Chapter 247: Old Paris (K2)

Chapter 246 Old Paris (5K2)

LONDON, TOWERHAMLETS A pair of riding boots stepped into the muddy puddles of the early morning streets, their messy steps playing like the drums of a symphony orchestra.

Scotland Yard police officers in dark blue swallow-tail uniforms and black bowler hats, each with a loaded gun, lined up in formation to surround a small building down the street.

Many residents of the East End who were still asleep were awakened by this sudden movement like a storm, and the lighter-sleeping ladies rolled out of bed one by one in their crumpled pajamas and lay on their backs on the edge of the window to look out.

Either they covered their mouths in awe, or they couldn’t help shaking their snoring husbands awake behind them and shouting at them, “My God! Honey, stop sleeping like a donkey and look what’s happening out there!”

And it was easy to distinguish who was really the leader among the crowd of officers in full uniform.

It was a young man with a straight posture, almost all the officers kept a certain distance from him, the early morning mist dampened his eyebrows and hung a few thin layers of water droplets on them, but the young officer didn’t seem to care, he just raised his hand and dusted off his body, and then little by little, he put on the spotless white gloves, and finally grasped the police officer’s knife that was hanging on his waist.

At his side, there was a young sergeant who looked a little older than him, and the sergeant hung his head slightly, holding a thin pamphlet in his hand, as if he was reporting something to his superior.

“Superintendent Hastings, according to your instructions, the Whitechapel Police Department’s current police force has all been assembled, are we going to break into the door and raid?”

Arthur glanced at the sweaty look on Superintendent Jones’ forehead and knew what he was concerned about.

He pulled out a document from his jacket pocket and threw it over, “According to the intelligence of the London Police Intelligence Bureau, after the notorious slaver Fred was hanged, a small number of his henchmen are still secretly engaging in the slave trade, and this building is one of the strongholds that they occasionally use. This morning, Scotland Yard applied to the magistrate’s court for a warrant for the arrest of the fugitive members of the slave-trading criminal Fred, and this arrest raid was carried out in full compliance with the statutory procedures of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Scotland Yard’s internal regulations. Now, Sergeant Jones, execute the order.”

Hearing Arthur’s reply so formal, Jones was so scared that his hand that received the document shivered, he hurriedly clarified, “Sir, it’s not that I don’t believe in you, your order is definitely compliant, but if I don’t have the documents, suddenly moving so many people at once, it won’t be easy for me to explain it to my superiors when I turn around. You are now transferred to the Criminal Crime Investigation Department, this side of Tauer Hamlets, it is definitely not as convenient for me to do things as it used to be.”

Arthur turned his slightly hardened wrist, “Jones, I know you have your not easy, so I didn’t make things difficult for you. But the problem of things being difficult on the Tauer Hamlets side, I believe it will soon be resolved. You should also know that recently the internal are spreading the news that the police inspector Klein who is in charge of Tauer Hamlets will soon be promoted high ……”

Hearing this, Jones immediately grasped Arthur’s meaning, his eyes widened slightly and the corners of his mouth pulled up a little.

“Ah …… I …… I did hear that bit of wind, just don’t know, if Inspector Klein is promoted high, then who will come to take his burden and shoulder the heavy responsibility here? Director Rowan …… and all the superintendents, do you have a suitable candidate in mind?”

Arthur did not say anything, he just drew out his pipe and stuffed it into his mouth, and before he could pull out a match, Jones over there had already said it was too late and lit the fire for him.

Arthur sipped his cigarette, took off his hat and smoothed his hair full of small droplets: “Everyone knows that Tollhamletts is different from other districts, the forces here are complicated, there are a bunch of irascible sailors from all over the world from the West India Dockyard, the crime rate in the London districts always ranked the first, so transferring people from other places and getting a novice who is not familiar with the local situation. that I can see mostly won’t work.”

Jones grinned, “You’re right, it’s going to have to be a local veteran of Tauerhamletts to get it right. You have to know how to coordinate the local relationships, and understand the priorities, there are so many criminal groups here, with new ones popping up every day, so if we don’t prioritize our fights, how can we have so much energy? Moreover, there are so many foreigners here, how can we not master a few foreign languages, look at me, I’m just an ordinary sheriff with little education, even so, during this period of time I forced myself to learn a few phrases of Russian.”

Arthur smiled and nodded slightly: “Another thing, is to see if this person can carry out the orders from Scotland Yard, resolutely uphold the tradition of the rule of law in Britain. As you probably know, in the past two days, because of the case of Bernie Harrison, we have not received a lot of cross-examination by members of Parliament, they said that our Scotland Yard is simply lawless, and the Magna Carta is treated as toilet paper. Director Rowan even brought this matter out for special emphasis at the high-level policing meeting, and you, as the Chief Constable of Towershamletts, should have received the propaganda document issued by Scotland Yard as well, right?”

Hearing this, Jones hurriedly recalled the document.

Although the document was sprawling, as a police secretary who had once assisted Superintendent Clemens with his office paperwork, he felt that the inflected document could just be summarized into one paragraph – Until the matter is clarified, all police districts will refuse media interviews, not to mention admitting mistakes. If anyone wanted to admit fault, please have a letter of resignation ready at the same time.

At such a moment, Jones immediately showed his highly correct political position: “The Greater London Police Department Internal Management Regulations, Chapter C, Section A, paragraph 1, police officers must maintain a high degree of political neutrality, police officers should not be involved in police action with any personal emotions and political tendencies, to protect the lives of Londoners and property safety and reduce the overall crime rate is the police officer’s absolute The preservation of the lives and property of the citizens of London and the reduction of the overall crime rate are the absolute core of the work of police officers and their only work.”

Arthur nodded again at his words, “Well memorized, you do seem to be very dedicated to this area. However, your mentioning of the management regulations just reminds me of something, you should know that the management regulations are going to be revised again in a while, right? There may be some new elements added in there, for example, in order to prevent inexperience or nepotism from breeding corrupt relationships within, Scotland Yard will set a seniority limit for police rank promotions based on the Royal Navy’s management regulations. From now on, promotions to Sergeant will require a minimum of three years’ service at Scotland Yard, Inspector will require more than six years’ service, and so on up to the highest rank of Inspector General of Police.”

Jones couldn’t help but widen his eyes when he heard this, “Superintendent Hastings, is this …… this coming at you?”

Arthur didn’t bother to fight with Jones in this regard, “Maybe, but that was before, but now Director Rowan and I have turned the page. The Inspector General of Police and Assistant Superintendent of Police positions are filled to the brim right now, and I’m not interested in pushing my way up there for the time being, and in the long run, the passage of this revised ordinance will be a good thing for Scotland Yard as a whole, so I don’t intend to oppose it either. But well, although this kind of thing doesn’t matter to a person like me who has no desire, if it’s for those police officers who are enterprising and seeking to go to a higher place to dedicate themselves to the citizens of London, I’m sure it will surely dampen their motivation. Therefore, young police officers who aspire to promotion would do well to do something good these days. Jones, in this regard, I also wish you continued success!”

When Jones heard this, he only felt a chill in his heart, and with a flash of light in his mind, he glanced at the small red-brick building in front of him, and he finally understood why Arthur had specially ordered the Whitechapel Police Station to fire up the police early this morning.

As soon as Jones thought of this, the only remaining bit of complaint in his heart and the doubt that he was worried about being pursued by the higher police inspector also disappeared.

Fuck, Klein police inspector a person who will soon be out of the way, as long as not to give him a mess is not on the line? He can’t stand in the way of my Jones’ promotion, can he? If he does, I’ll throw a couple of guns at him tomorrow. If he won’t let me go up, he won’t go up either! It’s just as well that Parliament’s got its eye on Scotland Yard these days because of the Bernie Harrison case!

As soon as Jones’s thoughts flowed, the whole pattern of people immediately opened up, and even the filthy air of the East End let the taste a few sweet aromas.

Arthur held his neck wrinkled, he sipped a cigarette and said, “By the way, I have an appointment with a news reporter at Whitechapel police station today, Charles Dickens, you should have seen him a few times, right?”

Jones pressed his heart’s elation and nodded his head, “Of course I know him, Mr. Dickens is an upright and cultivated news reporter, he came to Whitechapel several times before to do a news investigation, it was you who asked me to send someone to accompany and protect him.”

Arthur exhaled a smoke ring, “Times are different nowadays, our Mr. Dickens’ book ‘Pickwick’s Outlaws’ has been serialized in ‘The Cockney’ lately and is very popular. I’ve heard him say that he’s thinking of quitting his job as a journalist and going into the literary field full-time. This interview might be his capper in the journalism world, so I’m sure he’ll write with great care.”

Speaking of this, Arthur put one hand in his pocket, raised his arm and waved his hand at Jones, “Then I’ll go to the police station and wait for you first, Jones, I’ll wait for your good news.”

With those words, he took a step and disappeared into the mist of the early London morning.

Jones, full of solemnity, made a long, solemn salute at that back until he could no longer see any trace of the back hem of Arthur’s tuxedo.

Almost instantly, Jones’s expression changed.

The sheriff, who had just shown kindness and gentleness, and even spoke with a voice as calm as the surface of a lake in autumn, suddenly became like a violent devil who had just been killed from hell to earth.

If Arthur is here, he will be surprised, if not carefully observed, do not know that more than half a year ago, this is also a cautious and cautious a harmless young police after more than half a year of field experience, face actually grow a horizontal meat.

Sure enough, the simple folk of Tauer Hamlets were still very nurturing.

Jones spat towards the ground, stepped on his riding boots, which were hard and cold like ice, and pushed aside the crowd of officers who were in his way to walk to the door.

He first glanced at the officers around him until he was sure everything was ready, then he took a deep breath, kicked open the door in front of him, drew his flintlock pistol and pointed it into the darkened room, yelling, “Police! You sons of bitches, all of you, get down!” However, the response to Jones was silence.

To his eager eyes, there was neither a vicious criminal nor a large stash of smuggled goods, but only a young man with his hands tied behind his back, stripped naked to his underpants, and constantly performing carp ups to break free of his restraints.

Seeing this, Jones instructed the officers to search the other rooms as he walked up to the youth and pulled out the rag that had been stuffed in his mouth.

He opened his mouth and asked, “What are you?”

The youth’s left eye was bruised and purple, he held back the pain and opened his eyes to look at Jones, when he saw the uniform on Jones, he first froze, then left behind tears mixed with emotion and joy, “Thank God! You were sent by my uncle to save me, weren’t you?”

“Your uncle?” Jones was equally stunned, but soon, he said in awe, “Are you the nephew of Superintendent Hastings? No wonder he was in such a hurry and had to leave quickly to avoid suspicion.”

“Hastings?” The youth also froze, “Wasn’t it my uncle who reported the case?”

“Who is your uncle?”

“Joseph Bonaparte!”

“I don’t know.”

“Then you know my second uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte?”

Jones heard this, pressed behind Louis Bonaparte ready to untie the rope of the police officer’s knife suddenly stopped, he suddenly called a young police officer beside him, opened his mouth and instructed, “Ford, I say you remember, later when you are interviewed by a reporter to use. Victims in the crime syndicate’s long-term abuse, the mental situation has been a problem, this situation is particularly painful, but also more illustrate the Fred and its remnants of the gang’s criminal methods of cruelty and the public disgraceful sinfulness, Whitechapel Police Department will be in the help of the Criminal Investigation Department, continue to unremittingly speed up the gang to carry out swift and powerful cleanup and combat ……”

Louis Bonaparte just stared in disbelief when he heard this, “Have you Brits lost your minds?”

The junior constable just glanced at him, who was pressed to the ground and unable to move, and whispered back, “Sir, it’s you who’s crazy.”

……

Half an hour later, in the sergeant’s office of the Whitechapel police station.

Arthur and Jones were sitting on either side of the desk, left and right, while Dickens, who had changed into a nice outfit, was taking notes with his hat on.

Arthur followed the speed of his notes, reciting in a conciliatory tone what had long been belabored, “This operation relied on the swift response of the Whitechapel Police Department not to wait until the crime syndicate had transported their victims out to sea to intercept them, as was the case last time. But we also have to note the shortcomings that existed in this incident, for an area like Whitechapel, even with such an outstanding leader as Sergeant Jones, it is still impossible to completely solve the problem of insufficient police force, which is the most important reason why the whole of Tauer Hamlets has fallen into the paradise of criminals.”

Dickens recorded to this point, swiftly and forcefully dotting his notebook as he whistled, “That’ll do, it’ll make for a good report!”

Arthur smiled back when he heard this and said, “It’s a pain in the ass to have you running around so early. Would you like to go and join me for a cup of tea afterward?”

Dickens laughed and said, “Tea, it’s fine to drink it later, but before that, Arthur, why don’t you first introduce me to any good places for fishing in the neighborhood? I’ve gotten hooked on it lately.”

“Hmm?” Arthur joked, “Looking for me to ask about places to go fishing? Charles, I’m afraid you’re looking for the wrong person. I may be a good fisherman, but I don’t fish the river.”

Dickens laughed at his words, “Arthur, don’t joke. As a police officer, you surely know which places to fish. You may not know that the other day when I finished writing, I followed my old habit of squatting by the river in front of my house to fish for relief.

But after waiting for half a day and not seeing any fish on the hook, someone approached me and asked me if I was fishing. I thought he was mocking me for not catching any fish for half a day, so I explained to him that I had caught more than ten fish here yesterday.

I thought for sure he would be deflated, but to my surprise, the kid’s voice even got higher instead, and he opened his mouth, ”Sir, do you know who I am? I am the one who specializes in searching and fishing in this place. I want to advise you that fishing is strictly prohibited in this river!”

Then he fished out an invoice book from his pocket, intending to write me a ticket. I looked at him as if he was going to get serious, so I hurriedly changed my tone and said, ‘Sir, do you know who I am then? I am Dickens, who specializes in writing fiction. You must know that it is in the nature of novelists to fictionalize stories.’

He was stunned by my words, and while he was stunned, I quickly ran away with the bucket. He didn’t catch up with me even after half a day of chasing, hahaha!”

When Jones heard this, he also could not help laughing out loud, perhaps because he had just taken credit for it, he also had the interest in joking.

Jones threw up his thumb and pointed to Louis Bonaparte, who was sitting on the corner bench and was tied up, and rushed to Dickens and opened his mouth, “Mr. Dickens, when it comes to making up stories, although you are already a master. But I bet you’re still not as good as that lad over there.”

Dickens was surprised, “What? Did he make up any good stories?”

Arthur sniffed, and said, with a sense of humor, “He says he’s a relative of Napoleon’s.”

At this remark, the office immediately erupted in a fit of gleeful laughter.

Seeing this, Louis Bonaparte couldn’t help but bite his teeth and roar, “Don’t think that just because I’m a Frenchman I don’t know English, I’ve received a good education! Do you know what? You guys are humiliating an authentic royal clansman!”

Dickens laughed even more merrily when he heard this, and he spoke, “Like Alexander, it seems the French have always been consistent in their humor.”

As soon as his words left his mouth, he only heard a bang as the door to the office was pushed open.

Standing outside the door was a fat Frenchman with a big belly, who looked at Arthur sitting in the office and couldn’t help but proudly pat the holster hanging on his waist, pointing at the pistol inside and speaking, “Arthur, look, what a good thing I traded for. This gun is a novelty compared to your Scotland Yard’s rifles, with a revolving wheel, and can shoot three rounds in one charge. By the way, what did you leave me a note at home to come and see you at the Whitechapel police station when I got back? Is there anything novel going on here?”

When Arthur saw him, he just smiled and spread his hands as he raised his head at the wall, “Come on, Alexander, meet the Emperor of your Frenchmen.”

(End of chapter)