Chapter 337: Repaying Kindness with Enmity?

Bang, bang, bang.

The smoke of black powder was accompanied by several consecutive gunshots.

In the early morning of Liverpool's old dock, there were already many dock workers who came to try their luck. At first, the noisy voices quickly covered up the gunshots.

But when Dumas, Louis and others also began to pull out their guns and fight back, the pedestrians on the road finally realized that something was wrong.

Soon, panic spread among the crowd, everyone fled in all directions, and the scene soon became a mess.

Arthur and his group clung to the carriage as a cover, and the muzzle of the revolver spewed flames.

Arthur looked around at the chaotic crowd for a long time but couldn't find the enemy. He asked quickly: "Did you see who fired the gun?"

Dumas gritted his teeth and poked out half of his head: "There was a guy wearing a brown wide-brimmed hat, a red jacket, and straight pants. There were several people standing next to him, holding guns in both hands!"

Arthur looked in the direction pointed by Dumas and soon found several criminals hiding in the fleeing crowd.

Arthur counted the number of times they fired in his mind, and suddenly shouted: "Six shots! They should have run out of bullets, rush up and kill them!"

Everyone stood up and prepared to rush up to subdue the gang of criminals, but as soon as Louis showed his head, a bullet shot through his top hat.

The close contact with the bullet frightened His Majesty the Emperor and made him break out in a cold sweat. He shouted, "Damn it! They also have revolvers in their hands, and more than one bullet!"

Just when Louis was angry, Dumas saw the opportunity for the crowd to evacuate, and knocked down the attacker standing in the front with one bullet.

And those people sent by various departments in Liverpool to follow Arthur also hurriedly drew their pistols and stepped forward to support.

They shouted while shooting, "Mr. Hastings, are you okay?"

Beep beep beep!

In the chaotic environment of shouting, the whistle sounded, followed by a chaotic sound of horse hooves.

The local sheriff of Liverpool obviously noticed the abnormal situation in the dock area and was rushing over with his cavalry.

The attackers originally thought that they only needed to deal with Arthur and his entourage, but what they didn't expect was that the Liverpool authorities were so concerned about Commissioner Hastings that they even arranged a large number of "plainclothes" near the hotel to protect him.

Seeing that the assassination was about to fail, Arthur and others gradually approached them. The leading attacker simply gritted his teeth, took out a match from his pocket and threw it into the horse trough next to him.

"Hastings! You bastard who works for the government, go to hell!"

There was only a loud bang, and the flames of the explosion rose instantly.

The wooden trough was blown to pieces, and the bullets hidden in the trough flew everywhere, instantly penetrating the walls and window glass of the nearby hotel.

Several pedestrians who were unable to dodge were also implicated. They covered the parts of their bodies that were hit and fell to the ground with wailing. Even the attacker himself shivered twice with his eyes wide open, and fell to the ground like a broken kite.

Although Arthur and others were standing far away, there were still a few stray bullets scattered to this side.

There were several holes in the door of the carriage, and Dumas was knocked to the ground by the shock wave generated by the explosion. Although Louis and Heine were less affected, they were still covered with mud on their faces.

Arthur was the most unlucky one. Although the bullet did not hit him, a small stone blown away by the explosion opened a wound in the corner of his eye. The wound oozing blood only made him feel a burning pain.

However, compared with his own eye, Arthur was more concerned about Washington Irving, the secretary of the American Embassy. If he was also injured, the characterization of this attack would not only be a domestic issue, but also a diplomatic incident.

It was already troublesome enough to deal with the Court of Justice, the General Customs Department, the Central Health Committee and the Liverpool authorities. He did not want to involve the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Especially when the Foreign Secretary was Viscount Palmerston, this playboy among the Irish aristocracy was not so easy to deal with.

"Mr. Owen, are you not injured?"

"What a shock!" Owen looked at the wounded and the bodies in the pool of blood in front of him, and replied with wide eyes: "Mr. Hastings, you should pay more attention to yourself instead of worrying about me! How is your injury?"

Arthur was very calm about the injury, because he had been mentally prepared for this situation, but what he didn't expect was that the attacker actually launched a surprise attack in the street so blatantly.

He took out a handkerchief to cover his face, and even had the mood to make a few jokes: "This little injury is nothing, just a little skin scrape. Although the attackers' formation looks scary, the actual effect is not as good as the London thugs. At least when I first joined Scotland Yard, the East End hooligans really made me lie in bed for a few days."

Owen saw Arthur's calmness and even leisure to take out a cigarette, and his hanging heart was put down: "Again, I'm not surprised that Arthur Sigma is Hastings. Who else can write "The Hastings Detective Collection" besides you?"

Agares put his arm around Arthur's shoulder, raised his finger and dipped it in the blood on the handkerchief. The Red Devil curled his lips and shook his head and said: "I told you a long time ago, Arthur, you just don't remember. Although it is not necessary to take your life, even if you are really sent on the road, those people don't mind it very much."

"Mr. Hastings!"

As soon as the Red Devil finished speaking, staff from various departments in Liverpool who saw that the gangster was dead hurriedly gathered around him.

But as soon as they got closer, they discovered blood stains on the side of Arthur's face. For a moment, no one dared to take the lead, for fear that the responsibility would be placed on themselves.

While the scene was silent, Liverpool's security team finally arrived belatedly.

The Sheriff got off his horse and asked quickly: "Mr. Hastings, you..."

Before he could finish his words, Alexandre Dumas sarcastically said: "Sir, as you can see, the assassination is over. Rather than asking for help, you and your security team should stain this piece of blood as soon as possible." Clean the streets."

Owen, who had recovered from the assassination, also expressed his dissatisfaction: "I now finally understand how Spencer Percival was assassinated in the hall of the Palace of Westminster. The Prime Minister is still like this , not to mention Liverpool’s special anti-smuggling ombudsman.”

The Sheriff's face turned red and his neck was thick after being scolded by them. He held it in for a long time and didn't know how to reply.

Seeing this, Arthur just laughed softly and comforted: "Actually, it's not that bad. My situation is better than the Prime Minister. At least judging from today's scene, the guys who assassinated me have no brains. They were in San They shot me from ten yards away, and if they had been smarter, like John Bellingham did, and waited until they were close enough to shoot me in the chest, I should be able to lay down and go home this afternoon. London."

The Sheriff's face was covered with sweat after hearing this: "Mr. Hastings, this is a mistake on our part. But as you know, our security team only has so many people. Liverpool is so big that there will always be oversights. ”

Arthur nodded: "Yes, this was also the original intention of Sir Robert Peel in advocating the establishment of Scotland Yard. He believed at that time that it was too much to place all the responsibility for London's security on the shoulders of the local sheriff and the Bow Street Mounted Police. Seriously. I have taken note of your opinion, and out of gratitude to you, I will report what happened here truthfully.”

Having said this, Arthur turned his attention to the silent followers: "Gentlemen, what are you doing standing around? Go back and report to the people who sent you here. I feel a little unwell today, so I I won’t go to their place. As for whether they come to my place, it depends on their mood.”

…

On the second floor of the Golden Lion Hotel, in Arthur's room.

Arthur looked at the six pistols, four flintlock pistols, and two revolvers lying on the table.

The flintlock pistol was professionally appraised by firearms expert Alexandre Dumas. One was a double-barreled Gouda flintlock pistol produced by the Ordnance Bureau of the British East India Company, and the other was produced by the Venetian medieval arms dealer Pietro Beretta. A screw-barreled flintlock pistol, and two mercury-fired percussion guns that were suspected to have come from an unknown firearms workshop.

As for the remaining two revolvers, although Arthur did not know as much about firearms as Alexandre Dumas, this did not affect his recognition that the two guns must have been made by Samuel Colt.

As a gadget that appeared in the 16th century, the revolver is not a new gadget, but the previous revolvers were either matchlocks or flintlock guns.

Apart from Colt revolvers, there is currently no other manufacturer in the world that is equipped with a primer impact bolt, a spiral rifled barrel, and uses conical bullet shells.

Alexandre Dumas sat at the corner of the table and picked up a revolver and played with it: "Ha! This job is really rough. Forget about assassination, he also uses a revolver to assassinate. This is for fear that we don't know where he bought it from. The Colt revolver production line has not yet been established, so almost every revolver is handmade by Mr. Colt and several craftsmen. Just ask who has placed the order recently. Isn’t his identity clear?”

Heine also echoed: "Yes! I originally thought that assassination was a high-end business. It was necessary to design a strict and detailed plan, cooperate with the killer with accurate marksmanship, and then bury an ulterior and mysterious purpose. Only then Being able to complete an assassination that can be called an art, but what I saw today, so many shots were fired, but none of them could land. The only thing that really hurt Arthur was his bad luck. . God knows how he was hit by stones?"

Several people were talking when Louis opened the door and came in: "Arthur, according to Sheriff Field's confirmation, two of the three attackers were killed and one was injured. However, the situation of the injured one is not very optimistic. He was shot by Alexander." The right breast was shot, and although he won’t die for the time being, he should be close to it soon.”

Arthur covered the side of his face with a handkerchief and asked, "Is he willing to confess?"

Louis shook his head: "The employer probably gave them a lot of money, or gave them some promise that they couldn't refuse, so he was unwilling to say anything. But this does not affect our continued investigation. We searched from his body There’s something interesting. Look at this.”

After saying this, Louis threw a pocket watch towards Arthur.

Arthur must have opened the watch cover with his fingertips, and a portrait of a soft blond woman suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, and her name - Agnieszka - was outlined in beautiful words below the portrait.

"Well... this name is not common in the UK." Arthur read: "Agneshka, that's how it should be pronounced, right?"

"That's right." Louis nodded slightly: "It's a very common Polish name, and the three killers all look quite Eastern European."

"Poland?" Alexandre Dumas exclaimed: "You mean, it was a group of Poles who assassinated Arthur? What reason did the Poles have to have trouble with him? Even if you say it was done by the French, I find it credible. point."

Louis was also helpless about this: "If you are referring to Poland, a country that no longer exists, then I think they really have no need to do this. And not only do they have no need to assassinate Arthur, they should also be grateful to him. After all, Asia Not long ago, Sze had just saved Poland's national treasure pianist - Frederic Chopin. But what we are talking about now is not Poland, but Polish killers. Killers work for money, and now Britain's Poland. There are so many refugees, so it’s not surprising that there are a few who want to make a fortune by fishing for money.”

Heine asked: "But those killers clearly didn't want to go back alive. They detonated the explosives around them whenever they disagreed. How can they make money like this?"

Louis nodded and said: "Maybe they don't make money for themselves? Maybe they still have family members in Britain? There are many people who trade one life for a good life for their families."

"Ah..." Alexandre Dumas suddenly seemed to think of something when he heard this: "So... no wonder they made the assassination so amateurish. The Poles did not have any hatred for Arthur, but they had to take action after taking the order. . So, they came up with such a solution to get the best of both worlds? "

Heine questioned: "But if Arthur is not killed, can the employer pay the money willingly?"

Alexandre Dumas shook his finger and said: "You can't say that. If they dare to accept this kind of order, no matter whether the assassination is successful or not, they will not be able to come back alive. So they will definitely ask for enough money before taking action, otherwise they will die. In the future, are we going to let the orphans and widowers at home have to ask their employers for debts?”

Heine snorted: "If you put it that way, the employer who hired them to kill people has no brains. What does it mean if the money is given but the work is not done?"

While everyone was arguing about this confusing case, the victim, Arthur, remained silent.

He is not as concerned about the killer's psychological activities as Alexandre Dumas and others. Compared with this, he is more concerned about who did it.

On the bright side, there is absolutely no need for the old guys in Liverpool to do such a mindless thing when it is possible to win a municipal construction project worth 200,000 yuan.

And Arthur remembered that Agares had warned him before that someone in London seemed to want his life.

He didn't have many enemies in London, but he didn't have too few either, but he only knew of two who could pay for killers.

One is Mr. Bernie Harrison, the former MP, and the other is Judge George Norton.

But although Mr. Harrison no longer has the qualifications to be a member, the company is running smoothly, and Arthur has not shown any intention to pursue him later. In this case, is it necessary for him to jump over the wall?

As for Judge Norton, he is currently in a heated battle with the Viscount of Melbourne over an extramarital affair lawsuit. Does he still have the time to hire three hit men to come to Liverpool to cause trouble for him? If his CPU was really so good and capable of multi-threaded operations, he shouldn't have worked for so many years and ultimately had to rely on his wife to get a job as a magistrate!