Shadow of great britain

The winter in Petersburg is as cold as ever. Although the sun occasionally shows half of its face, everyone knows that its appearance is just a decoration, just to remind people that spring has not been frozen to death.

However, no matter how cold the weather is, it cannot stop people from participating in Maslenitsa.

Although Maslenitsa is usually held a week before Orthodox Lent (40 days before Easter), in fact, it is not an Orthodox festival, but a traditional Slavic festival and the oldest folk festival in Russia. one.

Before the introduction of Orthodox Christianity, Maslenitsa was a farming celebration in Russia during the pagan era, celebrating the natural cycle of winter and spring, so you can also think of it as the Russian Spring Festival.

St. Petersburg's Nevsky Prospekt, Palace Square, and markets and squares across the city are all covered with makeshift stalls. Vendors shout enthusiastically in the cold wind to greet passers-by.

Among them, the most popular stall among the citizens almost sells pancakes.

Pancakes are the iconic food of Maslenitsa. The golden pancakes exude the aroma of butter and honey. If you are willing to add two kopecks more, you can add a few more slices of cheese and smoked salmon to the pancakes.

Many people line up around pancake stalls just to buy a stack of hot pancakes to eat while shopping.

In addition, there are many stalls selling cheese, pickled fish and mead in the market. Where women gather, most of them sell handicrafts, embroidered headscarves or colorful pottery.

On the frozen ice of the Neva River, you can see temporary skating rinks and ice slides. Young people are sliding down the ice slides screaming, laughing one after another.

Circus performers dressed as funny clowns shuttle back and forth among the crowd, performing acrobatics and making random witticisms that always elicit laughter.

Near the Palace Square, carriages decorated with ribbons and garlands passed through the streets. The drivers wore fur coats and waved whips. There were dressed nobles sitting in the carriages, waving to the onlookers.

The carriage was followed by a procession of farmers in traditional costumes, who were parading through the square holding several ornately decorated scarecrows.

Although these scarecrows look beautiful, unfortunately, according to Russian tradition, scarecrows are symbols of winter, so they are all burned during the ceremony on the last day of Maslenitsa.

Next to the large bonfire in the center of the square, the music of the balalaika was mixed with singing and footsteps. Young people held hands and formed a large circle, singing and dancing traditional Russian dances.

A young balalaika player was playing a lilting tune.

His fingertips jumped on the strings like a rabbit, and the girls watching couldn't help but applaud.

The piano player narrowed his eyes and began to sing a traditional folk song that ridiculed winter with a proud look on his face: "Winter, winter, put your claws away quickly and don't stop us from drinking and eating butter and caviar!"

The young and energetic young men naturally refused to let the piano player steal their limelight.

A few young men broke away from the circle dance team and performed a Cossack tap dance in the center of the square.

Following the fast rhythm of the balalaika, they squatted and stood up constantly. Whether it was high kicking, squatting and slapping, or jumping goats, they were able to perform any difficult movements at their fingertips. Such wonderful fighting dances naturally attracted a lot of attention. The crowd cheered.

But in this joyful holiday atmosphere, a British gentleman seemed out of place.

Arthur's face was paler than the snow and ice of St. Petersburg in winter.

He held his cane tightly with one hand and supported his waist with the other hand, limping past the dancing boys, like a penguin trying to balance on the ice.

Arthur's face would twitch with every step, as if to remind himself that the joy of Maslenitsa was not for him.

On his top hat, the red devil is sitting cross-legged leisurely, his tail gently tapping the edge of the top hat.

Those small eyes burning with playful flames stared at the young man who was still performing Cossack tap dancing in the center of the square, with a very proud smile on his lips.

"Oh! Arthur~Arthur~ are you still in pain?"

Agares spoke with an exaggerated lament, but there was no sympathy in his tone: "What a respectable gentleman you are. The lightness of the waltz and the dignity of the square dance are all your specialties. Even the ballrooms in Vienna may not be able to find dancers like you, but..."

Arthur ignored it and just gritted his teeth and continued to walk at a staggering pace, as if the physical pain he suffered was easier to bear than the humiliation from the devil.

Agares found that this road was unavailable, so he found another way: "Arthur, my dear, seeing that you are in such pain, let me tell you a joke. One day, a British gentleman decided to try to dance the Cossack Dance. He squatted hard, kicked his legs, and even tried to do a high kick. Everything seemed so perfect, but when he tried to stand up for the seventh time, he suddenly stopped..."

Agares paused deliberately and continued in a calm tone: "He stood elegantly, straightened his tie, and said to the crowd watching - it seems that my performance is exciting enough, so my performance Knee decided to stay here and take his last breaths.”

Arthur finally couldn't help but speak, with a hint of suppressed anger in his tone: "Agares, if you say one more word, I promise, I will rip you off your hat and throw you into the Neva River. ”

"No, you can't, my dear, because the Neva is frozen."

Agares laughed and swung his tail even more happily.

It can be seen that the Red Devil is obviously very satisfied with his wit.

Arthur slapped his forehead, and he felt that it was really a double whammy recently.

The news that a British citizen had illegally entered Russia was already enough to give people a headache.

This British citizen happened to be Sir David Urquhart, the First Secretary of Constantinople, an alumnus of Oxford University, who had established a deep friendship with King William IV and many British politicians during his college years.

Moreover, Sir David went to the Caucasus Mountains, which was heavily blocked by the Russians. The purpose of entering the country was to contact the leaders of the resistance army and to fight for the Circassians who were resisting Russian rule.

Most importantly, the above decisions were not reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy in Constantinople, nor were they approved by any minister.

In other words, all Sir David Urquhart's actions were done alone!

Arthur thought that his act of pretending to be a Russian envoy in a desperate situation was already bold and reckless, but compared with the stubborn Sir David, it was nothing.

When the British Embassy in Russia learned that Sir David had entered the Caucasus, it immediately sent people to track down his whereabouts.

But this effort was mostly in vain.

Regardless of the fact that Britain had basically no layout in the Caucasus, even if they had informants in the local area, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack to find a person in the Caucasus Mountains, which are full of mountains and ridges.

Some people in the embassy even thought that Sir David might have died in the Caucasus.

Fortunately, according to the recent response of the Russian government, they seemed to be unaware that a British diplomat had secretly crossed their blockade and successfully entered the Circassia region of the Caucasus.

For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is better for Sir David to die in the Caucasus than to fall into the hands of the Russians alive.

Because the living Sir David is equivalent to an irrefutable evidence of "Britain's interference in Russia's internal affairs."

No one likes to clean up one's ass, especially for others.

On this point, the embassy in Russia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained a high degree of consistency in their positions.

However, although most people wished that Sir David would die sooner, as long as there was no definite news, he would hang over everyone's head like a sword of Damocles.

And to understand how anxious Foreign Secretary Viscount Palmerston was, you only need to look at the order he issued to the embassy in Russia - to take Sir David out of the Caucasus alive, or dead if necessary.

In the following week, the search for Sir David could be described as a nightmare.

Where is Sir David?

No one knows this.

But who is with Sir David?

In addition to the Circassians, there is also a special correspondent for The Times, James Longworth.

Speaking of Mr. Longworth, he is actually an old acquaintance of Arthur.

When Arthur was fishing for Bernie Harrison MP at Scotland Yard, Longworth was doing a live interview with Thomas Barnes, the famous British journalist, the "Jupiter of the Times".

But at that time, he was just a small reporter helping Thomas Barnes.

After that live interview on "British sausage making technology", Longworth seemed to have suddenly opened his eyes. In the following years, he published several well-known reports, including special reports on the cholera pandemic and long columns on parliamentary reform.

There is no wrong version in the 16-9 book bar!

At the beginning of last year, with the expansion of the business territory of The Times, Longworth, who was highly regarded by editor-in-chief Thomas Barnes, took on the important task of creating a new world and took office in Constantinople as the special correspondent of The Times in the Ottoman Empire, with full responsibility for news editing and editing in the Middle East and Central Asia.

As we all know, Western reporters always run fast when they hear about news.

But unfortunately, in this year, the strongest western journalists are British journalists, especially those from The Times.

Longworth heard about Sir David Urquhart's deeds from somewhere. In order to get the first-hand source of information in the Circassian region, he risked his life to board the ship with Sir David, temporarily changed his job to become a war correspondent, and disappeared together as expected.

When Foreign Secretary Viscount Palmerston learned of the news, he was shocked and almost hinted to the Russian embassy that Longworth must be shot on the spot once he was found.

Any British politician knows that if a journalist like Longworth is allowed to come back alive, what level of work can Fleet Street do for Viscount Palmerston and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After all, not everyone is like Arthur - what kind of newspaper headlines has Arthur not seen? What kind of criticism has he not endured?

Although he is young, Arthur has eaten more salt than ordinary politicians have eaten bread.

You know, let alone a small reporter like James Longworth, even Thomas Barnes, the "Jupiter of the Times", Arthur can chat and laugh with him.

Viscount Palmerston, it's still rare to be surprised.

Of course, if the superior has worries, the subordinate must solve the problem.

But this pattern is sometimes not absolute. Arthur also wants to find Sir David, but his original intention of finding someone is different from everyone else.

Arthur simply wanted to make acquaintance with this Oxford-educated hero, because Sir David seemed not to take Viscount Palmerston seriously at all, and he was also a very straight-tempered man who was very rare in the political circle.

Of course, if Sir David is unfortunately caught, Arthur will not be unable to accept it.

If the Tsar was so angry that he ordered the expulsion of all British diplomats in Russia, Arthur would be happy to be sent back to London by Nicholas I to take up his post.

The worst-case scenario is to send him to other countries to continue to be his counselor.

But Arthur's fantasy was finally shattered yesterday.

Yesterday, the latest issue of the "British Foreign Office Title Directory" was delivered to Petersburg. After carefully reviewing the relevant information, Arthur discovered an extremely terrifying fact - basically all embassies abroad do not have counselor-level positions. The Foreign Office seats at No. 15 Downing Street are also fully occupied.

According to the practice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, if there is no suitable position in the foreign missions in Europe, the outgoing diplomats will be sent to overseas colonies or autonomous territories to handle local political or administrative affairs.

Judging from the current situation, Arthur's destination is very likely to be Canada, Australia or India.

Um……

The sky is falling!

Traveling to Canada and Australia at this age is tantamount to ending one's political life prematurely.

What is the difference between going there and being exiled?

Just because you have the rank of counselor and don't have chains on your hands and feet, you are not an assigned prisoner?

As for India, it is indeed a good place. Many British nobles also like to send their children to India for gold plating.

Even if there are children from a family that cannot hold up a wall with mud and cannot be plated with gold, at least they can make their first pot of gold in India.

But the problem is that India's colonial institutions are mainly military-based, and those who can return to India are basically officers like the Duke of Wellington.

The names of civilian officials rarely appear in cross-continental transfers. If you are a civilian official and you are transferred, it means that you have at least reached the level of Governor of Bombay or Governor of Madras.

This is not to say that Arthur does not have the confidence to achieve this level.

But, self-confidence belongs to self-confidence, and ability belongs to ability. From a practical perspective, it is impossible for India to reach such a level without the support of the DPRK and China.

According to the news released in London, His Majesty the King seems not to be satisfied with the Gray Cabinet of the Whig Party, and there seem to be signs of instability within the Whig Party...

If Gray's cabinet collapses, his mentor Lord Brougham steps down from his position as Lord Chancellor, and Earl Durham is expelled by the Russian government and becomes unemployed...

The new cabinet accidentally forgot that there was a person like Arthur Hastings...

Then the Hastings family will eventually become a clean and hygienic traditional Indian family!

This is unacceptable under any circumstances!

When he thought of this, Arthur felt as if his waist was no longer sore, his legs were no longer painful, and he could walk two miles in a snowy day with his hat on.

He walked through the dense crowd and knocked on the door of a mansion on Nevsky Prospekt: ​​"Excuse me, is this the British Club?"

The servant opened the door and saw this unfamiliar guest, and nodded slightly: "Who are you?"

Arthur took out his business card from his pocket and handed it to the servant who opened the door: "Please go to the club and inform Mr. Pushkin that Arthur Hastings is invited to visit."