Shadow of great britain

The stars in the sky are beautiful and pure only because they are so far away from us, and we have no idea what their private lives are like.

——Heinrich Heine

"Sorry, who wants to fight?"

Arthur's voice was not small, but among a group of passionate young people, his voice was quickly suppressed by cheers.

The tavern was full of students complaining about the tragic experience of Heine, the old senior.

Although these students imagined Heine's impoverished life in Paris, some even added many detailed descriptions.

But as far as Arthur knew, at least when Heine was with him, he not only did not eat black bread, but also tried almost all the high-end restaurants in Paris.

When Arthur told Heine that he was about to leave Paris to take up his post in Germany, Heine also enthusiastically recommended the Yago Restaurant in Berlin to him. According to Heine, the exquisite cooking there is comparable to that in Paris.

Roasted swans were flying all over the sky, holding a sauce dish in their beaks. If you tore it off and ate it, it would be very proud. Delicious and soft cream cakes were like sunflowers growing wildly in the wind, and streams of fresh meat juice and champagne flowed everywhere, with tree rings of napkins floating.

At the Jago Restaurant, even white bread was used to wipe the mouth. Arthur was not even sure whether they had mastered the process of making black bread.

As for Göttingen, who regarded Heine as a hero, this guy described the place where he had stayed for several years quite concisely, summarizing Göttingen in his eyes in a few words.

The city of Göttingen, famous for its sausages and universities, belonged to the King of Hanover. It had 999 stoves, various churches, a midwifery hospital, an observatory, a college student confinement room, a library and a city hall cellar hotel, where the beer was very good.

A small river flowing by the city was called the Leine River, where people bathed in the summer. The water was cold, and in some places it was so wide that if my classmate, the best sports student, Wilhelm Rüdel, wanted to jump over it, he would have to run a long distance.

There were watchmen, school servants, doctoral dissertations, dancing tea parties, washerwomen, syllabi, roasted pigeons, Gulfen medals, doctoral carriages, pipes, privy counselors, legal counselors, members of the student punishment committee, professors and other fools.

Some people even believe that this city was built during the era of the Great Migration of Nations, when each branch of the German nation left a specimen of its members' unruly behavior, and from it bred Vandals, Frisians, Swabians, Teutons, Saxons, Thuringians, etc.

In today's Göttingen, they still form gangs, distinguishing each other by the different colors of their caps and pipe tassels, wandering around Weind Street, fighting endlessly at the Hay Mill, the Dueling Tavern, and the bloody battlefield of Powderden.

Their customs and habits are still in the era of the great migration of nations. Some are governed by leaders called leading roosters, and some are governed by their ancient code - the regulations of the college student associations that have a place in the "barbarian law".

Heine's description of this is still accurate, but Arthur has not seen the wonderful things such as the dancing tea party in Göttingen, and has already taken the lead in meeting the college students under the management of the "barbarian law" student association regulations.

Even more unfortunately, his current identity is still a professor at the University of Göttingen, and he is likely to serve as the chairman of the student punishment committee as a supervisor. You know, when Heine listed the things that exist in Göttingen, these two identities were placed in the same line as idiots.

But not everyone present was as entangled as Arthur.

For example, Schneider was not surprised by what happened today.

In the eyes of this pure British gentleman, this is his hometown Germany. If there is no hustle and bustle of the beer hall, noisy college students who bring countless troubles to the neighbors, it would be a little less flavorful.

However, what made Schneider even happier was that he was not responsible for supervising these college students who were over-energetic and wanted to try everything except studying, because this was the responsibility of Professor Arthur Hastings, the master of electromagnetism and a reactionary academic authority.

He took Clara and Arthur to a corner of the beer hall and sat down. However, before his buttocks could warm up the stool, he saw the student standing in the center of the stage take out a black, red and gold tricolor flag from the box beside him.

Among them, black and gold were the representative colors of the old Holy Roman Empire, and now they represent German nationalism, while red symbolizes freedom and revolution.

But at this moment, it doesn't matter what this flag represents. The most important thing is that this flag is currently banned from appearing on campus.

But students are born with a rebellious spirit. The more they are not allowed to do something, the more they want to do it.

For a senior policeman like Arthur, it is definitely a very smart move to restrict such a group of young people in the university. Because this can restrain their destructive nature in a small area like the campus, instead of running around and committing crimes in the streets and alleys of East London like in London.

The purpose of compulsory education is not only to let them recognize letters and learn basic knowledge so that they can become qualified technical workers in the near future. It is also to have a place to vent their excess energy, thereby reducing the overall crime rate in society.

In fact, in most cases, the latter role is more obvious than the former.

However, despite what he said, Arthur came to a rather counterintuitive conclusion based on what he saw and heard during his travels in Germany these days.

In Germany, especially in Prussia, which has implemented compulsory education since 1797, the density of schools in the country, whether universities, middle schools or primary schools, and the literacy rate of the people are much higher than that of Britain.

However, corresponding to the high literacy rate, Prussia's economic level is far less prosperous than that of Britain.

Even many Junker landlords live a fairly ordinary poor life, not to mention the Prussian peasants who work for these landlords.

Moreover, in terms of education, Britain's investment is not only inferior to that of Prussia, but also inferior to that of France across the Channel.

This year, France has just passed the "Education Reform Act" under the leadership of Guizot, while Britain's efforts in this regard are infinitely close to zero.

Although many knowledgeable people are actively establishing educational institutions such as the University of London at the grassroots level, compared with the government-led educational revolutions in Germany and France, the British government does not seem to have the intention to vigorously popularize basic education.

In the traditional British concept, the word education is equivalent to classical education, and classical education is the private domain of the aristocracy and a noble cause.

It is for this reason that traditional universities such as Oxford University and Cambridge University are extremely hostile to the University of London, which has different educational concepts from them.

However, what is even more surprising is that this is not only the view of the aristocracy, but also the view of the British people.

Most British people believe that whether they have received education or not does not affect their work in factories or their carrying hoes in the fields. And in fact, it seems to be true.

And Britain's lack of attention to universal education has led to a rather bizarre phenomenon.

On the European continent, whether in France or Germany, students are the vanguard of liberal reforms. These young people can be seen in every large-scale protest and uprising.

In Britain, it seems that movements organized by farmers, workers, and citizens are common, but I have never heard of any student-led movements. Because before the establishment of the University of London, there were only classical church universities in Britain, and even the number of classical church universities was extremely rare, so students could not make any waves at all.

Therefore, even in the 19th century when revolutionary movements emerged one after another, Arthur did not observe how students played a role in these movements until today.

But before he could carefully consider the psychological activities and basic demands of these students.

Suddenly, there was a bang, and the door of the pub was kicked open.

The pub, which was noisy just now, fell into silence immediately.

Then, there was the crisp sound of hard riding boots stepping on the floor, and then, a man wearing hard high-top riding boots, a dark black double-breasted coat that reached his knees, dark straight pants, and a German region The iconic military cap ‘Pickelhaube’ on his head walked into the pub slowly with his hands behind his back.

"German Steel Helmet Pickelhaube"

There is also a metal badge on his hat, which is not unfamiliar to the British.

It is a shield with two standing golden lions surrounding a bright red crown. This is the coat of arms of the Hanover family, the joint rulers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Hanover.

The motto of the Kingdom of Hanover written on the ribbon below the badge - Gott mit uns (God is with us), and the shining badge on his chest explain the identity of this gentleman.

He is a policeman in the Kingdom of Hanover and also a police chief.

He raised his right arm high, and as the white gloves turned gently, a group of Göttingen policemen holding batons immediately filed in like sharks smelling blood, and surrounded the students in the pub tightly.

Mr. Chief did not speak either. He just paced gently on the wooden floor of the pub. In the air that was about to solidify, only the clacking sound of horse boots stepping on the floor could be heard.

His eagle-like sharp eyes swept the whole audience. Every student who met his gaze couldn't help but lower his head under great pressure, completely losing his passionate attitude just now.

Seeing this, the director had a faint smile on his lips. This was the effect he wanted.

To deal with this group of daring young people, they must be overwhelmed in momentum from the beginning, otherwise there will be more and more troubles later.

The director walked towards the small stage in the center of the tavern, and the drinkers around him couldn't help but split into two halves, making way for him.

He walked up the three steps step by step, then leaned down and carefully looked at the black, red and gold tricolor flag held in the hands of the student leader.

Then, he gently patted the flag with the back of his hand, turned around and asked the audience: "Can anyone explain to me what this is?"

The audience was silent, some people hung their heads in frustration, and others pretended not to hear and drank the beer in their glasses.

"No one knows?" The police chief nodded with satisfaction: "Then I will treat it as garbage. Sergeant Haller!"

"Here!"

"This flag is in your hands. Take it outside and burn it!"

"Yes, sir!"

After speaking, the police chief took out a pen and paper, turned around and asked the student leader holding the flag: "Your college, name, grade, and supervisor."

The student leader stared at the police chief viciously, gnashing his teeth and asking back: "Are you going to let the student punishment committee put me in the detention room?"

"Detention room?" The police chief slightly raised the brim of his hat and whispered: "Sir, I'm afraid the result will be worse than that. You should have been prepared when you took out the tricolor flag. You will be expelled from school."

"Fuck you! You authoritarian running dog!"

The student swung a punch at the police chief's face, knocking him down instantly with a powerful punch, and rolled down the stairs.

His sudden rise also ignited the emotions of the students on the scene. The students who didn't dare to speak just now only felt a surge of hot blood rushing from their chests to their brains.

A student took advantage of the policeman who was not paying attention and kicked him in the crotch.

Others were struggling to grab the baton in the police's hand, and the smarter ones picked up the beer cup and smashed it hard on the police's head.

"Students! Run!"

I don't know who yelled, and then everyone rushed to the door of the tavern while fighting.

Arthur's beer and sausages had just been served on the table. He originally planned to enjoy this hard-earned meal, but even if he didn't want to leave, this Fiore style swordsmanship master who could rival Napoleon the Foil was still no match for the college students who rushed him out of the tavern like a tide.

It was not until this time that Arthur finally realized how hard Elder was on the sea. He had to fight such waves day and night.

Although Arthur had tried his best not to let the beer in the cup spill out, it was not an easy job under such circumstances.

He was pushed out backwards by the students, and he took a sip every now and then when he found an opportunity.

With only two gulps, the 'British Royal Barrel' selected by the Liverpool priests drank all the beer in the cup.

He threw the beer cup into the sky, but unexpectedly hit the police chief who had just stood up.

The angry chief rushed towards Arthur with his baton like crazy. Arthur saw that the situation was not good, so he took out the Göttingen sausage that was praised by Schneider and Heine from the plate in his left hand and threw it at the chief.

Arthur's behavior immediately attracted cheers from the students and the wrath of the Göttingen police.

When Arthur was pushed out of the pub by the crowd, he realized that the students were too happy too early.

Outside the tavern, the Göttingen Police Department had long surrounded the tavern. The military police rushed forward, some with whips and some with sticks. Soon they beat the students until they cried for their parents. Even the most die-hard resistance factions were pinned to the ground by several policemen.

The citizens of Göttingen who passed by saw this. Whether it was a farm girl buying milk or a donkey driver driving a gray animal, they couldn't help but stop and exclaimed: "Oh my God! What have the students done again?"