On the barge of the Thames, Arthur leaned against the edge of the railing and smoked a cigarette, looking up at the two banks, only to see cement sewage pipes relentlessly discharging tons of domestic sewage into the river.

The dark water is like a pool of ink, and layers of viscous tar float on the surface of the river, almost all of which come from Westminster-based London Gas Lighting & Coke Company.

Of course, in addition to tar, there are often novelties on the surface of the river.

It was like rags that were so dirty that they were barely recognizable, rusty knives of suspicious origin, or empty bottles of cosmetics and liquor that were mostly used.

Or, if you're unlucky, you might come across a corpse so decomposed that it's almost unrecognizable.

All sorts of corrupt bacteria breed here, and no one in their right mind would like to spend a little more here.

But the River Thames continues to flow every day, and in addition to the sailors who have to pass through it to unload their cargo at the docks around London, the filthy Thames also supports many 'river scavengers' who make a living from scrap.

Even though the Thames is filthy and rancid, these poor people can't live without it.

Their day's livelihood is all about finding a little bit of possessions from a corpse or picking up scrap that can be resold and recycled.

On the other side of the river, Arthur could see through the foggy weather the shadow of the Tower of London in the distance.

Built as a defensive fortress built under William I, the Tower of London has been used many times throughout its long history, including castles, royal palaces, treasury vaults, powder magazines, mints and, of course, its most famous function as a prison.

The most famous criminal who was imprisoned in the Tower of London was none other than the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I, who never married.

She was convicted of treason because she was suspicious of her sister Mary I.

But fortunately, since Mary I had no heirs, Elizabeth was eventually appointed as her heir.

Elizabeth I thus became the only treason prisoner to emerge alive from the Tower of London.

And the others who are imprisoned here are not as lucky as her.

Among the big names who died here were at least 9 princes, queens, archbishops, at least 33 dukes, marquises, and counts, in addition to dozens of low-ranking nobles such as barons and knights.

The Tower of London was not always aimed at the nobles, and when it came to executions, it treated nobles and commoners equally.

It's just that civilians die in a more common way, and they usually have to go to the gallows.

In order to highlight the difference of the aristocracy, when the nobles were executed, the male nobles had to use a long axe to behead them, and the female nobles had to be burned at the stake.

But the aristocracy was clearly not very fond of this special treatment.

Because in the course of execution, there have been more than one occasion because the executioner's axe was so blunt that there was no death with a single blow.

In order to cooperate with the executioner's decapitation, sometimes the nobles would even think about what position to use the night before the execution.

When it came to how to kill people, the English aristocracy rarely envied its neighboring France, which was separated by a strait.

Compared to being hacked to death with an axe, the semi-mechanized guillotine is indeed a great invention.

The improved guillotine, designed and personally accepted by King Louis XVI of France, is a stable and reliable genius idea.

This kind of thing, in the eyes of any English nobleman, must shout - Brilliant!

Jokes aside, but the Taur Hamlets region, where the Tower of London is located, has a reputation that is as bad as the Tower of London.

Even in the chaotic East End of London, Taur Hamletz can be called a heavyweight.

Just look at the area under its jurisdiction to see what it is, Whitechapel, Ratcliffe, Hackney, Bethnar Greene, and the West Indian docks, which are packed with grumpy sailors from all over the world.

Male workers are concentrated in shipyards, ship repair yards, foundries, coopers, canvas factories, rope makers and pulley factories, while female and child labourers are employed in the silk weaving industry such as garments, lace and shoemaking.

But no matter how you divide the types, these industries cannot escape a summary - they are all labor-intensive.

These factories, combined with the busy wharves of the four seasons, naturally gave rise to a large number of cheap taverns and a thriving prostitution industry.

In the daily reports of Scotland Yard, these industries represent high population mobility and the resulting high crime rate.

Although Arthur often worries about the crime in Greenwich, he swallows this complaint every time he looks up at the district of Taol Hamletz, which is just a river away.

The law and order situation here is so bad that Scotland Yard has to warn visiting journalists.

Journalists who want to visit a chaotic parish such as Whitechapel must apply to Scotland Yard in advance and must be accompanied by at least two police officers to enter the area.

East of the Tower of London, an area where pirates and sea wanderers were hanged, is now home to more than 300,000 poor Londoners and is still siphoneing off Britain's poor areas at a rate of more than 10 per cent a year.

And Arthur's destination today is also a region under the jurisdiction of Taur Hamletz - Cambrighis.

As soon as they stepped off the barge, they could feel the hot smell on the pier.

It was June, the season when South African and South American wool arrived in London, and the docks were filled with sweaty waffles and hordes of sailors shouting to go ashore for fun.

According to the information provided by the counterfeiter Judd Martin, the criminal organization they were looking for on their trip was mixed with the vast sea of people.

And it's actually easy to find these people.

Arthur glanced at Tom and the others, and the plainclothes policemen in Greenwich who came with him immediately understood and scattered into the bustling crowd.

Arthur saw that everyone was already hidden, and then unhurriedly opened his coat, revealing the blue and white sailor's uniform covered under the clothes, and checked the short knives and flintlock pistols and other weapons hidden in the coat.

It wasn't until he was sure everything was in order that Arthur pulled a wide-brimmed sailor's hat from his pocket and fastened it above his head.

He found a crowded intersection, leaned against the red brick wall, pulled out the gin flask from his pocket and poured two sips.

After two sips of wine, Arthur was slightly drunk, and his cheeks were covered with a layer of redness.

During the factory's lunch break, many female workers from nearby textile factories hurried to the mobile stalls on both sides of the road to buy freshly baked lunches.

It's lunch, but it's actually some fast food, and fish and chips are the best-selling items.

One is because the price is cheap, and the other is because it is simple and efficient to make.

After all, women workers usually only have a 15 to 20 minute break, and they have to settle their lunch problems as soon as possible.

Otherwise, if you don't get back to work in time, you probably won't be paid for the day.

In response to that sentence, if you don't do it, some people will do it, and the East End of London lacks everything, that is, there is no shortage of labor.

The arrival of the women instantly sent the sailors who had not seen a woman in months into a frenzy, whistling flirtatiously at the ladies, interspersed with a few lewd words.

Experienced sailors have already begun to find pleasing girls and start talking about business.

The female workers have long been familiar with such scenes, after all, such situations are staged on the docks almost every day, and it is impossible to avoid them.

Arthur also wanted to learn how to whistle in the same way as sailors, but his skills were too rough to not only fail to arouse the interest of the ladies, but instead attracted the ridicule of the sailors on the sidelines.

With Arthur's shallow understanding of linguistics, the sailors' ridicule included at least Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and authentic American village English.

This is enough to illustrate the diversity of British sailors' culture, and in the face of the ridicule of sailors, Arthur also fought back mercilessly.

He pointed out a middle finger at the sailors, and read in a rounded voice: "Laugh at your mother?" Stupid! ”

Agareth, who had been guarding in front of the fish stall to sneak in and get something, couldn't help but turn his head to look at Arthur when he heard this.

The Red Devil exclaimed, "Fuck! Arthur, do you know Chinese? ”

(End of chapter)