Shadow of great britain

"This is……"

Louis read the title page of the book over and over again.

Only then did he finally understand why Arthur was interested in the history of the Napoleon family.

"Is he friends with the Polish killer?"

Arthur lit his pipe and blew out the smoke ring. He looked at the pale Louis and comforted him: "Don't worry, Louis, I'm not doubting you. You stayed with me on the day of the attack and almost got a bullet through your head. If the mastermind behind the scenes If it is really you, then it means that you are willing to put your own life in order to assassinate me. I think, as a friend, I haven't failed like this as a human being, right?"

"Of course not." Louis denied flatly: "But... I think Mr. Walewski has no reason to assassinate you."

"Sir?" Arthur took a puff of cigarette: "It seems that the relationship between you two cousins ​​is not particularly close!"

Louis took a sip of wine and said: "You can't say we are close, nor can you say we are not close. The main reason is that we didn't spend too long together, and we were too young at the time, so naturally we couldn't develop too deep feelings. Besides, don't Speaking of cousins ​​like me and Mr. Valewski, even if they are my biological brothers, they don’t stay with me all the time.”

"Huh?" Arthur asked, "How do you say this?"

There was a look of reminiscence in Louis' eyes.

“In 1815, after my uncle’s defeat at Waterloo, the Bourbon dynasty was restored in France. Not long after they came to power, they announced that they would expel all members of the Bonaparte family.

After receiving the order of deportation, my mother quickly packed up some valuable belongings, took my brother and me in a car, and left France overnight for Switzerland. But as soon as we had established a foothold in Geneva, my father, who had already settled in Florence, took my brother away from my mother according to the legal proceedings...

Since then, my brother and I have been separated for seven or eight years. My brother grew up in Italy with his father. I followed my mother back and forth between Germany and Switzerland. I first received a secondary education in Augsburg, Bavaria, and then entered the Arenberg Military Engineering School in Switzerland to study artillery command.

I had just graduated from the military academy when I received a letter from my brother from Italy. He invited me to go to Italy and the two brothers worked together to do something big. What happens next...you should know..."

Alexandre Dumas thought: "The Carbonari uprising in Rome was jointly suppressed by troops sent by the Papal States and Austria. Your brother also died in the process of escaping?"

"Um……"

Alexandre Dumas comforted: "Louis, relax. To be honest, if you hadn't had such an experience, I would definitely not have accepted you so quickly. You have proven with your actual actions that you and your uncle are not the same kind of people. You The brother who died during the uprising was also a good person."

"Huh..." Louis smiled self-deprecatingly: "Alexander, thank you, I feel much better. Of course, it would be better if my mother thought the same way. She didn't understand our behavior and wanted to be tough at one time. She brought me back to Switzerland from London. She always thought that I could live with her in the Arenberg manor, drink some wine every day and go to the theater with her in the evening. She said: 'Unless I die, otherwise Don't you ever try to slip away from me again'."

Arthur asked: "In that case, how did you convince her to let you join Scotland Yard?"

Louis replied: "It all depends on my uncle. He had a long talk with my mother in the Regency Crescent. My uncle said: 'Hortense, I understand the pain of losing your son. Because he died in Italy. It's not just your eldest son, he is also my son-in-law and nephew. But there is no way, this is the fate of a Bonaparte, and you have to learn to understand and respect it'."

Arthur was stunned when he heard this: "Son-in-law and nephew? It seems like another complicated relationship."

Louis sighed: "It's not that complicated. It's just that my brother married my cousin, my uncle's daughter Charlotte Bonaparte."

"All right."

In order to avoid falling into the embarrassing situation of high school biology and genetics questions, Arthur had to change the topic and said: "Let's talk about your cousin Mr. Walewski. I hope things will not be too complicated with him. .Louis, can you tell me why you think he won’t attack from behind?”

"This has to start from his experience. After the Bourbon Restoration expelled all members of the Bonaparte family, Valewski's mother, Lady Marie, finally accepted her long-term pursuit after realizing that there was no hope of my uncle returning to Europe. The proposal of her count d'Ornano.

Walewski then followed his mother, Lady Marie, and stepfather to live in Liege, Belgium. Unfortunately, Lady Marie died in childbirth the following year. But fortunately, his stepfather was kind to him and insisted on raising him.

But the good times did not last long. The Russians always regarded my half-Polish and half-Bonaparte cousin as a thorn in their side. As I said before, Walewski was born out of the Polish Zionists' desire to achieve a political marriage with the Bonaparte family, thereby freeing Poland from Russian influence with the help of the French Empire.

So, when Walewski was growing up, he was surrounded by patriots who wanted to revive Poland on the model of France. Those Poles regarded him as the destined King of Poland and were very eager to lead Poland to establish a country like the French Empire. Therefore, the Russians were very worried that once Walewski returned to Poland, those Poles would declare him king.

At that time, Belgium was still under the jurisdiction of the Dutch. So the Russians sent a diplomatic document to the Dutch government. They requested that Walewski be drafted into the Russian army on the grounds that he was a Pole. The Dutch government did not want to offend the Russians for this matter, but at the same time it did not want to offend those supporters of the Bonaparte family. Therefore, they notified Walewski in advance and asked him to pack up and leave Belgium as soon as possible.

So, under the arrangement of his stepfather, Walewski fled to London and lived there for several years. After the July Revolution broke out last year, he was approved by the July Dynasty to return to Paris..."

Arthur raised his eyebrows when he heard this and said, "You said the July Dynasty allowed him to return to Paris?"

Louis nodded and said: "That's right. But, Arthur, don't think wrongly. Just because Louis Philippe can tolerate Walewski does not mean that he can tolerate all Bonapartes. Although Walewski is Napoleon His biological son, but he was an illegitimate son after all, so naturally he was not qualified to inherit the title and claim of the Bonaparte family.

At the same time, his identity is also very interesting. The important reason why the July Dynasty valued him was the Polish element in him. I heard from my uncle that not long after the Polish uprising last year, Louis Philippe sent someone secretly to Warsaw.

The Polish uprising government also quickly entrusted him with important tasks. They appointed Walewski as a diplomatic envoy and sent him to Paris and London, hoping to seek military allies from the Tuileries Palace and Buckingham Palace to jointly deal with Russia. "

When Arthur heard this, he suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Talleyrand while playing golf.

He pursed his lips slightly: "It seems that Mr. Talleyrand is hiding a lot of things from me! If that's the case, I can understand why Viscount Palmerston was so rude to him. Not only did the Viscount borrow the Mrs. Levin's luck in winning 20,000 pounds in the casino was all because the French government planned to deceive the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a fool.

They hypocritically invited Britain and France to help the Poles become independent under the banner of freedom and progress, but in the end they found that the newly independent Polish government was a pro-French regime. If this thing is really done, domestic liberals will definitely sing its praises.

But alas, it is our Ministry of Foreign Affairs that determines foreign policy. To make matters worse, the Foreign Office is now led by the cunning Viscount Palmerston. Although he also likes a good reputation, he will definitely not do this kind of business with extremely unstable returns.

Speaking of which, I found that the relationship between Poland and France does seem to be quite close. I have often heard retired army superintendents of Scotland Yard say that the most capable of all the armies of France's slave countries during the Napoleonic Wars were the Poles. Those Polish legions made them suffer in various battles, large and small. "

Louis joked: "Don't just envy France for having Poland as its assistant. Isn't Britain's German Royal Army quite capable of fighting? And the Poles are not the most ruthless in dealing with the British. What they like most is to deal with the Russians. I When my uncle went on an expedition to Russia, nearly 100,000 Polish soldiers volunteered to join the battle. But you are right about one thing, these Polish soldiers were indeed very brave. I even think that the reason why Marshal Davout was able to achieve such great military exploits was because of his long-term role as Polish The commander of the legion is absolutely involved."

Arthur also smiled: "Perhaps next time we should let the Royal German Army of Britain and the Polish Army of France fight separately. I think the Germans can speed through Poland in four weeks at most."

Louis curled his lips: "I don't think so, you underestimate the Poles too much."

Alexandre Dumas was amazed when he heard this: "But what surprises me most is that there are so many Bonapartists in Poland. But having said that, it's not that I can't understand them. After all, compared with the Tsar, he chose It seems good to have a Bonaparte as king. At least this Bonaparte is still half Polish."

Arthur said: "Let's go back to Mr. Walewski. Do you know where he is now?"

Louis replied: "I really don't know about this... The last time I received news from him, he was still fighting in Warsaw. However, after the fall of Warsaw, I have not received information about him for a long time. Oh... by the way, your book. That Polish assassin, Mr. Korvacik, probably formed a friendship with my cousin during the Warsaw Uprising."

Arthur stared at the cover of the book for a long time, then stood up and said: "I will go back to London in a few days to report on the current situation in Liverpool to the Central Health Commission and the Chancery Hall. Maybe I should use Take this opportunity to talk to Mr. Talleyrand. I believe that old man must know the whereabouts of Mr. Walewski. If even he doesn’t know, then your brother will probably fall into the hands of the Russians."

Louis also stood up: "Do you need me to go with you?"

Arthur shook his head: "No, Louis, your identity is too sensitive. If I take a member of the Bonaparte family to the French Embassy, ​​the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will probably think that the superintendent of Scotland Yard has surrendered to the French government. Yeah, I don’t want to cause such a misunderstanding.”

"This..." Louis frowned and asked: "You mean, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also has its own spies?"

"Woo hoo hoo..."

Arthur smiled and raised his eyebrows and said: "Louis, what kind of illusion makes you think that the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs is doing everything above board? Not only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has spies, the Ministry of Finance also has spies, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs also has its own independent An informant system. However, although they are all engaged in domestic intelligence, their division of labor and focus are different. Of course, the Royal Navy and the Army also have their own separate set of things, but most of the military systems are responsible for foreign affairs. , so my contact with them is not deep.”

"Even the Ministry of Internal Affairs has its own independent system?" Louis slapped his forehead and said: "Don't they already have Scotland Yard?"

Arthur nodded: "Yes, but Scotland Yard is just a new department after all, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs has a much longer history than Scotland Yard. And before Scotland Yard was established, they naturally had to rely on themselves if they wanted to obtain intelligence. "

Louis asked: "Do you still think that Walewski did this?"

Arthur shook his head and said: "I don't think he did it. If he was keen on safeguarding Poland, it would be impossible for him to send someone to give me a shot. And he is an illegitimate son. If you kill him, you won't be able to get the Bonaparte family." inheritance rights. However, just because he has no motive does not mean that others will not use his name to give orders to the Poles.

The Polish killer Mr. Korvacik had participated in the Warsaw Uprising, and he was also a friend of Mr. Walewski. If we assume that he is a Polish Bonapartist, then perhaps the Russian threat to Mr. Walewski's life would make a big news in Liverpool.

It can also be seen from the newspaper pages in the past few days that due to this assassination, those British liberals who tended to support the Poles have become less determined. At present, the Russians are frustrated on the issue of Belgian independence, and on the other hand they are busy cleaning up the mess in Poland. If something could be done in Britain at this time so that the government and parliament would have no time to worry about the Polish issue, they would definitely be happy. "

Alexandre Dumas thought for a while after hearing this: "What you said is really possible. The Russians did have sufficient motives to do this. But, how can we get the evidence that they committed the crime?"

Arthur just shook his head and said: "Alexander, this is no longer a simple security case, but a diplomatic and political issue. If the evidence really points to the Russians in the end, then it is doubtful whether the investigation results can be announced. And I don't Knowing what the cabinet's attitude is on this matter, I have to investigate other possibilities before I can figure out what the ministers think."

As soon as Louis heard this, he immediately understood what Arthur meant.

"You mean, even if the Russians did this, you still have to prepare a few people who can take the blame?"

Arthur corrected when he heard this: "It's not to take the blame, but the investigation results that meet the expectations of many parties."

Alexandre Dumas asked: "So do you have a candidate on hand?"

Arthur flipped through the thick stack of case files in front of him and read a few names casually: "There are several good choices, some that the Parliament may like, some that the Viscount Melbourne may like, and of course, there is also Palmerston. The Viscount might like it, wait..."

"Who are you referring to?"

Arthur pointed to the names on the file and read casually: "There are too many, Liverpool Association, East India Company, George Norton, Bernie Harrison, etc..."

Alexandre Dumas frowned and said, "Are you planning to forcibly put a bucket of shit on them?"

Arthur heard this and slowly shook his finger: "Alexander, don't make a mistake. I will investigate in all directions, and all possibilities will be presented fairly on the ministers' desk. As for which one they choose to announce, that's all. It’s not up to me to decide.”

Alexandre Dumas asked: "So what do you mean, are you going to expose the eye-opening thing like this?"

"No, of course not." Arthur held the document and opened the door, stared at Alexandre Dumas and said, "Because, no matter who did it... this problem has already been formed in my heart."