"Arthur, I fully understand your anger and displeasure. If you put yourself in your shoes, especially after the Liverpool case, I would also feel that this society is simply incorrigible, and something must be done to improve it.

However, from the point of view of an ordinary officer, our job is only to fulfill the tasks assigned by the Cabinet and the Parliament, and to complete our work. The intelligence system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is far older and more systematic than that of the Police Intelligence Service, and we know what we are doing.

Then again, I remember you were a history graduate of the University of London, and you did very well in school. So, you know Sir Francis Walsingham, right? ”

For Arthur, who specialized in European history, the name Francis Walsingham was not unfamiliar.

As the most relied upon man of the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I and the Queen's chief secretary, Walsingham was not only the Queen's most trusted diplomatic adviser, but also her head spy.

Of course, Walsingham was able to gain such a degree of favor from the queen, not only because he was a handsome man, but also because of his outstanding work ability to help Queen Elizabeth start the golden age of Britain.

His achievements include, but are not limited to:

Several attempts to stop assassinations against the Queen helped her execute Mary I, Queen of Scots, who had a claim to the throne of England.

After the execution of the Catholic Mary, Pope Sixtus V issued an edict announcing that the Holy See would subsidize the armies that invaded England proper, and called on the Catholic countries to wage holy war against England.

King Philip II of Spain, based on religious and practical interests, decided to respond to the pope's call to send an army to invade Britain.

However, before the Spaniards had left the land, Walsingham had already intercepted this information through the embassy of the Duchy of Tuscany in Madrid.

On the one hand, he urgently wrote to the queen to strengthen the defense of the ports of Dover and Plymouth in southern England, and on the other hand, he spent a lot of money to hire the legendary pirate Francis Drake and others to launch an attack on the coastal towns of Spain, and successfully destroyed the Spanish logistics line through this act, slowed down their build-up, and won England valuable time to mobilize for war.

After the Spanish Armada left the port, Walsingham intercepted their navigation information for the first time.

Eventually, with the help of Hurricane and Walsingham intelligence, it was the Spaniards who raised the Flag of St. Mary and the Crucifixion that fell first in the Battle of Gravoline.

This time, instead of being on the side of the Catholics, God comically rolled over and accidentally rolled onto the tablet that the Protestants were enshrined.

The combined British and Dutch navies killed only five Spanish ships, and the remaining 60 Spanish ships that sank to the bottom of the sea were largely overturned by the storm.

However, although God was the main player in this naval battle that destroyed the Armada, Walsingham's information was still secondary.

As English Protestants say of Sir Walsingham: a man of the Protestant faith, a man of generosity, selflessness, learning, and chivalry.

The Catholics, of course, are opposed, believing that this is a ruthless and filthy villain who is also keen on all kinds of intrigues.

But no matter what posterity says about Walsingham, everyone agrees that this guy is definitely the most accomplished spy Britain has ever seen.

The English Secret Service, which he founded in 1569, is also the oldest spy agency in the world, employing more than 300 people in England at its peak.

As for their foreign branches...... As far as Arthur knew, the Secrecy Bureau had established as many as 12 spy bases on the borders of his old friend France.

But more than 200 years later, this once-huge institution no longer exists.

During Cromwell's time in power, the Secrecy Bureau was divided into two parts, domestic and foreign, which were placed under the management of the Southern and Northern Divisions.

After the establishment of the Colonial Office in 1768, some of them were sent to serve there.

As for the Southern and Northern Ministries, they were also reorganized into the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 1782 administrative reform.

The Ministry of Colonial Affairs merged with the Ministry of War in 1801.

The Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of War and Colonial Affairs and the Admiralty, which are responsible for military affairs, naturally have spies, and even the Ministry of Finance has a set of intelligence systems dedicated to the investigation of tax evasion.

All in all, the current intelligence system in Britain is characterized by a monograph.

And the old qualifications of the Police Intelligence Bureau under the leadership of Arthur and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are naturally incomparable, and even his importance in the eyes of the Ministry of the Interior may not be as important as the old background of the Ministry of the Interior's own secret bureau.

Although Arthur has the title of head of the intelligence agency, his status at Scotland Yard is low, and even with him, the head of police intelligence, is looked down upon.

But in a sense, these old spies do have reasons to look down on the Police Intelligence Bureau.

After all, Arthur, the director, was blind when he went out of London, and he almost killed people when he went to Liverpool.

How much funding does the Police Intelligence Bureau get in a year, what is your identity, what intelligence capabilities do you have?

The intelligence services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are far from it, even in the last three decades, they have carried out such heavyweight tasks as the assassination of Napoleon.

At that time, they united with the Juan faction of the French royalist party to imitate a newly invented explosive device invented by the Grand Paris Police Department and create a powerful bomb carriage.

On December 24, 1800, after learning that Napoleon and his lover Josephine would be heading to the Paris Opera to see Haydn's opera Genesis, the Juans drove a bomb wagon to the rue Saint-Denis, where they had to pass.

When Napoleon passed through this place, the Juan faction instantly detonated explosives, causing the destruction of 46 houses near the explosion site, and Josephine's carriage was directly shattered, while Napoleon's carriage escaped because the explosive device was triggered more than ten seconds later than the scheduled time.

When Arthur thought of this, he couldn't help but think of what happened in Liverpool.

I have to admit that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has indeed shown mercy to its subordinates this time. While they knew the inside story of the Liverpool assassination, at least they did not provide technical guidance.

As for why the coconut tree would be so derogatory to explosives assassination, Arthur now understands it.

Explosives of this magnitude failed to complete the mission, which was indeed an inefficient method of assassination.

Seeing that Arthur was silent for a long time, Schneider stood up with a smile and patted him on the shoulder: "Brother, don't always think about those unhappy things. Some cases can be investigated, some cases can't, think about why they pulled you into the position of the chief of police intelligence and not someone else. They have high hopes for you, and you can't just get promoted and plot against them.

Of course, I also understand your grievances. Because you are a native of British, no matter how you say it. If you're a Prussian, or an Austrian, you're probably not going to have any doubts about that. But since we're eating this meal, you can only make your thinking as Prussian as possible. ”

After that, Schneider left the room with Shi Shiran.

But as soon as he reached the door, his steps suddenly paused.

Schneider turned his head and raised his eyebrows and asked, "Brother, then again, that spy under my hand?" ”

Arthur shrugged: "It was a helpful exchange, I got the news I wanted, so you will also get what you want." ”

Schneider laughed and put on his gloves: "That's the director's style, goodbye, Arthur, I'm sure you'll be interested in a lot of things I have there." Oh, by the way, I remember to come when Viscount Palmerston was away, he didn't like his subordinates to be too close to people in other departments. ”

Arthur joked, "It seems that you like excitement, it's not like the German style." ”

Schneider raised his index finger and shook it gently: "Arthur, please note, I have been a Briton for a long time, and I went to that shop on Oxford Street last month. You know, it's too much pressure to be in our business, and you really need to release it once in a while. ”

When Arthur heard this, he immediately understood what Schneider was talking about, and he didn't know whether this German had become Briton, but he had indeed contracted the 'English vice'.

Arthur smiled and asked, "Mrs. Chalmers, Mrs. Noy, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Burgess or Mrs. Priss?" ”

"Neither."

Schneider smiled meaningfully: "Although their service is very good, I still recommend Mrs. Berkeley." They have a lot of new props that Mrs. Berkeley has designed herself, and every time I go, it is an eye-opener. I also admired their ability to grasp the details, they dipped the rattan in water to keep it green and flexible, the leather whips were colorful and varied, and in the summer they filled the water bottle with fresh nettles. The highest price in London is not for nothing. ”

When Arthur heard this, he laughed strangely: "With all due respect, Auguste, Mrs. Berkeley's things are outdated. I used to be addicted to it, but since I had been to Mrs. Ivan's shop two days before, I had learned that Mrs. Berkeley's was all rubbish. ”

"Mrs. Ivan?"

Schneider pondered the name for a moment, and he paced back to Arthur unconsciously: "Why haven't I heard this name?" It can't be a new store, right? The quality of the new store is not guaranteed. ”

Arthur laughed and sighed, "August, you belong to prejudice. New doesn't mean it's bad, and old doesn't mean it's good, just take a look at the store. The secret rooms there were decorated to look like torture chambers, with iron rings hung on the roof, torture benches that could be made into people at various angles, torture racks and so on, almost exactly like those in our Scotland Yard, and the tools for flogging were rattan, leather whips, holly branches, and birch sticks. Of course, if you can stand it, you can also use a nine-tailed whip tied in a bundle of linen. ”

"Oh! O my God! ”

Schneider excitedly reached out and helped his hat that was almost crooked to the ground: "Brother! Don't say any more, I'm going to work this afternoon. If you say that, I'm not going to finish my work today. ”

Arthur shrugged his shoulders slightly and said, "However, it is good there, but there is one point, their price is too high. ”

"How tall?"

"You have to pay a pound to get two venerable, well-dressed, elegant, well-cultured blonde ladies to take turns wielding the whip for you with dignity and grace. After all, in these years, if you want to let the ladies engage in such a profession that does not conform to their gentle nature for a long time, you have to pay a little more materially. ”

Schneider took a deep breath: "Although the price of a pound is not low, if they are really as outstanding as you say, this price is not unacceptable." After all, I used to have to pay two or three shillings to find it in the newspaper......"

Arthur was drinking tea when he heard this, and almost poured water into his lungs.

But fortunately, the light here was too dim, so Schneider didn't notice his gaffe.

Arthur coughed lightly, "How can you still find this in the newspaper?" ”

Schneider smiled, the foreign affairs officer had completely lost his official attitude, and he carried Arthur, a fellow descendant, in a tone like an old-timer.

"Of course you can find them in newspapers, and they have a long history, but to spot them you need to have eagle-sharp eyes. Of course, people like you and me who are engaged in intelligence work do not lack such eyes. ”

Arthur held the teacup and said with a serious face: "Can you ...... To be more specific? ”

Schneider didn't say anything, but just nodded at Arthur and tapped the table lightly.

Arthur took out the business card that Fiona had left for him, "Auguste, have fun." ”

Schneider put away his business card with satisfaction, and then said with a smile: "Actually, this is not a secret, most of our colleagues know how to find a suitable trading partner from the newspaper, and I first listened to Wilson from the Ministry of Finance." Do you know Wilson? He is Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance. If you talk to him a lot, you're sure to get some of the news you want. ”

Arthur, who was happy to mention the unexpected gain, nodded again and again: "It seems that next time we can ask him to go out together." ”

"It's up to you to arrange it."

Schneider replied with a grin.

"Let's go back to the newspapers. To be precise, if you find headlines such as "The Stern Executioner Recruits the Right Students," "The Woman Who Loves Pets Asks Her Pet to Come to Her Playroom," or "The Lady of the Master Waits for the Tame Slave to Sign a Contract" and "I Use Traditional Methods to Correct Bad Habits," then you are right. But listen to my advice, this kind of self-help usually has no skills, and it's okay to try it once in a while, but if you want high-end craftsmanship, you still have to go to the store. ”

When Arthur heard this, he only groaned.

Schneider didn't say that he hadn't found out yet, it turned out that there were still so many unemployed intelligence agents hidden in the city of London.

In this society, the guy who can casually take out two or three shillings to play with flowers is generally not too low in social status.

Wouldn't it be more abundant if the Police Intelligence Bureau could establish a good communication mechanism with these ladies who eat by their craft and are passionate about crazy English?

When Arthur thought of this, he immediately got up and shook Schneider's hand, and said with a smile on his face: "Auguste, I really learned from you today." ”

(End of chapter)