Chapter 388 Crazy English

"Arthur, I fully understand your anger and dissatisfaction. If I were in your position, especially after the Liverpool case, I would also feel that this society is hopeless and something must be done to improve it.

However, from the perspective of an ordinary official, our job is only to complete the various tasks issued by the cabinet and parliament and to complete our duties. The intelligence system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is much older and more systematic than that of the Police Intelligence Bureau. We know what we are doing.

By the way, I remember that you are a graduate of the History Department of the University of London, and your grades in school are also very good. Then, you must know Sir Francis Walsingham, right?"

For Arthur, who specializes in European history, the name Francis Walsingham is not unfamiliar.

As the man most relied on by the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I, and at the same time the Queen's chief secretary, Walsingham is not only the Queen's most trusted diplomatic adviser, but also her spy chief.

Of course, Walsingham can gain such a degree of favor from the Queen not only because he is a handsome man, but also because his outstanding work ability helped Queen Elizabeth usher in the golden age of Britain.

His achievements include but are not limited to:

He prevented assassination plots against the Queen several times and helped her execute Mary I, Queen of Scots, who had a claim to the throne of England.

After the Catholic Maria was executed, Pope Sixtus V issued a Holy Bull, announcing that the Holy See would subsidize the troops that invaded England and called on Catholic countries to launch a holy war against Britain.

King Philip II of Spain decided to respond to the Pope's call and send troops to invade Britain based on religious and practical interests.

However, before the Spaniards left the land, Walsingham had intercepted this information through the Embassy of the Duchy of Tuscany in Madrid.

On the one hand, he urgently wrote to the Queen to strengthen the defense of ports such as Dover and Plymouth in southern England. On the other hand, he spent a lot of money to hire legendary pirate Francis Drake and others to launch an attack on important coastal towns in Spain. This action successfully destroyed Spain's logistics line, slowed down their assembly speed, and won precious war mobilization time for England.

After the Spanish Invincible Armada left the port, Walsingham intercepted their navigation intelligence as soon as possible.

In the end, with the help of the hurricane and Walsingham's intelligence, the first to fall in the Battle of Gravelines were the Santa Maria and the Passion Flag raised by the Spanish.

This time, God did not stand on the side of the Catholics, but turned over comically and accidentally rolled onto the tablets worshipped by the Protestants.

The joint navy of Britain and the Netherlands only killed five Spanish ships, and the remaining 60 Spanish ships that sank to the bottom of the sea were basically overturned by the storm.

However, although God was the first to contribute in this naval battle that destroyed the Invincible Armada, the intelligence transmitted by Walsingham still ranked second.

Just like the British Protestants' evaluation of Sir Walsingham: This is a pillar of the Protestant faith, a generous, selfless, good at learning, and a chivalrous person.

Of course, Catholics hold an opposing view, believing that this is a ruthless, dirty and vicious villain who is keen on all kinds of conspiracies and intrigues.

But no matter how future generations evaluate Walsingham, everyone agrees that this guy is definitely the most successful spy in British history.

The English Secret Service he founded in 1569 is also the oldest spy agency in the world. At the peak of the Secret Service, they employed more than 300 people in England.

As for their foreign branches... According to Arthur, the Secret Service has established as many as 12 spy bases in the territory of its old friend France alone.

However, this once huge organization no longer exists today, more than two hundred years later.

During Cromwell's reign, the Secret Service was split into two parts, domestic and foreign, which were respectively managed by the Southern and Northern Departments.

After the establishment of the Colonial Affairs Department in 1768, some people were transferred to serve there.

As for the Southern and Northern Departments, they were also reorganized into the Interior Department and the Foreign Office in the administrative reform of 1782.

The Colonial Affairs Department merged with the War Department in 1801.

This has led to the current scattered intelligence agencies in Britain. The Home Office has spies, the Foreign Office has spies, the War and Colonial Affairs Department and the Admiralty, which are responsible for military affairs, naturally have spies, and even the Treasury has a special intelligence system for investigating tax evasion.

In short, the current British intelligence system is characterized by a different view.

The Police Intelligence Bureau led by Arthur is naturally not as old as the Foreign Office, and his importance in the eyes of the Home Office may even be less than that of the Home Office's own Secret Service.

Although Arthur holds the title of head of the intelligence agency, his low status in Scotland Yard makes him, the head of the police intelligence, look down on.

However, in a sense, these old spies do have reasons to look down on the Police Intelligence Bureau.

After all, Arthur, the director, is blind outside of London, and he was almost shot when he went to Liverpool.

How much funding does the Police Intelligence Bureau get in a year? What is your identity and what intelligence capabilities do you have?

Not to mention the distant past, even in the past thirty years, the intelligence department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has carried out such heavyweight missions as the assassination of Napoleon.

At that time, they united with the Joan faction of the French Royalist Party, imitated an explosive device newly invented by the Paris Police Department, and created a powerful bomb carriage.

On December 24, 1800, after learning that Napoleon and his lover Josephine would go to the Paris Opera House to watch Haydn's opera "Genesis", Juan sent a bomb carriage to the place they must pass - St. Denis Street. .

When Napoleon passed by, the Juan faction detonated explosives instantly, causing the destruction of 46 houses near the explosion point. Josephine's carriage was directly shattered, while Napoleon's carriage was triggered by the explosive device more than a dozen times later than scheduled. Seconds, he narrowly escaped death.

When Arthur thought of this, he couldn't help but think of what happened in Liverpool.

I have to admit that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did show mercy this time. Although they knew the inside story of the Liverpool assassination, at least they did not provide technical guidance.

As for why the coconut tree was so disparaging about the assassination with explosives, Arthur now understood.

Even such powerful explosives failed to complete the task. This was indeed an inefficient method of assassination.

Seeing Arthur being silent for a long time, Schneider stood up with a smile and patted his shoulder: "Brother, don't always think about those unhappy things. Some cases can be investigated, and some cases cannot. Think carefully about why they You, not others, have been appointed to the position of director of the Police Intelligence Bureau. They have high hopes for you, and you cannot plan to go against their wishes as soon as you are promoted.

Of course, I also understand your injustice. Because you are, after all, a native Briton. If you were a Prussian or an Austrian, you probably wouldn't question this situation. But since we are here to eat, you can only make your thinking as Prussian as possible. "

After saying this, Schneider left the room calmly.

But just as he reached the door, his steps suddenly paused.

Schneider turned his head and raised his eyebrows and asked: "Brother, by the way, is that spy under my command?"

Arthur shrugged: "This was a useful exchange. I got the news I wanted, so you will get what you want."

Schneider laughed and put on his gloves: "This is the style of the director. Goodbye, Arthur, come to my place when you have time in the future. I believe you will be interested in a lot of things I have. Oh, by the way, Remember to come when Viscount Palmerston is not around. He doesn't like his subordinates to be too close to people in other departments."

Arthur made a joke after hearing this: "It seems that you like excitement very much. This is not like the German style."

Schneider raised his index finger and shook it slightly: "Arthur, please note that I have been a British for a long time. I went to the store on Oxford Street last month. You know, there is pressure in our industry. It’s just too big, and it does need to be released once in a while.”

When Arthur heard this, he immediately understood what Schneider was talking about. I don't know whether this German has become a British person, but he has indeed contracted the 'British bad habits'.

Arthur smiled and asked: "Mrs. Chalmers, Mrs. Noe, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Burgess or Mrs. Price's shop?"

"neither."

Schneider smiled meaningfully and said: "Although their services are very good, I still recommend Mrs. Berkeley first. They have many new props designed by Mrs. Berkeley herself, which opens my eyes every time I go. And I also I admire their ability to pay attention to details. They soak the rattan in water to keep it green and flexible. The whips are also colorful and have various textures. In the summer, they fill the water bottles with fresh nettles. The highest in London. The price is not free.”

When Arthur heard this, he laughed strangely: "With all due respect, August, Mrs. Berkeley's things are all outdated. I used to be addicted there, but since I went to Mrs. Ivan's two days ago, After going to the store, I realized that Mrs. Berkeley’s store was filled with rubbish.”

"Mrs. Ivan?"

Schneider thought about the name for a while, then he paced and sat back in front of Arthur without anyone noticing: "Why haven't I heard of this name? Could it be a new store? The quality of the new store is not guaranteed. "

Arthur laughed and laughed: "August, you are biased. New doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, and old doesn't necessarily mean it's good. Just go to the store and take a look. The secret rooms there are all decorated. It looked like a torture chamber. There were iron rings specially used for hanging people on the roof. There were also torture benches that could hold people at various angles. The torture rack was almost exactly the same as what we had in Scotland Yard. The whipping The tools used include rattan, leather whips, holly branches and birch sticks. Of course, if you can bear it, a nine-tailed whip bundled with linen will also work.”

"Oh! My God!"

Schneider excitedly stretched out his hand to hold his hat that almost fell to the ground: "Brother! You must stop talking. I have to go to work this afternoon. If you say that, I won't be able to finish my work today."

Arthur shrugged slightly and said: "However, it is good there, but one thing is that their prices are too high."

"How high?"

"You have to pay a pound to have two respectable, heavily made-up, elegant and well-educated blond ladies take turns wielding the whip for you with a decent posture and elegant attitude. After all, these days, if you want a lady If they have been engaged in such a profession for a long time that is not in line with their gentle nature, they will have to pay more materially. "

Schneider took a deep breath: "Although the price of one pound is not low, if they are really as outstanding as you said, this price is not unacceptable. After all, I had to pay two or three shillings to find them in the newspaper before..."

Arthur was drinking tea, and when he heard this, he almost poured water into his lungs.

Fortunately, the light here was too dim, so Schneider didn't notice his loss of composure.

Arthur coughed lightly: "You can find this in the newspaper?"

Schneider smiled, and the official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had completely lost his official attitude just now. He promoted Arthur, a fellow young man, in the tone of an old senior.

"Of course you can find it in the newspaper, and this kind of advertisement has a long history, but to find them, you need to have eagle-like sharp eyes. Of course, people like you and me who are engaged in intelligence work are most lacking in such eyes."

Arthur held the teacup and said seriously: "Can you... be more specific?"

Schneider didn't say anything after hearing this, but just pursed his lips at Arthur and knocked on the table lightly.

Arthur understood and took out the business card Fiona left for him: "August, have fun."

Schneider put away the business card with satisfaction, and then smiled and said: "In fact, this is not a secret. Most of our enthusiasts know how to find suitable trading partners from newspapers. I first heard about it from Wilson from the Treasury Department. Do you know Wilson? He is the assistant deputy minister of the Treasury Department. You can communicate with him more and you will definitely get some of the information you want."

Arthur, who was happy with the unexpected gain, nodded repeatedly and said: "It seems that we can ask him out next time."

"It depends on your arrangement."

Schneider replied with a smile.

"Let's talk about the newspapers. To be precise, if you find titles such as "Stern executioner recruits suitable students", "Pet-loving woman seeks pets to come to her playroom" or "Lady So-and-so is waiting for tamed slaves to sign contracts" and "I use traditional methods to correct bad habits" in the advertising column of the newspaper, then you are right. But listen to my advice, these people who work alone usually don't have much skills. It's okay to try new things occasionally, but if you want high-end skills, you still have to go to the store." Arthur just pondered for a while after hearing this. If Schneider hadn't said it, he hadn't discovered that there were so many intelligence personnel waiting for employment in London. In this society, guys who can casually take out two or three shillings to play tricks generally have a high social status. If the Police Intelligence Bureau can establish a good communication mechanism with these ladies who make a living by their skills and are keen on Crazy English, wouldn't the source of information be more sufficient? When Arthur thought of this, he immediately stood up, shook Schneider's hand, and said with a smile on his face: "August, I really learned a lot from you today."