shadow of britain

Chapter 608 Mr. Qingtian
To control the gifted but irregular Russia, Germans are needed, lots of Germans!
— Tsar Nicholas I

The mayor's arrival broke the tense situation, and the air seemed to become heavier.

The officials of Druisk followed the mayor in, including judges, school inspectors, jurors, liquor inspectors, and headmen of the militias from various towns and villages in Druisk, almost filling the small inn to the brim.

Their coats and dresses fluttered in the cold wind, and the breath they exhaled condensed into mist in the cold air.

The shop owner's body trembled violently, and his face changed from excitement to fear. He almost instinctively took a step back, staggered, and almost fell.

In the past, any one of these bastards could make him work for a week for nothing. Now that so many of them have suddenly come today, they are going to bankrupt him.

At the same time, the police chief's face changed three times. He lowered his head slightly and told the shopkeeper in a low voice, "You, go prepare the bill first."

As he spoke, he walked quickly towards the mayor and his group.

"Ivan Mihajlovich?" Mayor Bakalkin saw the police chief and muttered in dissatisfaction: "You are just in time. I heard from your men that you were on duty today. Why did you suddenly come here?"

At this point, the mayor suddenly changed his mind: "Damn it! Did your father-in-law ask you to come? That old ghost, I knew he had no good intentions!"

The police chief held his head high, showing no intention of backing down in front of the mayor. He walked up to the mayor with his sword in his hand and said arrogantly, "Yes, I did receive instructions from my superiors, but not from my father-in-law, but from Colonel Hastingoff. I think, in any case, he is concerned about Druisk's affairs."

"Damn it! I haven't said anything yet, but you're already making a point... instructions from your superiors, Colonel Hastings..." The mayor's tone froze, and he suddenly came to his senses: "Colonel Hastings? Have you seen him?"

The police chief stepped aside, revealing Arthur, who was sitting behind him and smoking leisurely. He bowed deeply and said, "This is Colonel Artur Agaresovich Hestingov, the Special Commissioner of the Second District Military Police Regiment of the Third Bureau of His Majesty the Tsar's Imperial Office, and the Sixth Rank Army Counselor."

The mayor's eyes froze instantly, and his heartbeat seemed to stop temporarily.

The Colonel Hastingoff in front of him was completely different from the image of an officer he had imagined.

The halo of the special commissioner of the gendarmerie regiment of the Third Bureau of the Tsar's Imperial Office weighs on Arthur's head. This impressive official position and status make him look like a saint.

The dark tuxedo made on Jermyn Street in London was tailored to fit the body, with a slim waist and silky fabric, exuding an air of luxury and refinement. Even a person blinded by a magpie could tell that the suit was tailor-made for an upper-class dinner party.

The hem of the tuxedo is slightly raised, highlighting the agile yet elegant figure.

The collar of the snow-white shirt was wrinkle-free and the pleats were tightly knitted. He wore an inconspicuous and exquisite golden cufflink. Even the most inconspicuous details revealed silent authority.

Arthur sat leisurely in the chair, twisting the police chief's pipe in his hand and slowly exhaling smoke.

The smoke drifted away gently under the dim light, as if time had been stretched a little at this moment.

Arthur did not rush to speak. His red eyes swept over the mayor and other officials present, as if he was examining a group of uninvited guests.

The pipe swayed gently, and the smoke it emitted intertwined with the surrounding air to form an invisible net that surrounded everyone.

In silence, Arthur finally spoke. His voice was low and magnetic, with a hint of calmness and intimidation: "Mr. Mayor, I have been waiting for you for five days. It is really harder to meet you than to meet Count Benkendorf."

As soon as the name of the Third Bureau Director Benkendorf was mentioned, all the officials present were immediately frightened out of their wits.

The mayor said timidly, "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I didn't know you were here."

He saw Arthur smoking, and hurriedly took out the triangular cigarette box from his pocket and handed it to him: "You use it, you use it..."

Arthur pushed open the cigarette case with his fingernail and refilled his pipe.

As soon as he raised his head, he saw that the mayor had already lit a match, and was bending over with a smile on his face, trying to light it for him.

Arthur was in no hurry. He waited until the match was about to burn the mayor's fingernail before slowly moving his pipe forward. "I don't know, I'm not sure, and other such excuses. Skolnikov has already used them. You'd better change to a fresh one."

"I……"

Arthur raised his hand to interrupt him. "I heard that if you want to know how a place is governed after you arrive, you just need to look at what is in the people's bowls. I lived here for five days and ate the local food for five days. The beef was as hard as a brick, there was not a drop of oil in the vegetable soup, the tea had no tea fragrance, and everything smelled like fish. This shows that you have governed Druisk well."

The mayor stammered as if his tongue was tied: "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry... I... It's all my fault. The beef we sell in our market is always fresh and qualified. It's all brought in by merchants from Kholmogorsky. These people are honest and reliable, don't drink, and have excellent character. I don't know where he got the piece of beef you just mentioned. If you are not satisfied with this place, you can... You can move to another place, and I promise to let you see what the real Druisk people eat like."

"What do the real Druidsk people eat?" Arthur recalled the complaints he heard when he passed by the market two days ago: "Earning five rubles a year, but eating five slaps a day?"

Arthur slammed the table, stood up, pointed at the mayor's nose and cursed: "How dare you! You have left me here for five days and five nights. Don't you care about the Third Bureau, the Imperial Office, and the face of His Majesty the Tsar? What do you think of me? Do you think of me as a clerk in the ministry who sharpens quills for others?"

The mayor's legs seemed to be hit by a heavy hammer and instantly went limp. He barely had time to react before he felt his knees bending uncontrollably, his steps staggering, and he almost fell apart into the chair next to him. "Please forgive me, I... I know I was wrong, please don't treat me so cruelly, I have a wife, children, and an old mother to support. I don't mean to make things difficult for you, it's just... I'm just inexperienced, you're also a ninth-rank official, think about it, a month's salary is not enough to buy tea and sugar, if you don't take one or two pieces of clothing, and occasionally take a little food, how can the whole family survive! As for the rumors that I beat people when I was drunk, molested women, and charged people for liquor business licenses, they are pure rumors, all false accusations, all fabricated by people who have had grudges against me on weekdays. These people have always been bold and deceiving their superiors and subordinates, you must not be fooled by them!"

"Humph!"

Arthur treated Bakalkin's plea coldly: "Whether you have a wife and children or not is none of my business! What do you think the goal of the third round is? The emperor has strictly ordered us to investigate corruption throughout the country. You said it lightly to take one or two pieces of clothing and occasionally take some food. Little do you know that these few pieces of clothing and food you took have ruined many households and destroyed many families!"

Bakalkin was terrified. He had thought that the imperial envoy might be difficult to deal with, but he didn't expect it to be so difficult.

Judging from Arthur's confident tone, he might have enough evidence in his hands to exile him to Siberia or even execute him.

Yes!

He should have thought of it earlier. If there was no evidence or clues, why would the higher-ups suddenly send an imperial envoy to inspect?

Arthur saw that Bakaldin was shaking with fear. Not only could he not stand up, but he couldn't even utter a decent word. Then he gradually calmed down and raised his hand to call Skolnikov: "Come on! Help the mayor up."

The police chief tremblingly helped the mayor up, but before he could stand firmly, he heard the living Satan behind him speak again.

Arthur looked at the Druid officials who were silent as a mouse, and thought it was ridiculous that these guys were as timid as little chickens.

Arthur put on white gloves, took the fox fur coat that the mayor had placed on the chair and put it on himself. "You may be thinking, oh no, this Colonel Hastingoff came to Druisk just to find fault and find faults! But I want to tell you, it is impossible to find faults in real eggs! What I want to see is whether this place is run fairly, whether the people live decently, and whether it can add luster to the majesty of the Tsar. His Majesty's guillotine is hanging over your heads, and whether it will fall or not depends on how you behave!"

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, the common people and farmers who had been standing outside the inn in the heavy snow, leaning against the door frame to watch the excitement, all smiled happily. They shouted slogans such as "Long live the Tsar! Long live Colonel Hastingoff!", as if they were going to blow away the snow.

Seeing this, Arthur took off his hat and smiled and nodded slightly to them.

The officials of Druidsk were all frightened and turned pale. Just when they were at a loss, they suddenly saw Arthur leaning over and whispering something in the ear of the embarrassed mayor.

Then, the mayor was stunned for a moment, then he stood up and bowed as if he had been pardoned, half-bowed and invited Arthur to get on the most magnificent carriage in all of Druidsk: "Please get in. Although my humble abode is simple and the food is unpalatable, I dare not refuse your request."

The officials of Druisk followed the mayor out of the inn like followers.

The common people who had been gathering outside the hotel saw that the officials had all left. Some of them, who had been freezing for half a day, dispersed, while those with some extra money in their pockets went inside and happily planned to order a few drinks.

The deserted hotel suddenly had so many guests that the waiter's face was immediately filled with smiles. While he was cleaning the table where Arthur had just eaten with a rag, he was discussing what had just happened with the guests.

"Your Majesty, thank you for opening your eyes. These sons of bitches should have been disciplined long ago!"

"As expected of a high-ranking official from Petersburg, he is truly a remarkable person! His demeanor and look could have frightened the inspector to the point of pissing himself."

"Yes, our hard times are finally over!"

A ragged farmer patted his friend beside him happily and said, "These beasts! We, Druidsk, can have what we have today thanks to these blood-eating bullies! Today, we will finally teach them a lesson!"

An older vendor wiped the tears from his eyes and spoke incoherently with excitement: "What he said just now was like a knife, piercing us all so hard that we dared not breathe! Look at the way he walked in the room, he was just like a god descending from heaven!"

There was a young man with a hot temper. He still had a smile on his face and bit his pipe fiercely and said, "That old guy Bakalkin should be arrested. He has so much money in his hands, how can he not be corrupt? I heard that he bribed many people in the province privately and even dared to ignore the orders from his superiors! Today, when Colonel Hestingov came, he was like he had no pants on, sweating profusely!"

"Haha, well said! You see, the mayor was still mumbling at first, but he was frightened by Hastingoff and he lost the energy to speak! How dare he pretend to be a big official? His face almost turned purple with fright!" Another small vendor laughed and gestured with his hands to show the mayor's servile appearance: "I almost laughed my ass off at that time. Even I almost didn't dare to look at him. I didn't expect that he was so afraid of a young man who was probably not even half his age!"

The waiter was happily busy with his work. Suddenly, he saw the owner coming out of the kitchen after calculating the bill. He quickly said, "You really missed a good show just now. If you miss this, you may never have the chance to see such a funny thing in your life."

"What's wrong?" asked the shop owner.

The waiter repeated everything that had just happened. At the end, he could hear several small vendors discussing choosing a day to go to the imperial envoy to file a complaint.

Unexpectedly, after hearing these words, the shop owner not only did not smile at all, but he couldn't help but sigh and shook his head.

The young man asked in confusion: "Why aren't you smiling?"

He took the rag from the waiter and said as he wiped the table: "Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there were several streams and rivers in our Druisk. They always flooded in the spring, causing the farmers here to lose their homes and property. The farmers could not bear it any longer, so they gathered together to find the big river to complain, hoping that the big river would come out to judge justice and take care of the streams and rivers. The farmers walked and walked! Finally they came to the big river, but as a result, they found that half of their property that was washed away by the water was floating on the surface of the river. So the farmers could only sigh to each other and said, 'Why should we waste our time? The big one will never judge justice to punish the small one, because they divide the spoils in half!'"

The young man was stunned. He asked, "Did you make up this story?"

The shop owner looked at the boy meaningfully and said, "I'm not a poet or a writer, so how can I make up a story? But if you want to say this story is old, then it is indeed old. But if you insist on saying it is new, then it is indeed new."

(End of this chapter)