Shadow of great britain

On the streets of London, black and gray water flows between the wet floor tiles.

Red sparks flashed under the two big-brimmed hats, puffing out puffs of smoke from time to time. Arthur and Louis walked together, heading towards their destination Greysham College, where the Royal Society is located.

Louis said: "I heard that the Royal Charter from the University of London seems to have been officially approved. Maybe after a while, the degree certificate will be issued to you."

Arthur, who had a bandage around his neck, took a puff of smoke and said, "It won't take a while. When I helped Alfred register for the University of London a while ago, the dean of the Academic Affairs Office told me that the school is currently printing degree certificates. He was going to reissue the academic certificates that should have been handed over to us, the first batch of unlucky ones who graduated. He also asked me, when the things are printed, should they be mailed to me, or should I go and pick them up myself."

Louis joked: "I guess you must plan to pick it up yourself. Judging from what I have observed during my time living in London, the postal service in London does not seem to be any better than in Paris."

Arthur nodded sympathetically.

Unlike the modern and efficient postal industry, the postal service in the 19th century was synonymous with inefficiency and chaos.

In addition, its high price and only accept payment method are often unbearable.

If an ordinary worker wanted to send a letter from Inverness, Scotland, to a relative's home in London, it would often cost him half a month's wages.

However, although the price of mailing letterhead is very expensive, in order to encourage the development of the printing industry and the journalism industry, mailing newspapers through the postal system is free.

Therefore, in order to free Britain's postal service, many people came up with crooked ideas to avoid paying high postage fees.

They put a new newspaper into an envelope and punch holes in specific letters of the newspaper. In this way, the person who receives the newspaper can spell out the 'encrypted message' based on the punctured letters.

Those who were relatively well-off and unwilling to endure the inefficiency of the postal system simply chose to publish their encrypted information in newspapers with larger circulations.

Major newspapers that sell well across the country, such as The Times and The Manchester Guardian, usually have low-cost personal notices and completely free letters from readers.

The original intention of the newspaper to open these columns is to communicate more with readers, shorten the distance between the two parties, and thereby increase the sales and influence of the newspaper.

However, what they didn't expect was that many couples simply posted their love letters on it, so much so that the citizens jokingly called it the 'love column'.

In order to put an end to this phenomenon of wool-gathering, the newspaper office naturally began to make efforts to rectify it.

However, after rectification, it didn't take long for the lovers to master the basic skills of encrypted communication and began to use more obscure language to express their lovesickness in the columns.

Originally, it was none of Arthur's business for lovers to vent their overflowing hormones, but as luck would have it, a non-staff employee of the Police Intelligence Bureau liked to delve into these matters.

Since initially achieving financial freedom, Mr. Wheatstone, a patient with profound social phobia, has begun to let himself go.

He did not conduct any scientific research for two months in a row. After eating every day, he would lock himself in the bedroom with a pile of newspapers.

Two months later, Charles Wheatstone, who had broken through the barrier, proudly announced at a working meeting of the Police Intelligence Bureau that he had successfully deciphered the encrypted language of at least nine couples. In order to prove the accuracy of his cracking, Wheatstone also read the translated love letters aloud in front of Arthur, and successfully inspired Arthur to write in the new issue of "Haiss" The key element of deciphering love letters has been added to "The Detective Collection of Tings".

After Wheatstone tasted the sweetness, he was also out of control. Nowadays, he is no longer satisfied with deciphering the love letters in those columns. He would even use his own money to get involved in the love-hate relationships of these young lovers. This four-eyed boy who usually doesn't talk much to women, now often pretends to be an emotional expert and appears in the 'love columns' of major newspapers, providing free and unreliable services. Professional and very pleasant consulting service.

——You should break up with that bitch, she doesn’t deserve you. If I were you, I would definitely kill her with one shot.

——Elopement is impossible to solve the problem. Even if you want to elope, you have to graduate from Oxford first. And if you really received an Oxford education, are you sure you really like girls?

——That man is lying to you. I am very familiar with this tactic, because one of my friends also has such a bastard. He is a policeman at Scotland Yard. But I think your boyfriend is not even as good as my friend. At least my friend can provide me with a small house for free accommodation. And you, girl, that boyfriend of yours can't even pay the rent on his own place.

After the bombing service of Wheatstone's social terrorists, British lovers have become more at ease recently. Even those who are still obsessed with the lovesickness column have made large-scale upgrades to their password books.

After getting enough of his addiction, Wheatstone soon found himself in big trouble.

Not long ago, while Arthur was busy preparing for the duel, he also took the time to appoint Wheatstone as the cryptography specialist of the Police Intelligence Bureau, and authorized him to be fully responsible for organizing and writing a reliable set of special encryption terms for the Police Intelligence Bureau - Hui. Stone language.

But this time Wheatstone was not so resistant, partly because he was really interested in encrypted languages, and partly because he had recently met a new friend who had retired from the British Army in India.

The new friend was also very interested in cryptographic languages, and they thought they could use the special allocation of cryptographic languages ​​from the Police Intelligence Bureau to do something better.

Although Arthur repeatedly asked Wheatstone what big news they planned to make, Wheatstone remained silent and was still unwilling to reveal any information about this aspect.

Since Wheatstone didn't want to say it, Arthur certainly couldn't force it. Anyone familiar with him knew that Arthur fully respected his friends' privacy.

That's why Arthur chose to leave the warm and comfortable secret liaison room today, and went with Louis to the laboratory of the Royal Society, launching a secret, more routine, and routine attack on Wheatstone, who had been staying there recently. Politeness blitz.

Of course, this blitz cannot be compared with the operation codenamed "Barbarossa". After all, the person accompanying Arthur was not a motorized infantry, but just a police secretary of the Metropolitan Police and the Emperor of the Second French Empire. .

Arthur and Louis were chatting, and when the dark riding boots were covered with mud, they knew they were in front of Gresham College.

Although today's weather is not good and the temperature in early winter has dropped very low, this does not affect the enthusiasm of middle-class and upper-class ladies to learn about science.

Today, there is still a lot of traffic in front of Gresham College. Looking from a distance, the carriages are neatly parked on the avenue outside the college.

The coachmen who were responsible for driving the ladies rubbed their hands vigorously and took two puffs of their pipes from time to time, trying to keep their bodies warm after being exposed to the rain.

The scavengers, who originally wanted to clear the way for getting off the bus in exchange for a few rewards, couldn't stop shaking their heads. Their lips trembled with the cold, and they would squeeze out a few obscene words from their mouths from time to time. They cursed the damn weather, which not only made them stiff with cold, but also took away their job of cleaning the road.

Arthur took a deep breath. The rain not only washed the road clean, but even the strong smell of perfume in the air was diluted a little.

Louis looked down at Arthur and his muddy boots, pointed to the shoe shiner sitting under the corner waiting for customers to come, and said: "Should we clean it first? Will it look bad to see Mr. Faraday in this posture?" Not very respectful?"

Arthur turned his head and looked at the sign in front of the college, nodded slightly and said: "What a coincidence, Mr. Faraday is giving the lecture again today. According to past practice, his lecture will probably not end on time. Instead of giving the lecture early, When you go to the lab and get asked questions, it seems good to have your shoes shined."

When the two came to the shoe stall, the shoe shiners who had been complaining about the bad weather suddenly put on smiling faces.

They enthusiastically took the canes from Arthur and Louis, placed them on the stools beside them and covered them with a clean cloth.

Louis sat on the long stool and asked: "Will the apprentices in the laboratory ask you questions? I don't think so. If this is France, then I think asking questions and talking loudly are quite acceptable. It's normal. After all, this is a way for us to express our concern. The French believe that eloquence is an outstanding talent, and humor is a noble character. Anyone who is taciturn will definitely be despised by everyone. .

But this is Britain after all, and judging from my time living in Britain, you Brits maintain a considerable sense of social distance. Hugging is considered rude, tapping guests on the shoulder is not allowed, and there are as many weird taboos as there are raindrops in London. Aren’t all the apprentices of the Royal Society natives? Otherwise, how could they not understand these basic British etiquette? "

Arthur sat on a stool and took the sweat towel from the shoe shiner's hand and wiped it with him. After a simple thank you, he replied.

"Apprentices of the Royal Society certainly know their social etiquette, but besides being English, they are usually very fond of learning. Unfortunately, they identified me as Mr. Faraday, another British authority on electromagnetism. So I often ask me questions that I don’t understand.

If I give random answers to those questions, it would mean that my attitude towards scholarship is neither honest nor rigorous. And if I tell the truth that I don't know, the apprentices will think that I am hiding my secrets and perfunctory with them. Therefore, after comprehensively considering the influences from all aspects, I chose to reduce the frequency of going to the Royal Society as much as possible. "

Louis was full of disbelief when he heard this: "Come on, Arthur. Maybe in the field of electromagnetism, apart from Mr. Faraday, there are people in Britain who are better than you, but I guarantee that such people will never be counted on one hand. Although I am not as proficient in mathematics, astronomy or other scientific fields as my uncle, I probably never hope to be elected as an academician of the French Academy of Sciences like him.

But I have always paid attention to new developments in the field of science. The paper you co-published with Mr. Faraday is definitely very valuable in the field of electromagnetism. I can even say that if Faraday's "On the Phenomena of Electromagnetic Induction" The publication marked the beginning of the new discipline of electromagnetism. Then your "On the Concept of Faraday's Lines of Force" and "On the Three Laws of Electromagnetism" are the first two exhibits presented after the curtain opens.

Nowadays, when electromagnetic researchers quote the three rules, they always directly indicate that the three rules are: Ampere's rule, Faraday's rule and Hastings' rule. Although your research results cannot be compared with the first two for the time being, it can be put together with their names. For this reason alone, it is absolutely no problem for you to be called an authority on electromagnetism.

At the very least, I don’t think you’ll be stumped by apprenticeship issues. If you really didn't hide anything from your apprentice, then I can only think that you are being modest. "

"modesty?"

When Arthur heard this word, he couldn't help but take a puff of his cigarette and wanted to pick up his black-rimmed glasses, but after touching for a long time he realized that he didn't have such accessories, so he could only shake his head slightly and said: "I think apprentices are still different. Please be wise. I am really not being modest. How come I, a history graduate from the University of London, ended up at the Royal Society?"

No matter what Arthur said, Louis just didn't believe him. Not only did he not believe it, he even wanted to ask Arthur a few electromagnetic questions.

Arthur saw that he was holding on, so he could only distract Louis with a topic that was more interesting to him.

Arthur asked: "Did you just say that Napoleon was once elected as an academician of the French Academy of Sciences? Is his academician a genuine one, or did the academicians allow him to be elected under political pressure?"

As soon as Louis heard this, he immediately forgot about electromagnetism. The police secretary of Scotland Yard and the French artillery commander who graduated from the Swiss Military Academy immediately established a position on the spot and began to argue for his uncle like a treasure trove.

"I know that many people have doubts in this regard. But I must emphasize that most of my uncle's achievements were the result of his hard work. It's just that his military achievements were too dazzling, so they overshadowed him. Only talents in other areas. In fact, when my uncle studied at the Breneburg Military School in 1784, his talent in mathematics had already been revealed. In the mathematics examination, he ranked at the top of the entire school. of that batch.

Moreover, he also accepted the mathematics test organized by Laplace at that time, and his talent was even personally praised by Laplace himself. Later, my uncle transferred to the Paris Military Academy to study artillery command. As we all know, if you cannot learn mathematics well, even if you are not good at range and angle, you will not be able to correct the ballistics, and naturally you will not be able to become an excellent artillery commander. I don’t need to elaborate on how excellent my uncle was in artillery command.

When he was on an expedition to Egypt, even while he was busy with the war, he personally participated in the measurement of the Egyptian pyramids and discovered that the ratio of the pyramid's height to its circumference was equal to the approximate value of pi. Later he was also interested in the periodic flooding of the Nile and tried to find patterns. But since he returned to China not long after, the job came to nothing.

And just like you, he has formulas and laws named after himself, including Napoleon's function, Napoleon's equation and Napoleon's theorem. Having said that, I can also tell you a secret. Do you know why my uncle always likes to take a bunch of scientists with him when he goes to war? "

Arthur asked smoothly: "I'm really curious about this. Do you know why?"

Louis lowered his voice mysteriously: "Because he has been trying to use mathematical methods to analyze the possible results of the war. He wants to establish a complex mathematical model based on his own and the enemy's troop strength, equipment, supplies, terrain, climate and other factors. , and used probability theory to calculate his chances of winning. Unfortunately, he failed in the end. The bitter consequences of the failure were ultimately reflected in the expedition to Russia. He did not take into account the Russian army's scorched-earth tactics and the harsh Russian winter, which resulted in His infallible calculations failed and he suffered heavy losses."

When Arthur heard this, he said thoughtfully: "When you said this, I suddenly understood why the Duke of Wellington was so generous in investing money in Mr. Babbage's Difference Engine. Now it seems, Famous generals seem to have a crazy need to improve their mathematical calculations. Maybe the Duke of Wellington is making the same plan as Napoleon."

Louis was stunned when he heard this: "Babbage's difference engine? What is that?"

Arthur shook his head slightly and said: "Let's not mention it, it is a black hole that attracts money. Mr. Babbage has suffered miserably from it. With his talent, if he hadn't devoted himself to the difference engine, he might have already been there by now. He has made many achievements that astound the world.”

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, he suddenly heard the customer sitting in the shoe shine booth next to him say: "Sir, you are too pessimistic. Although Mr. Babbage's research is indeed in trouble, I think as long as The cabinet is willing to continue to invest in him, and he will succeed sooner or later. And once that thing is produced, it will definitely improve the army's material supply, military distribution, and logistics support capabilities exponentially. The cabinet should continue to inject funds. They are really too weak now. The little guy is angry."