The Shadow of Great Britain

90: Chapter 50 Diplomatic Cases 90: Chapter 50 Diplomatic Cases The Greenwich Police District held its thirty-fourth police operation of the year, with Police Superintendent Arthur Hastings and four police chiefs attending alongside a group of undercover officers.

Arthur glanced at the materials in hand and began speaking,

“So, let’s start the meeting.

In accordance with orders from the Home Office and Scotland Yard, police officers will continue to go undercover at rallies this week.

I assume everyone has received the notice for a pay raise.

Starting this week, the salary for all officers will increase by twenty-five percent.

The Prime Minister and the Home Office are very satisfied with our performance, as our district has solved a major disappearance case in the St Giles Church area.

Consequently, an additional special bonus may be awarded.”

Upon hearing this, smiles emerged on everyone’s faces.

Arthur then shifted the conversation to Chief Jones, “Jones, you’ve done exceptionally well.

Having just started, you’ve already dismantled several Body Snatcher gangs.

Based on your capability and task completion, you are undoubtedly the best in our district.

To be honest, your work capacity far surpasses that of my old boss, Wilcox.

In this year’s report, I will consider boosting your performance grade.

Once you accumulate enough years as a chief, my recommendation for your promotion will immediately reach your hands.”

At these words, Jones felt a shiver, then quickly stood up and saluted, “I’m just learning from you, sir!”

Red Devil, leaning by the window, narrowed his eyes, “Arthur, there’s something off with this lad.

Doesn’t your disappearance report clearly show it?

These Body Snatcher gangs he’s found are basically all connected to those who ‘disappear alive and can’t be found dead.’”

Arthur, of course, knew there was a problem with Jones; he had been revisiting internal cases at Scotland Yard these past days.

Starting with Wilcox’s missing gun case, then to the theft of police property, and now this disappearance case in the St Giles Church area.

It just so happened that Jones could be linked to almost all these cases.

Firstly, he took over Wilcox’s position as chief in the Greenwich Police District.

Furthermore, when Arthur reviewed Jones’s background and promotion documents, he discovered that Jones had been recommended by Chief Clemens, who supervised the St Giles Church area.

This remarkably coincidental career track made him almost too suspicious to deny.

If this train of thought were to be followed, it would imply that everyone in Clemens’ faction at Scotland Yard had issues.

Although Scotland Yard had only been established for a year, it was already full of competing factions.

The middle-ranking officers in Scotland Yard were mostly composed of junior to mid-level retired Army officers.

Though they all came from the Army, they divided into several factions based on their service corp and regiments.

Those who served in the Cavalry Corps stuck together, and those from the Infantry did the same.

Of course, there were the prestigious Guards Corps and the prideful Grenadiers who looked down on everyone else.

Arthur, during the weekly mid-level police operations meeting at Scotland Yard, often heard police superintendents joking about each other’s corps nicknames.

For instance, the superintendents from the 15th Infantry Regiment were often mocked as ‘firing blanks.’

This nickname arose because, during the Battle of Brandy Creek in the American Revolutionary War, three battalions had run out of bullets, so they distributed the remaining bullets to their best marksmen.

The others, to avoid embarrassment, loaded only gunpowder without bullets, firing blanks to boost morale.

Even the 1st Guards Infantry Regiment, which held both the ‘Grenade’ and ‘Guard’ honors and had defeated the French elite Grenadiers in the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, thus being granted a royal prefix and renamed the Royal Guards Grenadier Regiment, wasn’t spared from mockery.

The superintendents never mentioned ‘royal,’ ‘grenadier,’ or ‘guard’ of that regiment; they merely called the few from the 1st Guards Infantry Regiment ‘coal diggers.’

The reason was simple: the regiment’s commander had once rented out soldiers to haul coal to raise funds for renovations at the St James’s Palace officers’ mess.

Of course, those subjected to ridicule weren’t always from the infantry; superintendents who had retired from the Cavalry couldn’t escape being the butt of jokes either.

For example, the 11th Dragoon Regiment were nicknamed ‘cherry thieves’; they had once succumbed to temptation and were attacked by French forces while pilfering cherries from an orchard, forcing them to fight on foot.

There were also the 14th Dragoon Regiment, which earned the nickname ‘Emperor’s Maids’ due to their numerous victories in the Victoria campaign, including the capture of Napoleon’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte’s chamber pot.

And the 17th Dragoon Regiment, known as the ‘Naval Horse Combat Team’ because they had once served in the Royal Navy for a period.

On the hill where Superintendent Clemens was, stood the Guard Cavalry Regiment, infamous as the ‘Piccadilly Butcher.’ They earned this title for their role in suppressing the riots in the Piccadilly district of London.

Considering Wilcox was also cavalry-bred, it wasn’t hard to understand his connections with Clemens.

Arthur glanced at Agares leaning by the window; he realized why the Red Devil didn’t want him investigating this case.

If it involved the Guard Cavalry, would it not mean poking into the Army’s business?

But right now, the Army was completely under Duke Wellington, with the current Army Minister, Henry Harding, who had been Wellington’s long-time deputy and loyal follower.

Moreover, with a Minister’s salary of 5,000 pounds per year and other lucrative opportunities, if pushed, he could always rent out the Guard Infantry for coal transport again; why would he covet the money of bonded servants and Scotland Yard’s few dozen guns?

After all, Scotland Yard’s annual budget was barely over 300,000 pounds; how much could possibly be skimmed off that?

Arthur couldn’t really understand it, no matter how he thought about it.

Since it didn’t make sense, he simply stopped thinking about it.

He cleared his throat and continued, “Now let’s discuss this week’s duties.

How are things in the jurisdiction—still normal?”

“The usual, minor crimes keep surfacing, but violent crimes are rare.”

“Protest rallies are also limited to certain areas.

It’s clear that the events are well organized; there are basically no breaches.”

“Monitoring activities for several key organizations and associations in the district are also running smoothly; so far, there’s no indication they intend to initiate criminal activities.”

The chiefs and undercover officers one by one reported their weekly duties while Arthur listened and noted, and soon the meeting was nearing its end.

He organized the documents on the table: “One last thing.

Next week the Home Office has arranged for our district to spare officers to support Liverpool City Government to ensure the successful launch of the Manchester-Liverpool railway.

Additionally, if anything occurs in any jurisdiction, remember to inform me promptly.”

Although the French Revolution seems to be progressing rapidly, and according to the news in the newspapers these last two days, it appears that Duke Louis Philippe of Orleans is confirmed to take the throne, stabilizing France’s domestic situation; it seems the revolution is nearing its end.

However, Scotland Yard still requires us to closely monitor the development of events in all areas of London, as no one can be certain how much of an aftermath this French Revolution might provoke.

The entire Cabinet is very tense right now; make sure not to slip up at work during such times, because a resignation might not be enough to settle things if something goes wrong.”

“Understood, Commander!”

Arthur organized the papers he was dealing with, planning to go out for a stroll.

Suddenly, Tom knocked on the open door: “Arthur?”

Arthur looked up and asked, “What is it?”

Tom looked around, then raised his hand to his ear and spoke, “Someone came to the station to report a case.”

“Just register the case as normal; why do you need to tell me specifically?”

Tom wore a pained expression, and he wryly said, “It’s not that.

This case feels a bit tricky.

The person reporting says his friend is missing, and he suspects it might be a kidnapping.

Most importantly, his friend is French.”