the box door during the intermission, he found that these guys were chatting animatedly.

Alexandre Dumas curiously asked Garibaldi, who was smoking a pipe: "So, you mean, even an ordinary soldier in Egypt will have several servants?"

"That's right."

Garibaldi crossed his legs and recounted his experiences in Egypt while running a ship: "Almost everyone in Egypt has servants, but in France, as long as you have ten servants, someone will jump out. Calling you extravagant and extravagant, before Louis Philippe became king, his entire entourage, including guards, gardeners, and servants, did not exceed 400 people in total, but everyone still thought that he had too many entourages. It reflects the difference between Paris and Egypt. In Egypt, anyone with a little status will have many followers.”

Speaking of this, Garibaldi also talked about an old friend he met in Egypt: "When I was in Alexandria, I had dealt with the port director there. He was the first person selected by Egypt to be sent to France. Foreign students, do you know how he views France...oh, no, to be precise, how does he view Paris?"

Garibaldi's words instantly aroused the interest of all the French people present: "What do those Arabs think of Paris?"

Garibaldi laughed boldly and said: "Although he likes the modern life in Paris very much, he also thinks there are some terrible places in Paris."

"What do you mean?" As a patriot, Alexandre Dumas found it difficult to tolerate other people's attacks on France. He wanted to get to the bottom of every thorn that others picked.

Garibaldi gave an example: "For example, the guy thinks that Parisians don't believe in any religion at all."

"Not religious?! Oh my God, this is such a funny joke!"

Alexandre Dumas has always scorned religion, but at this time, for some reason, his heart was filled with the strange French desire for victory.

"Louis VII participated in the Second Crusade. He traveled through Asia Minor and helped strengthen the defenses of the Principality of Antioch. Philip II and King Richard of England 'Lionheart' and Holy Roman Emperor 'Baba Redbeard' Rosa' Frederick I co-led the Third Crusade and completed the siege of Acre. Louis IX participated in the Eighth and Ninth Crusades and was still in the process of the Ninth Crusade. He contracted the plague and died in Tunisia.

Giuseppe, I bet you that you probably encountered a fake. The port director you are talking about has never studied in France, and it is not even certain whether he is Egyptian. If he is really an Egyptian Muslim, he must know that France is a Catholic country. When it comes to faith, no one is more religious than the French. "

Garibaldi did not refute Dumas's views, he just talked about the views of the Egyptian port director.

"Alexander, I understand what you mean. But he believes that although France is a Catholic country, most people are Christians in name only. He feels that you do not believe in Catholic doctrine at all and rarely perform worship duties. He is While studying abroad, I observed that in France, priests only get respect in churches and from people who come to church. In most cases, no one cares about them, as if they are enemies of light and knowledge whenever fasting comes. , except for some clergy and members of the former King's Bourbon family, every household continued to eat meat, while the rest of Paris looked down upon the fast and never considered practicing it."

When Garibaldi said this, Arthur, who was standing by the door, let out footsteps. He took off his hat and threw it on the coffee table, then leaned comfortably on the sofa.

Arthur picked up the small ball fan left on the table by someone who didn't know who it was and fanned it while saying: "If I still had doubts before, but after the port director said these words, I thought about his study abroad experience. There should be no doubt. Not only did he study in Paris, but his observation skills were so amazing that he came to the same point of view as me. In my opinion, the Pope should not be critical of a Protestant country like Britain. The target of anger should be half-hearted France.”

Alexandre Dumas retorted unconvinced: "If France is really as bad as the Egyptian said, why didn't the Pope launch a holy war against France? Instead, he called on believers to fight against Britain?"

"Isn't this question simple?"

Arthur picked up the glass jug on the table and poured a glass of sparkling water: "Because the Papal State is too far away from Britain and too close to France. And the temperament of Parisians has always been the same as the local weather. It's still midnight even in the morning." Fourteen degrees, it dropped to 12 degrees at night. If the Pope launched a holy war against this moody neighbor, I am afraid that the Crusaders would have already arrived under the walls of the Vatican. As for Britain, although the Royal Navy had already arrived. It's also very capable, but we can't sail the boat to land after crossing the Mediterranean, right? Come on, Alexander, the British have always lacked imagination, so we can't be as creative as the Ottomans on land. ”

Alexandre Dumas was about to say a few words to Arthur. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Louis, whose curiosity was aroused, also began to ask the Egyptians for other opinions.

"Giuseppe, what else did the Egyptian say?"

Garibaldi is a person who never hides his inner thoughts. In most cases, his mind is as innocent as a child. He treats everyone with enthusiasm and has an innate affinity. Although such a character cannot make him a schemer, it has won him many friends.

Even though he had known for a long time that Louis was a member of the Bonaparte family, Garibaldi didn't seem to care about it at all. He treated Louis like a drunk new friend who had just drank with him in the pub yesterday.

His face was red from drinking, and the guy introduced him with a smile while stroking his seal beard.

"He seemed to me to be a pretty insightful man. He saw things that those of us who grew up in a Catholic country couldn't see. The guy thought the prohibition on clergy marriage was a terrible custom. . He felt that it was a ridiculous custom for priests to be abstinent, regardless of their rank or title, because celibacy not only failed to keep them pure, but might actually aggravate their existing sins. People's lives are too depressing.

Another objectionable custom was that the clergy believed it was the duty of ordinary people to confess their sins to them and obtain their forgiveness. It's almost comical that a penitent would sit down and confess his sins to a priest and ask for forgiveness, and then the priest would forgive him. Because he found that most of the people who went to church to confess were women and children, which coincided with the words of an Arab poet: Whoever enters the church one day will only encounter calves and antelopes.

He was keenly aware of the crucial point. Only the weak would go to church to repent because they were unable to change the current situation. As for those strong people who actually commit crimes, these people basically never go to church. As long as God's punishment does not come to him for a day, he will still openly defy faith and bully those weaker than him. Everyone in Paris, rich or poor, is interested in profit and trade.

This is true even for a child who can only speak a few words. If you give him a small coin, he will clap his hands happily and say: 'I earned it! I got it! ’ In Egypt, you can’t see this phenomenon at all, because they think it is insulting to them. However, the port director feels that it may be precisely because of this profit-seeking culture that makes France so wealthy.

In addition, he also feels that the French know how to save and manage their expenses very well. Parisians know how to keep accounts and have turned it into a science. They even offer special accounting courses in schools, and there are also special courses in the government. The department that manages these books. In Egypt, everyone spends money when they have it, buying female slaves and male servants. As I said before, even the most ordinary-looking ordinary Egyptians have several slaves at home. "

Alexandre Dumas, who was arguing with Arthur on the side, couldn't sit still when he heard this. He stood up with a wine glass: "Giuseppe, I don't mean to argue with you. But the Egyptian you met has simply never seen the world. , when it comes to profit-seeking, the most famous person in this regard is the British, and he said that the French are stingy, which is simply nonsense. I dare say he has never been to the Netherlands or Amsterdam! "