shadow of britain

Chapter 539 My Mentor Hastings
Garibaldi was a man of courage but not of wisdom. He preferred to go to London rather than Berlin. I was only trying to arrest him, but Sir Arthur Hastings could very well put a price on him and sell him to Napoleon III.

—Otto von Bismarck

Bismarck's answer made Arthur extremely satisfied.

He took out a cigar box from his trouser pocket, took out a cigar and put it into Bismarck's mouth, then lit it for him with his own hands.

"Otto, you are a clever young man. You are the cleverest young man I have ever met. Needless to say, you will become a great man in the future."

Bismarck felt a little uncomfortable when he heard Arthur speaking to him in such a condescending tone. Although he could say something against his will for the sake of school recommendation letters and scholarships, it did not mean that he was willing to be anyone's lackey.

He was a Prussian Junker nobleman, and at his ancestral estate, Schönhausen Manor, in his hometown of Stendal, he was the one who looked down upon the peasants and lectured them.

If he could beat Arthur, he would at least show this kid some of his power.

Bismarck replied sarcastically: "Sir, you speak in an old-fashioned way, as if you were a wise old man in his seventies or eighties who is about to be buried."

The Red Devil squatted on the tree branch and yawned: "You are quite good at judging people. You may become a big shot in the future."

Arthur nodded in agreement. "Otto, do you know what I admire most about you? Although we are both young people, and you have some of the fantasies that are inherent in young people, I can't see any ideals in you. Just this point alone puts you a big step ahead of others."

Bismarck thought Arthur was insulting him, and he spat on the ground disrespectfully: "You used to be a diplomat, and even earlier you were a policeman. Do the guys you met in diplomatic occasions and the thugs on the streets of London have ideals?"

"That may not be certain." Arthur replied with a smile: "At least the French and Italians I met all had great dreams. I made a lot of money helping them realize their dreams."

"What are you talking about?" Bismarck asked in confusion, "Doesn't it usually cost money to help people realize their dreams? How can you make money?"

Although Bismarck was very curious, Arthur had no intention of teaching him how to get rich for the time being.

As we all know, when a job is very profitable, people in the industry usually keep it a secret. Only when it stops making money will a bunch of people suddenly jump out to sell courses.

Arthur avoided the topic according to his market economy logic: "Otto, the University of Göttingen does not offer a course in political economics, and I am just a professor of electromagnetism."

Although Arthur did not say it out loud, Bismarck roughly understood what kind of dirty deal Arthur and Schneider had just made when he thought about the topic they had talked about.

He leaned back on the bench with a cigar in his mouth. "So the meaning of political economy is: give them politics, and then you improve the economy? Then I think the same principle applies to you asking me to be the student leader of the Gestapo. I remember you said that you would not only give me a letter of recommendation, but also a scholarship."

Even though Arthur knew that this boy was no ordinary person, he was still surprised that he could understand so many things after just listening to a few words between him and Schneider.

Arthur nodded slightly, then corrected him: "He is the chairman of the Göttingen Social Activists and Event Planning Organization. Otto, you have to be careful with your wording. The title of student leader is really too ugly. Please note that this is not an authoritarian organization, but a democratic society. You have to be elected by your classmates before you can take office."

Bismarck rolled his eyes and said, "Sir, I came to you today for this. Although I am confident that I can manage the student organization well, you know that my reputation at the University of Göttingen is really bad. Those petty bourgeois students don't like aristocratic youth like me, and I don't like them either. If you hadn't repeatedly requested me, I wouldn't want to mix with them at all."

Arthur saw Bismarck's careless attitude and could only gently warn him: "Otto, this is your problem, not mine. I have already given my promised reward. If you don't take the initiative, I can give the scholarship and recommendation letter to others."

Bismarck chuckled, sat up straight, and said provocatively: "If you do that, I will remember some things I shouldn't remember, such as a conversation a few minutes ago."

Arthur smiled brightly and said, "Otto, if you do that, I will write to your mother and expel you from school. After that, you can go back to your hometown in Prussia to farm or join the army. It's up to you. As for what you said... If you think that the words of a dropout can reach the ears of your old senior Metternich, then you are committing the common hysteria of young people. You are crazy."

When Bismarck heard this, his face turned green, and his confident attitude just now disappeared without a trace.

As Arthur said before, he was mentally ahead of his peers in one respect: he was a little more realistic.

Even if those words really brought bad luck to the new school director, it would not affect Bismarck's fate of returning to his hometown in disgrace to join the army and farm.

What will your life be like if you can’t finish your studies at university?

Bismarck was lost in thought.

He would probably serve in the army as a junior officer for a few years, yelling at new recruits every day.

Then he married, had children, farmed, produced distilled liquor without restraint, and used liquor to corrupt the morals of the peasants in his territory.

If ten years later, those alumni who had attended the University of Göttingen with him happened to come to his hometown, he would definitely invite these old classmates to have fun together and find a fickle and curvy girl from the manor to play with.

He would also treat his friends to as much potato brandy as they liked and to hunting, where they would have a good time.

Bismarck at that time would probably be a fat militia officer with a beard that curled up at both ends, who could curse people so hard that the earth would shake, hated Jews and Frenchmen, and whipped dogs and servants at will. At the same time, he was also a henpecked husband like his ancestors in the Bismarck family.

When the sun came out in the autumn, he would get drunk, wear leather trousers, ride on a skinny pony, and order his servants to use ox carts to pull goods to the wool market in Stettin to make a fool of himself.

If someone in the market greeted him, a Junker nobleman, he would rub his moustache in a friendly manner and give everyone a preferential price.

On the King's birthday he would get drunk and shout out happy birthday to His Majesty.

The rest of the time, he would talk regularly.

Even his catchphrase became: "Oh my God! This horse is awesome!"

"Oh! No!" Bismarck held his head and wailed in pain: "I don't want to become a Junker bumpkin like that!"

Bismarck looked at Arthur eagerly, and he thought of the sword given to Arthur by the king.

He knew very well that although this young man, who was not much older than him, deserved a beating, he was a legitimate knight of the United Kingdom.

Although knights do not belong to the aristocracy in the UK, they are a kind of honorary citizenship and cannot be inherited.

However, if he was ennobled in Germany, for example, in the Kingdom of Hanover, he would be an out-and-out hereditary noble of the state.

Although this is not as noble as the imperial nobility canonized by the Holy Roman Emperor, it is still much nobler than the imperial nobility obtained by the Bismarck family.

Even though he was just a British knight, he could have made the young Bismarck extremely envious.

If Arthur had been an imperial knight conferred before 1806, Bismarck would most likely have regarded him as his goal.

Because an Imperial Knight means that he is a free knight directly under the Holy Roman Empire, with no lord other than the emperor, and is nominally equal to other dukes, marquises, counts and free cities of the empire directly under the empire.

Although the Imperial Knight had no seats or voting rights in the Imperial Council, he enjoyed a certain degree of territorial sovereignty. On his small fiefdom, he could freely legislate, collect taxes, administer civil justice, mint coins, etc.

When the Holy Roman Empire was destroyed by Napoleon in 1806, there were still about 350 such imperial knights, with a total of about 45 Germans living under their rule.

However, not everyone in Germany wants to become an imperial noble.

For example, the naturalist Mr. Johann Senckenberg once cursed: "A decent man is worth more than all the nobles and barons combined. If someone wants to make me a baron, I will call him a bitch, or call him a baron. This is how I view the title of nobility." But people like Mr. Senckenberg are ultimately a minority. Most Germans, like the French, want to risk their lives to obtain a titled noble status.

Although they are all young people, some of them have already obtained knighthood, and according to this trend, they are likely to obtain hereditary titles in the future.

However, some young people are facing the risk of being expelled from university and are left with a lot of debt.

Bismarck was very clear that he could not defeat the strong, and since this guy could not be scared, it would be better to cooperate with him.

As long as he can endure for two or three years, until he successfully graduates from the University of Göttingen and obtains the position of Prussian judge with the school's letter of recommendation, then he will be able to 'feel free as the sea is wide for fish to leap and the sky is high for birds to fly'!

With this letter of recommendation, he will rise rapidly in the judicial system, then find an opportunity to enter the diplomatic circle, and finally build his own career and become a high-ranking noble.

When that time comes, he will reveal the secrets of that shameless villain Arthur Hastings in whatever way he wants.

Under the almost unlimited power of the school supervisor and special representative of the country, the Junker youth Bismarck was flexible and decided to temporarily endure and submit: "Sir, I apologize to you, I was just joking with you."

"I'm sorry, too, Otto." Arthur replied righteously, "Because I'm not kidding."

Bismarck felt cold from head to toe. Although he was still standing in front of Arthur, he had already begun to seriously consider how to be elected as the president of the society.

Arthur saw that the boy had finally given in, so he threw out a little more bait: "Otto, how much money do you owe others at school?"

Bismarck was distracted and replied casually: "About a hundred florins."

"Oh! what a coincidence!" said Arthur. "The Hastings Scholarship I am considering establishing happens to be worth a hundred florins."

Bismarck raised his head suddenly: "Ah... that's really too much of a coincidence..."

Arthur paced and added slowly, "In order to encourage the development of student associations and encourage a diverse and free atmosphere on campus, I plan to pay out of my own pocket to provide additional subsidies to student leaders."

At this point, Arthur paused for a moment and said, "By the way, the subsidy for the president of the society is set at 20 florins a year, which I think is very reasonable."

Bismarck was in awe when he heard this. He stood up and said, "Your Excellency."

"what happened?"

"I didn't understand it before, but now I understand it completely."

"What do you understand?"

Bismarck replied in a clear voice: "The Italian Revolution is a good thing!"

Arthur glanced at the boy and waved his hand, saying, "I hope that next time I see you, you will let me address you as Chairman Bismarck."

“I promise you won’t be disappointed!”

Bismarck, imitating the court etiquette he had learned from his father, took three steps back and then trotted out of the garden.

Arthur watched him walk away and was about to smoke a cigarette quietly by himself.

Who knew that just as he started the engine, he looked up and saw Bismarck appear in front of him again.

Arthur flicked the match and extinguished the flame. "So soon? You brought back the chairmanship?"

Bismarck threw the package under his arm into Arthur's hand, then excused himself and said, "I didn't bring the title back, but I just ran into the postman who was delivering the letter. He said the package was sent to the proctor of Hastings, so I brought it to you."

"pack?"

Arthur glanced at the package in his hand, which was wrapped tightly in brown paper. It was clearly written in German that the package was sent from Bavaria.

Strangely enough, Arthur had few friends in Bavaria.

Although Schneider was going to Munich in Bavaria to gather information, he had just set out from Göttingen and probably had not yet left Hanover.

Arthur tore open the brown paper package with doubt, and inside was a German book - "Mathematical Calculation of Electric Current".

Arthur couldn't help but feel a headache when he saw the name, and he instantly understood what was going on.

In this era, not every natural philosophy researcher is lucky enough to get a university teaching position, and not everyone is lucky enough to go to university.

Among these private researchers there are factory technicians, company employees and primary and secondary school teachers.

These people will use their spare time to conduct scientific research and submit their results to well-known scholars, hoping to gain their recognition and use this opportunity to gain fame in related fields and improve their social class.

When in London, Mr. Faraday was deeply troubled by these folk researchers. Even though Faraday was a gentleman with flawless morals and quite gentle attitude towards others, he was finally forced to establish a rule of not seeing guests for three days a week.

This is not because Faraday was too heartless, but because most of these folk researchers were limited in their abilities and often came up with some rather nonsensical conclusions and theorems. Faraday's time was precious, and he was very polite to spend half of his time every week to receive folk researchers who were doing useless work.

It is easier to understand why Arthur dislikes these general researchers, because he often finds that these researchers' levels are lower than his, but most of them are very confident.

When he was at Scotland Yard, these people were reluctant to take on senior police officers.

But since leaving Scotland Yard, it has not been so easy for Arthur to send them off in a friendly manner.

This package from Bavaria was most likely sent by a German folk electromagnetic researcher.

After all, Arthur Hastings was, at least nominally, one of Europe's leading researchers in electromagnetics, and was currently Chancellor of the University of Göttingen and special representative of the state.

If he could get Arthur's approval, then wouldn't it be a natural thing for him to get a teaching position at the University of Göttingen?

Arthur was just about to throw the book aside, but the summer sun suddenly caught his eyes, and he happened to see a familiar name written in the author column below the title.

"Ok?"

Arthur frowned suddenly and picked up the book again to study it carefully.

Mathematical calculation of electric current

Author: George Simon Ohm.

(End of this chapter)