shadow of britain

Chapter 592: The Secret Police's Victory Meeting

Elder Carter was getting married, and his friend, the head of the secret police, Arthur Hastings, asked him, "Why didn't you invite me to your wedding?"

Elder Carter replied: "Do you need an invitation? You must have known the time and place of my wedding."

——Collection of 19th Century British Political Satire Jokes

"Would you like to go with me to meet Colonel Shubinsky?"

Arthur's questions were like the devil's groan. Although Bismarck knew that there might be a life-destroying poison hidden behind them, he could not resist.

Young people always have such unrealistic fantasies. They feel that they are smarter and more perceptive than their peers, and therefore capable of handling those playgrounds that only the most insidious and cunning people can set foot in.

Bismarck followed Arthur closely, and walked out of the box and downstairs with him. Even he himself did not realize that he had begun to calmly accept the status of a little follower since some time.

With his elder brother Arthur Hastings leading the way, why shouldn't he be afraid to take a look at that secret new world?

"Sergey, my good brother, is that you?"

Arthur stepped forward and raised his hand in greeting his old friend.

This British villain had clearly confirmed the other party's identity long ago, but he pretended to be excited as if he had met him by chance.

He first shook hands with the surprised Shubinsky cordially, and then pretended to ask casually about the newspaper in his hand: "Did you also see the news about the premiere of Turandot today?"

"This?" Shubinsky spread out the newspaper and said, "No, I'm actually reading a joke."

Bismarck's eyes swept across the article in the newspaper. It was an ordinary current affairs newspaper, recording many trivial matters, and there was nothing funny about it.

Fortunately, Arthur shared his view and asked the question for him: "What's so funny about a blacksmith being sentenced to three years in prison?"

Shubinsky took out a snuff bottle from his jacket pocket, unscrewed the lid and handed it to Arthur, motioning him to have a little. "If you don't know the cause and effect, then this matter is certainly not funny. But as far as I know, the reason why this blacksmith was sued in court is that after getting drunk, he insulted the Austrian emperor greatly. He shouted to the guests of the whole tavern: 'His Majesty the Emperor lives in my ass.'"

Arthur took the snuff bottle and sniffed it. "Sergey, how can you tell this story so bluntly? If you were not Russian, you would probably be in court right now."

Shubinsky laughed and said, "Arthur, you obviously thought the same thing as the newspaper editor. In order to report the reasons for the verdict in the right words without repeating the insult to the emperor, the reporters racked their brains. So, this is what you see in the newspaper."

Upon hearing this, Bismarck hurriedly looked at the newspaper again.

It was written on it: the blacksmith Powell was sentenced to three years in prison for leaking some disturbing information about the emperor's residence.

"Oh my God!" Bismarck muttered, "If I didn't know the reason, I would have thought that this blacksmith originally wanted to assassinate the emperor."

Shubinsky noticed the little follower beside Arthur: "Who is this?"

Arthur motioned Bismarck to find a place to sit down, and then explained to Shubinsky: "This is my assistant. I forgot to tell you, Sergei, I am no longer a police officer in Scotland Yard. I am now the proctor of the University of Göttingen."

"Proctor? Good God! You went from England to Hanover, and even your profession has taken a 180-degree turn."

Colonel Shubinsky held his forehead and said, "My friend, it sounds like a lot has happened to you since I left London."

"Who says it's not true?" Arthur pointed at the scar at the corner of his eye and joked, "After all, Sergei, you have a share of responsibility here. If you guys in the third division had done a good job in Poland, I wouldn't have nearly sent the Polish exiles to England to see God."

"Oh..." Shubinsky put his hand on his chest and said apologetically, "I also heard about the Liverpool bombing, but I didn't expect that you were the victim. Fortunately, you were not hurt. The only pity now is that you didn't see thousands of Poles walking along Vladimir Avenue in handcuffs and shackles. Although I know this won't help, at least when you see these deserved Poles being exiled to Siberia, you can feel relieved."

"Stop saying these depressing words." Arthur asked Bismarck to stand up warmly: "Come on, Otto, let's go to the theater bar with Colonel Shubinsky and order a couple of drinks."

The three of them came to the tavern, and Arthur ordered the bartender to serve the food while he was trying to build up his relationship with Shubinsky.

"Sergey, you left London in such a hurry. You rushed back to St. Petersburg so quickly, I guess you got a promotion, right?"

A bright smile broke out on Shubinsky's face. Although he was a secret policeman, he did not want to show off in front of his friends.

"There are indeed some minor adjustments within the Third Bureau. The Polish uprising is indeed a bad thing, both for you and Russia, but for me personally, I did get a small advantage. When His Majesty the Tsar ascended the throne in 1825, the Decembrist uprising broke out. Therefore, in order to deal with various possible rebellion conspiracies that might occur in the future, he placed the Third Bureau at a very high level. The Polish uprising also made His Majesty decide to speed up the construction of the domestic security system."

Shubinsky took a sip of Georgian wine, as if the fatigue from the journey was cured by the wine. He continued, "So, experienced Third Bureau officials like me were transferred back to China in large numbers to train the new members who joined the Third Bureau after the expansion."

At this point, Shubinsky did not forget to joke: "For a period of time, I was almost equivalent to you, the former principal of the London Police Academy. All the members of the Third Bureau who received intensive training in Moscow have basically taken my class."

Arthur seemed to remember something when he heard this. He smiled helplessly: "No wonder you came to visit me at Scotland Yard before returning home and asked me for a few internal training manuals." Shubinsky laughed and gave Arthur a thumbs up: "I have to say, Arthur, you are not only a good solver, but also a leader in compiling manuals. You should not mind that I borrow some of your work results in my teaching work, right?"

"Of course I don't mind." Arthur clinked glasses with Shubinsky in a relaxed manner and said, "To be honest, you only borrowed part of it, but the Kingdom of Hanover might even copy all of my works."

"Kingdom of Hanover?"

Shubinsky thought about it for a moment and immediately figured out the key point. He raised his elbow and poked Arthur's chest, grinning and said, "I knew you didn't come to Germany to be a teacher. Even if the British don't respect talents, they would never send a talent who can be a military police commander to do scientific research."

Bismarck sat beside Arthur with his head down, drinking alone. He dared not say anything here.

Although he also believed that the gendarmerie commander was a higher-level talent than scientists, he didn't know whether Garibaldi, Herzen, and those stupid students at the University of Göttingen would hold the same view.

Arthur asked, "What about you, Sergey, are you still doing training work?"

"Hiccup!" Shubinsky shook his head. "The training has come to an end. And now... my job is actually similar to yours, related to education, but it also does not deviate from the main job of national security."

"You are responsible for monitoring college students?" Arthur blurted out.

"Ok?"

Shubinsky was stunned by Arthur's question, but when he saw Arthur raised his hand and patted his chest, he reacted: "I almost forgot that you are probably doing the same thing now. Yes, Moscow University is my place. The young people there are not very peaceful and have caused several political incidents in recent years. My job is to tell them to study hard, work hard after graduation, and be a person who is beneficial to the country. Of course, there are always some young people who don't listen to advice, so every time at this time, I have to use the 'whip'."

Arthur sympathized with Shubinsky and said, "Oh, Sergey, I can understand how difficult this job is. These little bastards have never been exposed to society, and university life has given them the opportunity to idle away. When such a group of people get together, they will start to daydream. If you are too strict with them, then your good reputation in society will be ruined. What's even more fucked up is that you don't know which lord's family they are the unfilial descendants of, and if you arrest them rashly, it may affect your career. But if you are a little loose, my God, they can do something big for you anytime and anywhere! Do you know the 'Frankfurt Garrison Incident' that happened not long ago? I was transferred to the University of Göttingen after this incident."

Shubinsky swung his wine glass and nodded in agreement, "I know. A group of students almost rushed into the armory. In fact, a similar incident almost happened at Moscow University, but because we discovered it early, it didn't cause a disaster. I don't even dare to think about what consequences would be caused if a 'Frankfurt Garrison Incident' happened in Russia..."

At this point, Shubinsky could not help but shudder: "The Tsar might tear my head off."

"Don't complain, Sergei," Arthur commented. "Compared to being stripped of your public office and then having your whole family exiled to Siberia, this is already a good outcome."

Shubinsky held the wine glass in his hand, stared at the calm surface of the wine and said, "You are right. Perhaps Volkov, who was in charge of Moscow University before me, was worried about this, so he sentenced all the students involved in the Kritsky incident to heavy sentences. If these students did not go to Siberia, then it would be me and my family who would go to Siberia."

Arthur quickly grasped the crux of the matter: "What is the Kritsky Affair?"

"In short, they are a group of brainless students who are dissatisfied with reality. Volkov accused them of participating in a secret society and plotting to overthrow the Tsarist government. The evidence is that this group of people spread the taboo poems of Pushkin, Rylyev and Poleshayev everywhere."

"Is that all?" Arthur laughed softly, "If you go by this standard, I should be arrested as well."

Shubinsky vaguely knew that Arthur must have done some dirty work in London without telling his superiors, because when he was in the Russian Embassy, ​​he asked Arthur to buy several forbidden works by Elder Carter.

Shubinsky smiled and waved his hands, saying, "So that's why! This is their stupidity. What can a few young students accomplish? They have ruined themselves! If they were just like you, secretly buying and selling some adult works to make some extra money, they might not be sentenced so severely. These young people must understand that playing with liberal words is dangerous, and engaging in secret activities is even more unthinkable. A tear shed for Poland carelessly, a bold word spoken, can be exchanged for several years of exile. Those works they distributed for free not only did not earn a single ruble, but some were imprisoned, some were exiled, and some were exiled. The only one who benefited was Volkov, who caught them. Not only does he not have to worry about the students causing trouble for him, but he also won the position of commander of the Moscow gendarmerie in one fell swoop."

Arthur pretended to be surprised and asked, "Just for such a small incident, you can get a position like the commander of the military police?"

"No, a small incident alone won't make you a military police commander."

Shubinsky suddenly had an idea and began to teach Arthur how to deal with the Russian officialdom: "Volkov's success lies in the fact that he turned a small incident into a big one. He successfully convinced the Winter Palace that this was a large-scale rebellion and the aftermath of the Decembrist uprising. It's a pity that he didn't find guns and ammunition in the hands of the students, otherwise he would not be the commander of the gendarmerie in Moscow now, but working at the headquarters of the Third Bureau in St. Petersburg."

Arthur joked, "Sergey, it seems that you are not as motivated as your predecessor. With such a good opportunity, you did not stay in Moscow to investigate the students' activities, but instead went to Leipzig to watch Turandot."

"Watching Turandot is also part of the job..." The experienced Shubinsky added without missing a beat: "In our line of work, opportunities are always available. We need to have a good balance between work and life. Isn't enjoying life for the sake of better work?"

Shubinsky didn't want to tell Arthur the truth, but Arthur had plenty of ways to make him talk.

The pigherd is not only good at raising pigs, but also good at fishing.

As we all know, one of the secrets of fishing is to be willing to put in the bait and make the nest.

What's more, these materials were just picked up by Arthur on the roadside, so he didn't feel bad about scattering them.

Arthur said regretfully, "Really? Sergei, I thought you came to Leipzig today just for those Russian students."

Arthur did not finish his words, but threw the question to Bismarck halfway through: "Otto, what were the names of those guys?"

Bismarck was suddenly called out by name, and was so frightened that he almost dropped his glass: "I... I just remember that there are many people named Nicholas among them."

(End of this chapter)