"Hahaha, Mr. Hastings, before I met you, I thought you were a difficult traditional gentleman. But after actually talking to you today, I realized that you are really humorous. ”

"Young and old can talk to you. Even an old man like me, who can't keep up with the times, can find common ground with you, and anyone who says that you don't get along well is slandering your reputation. ”

In the smoking room, Old Gladstone and Hirst chatted with Arthur from the Far East to the Near East and the Americas.

Thanks to their intimate knowledge of international trade, Arthur has also gained a lot of knowledge.

"If you're doing business in the Levant, one promise from Egypt's Pasha Mohammed Ali will work better than that of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II."

"I heard that Ali has been at odds with the Sultan for the past two years over the right to rule Crete and Syria?"

"That's right, in this matter, it was Mahmud II who played him. Originally, he promised Ali that if Ali was willing to go to Greece to quell the rebellion, he would be crowned ruler of Crete, Damascus, Tripoli and Syria.

Ali was very impressed by this condition, so he took the deal. In 1825, he sent his son Ibrahim to land an Egyptian army of more than 18,000 men in the Peloponnese, and although the first year of fighting was difficult, in April of the following year he conquered the Greek town of Mysolonzion, where Lord Byron died. In August, Athens was also defeated by the Egyptians, and the Greek rebels were completely unable to resist them, and they were defeated one after another, and the entire Greek territory north of the Gulf of Corinth fell back into the hands of the Ottomans. ”

When Arthur heard this, he casually asked, "Is it the turn of Britain, France, and Russia to intervene in the Greek War of Independence?" ”

Old Gladstone smiled and said: "That's right, when Athens was under siege, negotiations began. Britain, France and Russia demanded an immediate ceasefire between the Ottomans and Greece, and Ali was the first to express his willingness to accept it, but the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II firmly opposed the signing of the peace treaty, and he demanded that Ali continue to fight. ”

Hearst said with a smile: "The Sultan does not stop fighting, but the British are not willing to send troops, after all, we don't want to defeat the Ottomans." Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs adopted the old routine and proposed at the London Conference to send a joint fleet of the three countries to cut off the supply lines between the Egyptian army and the Ottoman Empire. ”

Old Gladstone nodded, "Then the Ottomans mistakenly provoked General Codrington, and as a result, he annihilated the Ottoman Navy in the Battle of Navarino." ”

Little Gladstone's face also became strange when he heard this: "I have heard from some old members of the party that when the news of General Codrington's great victory over the Ottoman navy came back to London, the foreign office was as quiet as the Ottoman court.

Then I saw the Earl Dudley, the Foreign Secretary, punch him on his desk in a rage and shout: 'Codrington is an idiot with an incomplete brain!' Who exactly authorized him to fire at the Ottoman navy? I swear to God! If the situation allows, I must transfer him to Westminster to guard the Imperial Tombs!" ’”

Arthur couldn't help frowning when he heard this, he shook his glass and said, "Oh, it seems that it is a pity that General Codrington did not study at the seminary, he missed a good opportunity to become the bishop of Westminster." ”

Hearst laughed and said, "It's not bad now, isn't he pressed to the position of commander of the Portsmouth base this year after stepping down as commander of the Channel Fleet?" From the Mediterranean Fleet to the Channel Fleet, and from the Channel Fleet to the Portsmouth base, he was getting closer and closer to Westminster. ”

With that, Old Gladstone suddenly patted the suitcase he was carrying.

Seeing this, Hearst hurriedly got up and said, "Mr. Hastings, Mr. Gladstone, you two talk slowly, my dance partner is probably waiting outside in a hurry." I can't make a lady too anxious, that doesn't go with the basic social etiquette of a gentleman. ”

Old Gladstone smiled and replied, "Of course, I wish you a good evening." ”

Hearst pushed the door out, and old Gladstone turned his gaze to his son again: "William, go out too." ”

Little Gladstone hesitated for a moment when he heard this, he leaned down and pleaded in his father's ear: "Father, I don't think you have to do this in private, just go through the process normally." ”

When Old Gladstone heard this, he just patted his son's face dotingly: "William, that's not good, it's the rule." If everything is done on the table, and everything is above board, then it is not called politics. Don't you love Catherine in the old pocket watch? Go out and have a good dance with her, talk about what you've seen at Oxford, or if you're happy, talk about the Bank of England rate hikes that interest you. As long as you don't marry her, I, as a father, am still quite open-minded in the love of my children. ”

Little Gladstone felt the weight of his father's palm, and he was silent for a moment, finally just looking up at Arthur, and then exiting the smoking room without saying a word.

Old Gladstone looked at his son's back helplessly and pouted, and then raised an eyebrow at Arthur, signaling him to let Alexandre Dumas and the others leave the scene with him.

Arthur just waved his hand at him, "Mr. Gladstone, there's no need to bother. These are all part-time workers, they all have their own careers, and they came to Liverpool with me just to see something new and see the world. ”

When Gladstone saw Arthur say this, he had to turn to the other side, and he asked, "What do you think of my child, William?" ”

Arthur took a sip of his wine and replied, "Sir, it's not quite right for you to ask me that, because I'm actually not much older than Mr. Gladstone. ”

Old Gladstone asked, "What year were you born?" ”

"1810."

Old Gladstone was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then laughed and said, "Then it's not older than William, but younger than him, he was born in 1809." But I've never judged people by their age. Some people lived to be thirty years old, but their insight was better than others who lived to be eighty years old. Although you are younger than William, it seems to me that you should be more mature than him. So, you are fully qualified to rate him, and as a father, I would very much like to hear your opinion on my child. ”

Seeing that he insisted on it, Arthur was not very good at refusing to keep refusing, so he had to think about it for a while, and said: "It seems to me that Mr. Gladstone Jr. has a good educational background and a deep family heritage, and at the same time he is very knowledgeable, and he has some expertise in financial affairs, as long as he takes time, he will definitely become a very good official of the Ministry of Finance." What's even more commendable is that he is also very upright. ”

When old Gladstone heard this, he only shook his head and said, "Mr. Hastings, your last derogatory sentence almost overshadows all the praise of the previous one. ”

"No, that's not derogatory." Arthur smiled, "Integrity is not derogatory, at least not with me. In my opinion, it is a valuable quality to cherish. ”

Old Gladstone savored this, and suddenly asked, "Do you have this quality?" ”

Arthur just touched his chin and replied, "Sir, you must know that what you don't have will be precious, and only what you have lost will know how to cherish." I had this thing a year or two ago, but I accidentally lost it while I was climbing up. Do you have a good look? If so, please help me find out where I left it. ”

Old Gladstone smiled brightly and placed the suitcase next to the sofa on the coffee table: "You know, I'm a businessman. To be a businessman is to be able to anticipate the needs of customers in advance. I've found your integrity, and it's locked in this box.

Of course, I don't know which stack is your integrity and which stack is an underreported tariff. It's possible that every stack is yours, and it's possible that every stack is a customs duty. After all, I haven't seen what your integrity looks like, so I'll leave it to you to judge. ”

With that, Old Gladstone got up and said goodbye to Arthur, turned and walked out of the smoking room.

Louis followed closely to the door of the smoking room, put his back on the door panel, took off his hat and fanned: "He's far away, do you want to open it first?" ”

"Of course you have to see it!" Alexandre Dumas didn't care about any security and secrecy, as Arthur said, he came to Liverpool purely to see the world, even if Arthur pointed a gun at him, he had to see how many dirty gold coins were in it.

He lifted the edge of the box inch by inch, and before it could be fully opened, the brilliant golden light almost blinded the French fat man's eyes.

He covered his eyes and sat on the ground: "Gold coins, it's all gold coins!" ”

"Let me take a look, too." Heine also squatted down and opened a slit and looked at it: "One, two, three, four...... O my God! Each stack of 10 pieces, a total of 100 stacks, there are 1,000 jini here! Wait, no, there's ten bills on Kini, each a thousand pounds of money order, and they're bearer! Let me do the math, one kini is 21 shillings, which is 1 pound 1 shilling, plus these ten tickets, the total is ...... 11,050 pounds? ”

Seeing this, Arthur just pressed his hand on the lid of the box expressionlessly: "What are you doing?" It's all Liverpool's underreported tariffs, are you coveting British government property? As Liverpool's Special Anti-Smuggling Ombudsman, I will never allow you to put the £8,000 in your pockets. ”

"8,000 pounds?" Heine raised his eyebrows and said, "Arthur, did you miscalculate?" I'm counting £11,050! ”

Louis, who was leaning against the door panel, took a puff of his cigarette and said, "Arthur didn't miscalculate, and you didn't miscalculate, but the algorithm you use is different." You use the algorithm of the German poet, and Arthur uses the algorithm of the Scotland Yard police. The result is different because you didn't multiply the exchange rate difference between you. ”

Alexandre Dumas asked with a strange expression, "Really?" May I venture to ask, what is the exchange rate in France? ”

Louis was silent for a moment, and then spoke: "The exchange rate in France is complicated, even if the exchange rate used by everyone is different. Do you know Talleyrand? I happen to know a little bit about his conversion. ”

"Talelang? Of course I do. Alexandre Dumas said, "He has lifted my arrest warrant." ”

"He got your wanted warrant lifted?" Louis asked, "How much did you give him?" ”

"I didn't pay." Alexandre Dumas put his arm around Arthur's shoulder and replied, "But I don't know if my friend helped me convert the exchange rate with him." ”

Arthur replied: "I didn't either, and not only that, but he lost me dozens of pounds playing cards." ”

When Louis heard this, he just sneered: "Heh, it can only be said that there is indeed a style of Talleyrand, he has never looked down on small money, he can play big if he wants." If he were to deal with Liverpool, he probably wouldn't have left a penny for the government. ”

Heine was both shocked and puzzled when he heard this: "Is he playing so big?" ”

Louis recalled what his uncle had told him before, and couldn't help but be annoyed: "Even if it's ten thousand pounds, it's only more than 200,000 francs." Talleyrand played much bigger than that.

I heard from my uncle that at the time of the Revolution, Talleyrand was initially an ordinary bishop, and he was disgusted with the Revolution from the very beginning, and even went to the palace overnight to demand that the army be assembled to suppress the revolution. But then, seeing that the situation was not right, he hastily abandoned Louis XVI and, overnight, reversed course, and offered to the Constituent Assembly that the ecclesiastical property should be returned to the government. He relied on this trick to be generous to others and won a good reputation for the people's democratic religion.

By the time of the Directory, Talleyrand became Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in two years he received 12 million francs in benefits. At that time, there was a famous saying in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that before negotiating with the French government, it was necessary to talk to Talleyrand, and if Talleyrand did not nod his head, diplomatic documents from other countries would not be delivered.

At that time, Americans passed a bill in Congress to pay off all their international debts. The Americans claim that these debts are owed by the previous government, which was a British colonial government, and therefore the debts go to Britain and have nothing to do with the current US government.

But as you know, in order to help the Americans fight the Revolutionary War, France gave the United States huge loans. However, these hillbillies saw that France was making a great revolution and had no spare energy to clean them up, so they wanted to fish in troubled waters and rely on this money, and the Directory would definitely not agree.

So in retaliation for the Americans forcing them to pay their debts, the Directory ordered the French navy to seize more than 300 American merchant ships in the Caribbean, and also hired pirates to attack their trade routes in the Mediterranean. The Americans were scared, so they planned to send a mission to sue for peace and mend the relationship between the two sides.

As a result, Talleyrand concealed the affairs of the American mission from the country, and he secretly sent his own agent to negotiate with the United States, demanding that the United States must give Talleyrand a benefit fee of 50,000 pounds, in addition to providing France with a loan of 32 million guilders to help France deal with the anti-French alliance.

But this group of hillbillies in the United States does not understand this way of Europe, and they do not agree to pay bribes to Talleyrand, no matter what they say. As a result, Talleyrand was furious and dragged the American mission for half a year, and the Americans saw that there was no hope, so they could only return to China and declare the failure of the negotiations, and began to purchase armed merchant ships, preparing for an undeclared war with France.

In this way, France and the United States fought at sea for two years in a daze, and the matter of Talleyrand broke out. It's just that at that time, it happened that my uncle came to power, and Talleyrand made a great contribution in helping him ascend to the throne, so the two countries signed a peace treaty, and the matter was hastily revealed. ”

Heine was shocked when he heard this: "I have heard a lot about corruption, but this is the first time I have learned about the war between the two countries because of corruption. ”

Louis rolled his eyes and said, "Where is this?" The Americans have learned to be smart ever since, when the United States and France were negotiating a treaty of commerce, and negotiations were slow to progress. Seeing that the situation was not good, the Americans hurriedly sent 3 million francs to Talleyrand, and the treaty was signed the next day.

In order to ensure the smooth signing of the treaty, Austria first sent hundreds of thousands of francs to Talleyrand, but Talleyrand directly asked Austria for 15 million.

Austria did not agree, and Talleyrand simply counted the 15 million directly in the war reparations, and after the signing of the "Treaty of Lüneville", Austria had to pay separate reparations to Talleyrand in addition to the reparations to France. can do his part in corruption and bribery, it is really difficult to find such a person in history regardless of the East and the West, throughout thousands of years. ”

Alexandre Dumas took a deep breath and asked, "Can Napoleon put up with him being so greedy?" ”

"What can I do if I can't bear it?"

Louis said helplessly: "After all, you have to count on Talleyrand to negotiate." He was indeed greedy, but everyone was willing to negotiate with him. A treaty is not taken by others for a penny, but it cannot be negotiated. In the past, Talleyrand was very greedy, and the treaty was established. What do you want my uncle to do? And, as much as I don't like Talleyrand, he does owe a part of the Bonaparte family's existence. The restored Bourbons wanted to liquidate us, but Talleyrand was opposed to doing so, and was even marginalized because of it. All in all, there are good and bad. ”

When Dumas heard this, his heart finally relaxed, and he said to Arthur, "That's it, take such a small amount of money, take it." Arthur, compared with Talleyrand, I think you are too incorruptible. In my opinion...... Let's smoke a little more, shall we? I take less, I'm afraid they won't worry! ”

(End of chapter)