In the café opposite the Greenwich Police Station, Arthur is enjoying a rare peace and quiet.

At the next table, Tony and Tom were seriously learning the basics of naturalism and medicine with Darwin.

Robin's case was a great stimulus for both of them, and for the first time in their lives, the two officers felt that learning was so important, not just for the sake of Arthur's three-shilling allowance, but also to protect the lives of Londoners.

Sitting across from Arthur was Elder with a death-threatening face.

Although today's lunch was Arthur's treat, Young Master Elder rarely had no appetite.

Arthur glanced at his half-dead expression and asked, "What's wrong with you?" Didn't you say that Sir Isaac Newton was the only sun in your heart? Now that you have time, why not go to Grey Sam College for a science lecture? ”

"Listening to a science lecture? Where do I feel this way now? ”

Elder held his head and said bitterly: "Arthur, you don't know, the modification of the Beagle is almost complete. If we continue at this pace, it will be a while before Charles and I will be on board for sea training. ”

Arthur raised his eyebrows and said, "You are a cartographer of the Royal Navy, isn't it normal to go to sea training?" This prepares you for future voyages around the world, and when you're at sea, you can get double your pay on land? ”

"Arthur!" Elder sighed, "If I had a choice, I wouldn't want that money." At sea, there is no place to spend any money, and besides, the Admiralty does not actually give a few more money. I'm not a captain or a navigator, and I don't have that much salary. ”

Arthur flipped to the next page of the newspaper and said, "Elde, think about the better places. Didn't your uncle also float on the sea for more than 20 years, and only then did he save more than 100,000 yuan in family assets? If you work hard, you might be able to do the same as him. ”

Elder covered his face and lamented: "He just caught the last train of the Napoleonic Wars." Otherwise, where else would you let him get so much money?

In order to counter Napoleon and his allies, shipyards across the country were building warships at full capacity, and the Royal Navy was capturing warships. So as soon as my uncle was promoted to colonel, he was immediately assigned to a ship as a captain.

But what about now? The Royal Navy had more than a thousand ships, and the captains were almost two thousand, and the young ones had to wait on the shore to line up to get on board.

Some people may not be able to become captains for the rest of their lives, and there are not a few people who get retired all the way with the land allowance of the Admiralty.

If it weren't for the fact that there were too many people and few ships, why do you think the Admiralty was so comfortable with having young captains serve as captains, responsible for writing logbooks and supervising the captains?

Because for the captains, killing one captain is equivalent to the pit of one more ship, as long as they grab the captain's pigtails, they never show mercy to their old superiors in military courts. ”

Arthur was stunned for a long time when he heard this: "The Admiralty is doing this, isn't it afraid that the captains will falsely accuse the captain?" ”

"False accusations? Unless the captain is in his bad mind, this is rarely the case. ”

Elder rested one leg on the table, his head leaning back in the chair: "Because the captain's promotion requires a letter of recommendation from the captain, if he dares to give perjury and fails to kill the captain in the end, then he will suffer in the future."

Besides, there was more than one captain on the ship, and unless they colluded together, it would be so easy to make false accusations.

In the end, even if they colluded, there would still be a sergeant major on board.

The sergeant major is all served by some skilled veteran sailors, because the sergeant major has no hope of promotion, and his appointment and dismissal are not controlled by the captain, but directly decided by the Admiralty, so the sergeant major is generally too lazy to tell lies.

If a captain can offend several captains and sergeant majors on the ship at the same time, then sending him out to fight is probably not winning, and he deserves to be laid off. ”

When Arthur heard this, he touched his chin and said, "Doesn't that sound good?" So why are you so reluctant to do sea training? I just saw how you looked like you were going to die, and I thought you were going to be tied to the ramming horn by Colonel Fitzroy as soon as you went out to sea. ”

"He dares!" Elder glared and said: "Originally, Haixun's suggestion was made by him, and the big guys were reluctant, if he tied me to the ramming horn again, I promised that as soon as the Beagle returned, he would have to be laid off."

Who knows what is wrong with his brain, he did six sea training in three months, each lasting more than a week, and my uncle's Mediterranean fleet training was not as diligent as his! ”

"How do you practice the Mediterranean Fleet?"

When Elder heard this, he looked around mysteriously, then put his hand to his mouth and whispered.

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

Moreover, this phenomenon is very common in all fleets stationed abroad, and the more pleasant the climate and the better the living conditions in the place where they are stationed, the longer the fleet will stay in bed.

The Mediterranean Fleet spent the longest time in the Mediterranean Fleet, and in severe cases, it spent 60 percent of its time in port each year. The Baltic Fleet is much more industrious, and they spend only about 30 or 40 percent of their time recuperating on shore.

After all, it's not a time of war, so why is the training so strict? The Brethren of the Royal Navy were paid more part-time jobs on land than they were paid to stay on a ship. ”

"Not a time of war?" Arthur said this, and with a smile, he pushed the newspaper on the table in front of Held: "Look at what this is?" If you can't get it right, we'll really have to fight in a while. ”

Elder waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Isn't it just that the king is dead?" What's the big deal? It's not that I don't know. The newspapers were full of news scolding him, and even the kind of tabloids I read devoted two pages to spraying him.

I remember that the tabloid newspaper quoted the Times as saying that there had never been a king like this who died without the pity of even one of the people. Who wept for him? What heart throbs for him and evokes sincere sorrow?

From the nobles to the clergy to the common townspeople, there was no one who did not scold him. And he died himself, and he delayed me reading tabloid stories, he really deserved to be scolded! ”

"Really?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows and said, "You may not know, but I heard from a journalist friend who was a parliamentary reporter, Charles Dickens, that the Duke of Wellington, in his eulogy read out in the House of Lords, praised the late king as 'the most cultured gentleman of our time'. ”

Elder was stunned when he heard this: "Can the Duke of Wellington say this?" I remember when the King obstructed the Catholic Emancipation Act, didn't he privately accuse the King of being the worst, the most selfish, the most unfaithful, the most ill-hearted person he had ever met in his life, and more seriously, the King had no merit at all to compensate for his shortcomings? ”

Arthur pursed his lips and smiled: "Elder, you don't understand, being the prime minister has to be like this, two faces." Do you know how the Duke of Wellington reacted when he heard that the King had died?

He exclaimed: 'I used to swear with His Majesty that he might not be able to do even a good thing in his life, and now it seems that I was wrong.' ”

Elder laughed, "No wonder he called His Majesty 'the most cultured gentleman of our time.'" But what does this have to do with the possibility of war? ”

Arthur pointed to today's headline and said, "Because what I'm talking about isn't about Great Britain at all, what are today's headlines?" ”

Elder flipped the paper over and moved it to his face.

The headline of the news is simple, but the meaning is profound - "Revolution breaks out in France, the National Guard occupies Paris"

(End of chapter)