Chapter 165: Elder’s Retribution (K4)

Chapter 164 Elder’s Retribution (4K4)

Arthur and Elder were strolling along the street smoking cigarettes while chatting idly about the past experiences regarding several of today’s banquet visitors.

It didn’t take long for Arthur to give the guests’ past experiences out of Elder’s mouth.

Of the three lesser colonels, Sir George Elliot was considered to be a member of the general’s family, his father being Kilbert Elliot, Earl of Minto, who had served as Viceroy of India.

His father was Kilbert Elliott, Earl of Minto, Viceroy of India, and with this strong family background, Sir Elliott’s naval career progressed well, as he had just joined the Royal Navy and served on the first class battleship St. George with two Royal Navy admirals, Thomas Foley and Hyde Bagga.

And just after being promoted to Captain, he was assigned to HMS San Jose and became second mate to Charles Ball, who was just promoted to Royal Navy Marshal in July of this year.

Later, Sir Elliott became subordinate to Horatio Nelson, the Soul of the Royal Navy, following him in the Copenhagen Raid and the Battle of the Nile Estuary.

With these successes, Sir Elliott was quickly promoted to HMS Maidstone and took part in the blockade of Toulon and Cadiz.

After that, he was transferred by the Admiralty to the East Indies, where he captured the French frigate Jena in the Bay of Bengal, took part in the invasion of Java and assisted in the restoration of the Sultan of Megaport.

It was because of these bright performances that three years ago Sir Elliott was transferred back to the mainland by the Admiralty and promoted to captain of HMS Victory, a first class battleship of special significance to the Royal Navy. Not long ago, the newly crowned King William IV even awarded him the honor of King’s Naval Attendant.

It can be said that Sir Elliot, according to the momentum of this spring to maintain, the future promotion of the Admiralty is almost a certainty.

And ‘HMS Victory’ as the flagship of the commander of Portsmouth Naval Base, General Codrington, who may take over the position of commander in the future, is surely also trying to get on good terms with this subordinate who is in his prime and has a promising future.

And Franklin’s relationship with Admiral Codrington became clearer.

Colonel Franklin was serving as a cadet on the 74-gun third-class battleship ‘Belle Rochon’ at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar, while Admiral Codrington was the commander of the third detachment of the fleet involved in the battle, so the two of them were also old acquaintances.

Speaking of ‘Bellerophon’, his captain at the time was Colonel John Cook, perhaps John Cook is not well known, but if we talk about his grandfather James Cook, it can be considered a household name in Britain.

Because James Cook had been commissioned by the Admiralty and the Royal Society to explore the Pacific three times, and successfully discovered Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and other areas, in addition to his discovery of the prevention of scurvy through the improvement of diet.

But like an explorer’s destiny, James Cook eventually died in his search for the Northwest Passage.

At the Battle of Trafalgar, Colonel John Cook, like his grandfather, was shot through the chest when his officer’s uniform became a priority target for the French sailors.

When his subordinates begged him to remove his officer’s uniform and epaulettes, he simply left the message ‘It’s too late to take them off. I understand my situation, but I will die like a man’ before closing his eyes.

Interestingly though, although John Cook died on the Bellerophon, the Cook family’s spirit of adventure was preserved by the sailors and officers who served on the ship.

The Bellerophon contributed to Britain not only brilliant explorers like Colonel John Franklin, who dedicated himself to finding the Northwest Passage, but also Colonel Matthew Flinders, a fellow who completed the first circumnavigation of Australia and mapped it in detail.

And even more interestingly, the sailors of the Bellerophon took on the task of exiling Napoleon, the first prisoner of France, to St. Helena nine years after the Battle of Trafalgar, which in a way avenged its old commander, John Cook.

Once Arthur had a base knowledge of the experiences of the three colonels, he immediately understood the reason why General Codrington had invited them to the banquet.

That was that all three colonels, in addition to being acquainted with General Codrington, were also interested in scientific research; Fitzroy and Franklin were expeditionary captains commissioned by the Royal Navy, while Elliot had participated in the highly technological Battle of Copenhagen.

The story of the Battle of Copenhagen is actually quite simple to tell.

In a nutshell, it was an attempt to prevent a wavering Denmark from falling to Napoleon in the first place and handing over their sea power to the French.

So the British Foreign Office, after internal discussion, decided that if Denmark’s loyalty to Britain was not absolute, it was absolute disloyalty.

Therefore, after Denmark once again refused to hand over its own fleet to Britain, the Foreign Office immediately issued a declaration of war, and the Foreign Secretary, Sir George Canning, ordered that the Baltic Fleet must immediately destroy the Danish navy at its roots with a thunderbolt.

There was much controversy within the Admiralty as to how to destroy the Danish navy at the root by shrinking into the harbor and avoiding the war, such as the unhelpful Admiral Cochrane who again and again proposed to carry out a suicide attack on Copenhagen by means of a ship loaded with explosives.

Of course, after careful consideration of Admiral Cochrane’s enthusiastic suggestion, the Admiralty only replied with an ‘agreement in principle’.

Admiral Sidney Smith, on the other hand, was much more steady, and he suggested at a high level that the Admiralty might as well try the Congreve rocket, which he had used and worked quite well.

So, under Admiral Smith’s strong amenity, the Admiralty in one fell swoop approved 25,000 rounds of Congreve rockets for the Copenhagen Expeditionary Fleet led by Hyde Barga and Horatio Nelson.

The result was a shock. The first naval experience with the Congreve rockets was outstanding!

Copenhagen’s shore guns could only stare at the British warships standing outside their range, but this new type of rockets with a range of two to three kilometers turned Copenhagen into a flaming inferno in no time.

Since then, this rocket has become one of the conventional weapons of the Royal Navy.

And in this case, it also shows what kind of military science nuts Thomas Cochran and Sidney Smith, today’s general’s guests, really were.

In addition to Congreve rockets and dynamite suicide boats, the innovations proposed by the two generals to the Navy Department included and were not limited to:

the development of torpedoes and mines, still in conception, to destroy the French Toulon fleet.

pushing full speed ahead with the popularization of steamships on a large scale in the Royal Navy.
Finding Faraday to ask if chlorine could be used in combat, he was scolded by Mr. Faraday and finally had to leave unhappy.

The Royal Navy, which was heavily sponsored by Robert Fulton, the inventor of the submarine, attempted to use the submarine to reach Paris along the Seine River, the French fleet hunkered down, so we went in by ourselves, the Royal Navy simply turned from the back of the line to the front of the line, and stabbed him in the buttocks of Napoleon, and then they proposed to the Admiralty to use chlorine gas in the battlefield.
Of course, they put forward these proposals to the Admiralty, in addition to the Congreve rockets, basically have not been adopted.

This is not entirely their suggestion is unreasonable, but these two guys in the military and political circles basically belong to the people hate the dog dislike, if it is not really ability to win the war, it is estimated that has long been thrown out of the Royal Navy.

And the facts also verify this, Sidney Smith and Thomas Cochrane have been ordered by the Admiralty compulsory retirement, and the two of them, even in the Channel Fleet bench Codrington are considered to be deeply trusted.

Perhaps that was why Codrington, a Vice Admiral who had made a ‘small mistake’, had brought the two of them in for a cuddle?

Arthur was thinking about these things, and when he came back to his senses, he realized that he and Elder had already circled back to Codrington’s mansion. At this moment, outside the mansion’s black iron carved gate, an elegant white carriage was parked.

Just after the carriage stopped, the manservant sitting on the co-pilot’s seat hurriedly took out the small wooden stool placed beside him and padded it beside the carriage, and immediately after, he saw the door of the carriage open, and from inside stretched out a hand wearing black veil gloves and pigeon blood ruby ring.

Then, what fell into her eyes was not particularly wide, but the proportion of the front and back was distributed to the right two to one, emphasizing the curve of the buttocks, revealing the white skin of the back, and on top of her head was a broad-brimmed hat with a lavender color with a baffled band and three white feathers as decorations.

However, Arthur’s first reaction at the sight was to hastily admonish Elder beside him as he lowered his voice and said, “Calm down.”

But this time, he had clearly underestimated Elder’s self-control.

Although just standing beside him, he could feel the hot air like the Sahara Desert heat wave, but even so, Elder still didn’t forget to salute, he took off his hat and covered it in front of his chest without losing his etiquette, and bowed slightly to that lady.

“Good evening, Mrs. Cowper. I didn’t realize that you were actually today’s guest of honor, and I can’t tell you what an honor it really is to be in the same room with you.”

Mrs. Cowper?

Arthur quickly caught the key word.

He remembered that this lady seemed to be none other than one of the seven female patrons of the Ormac Club.

Mrs. Cowper sniffed and turned her head to look at Elder as if she was slightly surprised, but soon, she adjusted her expression as she nodded slightly with her hand on the brim of her hat, “Good evening, Mr. Carter.”

Elder had been fine, but when he heard this, he couldn’t maintain his emotions, “You …… you remember me? I would have thought that someone like me, who has only met you once, would be quickly forgotten by you.”

Mrs. Cowper smiled, “Mr. Carter, don’t you know? Women’s memory has always been better than men’s, especially in memorizing each other’s appearance and names, and I am again the best among women in this regard. Not to mention, when we first met, you left me with quite a deep memory, I can’t forget you.”

“I …… I …… you …… uh …… “Elder’s face turned red, and his head with his hat off was full of water vapor.

Seeing this, Arthur hurriedly whispered a reminder, “Elder, calm down! Damn, you fuck, if you look like this and let others see, they will definitely think that the locomotive that ran over Mr. Huskisson was you!”

The Red Devil saw the scene and couldn’t help but fan the flames, “Arthur, the train’s going to derail, step on his brakes!”

Arthur sniffed and hurriedly, without moving, stepped on the top of Elder’s shoe, and Elder was momentarily in pain, accompanied by several consecutive deep breaths, and he finally found his ability to organize his speech.

“Ma’am, I …… uh, wonder if you can remind me of what aspect of me impressed you when we first met? Although I’m usually quite confident, I seem to remember that day as if I was just introduced to you by someone else and briefly greeted you.”

Mrs. Cowper sniffed and gently covered her luscious red lips with her black veil gloves, “Mr. Carter, that was not the first time I met you.”

“Huh?” Elder was a bit confused, “Wasn’t …… it the first time we met last time?”

“Of course not.” Mrs. Cowper denied it, “The first time I saw you, you were still swaddled. Your mother asked me to hold you and told me that I would have my day sooner or later. I was going to get an early taste of motherhood as well, but I didn’t realize that you little thing peed right into my arms and stained my new dress.”

When Elder heard this, it only felt like God had poured cold water on his head.

He took a deep breath, his face reddened and he couldn’t say a word in half a day, “I …… you ……”

Arthur saw the situation, rushed to take off his hat, for him to solve the problem: “Madam, I think you still go in first, Mrs. Codrington they are inside waiting for you.”

Mrs. Cowper sniffed, but just winked at Elder, playfully reassuring, “Mr. Carter, don’t mind it, I know you didn’t mean it that time. I promise, I’ll keep this secret in my heart, and I’ll never let it out in front of the ladies to affect your social reputation.”

Elder sniffed and let out a long breath as if he had been pardoned, he wiped the sweat from his head and bowed slightly, “Thank God for your kindness, you are truly an angel sent by God to rescue me.”

Mrs. Cowper pursed her lips slightly and excused herself, “Mr. Carter, there are quite a few angels tonight, but it’s up to you to take advantage of them. Your mother and aunt have complained to me before about the bad habits you’ve picked up after only six months in the Royal Navy. If you really want to find a suitable companion, you’d better change your accent.”

When Elder heard these words, his face, which was red as an apple just a moment ago, instantly swished and turned pale.

He looked at Mrs. Cowper as she stepped into the mansion with the support of the manservant, and the eyes he looked at the other party had completely changed.

Elder muttered and cursed, “Damn! Why does my mom say everything to the outside! How can I still mix in London in the future when she’s peddling out my past like this?”

After saying that, Elder only felt that everything was wrong, he took out his wallet, thinking of smoking some cigarettes to relieve his boredom, but after he took out for a while, he suddenly changed his face and cursed, “Fuck!”

Arthur twisted his head to look at him, “What’s wrong?”

Elder said with wide eyes, “I lost my wallet!”

“Huh? No?” Arthur sniffed and hurriedly touched his coat pocket as well.

Fortunately, his wallet was still there, but at the same time, he also felt a small note.

On the small note, there was a line written crookedly – Those who give me gifts, I wish you good luck, those who don’t give a penny will have their own retribution.

When Arthur saw this, he kind of understood into whose hands Elder’s wallet had fallen.

He said helplessly, “Elder, tell me about you, if you don’t want people to give you change, I guess there won’t be so many things.”

Elder’s small face whitened, “I …… deserve to die! Losing the money is still secondary, the key …… key I still have the ration pickup sheet for the next sea training inside my wallet! If I don’t have that thing, Colonel Fitzroy will probably have to skin me, and the brothers on the ship will probably have to throw me into the sea. Arthur, Arthur! Aren’t you a policeman? You hurry up and think of something, and you must get that back for me!”

Arthur sniffed, couldn’t help but take the back of his hand and pat his chest, “Elder, you say you …… Ugh, just, let’s go in first, find the wallet thing, I’ll think of a way for you later.”

The recent plot advancement is indeed a little slow, but there are things not introduced and can not, because after all, it is British history, the story characters in the real history of the relationship is also more complex, readers and friends should also have a lot of unfamiliar with the place, do not say clearly really not very good to unfold. I’ll try to do more in the next few days, and try to get through this wave of recklessness, otherwise not only will you have a hard time looking at it, but I’ll also be numb from checking the information. This chapter is four thousand, tonight there should be at least one more chapter of four thousand, if not sleepy after writing, there can be another chapter.

(End of chapter)