Shadow of great britain

In the coffee shop opposite the Greenwich Police Station, Elder and Darwin were happily exchanging the latest news of the past few days.

"Charles, have you read the news? Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orleans, has inherited the throne of France. Those French guys are just crazy. They succeeded in getting a king but got a new one. So why have they been making trouble for a long time? ?”

While reading the book, Darwin replied absently: "I remember there are a bunch of republicans in France? Can they be satisfied with a king?"

"Of course they are not satisfied!"

Elder said: "I read in the newspaper that a group of radical republicans planned to continue to cause trouble in Paris a while ago, but they were discovered before they started. Those members among them are either in jail or in exile. In my opinion, There may be a few French republican exiles in this café."

After Elder said this, he began to squint his eyes and look at the guests in the cafe.

At this moment, the bell hanging in front of the cafe door rang. Arthur opened the door and came in, raised his hand and slapped Elder on the back of the head.

"What are you looking at, kid?"

Elder replied seriously: "I was looking to see if there might be a French person in this cafe."

Arthur sat down next to him and poured himself a cup of tea: "French? Even if there is one, there is at most one here."

"Why?"

Arthur took a sip of tea and replied: "If there is a French guy here, then he is just an ordinary lecher. If there are two French guys, then they will fight with guns. And if there are three French guys, Then there is already a revolution in the coffee shop. There is already a revolution, how can you still sit here and drink tea so calmly?"

After hearing this, Elder laughed loudly and said: "That's true, but it doesn't seem to be much better here, right? Although we don't have many revolutions, we do have a lot of demonstrations and protests.

And if we talk about duels, I remember that last month, didn’t the Duke of Wellington publish a duel letter to the Earl of Winchelsea in the newspaper? What provoked him? He is an old man in his 60s, so why does he still have such a bad temper? "

Arthur curled his lips and said: "It's nothing, it's just because of the Catholic Emancipation Act.

The Earl of Winchelsea refuted the Duke of Wellington's defense of the bill in the House of Lords, and accused him of saying that "the passage of the bill was a concession to the Holy See and the Pope. The brave Wellington at Waterloo is dead, and now Standing in Parliament, Wellington was an out-and-out coward.'

The Duke of Wellington was so angry about this that he issued a challenge to the Earl of Winchelsea in the newspaper. "

Darwin put down the book and asked curiously: "I remember hearing that the Duke of Wellington's marksmanship is terrible, and the Earl of Winchelsea is a master of duels. Isn't he asking for death if he takes the initiative to find someone to declare a challenge?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "Scotland Yard thought so at first, so we sent a few policemen and doctors there on the day of the duel, planning to start rescuing him as soon as the duel was over.

But it turns out that Mr. Duke is far more thoughtful than us police officers.

During the duel, the Duke shot the Earl of Winchelsea in the coat, while the Earl shot into the sky.

We later learned that before the duel began, the Duke was suddenly possessed by Shakespeare. In a burst of inspiration, he wrote more than a dozen letters to the Earl of Winchelsea to interfere with his opponent.

Moreover, after the duel, the two gentlemen expressed their apologies to each other in a heroic manner. The doctors and police also breathed a sigh of relief. The only ones who were dissatisfied may be the group of British reporters who came all the way to make a big news. . "

Darwin couldn't help but shake his head after hearing this: "As expected of someone who has fought in Waterloo. It seems that the Duke of Wellington must have experienced this kind of scene many times."

When Elder heard this, he couldn't help but ask: "Speaking of Waterloo, Arthur, do you think it is possible for us to fight the French again?"

Hearing this, Arthur raised his head and sighed: "I called you here today because I have already fought against the French."

Elder frowned and asked, "How did you get involved with the French?"

When Arthur heard this, he went over all the cases of the missing indentured servants and the Frenchmen with Elder.

After listening to Arthur's narration, he couldn't help but be surprised: "Fred still dares to do this kind of business? He kidnaps people and sends them to North America. He is so brave!"

Arthur nodded and said: "I don't think he has the courage, so I want to ask you, this matter has nothing to do with the Royal Navy, right?"

Elder raised his lips and smiled: "Arthur, what are you thinking about? How can the Royal Navy do this kind of business?"

Darwin nodded slightly: "Yes, I think they should still have this basic conscience."

Unexpectedly, after Elder heard this, he couldn't help shaking his head and said: "The Royal Navy's refusal to do this business is not a matter of conscience, but because we don't have enough people. The Royal Navy never traffics in human beings, we only We kidnap people to be sailors! And even if we kidnap people to be sailors, we can’t kidnap a French sailor!”

When Arthur heard this, the clues in his mind gradually came together.

Just as he was wondering what was going on, Elder suddenly struck the case and exclaimed: "Arthur! For Fred to go to such great lengths to kidnap a Frenchman, that person must be a wanted French republican, right?" ? Calculating the time, it seems that I can really get it right."

"Republicans?"

Arthur thought about it carefully and suddenly came back to his senses.

He immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. If the man was an ordinary Frenchman, it would not be a big deal even if he fell into Fred's hands.

But if he is a French republican, once he is shipped back to France, it will be a serious diplomatic problem.

The Duke of Wellington's cabinet is in turmoil at this time. If the French government's arrest of people in the UK is revealed at this time, it is estimated that the cabinet will completely collapse in less than two days.

Once the cabinet collapses, Sir Napier's previous promise to reform the Anatomy Act will not be fulfilled, and the Greenwich Police District, where the case took place, will not be able to escape the blame.

He quickly stood up, put on his dome hat, and said to Elder: "During this period, you should quickly check the cargo ships heading to France and North America for me. I have to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs immediately."

But just as he was about to go out, the bell in the cafe rang again.

A familiar face stood there, the guilty-looking Officer Dennis Lloyd. He had been shameless in front of Arthur since he betrayed Arthur to Willocks last time.

Dennis looked at Arthur's face, struggled and clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and hesitated for a long time, and finally made up his mind and spoke.

"Arthur, I know I couldn't help you in the past. But this time is different. You must believe me. I have to report to you some of the things Chief Jones has done during this time. That man is a bit abnormal. His part The behavior doesn't seem right either.

This involves the old bastard Willocks and the previous corpse selling case. Also, haven't you been checking on Fred during this time?

I...I have been following Sergeant Jones privately for a while, and he went to the Blackpool Detective Agency in Whitechapel today..."