shadow of britain

Chapter 80 Europa in a Mess of Porridge (Please Subscribe!)
In the coffee shop opposite the Greenwich Police Station, Arthur was enjoying the rare peace and quiet.

At the next table, Tony and Tom were earnestly studying the basics of natural history and medicine with Darwin.

Robin's case greatly stimulated the two of them. For the first time in their lives, the two police officers felt that learning was such an important thing, not only for the three shilling subsidy given by Arthur, but also for the protection lives of the citizens of London.

Sitting opposite Arthur was Elder who looked like he was about to die.

Although today's lunch is Arthur's treat, Master Elder rarely has no appetite.

Arthur glanced at his half-dead expression, and asked casually: "What's the matter with you? Didn't you say that Sir Isaac Newton is the only sun in your heart? Why not when you have time now?" Went to Gresham College for a science lecture?"

"Listen to science lectures? Where am I in this mood now?"

Elder held his head in pain and said: "Arthur, you don't know, the modification of the Beagle is about to be completed. If we go on at this pace, maybe after a while, Charles and I will board the ship Received sea training."

Arthur raised his eyebrows and said: "You are a draftsman of the Royal Navy, isn't it normal to go to sea for training? This can prepare you for future voyages around the world, and when you are floating at sea, you can get double the amount you get on land. Salary?"

"Arthur!" Elder sighed, "If I could choose, I wouldn't want that money. At sea, there's nowhere to spend the money, and the Admiralty actually didn't pay a few extra bucks. I'm not Captain or nautical master, I don't have such a high salary."

Arthur turned to the next page of the newspaper and said, "Elder, think about the good things. Didn't your uncle also save more than 20 yuan after floating in the sea for more than [-] years? You Come on, maybe you can be like him."

Elder covered his face and lamented: "He just caught up with the good time and caught the last train of the Napoleonic War. Otherwise, where would you ask him to get so much money?

Back then, in order to fight against Napoleon and his allies, all shipyards across the country were building warships at full capacity, and the Royal Navy was also continuously capturing warships.So as soon as my uncle was promoted to colonel, he was assigned a ship as captain immediately.

But now?The Royal Navy has more than 1000 ships, and the number of captains is almost 2000. The young ones have to wait on the shore to line up to board the ship.

Some people may not be able to become captains in their entire lives, and there are not a few people who have been retired all the way with land allowances from the Ministry of the Navy.

If it weren't for the large number of people and the small number of ships, why do you think the Admiralty is so relieved to let the young captains be the navigator, responsible for writing the logbook and supervising the captain?
Because for the captains, killing a captain is equivalent to an extra ship's hole, as long as they grab the captain's pigtails, they will never show mercy to their old boss in the military court. "

Arthur was stunned for a while when he heard this: "Aren't the captains afraid that the captains will falsely accuse the captain if the Admiralty does this?"

"False accusation? Unless the captain is out of his wits, that rarely happens."

Elder put one leg on the table, and leaned his head back on the back of the chair: "Because the captain's promotion requires the captain's recommendation letter, if he dares to perjure, he failed to kill the captain in the end." , then he will suffer in the future.

Besides, there were more than one captain on board, unless they collude together, otherwise false accusations would not be so easy to succeed.

In the end, even if they collude, there is still a sergeant major on board.

Sergeant majors are all served by skilled veteran sailors, because the sergeant major has no hope of promotion, and his appointment and dismissal is not controlled by the captain, but is directly determined by the Ministry of the Navy, so the sergeant major is generally too lazy to tell lies.

If a captain can offend several captains and sergeants on board at the same time, then sending him out to fight probably won't win, and he deserves to be laid off. "

Arthur touched his chin when he heard this, and said, "Doesn't this sound good? Then why are you so reluctant to go to sea training? I just saw you looking like you were going to die, and thought you would Strapped to the ram by Colonel Fitzroy."

"He dares!" Elder stared and said, "He was the one who proposed Haixun's suggestion, and everyone was reluctant. If he tied me to the ram again, I promise to wait for the Beagle to return to the voyage." , he has to be laid off.

Who knows what's wrong with his brain? He did six sea training sessions in three months, each lasting more than a week. My uncle's training in the Mediterranean Fleet was not as diligent as him! "

"How does the Mediterranean Fleet practice?"

When Elder heard this, he looked around mysteriously, then covered his mouth with his hands, and whispered.

"I'm telling you, don't say it! Actually, I heard from my uncle that their Mediterranean fleet spends more than half of their time lying in the port every year.

Moreover, this phenomenon is very common in various fleets stationed abroad. The more pleasant the climate and the better the living conditions in the place where they are stationed, the longer the fleet will lie down.

The Mediterranean Fleet spends the longest time lying in the sea among all the fleets. In severe cases, it spends 60.00% of the time in the port every year.The Baltic Fleet is much more diligent, and they only spend about [-]% to [-]% of their time recuperating on the shore.

After all, it's not a time of war, so why are the training so strict?The brothers of the Royal Navy find some part-time jobs on land, and they all get higher wages than staying on the ship. "

"Not during the war?" Arthur said here, and pushed the newspaper on the table in front of Elder with a smile: "Look at what this is? Maybe we will really have to fight after a while."

Elder waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Isn't it the king's death? What's the big deal? I don't know. The newspapers are full of news scolding him, even the tabloids I read have two A page sprayed him.

I also recall that the tabloid quoted The Times as saying that there never was a king in the world who died without the regret of not a single one of his people.May I ask who shed tears for him?Which heart throbs for him and evokes sincere grief?
From nobles to priests to ordinary citizens, there is no one who does not scold him.Besides, he died as soon as he died, and he delayed my reading of tabloid stories. He really deserves to be scolded! "

"is it?"

Arthur raised his brows and said, "You may not know, but I heard from a reporter friend who was interviewing the Parliament, that is, the court clerk Charles Dickens, that the Duke of Wellington praised him in his eulogy read by the House of Lords." The late king was 'the most educated gentleman of his time'."

Elder was stunned when he heard this: "Can the Duke of Wellington say this? I remember that when the king obstructed the "Catholic Emancipation Act", he didn't privately scold the king as the worst, most selfish, and most ruthless thing he has ever met in his life. Can the faithful, most ill-natured man, and what is more, the king's utter lack of merit make up for his faults?"

Arthur pursed his lips and smiled: "Elder, you don't understand, being a prime minister has to be like this, with two faces. Do you know the Duke of Wellington's reaction when he heard that the king died of illness?

He exclaimed: "I used to swear to His Majesty the King that he might not even be able to do a good thing in his life. Now it seems that I may be wrong." "

Elder laughed loudly and said, "No wonder he called His Majesty the 'Most Educated Gentleman of Our Time'. But what does this have to do with the possibility of war?"

Arthur pointed to today's news headline and said, "Because what I'm talking about is not about Great Britain at all, what are the headlines today?"

Elder turned the newspaper over and moved it in front of him.

The headline of the news is very simple, but the meaning revealed is very meaningful - "Revolution broke out in France, the National Guard occupied Paris"

(End of this chapter)