At the banquet site, the hall downstairs was full of lights, and everywhere was the exciting dance steps of young people and the strong hormonal atmosphere.

However, when I pulled the perspective to the second floor, I found that the atmosphere here was obviously different from the cheerful dance scene.

In the recreation room on the second floor, the old men gathered around the fireplace one by one on the sofa.

In the process of pushing the glass and changing the glass, you can only see the fuzzy face reflected behind the agitated wine and the fuchsia wine.

The smoke is ethereal and the smell of expensive cigars fills the place.

In the quiet environment, only the sound of playing cards falling on the table can be heard.

"John, did you send you a small gift from Mr. Hastings?"

"Don't worry, let him have fun at the prom first. A little wine and some feminine aromas can help young people figure out what they want in life. ”

"Didn't you arrange some suitable ladies and ladies for him? By the way, I want to listen to some news that is not convenient for men to inquire about? ”

"Oh, Robert, I can hear the sound of the gears in your head. I'm different from you, the Gladstone family's business is open and transparent, I won't let go of anyone who should be inquired, and I won't listen to you if you shouldn't inquire. ”

"None of you sent anyone to keep an eye on him? If I had known that you would not do this, I would have sent someone to do it. I heard that the boy from London was nowhere to be found for a whole day, and he was not in the hotel to check the accounts in peace, what did he do outside? ”

"It's not that everyone hasn't been sent, it's just that it's not convenient for us to do this work. Henry sent someone, and his carriage company was best suited for the job. ”

"Henry, is there any news?"

"I sent someone to follow him for a while, and he didn't go anywhere, just walked around the city of Liverpool, and then went to the Monro Tavern for a drink."

"Heh, life is very moist! It seems that our Mr. Hastings is not a difficult person to get along with, and he said so ruthlessly at the meeting of the Customs Department before, it seems that he is also playing on the spot? ”

"The Royal Navy didn't take his words as a joke, and they sailed out yesterday evening. Looking at it, most of them have been stuffy on land for too long, and their stomachs are hungry. ”

"The sailors may be greedy for the smuggling, but the colonels are not. After all, everyone knows that every captain's position is watched by at least three reserve colonels on the shore. Perhaps the Admiralty did not do a good job of restraining sailors, but when it came to restraining officers, they were casual. ”

"I don't care what the Admiralty thinks about this, but we need an explanation from the Board of Trade for the segregation of the port. If they want Liverpool's customs revenues to be cut in half as they did during the Napoleonic Wars, they can do so with a 40-day quarantine. But if they still want to hold Liverpool, a hen that can only lay golden eggs, then it would be better to be flexible in terms of policy. ”

"Yes, it took centuries for Britain to dominate trade between the Americas and the Levant. At that time, because of Napoleon, the Eurobart plague, Liverpool suffered losses, and there was nothing to do, and we fully understood the decision of the cabinet. But it would be ridiculous to let us give away our hard-earned share of trade just because of a small piece of cholera! ”

"Be quiet, Henry, it's rude for you to compare Napoleon like that. You probably don't know it, but the little henchman next to our Superintendent Hastings is a member of the Napoleonic family. ”

"He's from the Napoleonic family?!"

"That's right, if Napoleon and his father hadn't died, the lad would have been first in line to the throne of the Netherlands."

"How did you know about this?"

"Quite simply, I have received a letter this afternoon from Viscount Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary. In his letter, His Excellency the Viscount gave me an account of the present situation in London, and also gave me a brief account of the background of Mr. Hastings.

All in all, His Excellency the Viscount's opinion is that let's bear with us first, the quarantine policy should not be adjusted in a long time. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also believes that the 40-day port quarantine policy has gone too far, and that it has caused panic in other countries.

Many countries have now designated the UK as a major outbreak zone, which means that our ships departing from Britain to other countries will have to quarantine upon arrival. The exact number of days of quarantine depends on the policies of different countries.

Because of this incident, in the past few days, the West India Company, the East India Company, the Moscow Company, the Levant Company, the African Company, the Hudson's Bay Company, and other large companies that have monopolized the monopoly have all exploded.

If we don't do business, it's a small vacation at best, but there are still so many people up and down these companies to feed themselves. So, during this time, the protest book drifted like snowflakes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of War and Colonial Affairs. Even if the two departments of them can withstand it for a while, or they plan to unite with the Chancery Hall on a whim.

Then, when the new parliament opens, the positions of foreign secretary and secretary of state for war and colonial affairs are expected to change. We all know how many of the brothers and nephews in the families of the parliamentarians work in these companies. Usually good food and drink are provided, and high salary expenses are paid. Now it's time for these slackers to contribute something to the company. ”

"Mike, why do you look like you're winning? Does Palmerston's words give you confidence? Don't forget, he has a history in this area. He was the one who signed the order to transfer cavalry to Peterlu to suppress it, and he was also one of the leaders of the six special decrees. It sounds good, the Whigs won't change their minds then, right? ”

"If they change their minds, they have to have this ability! The Prime Minister, the Earl of Grey, is now at odds with the Duke of Wellington over parliamentary reform, and although His Excellency the Honourable Duke is now in opposition, he still has the titles of Governor of the Five Ports and Commander-in-Chief of the Army on his head. If the Cabinet wants to use force and the Duke of Wellington doesn't agree, guess who the Army listens to? ”

"I guess the Cabinet will send someone to St. Helena to dig out Napoleon's coffin and invite him to London."

"Our company has carried this business, as long as the cabinet doesn't let me implement the quarantine policy."

"Of course, it can't be isolated, the corpse is isolated for forty days, and maggots can't be transported to the shore?"

"As soon as I opened the cabin, the room was full of miasma."

"Ah...... It's been a long time, cholera was caused by Napoleon? ”

"Otherwise, it is most likely the French disease that plagues Britain."

At this, the old men laughed heartily, and the top hats fell to the ground with laughter.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door outside the entertainment room.

Gladstone entered the room, and before he could speak, Mr. Roswell, the old watch, smiled and asked, "Oh, my dear William, are you having a good night?" ”

Gladstone's face flushed slightly when he heard this, and he nodded with his glass, "It's a good thing, Mr. Roswell." I had a great time tonight, and I talked with my friends about music, literature, art, and, of course, the Bible. ”

When Mr. Roswell heard this, he just pinched his chin and shook his head, "William, the conversation is still too shallow, you can talk about more in-depth topics." ”

"Uh......" Gladstone was silent for a while, and then suddenly asked, "Are you saying that I should talk about the recent sudden announcement of interest rate cuts by the Bank of England and the Bank of Bahrain?" ”

When the bad old men on the side heard this, they all followed suit.

"William, that's right, let's talk about this, we're interested."

"You can also talk about how you think about overseas trade and how the quarantine policy will have a devastating impact on the price of cotton and linen products."

"By the way, I would like to talk about the political situation overseas, and recently the Ottoman Empire's Egyptian Pasha Mohammed Ali has not been very peaceful! I hope he doesn't interfere with my business in the Levant. ”

When Roswell heard this, he hurriedly spoke out to cover up a bunch of old and unscrupulous voices.

"William, don't listen to them. If you don't want to talk about in-depth, you can talk about some shallow ones. Whether it's Latin, Spanish, or French, it does. Oh, and the piano! I didn't pay so much for a tutor for nothing! ”

Old Gladstone couldn't bear it anymore when he heard this, and he had always looked down on the nouveau riche old pocket watch.

Although the elder Gladstone himself was of only middle-class birth, this did not prevent him from finding Roswell as a watchmaker to be vulgar.

He put the cards in his hand together and asked, "William, is there something wrong with you?" ”

When Gladstone heard this, he quickly leaned down and whispered beside his father, "I just saw Mr. Hirst, the port director, go to the smoking room, and Mr. Hastings is there, and they have been there a little too long. ”

"Oh? Is it? Old Gladstone threw the poker in his hand on the table, lit a cigar and said goodbye to his friends: "Always playing cards is not good for your health, give me time to dance, and I'll go back." ”

……

In the smoking room, Arthur sat on a chair with a pipe in his mouth, looking at the port master Hearst in front of him, flipping through the papers in his hand page by page.

"Mr. Hearst, the report you have submitted to me has been briefly reviewed by Mr. Mill of the East India Company. The problems presented above were indeed beyond my expectations, and the various problems were shocking. ”

Hearst asked, pretending to be confused, "Mr. Hastings, the Port Authority does have a lot of deficiencies in its work. However, I am confident that with your correction, we will be able to correct these bad habits soon. ”

Hearst's attitude is very clear, and the port authority is of course willing to cooperate with Arthur's work, but how to cooperate and in what way depends mainly on where Arthur finds out.

Although the Liverpool Association has prepared close to £20,000 of transferable funds to settle the matter, in line with the principle of spending less is a little, if Arthur doesn't have that big appetite, it's okay to let them say more nice things.

Arthur saw that he looked like the Iron King would not let go, and he knew that he had to give the old boy some evidence.

After all, even on the territory of Scotland Yard, Arthur still has to apply for an arrest warrant to arrest someone, not to mention that this is someone else's field.

And the reason why Hearst can be so fearless is nothing more than relying on a bunch of people behind him to support him.

There are indeed problems with the port expansion project, but he is not the only one who collects money and profits, the sky falls and the giant Goliath is on top, besides, is the West India dock project in London and the Thames River tunnel project about to open to traffic really so clean?

In fact, Arthur didn't know whether the West India dock project was clean or not, but Arthur knew whether the Thames tunnel project was clean or not, after all, he still had close to 1,000 pounds of tunnel company stock in his hand.

So, since they were already a toad in a puddle, Arthur certainly didn't plan to embarrass him with the port project.

Besides, this aspect will have to be discussed in detail later, just start with an appetizer.

However, although Arthur wanted to serve an appetizer, he never had such a foreplay-level little handle in his hand.

Luckily, thanks to the meticulous work of apprentice accountants such as Mill and Price, Arthur discovered a minor problem in the Port Authority's annual expenditure bill before attending the ball.

This question is not close to everyone else, but it is the only one who can hammer the port director Mr. Hirst to death with a stick.

Arthur raised his hand slightly and shouted, "Louie." ”

Hearing this, Louis pulled out a bill from the document bag in his hand and placed it in front of Mr. Hearst.

"Mr. Hearst, our audit team has noticed that almost every year, since five years before you took office as Port Authority, there has been a strange expense labeled 'health care' on your bill. And the exact amount of it is constantly changing, from a few pounds in some months to hundreds of pounds in other months. And after interviewing some of the Port Authority staff individually, we found out that the Port Authority never covered their medical bills from the beginning to the end, so can you now explain what the money is used for? ”

"This ......," Hearst heard this, and his relaxed tone immediately became uncertain: "It is true that the medical care aspect does not cover all port authority employees, we just started the trial at the management level, and if the results are good, we will consider continuing to promote it in the future." ”

"Oh...... Special benefits for management? ”

Arthur raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Okay, I can understand, after all, you and the leaders of the port authority are in a hurry, and you should enjoy some special recuperation." However, I would like to know why this amount changes at any time. And the health care project you mentioned and the hospital in charge of the project, can you tell us a little bit about it? ”

"Hospital...... Hearst's momentum weakened suddenly: "This, the hospital is not fixed. ”

When Arthur heard this, he just smiled and asked, "Really?" Mr. Hearst, you'd better think again. Today, my Sergeant Charles Field happened to be in contact with a doctor who worked for the Port Authority! According to her, the Port Authority's designated sanatorium hospitals are actually quite fixed. ”

When Hearst heard this, his soul almost burst out in fright. Because the accounts in this area are too small, and the people below don't know what the money is for, they just let it go. Mr. Hearst himself didn't even pay attention when he submitted the bill to Arthur. However, who would have thought that just such a little pony's feet would be grabbed.

In fact, this kind of false accounting is something that is not clean, and Britain has been involved a few years ago, and it is the Chancellor of the Exchequer Viscount Godrich who is responsible. At that time, Viscount Godrich almost resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer over the case.

Although he was eventually saved, his political prestige was no longer what it used to be. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is like this, let alone a port director.

Hearst's hand clenched tighter and tighter, he held back for a long time, and suddenly squeezed out a smile from his face and asked, "Mr. Hastings, this is all a small problem, why don't we talk about smuggling, that is the serious matter." ”

(End of chapter)