Fox of France

After returning from Pete, Addington immediately called the Secretary of the Navy and asked the Ministry of the Navy to make a detailed and "well-considered" plan for his reference on the blockade of the Irish coastline.

Then he wrote to the Duke of Norfolk to understand his attitude. The Duke of Norfolk naturally supports the blockade of Ireland, but he pointed out that now is not the best time, and the best time should be one or two months before the harvest season. Of course it should be ready now.

Two days later, at a gathering of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Prime Minister Addington's secretary revealed a secret to Matthew Bolton, who attended the gathering: "The Navy has developed a new weapon that can be used to block the coast of Ireland... "

In the eyes of many people, the reason why Matthew Bolton became a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences is largely due to Watt's credit. Although he himself is considered a good engineer, his real level is far from There may still be some gaps in the level of being able to join the Royal Academy of Sciences.

But if you want to talk about the level of business, Bolton can really say "I'm not targeting any of you" in the Academy of Sciences. After all, in this circle, "no one knows how to do business better than me."

After Bolton heard the news, his face immediately changed. After confirming the news again, he found an excuse and left the field early with Watt.

On the carriage back, Bolton told Watt the news. Watt immediately yelled: "How can this work? We have just... and our..."

"James, keep your voice down." Bolton said, "Don't get excited. I think Mr. Dowding means that the government has not made a final decision. Think about it, such a big matter not only involves us, but also involves There are more other people, such as those who do textiles. Once we really reopen the war with France, think about what kind of losses these people will suffer? I am afraid that a large number of factories will close down immediately. By then I'm afraid that the London Bridge will be full of people who want to jump the Thames. Maybe, because there are too many people, the London Bridge will be crushed directly. Well, that should be what my mother gave me when I was a child. A nursery rhyme I sang: 'London Bridge is falling, falling, falling...'”

Having said that, Bolton actually started singing.

Although Watt is not satisfied that Bolton is still playing humor like this at this time, Bolton's nonchalant attitude still makes Watt heave a sigh of relief.

"Matthew, don't act like a child." Watt said, "The question now is how we should deal with it."

"Of course it is the first to spread the news and let everyone know." Bolton replied.

...

Almost at the same time, in other places, some businessmen close to the Admiralty also received similar news. Some people got even more detailed information, to the point where even technical details were included.

Two days later, in the inaugural issue of a newly established tabloid, an article called "The Royal Navy Successfully Developed a Secret Weapon, the French Exclaimed Invincible" was published. What's more terrible is that this news stated straightforwardly that the weapon that made the French "exclaim invincible" was a mine.

The Metropolitan police seized the paper at once and arrested the entire tabloid—managing editor, reporter, printer, newsboy—Mr. Anderson Thorby. and interrogated him. At the trial, this Mr. Soapy declared that his source of information was a revelation from God, who had appeared to him in a dream and had given him these revelations.

Of course, this kind of statement made the police officers angry because they felt that their IQ had been insulted, so a few police officers repaired the guy so well that even his mother couldn't recognize him. But Mr. Thorby did not give in, and as long as he had time, even when the police were tired of repairing him and took an intermission, he kept preaching to the police:

"God says the day is near, repent! God is supreme, I am God's messenger, you will go to hell if you do this! Almighty, merciful God, have mercy on them, forgive their crimes, because they all I don't know what I'm doing..."

It made several policemen depressed. This guy really seems to have a problem with his brain. But a psychopath who also runs a newspaper? Moreover, the people sent by the Admiralty were very anxious and said that they must find out who is hiding behind this person.

However, it didn't take long for people from London's London Madhouse to come to their door. According to them, this guy named Thorby was their patient.

"Ah, Sheriff John, this man is indeed our patient. He has always been suffering from paranoia. Six months ago, when our hospital was relocated, a group of patients disappeared due to chaos. At that time, we published in the newspaper He passed the notice of missing person and reported the case to your bureau." The lunatic asylum worker named Woolf said.

"Then how did you find this place?" Sheriff John asked.

"You know, we've been looking for them, especially Anderson Thorby. His uncle is a rich man who comes to see him every year... soon he's coming to visit Thorby. Well, he One of the important benefactors of our hospital. So we have been looking for him, including through private investigators.

Detective Sherlock Moriarty told us a few days ago that he had received word that a man who looked very much like the Anderson Thorby we pictured was operating here, and we came to find him..."

"Are you sure this man is Anderson Thorby? Any proof?"

"Of course." Woolf replied, "Sheriff, we have brought a full set of information about Anderson Soapy since he entered our hospital five years ago. Including his handprint records five years ago."

"Can you show us?" Sergeant John said.

It has been verified that the palmprint on the five-year-old record brought by Woolf and the palmprint of the imprisoned Anderson Thorby were indeed from the same person. Sergeant John informed the Admiralty of the matter. But the people in the Admiralty decided that this was a conspiracy, and there must be spies and saboteurs behind this person.

"That is to say, what the lunatic said is based on something?" Sheriff John asked.

"Sheriff, I have to remind you that you crossed the border and asked questions that shouldn't be asked." The Navy Department official named Charles said.

"Ah," Sergeant John was taken aback, but he quickly recovered, "Well, it seems that there is only one possibility."

"What's possible?"

"A person knows a certain secret, and for some purpose, he wants to reveal it, but he knows it is dangerous, so he finds this madman, uses some means to influence him, hints at him, makes him He thought he had a revelation from God, and he came up with it. Well, Mr. Charles, I think that's probably the case."

"So can you catch the man who hinted at him?"

"I'm afraid it will be difficult." Sheriff John decided to tell the truth, "First of all, this guy should indeed be a lunatic. Anything he says may be fantasy and nonsense. It is difficult for us to get anything effective from him. Even if we had the information, we would not be able to use his statement as evidence against that person in court.”

"We don't need evidence, we just need names," Charles replied.

"Even so, it's still very difficult." Sergeant John replied, "To be honest, how to get valuable information from a madman is beyond our business scope. We have no experience dealing with madmen." .And, legally, we have no reason to prevent the London Asylum from taking him back. In fact, even if I do everything possible, the most I can do is to keep him with me for an extra day or two. But for the investigation, there is actually little It's useless. If you must continue the investigation, I suggest that you go directly to the London Lunatic Asylum. They may be more experienced."

Originally, the rest of this matter should be the lace news of various tabloids and it will be over. And since the lunatic's newspapers were published in a very limited number, it seemed that this matter should not cause much trouble.

But then the French "Sun" reported this joke in a prominent position on the joke page, but in the report, there appeared a very interesting sentence: "But what is interesting is that this madman is not a person who was sent to a madhouse." He was the first to be found, but he was first arrested by the police for being suspected of 'leaking state secrets'. Of course, as for what kind of 'secret' he was suspected of leaking in his report, because the newspaper's publication volume is too small, we still have no idea. I haven’t found it. If any readers have actually seen it, please write to us and let us learn more.”

The report of the "Sun" was just the beginning, and then the newspaper of the "England Free Press Union" followed up, and put the news in the regular news column to report it. Of course, their goal is the freedom of speech of the people.

"A lunatic wrote some fantasies, and it was enough to just laugh it off. But our police department arrested him with great fanfare, and even used violence to force him to confess... Today they can write an article because of a lunatic Crazy talk, take him to the police station and torture him, destroy his craziness; tomorrow, they can cover up a scandal like the "Lancet" incident, and tie the journalists who exposed this scandal to a stake and then Burn them with the newspaper they tell the truth. Le Soleil is a French newspaper and they can go back to France in the future, so they only see jokes, but we are almost awake at night with worry and fear."

At the same time, the merchants of the Textile Industry Federation also became active. They kept visiting the congressmen, asking them about the news, and asking them to protect their interests honestly while taking their money.