shadow of britain

Chapter 519: European Secret Service Conference (also at night)
The crystal chandeliers of the Paris Opera House hang from the high ceiling, emitting a warm glow that illuminates the entire theater like daytime.

The surrounding walls are inlaid with exquisite carvings and glittering gold foil, which complement the murals on the ceiling, depicting the bizarre scenes in "Robert the Devil", as if putting the audience in that magical secret world.

The seating area was already crowded with people, all dressed in gorgeous clothes, men in neat tuxedos, and ladies in their best attire, wearing silk dresses, holding delicate folding fans, and wearing all kinds of gorgeous feathers and jewelry on their heads. The ladies talked in low voices, laughing like silver bells, and gently covered their mouths with folding fans, looking particularly reserved and noble.

In the center of the stage, the heavy red velvet curtain slowly opened, and the third act began.

The musicians in the orchestra pit were already in place. The conductor gently waved his baton, and melodious music sounded, instantly attracting the audience's attention to the stage. The actors wore gorgeous costumes, heavy makeup, and exaggerated and vivid expressions. The lights shone on them, clearly showing every movement and expression in front of the audience.

However, just when everyone's attention was focused on the stage, a door in the box area was gently pushed open. The first thing that appeared behind the door was a delicate white glove, followed by a rose-red bow tie, and Arthur slowly put the small notebook into his jacket pocket.

Behind him were the rebels singing wildly.

"Have fun, gentlemen. I'm going to the theater restaurant to get something to eat. Is there anything you need me to bring?"

"Bring me back the head of Louis Philippe!"

“I want Carlo Alberto’s!”

"Hiccup! I'm so happy here, Arthur. If it's not too much trouble, you can just carry my uncle's coffin back to Paris for me."

Click.

Arthur closed the door gently and muttered unhappily, "I don't think the food in the theater restaurant should be this rich."

Arthur was complaining when he suddenly noticed that the door of the next box was also opened.

A furtive figure slipped out from inside. Not only did his movements reveal the Englishman's sinister nature, but the way he closed the door also revealed the Germanman's usual violence.

"Oh, August, you are here too?" Arthur leaned against the wall and greeted his colleague from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "I thought the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not require fighting with criminals, but looking at your dishevelled appearance, I would believe you just came back from patrolling the alleys in East London."

Mr. Schneider was startled by Arthur's voice and his body shuddered violently. It was not until he saw who was calling him that Mr. Schneider finally relaxed.

Even though he was caught in the act by someone he knew, Mr. Schneider still maintained the usual demeanor and etiquette of a British gentleman.

Schneider straightened his collar politely. "The battlefield of diplomacy is certainly no less dangerous than the East End of London. Drunken ladies are much more terrible than drunken Irishmen."

Arthur glanced at the box behind Schneider: "May I have the honor of knowing which villain is imprisoned in here?"

"Oh, Arthur, that's really ungraceful of you to say that." Schneider smiled and narrowed his eyes. "Besides, every diplomat's personal relationship is his biggest secret, because it determines what kind of intelligence he can obtain and what position he can eventually rise to in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Arthur, if you are interested in this, you have to explore your own potential instead of thinking about other people's resources."

"Okay." Schneider was reluctant to say it, but Arthur didn't force him. He just muttered, "I told you that Elder is naturally suited to intelligence work, and being a diplomat is also a good choice for him."

"Elder?" Schneider searched his mind for a long time after hearing the name, but he had no impression of it at all: "Is there such a person in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"

"No, he is in the Royal Navy."

"Oh!" Schneider snapped his fingers, his eyes brightened and he said, "He works in the Geographic Information Topology and Statistics Department of the Royal Navy?"

"Even if it's not now, it will be in the future." Arthur took out his handkerchief and blew his nose. "After all, circumnavigation is indeed related to geography. In addition, his uncle is a rear admiral of the Royal Navy, so I think he will most likely be assigned to serve there after he returns."

"Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy?" Schneider asked immediately, "What's the name of your friend?"

Arthur curled his lips and said, "Elder Carter, I think it shouldn't be hard to guess who his uncle is. After all, there is only one general named Carter in the Royal Navy."

"It's not hard to guess."

As a fan of officials, Schneider knows all about these British bigwigs.

"Is it General John Carter? The Carter family has a great influence in Ireland and can almost be considered a political family. General Carter's father, Thomas Carter, was the Minister of Irish Affairs and the Chief Clerk of the Irish Court. He was a radical Whig and a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College, Dublin University. However, he did not have the humility of classical literature. He was rude and domineering, but not without cunning. He hated the central government's interference in Irish affairs and often interfered. Horace Walpole spoke highly of him and said he was a 'conspirator of extraordinary ability.'"

Hearing Schneider's evaluation of the Carter family, it was Arthur who was surprised.

Although he had been a British spy dedicated to discovering all secrets since a long time ago, he had never been interested in the secrets of his old friend Elder. He only knew that Elder's uncle was Major General John Carter, but he didn't know that the Carter family was a famous Irish family.

But then again...

Arthur's eyes rolled around, and a sense of evil suddenly arose in his heart.

The Carter family is obviously an Irish family, but Elder has always claimed that he grew up in Nottingham and his hometown is there. Now it seems that maybe it is true that he grew up in Nottingham, because his father died early, so he lived with his mother in her family when he was very young, but no matter what, his ancestral home cannot be traced to Nottingham.

And this guy always likes to talk bad about the Irish. However, this may not be intentional. After all, he talks bad about the French more fiercely than he talks bad about his own hometown.

Even Elder's temper was quite similar to that of his grandfather, who was also a Bachelor of Arts and equally vulgar and vulgar, but fortunately or unfortunately, he did not inherit his grandfather's cunning mind, or rather, the cunning he inherited was used in the wrong place.

But no matter what, Mr. Carter is always his good friend, and he is also the indomitable Royal Navy soldier in "St. George's Flag Flying High", the author of the famous "Robin Hood", and the humanoid creature that Darwin devoted himself to studying.

Arthur felt much better when he thought of Elder.

He took out the small notebook from his pocket, carefully selected it, and tore off a page and handed it to Schneider. "What is this?" Schneider took the note and glanced at it: "The Young Italian Army is divided into two groups, one marching from Savoy and the other from Genoa. The assembly point is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The leaders of the two armies are..."

"Fuck!" Schneider quickly put the small piece of paper into his pocket. He glanced around, then quickly approached Arthur and asked in a low voice: "Is the information accurate? Where did you get this from?"

Arthur imitated Schneider's tone and replied: "August, although we are friends, it is impolite to ask a diplomat about his source of information."

After he finished speaking, he gently patted on the door of the box.

Schneider was stunned at first, then nodded in understanding, with a gratified smile on his face, like an apprentice who has completed his apprenticeship: "Arthur, I thought it would take you some time to adapt to this job. But I didn't expect that you have already mastered it without a teacher. You were able to lock onto the social relations of young Italian leaders such as Mazzini so quickly, and even follow the clues to deal with their mistresses, and then extract intelligence. This is a lot of work. I will definitely write to Viscount Palmerston, focusing on your achievements. The kingdom is lucky to have a diplomat like you."

Arthur saw Schneider had fallen into a rut and could only smile helplessly.

He couldn't understand why these diplomats always liked to complicate simple issues.

If you want to know the answer to a question, you don’t have to take the longest route to get the result.

Perhaps because of their profession, whether they are British, French, Austrian, etc., these diplomats who still retain a lot of aristocratic temperament all have the same character.

But for the police, whether British, French, or other countries, represented by Arthur Hastings and François Vidocq, they all agreed that the problem-solving process must go straight from the beginning to the destination.

They have already preset countless outcomes in their minds, and every step they take is to verify whether their expectations are correct.

One is forward push and the other is reverse push.

At least for now, when the question is already there, the effect of reverse reasoning is still stronger than forward reasoning.

However, no matter whether it is forward or reverse reasoning, no matter whether the result is right or wrong, whether the problem-solving process is simple or complex, some insignificant artistic processing still needs to be done when submitting a report to the superior.

Before joining the government, Arthur also felt that these reports were useless, but after working at Scotland Yard, he finally realized how important this job was.

Although the distinguished gentlemen in Whitehall are smarter than ordinary people, their intelligence is actually limited. Only a well-written report can make them understand under what difficult and harsh conditions Britain's experienced diplomats obtained such important breakthrough intelligence.

Even though the information might not actually be important and might even be wrong.

However, you still have to take credit.

When he was in the Police Intelligence Bureau, Arthur's informants often fooled him like this. Some informants never even went to work on the streets, and they didn't think they were doing any intelligence work, but thought their job was to eat and drink, and write all kinds of "magic novels" for their superiors to make them happy.

And after coming to Paris and communicating with Victor, Arthur discovered that it was the same in Paris.

Therefore, even though the jobs are different, Arthur feels that due to the high similarity of human nature, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is probably similar.

But compared to some diplomats who have no bottom line, even though Arthur has lowered his professional ethics very low, it is still inevitably a little higher than the average standard - after all, he has eaten the king's salt, so he might as well do something.

Apart from anything else, Talleyrand received several million francs from Austria, and the military intelligence he gave to Austria was 70% true and 70% false.

Schneider got important information about Young Italy from Arthur, and this mercenary German-British gentleman quickly returned the favor by suggesting, "Since you are here today, would you like to go with me to meet my old friend later?"

"Old friend?"

Arthur blinked and smiled and asked, "August, you just told me that it is rude to interfere in other people's social relationships."

"No, it's impolite for you to interfere in some social relationships. But it's not impolite for others, because if you don't know some things, it may cause the overall planning of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to fall into a difficult situation."

"what do you mean?"

"Young Italy, you discovered this line..."

"No, no, no." Arthur's eyes flashed with a cunning light, and he interrupted casually: "August, this is the joint credit of the two of us."

Schneider had no idea that Arthur was trying to drag him into this. He just thought that Arthur was a loyal young man.

He put his arm around Arthur's shoulder affectionately. "Arthur, you are always so friendly. Yes, we discovered it together. So, in order not to let our achievements go to waste, I think it is necessary to introduce you to an old friend of mine, Mr. William von Kromar."

"Von?" Arthur asked. "Prussian?"

"No, it's worse than that." Schneider laughed, "He is an Austrian, a subordinate and lackey of Anton von Appony, the Austrian ambassador to France, and the cultural counselor of the Austrian Empire's embassy to the Kingdom of France."

"Hmm... I think I know what he does. I have to say, Cultural Counselor sounds much better than Chief of Special Agents."

Arthur said this, straightening his tuxedo. "And you're right. Since we are in charge of Young Italy, it is indeed necessary for us to get to know him. If Mazzini and his men launch an expedition, but the Austrians know nothing about it, Mr. Cromar, the cultural counselor in France, will probably be in big trouble, right?"

PS: There is more at night, so get up and watch it tomorrow morning.

(End of this chapter)