The Thames are still crowded with all sorts of transport vessels, but the water traffic is noticeably worse than usual.

The cause of the congestion is also very obvious, and it is only necessary to look up to the east to know who is responsible for the congestion on the river.

It is the 19-arched Old London Bridge, which has stood on the River Thames for more than 600 years, and this stone bridge, rebuilt in 1209, contains the memories of dozens of generations of Londoners.

One of the most strange buildings in Europe, Old London Bridge is not just a bridge for Londoners to cross the banks of a river, it is not only asymmetrical, but even its 19 arches are of different sizes, and what is even more strange is that Old London Bridge is lined with shops, residential buildings and even a chapel and a gatehouse with the head of a traitor.

It's not so much a bridge as a small residential area in the city of London, and if you like, you can even live on this bridge that is not beautiful in appearance but strange enough in design.

However, perhaps it is because Old London Bridge is crowded with all kinds of strange buildings that its original design - the function of the bridge - has been greatly diminished.

After all, not every Londoner is happy to huddle on the narrow bridge road and wait to cross the river, and many grumpy, time-constrained, and daring citizens usually choose to cross the river by feeling the stones through the arch under the bridge.

While most Londoners are lucky enough to cross it, there are a few unlucky people who are unlucky every few days due to the high river speeds.

This is also why London gave birth to the 'Thames Drowning Rescuers Association', a seemingly nonsensical nonsensical non-governmental self-help group, from the statistical point of view, the demand of London citizens for saving drowning people is still quite strong.

Of course, Parliament is not unaware of the heinous nature of Old London Bridge for Londoners who need to cross the river to work.

From 1799 onwards, Parliament began to discuss the feasibility of building a new London Bridge, and several new building proposals were praised by everyone, but most of them were abandoned because the local diocese had doubts about its feasibility and the amount of land needed to build it.

In 1824, after lengthy discussions, the City of London negotiated a compensation plan with the dioceses, officially announcing that it would be jointly financed by the government and local companies, and appointing John Rainey, a well-known bridge construction engineer, to oversee the construction of a new London Bridge with a granite five-span structure of 928 feet and 49 feet wide.

Not long ago, after seven years of construction, the new London Bridge was finally completed and opened to traffic, and the old London Bridge completed its historical mission, and after six centuries of vicissitudes, it finally suffered the same fate as its predecessor, the wooden London Bridge built by the Romans in 50 AD.

Yes, it was destroyed by order of the government.

It will be sunk by dynamite into the riverbed of the River Thames, Britain's real historical museum, along with the small shops and residential buildings that sit on it.

There, you'll see Iron Age shields, Roman tiles, Viking tomahawks, medieval terracotta pipes, and Tudor leather boots.

In this kind of historic moment, it is natural that the citizens of London love to watch everything lively, and I don't know why, anyway, they always like to go to crowded places.

But the explosives apparently did not have long eyes, and after a while, several Londoners who were squatting not far from the arch of the London Bridge to watch the bustle were swept into the river by the shock wave generated by the explosives.

Accompanied by the exclamations of the gentlemen and ladies on the embankment, people only saw the volunteers of the "Thames Drowning Rescuers Association", who had been waiting here for a long time, take off their shirts and go down to the river to save people.

It's just that these zealous gentlemen can't have a good temper in the face of this kind of thing, and the citizens only hear them scolding while swimming to save people.

"Can't these fools have more brains? Don't know how to stay away from the excitement? One by one they are so close, I look at this posture, I guess I will have to collapse into the river a few times today! ”

"If they had listened to the persuasion, we wouldn't have to keep watch by the river every day."

"Don't be idle, Martin, they went down to the river to save people, and they hurry up and wash the pipes!"

"Mr. Morgan! Something happened! ”

"What's wrong?"

"We don't seem to have enough tobacco with us."

"Fuck, I was unlucky today. Andrew, you take the money, hurry up and go to the nearby store and buy a few more boxes! ”

Arthur led Colt, who had just finished lunch at the café, to stand by the river.

Colt looked at the scene of the embankment below, and only felt that his three views were shocked.

These gentlemen who use their spare time to participate in social welfare activities are busy giving artificial respiration to the drowning victims, and at the same time, regardless of gender, young and old, they take out tubes and slap them in their buttocks, and then smoke with lung cancer smoking methods, and are busy spitting smoke rings into the tubes.

Colt's upper and lower lips trembled, and after looking at it for a long time, he praised it from the bottom of his heart.

"This new technology is not visible in our country, although we have long known that tobacco has a very high medical value, and it is indeed highly effective when absorbed through the intestine. But the idea of using a tube to help someone in the water absorb the effects of tobacco may seem simple, but it's a great idea. Although I hate to admit it, I still have to say that the current Britain represents the most advanced civilization in the world. ”

Arthur stood beside him and heard this, his face was not red and his heart was not beating, and he nodded: "That's right, we are like this in Britain. Maybe you can also consider opening a similar medical device company in the United States after returning to China to bring back a little advanced civilization to them. ”

Colt pondered for a moment, and finally shook his head and gave up: "That's it, I'm still more interested in firearms, and the gap between this medical device and firearms is still too big." ”

Arthur said calmly: "No, no, I don't think there is any difference between the two. ”

Colt wondered, "How do you say that?" ”

Arthur took out his pipe and lit it, took a puff and said: "Your Colt revolver and this intestinal healing device, to put it bluntly, are nothing more than eye-opening for everyone, although the principle is slightly different, but the result is still highly consistent." ”

Arthur was smoking a cigarette, but unfortunately, Andrew, a member of the association, who climbed up the embankment, soon spotted the London gentleman carrying a large amount of medical supplies.

Andrew said eagerly: "Sir, can you sell me a little bit of your tobacco?" ”

Arthur held the tin box full of tobacco in his hand, hesitated for a moment, and then gently persuaded: "I bought this tobacco on Jemmy Street, the genuine Santo Domingo product, will it be too wasteful to use it for intestinal therapy?" ”

When Andrew heard this, he responded with righteous words: "Sir, what did you say? This is saving the lives of the majority of Londoners, and besides, we are not not not giving money, if you don't sell it, please hurry up and let go, I will go to the back store to buy. ”

When Arthur heard this, he was about to make way for him, but when he caught a glimpse of the volunteers who were rescuing the drowning man in the flood of the Thames, something suddenly popped into his head.

He shook the other party's hand and slapped the cigarette case into the other's hand: "As an old smoker, although it is very difficult for me to give up my favorite. But as an honest Scottish Yard police officer, I feel I do have an obligation to protect the lives of the general public. Truth be told, in the past two days I have come across a case of the unfortunate death of a drowning man, and if that lady had happened to meet you at that time, she would have been saved. ”

When Andrew heard this, he couldn't help but regret and said, "I'm sorry to hear the news. After all, our association is too short of manpower, and although we have people on duty every day, we can only take care of the riverbank from Covent Garden to the West India Docks, and I guess the lady you are talking about must not have fallen overboard in this area, right? ”

Hearing this, Arthur's eyes widened slightly: "Sir, are you sure that all those who fall into the water in this area can be saved?" ”

Andrew shook his head and said, "Of course not, but as long as it falls into the water in this area, our association will have statistics." And as you just said, the lady fell into the water recently, and in the statistics of our association in the last half month, there have been no cases of drowning deaths, so I am sure that the lady you mentioned definitely did not fall into the water in this area. ”

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help but smile, and he continued to ask: "However, I have heard that after the death of a drowning person, the body is usually washed downstream by the river, is it possible that during this time, no body was found washed down in the area from Covent Garden to West India Dock?" ”

"Rushed down?" Andrew replied, "Of course there is, every day. But after doing our job for a long time, we can basically tell the length of drowning time. The corpses that were washed down can be identified at a glance, as for the specific situation, I will not describe it to you, the state of the corpse soaked for a long time is really disgusting. ”

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help but take out another cigarette case from his pocket and slapped it on the palm of the other party's hand: "Thank you for your enthusiastic help, good citizen, the two paragraphs you just said are very important to me. I will visit your association again if there is a need in the future. There are also a few mints in this cigarette case, so don't be too tired and keep your breath cool while helping others. ”

Andrew was puzzled by Arthur's words, he just raised his eyes and noted the gentleman's appearance, then thanked him, and then hurriedly climbed down the embankment of the Thames with the tin box of cigarettes.

Arthur looked at him and walked away, and then patted the shoulder of the American boy next to him, Colt: "Okay, Mr. Colt, while I'm in a good mood right now, let's go have some tea nearby, and by the way, you can tell me about your revolver with a rotating drum magazine." I heard Mr. Guard say, "Why does your pistol seem to explode so easily?"

Why don't you think about it and improve the primer impact bolt, or add a spiral rifled barrel? By the way, I haven't asked yet, what is the caliber of your pistol? It would be great if I could match the shell of the conical warhead, my needs are quite unique, and there are some tasks that do not have so many opportunities and time to fire, and it is better to be able to kill in one hit. ”

……

In the evening, in a café near Whitehall Street, elegant crystal chandeliers emit a soft orange glow, and melodious music is played on the gramophone.

Sir Peel stirred the coffee cup in front of him with a silver spoon in his hand, and as he listened to the music, he said with a smile: "The Bell is of course excellent as a piano etude, and it is very popular at the ball, but its rhythm is too intense to be suitable for the environment of a café. Arthur, maybe you can go to Mr. Moscheles or Mr. Mendelssohn for some classical composition, and your vinyl sales will definitely go up a lot. I know you can, Arthur, and your records always surprise me, whether it's "The Bell" or the one you gave me the day before yesterday. ”

Arthur took off his hat and laid it on the table, he certainly knew what Sir Peel was talking about about a record.

It's just that it's not music, it's a private conversation between Congressman Bernie Harrison and George Norton, her 'philanthropist' husband, at a banquet.

Of course, in order not to cause unnecessary misunderstandings, Arthur did some editing processing.

So, the recordings that Sir Peel heard were limited to the two conspirators talking about the former part of the Home Secretary, the Viscount of Melbourne and Lady Norton. However, that information was enough for him, the leader of the party who was committed to reuniting the Tory.

Arthur took a sugar cube and put it in the coffee cup: "Your Excellency, are you still satisfied with my new song?" Anyway, you may not know that I'm actually quite ashamed, and I don't dare to take it to others when I have a new work. This is because many of my friends don't have the ability to appreciate art. Second, because they do not have influence, no matter whether they say good or bad, they cannot represent the mainstream evaluation of the public, that is, they do not have reference.

Because of this, I will think of taking the new tune for you to be the first to listen to, you not only have experience and appreciation but also represent the artistic taste of the old British gentleman, or the observation frontier of the British New Wave forces, if you think this piece is good, it means that this thing is really good, if you think this thing is bad, then no one will pay attention to it. I'm here to apologize to you in advance, I'm sorry to bother you with such an inconsequential thing. ”

When Peel heard this, he first recalled a few key words in Arthur's words, of course, what he cared about most was that he was the first to audition for that record.

Peel smiled and raised his hand to signal Arthur not to care: "Arthur, although I am not as tasteful as you say, but if you want to hear my opinion, of course I am willing to share some of my own shallow opinions, you know, I have always liked to give advice to young people. ”

When Arthur heard this, he also smiled and nodded, "You know, I've always liked to accept other people's suggestions. ”

Sir Peel laughed heartily twice, and he spoke, "Of course, how can we talk together if that were not the case?" Looking back now, it was a wise decision to let a young musician like you form an LPS. ”

Arthur also smiled and replied, "Sir, you should remember that I promised you that I would bring my musical talent there. In my opinion, commanding the Police Intelligence Bureau is actually no different from composing eight notes, always pay attention to the harmony of the rhythm, there is no need for some unnecessary noise, this is the most important thing. ”

Sir Peel nodded slightly: "Yes, I agree with this point of view as well, and there is a problem with this in your new record, some of the cacophony in it sounds too harsh, and the notes in it are not harmonious enough for an elegant piece of music to be taken out for the British public to enjoy." ”

Arthur asked, "So, what do you suggest?" ”

Sir Peel said: "Arthur, I appreciate your musical ability, but there are still some gaps between this piece and "The Bell", and some of the techniques used in it are too high-end and advanced, and it may be difficult for the British public to understand. But don't blame you, new things are always like this, and it takes a while to gain public acceptance. But for now, I don't think it's going to be out there. ”

When Arthur heard this, he agreed, "Your Excellency, that's why I found you. I also don't think the piece is too mature, but you know, I couldn't do it all by myself. It's not just that I can't spare time, as you should know, the officers at Scotland Yard have been lounging around the River Thames for a while, and the officers are complaining that our uniforms are dirty and smelly from the Thames.

By the way, at this point, I have to trouble you with one more thing, do you have any familiar, affordable perfume recommendations? Director Rowan said that he planned to purchase a little bit for a while and send it to everyone as a benefit. ”

When Sir Peel heard this, he took a sip from his coffee cup: "Arthur, even if you don't say it, I'm going to send some perfume to Scotland Yard to comfort the officers." You've been working hard and tiring lately, as I know. It's okay for officers to have emotions, especially since swimming in the Thames shouldn't be your job. ”

Arthur heard Peele's assurance, and finally half relieved his heart, and he turned to ask, "Is what you just said your personal opinion, or the opinion of the whole London old school gentleman?" ”

Peel replied: "It's my personal opinion, but I don't think even the most old-fashioned and typical London gentleman like the Earl of Elden will be able to accept your new tune." So don't worry, I'll take care of the perfume thing. Fine perfumes are expensive because of their quality and the popularity of their aromas, not because of the brand or label attached to them. Arthur, you have to understand that. ”

Hearing this, Arthur took a sip of coffee, tasted it for a while, and then said, "So, the perfume of the House of Commons...... Ah no, will the label of perfume be ripped off? The police officers in Scotland Yard don't really need any labels, and the police officers take perfume for deodorization, and we will have a psychological burden when we use the signs on it. ”

When Sir Peel heard this, he sensed something was wrong, and asked, "Have you got the recipe for the perfume?" ”

Arthur nodded: "It's only a part of it, but from the ingredient list I've gotten so far, it seems that there is something that shouldn't be added to it." ”

Sir Peel's eyes widened slightly when he heard this, and his fingers on the table trembled slightly, and it could be seen that although he still maintained the good upbringing of an authentic gentleman, he was probably already mad in his heart.

Sir Peel clapped his hands, summoned the manservant who was with him, and took the coat and hat from his hand and put them back on.

While arranging his clothes, he said to Arthur: "Arthur, I have to make this matter clear to you, I really don't know. ”

"Of course." Arthur laughed, "If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have asked you to try out the new song." ”

Peel nodded slightly: "I'll give you an answer in a week about the perfume." After all, a piece of music can't make me completely decide whether to break the purchase contract with the old supplier I have chosen for a long time. And this matter must be agreed by the rest of the gentlemen, I don't like it, but if they like it, I can't force it against their will. Of course, I certainly don't want to hear a discordant murmur, but if it must be played, it must not appear until all attempts by the gentlemen have been declared null and void. ”

Arthur stood up when he heard this, and he pressed one hand to his chest and saluted with a smile: "Then, I will wait for your good news." ”

(End of chapter)