Astrid Theatre.

Led by the royal chamberlain, Arthur came to the door of the royal box on the third floor.

After Arthur handed the officer's knife and pistol to the guard in front of the door for safekeeping, the attendant finally knocked gently on the door of the box.

The door was opened by Sir George Elliott, the Royal Attendant and Captain of HMS Victory, the flagship of the Royal Naval Base in Portsmouth, who had met Arthur at General Codrington's banquet.

He smiled and invited Arthur into the box, and took Arthur to salute, "Your Majesty, Arthur Hastings has been summoned to come as you instructed. ”

Arthur put his left hand in front of him and his right hand behind him, bowed slightly, "Your Majesty." ”

William IV was already flushed with alcohol by this time, but instead of making him sleepy and sluggish, it made the old sailor feel more and more energetic.

He raised his glass and asked Arthur, "Young man, I just heard from the Duke of Wellington that you are not only a master of swordsmanship, but also a young man of great talent and action. You are currently the head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Metropolitan Police and have single-handedly built the basic structure of the London Police Intelligence Agency? ”

Arthur laughed softly and replied, "It's a great honor to have such praise from you, but I have only fulfilled the duties assigned by Your Excellency. ”

William IV laughed and asked, "Quite modest, how long have you been working at Scotland Yard?" ”

Arthur replied: "He joined Scotland Yard in September 1829 and has been in service for more than two years. ”

William IV looked at the St. Edward's Crown badge on his shoulder, although he couldn't figure out the rank of Scotland Yard, but he could still tell from the epaulettes that Arthur should be equal to the rank of major, and when he contacted the rank of colonel of Charles Rowan, the director of the Greater London Metropolitan Police, he quickly understood what Arthur was equivalent to in Scotland Yard.

The 66-year-old king couldn't help but sigh: "Has it been more than 2 years to achieve this position?" Your promotion speed is not much lower than when I was in the Royal Navy! How old are you this year? ”

Arthur replied softly, "Twenty-one years old." ”

"21 years old?" William IV laughed and said, "That's still a little slower than me." I joined the Royal Navy at the age of 13, completed my training at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich at the age of 15 and went to North America as a cadet, returned to the Admiralty at the age of 20 and passed the final examination to become a full officer in the Royal Navy, and at the age of 21 I was promoted to the rank of Captain and qualified to command frigates, and was reassigned to serve in the West Indies Fleet in North America. ”

Arthur heard the old king talk about his glorious past, and knew what he wanted to hear.

Arthur smiled and replied, "I know from your experience, I have a good friend who served in the Royal Navy, and he is an avid fan of Horatio Nelson. Not only did he know the story of General Nelson himself, but he also wrote down the curriculum vitae of you, a close comrade-in-arms of General Nelson. If I'm not mistaken, you were supposed to be commanding the frigate Andromeda in the West Indies Fleet? Later, he was promoted to rear admiral in the Royal Navy and became captain of the battleship 'Brave'? ”

William IV was surprised to hear that Arthur knew about his past, and the king, who had been often ignored for many years before his succession to the throne.

He asked, "Do you know the Andromeda and the Brave?" ”

Arthur chuckled softly, "I know a little bit about the Brave, it's a famous ship of the Royal Navy, and it fought in the Battle of the Nile Estuary that made General Nelson famous in Europe. If I'm not mistaken, General Nelson led thirteen battleships to fight the French navy in the Gulf of Aboukil, southeast of Alexandria, Egypt, in order to stop Napoleon's expedition to Egypt.

The Goliath, the Zeal, the Orion, the Theseus and many other Royal Navy ships took part in the battle, and the Valiant was one of them. The Valiant was extremely heroic in this battle, and with his powerful firepower and proper tactical command, he defeated the French battleship Conquest in one fell swoop.

After this battle, General Nelson also successfully relied on this battle to annihilate 11 French battleships with 0 ship losses, and established his unshakable position in the Royal Navy. With only 218 soldiers killed in the Royal Navy, the French Empire was wounded, killed, and captured 6,000, a truly respectable and outstanding victory. ”

When Talleyrand heard this, he just leaned on the table and shook his wine glass and quipped: "Mr. Hastings, when you say this, you have to consider the emotions of my old man, right?" But you're right, this victory is indeed respectable. A battle at the mouth of the Nile, a battle at Trafalgar, Nelson beat our naval commander Villeneuve like an idiot.

Even Napoleon himself had nothing to do with Nelson, and after the Battle of the Nile Estuary, he was stunned with the battle report, and couldn't stop muttering: 'My navy is finished?' Is it destined to be destroyed in Egypt? ’

And when the Battle of Trafalgar ended, perhaps because of the hero's feelings for heroes, Napoleon, while lamenting the fatal blow suffered by the French navy, did not forget to order all Imperial naval ships to hang Nelson's portrait, while paying tribute to this opponent, but also to encourage the imperial navy to learn from Nelson's heroic spirit. ”

When the Duke of Wellington heard this, he took a sip of wine and said, "I don't think it was fair for him to do this, and Napoleon was almost a public humiliation of Villeneuve by doing so." ”

Talleyrand shrugged his shoulders and said, "No way, that's his temper." He was a very good general, with many legendary qualities, and I would never deny that he was the most unique and charismatic figure of his time, but he was by no means perfect. Even, he has almost as many shortcomings as his strengths.

On this point, Bernadotte summed it up perfectly: 'He is greater than all of us. But God punished him because he believed only in his own intellect and used his vast war machine to the point of exhaustion, but all things must be reversed, ancient and modern.'

Most of those admirers of Napoleon did not have direct contact with him, but anyone who came into contact with Napoleon would not like him. He's the kind of person you can read about with a book in your hand and you'll feel your blood boiling, and you can't wait to work for him. But as long as you have in-depth contact with him, you will understand that he is a person who is conceited to the extreme, a person who can not take anyone in his eyes for the sake of fame.

As he himself said: 'The scabbard belongs to France, and the blade belongs to me'. And the reason why I have done so many things against him is simply to tell him that it is not right for him to think so. ”

Arthur silently listened to the grievances and hatreds of the big men of the last era, and pondered for a long time, after all, he still felt that it was probably not suitable to share the Napoleonic fetishes he had learned from abnormal channels on this occasion.

When Wilhelm IV heard these words, he couldn't help but sigh: "Speaking of that era, it was really a great century of change. The biggest regret of my life is that I didn't follow Nelson in the Napoleonic Wars, and if God was willing to give me such a chance, I would even lose the crown, even if I died on the battlefield. ”

When the Duke of Wellington heard this, he hurriedly dissuaded: "Your Majesty, don't talk nonsense. It's always good not to fight, and if I had to choose, I'd rather not fight that many battles. I swear to you, every time I set foot on the battlefield, I wish the war would end in the next second. In the season of fire, no one is happy. ”

When William IV heard this, he laughed and said, "Wellington, don't be nervous, I'm just making an analogy." Moreover, as soon as the war against France began, I strongly demanded that I return to active naval duty, and I mentioned it almost every year from 1793 to 1814, but not once was it agreed to by Parliament and the Admiralty. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been in the House of Lords all day long arguing and arguing with others. A man is supposed to be a man who is supposed to make a contribution, and if the council doesn't let me deal with the enemy, then I can only deal with the council. ”

When the Duke of Wellington heard this, he knew that the king must have been making a subtle indication of his displeasure with the House of Lords.

As the king said, he had been fighting in the House of Lords since he was a prince. At that time, many nobles were not accustomed to his unruly lifestyle when he was young and the lack of classical cultural literacy due to his years of service in the Royal Navy, so they often put on a posture against William IV in the House of Lords.

When William IV ascended the throne last year, there was a lot of unhappiness with many people because of the coronation, so there are still many people in the upper house who ignore the king.

And William IV was also extremely angry about this phenomenon, but perhaps because he was old and mature, the former prodigal prince did not choose to lose his temper, but suppressed the dissatisfaction in his heart, at least on the surface, he still maintained a harmonious relationship with the parliament.

The Duke of Wellington, as a nobleman of the House of Lords and the representative of the Tories in the House of Lords, has naturally done his best to maintain the fragile and sensitive relationship between the king and the nobles.

After all, William IV is also a king no matter how he says, and although the king today is less likely to interfere in parliament than he did under George III, this non-interference is only a tacit agreement between parliament and the king, who still retains powers such as dissolving parliament and holding new elections.

However, for Britain, William IV's now almost semi-recumbent management model is also a blessing.

It's like that folk joke says.

Queen Elizabeth showed everyone how to run Britain.

George I showed everyone how not to govern Britain.

George III showed everyone that anyone could run Britain.

George IV showed everyone that Britain didn't need anyone to run it.

Now, William IV is going longer and farther on this unmanaged path than his brother George IV, which is naturally welcome to the Parliament.

But it is obviously extremely impolite and inappropriate to tell the king directly: Britain does not need you to manage at all, and the nobles' own legal principles and power come from the king, so to deny him is to deny themselves.

And how to find a non-hazardous and fulfilling job for the king is an art worth learning.

The Duke of Wellington duly changed the subject and said, "Your Majesty, I remember you didn't mention before that since both the Army and the Royal Navy have basic training in swordsmanship, can the police officers at Scotland Yard also add similar training programs and training manuals?" Since Mr. Hastings is here today, why don't you ask for his opinion? You don't look at his youth, his professionalism in this area is absolutely expert. ”

(End of chapter)