shadow of britain

Chapter 655 Military Police's Method of Solving Cases

The period after the suppression of the Polish uprising quickly taught us a lesson. Nicholas's throne was firmly established, tyranny continued unabated, but it was not only these that caused us pain. We began to see with great anxiety that things were not going well in Europe, especially in France, the place where political signals and orders should have been issued. The old world had been ridiculed by Voltaire and overthrown by the revolution, but the philistines had propped it up again, changed its appearance, and regarded it as a guideline for their own use. Then our old theories became doubtful in our hearts.

The new world was pushing its way in, and our souls, our hearts, were opening to it. From that moment on, Saint-Simonism became the foundation of our faith, and its importance has never changed to this day. Sensitive and truly young, we were easily swept into its powerful tide. We had already swum across that line where whole groups of people stop, drop their hands, retreat, or look for shallows around. But we want to cross the sea!
——Alexander Herzen, Past and Remembrance

Herzen got into Arthur's carriage and saw a pile of dusty documents piled next to Arthur's seat.

"Have you just returned from the library?"

"I guess so." Arthur was not shy about his hobbies. "In fact, compared to electromagnetism, I am more interested in history. The archives of the Moscow Company preserve a lot of historical documents from the 16th and 17th centuries, so I asked them to borrow all these treasures."

At this point, Arthur pulled out a thick diary from his briefcase and shook it in front of Herzen's eyes: "And this, look at what this is? Pushkin's travel diary in the Caucasus. I spent a lot of effort to get him to agree to lend it to me."

"Pushkin?" When Herzen heard the name, he subconsciously wanted to see what was written in the diary, but he immediately remembered the purpose of coming to Arthur: "Sir, now is not the time to read the diary, even if the author of the diary is Pushkin."

"Well..." Arthur was going to persuade Herzen to forget about Ogarev, but he saw that the other party was not fooled, so he could only say helplessly: "Actually, I knew about Ogarev's arrest earlier than you did. Because according to the original plan, I was supposed to have breakfast with Duke Dmitri Golitsyn this morning. However, last night, the Duke's messenger came to tell me that today's breakfast was cancelled because there was another order from St. Petersburg. The Duke wanted to interrogate a group of new prisoners."

"New prisoners, you mean Ogarev and his companions?"

"It's probably them."

"Do you know why?"

Arthur recalled, pinching his chin: "I asked the Duke's messenger, but that guy didn't know much. He only said that the Emperor personally issued the arrest order, and coupled with the Moscow Telegraph incident, the higher-ups were very dissatisfied with Moscow's work. Therefore, this time it's not just a simple trial, but a special interrogation committee will be set up. The committee members include the Governor-General Duke Dmitry Golitsyn, the Chief of Police Ziensky, the Commander of the Military Police Volkov, and others. Even Petersburg will send a commissioner to solve the problem."

When Herzen heard this, he felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, and he felt a chill from head to toe.

"This……"

In fact, not only Herzen, but even Arthur didn't understand why such a big fuss had occurred this time.

The order to arrest Ogarev came from St. Petersburg, which means that what they committed was definitely not a recent one, but had been going on for some time.

Since they dare to arrest people, it means they must have a considerable amount of clues in their hands.

Out of kindness and as a former policeman, Arthur suggested, "I suggest that you recall carefully what you and Mr. Ogarev have done in the past few months. I think that no matter how rude the Russian military police and police are, they can't arrest people without any evidence."

Arthur always felt that Herzen had not told him the truth, but Herzen felt that he had said everything he could say.

Because in his memory, the past few months were definitely the most peaceful period since he came to Moscow.

The work in the Land and Resources Office was so overwhelming that he was overwhelmed. He had to deal with tedious documents and affairs almost every day and had no extra time to get involved in anything that might cause trouble.

Although he and Ogarev occasionally got together to discuss some topics about social reform and ideological enlightenment, those were just paper talks and never put into practice. As for the other people in the Ogarev-Herzen group, some of them were not even in Moscow. If they were to be charged with forming a party, Herzen would not accept it.

Arthur rubbed his temple and muttered, "Forget it, I have nothing else to do. I'll go to Mr. Zubkov to ask for you."

As Arthur finished speaking, he heard the sound of galloping horses. He opened the window and looked out. Unexpectedly, he saw a familiar face on the back of the white horse - his old friend, Mr. Sergei Shubinsky, Colonel of the Moscow Gendarmerie.

Arthur winked at Herzen, signaling him to hide in the carriage, then opened the door, waved his hat and greeted Shubinsky: "My dear Sergei, are you back from Petersburg?"

Shubinsky looked absent-minded. He heard someone calling him, and it took him a while to react: "Arthur, what a coincidence?"

Shubinsky got off his horse and exchanged a few words with Arthur. Then he turned the topic to the matter of Druisk and hinted: "Hught should have told you everything, right? Brother, I'm not saying that you are too careless. Think about it, we have climbed up one by one, and we have used up all our strength to get to this position. Fortunately, you and I were smart this time, otherwise we would have fallen into the ditch. It's not worth it to lose your future just for such a small matter." At this point, Shubinsky did not forget to warmly invite Arthur to his house for a visit: "Would you please go and have some tea?"

"Now?" Arthur pretended to be surprised and said, "My friend, you have no time to drink tea now. Don't you know what happened in Moscow these days?"

"So you knew about it too?" Shubinsky laughed dumbly. He shook his head and said, "Well, it's normal that I can't hide this kind of thing from you. Because in a few days, it will definitely be a big deal."

Arthur took out the tin box of Virginia tobacco from his pocket and motioned for Shubinsky to help himself.

The colonel of the gendarmes filled his pipe while muttering, "Brother, look at my hard-working life. It was supposed to be a great day, a great day for me to take my wife and children to Petersburg to reunite with my parents-in-law. After a whole year of hard work, I finally got to sit by the stove, drink a cup of kvass, and eat a few bites of sweet pancakes. But the emperor got angry and Count Benckendorff slammed the table, and I had to hurry back to Moscow to work. According to you, is this a life for people? Working in Scotland Yard is not necessarily as tiring as working as a gendarme, right?"

Arthur smiled and agreed, "Each job has its own tiring aspects. At Scotland Yard, for the subordinates, the main tiring part is the non-stop patrolling. For the Criminal Investigation Department, it requires more brainpower. However, it's not the Tsar who is in charge of us, but the Home Secretary. Whether we handle the case well or poorly, at least we won't be exiled to Siberia."

"That's right." Shubinsky was full of bitterness. He complained to Arthur: "The emperor lost his temper. This is no joke in Russia."

"So, who made him angry?"

Shubinsky took a puff of his cigarette and said, "Well, it's actually quite simple. It all started when the Third Bureau received a report that at a private banquet in Moscow earlier this year, the guests sang some inflammatory songs."

Arthur asked curiously, "Inciteful songs? What did they sing?"

"I can't tell you that." Shubinsky took off his pipe and said, "Brother, if I sang it, I would have to go to jail too. In short, it was some perverted poems and songs that satirized the current emperor. What's worse is that the organizer of this banquet is a student of Moscow University. You know, Moscow University is under my jurisdiction. If I can't handle it well, then..."

The gendarmerie colonel patted his forehead in pain and prayed to God to give him some good luck: "This time Volkov (the commander of the Moscow gendarmerie) will definitely call me in front of him and scold me. According to the usual practice, he will probably show me how he solved student cases when he was a gendarmerie at Moscow University... This old bastard, son of a bitch..."

Arthur consoled him, "There's nothing we can do. You've given him a pretext this time, and he's definitely going to show off to you. Be patient for now, but if he makes a fuss about this incident, he might even accuse you of dereliction of duty."

"To be honest, brother, I have really thought about this possibility. The old bastard knew that I was eyeing his position, and he was also eyeing several director positions in the Third Bureau headquarters. When the director of the First Department, Von Walker, died two years ago, he thought his chance had come, so he used his connections to operate in Petersburg. However, he did not look at his own level and whether he was worthy of sitting in Von Walker's position."

At this point, Shubinsky did not forget to praise Arthur: "Brother, do you know von Walker? He is the soul of the entire complex security police organization in Russia. He not only has a good education and active social activities experience, but also always focuses on police work. Although Count Benckendorff is the highest commander of the entire Third Bureau, I have always felt that von Walker is the true symbol of the Third Bureau. The 5000-man informant team was all organized and built by him! He is to the Third Bureau as you are to Scotland Yard."

Arthur was not particularly inclined to dwell on his experiences at Scotland Yard, especially with Herzen still behind him in the carriage.

Arthur asked, "Sergey, I think you are in danger now. If things are really as you said, I think Volkov is most likely to take this opportunity to step on your back and move himself from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Of course, whether this can be accomplished depends on what His Majesty the Tsar thinks. You are the first person responsible for the problems at Moscow University, but as the commander of the Moscow gendarmerie, Volkov cannot escape his leadership responsibility."

Shubinsky was filled with anger: "Yes! Of course he can't get away. So according to his character, he probably plans to celebrate the funeral, exaggerate the case, and then use it to show off his own achievements."

Arthur didn't understand what Shubinsky meant: "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, brother! Have you forgotten? I told you before! Volkov's specialty! If we use your Scotland Yard as an example, it is to turn the theft into a burglary and the slander of the royal family into a conspiracy to revolt. Although I haven't discussed it with Volkov in detail since I came back from Petersburg, I have already smelled the scent."

At this point, Shubinsky lowered his voice and said, "Do you know that we arrested a group of young people who were said to have attended the banquet yesterday?"

Arthur nodded slightly and said, "I heard about it from others."

Shubinsky sneered and said, "I can tell you clearly that if this matter were handed over to you, you would never dare to arrest the person directly, because this does not comply with the regulations of your Scotland Yard - we don't have any solid evidence at all."

Arthur's face changed when he heard this. As a well-tested British cop, he certainly knew how dangerous it was. "You mean, your people and the Moscow police will arrest people first and then gather evidence? If you do this, what if you don't find any evidence in their homes, and the arrested people refuse to give in? What are you going to do?"

Shubinsky took a puff of his cigarette. "So this is the most fucked up part of the matter. If I did this normally, I could report Volkov to the Emperor and kick him out of his position as the commander of the Moscow gendarmerie. But the problem is that the order to arrest the criminals was given by the Emperor. The Emperor did not specify who the criminals were, so Volkov used the emperor's skin as a banner to directly arrest a few people he thought were suspicious. If it were normal, the Moscow police would definitely not listen to his orders. But now, not arresting people is to confront the Emperor, and no one wants to bear such a crime. As for what you said, what should we do if we catch the wrong person... Yes, I admit that Volkov can't catch the right person at once. But this is the most cunning part of the old ghost. He first takes people away, and then deceives, coaxes and intimidates... Ha, don't doubt it, Arthur, the gendarmerie has plenty of ways to make people confess their crimes and be punished."

(End of this chapter)