shadow of britain

Chapter 589: Pilgrims in the Land of Winter

Arthur walked slowly down to the third floor of the theater. His hard riding boots made a slight creaking sound as they stepped on the ancient wooden stairs, as if telling of his mood at the moment.

The walls on both sides of the stairs were covered with all kinds of gorgeous hand-painted drama posters, and those colorful pictures formed a sharp contrast with his mood at the moment. Arthur's thoughts were heavy and complicated, with thick clouds lingering between his brows and various unsolved problems swirling in his heart.

He lowered his head and followed his footsteps, as if he was pondering the arrangement of fate with every step. Ever since he stepped into this noisy theater, he was troubled by an inexplicable anxiety.

When passing by the lounge area on the second floor, the cheerful laughter coming from there seemed so far away. The heartless college students were making a fuss in the box, attracting the dissatisfied eyes of some audience members who entered early.

Finally, Arthur arrived on the first floor. He did not rush to the backstage of the theater, but secretly cast his eyes towards the smoking room in the distance where faint light was coming out.

The half-open door seemed to be calling him, bringing a hint of seductive tranquility. When he was troubled, this place was like heaven for this old smoker.

Arthur slowly pushed open the door, and what greeted him was not as confusing as he had imagined. He was lucky, as he was the first visitor here today.

He took out his pipe and lit the tobacco. The flame flickered in the dim environment. The smoke filled the air. Arthur inhaled sharply and exhaled slowly. The smoke entangled in the air, and then condensed into a ball and slowly dissipated as if giving up.

He leaned against the wall, looking at this quiet little world through the clouds.

The walls were covered with dark velvet wallpaper with intricate patterns, which looked more and more stable after years of baptism. The lights were dim, and several classical crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. In the middle of the room were several leather sofas, and the dark brown leather shone slightly under the lights. In the corners were several small round tables, on which were scattered several scripts and an ashtray with a handful of unburned tobacco leaves.

Perhaps because old habits die hard, Arthur's occupational disease has recurred.

He stared at the round table and muttered to himself, "Alexander was here before. Judging from the smell of cigarettes in the room, the scattered scripts and the tobacco leaves in the ashtray, it must have been an hour ago. And he left in a hurry. Someone must have dragged him to make the final revisions to Turandot..."

Arthur slapped his forehead when he said this. He felt a little ridiculous. Why did he still want to speculate an insignificant event through various details at this time?

He recalled what the Duke of Sussex had said to him not long ago.

Whether it was His Majesty the King or the Duke of Wellington, these bigwigs who called the shots in London seemed to want him to give up his old job and serve in the Royal Navy and Army, which were more worthy of the status of a gentleman.

It was difficult for Arthur to judge whether this was just a pie in the sky for him, because according to the old logic of British politics, serving in the army was definitely a shortcut to politics.

Although Britain is a modern country, many traditions inherited from the feudal era have not been abandoned.

After all, the earliest parliament was composed of nobles appointed by the king, and the reason why these nobles became nobles was because they had military obligations to the king. Although these are no longer important now, and having a noble title does not mean that you must serve in the army, for those who are committed to leaving a mark in history, joining the army is still a must.

Nowadays, titles such as baron, viscount and earl do not need to be obtained through military merit, but if you want to become a non-royal duke in the UK, you still need to fight in some classic battles to save Britain from disaster.

The most recent recipient of this honor was Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon, Emperor of the French Empire.

The previous one was John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, who defeated the 'Sun King' Louis XIV in the Battle of Blenheim.

Beat the French?

Arthur took a puff of his cigarette depressedly.

He did know a guy who was good at doing this, but that person was not him, but Mr. Bismarck, the problem boy from Göttingen.

If we judge only by military achievements, perhaps Bismarck would be more suitable to develop in the British army.

As for Arthur himself, he didn't think joining the army was a good idea.

First of all, he is already 24 years old, which may sound young, but for the Royal Navy, where people often join ships at the age of eight or nine, he is definitely overage. In addition, the training cycle of the Navy is too long, and as Elder said, the Royal Navy is too old-fashioned and too inhumane in terms of promotion.

Even for those famous naval commanders who have been on ships since childhood, it would take at least nine to ten years for them to climb to the position of naval colonel, which is equivalent to the position of Commissioner of the Royal London Police.

As for the army, they were relatively lenient in terms of ranks and positions. Especially now that it was peacetime, there was basically nothing to gain except for some colonial troops, so donating to the position of colonel of a local army was much easier than during wartime.

But what Arthur was worried about was that there was no reason why the king and the Duke of Wellington wouldn't know what he knew.

Since the Royal Navy route was not feasible from the beginning, the so-called proposal for him to join the army was actually a single choice question from the beginning to join the Army.

Why did the King and the Duke of Wellington want to get him into the Army?
Even a three-year-old can answer this question.

Because the army is the stronghold of conservatives and royalists.

It seems that His Majesty is very satisfied with his actions last year. Sir Arthur Hastings's ruthless actions in times of crisis have been officially characterized as a loyal act.

Therefore, in order to strengthen the connection with this beloved general, the king and the Tory leader, the Duke of Wellington, both intended to make him more Tory.

But would this be a good idea?
Arthur took a puff of cigarette, looked up at the sky, and then slowly closed his eyes: "I just threw away Earl Daramore's invitation to work in Russia and plunged into the big dye vat of the army... If I anger that 'Radical Jack', I will lose more than I gain..."

Arthur was closing his eyes and concentrating on thinking about how to solve the problem, when he suddenly heard the sound of the smoking room door being pushed open.

There was a creaking sound. Then a voice with a hint of maturity came out: "Brother, can I borrow a light?"

Without even opening his eyes, Arthur took the matchbox from his trouser pocket with two fingers and shook it.

The other person took the matchbox from his hand and heard a snap, the sound of the matches burning mixed with a heavy intake of breath, followed by a satisfied gasp.

"Sir, I don't mean to say that German students are the noisiest in Europe."

Arthur nodded slightly to show his agreement and said, "Although I am an educator, I have to admit that you are right. The quality of my students has always been very low."

"You are an educator? You look really young." The other person looked at Arthur's face and scratched his head in confusion: "If you didn't say it, I would have thought you just graduated from school this year like me."

"Hmm..." Arthur's occupational disease flared up again: "University? University of Leipzig? Oh, no, your accent sounds quite close to the German in Silesia. Maybe you are from the University of Graz or the University of Vienna."

The other party stared at Arthur in surprise. He paused for a moment, then reminded him jokingly, "Your guess is half right. I did learn German from a Silesian, but I did not graduate from a university in Germany."

Arthur opened his eyes when he heard this, and stared at the young man with thick black hair and a beard in front of him with a half-smile: "Russian? A graduate of Moscow University or St. Petersburg University?"

The young man obviously didn't expect that his identity would be locked so quickly. He was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "Moscow University, how did you guess my identity?"

Arthur smiled and said, "Although your accent is very light, when I guessed wrong, you forgot to restrain your tongue-twitching habit in your excitement, which gave me the key clue to identify you."

The young man asked unconvincedly: "Why did you guess Moscow and St. Petersburg? Kazan University and Kharkov University are obviously also options."

Arthur thumped his ash-stained white gloves. "If it was Kazan or Kharkov, you wouldn't have the confidence to show off your alma mater in front of a stranger. Based on my understanding of young people's vanity, as long as you are Russian, even if you really graduated from Kazan University or Kharkov University, there is an 80% chance that you will claim to be a graduate of St. Petersburg University or Moscow University."

The young man looked Arthur up and down in amazement, and then he joked: "What about you? You must have graduated from Oxford or Cambridge, right? Don't tell me you are not British. You are exactly like those gentlemen in the British Club in Moscow."

Arthur curled his lips and shook his head slightly. "Unfortunately, you are only half right. In addition, I have to remind you that graduates of the University of London will not be proud of Oxford and Cambridge."

"University of London?" The young man pondered for a moment and said, "Hmm... Sorry, may I ask, is the University of London equivalent to Kazan University and Kharkov University in Russia?"

Arthur was so shocked by the other party's words that he didn't know how to respond.

Seeing Arthur's rare humiliation, Agares just followed suit and took a puff of his cigarette. He put a hand on the young Russian's shoulder and lectured him, "Do we really need to explain things so clearly?"

Arthur was silent for a long time before he calmed down. "Sir, it seems that you have never been to England, so I forgive your impoliteness."

The young man realized that he had made trouble and quickly tried to make amends: "Oh, no, sir, I have absolutely no intention of offending you. Kazan University and Kharkov University are also very good universities. They are just not as good as St. Petersburg University and Moscow University in Russia."

Arthur stared at the daredevil for a long time before he said, "Let me confirm again, are you Russian? Are you a student at Moscow State University?"

The young man smiled and replied: "Yes, but not anymore. I just graduated from there."

"It doesn't matter." Arthur smiled. "I happen to have a plan to travel to Russia. I can include Moscow State University as one of my travel destinations. Anyway, even if it's for work, I have to visit all the universities in Russia one by one."

"Work?" The young man slapped his head and said, "I almost forgot. You are a university professor, right? Such a young professor, you must be very famous in the academic world."

At this point, the young man couldn't help but mock the atmosphere of his alma mater: "Moscow University has a lot of academic exchange activities. Do you know Mr. Humboldt? He is Alexander von Humboldt, the president of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. When he went to Moscow University for academic exchanges two years ago, I still remember the scene. Provincial and ministerial officials and administrative bureaucrats, university supervisors and department heads, flies all came out together. Mr. Humboldt probably didn't expect that it would be easier for him to deal with savages in the primitive jungle than at Moscow University. Mr. Humboldt bowed and took off his hat almost every time he met someone that day. I was really worried that his waist would be strained and something would go wrong."

Upon hearing this, Arthur said calmly, "Mr. Humboldt? I do have some personal acquaintance with him."

"You know Humboldt?" the young man asked in surprise. "You also study geomagnetism?"

"No, you are only half right again. I study electromagnetism."

"Electromagnetism?" The young man pondered and then asked humbly, "I'm sorry, although I studied natural philosophy at Moscow University, my graduation thesis was on astronomy, so I don't know much about electromagnetism."

"Astronomy?" Arthur had been irritated by this guy before, and now he immediately wanted to tease him: "Then you must know Gauss?"

"Gauss? Of course! He's well-known!" The young man looked at Arthur in disbelief: "Are you Mr. Gauss? I didn't expect you to be so young."

Arthur shook his head. "I'm sorry. I also have a personal relationship with Mr. Gauss. He is a very good person and his academic achievements are far higher than mine. However, I am not Gauss. I just teach in the same school as him."

"You are Gauss's colleague?!" the young man said excitedly, "That's amazing!"

Arthur thought about his academic achievements and modestly declined, "I dare not consider myself a colleague of Mr. Gauss. No one can say that his work is as important as Gauss's."

The young man's mood went through twists and turns, like he was on a roller coaster: "Don't you do research?"

"I did very little research." Arthur paused, then said, "At the University of Göttingen, I was mainly responsible for leadership."

(End of this chapter)