One London, Wellington Private House, Apsley House.

The Duke of Wellington leaned back in the bright red velvet armchair and looked at Arthur, who was dressed in a neat police officer's tuxedo, a black top hat, spotless white gloves, and an officer's knife at his waist.

The gray-haired Duke of Wellington tapped his fingertips on the table and said, "You seem to be in good spirits, young man." ”

Arthur just smiled, "If you had called me over a few days ago, I wouldn't have this expression. ”

Wellington took a sip of tea: "Really? But yes, you've been too close to me and Peel. When the Whigs come up, those who don't feel well with you will inevitably have to clean up. But looking at you like this, is this a smooth passage through the crisis? ”

"Sort of."

Arthur didn't want to hide his relationship with the Whigs, after all, for someone like the Duke of Wellington, it was completely impossible to target a small shrimp like him.

According to Arthur's understanding of the world, beggars and millionaires are rarely jealous of each other, and beggars are only jealous of beggars with higher incomes, and the same is true for millionaires.

Everyone likes to play with opponents of the same level, and if you skip the level to fight monsters, it is either a desperate person who has no choice, or a neurotic who is not able to do anything.

Arthur said, "This time the Whigs came up, and I was about to finish." But you should know that I graduated from the University of London. The new Lord Justice, Lord Breham, who happens to be the chairman of the Council of the University of London, has attended his lectures a few times before, and he has a good impression of me, so he saved me this time. ”

"Broughham?"

As soon as Wellington heard this name, he suddenly said: "I almost forgot about him, that strange lawyer, his stinky temper You can actually have a good relationship with him, it's not easy." But your luck is that the Whigs came to power just after the death of King George IV, and if King George IV had not died, Broughham would not have been able to get the position of Lord Chancellor. You know, the former king has always been worried about Broughham helping Queen Caroline win the divorce lawsuit. ”

Speaking of this, Wellington changed his words: "However, you are the one who came to see me today." Is Scotland Yard going to hand over to you all the security of my London conference? ”

When Arthur heard this, he quipped: "I hope you don't get angry about it, the other British representative of the London Conference, the Foreign Secretary, Viscount Palmerston, is personally responsible for the protection of the Minister Rowan. I'll be in charge of you, and the level may be a little lower. ”

When the Red Devil on the side heard this, he couldn't help but snicker: "Oh! Arthur, you little bastard. You're planning to put Rowan to death, the Whigs didn't count the mines they planted on him, and they turned around and stumbled on the Tory side. ”

Sure enough, when Wellington heard this, he raised his eyebrows and said, "Heh! Luo Wan's ability to steer the rudder when he sees the wind is strong enough. But it's up to him, anyway, I'm just attending the meeting as an advisor this time, and according to legal procedures, Palmerston's security level should be a little higher than mine. ”

Arthur smiled and leaned over, "With your big mind, you really don't care about these details, but although you don't care, as the person in charge of security, it is still necessary for me to conduct a detailed investigation of the terrain inside and outside the Apsley Mansion to ensure that there will be no problems during the meeting." ”

When Wellington heard this, he stood up and tapped his fingers on the iron window of his house, and joked to himself: "Actually, there is nothing to investigate, you look at this window, it can't be more sturdy." Didn't the Times say that my whole body was made of iron? If you want to assassinate me, the Iron Duke, I'm afraid a few random bullets won't work.

But if you want to investigate the intelligence, you can investigate, I can understand your feelings, before the war, you don't know anything about the terrain, troops, deployment, and weather, it will always make people feel bottomless. By the way, this London meeting, you can go and have a good chat with Mr. François Vidocq, who is in charge of the security of the French ambassador Talleyrand.

But as far as police intelligence is concerned, the French 'security brigade' under his command can be called the best in Europe at present. If you can learn a trick and a half from him, I believe it will help you improve your work ability. ”

Security Brigade?

As soon as Arthur heard the name of this organization, he immediately understood what the Duke of Wellington meant.

In fact, when it comes to the establishment of the police organization, France is far ahead of the United Kingdom.

As early as 1667, King Louis XIV of France ordered the establishment of the Paris Police Department, but because the law enforcement style of the Paris police was too violent, it was almost difficult to distinguish the French police from the army in the early days, and even the highest commander of the Paris police at that time was also a police lieutenant general.

During the French Revolution, the Paris Police Department was reorganized into the Paris Police Department, and after Napoleon became emperor, it was reorganized into the Grand Paris Police Department, and their law enforcement style and scope of responsibilities gradually moved closer to the modern municipal police.

But although the Paris police are gradually becoming civilized, their historical traditions are there, and even if they become civilized, they are only relative, and in most cases, the Paris police still adhere to the hard truth that guns are better than mouths.

It is precisely because of their notoriety that even Arthur, the British counterpart of the Paris police, has been affected.

In the early days of Scotland Yard's existence, the citizens of London almost equated them with terms such as repression, violence, and bloodshed, which is one of the important reasons why Scotland Yard's front-line patrols are often attacked on their daily patrols.

In any case, in today's world, countries like Britain and France, which claim to be world role models, want to use as little violence as possible and do their best to heal domestic conflicts, because no one wants to stage a revolution on their own turf.

In order to make itself look at least civilized on the surface, the Paris Police Department has come up with all kinds of crooked ideas.

More than a decade before Arthur proposed the establishment of the LPS to Sir Peel, the French, who were quite creative in this area, had already pioneered the practice of domestic security intelligence work.

The Duke of Wellington mentioned François Vidocq is the founder and head of the intelligence department of the Grand Paris Police Department, and this veteran agent with outstanding work ability and outstanding achievements for the Grand Paris Police Department has a rather proud resume.

Mr. Vidocq was 14 years old when he was killed in a sword duel and had to flee home. After the makeover, he came to Paris alone, but he fell in love with a French actress, but this sister-brother relationship did not end well, and Mr. Vidocq's money was spent.

It was at this time that the French Revolution broke out, so Monsieur Vidocque took advantage of the situation to infiltrate the army, and at first he did well, showing great valor in the first half of the battle.

Soon, however, his showy and disobedient personality gets him into serious trouble, and he proposes a duel to an officer who opposes him at every turn, but is refused.

Unconvinced, Vidocq drew his sword and attacked, and in the 1v15 battle, he successfully killed two officers, and after being subdued, he was happy to be hanged.

Before the execution, Mr. Vidocq, who has always been bold, of course, will not sit still, he gave full play to his high force, led the majority of prisoners to escape from prison, and fled all the way back to his hometown.

His unlucky father was also shocked when he learned about his son's experience over the years, and he could only pat his son on the shoulder and tell him earnestly: "You like this, sooner or later you will die on the streets." Let's get married quickly, so let's leave a seed for our Lao Wei family first. ”

Vidocq also honestly followed his father's advice and found a girl from his hometown to marry.

Fortunately, within a few months of Vidocq's marriage, his daughter-in-law gave birth to a big fat boy.

But Vidocq held the child, but wondered how he felt that something was wrong.

No, aren't they all pregnant for ten months? Why did my son give birth in six months? Could it be that he is talented?

Unable to figure it out, Vidocq eventually left his hometown town on a rainy night and re-headed for Paris, where he was imprisoned again for a fight shortly after.

After many prison trips, he finally became enlightened in prison, and he learned the high-end craft of issuing forgery from an old French pickpocket, and was imprisoned repeatedly.

The Grand Paris Police Agency, which couldn't stand him, ended up putting him in a naval prison, but they apparently underestimated Vidocq's abilities, and it didn't take long for Vidocq to bribe a set of naval uniforms from the guards and escape from prison with a swagger.

And when he was caught again, the Grand Paris Police Office also raised his danger rating to the highest, so this time, he was sent to the Toulon prison, the most heavily guarded and well-managed prison in France.

But Vidocq, with the motto that 'as long as the mind does not slip, there are always more solutions than difficulties', and he escaped from Toulon prison again.

He and the Grand Paris Police Department have been fighting all the way for ten years with 'you out of 3, I out of 4, you out of 5 and I out of 6', with these experiences, Vidocq's fame in France has become more and more famous, and many friends in the French underworld regard Vidocq as an idol.

And at a banquet in the Paris underworld to celebrate Mr. Vidocq's Nth successful escape from prison, Vidocq just sneered, took out a document from his jacket pocket and slapped it on the table: "Yes, I'm a policeman." ”

Soon after, the Grand Paris Police Office publicly announced that the Honorable Mr. Eugene François Vidocq had given up his post as the chief executive of the police intelligence department of the Grand Paris Police Agency, responsible for the newly established Sreté, a plainclothes detective unit in Paris.

And this Sreté is the predecessor of the Paris Security Brigade in the mouth of the Duke of Wellington.

Under the leadership of Vidocq, the Paris Security Brigade, which had absorbed a large number of former criminals, was simply invincible, and he relied on his many years of connections in the Paris underworld and his knowledge of the criminal psychology to reduce the crime rate in Paris by 40 percent in just a few years.

In order to praise Vidocq's achievements, the overjoyed King Louis XVIII of France directly pardoned Vidocq for all the crimes he had committed in the past.

Of course, Vidocq's success is not entirely based on connections and experience.

He also introduced many technological innovations and institutional reforms in policing, such as undercover policing, ballistics, crime record keeping systems, plaster casts of offenders' shoe prints, indelible ink, crime scene protection mechanisms, and so on.

Because Vidocq was so successful, Scotland Yard was founded to study his innovations, some of which were incorporated into Scotland's Policing Manual.

Arthur had also moved the idea of meeting the old-timer, but the funds for the activities of Scotland Yard were too tight, and the Tories had crossed the river in the past, and Sir Peel could not let Arthur travel to Paris at public expense at a time of political turmoil in London.

But unexpectedly, Arthur didn't go to Vidocq, but Vidocq sent it to the door himself.

However, the fact that Vidocq, a capable person who has been in charge of the Paris security intelligence system all the year round, can also show how much importance the French attach to the London Conference.

But when Arthur thought of this, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

He frowned slightly, and muttered: "Although it is more professional to let the police do the security guards, but sending Vidock over, it shouldn't be to get Alexander back, right?" ”

Arthur suddenly felt a pang in his heart, if he lost Alexandre Dumas at the London meeting, it would not be a trivial matter.

Although Alexandre Dumas was not a dignitary, due to the hype of the previous news media, this fat man has become an important symbol of Britain's defense of justice and justice.

Although this kind of face issue is not of much significance, it can have a profound impact on the public opinion environment and the support rate of political parties.

Although the majority of the British people do not have the right to vote, this does not mean that the Whigs and Tories dare to ignore their voices, and the imagination of the people is the power base of politicians.

With regard to this kind of problem where the person directly responsible can be found, the two parties do not mind pushing individuals to apologize.

If something really happens at that time, even if Lord Bruham wants to protect him, I'm afraid he will have to weigh the pressure of public opinion.

Thinking of this, Arthur suddenly felt that he needed to meet the famous Mr. Vidocq at once.

Although it may be difficult to pry the truth out of his mouth, even if I can get some information sporadically, it will be of great help to Scotland Yard's operational deployment during the meeting.

Arthur was thinking about these things when the Duke of Wellington, who was leaning back in the armchair with a red wine glass, suddenly spoke again.

"Arthur, would you mind doing me a small favor?"

Arthur came back to his senses and asked with a smile, "Is it the busyness of private identity, or the busyness of public identity?" ”

The Duke of Wellington shook his wine glass: "It doesn't matter, it's okay to do both." If you only use one identity, I'm afraid you won't be able to solve this problem. And since you're in charge of my security during the London Conference, it makes sense for me to give you two orders, right? ”

Arthur didn't refute this, he pondered what the Duke of Wellington had said earlier, and suddenly smiled and said, "Do you want me to act like Mr. Vidocq?" ”

"No, I need you to do better than him."

The Duke of Wellington got up and paced, "Although I know that this may be a little difficult for you, we have some differences with the French and the Russians on the question of Belgian independence. There are some things that are not convenient to inquire about from my point of view, but if you listen to them from below, you may be able to get some surprises.

On the French side, you can start with Vidocq, and on the Russian side, I heard a few friends say that the Olmark club has recently had a new pianist named Arthur Hastings? The gadget you brought with you, called the gramophone, is also very satisfying.

At the club dinner last week, I heard Mrs. Cooper say that Mrs. Levine, wife of the Russian ambassador, Count Livin, also ordered one from you? I don't know about that gramophone, did you send it to her? ”

The Duke of Wellington had already said this, how could Arthur not understand what he meant?

Arthur let out a slight breath, took off his hat and said with a wry smile: "Your Excellency, you really have a problem for me. ”

The Duke of Wellington laughed, he patted Arthur on the shoulder and said, "Young man, just exercise more." But don't be too pressured by this, although the Whigs and Tories are on different camps, we have always been on the same page when it comes to external affairs.

As long as you can get this done, the Whigs will be happy too. Of course, even if it can't be done, it's not a big deal. With Broughham here, you're probably fine. ”

Hearing this, Arthur looked up at the pendulum clock in the corner, the hour hand was exactly twelve o'clock, the bell rang, Arthur pressed one hand on his chest and bowed slightly: "Your Excellency, take the order." ”

There is one more chapter, a little later

(End of chapter)