Shadow of great britain

At the University of Göttingen, there is a unique small stone house, which is one of the activity venues approved by the school for student societies.

However, compared with other student club residences, this house has a unique feature.

Although the furniture in the house was simply furnished, the floor was neither carpeted nor sanded. Instead, a layer of black paper was laid directly on the white floor.

If you don't know the inside story here, you will probably think that this is some strange habit of the owner of the house.

However, all members of the 'Pomeranian Saber Club' at the University of Göttingen know that the black paper on the ground plays a major occult role, which all new members must complete before joining the club. A necessary ritual.

As part of the initiation ceremony, all applicants lie on black paper on the floor and have their outlines drawn in pen by senior members of the club. Each human silhouette is approximately four to five square feet in area and will be enclosed in a narrow black wooden frame and hung on the wall.

Judging from the outline on the wall, there are not a few members of the Pomeranian Saber Club, at least more than 100.

The regular curves gradually shrink to a common bottom. These contours are stacked layer by layer like a pyramid. The vast majority of the middle and lower contours are framed with white fir wood, while the rare middle and upper contours are arranged according to the hierarchy. Using walnut, mahogany and oak respectively, the different colors and woods clearly distinguish the levels of club members - grand master, master, division commander and sergeant.

Seeing these names, anyone who knows something about medieval history can tell that these ridiculous young men are imitating the organizational structure of the Teutonic Knights.

Although they were never as wealthy as the Teutonic Knights, nor did they own a territory larger than this small house, they still decorated the third wall of the room with a pair of shining swords. .

This pair of swords are crossed and fixed against the wall, as if to tell all visitors: We guys from the Pomeranian Saber Club are not vegetarians!

There was only a creaking sound, and someone pushed the door open. The sun shone into the room along the crack of the door, and the light reflected on the sword was enough to make people's eyes flash and faint.

The person who walked through the door was a slender young man. Although he was not yet mature, his weight was sufficient for an adult.

His dressing style was incompatible with the current fashion in Gogentin. He wore a wrinkled coat with no collar or buttons, and it looked faded. His lower body was wearing a pair of particularly baggy trousers and a pair of iron-heeled boots with particularly prominent spurs. His shirt tie was untied, hanging just over his shoulders.

His hair covers his ears and neck, and there is a slight sign of a beard growing on his face, but the color of the beard is not clear yet. Rather than being a beard, it looks more like fluff. This is a part of his face. Big features.

In addition, he also has a large sword on his left waist, a gun holster on his right waist, and a large signet ring on his ring finger for decoration.

He entered the house, took off his belt, took off the pistol and sword hanging from his belt, threw them on the ground, and could not stop talking to a friend who was following behind him.

"Only here can I put aside my funnyness for a while and become more rational. Although this is a boring thing, it is earning fame. At the beginning, I was still a three-year-old who just came to Göttingen. I didn't know anyone at that time, but I was eager to make a name for myself in this place and introduce myself to the members of the Pomeranian Saber Club, but I found that I had no chance of success. If this happens to you, what will you do?"

John Motley looked at this friend who was very proud because he had just been elected as the chairman of the Gestapo. He shrugged and said: "I guess you will make friends with the Grand Master, please the senior members of the club, and ask them to give you An opportunity to showcase yourself.”

"That's the way you Americans think, but this is Germany and your approach won't work."

Bismarck snorted: "I insulted them in public in the worst possible way. I broke the nose of a division commander, shaved off the upper lip and beard of a master, and I didn't show much kindness to others. I did this From then on, everyone in the club praised my bravery. They were eager to obtain such a brave fighter and cheered to vote for me to join.

I want to lead my peers here, and I want to be their leader for the rest of my life. You can see what a sane person I am now. It's almost impossible for you to recognize me as the same person you met on the street half an hour ago, when you met a crazy guy who was bluffing.

But I see this as a way to be superior to others. As soon as I came to the university, I decided that since my competitors were all indulgent, cruel, and eccentric people, and I wanted to conquer these people, then I had to be 10 times more indulgent, cruel, and eccentric than them. ! "

Motley couldn't help but laugh when Bismarck mentioned what happened half an hour ago.

It is impossible for anyone present to forget that this guy, who is younger than many freshmen, actually leads his big wolfdog named Ariel to publicly deliver a campaign speech on the stage. And not only his words, but even his behavior was so full of gunpowder.

When four of his rivals openly mocked him on stage, he responded in a duel.

The opponent who had originally hoped to be bigger than Bismarck was beaten so hard that he even had to jump over the "beating stick" in Bismarck's hand like a puppy.

Moreover, as Bismarck said, such behavior was unexpectedly cheered by his classmates. Everyone thought he was a man. As for his opponent, the beaten Mr. Reservoir Dog lost almost all his Support ticket.

Even though he is only 18 years old this year, Bismarck is already eager to use the power of his personality to command and dominate others. And judging from the current situation, Motley was shocked to find that this little friend actually possesses such an amazing leader. force.

Motley found a chair and sat down. He looked at Bismarck and just wanted to have some fun with him: "I remember at the end of last semester, didn't you say you didn't plan to go back to Göttingen? But not only did you come back this semester, you even ran for president.”

Bismarck boiled a pot of tea on the fireplace: "I didn't plan to come back because the school court sentenced me to one month in prison. I wrote a letter to the principal before returning to school. You don't know, the old immortal is trying to punish me. , actually deliberately postponed the date of imprisonment until I returned from vacation on the island of Maclasa. I pretended to be ill in the letter. I told him that my condition had relapsed again and I could not predict when I would recover, so I had to stay in Berlin. Because traveling long distances would further worsen my already weak physical condition, I asked the school to allow me to serve my sentence in Berlin without having to return to Göttingen.”

"The principal promised you?"

"No. The old guy said in the letter that he will retire soon. As for how my imprisonment should be carried out, it needs to be left to the new Superintendent, Sir Arthur Hastings, to decide."

Bismarck muttered: "I thought that the new superintendent must not be familiar with the school, and he probably didn't even know that my prison sentence had not yet been executed, so I made up my mind to go back to the school to check the situation. And my father and I didn't get along well. Unhappy, he refused to help me pay off my debt without any leeway, and the reason for all this was that my academic progress was not going well.”

Motley said in surprise: "Then how do you plan to live this semester?"

Bismarck swayed on the chair with his legs crossed: "John, this requires wisdom. Although he refused to help me pay off my debt, I starved myself for a week before going home for the holidays to make myself look sallow and sickly. In this case, he would naturally think that it was due to lack of food and clothing. Later, I created a situation where the father and son were alone to express my love to him. I told him that I would rather convert to Islam than endure it. Hungry. My father had a much softer heart than my mother, so that solved the problem.”

Motley laughed loudly after hearing this: "Otto, this is a good idea. It's a pity that I can't use it. After all, I can't take time to go back to Boston just to get some living expenses. It will only make me poorer."

Bismarck joked: "But if you don't go home and persuade your father in person, how can he agree to let you transfer to another school? You are here to learn knowledge, but from all aspects, Gögentin is not worth staying here. Not long ago, because most of the professors who adorned the university's reputation are either dead or degenerate, and the town itself is so boring that you should have gone to Paris or Vienna."

Motley said helplessly: "Then what can we do? My father only knows so much about European universities. Cambridge, Oxford, Glasgow, Edinburgh, these British universities all do not accept international students. And the remaining universities in Europe He only knows Göttingen, and this is simply because this school was founded by the British royal family.”

"Isn't it?" Bismarck complained: "The British royal family was created, and now a British bastard has come as the school superintendent."

"Bastard? You mean Sir Arthur Hastings?"

"Sir? He is just a York peasant!" Bismarck rolled his eyes while lying on his chair: "God knows how such a person got the title of knight. Maybe the king of England is blind."

Motley rubbed the side of his face and frowned: "Isn't that true? I read the article "Bismarck Sends Stendhal" in the journal. He was indeed a farmer, but ordinary farmers can't write such an article! "

"Ah... that's true. He belongs to the most despicable kind among farmers." Bismarck said angrily: "Ordinary farmers are not so sanctimonious, let alone use these methods. John , you have to be careful about him."

"Yes...really?" Although Motley had always had a good relationship with Bismarck, he still didn't dare to believe the other party's assertion, because Bismarck's statement was almost completely opposite to what he heard from another friend: " In fact, I heard some things about him from others before he became superintendent.”

"Who did you hear this from? Is he famous in the United States?"

"This is not because he is famous in the United States, but because a friend of mine happens to know him. You should know that studying in Europe is a fashionable trend in the United States, so there are many alumni associations of European universities in Boston I met a pastor in the Göttingen Alumni Association in Boston who had studied theology here. His brother had a good relationship with Mr. Washington Irving. I once visited their home and happened to bump into them.

At that time, the pastor's brother was planning to travel to England, so he asked Mr. Owen for some common sense about living in England. You also know that Mr. Irving is a great literary giant in the United States. His works are very recognized in the UK, so the pastor’s brother also hopes that he can help introduce some British celebrities to help him broaden his horizons.

Mr. Irving is a very generous person. He readily agreed to the other party's request and even offered to help write letters of recommendation. Afterwards, he also talked about the friends he made in England. William Wordsworth, Coleridge and other great poets of the Lakeside School were all his friends. Moreover, Mr. Owen also mentioned that the reason why he was able to return to the United States as scheduled this time was all thanks to the help of a gentleman named Arthur Hastings. "

Bismarck heard this and said disapprovingly: "Maybe he is not talking about the same person. After all, there should be many guys named Arthur Hastings in the UK."

Motley said categorically: "It's impossible, it's definitely the same person. Because the Arthur Hastings Mr. Owen mentioned is a senior police officer of Scotland Yard, and he is also the author of the detective novel "The Hastings Detective Collection" The author. Maybe there are many people with this name in the UK, but I think it is impossible for Scotland Yard to have two senior police officers named Arthur Hastings, not to mention that Mr. Owen also said that the senior police officer was in Liverpool. He had been shot and had eight stitches at the corner of his eye. I had specifically observed Superintendent Hastings before, and he did have a scar at the corner of his eye, and all the evidence matched it."

When Bismarck heard this, he couldn't help but scratch his head and said: "Is there really such a coincidence in this world? Well, what does Mr. Owen think of the villain Hastings?"

Motley said: "At least Mr. Irving didn't say anything bad about him. You haven't read Irving's works, and you don't know his temper, so you probably can't understand how you can make Mr. Irving not say bad things and even praise him slightly. What a rare thing it is.”

Bismarck heard this and shouted: "Damn it! That bastard probably got the handle on him too!"

Motley denied flatly: "It's impossible. Washington Irving was not someone who would shut up when he was given an excuse. Even the mayor and president of New York, he still scolded him. There is no one braver than him in the United States. You're a human being. Otto, don't you think you're prejudiced if you let him beat you up? I've always thought you were very free and easy."

"So what?" Bismarck insisted: "I am also a brave man, and as long as I find the right method, he can also be coerced. John, you don't understand how vicious that guy is at all, even if you think The Gestapo, which symbolizes freedom, are actually..."

Boom, boom, boom!

Before Bismarck could finish speaking, he heard the sound of tapping on the window glass.

He turned his head suddenly and saw an extremely familiar face standing outside the window, with stitches at the corners of his eyes and a vicious smile.

Behind him, there were several followers who looked like dogs and pretended to be gentlemen. One was the disgusting Rhineland petty-bourgeois liberal Heinrich Heine, and the other was looking at Heine with disdain. A British Jew, and a stupid black French idiot.

Bismarck was so frightened that he hurriedly swallowed the harsh words on his lips, smoothed his coat that was wrinkled from the fight, pretended to be a good student, took off his hat and saluted: "Good afternoon, my dear. gentlemen."

Seeing his 180-degree change in attitude, Motley almost couldn't hold back his laughter, but he quickly stood up and said: "Hello, Your Excellency, I am John Motley, a second-year law school student. ”

Arthur lay on the window and stared at Motley twice, then said with a smile: "I just heard that you talked about Mr. Washington Irving?"

When Bismarck heard this, his eyes darkened. He just felt that his scholarship this year was probably hopeless. This damn British cop should have arrived a long time ago, but he kept silent and insisted on catching himself.

Motley glanced at Bismarck strangely, and then politely replied in English: "Yes, Mr. Irving also brought back a few copies of "The British" from England, and I read them there. I’ve read the novels you wrote.”

Disraeli originally disliked this young man because of his American accent, but when he heard that the other person was actually a reader of "The Englishman", he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Have all our magazines been spread to the United States?"

Motley heard this and asked in confusion: "Who are you?"

"Ahem..." Disraeli tugged on his bow tie and introduced himself with dignity: "The author of "The Young Duke", of course, the author of "The Count of Monte Cristo" is also here. As for the one over there, I There should be no need for an introduction. He shows up everywhere on campus these days. As a student in Göttingen, it’s probably hard for you not to recognize him.”

"Yeah!" Heine retorted, "It's not like some people, who only rely on their shameless self-introduction to become famous."

Seeing that the two of them were about to start squaring off again, Alexandre Dumas hurriedly stopped between them and said: "That's almost it. Even if you two want to fight, at least you have to wait for the matter to be resolved first, right? Giuseppe and the others haven't found a place to live yet. ”

"Residence?" Motley asked in confusion: "What residence?"

Arthur coughed: "That's right. Isn't the school about to hold a European electromagnetic conference? But we found that the hotel in Göttingen seems not enough for these scholars and their assistants. These days, in order to replace They were looking for a house, and I kept thinking of ways to find them. Finally, I finally managed to find a room for them.

However, although the scholars have enough room, some of my friends who come to visit have no place to live. Although these friends of mine don't mind squeezing in with the scholars, I am worried that they will disturb their research work. Let them live in my rented house, but the space is not enough. So, I remembered that Otto has a small house under the old city wall, right? "

"You mean that house?" Motley laughed dumbly, "But that house is quite shabby. The school let him live there just to punish him. Is it really okay for you to let your friends live there?"

"It doesn't matter. My friends are used to living in the open air and don't care much about the living environment. And considering that Otto is an excellent student, it is not appropriate for him to live in that kind of place all the time. So, Otto, you will move back to your original residence starting tomorrow. I am honored to announce that the school's punishment measures against you have ended."

Arthur thought that Bismarck would definitely agree to this news, but unexpectedly, the boy objected uncharacteristically, "Sir, how can this be possible? I was just elected as the president. As a student leader, I took the lead in violating the school rules but was not punished. How can I convince others? "

Arthur saw through his little thoughts at a glance.

This kid probably behaved so well because he was caught saying bad things behind his back. In order to keep his scholarship and save some impression points, he even took the initiative to apply for punishment.

But Arthur didn't need him to admit his mistakes now. After all, arranging accommodation for Garibaldi and others was far more important than punishing Bismarck.

He asked Bismarck to move back to his original residence in order to give the group of young Italian party members an inconspicuous residence.

If Bismarck insisted on living there, let alone whether this kid would see the clues, it would be very funny to let Bismarck and Garibaldi live under the same roof. These two people would never pee in the same pot.

Arthur said seriously: "Otto!"

"Here! "

Bismarck stood at attention, his posture straight as a Prussian second-class soldier who had just joined the army.

He thought that his attitude was so good that even if he couldn't make Arthur calm down, he could at least leave a good impression.

Unexpectedly, his posture made everyone present laugh.

Arthur looked at the boy's two-faced appearance and could only laugh and take out his pocket watch: "If you haven't packed up and left before four o'clock this afternoon, you will move directly to the detention room."