In the conference room at 10 Downing Street, an emergency cabinet meeting is being held.

The gentlemen gathered at the conference table in a row, each alone is enough to shock the whole of Britain, and a visit to any continental European country can be extremely courteous.

However, these big names, who usually only appear in the newspapers, are silent at the conference table.

Each of them had a thick stack of papers in their hands, and the thickest stack was in front of the Duke of Wellington.

The Duke of Wellington threw the materials in his hand onto the table, rubbed his sore eyes, and spoke.

"You've all heard about what happened in France, so I won't go into too much detail here. I only want to know what they are trying to do, and whether this revolution in France poses an uncertain risk to us, given the information we have so far. Of course, I also had to know what Austria and Russia were about the revolution. ”

As he said this, Wellington suddenly turned his head to look at the middle-aged gentleman in a black tweed coat who sat to Sir Peel's left.

Wellington said, "George, has the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received any new information?" ”

George Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen, the Foreign Secretary, smiled bitterly when he was named.

"Prime Minister, I have already forwarded all the information obtained by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to you. The pace of the French Revolution was too rapid.

On 25 July, Charles X issued a royal decree banning publications, restricting freedom of the press, dissolving the newly elected parliament, and reducing the size of the elections.

As a result, in the afternoon of the same day, the major French newspapers began to publish protest letters and incite the revolution.

Skirmishes began in Paris on the 26th, and on the 27th, a massive riot involving thousands of workers and police clashed.

At dawn on the 28th, thousands of barricades were erected, workers, students, and merchants all took to the streets to join the riots, and before the evening the Hôtel de Ville fell.

At that time, some moderates also tried to negotiate a solution with Charles X, but Charles X and Prime Minister Polignac refused to negotiate.

As soon as the news came out, the whole of Paris fell on the 29th.

What we can say for sure is that Charles X is still alive for the time being, but we can't be sure if the new government will kill him.

Now no one knows where France will go next, and perhaps even the French themselves can't figure it out, let alone us outsiders, so I suggest that we continue to watch for a while and wait for the latest news. ”

The Duke of Wellington frowned and asked, "It's only been a few days to get like this, what the hell is going on?" Is there a revolutionary party in the French army? ”

Viscount Henry Harding, Minister of War, said: "According to the information I have learned, the reason why the French Revolution is progressing so rapidly this time is mainly because when Charles X issued the imperial decree, he intended to quickly cut through the chaos and force the imperial decree, so all the preparations were done very secretly.

The results also verified this, and his secrecy work was indeed in place.

Therefore, when the royal decree was suddenly issued, not only the French people were surprised and angry, but even the French army and police were caught off guard, and they were not prepared for the riots.

And most importantly, the main force of the French army is still in Algeria, and they just completed the conquest of that area last month, so they cannot be transferred back to the country to quell the rebellion anytime soon.

The rapid fall of Paris should therefore be understandable from a military point of view. ”

The Duke of Wellington held his forehead and said, "This Charles X really has a problem with his brain!" Does he still think he's popular?

Look at the prime minister he appointed! How the hell did he come up with the idea of lifting Polignac to that position?

Didn't he know that there had been rumors that Polygnac was having an affair with Marie Antoinette, Queen of Louis XVI?

This approach is simply a provocation to the opposition in front of the country. In the last hundred years, how is it that France has always produced such a king with mediocre ability but extraordinary self-confidence?

Is it because France has a Napoleon, so God feels unfair to other countries and simply balances them? ”

Sir Peel, Secretary of State for the Home Affairs, said: "In any case, a revolution in France is not a good thing for Britain. At that time, the French Revolution caused turmoil in our country, and madmen who wanted to emulate Robespierre appeared in the country one after another.

And now that the antagonism in the country is already very high because of the Catholic Liberation Act and the problem of corrupt constituencies, we must try to temper this over-agitation and handle the foreign affairs involving France with caution. ”

"Alas......"

The Duke of Wellington sighed, "Robert, this is what I'm worried about. Originally, with the death of His Majesty the King, we could say that public opinion was temporarily suppressed, and as a result, a revolution broke out in France.

Didn't His Majesty the King die in vain? He has finally done a good thing in his life, and we can't let his efforts go to waste. ”

After that, he commanded the Earl of Aberdeen, the Foreign Secretary: "George, in a moment you will send someone to the City of London to find Nathan, and tell him to come to Downing Street to meet me at once."

Their postal service is one of the best in all of Europe, and no one is better informed than they are.

If I'm not mistaken, the information from Paris to London only took three days to reach him. At times like these, we need their messenger help. ”

"Yes, Your Excellency."

Speaking of this, the Duke of Wellington turned his gaze to Sir Peel again: "Robert, how are you getting in touch with Huskison?" We need his support now, too, very much. ”

Sir Peel laughed: "William said he would like to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Manchester to Liverpool railway, but he has not yet made up his mind whether to support you.

However, he candidly admits that he was shocked by your efforts to promote the Catholic Liberation Act, which has made some difference in his conservative image of you, and he is more than willing to discuss other reforms with you.

If you can agree with him, he wouldn't mind leading the thirty-odd Huskison legislators back to the Tories. ”

The Duke of Wellington nodded slightly: "I believe that he and I will have a good start." ”

"That's right." Sir Peel added: "I have also arranged for the security work on the day of the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The security of the site is led by Inspector Hastings of Scotland Yard, so you should have no objections, right? ”

"Of course not, that's a great lad, and it's no problem to hand it over to him."

The Duke of Wellington pondered for a moment, then suddenly spoke.

"By the way, the murder and corpse sale case has been done so well, and it is time to honor the salary increase promised to Scotland Yard last time. After all, these are sensitive times, and it's time to give some comfort to us respectable police officers.

Their job is not easy, and I've heard that there have been more than a dozen large speeches every day in London lately, and the police are running around, monitoring and maintaining order in the venue. If you don't give them a raise, it's really a bit too much. ”

Sir Peel smiled and said, "Since you have mentioned this on your own initiative, I would also like to report to you on a new development in policing. You should be aware that the public in Great Britain has always had a very deep prejudice against the newly formed Scotland Yard because of the notorious reputation of the French police.

This kind of prejudice and confrontation psychology was particularly intense in the speech venue. In recent days, I have received several reports of police officers being beaten near the venue.

Therefore, in order to cope with the increasingly chaotic situation, I intend to temporarily authorize a part of the police to carry out plainclothes duty when necessary. In this way, not only can the personal safety of the police officers on duty be guaranteed, but also the necessary information can be collected for us, what do you think of this decision? ”

When Wellington heard this, his eyes lit up.

"Robert, you mean, undercover?"

(End of chapter)