With a trembling de Rochefort, Wickham and Colonel Brandon snuck out of an estate on the outskirts of Calcutta, which according to De Rochefort was the hiding place of the gold of the French Bourbon Restoration.

Wickham pulled out a silk monocular from his coat pocket and looked at this large Indian manor house built on the river.

The manor's security looks lax, as there is only an old gray-haired Indian man serving as a gatekeeper at the manor's door. But Wickham saw through his telescope that the interior of the estate was filled with a large number of sturdy men, some white from Europe, and some dark-skinned Indians, all of whom were armed with swords and muskets. The closer to the main house, the more security personnel patrolling, obviously loose on the outside and tight on the inside, it seems that the person in charge here still has two brushes.

Colonel Brandon glanced at the silk-wrapped monocular in Wickham's hand, and said in a low voice: "Captain Wickham, if you have something on your lens, you are not afraid that you will not be able to see the target clearly?" ”

Wickham took a stick of grass in his mouth and explained to the bewildered Colonel Brandon: "Mr. Colonel, I don't know that sunlight on the glass lenses causes light to bounce off and thus expose our position. When I put a layer of silk on the lenses, the sunlight is not reflected off by the glass mirrors, and our position is not easily exposed. ”

In his previous life, Wickham preferred to hang out on military forums, and some posts mentioned that American snipers often wrapped a layer of transparent stockings around their scopes to prevent the reflection of sunlight from revealing their position.

Originally, Wickham also wanted to paint a gourd, but when he saw the eighteenth-century women's stockings, which were as thick as cotton, he abandoned the idea and replaced them with relatively transparent silk. Although there is still a gap between the transparency of silk and the transparent stockings of later generations, it can still survive without affecting the observer's vision.

After listening to Wickham's explanation, Colonel Brandon paid attention to the young Marine officer next to him. Originally, he thought that his companion was a rookie with little combat experience, but he didn't expect that the other party had some dry goods in his stomach. After changing his previous opinion, Colonel Brandon took the initiative to ask Wickham: "What is the situation on the manor?" ”

Wickham didn't speak, and handed the monocular in his hand to Colonel Brandon.

After a while, Colonel Brandon's face was very stiff, and he hesitantly put down the binoculars, and said, "The situation is not optimistic, there are too many guards in the manor, and the original plan is a little unworkable. ”

In fact, de Rochefort did not know where the person in charge of the place hid the gold, so Wickham and Colonel Brandon wanted to sneak into the manor first, find out where the gold was hidden, and then notify the troops waiting outside to rush in and cut it off. But according to this situation, if the two of them still lurk in the manor according to the original plan, the safety of the two of them is really not guaranteed.

Wickham didn't want to take that risk, because even if he found out that the gold belonged to the British government, and had nothing to do with his own dime. This kind of unprofitable thing can't be committed to risking your own life.

After making up his mind, Wickham said, "Mr. Colonel, why don't we have Major Henry bring people over and storm this manor?" "In front of a well-equipped and well-trained regular army, all the bodyguards and thugs are scum with a combat strength of only five. According to Wickham's idea, as long as the troops outside rush directly in, it is simple and safe.

Colonel Brandon shook his head and retorted: "The Frenchman in charge of this estate, Magnon, is a die-hard loyalist of the Bourbon royal family, even if we catch him, what can we do?" I believe that such a dead man will not tell us where the gold is stored. But we can get de Rochefort to pretend that something went wrong with the shipment and ask to see it, so we can know where the gold is hidden. When the time comes, we'll just send another signal to Major Henry. ”

This Major Henry is Miss Cornwallis's annoying cousin, and now he is also serving in the Indian colonial army, and this operation Marquis Cornwallis appointed Major Henry to lead a company of troops to participate, presumably to get some military merit for his relatives.

The first level of the official is crushed, and Wickham's rank is a full three levels worse than Colonel Brandon, and Colonel Brandon is the person in charge of this operation, so Wickham will not say anything anymore, anyway, when the time comes, when the limelight is not right, he will run away first.

Colonel Brandon pulled up de Rochefort, who was lying on the ground and pretended to be dead, and said gloomily: "Monsieur de Rochefort, you had better not be careful, or I will be the first to draw my gun and kill you!" ”

De Rochefort shuddered, and said with a bitter face, "Don't worry, Mr. Colonel. ”

When the three of them came to the gate of the manor, the old man who guarded the door greeted him and said with a wary look: "Three gentlemen, this is a private territory, no outsiders are allowed to enter, and the three gentlemen are asked to leave as soon as possible." ”

De Rochefort calmed his flustered mood for a moment before he spoke: "Tell Monsieur Magnon that a friend who likes to hunt in the flower fields of Provence has come to see him from France." The words that came out of de Rochefort's mouth were exactly the joint code that they had agreed upon in their sights.

The old man's eyes flashed, and then he bowed to de Rochefort and said respectfully, "It turns out that they are friends of Monsieur de Magnon, and the three gentlemen please come with me." After saying that, the old man who guarded the door took the lead in leading the way.

Wickham and Colonel Brandon were sandwiched between De Rochefort on the left and right, and those who did not know thought that the two retinues were loyal to the Lord, but in fact this was so that they could control each other as quickly as possible when De Rochefort made any changes.

After a while, the three of them came to the living room of the main house, and along the way Wickham tried to memorize the layout of the house so that the rest of the run would be smoother.

"Lord Magnon, an old friend from Provence has come to visit you." The old man respectfully saluted the middle-aged man who was sitting upright, and the middle-aged man's upright sitting posture and meticulous demeanor inadvertently revealed a trace of the killing atmosphere of the battlefield. Wickham was secretly frightened, he knew that the Mr. Magnon in front of him was a middle-aged soldier who had been on the battlefield for a long time. Only veterans who have been on the battlefield will have this kind of murderous atmosphere.

Magnon glanced at de Rochefort and said with some displeasure: "Baron de Rochefort, didn't you go back to France, why did you come back to Calcutta again?" "According to the original agreement, de Rochefort was to command the warship directly to Haiti.

De Rochefort shuddered unconsciously, and it was evident that he was both respectful and fearful of the Monsieur de Magnon. After calming down a bit, de Rochefort said: "Viscount Magnon, I have come back with something important to report, about that shipment ......"

Before de Rochefort could finish his sentence, he was forcibly interrupted by Magnon: "All right, go to my study and talk!" It was clear that Magnon didn't want to talk too much about it.

Manion got up and walked towards the stairs. Wickham and Colonel Brandon also got up and followed de Rochefort over. Magnon turned his head, a flash of sharpness in his eyes, and said in a warning tone: "It would be good for the two gentlemen to wait in the drawing-room, I have some personal matters to discuss carefully with Baron de Rochefort." ”

Wickham paused for a moment, not knowing what to do next, but fortunately, the unfortunate French captain was more clever, and explained to them: "Viscount Magnon, these two are people sent by the royal family, and they also know about the shipment." ”

"Oh?" Manion, though still confused, motioned for Wickham and Colonel Brandon to follow. For such a major matter, it is reasonable for the royal family to send someone to supervise it.

Wickham deliberately said to Magnon in French with a Versailles accent: "If there is any offense, please forgive the Viscount of Magnon." ”

As soon as Magnon heard Wickham's authentic Versailles court French, he let go of the doubts in his heart. Wickham was quite proud of this, Wickham's predecessor received an elite education in Cambridge, court French, Latin and German did not pull anything, and Wickham, who inherited the memory of the former master, naturally became a "cattle man" who knew three foreign languages. In his previous life, Wickham would have been qualified to be a simultaneous interpreter in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

When the three of them arrived at the study on the second floor, de Rochefort eagerly explained to Magnon: "Viscount de Margnon, this is the thing. One or two of the gold bricks that were shipped over last time were dropped! Those two fakes were both worthless heavy metal osmium. Luckily, the daring guy was found by Mr. Maggie, so he didn't do any damage, and now we're back to return the two gold bricks that had been dropped. ”

With that, de Rochefort took out two gold bricks from his pockets with the coat of arms of the Bourbon royal family. For this operation, Colonel Brandon made a bloody investment. He smelted some of the stolen Indian gold jewellery into gold bricks bearing the coat of arms of the Bourbon royal family, according to de Rochefort's description.

Wickham, who was watching from the sidelines at the time, was squeezed by the wealth of Colonel Brandon, and two large boxes full of gold, silver and jewels were stolen from the princely states of India. Sure enough, it was robbery that was the fastest way to get money.

When Manion heard this, he frowned and said, "There is such a bold man!" I have heard of the heavy metal osmium, and like the density of gold, it is impossible for ordinary people to distinguish whether the gold bricks wrapped in this metal are fakes or not. ”

Then Magnon said to Wickham: "Thank you very much, Mr. Maggie, for keeping the royal property safe. Wickham hurriedly withdrew his gaze from the gold brick and said perfunctorily: "All for the great Kingdom of France, Your Excellency the Viscount." Wickham suddenly found that it was a pity that his acting skills did not win the Golden Horse Award.

After examining the two gold bricks again, and seeing that there was nothing wrong, Manion said to de Rochefort: "Since the real gold bricks have been delivered, you should leave Calcutta as soon as possible." Remember, this matter needs to be kept strictly confidential. ”

Colonel Brandon was a little anxious at Manion's words, but he could not speak French with a Versailles accent, so he had to look at Wickham desperately.

Wickham's brain was racing at high speed, and in a moment a brilliant reason was formed: "Viscount Magnon, that damned thief has been hanged by us on the mast of the ship, but we need to take those two fake gold bricks back and present them as evidence to the members of the royal family." ”

With this reason, they were able to justify the location of the gold. Magnon nodded and said, "Well, since you insist." ”

The trio followed Manion and soon came to the storeroom on the first floor of the mansion, which was a warehouse dedicated to Indian and Chinese art, and Wickham even found a Chinese-style bronze incense burner on the display shelf, presumably an antique from the Tang Dynasty.

After carefully closing the door to the closet, Magnon walked over to a beautifully crafted closet and gently pulled the clasp at the top of the closet.

To Wickham's surprise, the closet was moving slowly! In a few moments, a two-person wide entrance was revealed behind the closet, which was a secret secret room!

When Wickham was young, he watched a lot of costume kung fu movies, and some of the big families in them hid some valuable things in such a secret warehouse in order to avoid trouble, but I didn't expect that the things in the TV series really appeared in reality!

Looking at the shocked appearance of the three of them, Manion said proudly: "This mechanism was designed by a craftsman from China, who would have thought that there would be a secret hidden behind a closet?" ”

De Rochefort muttered, "It is indeed very delicate, China is such a mysterious place." Contrary to the later European contempt for China, Europeans at this time were extremely superstitious about China, believing that everything that came from China was good. After the Opium War, the veil of mystery was brutally ripped off by the British, revealing the unbearable and rotten inside.

Magnon walked into the secret room with an oil lamp, lit all the lamps on the wall with a fire fold, and then Wickham and the others hurriedly followed. Wickham entered the secret room, looked closely, and found a pile of things on the stone table on the floor of the secret room, but covered it with a black cloth, so that it was impossible to see what was inside.

But Wickham vaguely guessed that there should be that ton of gold underneath the black cloth. Sure enough, Manion lifted off the cover, and the neatly stacked gold bricks suddenly glowed with dazzling golden light under the light of the wall lamp, illuminating the secret room.

ps: Wickham said: "If you don't give the monthly pass and collection, I'm going to get shot and die in Raiders of the Lost Ark II......."