shadow of britain

Chapter 528 Beer Hall Riot

The stars in the sky appear beautiful and pure only because they are so far away from us and we have no idea what their private lives are like.

—Heinrich Heine

"Sorry, who wants to struggle?"

Arthur's voice was not small, but among a group of passionate young people, his voice was quickly suppressed by the cheers.

The tavern was filled with students expressing their dissatisfaction with the tragic fate of their senior schoolmate Heine.

Although these students imagined Heine's impoverished life in Paris, some even added many detailed descriptions.

But as far as Arthur knew, at least when Heine was with him, not only did he never eat black bread, he also tried almost all the high-end restaurants in Paris.

When Arthur told Heine that he was about to leave Paris to take up a post in Germany, Heine enthusiastically recommended the Jager Restaurant in Berlin to him. According to Heine, the cuisine there was as good as that in Paris.

Roasted swans were flying all over the sky, holding a sauce dish in their beaks, and they would be very proud if you tore it off and ate it. The delicious and soft cream cakes were like sunflowers growing wildly in the wind, and streams of fresh meat juice and champagne flowed everywhere, and there were tree rings with floating napkins.

When eating at Yago's restaurant, even the bread used to wipe the mouth was white bread. Arthur was not even sure whether they had mastered the technology of making black bread.

As for Göttingen, which regarded Heine as a hero, this guy gave a rather concise description of the place where he had stayed for several years, summarizing Göttingen in his eyes in just a few words.

The city of Göttingen, famous for its sausages and university, belonged to the King of Hanover and had 999 furnaces, various churches, a midwifery hospital, an observatory, a student confinement room, a library and a town hall cellar hotel where the beer was excellent.

There was a small river called the Leine River flowing by the city, where people bathed in the summer. The water was very cold, and in some places it was so wide that if William Ludel, the best sports student in my class, wanted to jump across it, he would have to run a long distance.

Night watchmen, varsities, doctoral dissertations, dancing teas, washerwomen, syllabuses, roasted pigeons, the Order of Gulfen, doctoral carriages, pipes, privy councillors, legal advisers, members of the committee for punishing students, professors, and other fools.

Some even believe that the city was built during the great migration of nations, when each branch of the German nation left a specimen of its members' unruly behavior, and from it emerged the Vandals, Frisians, Swabians, Teutons, Saxons, Thuringians, and so on.

In Göttingen today, they still travel in gangs, distinguished by the colors of their caps and pipe tassels, wandering the Weinder Strasse and fighting at the Haymill, the Duelling Tavern, and on the bloody battlefield of Powdern.

Their customs are still stuck in the days of the Migration of Nations, and they are governed partly by their leaders, who are called the Leading Cocks, and partly by their ancient code of law, the Regulations of the College Students' Association, which have a place among the "Laws of the Barbarians."

Heine's description was accurate on this point, except that Arthur had not yet seen the wonderful things like the dancing tea party in Göttingen before he had come face to face with the college students who were governed by the regulations of the "Barbarian Law" student club.

Even more unfortunately, he is still a professor at the University of Göttingen, and is likely to serve as the chairman of the student punishment committee as a supervisor. You know, when Heine listed the things that existed in Göttingen, these two identities were put in the same category as idiots.

But not everyone present was as conflicted as Arthur.

For example, Schneider was not surprised by what happened today.

In the eyes of this pure British gentleman, this is his hometown Germany. It would be a little less interesting without the hustle and bustle of the beer hall and the noisy college students who bring countless troubles to the neighbors.

However, what made Schneider even happier was that he was not responsible for supervising these energetic college students who wanted to try everything except studying, because this was the responsibility of Professor Arthur Hastings, a master of electromagnetism and reactionary academic authority.

He took Clara and Arthur to a corner of the beer hall and sat down. However, before their buttocks could even warm up the stools, they saw the student standing in the center of the stage take out a black, red and gold tricolor flag from a box beside him.

Black and gold were the representative colors of the old Holy Roman Empire, and now represent German nationalism, while red symbolizes freedom and revolution.

But at this moment, it doesn't matter what the flag represents. The most important thing is that the flag is currently banned from campus.

But students are born with a rebellious spirit. The more they are not allowed to do something, the more they want to do it.

For a senior police officer like Arthur, it is definitely a very wise move to restrict such a group of young people to the university, because this can restrict their destructive nature to a small area like the campus, instead of running around and committing crimes in the streets and alleys of East London like in London.

The purpose of compulsory education is not only to let them recognize letters and learn basic knowledge so that they can become qualified technical workers in the near future, but also to provide a place for them to vent their excess energy, thereby reducing the overall crime rate in society.

In fact, in most cases, the effect of the latter is more obvious than the former.

However, although this is what he said, based on what Arthur saw and heard during his travels in Germany these days, he came to a rather counterintuitive conclusion.

In Germany, especially in Prussia where compulsory education had been implemented since 1797, the density of schools, whether universities, middle schools or primary schools, as well as the literacy rate of the people, were much higher than those in Britain.

However, corresponding to the high literacy rate, Prussia's economic level was far less prosperous than that of Britain.

Even many of the Junker landowners lived in fairly ordinary poverty, not to mention the Prussian peasants who worked for them.

Moreover, in terms of education, Britain's investment is not only inferior to that of Prussia, but also inferior to that of France across the Channel.

This year, France just passed the Education Reform Bill under the leadership of Guizot, while Britain's efforts in this regard are infinitely close to zero.

Although at the grassroots level, many knowledgeable people are actively establishing educational institutions such as the University of London, compared with government-led educational revolutions such as Germany and France, the British government does not seem to have the intention to vigorously popularize basic education.

In the traditional British concept, the word "education" is equivalent to classical education, and classical education is the private domain of the nobility and a noble cause.

It is also for this reason that traditional universities such as Oxford and Cambridge are extremely hostile to the University of London, which has different educational philosophies from theirs.

What is even more surprising, however, is that this was not just the view of the nobility, but also the view of the British people.

Most British people believe that whether they have received education or not has no effect on their ability to work in a factory or carry a hoe in the field. And in fact, it seems to be true.

Britain's lack of attention to universal education has led to a rather bizarre and paradoxical phenomenon.

On the European continent, whether in France or Germany, students are the vanguard of liberal reforms, and these young people can be seen in every large-scale protest and uprising.

In Britain, it seems that movements organized by farmers, workers, and citizens are common, but I have never heard of any student-led movements. This is because before the establishment of the University of London, there were only classical church universities in Britain, and even these were extremely rare, so students could not make any waves at all.

Therefore, even in the 19th century when revolutionary movements emerged one after another, Arthur did not observe closely how students played a role in these movements until today. However, before he could carefully study the psychological activities and basic demands of these students.

Suddenly, there was a bang and the door of the tavern was kicked open.

The pub, which had been noisy just a moment ago, immediately fell into silence.

Then, there was the crisp sound of hard riding boots stepping on the floor, and then a man wearing hard high-top riding boots, a dark black double-breasted coat that reached his knees, dark straight pants, and a German regional iconic military cap 'Pickelhaube' on his head, walked slowly into the tavern with his hands behind his back.

Pickelhaube

There was also a metal badge on his hat, which was not unfamiliar to the British.

It is a shield with two standing golden lions surrounding a bright red crown. It is the emblem of the House of Hanover, the co-rulers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Hanover.

The motto of the Kingdom of Hanover - Gott mit uns (God is with us) written on the ribbon below the badge, and the glittering badge on his chest indicate the identity of this gentleman.

He was a police officer in the Kingdom of Hanover and also a police chief.

He raised his right arm high, and as the white gloves turned slightly, a group of Göttingen policemen holding batons rushed in like sharks smelling blood, and surrounded the students in the pub tightly.

The director did not say anything either. He just paced lightly on the wooden floor of the pub. In the almost solidified air, the only sound was the clattering sound of his boots on the floor.

His eagle-like sharp eyes scanned the entire room, and every student whose eyes met his lowered their heads involuntarily under tremendous pressure, completely losing their previous passionate attitude.

Seeing this, the director showed a faint smile at the corner of his mouth. This was exactly the effect he wanted.

When dealing with this group of daring young people, they must be overwhelmed from the very beginning, otherwise there will only be more and more troubles in the future.

The director strolled towards the small stage in the center of the tavern, and the drinkers around him couldn't help but split into two and made way for him.

He walked up the three steps step by step, then bent down and carefully looked at the black, red and gold tricolor flag held in the hands of the student leader.

Then, he patted the flag with the back of his hand, turned around and asked the audience: "Can someone explain to me what this is?"

There was total silence in the audience. Some people hung their heads in frustration, while others pretended not to hear and just drank their beer.

"No one knows?" The police chief nodded with satisfaction: "Then I will treat it as garbage. Sergeant Haller!"

"To!"

"This flag is for you, take it outside and burn it!"

"Yes, sir!"

After that, the police chief took out a pen and paper, turned around and asked the student leader holding the flag, "What is your college, name, grade, and advisor?"

The student leader stared at the police chief fiercely and asked with gritted teeth, "Are you going to ask the Student Punishment Committee to put me in the detention room?"

"The detention room?" The police chief raised his hat brim slightly and whispered, "Sir, I'm afraid the result will be worse than that. You should have been prepared when you took out the tricolor flag. You will be expelled from school."

"Get the hell out of here! You authoritarian running dog!"

The student swung his fist at the police chief's face, and the powerful blow knocked him down instantly, and he tumbled down the stairs.

His sudden outburst also ignited the emotions of the students present. The students who had not dared to speak just now only felt a surge of blood rushing from their chests to their brains.

A student took advantage of the policeman who was standing in front of him not paying attention and kicked him in the crotch.

Others tried hard to snatch the batons from the police's hands, while the cleverer ones picked up beer cups and smashed them hard on the police's heads.

"Classmates! Run!"

I don't know who yelled, but then everyone rushed towards the tavern door while fighting.

Arthur's beer and sausages had just been served, and he had intended to enjoy this hard-earned meal. But even if he didn't want to leave, this master of Fiore style swordsmanship who could rival Napoleon in foil was no match for the college students who rushed towards the outside of the tavern like a tide.

It was not until this time that Arthur finally realized how hard it was for Elder on the sea, as he had to battle such waves day and night.

Although Arthur tried his best not to spill the beer in the glass, it was not an easy task under such circumstances.

As he was pushed backwards by the students, he would take a gulp of wine every now and then when he found an opportunity.

With just two gulps, the 'British Royal Cask' selected by the Liverpool priests drank up all the beer in the cup.

He casually threw the beer glass into the air, and unexpectedly it hit the police chief who had just climbed up.

The angry chief grabbed his baton and ran towards Arthur like crazy. Arthur saw that the situation was not good, so he took out the Göttingen sausage that was praised by Schneider and Heine from the plate in his left hand and threw it at the chief.

Arthur's behavior immediately drew cheers from the students and also aroused the wrath of the Göttingen police.

When Arthur was pushed out of the pub by the crowd, he realized that it was too early for these students to be happy.

Outside the tavern, the students were already surrounded by people from the Göttingen Police Department. The military and police rushed forward, some with whips and some with sticks. Soon they beat the students until they cried for their parents. Even the most diehard resistance factions were pinned to the ground by several policemen.

The citizens of Göttingen who were passing by saw this, whether it was a farm girl buying milk or a donkey driver driving a gray animal, they couldn't help but stop and exclaimed: "Oh my God! What have these students done again?"

(End of this chapter)