shadow of britain

Chapter 49 The Duke's Investigation Commission

There is a separate small room at the back door of the Gresham College lecture hall.

Arthur was led by his servants to the door. Before he could enter, he saw the door open by itself, revealing a strong, silver-haired old man with a mustache and a black blindfold on his left eye.

Although this old man is old, his waist is as tall as a steep cliff. He is leaning on a cane and wearing a neat and serious black suit that does not touch any dust. An oppressive atmosphere.

boom!
With a gloomy face, the old man slapped open the door in front of him aggressively. The door hit the wall, as if the earth was shaking.

When he saw Arthur in police uniform standing in front of the door, he was taken aback for a moment, and then scanned every corner of Arthur's body with his remaining sharp right eye like an eagle.

After watching for a while, before Arthur could ask, the old man stepped forward first, and patted Arthur on the shoulder heavily.

The old man said: "Pier and I mentioned you, you are talented, ambitious, and you are still so young. But if you can abide by the tradition and convert to the state religion, you can obviously have a better future.

Young man, you still have a long way to go, don't get involved with those liberals, otherwise sooner or later, you will be wiped out by them. "

After the old man in Huafu said this, he walked away from the scene with a walking stick.

Behind him was a group of attendants with sword guards, who shouted as they chased, "His Royal Highness, please slow down and wait for us."

Seeing this, Arthur couldn't help frowning and asked the servant who led the way: "Is this the Duke of Sussex just now?"

Unexpectedly, before the servant could reply, another middle-aged gentleman with brown wavy hair wearing a white shirt and lavender dress walked out of the cabin.

This gentleman's appearance looks somewhat similar to the one who left just now, even his ashen complexion has a similar effect.

He said, "Mr. Hastings, ignore that impudent fellow.

I think he had a bad brain when he served in the Hannover army in his early years, and he was full of stubborn Germans! "

Seeing this situation, the servant asked cautiously, "Your Highness, have you lost your conversation with the Duke of Cumberland again?"

The middle-aged gentleman looked angry: "I shouldn't have invited my brother to watch Mr. Faraday's latest invention! Napoleon's army can blow his eyes, but not his steel-like brain!"

The servant saw that the situation was wrong, so he quickly changed the subject and introduced Arthur: "Mr. Hastings, this is His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex."

In fact, Arthur had heard of the Duke of Sussex for a long time.

He is the sixth younger brother of the current King George IV, so he can also be called Prince Augustus.

As for the one who snatched the door just now, it was his own brother, the fifth younger brother of the current King George IV, Prince Ernst, Duke of Cumberland.

There have been rumors that the relationship between the two princes is at odds. The Duke of Cumberland, Prince Ernst, is a die-hard Tory extremist. He was born in the army and participated in many anti-French wars as a middle-level officer and the commander-in-chief of the Army of the Kingdom of Hanover.

Years of military career has also cultivated his violent and stubborn temper, advocating force in everything, resolutely opposing domestic reforms, advocating the supremacy of kingship, and adhering to the pure stance of the state religion.

Some time ago, because the Duke of Wellington forced the king and the House of Lords to forcefully pass the "Catholic Emancipation Act", the Duke of Cumberland even attacked the Wellington cabinet in the House of Lords.

As for Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex, he is the perfect mirror image of his brother.

From his youth, he was not very concerned about military affairs, so he did not enter the navy or army like his older brothers, but spent his time studying science and art and traveling on the European continent.

During his travels on the Continent, he also fell in love with a common aristocratic girl from Scotland and married her without the king's permission.

For this matter, his father George III was very angry, and he did not hesitate to use the "Royal Marriage Act" to declare the marriage invalid, and never recognized the title of Duchess, in order to force his youngest son to divorce.

But Sussex obviously didn't take this matter to heart. Not only that, he also sang against his father and his brother George IV in the House of Lords all day long.

His propositions over the years include, but are not limited to, reforming the parliament, reforming the church, abolishing the slave trade, and abolishing discriminatory treatment of Jews, dissidents, and people of different beliefs.

All in all, the Duke of Sussex had a distaste for him, up and down the country, and everything had to be changed.

Even the Duke of Sussex made great efforts to revise the "Blood Act" campaign some time ago.

Almost at the same time when reports about Arthur were flying all over London, the Duke of Sussex took advantage of the wind and submitted the [-] signatures of jurors collected early in the morning to the House of Commons, urging them to move forward with the revision of the bill as soon as possible. .

The Duke of Sussex gritted his teeth and stared fiercely at the direction in which his brother was leaving. After finally calming down, he put on a smiling face and said to Arthur.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Hastings. To tell you the truth, I've wanted to see you a long time ago."

Arthur put his right hand on his chest, his left hand behind him, bowed slightly, and gave him a royal audience salute.

"It's a pleasure meeting you too, Your Royal Highness."

The Duke of Sussex extended his hand to him in a friendly manner: "I thought you were just an upright and courageous police officer, but I didn't expect you to be interested in science."

Arthur held each other's hand: "Science is also part of police work. You may not know that the law and order situation in the London area is not optimistic.

According to the data retained by Scotland Yard and the Ministry of the Interior, the population of the London area has increased by nearly 30% in the past 50.00 years, while the crime rate has soared by [-]%, and various vicious crimes have emerged in an endless stream.

In order to be able to solve those confusing murder cases, we must introduce new science and technology to assist in solving the cases, and only by continuous learning and progress can we inject new vitality into the security force of Scotland Yard. "

The Duke of Sussex's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said with a smile: "I knew it! Even if everyone in Scotland Yard can't be trusted, I can trust you!

You are worthy of being the best policeman in Great Britain. If I entrust you with the investigation of the parish of St. Giles, it will be successfully completed. "

"Investigative work in the parish of St. Giles?"

There was a bad feeling in Arthur's heart. Just from the name of this area, he had already sensed the danger.

The Duke of Sussex nodded: "That's right. Although I was just elected as the president of the Royal Society this year, the work I was doing in the past has not been thrown away.

In case you don't know, I've been investigating crime groups and the lives of street children in St Giles parish for a number of years.

I have been doing this work for five or six years, but not long ago, I discovered a strange phenomenon. "

"What phenomenon?"

The Duke of Sussex said: "The private detective I hired told me that some of the waifs they had contacted for a long time disappeared strangely after being put in prison.

And there are also some homeless people who have been begging all year round in St. Giles Parish, and they also disappeared at the same time.

My private investigators found neither their bodies nor any trace of their departure.

Because after we inquired and visited their temporary residence, we found that they didn't even take away the little property they had left.

This is not a normal phenomenon, and I suspect that there may be tricks in it. "

Arthur frowned, realizing the seriousness of the problem: "How many missing homeless people are there, have you counted them?"

The Duke of Sussex replied without hesitation: "There are probably more than 20 people who were released from prison and disappeared, and the number of beggars who disappeared on the streets should be similar to this number."

"Have you reported it to Scotland Yard?"

The Duke of Sussex got angry when he said this, and he replied: "Of course I reported the crime! But after investigation, the police from Scotland Yard came to the conclusion that this is just a normal flow of homeless people. These people live in no fixed place and go wherever they want, so there is nothing worth noting.

When I asked them to further intervene in the investigation, they told me that Scotland Yard's security forces were extremely short, and that they might not be able to mobilize enough people to conduct a large-scale investigation of this case in a short period of time. "

Arthur thought about it when he heard this, and he always felt that something was wrong.

After thinking for a while, he replied: "Actually, what they said is correct. Scotland Yard's security force is indeed extremely short. If you want to investigate this kind of case, you may need to set up a special investigation team to conduct long-term visits, and it will take a long time for professionals. Follow up and collect evidence. Judging from the current situation, Scotland Yard may indeed have no time to take care of it."

When the Duke of Sussex heard this, his disappointment was beyond words.

"So even you don't want to take up the case?"

Arthur wanted to refuse, but at the same time he remembered the reply letter from Sir Peel.

At present, it might be impossible to track down Fred.

It would be a feat to solve the Duke of Sussex's case.

After hesitating for a long time, he finally said, "I can take over this case. But you must promise me one condition."

The Duke of Sussex was overjoyed, and he hurriedly asked, "Please tell me."

"First of all, the parish of St Giles is not part of my jurisdiction, so I cannot accept your report on behalf of the Greenwich Police District until the case has been solved.

Instead, in my own name, I will conduct a private investigation first.

If the truth is found out, I will submit the relevant evidence to the Greater London Metropolitan Police, and then you will submit it to Scotland Yard for direct acceptance. "

The Duke of Sussex nodded and said, "That's all right."

Arthur said again: "To be honest, our Greenwich police district is also short of police.

Therefore, if the Greenwich Police District encounters difficult cases during this period of time, I need the Royal Society to send relevant professionals to assist us in the detection.

In this way, we can free up some of our staff to investigate the parish of St. Giles. "

The Duke of Sussex nodded again after hearing this: "Although I may not be able to convince those top scientists, we also have many scientific apprentices here.

Although they are not as knowledgeable as scientists, they have mastered a lot of basic practical knowledge because they often work in the laboratory.

I can try to persuade them, offer them a part of the fee, and see if they are willing to help Greenwich Police District solve the case. "

Seeing that the Duke of Sussex agreed to his two requests so easily, Arthur was at a loss for a while.

At this moment, the Red Devil suddenly appeared, and he stood behind Arthur and whispered.

"Arthur, why do you think Scotland Yard didn't investigate this case? Listen to me, don't touch it, or if you are not careful, you may fall to pieces.

Some things are better not known than known.You are living a pretty good life now, there is no need to wade into this muddy water. "

Arthur glanced at the red devil, and murmured in a low voice: "Agares, you want to do this with me again? You deliberately provoke me? Heh..."

"You don't like this?"

Arthur narrowed his eyes slightly: "No, that's what I do. Judging from your tone, you should harvest a lot of souls this time, right?"

Hearing this, the Red Devil grinned and showed his saw-like teeth: "Oh! My dear Arthur, do you now understand why I chose you to be my contractor?
I... I just like you for that!
It's clean and neat, if you don't make a move, it's all right, and if you make a move, you can give me back a hell!Hey hey hey hahaha! ! ! "

The red devil's scarlet saliva dripped on Arthur's riding boots. Countless howling and bleak souls could be vaguely seen on the reflective upper. The sea of ​​blood and the abyss of the earth.

Arthur took off his hat, and held the hand of the Duke of Sussex without hesitation: "Your Highness, I, Arthur Hastings, represent the Metropolitan Police of Greenwich, East London. The district formally reached a secret investigation entrustment agreement with you."

(End of this chapter)