The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1138: Chapter 113: The Gottingen Conspiracy

Today’s Europe is like a powder keg, and the leaders of each country are like smokers in an arsenal. A single spark could trigger an explosion, engulfing us all.

—— Clemens von Metternich

University of Gottingen, today the sun is shining brightly.

Portraits of previous presidents and famous professors hang on the stone porch outside the Academic Director’s office.

These artworks are either oil paintings or etchings, and through them, Gottingen proudly showcases its illustrious academic tradition as a renowned German institution.

The corridor floor is paved with thick stone slabs, where the monotonous, crisp sound of footsteps echoes.

Though during working days, the area in front of the Academic Director’s office is usually bustling with people, on Sundays, it is generally unvisited.

But today is an exception, as footsteps gradually get closer, the figure of a young man emerges at the end of the porch.

Today, Bismarck has dressed himself meticulously, donning a formal outfit he wore only once at the opening ceremony.

The tailcoat is meticulously tailored, with silver buttons that he polished to a shine, paired with a spotless high-collared shirt and a deep black silk bow tie he sought across Gottingen’s streets for. Peeking out from the vest’s pocket is one side of a gold watch chain.

He stops in front of the Academic Director’s office door, gazing at the insignia above the door frame and the Latin motto ‘In publica commoda’ (For the public good), Bismarck feels his arm rather heavy as he prepares to knock.

Taking a deep breath, he silently recites the speech he prepared last night in his mind, before finally summoning the courage to knock.

Knock knock knock!

“Professor Hastings, I am Otto von Bismarck, a second-year student from the Law School, may I come in?”

However, after a long while, Bismarck hears no response from the office.

Frowning, he knocks again, only to find the door suddenly swings open.

It was Bismarck’s first time seeing what the Academic Director’s office is like, as he usually frequents the Student Council’s tribunal more often.

First to catch his eye is the heavy oak desk, smooth and spacious, with an ink bottle, quill pen, letters, and some beautifully bound books placed on it. Behind the desk sits a high-backed chair made of dark leather, on the armrests, the carved grooves of intricate patterns can be seen clearly.

The office is flanked by tall bookshelves, filled with academic works on law, philosophy, history, and more. Judging by the covers, most of these books are written in Latin, German, and French, and bound with meticulous care, some even have titles and authors’ names etched in gold leaf on their covers.

Beside the bookshelves stands a small ladder, presumably to help Academic Director Hastings access books from higher spots. Even though both he and Bismarck are tall, the three-meter-high bookshelves remain somewhat distant for him.

Bismarck notices Arthur isn’t in the office, his slightly tense mood quickly easing.

Hands behind his back, he wanders into the office, occasionally taking a book from the shelf to flip through, or plopping down into the Academic Director’s exclusive high-back chair to idly fiddle with the small globe on the desk.

“Hmm? What’s this?”

Bismarck stops the spinning globe with a finger and discovers that several special locations are marked on it with ink, arranged from north to south: Britain’s Devonport and Plymouth, Portugal’s colony the Cape Verde Islands, Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, Uruguay’s Montevideo, Argentina’s Port Blanca, Buenos Aires, and Santa Fe.

But these markings seem to have been drawn a long time ago as the ink looks quite dry on these cities.

The globe bears seemingly the newest marking at the southernmost point of South America, Tierra del Fuego.

As Bismarck ponders the mysterious circles’ significance, his peripheral vision suddenly catches the embossed envelope on the desk, sealed with wax. The handwriting on the envelope is notably flamboyant, clearly marked in English: Sent from Tierra del Fuego.

“Huh?” Bismarck scratches his head.

Could it be that Arthur Hastings has some connection with the natives of Tierra del Fuego?

Or, does he have business in South America?

Is he secretly a slave trader?!

“Oh, my God!”

Such astonishing facts even startle the bold young Bismarck.

A British man, secretly a slave trader!

Didn’t the newspapers say that the British Government announced it had fully abolished slavery in their homeland and overseas colonies this year?

Where does he get the audacity to engage in such business?

But as Bismarck thinks it over, he realizes this might be a profitable venture.

He recalls that the British Government abolished slavery by purchasing slaves from slave masters. If he could transfer a batch of slaves from others before the buyout process completes, he could earn quite a bit of profit from the price difference.

Bismarck’s ability to conceive such an idea is not surprising, because a similar business flourished when the Prussian government announced the abolition of serfdom a decade earlier.

Prussia’s “October Edict” of 1807 decreed: Peasants were no longer property of the Lord; they gained the right to autonomously operate farmland, and could freely migrate and marry.