Chapter 339 Field's Analysis

No matter what kind of bad thing, if you want to catch the evildoer, you must first find the person who can benefit from the bad thing. If you are gone, who can benefit?

——"The Count of Monte Cristo"

Dumas took out a small notebook from his pocket, held one of the pages and waved it gently at Arthur.

Of course Arthur understood what he meant, but what happened today could not allow him to use simple interests to measure the interests of the assassination.

If we look at it from the perspective of personal grudges, the most suspicious are obviously former MP Bernie Harrison and Justice of the Peace George Norton.

But now he has a very special identity.

If we consider it from the perspective of Liverpool's special anti-smuggling inspector, those who want to kill him include import and export trading companies that are dissatisfied with port control. These companies are not specifically those in the Liverpool Association, but also include giant companies with royal franchises around the world, such as the British African Company, the British West India Company, the British Moscow Company, etc.

Although these trading companies with a large amount of monopoly power cannot be compared with large monopoly business associations such as cartels, syndicates, trusts, and conglomerates that only appeared in the late 19th century, even the leader among them, the East India Company, still had to bow to Parliament in terms of law and practice.

But anyone who regards these companies as kind-hearted and good citizens just because they bowed to Parliament would be very wrong.

Take the East India Company, headquartered in Leadenhall Street, London, as an example. This company, founded in 1600, obtained the 21-year monopoly rights in the East Indies from Elizabeth I, and also received the task of opening up trade routes to the East Indies, the Malay Peninsula, the coast of the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese Archipelago for the royal family.

At the beginning of the establishment of the East India Company, their task of opening up routes was not smooth. The expedition fleet was repeatedly in danger, and the pirates in East Asia were far more difficult to deal with than they imagined. Even the core member of the company, the famous British explorer John Davis, died in a fight with Japanese pirates.

By the eighth year, when the king had given up hope of opening up the eastern route, the East India Company suddenly received good news. After rounds of bloody battles and unremitting efforts, the company's fleet officially landed in Surat, India, and established its first factory in a small town near the Bay of Bengal.

King James I was overjoyed when he received the news. In order to commend the East India Company, he issued an indefinite charter to the other party and announced that the license would only be revoked if the company did not make a profit for three consecutive years.

In order to protect the hard-won success of the East India Company, James I even sent diplomats to visit the Indian overlord, the Mughal Empire, and successfully reached a diplomatic agreement with the Mughal Emperor Jahangir on the condition of regularly providing European treasures, confirming the East India Company's right to settle and establish factories in the Mughal Empire.

With the protection of these legal documents, the East India Company, whose business territory was rapidly expanding, soon beat the Portuguese merchants who had been operating in India for a long time with the momentum of a tiger coming down from the mountain.

While the East India Company was enjoying its success, the Glorious Revolution broke out in Britain. Since their main assets were concentrated in India, they survived the half-century-long dispute unscathed.

Not only that, in order to compete for the support of the East India Company, which could only lay golden eggs, both the Protector of the Country Cromwell and the British royal family who wanted to restore the throne offered them an olive branch.

Cromwell improved their status in Parliament, and the restored Charles II was even better.

He issued five decrees directly against the East India Company, granting it the right to occupy land, mint coins, command fortresses and troops, form alliances and declare war, sign peace treaties, and conduct trials for civil and criminal proceedings in occupied areas.

Granting the East India Company these powers was almost tantamount to declaring that the East India Company was a state.

Although the East India Company had always claimed that it was not a government, it was actually a government independent of the British government at this time.

With the mentality of "not using bastards when you have the power", the East India Company quickly formed its own independent armed forces, and after several years of preparation, it brazenly launched the so-called British-Mughal War, but in fact it was a war between the East India Company and the Mughal.

However, the newly formed armed forces of the East India Company obviously overestimated their combat capabilities while underestimating the strength of the Mughal Empire, as well as the degree of resentment of the French and Portuguese merchants who suffered losses in India.

After four years of fierce fighting, they suffered a lot of French and Portuguese arms, and the domestic political situation in Britain was unable to help them because of the turmoil of the Glorious Revolution. The board of directors of the company finally gave up.

Under the pressure of 125 major shareholders, the company announced that it would stop the loss in time and make peace with the Mughal Empire after convening an emergency board meeting. The price of peace was to compensate the other party 150,000 gold rupees.

This war severely damaged the East India Company, and the royal family and parliament who recovered from the Glorious Revolution finally realized that we were too indulgent to this private enterprise.

However, the East India Company's indefinite charter was issued through legal procedures, and they had always been profitable. It would be morally and legally unacceptable to directly take away their franchise.

But this little difficulty obviously can't stop the "heroes" who all want to make a fortune in India.

In the spirit of "as long as the mind does not slip, there are always more solutions than difficulties", everyone quickly came up with a trick to find another way.

Although there is no way to revoke the East India Company's charter, the parliament can open up the right of other companies to enter India for trade. Isn't this equivalent to abolishing the East India Company's monopoly on the Indian region?

Not only that, in order to prevent the companies entering India from being defeated by the size of the East India Company, the parliament also personally legislated to establish a new company called the "British East India Company" to compete with the old East India Company.

The shareholders of the East India Company, who felt the crisis, hurriedly raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to buy shares of the new shell company. Not only that, in order to show their loyalty to the government, the board of directors brainstormed overnight and finally launched the first company motto in history - Auspico Regis et Senatus Angliae (By the Order of the King and Parliament of England/Anglia)

However, although the East India Company repeatedly asked its employees to seriously understand the meaning of the motto and implement the spirit of the motto, and repeatedly emphasized that "the King and Parliament command the company" is the fundamental principle of the establishment of the East India Company, this ultimately cannot save the hearts of the King and Parliament.

When the King and Parliament found that the development of the new company in India was not as expected, and could not affect the monopoly of the old company, their little thoughts became active again.

The East India Company, which realized that things were not going well, took the lead this time and proposed a plan to merge the new company with the old company, and invited the Department of Colonial Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the Trade Committee to participate deeply in the company's reorganization, and the Parliament was responsible for supervision.

Finally, after the East India Company reluctantly accepted the 3.2 million pounds loan forced by the government, the merger plan of the new and old companies was successfully reviewed by the parliament.

In return, the parliament "generously" returned the monopoly of India to it.

Although according to the provisions of the old license, this right should have belonged to it.

However, complaints aside, after solving the problem of uneven distribution of spoils, the British government soon gave full support to the East India Company in diplomacy and military.

On the diplomatic front, the East India Company obtained the right to exempt tariffs in the Bengal region from the hands of the Mughal Empire.

In the military, a large number of regular Royal Navy and Army officers were sent to the East India Company troops, and these reserve officers who had fought hard on the battlefield in India were also famous figures.

For example, Robert Clive, who defeated the 70,000 Mughal army with 3,000 troops and conquered the Bengal region. Or the Duke of Wellington, who attacked the 40,000 French-armed army of the Kingdom of Mysore with 7,000 troops and won the victory.

Thanks to the help of the government, the East India Company has grown to its current size.

However, the balance between the East India Company and the government has always been very delicate. Whenever Britain and other European countries have conflicts, the government will loosen the reins on its neck in order to obtain stable income.

Once peacetime comes, Parliament and the Cabinet are almost thinking about how to pull the reins back every day.

After the three bills in 1784, 1786 and 1813 were passed, the organization of this former business giant has become more bloated than before, but looking back, it is sad to find that it has not only an Indian Management Committee on its head, but also an Indian Governor.

Not only that, its business functions are constantly being deprived and compressed by Parliament. Although the trade volume of this golden egg hen has been steadily increasing, the rate of profit growth is far behind the increase in expenditure.

The biggest reason for the sharp increase in expenditure is that in response to the call of the superior management department, they have added many local management agencies in India that have no benefit to the company itself.

Arthur once talked about the East India Company when he was chatting with Lionel, the young master of the Rothschild family.

From the Jewish young master, Arthur learned that the current East India Company has a total debt of nearly 10 million pounds. Although their trade volume is still large, the profit has been compressed to an extremely meager level by the calculating Parliament.

Occasionally, in the years when the trade market is not good, the East India Company's annual financial statements show negative growth in profits or even losses.

It can be said that after completely losing the monopoly power in India in 1813, the East India Company is now like a frightened bird, and a little movement can scare them.

In order to defend their business interests, they don't mind playing some tricks, such as starting a war.

In other words, after more than two centuries of various storms, the East India Company has now been conditioned by Parliament.

Their code of conduct is: I am submissive to Parliament. I will hit the Indians hard! If the French and Portuguese merchants dare to get involved, I will beat them too!

The East India Company dared to start a war in India, but to assassinate a Scotland Yard superintendent, who was a special commissioner from London. To be honest, they may not have the courage to do so.

After all, the 20-year charter issued to them in 1813 is about to be renewed.

Parliament usually has no excuse to beat them. If they hit the muzzle of their guns, it would be like taking a pillow when they are sleepy. Whether it is the Whig party or the Tory party, both sides want it.

The big brother, the East India Company, was like this, let alone the younger brothers such as the African Company and the West India Company. The consensus of these companies is not to mess around, otherwise if there is a management committee in the parliament and a governor's hat to cover it up, no one will be able to bear it.

Thinking of this, Arthur suddenly frowned.

The Liverpool association, which he had originally excluded from suspicion, was again included in his doubt list.

The Liverpool Association assassinated him because of dissatisfaction with the port segregation, which was the first level.

The East India Company's assassination of the commissioner, in order to frame the Liverpool Association, was the second level.

Or maybe the Liverpool Association deliberately made the assassination so crude in order to arouse suspicion in London and I, and ultimately mistakenly believed that the case was an attempt by the East India Company to frame the Liverpool Association, thereby stumbling upon the renewal of the East India Company's charter. , this is the third layer.

Is this the end of it?

How many floors are there behind?

Seeing Arthur's frown getting tighter, Alexandre Dumas couldn't help but ask: "Arthur, what are you thinking about? Your face is as wrinkled as a layer cake."

Hearing this, Arthur leaned back and sighed: "Alexander, I'm trapped. To be honest, I think everyone looks like the murderer behind the scenes now. Tell me the truth, are these Poles stupid?" Hired?"

"Do I need to hire someone if I want to kill you?" Alexandre Dumas pulled out his pistol and acted like a gunman: "If I take action, you won't even be able to reach Liverpool."

Heine also pinched his chin and said suspiciously: "Speaking of which, what happened today is also strange. Among our group today, there are members of the Napoleon family, a famous American writer and secretary of the embassy, ​​and I, who can't A great wise man accepted by Prussia. Why do the killers come after you? Are you worth more than the three of us tied together?"

When Louis heard this, he just patted Heinrich's jingling pocket: "For now, yes. Heinrich, you'd better spend this pocket of gold coins first before criticizing. Get it with someone else. Qian, it’s not tough to say this.”

Arthur didn't pay attention to what they said. They still wanted to argue, which at least showed that everyone's emotional state was quite stable.

But having said that, those standing here basically have relatively strong psychological qualities.

Alexandre Dumas launched a 'terrorist attack' in Paris.

Louis participated in the Carbonari uprising in Italy, and he himself narrowly escaped death from the fire of the Austrian suppressive army.

Even the most humble Heine had to be followed by several Prussian secret policemen when he went out for a walk in his hometown of Dusseldorf.

With this kind of experience, an assassination does not seem to be a big deal to them.

He turned his eyes and suddenly met Chief Field, who had just completed the investigation of the crime scene.

The capable man in the criminal investigation department who was promoted by Arthur looked like he was hesitant to speak.

Seeing this, Arthur asked: "Charles, did you find anything?"

Seeing Arthur taking the initiative to ask, Field hesitated, and finally said: "I don't know if it's right, but...Sir, judging from our experience in handling criminal cases, this assassination does not conform to the logic of a normal homicide. ”

Hearing this, Arthur hummed softly: "What do you think?"

Field said: "Generally speaking, if the prisoner really deliberately wants to kill someone, then he will definitely choose a killing method that is as secretive and undetectable as possible. Only a spur-of-the-moment street quarrel can give birth to something like this. Appalling way of killing with passion.

According to the case investigation method you taught me, a murder case is usually caused by personal grudges or financial interests. In terms of personal grudges, you and the killers have never met, and this is not a murder but an assassination. This method of killing people on the street is usually used by people who are not in an advantageous position to make a desperate move. Like Bellingham, the bankrupt businessman who assassinated Prime Minister Percival. So they must have been entrusted by someone to assassinate them, and I don't object to this.

But what kind of employer would ask them to stab someone in the street in public? And they didn't provide any help to their killers, so that they would just risk everything and choose this stupid assassination method? The most important thing is that these Poles shouted your name before taking action, as if they were afraid that others would not know that it was you they wanted to kill.

If you were to put yourself in your shoes, and I was the employer who wanted to kill you, I would definitely ask these killers to at least do it when it's dark. For example, setting a fire downstairs of the hotel at night, or planting explosives or something.

If I were to be more precise, I might also consider investigating which restaurants are responsible for serving meals at the Golden Lion Hotel, and then look for opportunities to poison your meals. There is a cholera outbreak in Liverpool right now. If the killer uses some poison that is not easy to test, everyone will definitely think that you died of cholera. If the assassination plan is designed in this way, it will not only be efficient and safe, but also less likely to be exposed. But the current situation is that these killers are doing exactly the opposite.

This shows that the employer behind the killer may not care whether he can kill you or not. What he wants is for someone to come to Liverpool with a gun, shoot a few shots at random, and then yell "I want to kill Hastings". Although I can't be sure that my inference is correct, all the information presented in front of us now tells me that this seems to be what they want. "

When Arthur heard this, his eyes widened slowly, and his thoughts gradually became clear.

"This... you have provided me with a new idea. This really proves the saying that bystanders are clearer than those involved. If those people want this news effect, then maybe we should wait a little longer, they should come to our door on their own..."