Chapter 325 Social Dance

Liverpool, Old Dock, on the street in front of the Golden Lion Hotel.

Arthur has been investigating along the roads in the nearby blocks since he left the pub.

As a seasoned detective from Scotland Yard, he quickly identified several locations where he could conduct long-term surveillance of hotel rooms. These places are likely to be the shelters of the killers in the Red Devil's mouth.

Although Arthur never believed the jokes that came out of Agares' mouth, this time the information was bought with his soul.

The contract was signed in black and white, and the six-pointed star official seal privately engraved by the Red Devil was stamped on it, so Arthur couldn't help but believe it.

No matter what Arthur thought, he didn't think Agares would be willing to falsify for such a small business.

After all, the power of the law is not like the London Stock Exchange, which can turn a blind eye to management. If Agares dares to make a small move on the soul contract, he will definitely be hit by the iron fist of the law and his indefinite devil business license will be revoked.

As far as Arthur knows, the devil industry does not allow unlicensed employment. Even Bal, the devil leader, has to abide by the rules. No matter how you think about it, it is not the turn of Agares, the second-in-command who has been neglected, to violate them.

Thinking of this, Arthur couldn't help but light a cigarette and muttered to himself: "In my opinion, it seems better to build Britain into hell than it is now. At least they are quite disciplined, and the quality of front-line salesmen is generally strong. After all, except for hell, I haven't seen any second-in-command in any place who has to go to the front line to attract customers in person."

But although Arthur believes that the Red Devil is not alarmist about the killer issue, it does not prevent him from racking his brains to figure out who would have nothing to do and run from London to Liverpool to assassinate a special commissioner of the cabinet.

As a police officer of Scotland Yard, and a half-baked person who was temporarily promoted to this position to save the situation, Arthur did not even have time to make some hateful remarks and attracted such hatred. No matter how you think about it, it is unreasonable everywhere.

According to Arthur's experience in investigating criminal cases, there are only a few reasons for any case involving personal injury.

Either because of personal grudges or because of economic interests, coupled with a small part of spiritual issues such as faith, these three aspects are enough to explain the causes of all the murders Arthur has handled.

In terms of personal grudges, as the superintendent of Scotland Yard, it is impossible for Arthur not to offend people. At least those prisoners who were sent to prison by him must want his life. But it is very difficult to find those who have the courage and financial resources to hire a killer to deal with Arthur.

In terms of economic interests, Arthur simply calculated the accounts.

The stocks of the Thames Tunnel Company and Brunel Road and Bridge Construction Company that Lionel Rothschild recommended him to buy have climbed out of the low value in the past year.

After the Ministry of Finance issued 200,000 pounds of municipal engineering investment bonds, the Thames Tunnel Project soon received government funding support. The tunnel project, which was originally in a state of stagnation, was also restarted on a large scale at the beginning of the year. The world's first underground railway built with shield technology is now nearing completion.

Due to this good news, the share price of the tunnel company has doubled.

As Lionel said, the design of the Avon Gorge Bridge, another company held by Arthur, Brunel Road and Bridge Construction, successfully won the bid, and the share price rose accordingly.

Today, the net value of these two stocks has climbed to 1,700 pounds.

In other words, after Arthur, who was completely in the dark, accidentally broke into the stock trading market, he had already made a 70% floating profit in the first year of his trial.

He quietly defeated 99% of the stockbrokers in the London Stock Exchange, and let London stockholders see what the black hand is.

Before Arthur rushed to Liverpool to take office, the two companies had just announced this year's dividend distribution plan.

Although these two companies that had just gotten out of trouble were not as generous as insurance companies and banks, Arthur still received a return that exceeded this year's legal salary income - 130 pounds.

If we add the gifts and cash Arthur received, the investment from The Brit, the pocket money he earned from working part-time at concerts, and the money that was given from time to time at the Hyde Park mansion and the high-level police meetings at Scotland Yard, even if we make a conservative estimate, the assets he currently controls are more than 3,000 pounds.

If Arthur could be a little more evil and take a bite out of the activity funds of the Police Intelligence Bureau, then he could push this figure up.

If someone disliked Arthur in terms of assets, then the only person he could think of was Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, the major shareholder of The Brit. After all, Arthur lent him a huge sum of 500 pounds in one go to help him with the election.

But after all, this was just a joke. Arthur didn't think his Jewish friend would kill for defaulting on his debts. After all, there were too many people who had debts with Disraeli, and 500 pounds was not even the largest loan.

Although Mr. Disraeli made a lot of money this year, he still had a lot of debts from running a newspaper in the early years. Even without counting the money from Arthur and Dumas, he still had a debt of 4,000 pounds.

Compared to hiring assassins to kill creditors, Mr. Disraeli was usually more worried about whether he would be killed by assassins hired by creditors.

Arthur even suspected that the boy wanted to be elected as a member of parliament because of their civil immunity.

In this way, during the session of parliament, he could avoid being thrown into debtor's prison and hide in Westminster Palace as a deadbeat.

However, even without civil immunity, British creditors are relatively tolerant of MPs.

As far as Arthur knows, there are lawsuits against businessmen, literati, factory owners, and generals in the bankruptcy court in London.

Several famous figures in the Royal Navy had to move overseas to avoid debt, including Royal Navy Admiral Sidney Smith, whom Arthur had met before.

And the legendary Mr. Elder Carter of the University of London joined the Royal Navy for this reason. At least Arthur can be sure that this boy didn't even pay the rent when he went to play Fantastic Drift.

However, although the species diversity of Britain can be witnessed in the ecosystem of the bankruptcy court, there is only one case of prosecution of MPs in the voluminous cases.

If Disraeli, the biggest stakeholder, had no motive, Arthur could only attribute the potential attackers to religious reasons.

Although Britain had achieved religious tolerance a long time ago, it did not mean that non-conformists could really be on an equal footing with Anglicans.

Catholics were only allowed to become MPs last year, and there was still overt discrimination against other beliefs such as Judaism at the political level.

At the executive level, discrimination against non-conformists was even stronger. Even Scotland Yard, which had a Catholic superintendent, often included religious beliefs in the criteria for judging criminals.

If there were two suspects, one was an Anglican and the other was a Catholic, the Catholic would definitely be interrogated more strictly.

Whether in the government or the public, British society was still full of distrust of Catholics. Although they believed in the same God, the British believed that Catholics were spies sent by the Pope of Rome.

As long as they were not careful, they would cede the entire country to Gregory XVI of the Vatican.

And if this Catholic happened to be Irish, it would be even more amazing.

In the eyes of ordinary British people, these two identities combined are equivalent to the synonym of evil walking on the earth. Lazy, unclean, low-quality, and disloyal to the king.

For this reason, before the establishment of Scotland Yard, once the London sheriff found that the Irish were suspected of committing a crime, it was equivalent to immediate execution with conclusive evidence.

Arthur was luckier than the Irish Catholics in that he was an Englishman and a small farmer who rolled out of the pigsty in the countryside of York. The most valuable thing was that he had an uncle who was a small farmer who was found by the devil and was unconscious.

Therefore, although Arthur's Catholic faith seemed a little unreliable, his agricultural component made him become a true and upright person.

And because Mr. Hastings was as unconcerned about religious affairs as always, he might not go to the Catholic church several times a year, and this guy graduated from the University of London, the base of atheism.

Therefore, Sir Peel was relieved to promote him to the position of senior police officer after examining Arthur's files.

Although it may sound incredible, in the British government, a person with no faith actually has more advantages than a devout Catholic.

Arthur can reach this position today, in his own words, a small part is due to hard work, a large part is due to luck, and the final word is persistent fishing.

There is no way, it is really hard to pretend to be a devout believer.

When he first entered Scotland Yard, he only got a few shillings a week, what kind of drama was he playing with them?

With Arthur's attitude, if someone really came to assassinate him because of religious issues, then Arthur felt that the assassins sent might not necessarily be Anglicans. Catholics seemed to have more motivation to eliminate him, who looked like an Anglican spy who "pretended to convert and regretted it later."

Arthur pondered for a long time but couldn't figure it out. Suddenly, the sixth sense he honed in the East End reminded him that someone seemed to be approaching behind him.

Arthur calmly put his hand on the holster, and as soon as he turned sideways, he heard a polite greeting behind him.

"Good day, Mr. Hastings."

"Hmm?"

Arthur turned his head, but the first person he saw was not Gladstone, but Agares squatting on the head of the woodcutter.

Arthur was slightly stunned. He ignored the red devil squatting on the commanding heights of the future Britain, but immediately remembered Gladstone's identity.

"Mr. Gladstone, I didn't expect to meet you here."

"I just heard the news that you were sent to Liverpool. What is your impression of Liverpool? Do you need me to introduce you to some attractions worth visiting?"

Arthur smiled and pointed to a block in front of him: "Don't worry about this. The citizens of Liverpool are very enthusiastic. I was stopped by several ladies not long after I arrived in Liverpool yesterday. While holding my arm, they introduced me to the customs and customs of Liverpool in detail, and enthusiastically invited me to visit their home. The only flaw is that their accomplices, the children hiding behind me, have dirty hands."

When Gladstone heard this, he couldn't help but said awkwardly: "They are all used to this kind of life. I have tried to persuade them before. For example, I invited ladies and children to listen to me on the premise of inviting them to afternoon tea. "Bible"."

"Oh..." Arthur joked: "Now it seems that they didn't listen. However, Mr. Gladstone, your efforts are not in vain. At least the afternoon tea and onion rings are real. If you can propose a proposal to distribute free afternoon tea in the House of Commons after being elected as a member of Parliament, at least I will support you personally."

Just a simple joke, and a smile appeared on Gladstone's face again: "Mr. Hastings, although giving out afternoon tea is simple and straightforward, it cannot solve the problems of poverty, crime and moral decay in Britain."

Arthur took off his hat and said: "No way, I am a simple-minded Scotland Yard policeman. I can't understand what you are saying is more complicated. If you say: giving out free afternoon tea can make ladies let go of me." Arm, I understand what it means. But if you talk to me about protective tariffs or navigation regulations or corn laws, I'm a bit confused."

Gladstone was dubious when he heard Arthur's words. He didn't think Arthur was really as simple as he said. After all, a truly simple man could not sit in the position of Superintendent of Scotland Yard.

But in terms of resume, Arthur seems too single.

Whether it's investigating cases, sword fighting, playing the piano, or doing electrical research, most of Arthur's abilities are professional.

On the surface, his rapid promotion was probably due to his superiors' commendation for his excellent professional qualities. Of course, Gladstone could not rule out the possibility of a deal going on behind the scenes.

But it had only been a year since Arthur rose from a farm boy to become the Superintendent of Scotland Yard. How much money could he get to run relationships in such a short period of time? Not everyone has a father who can spend 80,000 pounds at any time to give his son a wife.

Gladstone smiled and replied: "You are too self-effacing. If you can understand the relationship between magnetism and electricity, you can understand the Corn Laws. If you don't understand it for the time being, it just means you haven't spent your time on it. That’s all.”

"You're right." Arthur deliberately patted the document bag in his hand when he heard this: "My thoughts are all on this now."

"Is this a customs declaration form?"

"Huh?" Arthur asked with a smile: "How did you know that the customs declaration form was with me?"

Gladstone responded with a smile: "I heard it from a friend. He started working in foreign trade when he was twelve years old. When he was sixteen, he joined the Customs Department. Calculating time, this is already his time in the Customs Department. It’s the seventh year.”

The red devil squatting above Gladstone heard this and asked knowingly: "Arthur, what were you doing when you were twelve years old? Oh! I almost forgot that when you were twelve years old, you first entered the leadership and finally began to qualify. Manage the pigsty.”

"It hasn't changed now." Arthur glanced at him, and then replied with a smile: "In that case, maybe I have met him. If you are free another day, you can introduce him to me. But about this job The document... Unfortunately, Mr. Gladstone, you guessed wrong. This is not a customs declaration. Today, in order to investigate smuggling information, I went to the street and had a brief chat with the local residents, but all I asked was useless. It’s really a waste of time that I’ve been writing this stuff.”

"Intelligence? Transcripts?" Gladstone asked, "What did the citizens tell you?"

Arthur thought about it for a moment and pulled out the words he had prepared long ago.

"It's nothing more than complaining that the city council has too strict controls on Liverpool. Shopkeepers said: Since the emergency was declared, sailors in the port have been locked on the ship and cannot go to the city to spend money.

Dockers say: Due to port controls, there are fewer and fewer jobs available every day. Squatting on the pier for a day may not be able to make a few orders. Some of them can only eat one meal a day in order to save money.

Factory workers are complaining about dockers competing for their jobs. Wage prices in Liverpool have been falling recently, but the prices of daily necessities are rising. If this continues, I'm afraid that the next time London sends people to Liverpool, it won't be the Chancery and the Home Office who will do the talking, but the War and Colonial Affairs Department. "

Gladstone widened his eyes and said: "Department of War and Colonial Affairs?"

Arthur nodded: "Yes, martial law. Although the cabinet has been very cautious about using this method since the Peterloo massacre, but given that there have been riots of thousands of people in Liverpool, I cannot rule out the possibility of martial law. sex."

Having said this, Arthur took out a few more papers from the document bag and handed them to Gladstone: "I also found out some things that I don't need, but you might be interested. To be honest, Mr. Gladstone , although you were not elected as a member of Parliament, your campaign slogan of "eliminate corruption" won my heart. In order to express my support for you, I am willing to provide some clues to your speech. Of course, I cannot guarantee this. It’s true, because I have neither the energy nor the ability to investigate these things.”

Gladstone took the pieces of paper, glanced at them lightly, and immediately understood what was in them.

Although he didn't know much about it specifically, he had always heard about it in the circle. Moreover, he also heard Arthur's implication that he wanted to solve the problem properly instead of going to Liverpool to cause trouble.

Gladstone folded the document silently and then invited with a smile: "Thank you for your support. To express my gratitude, I would like to invite you to a social dance tonight. The guests are all the most talented young people in Liverpool. I believe you will have common topics. I wonder if you are interested in participating?"