Shadow of great britain

According to Arthur's experience, if you want to get along with Parisians, drinking with them is definitely a good way. But even when they are not drunk, the lively nature of Parisians is still easy to get along with.

When you are with talkative Parisians, there are always many topics to talk about.

After all, living in such a sunny and prosperous city, who among the authentic old Parisians doesn't have a few fresh topics?

When facing Parisian gentlemen from the upper class, you can talk about art with them. Whether it is the latest developments in music, painting or literary circles, you can get a taste from their mouths. But what's annoying is that these people are also very vain. They always pretend to mention their trip to Europe last year, the private salon of a certain marquis they attended last week, and one or several celebrities they met in the process.

As for the working people who make a living on the streets of Paris, although their lives are hard, problems such as work, wages, prices and housing are the focus of their frequent discussions. Just walk around the streets and chat with them for a few words, and you will immediately know the prices of goods in the market. If you meet some enthusiastic people, they will even teach you how to properly deal with the economic pressure brought by rising rents.

Even in the darkest parts of Paris, the criminals in the underworld are very talkative.

How to make money, what is the most popular crime this year, and where the Paris police with no assholes are often active recently, they can tell you everything.

If you meet a Parisian for the first time and you can't tell what social class he belongs to.

My good brother, then talk to him about politics and extramarital affairs!

Whether it is the upper-class Saint-Germain district or the rural suburbs that don't leave much impression on tourists, you can hear people talking about government changes, revolutions, elections and expressing social injustice in the cafes and taverns of Paris.

There is no end to the speeches criticizing government policies, the king, the republicans, the Bonapartists and the anti-aristocrats. After they had their fill of scolding, the citizens who had just been at loggerheads because of their different political positions turned around and talked about marriage, difficulties in love, emotional entanglements, and changes in social customs like old friends.

Everyone agreed that the world was changing too fast, and the decline of Christian morality had turned Paris into a fallen hell. Men and women all disobeyed marriage agreements, which was really shameless.

But you must not take these words seriously and jump out to act as moral guardians without hesitation, because it won't be long before these people who were just lamenting the decline of morals will turn around and start comparing their new lovers to see how beautiful they are.

If you dare to stand up and accuse them, you will be ridiculed as a conservative old antique in an instant. At this time, the "Bohemian" which is full of derogatory meanings in the French context is used by them as a talisman. They say that they have the same "Bohemian spirit" of yearning for freedom and pursuing individuality as those artists.

However, if you want to win their understanding, it is not difficult.

When you are free, prepare a few dirty jokes about priests, nuns or ladies. Although these things seem not presentable, they can always help you get out of trouble in social occasions.

Arthur has such a treasured joke. This joke was told to him by his friend Talleyrand when he left England.

According to Talleyrand himself, this joke was not his original, but Voltaire told him.

It is said that when Voltaire was still alive, someone invited him to participate in a shameful party for men and women.

Everyone thought Voltaire would definitely refuse, but unexpectedly, this famous scholar actually accepted the invitation. However, the next night, the group invited Voltaire to participate again.

Unexpectedly, Voltaire said mysteriously: "Oh, man! If you go to such a party once, you can still be a philosopher. But if you go twice, it seems that I am in the same boat with you."

Every time Arthur mentioned this tasteless joke in Paris, he always won applause, and from time to time he could discover many philosophers among the cheering people.

However, as we all know, the situation in Germany is different from that in Paris. Although there are many philosophers in Germany, compared with the philosophers in Paris, the two are obviously not in the same direction.

Philosophers in Paris attend lewd parties, philosophers in Britain like to complain about England being too urbanized, and Mr. Hegel, the representative of German philosophers, likes to sigh: "Look! Minerva's owl takes off at dusk!"

In short, making friends with a sober German is far from as easy as making friends with Parisians.

And even among Germans, the difficulty of getting along between northern and southern Germans is very different.

In terms of religious beliefs, northern Germans believe in Protestantism, while southern Germans believe in Catholicism.

In terms of wealth, northern Germany is far from being as rich as southern Germany. Even their noble class has a considerable number of people living in poor rural areas for a long time.

And due to the long-term rule of Prussia, the guys from northern Germany are generally traditional monarchists like Bismarck.

As for southern Germany, although the southern Germans retain many Catholic traditions, due to the influence of the Napoleonic Wars, the southern German states were generally impacted by the French Revolution. These southern German residents living in the city generally carry petty-bourgeois liberal ideas. In this regard, a German poet who was rumored to live in the dirty streets of Paris and eat black bread is a typical representative.

Although Heinrich Heine is a Prussian, his hometown of Düsseldorf is located in the Rhineland. As part of the former Rhine Confederation, Düsseldorf was not designated as Prussian territory until the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Therefore, Heine is very different from Bismarck. He is an atypical Prussian and a typical Rhinelander.

If you want to know what the characteristics of the Rhinelanders are, just ask Bismarck.

Bismarck's original words were: "Rhinelanders are born pariahs. I look at Rhinelanders the same way as Englishmen look at Americans. It is the Wild West of Prussia. In the Prussian legal system, if you choose to work in your home country after passing the judicial examination, your apprenticeship will be three years, but if you are willing to go to the Rhineland, this period will be shortened to two years. Now, do you understand what I mean, Professor?"

Fortunately, Arthur did not invite Bismarck to the wine party tonight.

Because most of the people present today are Rhineland-style Germans who are similar to Heine.

Mendelssohn was born in the Free City of Frankfurt. Although Frankfurt can be regarded as North Germany, as a commercial and financial center that attracts the attention of the whole of Germany, most Frankfurt people question Prussian bureaucracy from the bottom of their hearts.

Moreover, they do have the confidence to question their neighbors who advocate violence next door. Because of the liberalism advocated by Frankfurt people, many famous financial families in Europe have emerged here, such as the Bethmann family, the Stein family and Arthur's old friend the Rothschild family.

Even more unfortunate is that the Mendelssohn family is also a famous family in Frankfurt. Although their family's banking business is not as successful as the Rothschild family, it is still well-known in the German region.

And his brother-in-law, Mr. Dirichlet, was born in the small town of Düren in the Kingdom of Bavaria in the southern German state. As a mathematician who first studied under Gauss in Göttingen and then went to the Paris Institute of Technology to study under Fourier and Laplace, there is no need to express what Mr. Dirichlet's political views would be.

After all, if you trace it back carefully, Dirichlet should even call Napoleon his senior brother, because both of them had attended Laplace's class.

As for Mr. List, a political prisoner, he was expelled from the Duchy of Württemberg in southern Germany because of his liberal ideas, not to mention how the Prussian government would view him.

However, among the four Germans, Krupp might get along well with Bismarck.

But this is not necessarily because Krupp's ideas are so similar to Bismarck's, but simply because this kid is a good hand at telling lies to different people.

In order to get the order from Arthur and save the ancestral steel plant, Krupp almost lost his life today.

This 22-year-old boy took over and completely transformed himself into an extra-large Fudel barrel in the winery, making Arthur, the "Royal Barrel of Great Britain" selected by Liverpool priests, feel ashamed.

And it's not enough to just drink. Krupp also had to maintain a sober mind under the impact of alcohol, and he kept the atmosphere on the table active. Such performance makes anyone who still has a little conscience think that this kid will definitely do great things in the future.

Perhaps because most Germans are serious and old-fashioned, these guys become more unrestrained than the French after getting drunk.

Even religious issues that people dare not satirize in daily life, they can speak freely under the influence of alcohol.

Arthur boldly started the conversation.

"Priest? I heard someone mention priests. Oh, priests are the most hypocritical. However, occasionally you can find a few sincere ones. Didn't you see a Paulin tavern on the way here just now? In fact, I have met some Paulin monks before. These people call themselves ascetics and have no material pursuits. But I clearly saw a Paulin monk holding a girl and walking carelessly in the square.

The monk was young and strong, fat, strong and sturdy, with bright eyes, a peaceful expression, and a ruddy face. He didn't look like a person who had practiced asceticism at all. The girl he was hugging looked She was very cute, singing a song, looking at the monk with affection, and pinching his cheeks from time to time to show affection.

When I saw this, I walked up to the fat monk and teased him, saying, "Father, I think your fate as an apostle of God is really good, even to the extent that it is enviable. Your face is rosy, which means that you are healthy and happy. There is also a beautiful girl to accompany you to relax, it seems that you must be very satisfied with the profession of a Paulin monk. '

I thought the monk would be furious, but he spat on the ground, not at all like a priest.

He curled his lips and said to me seriously: "Hey, sir, I wish I could sink all the Paulin monks to the bottom of the Rhine. I wanted to burn down the monastery and convert to Islam many times. When I was fifteen, my parents forced me to wear this damn monk's robe so that my bastard, damn brother could get more property. There was only jealousy, strife and madness in the monastery. I preached a few times and worked hard to earn some money, half of which was deducted by the abbot and the remaining half was used to support women. Whenever I returned to the monastery at night, I wanted to hit my head against the wall of my bedroom when I thought of these things. You said that my fate was good, but it was only because you didn't understand the intrigues. '"

Everyone couldn't help laughing when they heard this. Krupp asked under the influence of alcohol: "So there are Paulin monks in London? I thought they were only active in Germany and Eastern Europe. ”

Arthur blinked at him: "Oh, Alfred, you've been fooled. I made up this story just now. But the monk I mentioned actually has a prototype."

Mendelssohn's interest was aroused: "Who is the prototype?"

"Who else could it be?"

Disraeli's face was red from drinking. He drank the beer in his glass and let out a satisfied sigh: "I guess it's probably Mr. Talleyrand, the French ambassador to Britain. Arthur likes to make fun of Mr. Talleyrand's deeds. He imitated the lame man's walk, implying that he betrayed his benefactor as a politician and betrayed God as a bishop. But what is puzzling is that Mr. Talleyrand, who has always been petty, is actually quite tolerant of him. Napoleon was betrayed twice by Talleyrand, but Talleyrand never said a bad word about him. ”

Arthur was also a little drunk, and he revealed the reason in one sentence: "That's because he still owes me money! He lost at least three hundred pounds to me in gambling, but he only paid off a small part of the debt, and...hiccups! His debts haven't been paid off yet, and I've brought him a large amount of income. Mr. Talleyrand loves money the most, and he won't mess with his own cornucopia."

When Krupp heard about money, the sleepiness caused by drunkenness immediately dissipated a lot, and he asked: "Did you introduce him to a good project?"

Arthur picked up a piece of potato dumpling with a fork, chewed and pondered: "If you want to talk about good projects, there are quite a few. But not all of them were introduced by me. Some of them he asked me to do, such as Bona..."

Arthur was halfway through his words when he suddenly realized something was wrong, so he quickly changed the subject: "For example, the Great Western Railway in the UK invested with Mr. Louis Bonaparte of the Bonaparte family. That is a big money-making project. As long as the railway is successfully completed, this investment is definitely a sure win."

"Great Western Railway? "Lister, who was dazed, became alert when he heard this: "So you are also engaged in railway investment? I didn't expect that you are my colleague."

"Colleague?" Arthur didn't expect that a casual remark would lead to a new discovery: "Aren't you a political economist? Are you also a part-time railway engineer?"

Lister heard Arthur's question and immediately introduced his history of making a fortune and investment projects to Arthur.

It turned out that after Lister moved to the United States, he had been a farmer for a while due to his livelihood.

But he had no talent for agricultural work, so this job was not successful, so he sold the farm and turned to his old business, opening a German newspaper called "Reading Eagle" in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Because this newspaper was very successful, he also took this opportunity to meet many wealthy German-American businessmen, and through their relationships, he opened He started a coal mining company. In order to improve the operating efficiency of the coal mining company, List soon studied railway construction and participated in the establishment of the earliest railway companies in the United States.

With the increase of wealth and social influence, List also naturally moved towards politics and met the current US President Andrew Jackson. In order to repay List's support for him, Jackson immediately granted List American citizenship after being elected US President in 1830, and appointed him as the US Consul to the Grand Duchy of Baden this year.

With the status of consul, List naturally obtained diplomatic immunity, so he could return to Germany so swaggeringly without worrying that the Duchy of Württemberg would send police to put him in jail.

However, List's return to Europe this time was not entirely for the purpose of returning home in glory and showing off.

The economist who first proposed the necessity of a customs union immediately realized the huge business opportunities hidden in the German states when he saw that his idea was gradually being realized.

The establishment of the German unified market means that the transportation industry, especially the railway transportation industry, will usher in explosive growth.

Bavaria and Prussia, as the customs union between North and South Germany, The leaders of the German Customs Union will inevitably start a competition for railway construction. Because anyone with a discerning eye can see that whoever builds the railway to other German states first will be more likely to obtain the promise of joining from small states.

And List not only has experience in railway construction, but is also the proposer of the Customs Union, so he believes that he is very likely to be valued in Germany.

Therefore, he asked President Jackson for the position of Consul of the Duchy of Baden. Although he is nominally a consul of the United States, as long as the German states are willing to put aside their past grudges and summon List, he will definitely immediately restore his identity as a glorious German.

However, this cannot be blamed on List for not being particular about his work, because as long as one is a person, he will have some vanity.

After all, in this era, it is actually quite shameful for Europeans to go to the United States. If you tell others that you are a new immigrant in the United States, it is almost equivalent to admitting that you are a foreign trash who can't make it in Europe.

List is a scholar after all, and he has been a university professor and a member of the Württemberg parliament. Such a person of status still has to have some face.

When List talked about railway construction, he could only see his lips flying up and down, and his spit flying all over the place.

He introduced the grand blueprint in his mind in detail. When he was in the United States, he had already proposed a practical plan for the connection between the Bavarian railway network and the port cities of the Hanseatic League.

After arriving in Germany for a field investigation, he published an article in the newspaper entitled "On the Saxon Railway System as the General Basis of the German Railway System: On the Necessity of Building the Leipzig-Dresden Railway".

It is said that his article attracted great attention from King Anton I of Saxony, but because of List's previous record as a political criminal, the conservative King Anton I had doubts about using List.

But even if List was not used, the Saxon government was still seriously considering adopting his suggestion - building a railway from Leipzig to Dresden.

If ordinary people heard what List said, they would probably just laugh it off.

But the problem is that Arthur is not an ordinary person. As a young rich man who has a small fortune thanks to the Italian Revolution, Sir Arthur Hastings is currently in a stage where he has too much money in his pocket.

Moreover, the source of his surplus wealth is very suspicious. Although the British government's anti-corruption efforts are not strong these days, the problem is that he did not share the money with the higher authorities, and it was taken from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the control of Viscount Palmerston.

Viscount Palmerston is very popular with London ladies, but for the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, no one can be more terrifying than this energetic and iron-fisted minister.

In order to prevent Viscount Palmerston from finding out about the trick, a way to clean up the money must be found.

The railway investment proposed by Lister is a very good idea, but Arthur does not want to invest the money elsewhere, but hopes to invest the money in the Kingdom of Hanover.

Arthur feels that if the money is invested in other German states, with his status, he will probably not be able to influence the government decisions of those countries.

Secondly, due to the special nature of the relationship between the Kingdom of Hanover and Britain, Hanover has always enjoyed many conveniences that the German brothers have never enjoyed. For example, a relaxed tariff policy, the convenience of exchanging industrial products and agricultural products, etc.

Because of this, many German states, in order to take advantage of this, even let the Kingdom of Hanover sit back and act as a middleman, selling their agricultural products and timber and other commodities to Britain through Hanover.

But the Kingdom of Hanover did not take all the advantages.

Because it has a natural defect, that is, there are not many good ports in Hanover. Therefore, many import and export trades in Hanover must be carried out through the two free port cities of Bremen and Hamburg.

If a railway from Hanover to Bremen and Hamburg can be built, this business will not lose money anyway.

Thinking of this, Arthur looked at Liszt with a much kinder look. Not only that, Krupp, the manufacturer of counterfeit instruments, also became more pleasing to Arthur.

Perhaps Krupp's technology is not enough to make scientific instruments, but if it is to make railroad tracks, they should be able to succeed if they try hard, right?

When Arthur thought of this, he couldn't help but show the usual gentle smile of British gentlemen on his face.

I don't know if it was because of the effect of the pound or the effect of alcohol, but this knight of William IV for three years even became active in helping Liszt's daughter perform.

Arthur smiled and put aside the railway issue and talked about Miss Liszt's debut. He planned to do him a favor first: "Mr. Liszt, we can talk about the railway issue slowly. But the most important thing at the moment should be your daughter's debut performance, right?"