Shadow of great britain

In the office of the academic supervisor at the University of Göttingen.

Ohm's book "Calculation of Electric Current" was spread out on the desk, and in front of Arthur was a pile of manuscript paper. He held a feather pen in his hand, sometimes writing a few lines on the manuscript paper, and sometimes looking up to look at "Calculation of Electric Current".

In order to avoid being drafted by Gauss and Weber, Arthur could only find some work for himself as much as possible.

And translating "Calculation of Electric Current" into English was a very reasonable excuse. This job could not only help him block Gauss and Weber, but also increase his reputation in the academic world and shut up those guys who thought he was not experienced enough.

Although most Germans thought it was much easier to deal with professors than with the police, for Arthur, the latter was easier.

At least when he was at Scotland Yard, when answering questions, Arthur always had a lot of ideas for solving problems, and the answers were never fixed.

But at the University of Göttingen, Gauss often threw out geometric problems, and Arthur even had to spend a long time to understand the stem of the questions.

For example, a few days ago, when Gauss was doing geodetic work, he suddenly had a terrible idea: Is the world we live in real? Do we really live in a Euclidean geometric space?

Gauss was shocked by his idea. In order to verify this conjecture, Gauss designed an experiment. He tried to test whether Euclidean geometry is applicable to the surface of the earth by measuring the angles between the vertices of three hills.

As we all know, in Euclidean geometry, the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is always equal to 180 degrees.

But Gauss assumed: if the surface space of the earth is not flat, but a surface with curvature, then when measuring triangles in a larger area, the sum of its interior angles may not be equal to 180 degrees.

And Gauss's final measurement work showed that the sum of the angles between the three hills was indeed not 180 degrees, but it was not much different from 180 degrees. This can be regarded as a reassurance for Gauss, because he felt that the error was almost negligible and belonged to the category of tolerable error.

Therefore, Gauss believed that the space we live in is indeed a standard Euclidean geometric space.

When Arthur saw the report, he felt that although he did not understand it, he was still shocked.

When Gauss asked Arthur what he thought, Arthur, for the sake of face, said casually: "Although the distance between the three hills is not short, if this distance is magnified to the scale of the earth, it is too small. If we can measure whether the angle between the two stars in the sky and the earth is 180 degrees, the experimental result should be accurate enough."

Gauss asked casually, and Arthur said casually.

But what was unexpected was that Gauss was stumped by Arthur's casual remark.

This famous scholar in Europe first pinched his chin and pondered for a moment, then clapped his hands suddenly, turned around and went straight to the observatory of the University of Göttingen.

Although Arthur didn't know what Gauss had in mind, at least since the conversation between the two, Gauss had never come to him again except asking Arthur, as the director of the observatory, to add a new and most advanced astronomical telescope to the observatory.

The academic supervisor was very satisfied with the result, and he seemed to have accidentally discovered the secret to getting rid of these great scholars - giving them difficult questions.

Just by asking a question, these great scholars could disappear for weeks or even months. Is there a more economical deal in the world?

As for the purchase of the most advanced astronomical telescope, although this project costs a lot, Arthur believes that as long as Gauss's name is reported together with the budget application, the Ministry of Culture and Education of the Kingdom of Hanover will definitely consider it seriously.

After dealing with professors of natural philosophy such as Gauss, scholars of humanities and social sciences such as Herbart and Dahlmann are much easier to deal with.

Professor Dahlmann, as a constitutional reform consultant like Arthur, came to him basically to discuss constitutional issues. As for police reform, Arthur, a former senior police officer of Scotland Yard, has a lot of issues to talk about.

Whether it is administrative organization, scope of authority, judicial process or historical documents, Arthur can clearly list them to Professor Dahlman, and he can even cite the experience of neighboring France from time to time.

Perhaps in the field of natural philosophy, Arthur is just a pig with a big onion in his nose, but in the field of police justice, there are few people who can speak more than this York pig farmer, even if you look at the whole of Europe.

After all, he actually participated in the compilation of a series of internal manuals such as the "Greater London Police Police Management Regulations", "Patrol and Order Maintenance Manual", "Case Recording and Management Guide", "Arrest and Interrogation Manual", "Police Close Combat Handbook", etc., which are still being implemented by Scotland Yard.

And after Arthur defeated the Paris Sword Saint Francois Bertrand in the duel, he was even invited to participate in the compilation of the latest version of the British Army's "Bayonet Drill Manual".

In a word, although he is only 24 years old, Sir Arthur Hastings is definitely a genuine old man.

As for Professor Johann Herbart, assistant to the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, he was obviously easier to deal with than Professor Dahlmann.

During these days, Dahlmann did not make any other requests except asking Arthur to follow the usual practice: write a pre-school persuasion article for students before the new semester officially begins.

Not only that, this old-school German professor who has always been serious and somewhat old-fashioned even praised Arthur's "Bismarck in Stendhal" in private, which is rare.

Herbart believes that although the text of this article is simple, it expresses true feelings and is deeply touching. It also highlights the purpose of persuading students to study, and does not involve the current fierce political disputes for the pure campus.

If he had not seen it with his own eyes, Herbart would really find it difficult to believe that this article was written by a 24-year-old young man.

Even a professor like him who has been engaged in education for many years may not be able to write such a heart-touching monologue.

In this way, within a month of taking office at the University of Göttingen, Arthur somehow managed to get Gauss, which made Dahlmann and Herbart praise him greatly. He also won a lot of equipment renewal budget for the school, and quickly stabilized the school's professor circle.

As for students, because he relaxed the control of student associations and intentionally or unintentionally leaked the news that the Kingdom of Hanover was preparing to pass a liberal constitution. The originally angry students not only eased their emotions, but some even took the initiative to support the new school supervisor who was about the same age as them.

Of course, in the process of students changing their minds, Mr. Heinrich Heine, an old senior at the University of Göttingen, also made a great contribution. After Arthur took office at the University of Göttingen, Mr. Heine immediately published an editorial on the freedom movement of the German states in the Paris "Constitutional News".

In the editorial titled "Liberalism in Germany: The Feat of the Kingdom of Hanover", Heine not only highly praised the determination of Britain and King William IV of Hanover to pass a liberal constitution in Hanover, but also explained in detail the significance of the appointment of the Honorable Sir Arthur Hastings as the Chancellor of the University of Göttingen.

This greatly boosted the morale of the Göttingen students who always regarded Heine as their spiritual leader, and they naturally regarded the new Chancellor as their own.

The rapid stabilization of the situation at the University of Göttingen not only exceeded the expectations of others, but also exceeded the expectations of Arthur himself.

At the Privy Council meeting not long ago, King William IV not only highly affirmed the work of this York guy in Hanover, but the sailor king was also very proud of his ability to judge people.

In order to express his affirmation of Arthur's work, he also wrote a letter to the Governor of Hanover, the Duke of Cambridge, asking the cabinet of the Kingdom of Hanover to give them the greatest support within their capabilities.

Because in the king's view, stabilizing the University of Göttingen is equivalent to stabilizing all intellectuals in the Kingdom of Hanover, and thus achieving the goal of stabilizing the middle class.

After all, in Hanover, this group of middle class has always regarded the poets, philosophers and scientists who graduated from Göttingen as their leaders.

In that letter, William IV proudly praised: "If we use the Royal Navy as an analogy, Sir Arthur Hastings is Horatio Nelson's flagship Victory. In terms of maintaining order, he is a Scotland Yard."

Of course, His Majesty's praise is worth being happy about.

However, Arthur clearly knows that even if he is Scotland Yard, Scotland Yard still has to rely on the Gestapo to do things in Göttingen.

However, with the support of the king, there are still many benefits, especially in a German state like Hanover.

For example, not long ago, he reported to the Ministry of Culture and Education on behalf of the University of Göttingen for a budget application, and the bureaucrats almost approved it in seconds.

Because, although the king's identity does not always work in the UK, even every time he wants to do something, he is constrained by Parliament.

However, in the Kingdom of Hanover, His Majesty the King was still a well-deserved despot before the liberal constitution was passed.

But this was not what made Arthur the happiest. What made him the happiest was that he thought it would take a long time for the professors of natural philosophy to recognize his work, but Gauss unexpectedly looked up to him because of the distance hypothesis between the earth and the stars, so that those professors of natural philosophy who respected Gauss began to doubt whether this young dean was really a hermit who did not show his true face.

Michael Faraday of the Royal Society recognized him, the inventor of the phonograph agreed to go to Göttingen to assist in the construction of telegraph lines just because of a letter from him, Navi and Coriolis of the Paris Academy of Sciences wrote to the school specifically hoping to lead a delegation to visit Göttingen, and now even the highly respected Mr. Gauss felt that he had bright spots...

In addition, he also won so much budget...

This...

If we must stand up and find fault with him at this time, saying that he is wrong here and there, wouldn’t it be like a clown?

Therefore, those professors in Göttingen who originally wanted to take advantage of Arthur's unreasonable way of obtaining professorship swallowed their objections. Even if someone occasionally complained in private, at most they said that it was against the rules to do so, not that Arthur Hastings had no ability but had strong connections.

People are in high spirits when they are happy, and York gentlemen are no exception.

Arthur was translating "Calculation of Electric Current" while humming a little tune. Although this job was boring, he still worked very hard.

Suddenly, Arthur heard the creak of the office door, followed by a scattered sound of footsteps.

Arthur reached for his pipe without raising his head, lit it and asked: "My dear Mr. Bismarck, don't you know it's impolite to enter the house without knocking?"

Unexpectedly, the person who entered the door did not answer a word. Instead, he walked to the desk and stood still. Then he took away the cigar box that Arthur placed on the table and took a cigar from it as if he was familiar with it. : "Where's the fire?"

"Um?"

Arthur only felt that this exaggerated voice was a bit familiar. He looked up, and after being stunned for a while, he couldn't help laughing: "Benjamin, why are you wearing a cuckold?"

"Is it handsome? I bought it from Paris." The Jewish boy Disraeli took off his hat and shook his hair, holding a cigar in his mouth and replied: "I didn't say it, the clothes there are much more fashionable than in London."

Arthur took out the matchbox from the drawer and threw it at him: "Why did you, the distinguished congressman, come all the way to Göttingen? Is it because you think Mrs. Sykes is not as charming as the German girl here? ”

"That's not true. Mrs. Sikes is an untarnished goddess in my mind."

Disraeli lit the cigar, sat half-assed on the corner of the desk, and took a puff with squinted eyes: "However, I can't always be tired of being with her, can I? Taking advantage of the recess of Parliament, there are so many Take a look at the outside world, and while you’re at it, stop by and pay a visit to our great scholar, Sir Arthur Hastings.”

Disraeli pointed to the tall bookcases on both sides of the office: "Look, they are full of academic monographs, Professor Arthur Hastings, this name is much cooler than Benjamin Disraeli, a member of the House of Commons. "

Arthur laughed loudly when he heard this. He stood up and took out a wine glass from the wine cabinet behind him: "Sorry, Benjamin, this place is not as prosperous as London and Paris, and there are not many varieties of drinks. If you want to pursue fashion taste and indulge in sensuality, , I’m afraid you’re in the wrong place.”

Disraeli nodded in agreement. He held up his glass and said, "Usually, places like Göttingen are really boring. But it's different now. Since you came here, there are even people here. Scotland Yard is therefore a large city."

Arthur took a sip of wine, raised his eyebrows and asked, "How do you know about this?"

"Of course I do, because as a Tory there really isn't much I can focus on right now."

Disraeli drank all the wine in his glass, then sighed and said: "Arthur, you don't know how bad the atmosphere within the Tory Party is now. When Parliament opened in February this year, I stood Looking around the House of Commons, our seats have been reduced by two-thirds! Do you know what this means? This means that there are only a hundred Tory MPs left in the House of Commons! Competing with the Whigs, they can do whatever they want. I am not as concerned about those issues as whether you have handed in your latest manuscript? "

Arthur listened to Disraeli's complaints and nodded slightly: "Although I am not in Britain, from what I saw on the news, it seems that this is indeed the case. If the Whigs did not have an absolute advantage, the " The Slavery Abolition Act will never be pushed forward.”

"The Abolition Act!" Disraeli was furious when he heard the name: "Yes! The Abolition Act! Do you know how stupid that bill is? I'm not saying that I am against the abolition of slavery, but It’s ridiculous to spend 20 million pounds and 40% of the annual fiscal revenue to abolish slavery!”

"What about the Factory Act?" Arthur asked: "Isn't this bill something you have always supported? According to the bill, children under the age of 9 are not allowed to work in textile factories, and children between the ages of 9 and 13 must work a maximum of 8 hours, with young workers aged 13 to 18 working a maximum of 12 hours a day. In addition, the bill also mandates that factories provide a specified number of hours of basic education to all minor workers.”

When Disraeli heard this, his whole face darkened: "Of course, the Factory Act is indeed good. But Arthur, you have to understand that all this is predicated. You know that after the Factory Act is passed, Are they pushing for the Poor Law Amendment Bill?"