shadow of britain

Chapter 165 The First Contact of the Generals

At this time, the lounge was much more lively than when Arthur first came.

While the ladies and gentlemen who were invited to visit were chatting in the lounge with champagne glasses, Arthur was busy debugging the Faraday cage and hand-operated generator that had just arrived here from the Royal Society in the courtyard.

Arthur turned the hand-operated generator, raised the discharge rod and pointed it at the Faraday cage. Not long after, he saw an arc as thick as iron wire formed between the iron cage and the discharge rod.

When Arthur finished debugging and raised his hand to wipe off his sweat, he found that three generals came behind him at some point.

Needless to say, these three were Major General Thomas Cochrane, Lieutenant General Edward Codrington, and Admiral Sidney Smith.

General Smith squeezed his chin, looked at the discharge rod, and muttered, "It's interesting."

Codrington dragged his red wine glass and said with a smile: "General Smith, I didn't lie to you. Mr. Hastings is currently the electromagnetic researcher second only to Michael Faraday. Take a look at this electric arc. The pole, is that something that ordinary people can make?"

Kirkland shuddered when he heard the name Faraday, then frowned and asked in Codlington's ear: "This Hastings' temper shouldn't be as violent as Faraday's, right? Just once, I mentioned to him about killing enemies with chlorine gas, but he was furiously kicked out of the laboratory..."

This time, without waiting for Codlington to answer, Arthur got into the conversation. He put down the discharge rod and said, "Mr. Faraday's temper is pretty good in most cases. He got angry with you because he used chlorine gas to mess with you." Chemical warfare is indeed inhumane.

The cruelty and destructiveness of chlorine gas is far beyond your imagination, and its preparation process is not particularly complicated. If you insist on using this thing in war, the enemy will soon use it against you .

If you're going to treat the precious sailors of the Royal Navy as one-time expendables, then you can do so, and it won't be long before Britain is harvested with hordes of dead people with lung sequelae who will never be able to work for the rest of their lives.

Besides, even if you want to gain battlefield advantage through science and technology, you can't use chlorine gas at all.I think that the outstanding scientists in Britain can support the most advanced navy in the world.

These means are needed only when the weak challenge the strong.If one day, the Royal Navy, which can cope with the attacks of three sea powers at the same time, declines, I believe that you, who were hailed as the "sea wolf" by Napoleon, can still use your excellent tactical ability to lead us to defeat the powerful enemy again. "

Kirkland was about to get angry at first, but when he finished listening to Arthur's words, he immediately calmed down.

He patted Arthur on the shoulder with his wine glass, smiled and said to the other two generals: "Look, look! Scientists are better than the brains of the Admiralty! Boy, if you are in Paris It was not Gambier but you who took the supreme command in the Battle of the Skid Channel, so we will definitely win."

Sidney Smith also nodded slightly: "It seems that Mr. Hastings is a little easier to get along with than Faraday. When Elder said you were a policeman, I thought you were not good enough. It seems that Scotland Yard also Not all bad guys, occasionally a few decent things will come out."

Upon hearing this, Arthur just smiled and replied: "Yes, Scotland Yard is like the Royal Navy in this regard."

General Kirkland laughed out loud when he heard the words, and he raised his eyebrows and replied humorously: "Parliament is actually the same thing."

Codrington laughed loudly when he heard the words, and he handed one of the two glasses of wine in his hand to Arthur. He pointed to Kirkland, who is currently serving as a member of the House of Commons, and pointed to Arthur, Smith, and himself, and said: asked.

"So, now, the essence of Scotland Yard, the Royal Navy and the Parliament are all here?"

General Smith raised his glass and clinked glasses with everyone in turn: "Come on, let's have a drink, and good luck to the fucking Scotland Yard, the Royal Navy and the sons of bitches in Parliament!"

Only the clinking of wine glasses was heard, and the four of them raised their glasses and drank in one gulp.

After General Smith finished drinking the wine, he couldn't help savoring the aftertaste in his mouth: "It tastes good, but this Hawker wine is strong enough!"

Kirkland put down his wine glass with great interest and picked up the hand-operated generator and discharge rod that Arthur had put down. While turning the generator to discharge, he asked, "Mr. Hastings, tell me, is there a kind of The possibility...is that we apply this thing to the battlefield? That is, we let each soldier carry a generator of this kind, and use the discharge pole to release lightning at the enemy while advancing."

Arthur thought about the scene Kirkland described. He always felt as if he had seen it somewhere before. He was silent for a while, and suddenly seemed to think of something. He tentatively asked: "Magnetic... Magnetic explosion infantry?"

When Kirkland heard this, he pointed at Arthur overjoyed and said, "That's right! I read it in the Proceedings of the Royal Society before. The principle of the hand-cranked generator is that magnetism generates electricity. It seems that there is no problem in calling it a magnetic blast infantry. And , You actually gave the name so quickly, it seems that my idea is feasible?"

Seeing Kirkland's excited look, Arthur couldn't dampen his interest, so he could only gently remind him: "Although at present, I think the output power of the hand generator is not enough. Use it as a weapon by supporting it, and considering that soldiers vary in physical fitness, not everyone has a thick arm to turn the generator.

However, I think you may first apply to the Ministry of the Navy for experimental research, such as temporarily trying to use it to electric fish, maybe this can solve part of the supply problem of the ocean-going fleet? "

Arthur was originally joking, but he didn't expect Kirkland to think about it seriously, then nodded and said, "That's right, I'll think about it."

While Arthur was chatting with several generals, Mrs. Codrington, who had been waiting in the lounge with white temples and dressed up to attend, ran out unwillingly.

The lady complained: "Edward, the guests are all inside, how can you, the master, run here to hide?"

General Codrington scratched his bald head when he heard this, and said with a cheerful smile: "My dear, am I helping Mr. Hastings prepare for the scientific demonstration? Aren't you ladies of the Blue Sox Club Have you always wanted to meet this young British scientist?"

"Really?" Mrs. Codrington was slightly suspicious: "Then what did you prepare for Mr. Hastings?"

General Smith put his arms on General Codrington's shoulders boldly, his face was covered with a blush, and he was three points drunk before the reception began: "Don't worry, Anna, your Edward knows how to treat you As a guest. He has just come to give Mr. Hastings a glass of hawker, to embolden the young man."

"What? Oh! My God! Edward, can you spare me some time?"

Mrs. Codrington lifted her skirt and walked down the steps with concern on her face, and asked Arthur with concern: "Mr. Hastings, I remember you told me that this experiment might be dangerous, you should Are you not drunk?"

Upon hearing this, Arthur said with relief: "Although my alcohol capacity is not very good, there is nothing wrong with a glass of Hawke's wine."

General Codrington also nodded and said: "I just said, drinking a little wine is nothing for young people. I was thinking that when I was transferred back to the Navy headquarters, I would find Mr. Hastings as my scientific secretary. If you want to have a good future in the Royal Navy, how can you just know how to fight and not drink?”

Hearing this, Kirkland couldn't help but followed the yin and yang and said in a strange manner: "Yes, if you can drink, you don't need to know how to fight. Look at our Marshal Gambier? No one knows how to treat our former royal family better than him. Admiral and Lord of the Navy, His Majesty King William IV is now pleased."

After finishing speaking, he patted Arthur on the chest, and whispered in his ear: "Young man, if you had a relationship with General Sidney Smith a few years ago, it would be fine. He was still on active duty at that time." But now, he is an old man hiding from debts, do you know why he lives in Paris? Because if he lives in London, he will be sued by the debtors in two days, and then be sued by the debtors. You Scotland Yard police are thrown into debtors' prison."

After hearing this, Arthur finally understood why Kirkland's notoriety spread all over South America and Britain.

Just based on his mouth, if he hadn't been covered by his father, the Earl of Dundon, and his two brothers who served in the army and navy respectively, it is estimated that when he committed crimes before, he would not have been ordered to retire forcibly.

Arthur looked up at the gradually darkening sky, and asked Mrs. Codrington politely: "It's almost time, why don't you call all the guests out. This kind of large experimental equipment is really not suitable Move inside, and the first science demonstration of the day will take place outdoors."

When Mrs. Codrington heard this, she pressed her handkerchief anxiously.

Today was the first time she hosted a salon dinner in several months, especially she did not expect that Mrs. Cowper, who had always declined her politely, would accept her invitation inexplicably.

As Mrs. Cowper, standing at the top of the entire London high society circle, Mrs. Codrington did not want to lose face in front of her anyway.

After thinking about it, Mrs. Codrington had no choice but to say: "Mr. Hastings, didn't you say that you have a scientific assistant today? You see that you drank alcohol. In order to prevent accidents, why don't you let that scientific assistant do your job?" Let’s do something dangerous, you can do something safe instead.”

After hearing this, Arthur didn't object. He nodded slightly and said, "That's fine, then please tell Mr. Elder Carter that Arthur Hastings needs him to get into the cage immediately."

"Get into the cage?" Mrs. Codrington was taken aback when she heard the words: "God! I thought your cage was used to keep monkeys. Are you sure you really want Mr. Carter to get into it for science?"

Arthur heard the words and had to correct him: "Madam, you can't say that. In my opinion, the contribution of monkeys in science is far beyond what Mr. Carter can match."

(End of this chapter)