shadow of britain

Chapter 469 Desperate pursuit
The horse-drawn carriage whizzed by, bringing up a gust of wind that gently swayed the branches and leaves of the sparse trees on both sides of the street.

The fire that burst out from the muzzle was like a sudden burst of lightning.

The peaceful atmosphere just now was torn apart by the sudden gunfire, which was deafening, like thunder echoing in the narrow streets.

Two people, four pistols, and twenty-four bullets were like the dark clouds in the sky covering the sky of Paris, or like the drizzle suddenly rising on the street, crackling on the wall of the Kaidouxer mansion.

The accompanying members of the guard who were responsible for protecting the king's safety quickly realized what was happening after a brief period of shock. The captain of the guard yelled and ordered his team members to use wall bunkers to fight back while blocking the king's body and escorting him. Go back to the mansion hall.

"Your Majesty, it's too dangerous outside, please go back to the hall first!"

Louis Philippe was stunned for a while by this unexpected assassination at first, but he quickly calmed down.

Although Parisian caricaturists often compared him to a "pear" and satirized his stupidity, incompetence and weakness all day long, a real "pear head" would never be able to fish in troubled waters during the turbulent July Revolution. The one who is enthroned as king.

When Louis Philippe was young, he had joined the Jacobin Club. In the early days of the Revolution, he served as a major general of the Army of the French Republic under General Dumouriez, the commander of the Northern Army Group. He defeated the Prussian and Austrian coalition forces at the Battle of Valmy. Later, the Northern Army occupied Belgium.

When the National Assembly executed Louis XVI and many generals of the Northern Army received dismissal orders from the National Assembly because of their defeat in the Netherlands, Louis Philippe smelled danger for the first time.

While the National Assembly issued an arrest warrant for the northern army generals, he persuaded his boss, General Dumouriez, to defect to Austria with him overnight.

After fleeing to Austria, Louis Philippe did not choose to join the anti-French coalition army, but moved to England and watched from the sidelines. Because of this, he had the opportunity to ascend the throne as the so-called "citizen king" with a clean identity during the July Revolution.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, the assassination was an unfortunate thing, but Louis Philippe felt a sense of relief when he was sure that it was just an assassination.

After the Republican uprising in Paris last June, an ordinary assassination was a breeze.

Louis Philippe retreated all the way under the cover of the captain of the guard. At this time, he did not forget to order: "Try to capture him alive. I want to know who did this assassination."

When the captain of the guard heard the king's 'rude request', he thought it was going in one ear and out the other, but he still had to agree: "As you command, Your Majesty."

Louis-Philippe returned to the mansion hall intact under the escort of the guards, but Arthur, who had just stood side by side with Louis-Philippe, was not so lucky.

Arthur covered his bleeding shoulder, gritted his teeth, jumped to the wall and crouched down. While he was avoiding it, he didn't forget to curse: "Fuck him, why do I always have to do this?"

Seeing that he was injured, Alexandre Dumas hurriedly stood in front of him and pushed his head down: "Who asked you to chat with Louis Philippe! How about, I just say that French assassins are the best in Europe, right?"

The experienced Vidocq quickly pulled away Arthur's scarf and coat. He looked at the wound and then breathed a sigh of relief: "Brother, you're lucky. It's just a scratch on the skin. I'll wrap it up with a scarf to stop the bleeding." , let’s go see a surgeon later.”

"What the hell! Who shot me just now, did you see clearly?"

I don't know whether it was because the pain stimulated Arthur's adrenaline, or because being shot again brought back memories of the past two years of swallowing his anger. Arthur, who had always been calm, had no idea of ​​calming down the situation this time.

"Alexander, do you have a gun?!"

"How could I bring a gun to a banquet like this? The security check at Kaidosai Mansion is so strict, I can't even bring a fucking needle in!"

As soon as Alexandre Dumas finished speaking, he heard the shrill neighing of a horse, followed by the sound of rolling wheels.

Immediately afterwards, someone in the crowd shouted: "Run! The carriage is filled with explosives, and they set it on fire!"

Even Vidocq and Alexandre Dumas, two brave guys, turned pale with shock when they heard this. They didn't even dare to look back, so they blocked each other left and right like a conditioned reflex. Arthur's arm rushed towards the grass in front of him.

With a bang, the heat wave of the explosion suddenly hit, instantly igniting the various green plants that beautified the environment of Kaido Sai Mansion.

The purple-pink trumpet petals on the branches of the sycamore tree were shaken by the shock wave and flew all over the sky. Broken wall bricks and tiles flew everywhere like bullets, which made Alexandre Dumas scream in pain.

Vidocq's jaw was also cut open by the flying pebbles, and blood slid down his cheek, soaking the fine dress he had just bought.

Arthur covered his shoulder blades and looked back. The Kaedousai Mansion, which had been classical and luxurious just now, was now on fire. The young man who drove the carriage to force the gate of the mansion had been blown to pieces. He had just stood on the roof of the car and opened the door. One of the two shooters had been shot all over and was lying in a pool of blood.

As for the other gunman, Arthur could see him hiding in the alley across the street to change bullets through the wall that had a big hole blown out. Behind him, there were two partners responding.

Along with the explosion, there were screams in the Kaido Sai Mansion.

There was a chaos in the mansion. The gentlemen and ladies who had been talking leisurely and dancing just now were all panicked. They were running around like headless flies. They neither dared to rush out nor wanted to squat in the mansion. Burned alive.

At this time, it was the captain of the guard's roar that pointed out their target: "Jump out of the window!"

After the more prudent gentlemen found a way to escape, they immediately picked up the stools next to them and smashed the window open. As for the more rude gentlemen, they directly chose to jump through the glass and jump out.

The ladies who were dressed up to attend were suffering from their bulging skirts. Even if they wanted to jump out of the window, they couldn't be as flexible as the gentlemen. Fortunately, some gentlemen were still calm-minded, and they couldn't care less about avoiding suspicion at this time. Question, he directly hugged his female companion around the waist and stepped out of the window like a hurdle.

However, there are only a few gentlemen with long legs, so the landing posture of most of the unfortunate mandarin ducks is not very elegant.

Among the people in distress, Mr. Dresset, a banker in his fifties, was a strong man. He carried his daughter on one shoulder and his dance partner on the other. He ignored their screams and slaps and walked directly from the main entrance of the mansion. The fire broke out among the rubble. He proved with practical actions how well-trained the French people who served as soldiers during the Revolution were.

However, even with Mr. Draisaitl's performance, he was still not the most eye-catching person in this life-and-death escape.

Because another woman in men's clothing rushed out of the fire scene behind him. What was even more surprising was that she was carrying a man on her shoulders and holding another one with her left hand. The one she carried on her shoulders was Arthur's old friend Chopin, and the one she pulled together out of the fire was the poet Musset, who was currently in the limelight.

When Alexandre Dumas saw the woman, he couldn't help but cursed: "Damn it, George Sand, that tomboy! I've warned him before, don't touch my dear Frederic, he's not that casual. Man, it seems she didn’t take my words seriously at all!”

However, Arthur had no interest in listening to Dumas' complaints. He glanced at the assassins across the street who were fighting fiercely with the guards. Regardless of his shoulder injury, he directly picked up his cane and climbed over the gap in the wall to sprint forward.

"Arthur, where are you going?"

As soon as Alexandre Dumas finished speaking, he saw Vidocq running out with an excited face.

"Mr. Vidocq! Danger!"

As Vidocq ran, he turned and shouted at him: "Alexander, you don't understand, danger is the most suitable climate for people like us! Where did your courage to attack the arsenal that day go? I heard Honoré before He said that you actually didn’t try your best on the day of the July Revolution, and there was actually no resistance at the arsenal. You just took advantage of it. Isn’t this true? "

"Mr. Vidocq! Do you believe what Balzac says? He is just fucking farting!"

Alexandre Dumas was originally thinking about safety issues, but when he was so irritated by Vidocq, he no longer cared about safety or unsafety. Instead, he slammed his hat on the ground, picked up a brick on the ground, and followed. Vidocq rushed out together: "I just thought about getting a gun to be safer. Without a gun, I, a sharpshooter, can't do it. But with a brick, I can make do."

While Alexandre Dumas and Vidocq were arguing, one of the three gunmen across the street had been shot dead. The remaining two saw that the situation was not good. After emptying the bullets, they threw away their pistols and began to attack the fleeing crowd. Run.

When the guards saw the assassins trying to run away, they also left their bunkers and chased after them, intending to swarm them and knock them to the ground.

Upon seeing this, the three assassins jumped directly into a taxi that had no time to turn around, grabbed the reins from the coachman's hand, and rushed towards the guards who were running towards them: "You Orleansites also want to fight us head-on. !"

"Spread out!"

The wheels rolled up sewage on the street, and the Guardsmen hurriedly avoided. Another round of scattered gunshots followed, and the carriage carriage was penetrated by more than a dozen bullet holes. He groaned and covered the bullet with one hand. The belly of the gun, but the other hand was firmly holding the reins.

Pedestrians on the street screamed and made way for them. Just when they thought they were about to escape, a figure emerged from the crowd.

Arthur jumped up and stepped on the pedals of the carriage. The cane he carried with him was stuck into the door armrest to help him stabilize his body.

The two assassins sitting in the car were breathing heavily. The sudden appearance of a human face outside the car window startled them. Before they could recover, Arthur had already opened the car door and jumped in. .

The three people immediately struggled together in the carriage. The sound of the three people fighting caused the already unstable carriage to overturn instantly. The two horses pulling the carriage slipped and fell to the ground, and the carriage slid along the street. , and did not stop until it overturned two lamp posts and hit the top of a roadside shop window.

One assassin was thrown out of the carriage by force, while the other was unlucky enough to be knocked unconscious.

Arthur's strong body was also severely torn by this series of impacts, but fortunately his head was not seriously injured, so he was still able to climb out of the car with strength.

As soon as Arthur climbed out of the carriage, the first thing he saw was not the assassin who was thrown out, but a crowd of Parisian citizens watching the excitement.

The gang saw Arthur crawling out, exclaiming at his strong body and discussing his identity and purpose.

There were also some enthusiastic citizens who directly pointed out the assassin's escape path to Arthur.

"Sir, are you looking for the man in the black coat and white trousers? That's where he went."

When Arthur heard this, he subconsciously wanted to take off his hat to express his thanks, but when he raised his hand to touch it, he realized that the hat had flown to nowhere: "This information is very valuable. If I can finally catch this guy, you can Go to the Breaux Detective Agency at No. 21 Crosher Perce Street to collect the bounty another day.”

Arthur was talking, but he didn't stop at all. He followed the direction pointed by the passerby and chased him into a deep alley.

It wasn't until he entered this area that Arthur realized why Vidocq always liked to brag that he was the living map of Paris.

Although London's urban planning is not much better than that of Paris, relying on the Great Fire of London in 1666, at least the streets in central London underwent a large-scale reconstruction, so there are still traces to follow.

But Paris obviously hasn't had such good treatment. Most of the plans here are based on the predecessors' continuous expansion, with alleys stacked on top of each other, and there are forks in all directions.

Every time Arthur walked, he would lower his head to check if there was any fresh blood on the ground. However, after chasing for several hundred meters, what finally appeared in front of Arthur was not the road he had imagined, but a dead end.

Arthur raised his head and glanced at the two-meter-high wall in front of him. He took a deep breath and took a few steps back. Then he turned over like a kite and stepped on the bricks of the wall.

He had just stood still and hadn't even looked up when he heard an angry voice in front of him: "Is Louis Philippe worth your life? You really worked hard to follow me all the way here!"

Arthur stood up straight and patted his muddy hands gently: "I'm not for Louis Philippe. I'm chasing you just to get an explanation from you."

"Really? That's just right. We also want to ask you for an explanation."

Click, the sound of a bullet being loaded.

The black muzzle of the gun was pressed against the back of Arthur's head, and two strong men held down his shoulders from behind, one on the left and the other on the right.

"If you are not from Louis Philippe, then who are you? Could it be that you are from Metternich?"

PS: I recommend a new book "The Crow of Naples". The protagonist travels back to Italy in the 60s and becomes the pet crow of a gangster lady.

(End of this chapter)