The Shadow of Great Britain

This way, Kromer's career might actually fare better than in the first scenario, as he would have an immediate vacancy for promotion.

After several heart-to-heart talks with Arthur and others, Kromer, an Austrian intelligence officer, suddenly turned into a staunch supporter of Young Italy.

Now, more than anyone, he is eager for Young Italy to launch an expedition and prays sincerely for the comrades of 'Young Italy', hoping God will protect them: "Let the old intelligence bureaucrats in Mainz never discover the important information hidden within the intelligence documents sent from Paris."

As for Arthur, his thoughts were almost identical to Kromer's.

He didn't want to straightforwardly inform the Foreign Office that Young Italy was about to launch an expedition.

But if Arthur didn't write this report and showed no awareness of the forthcoming expedition, his previous voluntary commitment to being responsible for Young Italy's affairs would become a joke in the eyes of his colleagues at the Foreign Office, and the name Arthur Hastings would become synonymous with incompetence and dereliction.

Therefore, to prevent such a situation, Arthur had to put more thought into writing the diplomatic intelligence report.

He needed to write the diplomatic report in a unique way, starting with an excessively long introduction, followed by a rambling account of his recent experiences in Paris, until three-quarters of the way through the report, where Arthur finally began to discuss the Young Italy expedition.

——Recently, some of my personal news channels suggest that in the coming months, situations may arise violating Articles forty-five and forty-six and related supplementary provisions of Chapter Four of the final version of the 1815 "Treaty of Vienna".

——However, it must be emphasized that the known information is very limited, and the relevant situations are difficult to ascertain from a certain perspective. Therefore, under such circumstances, I recommend that the relevant intelligence officers of the Foreign Office should take effective measures to verify.

——Because preliminary evidence suggests that we may need to deepen our understanding to decide whether to pursue further inquiries into such information.

Even though the report was written so obscurely, Arthur was still quite worried that Viscount Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, would notice something.

Because everyone knows that fellow is a workaholic, and while an average person might not know what Articles forty-five and forty-six of Chapter Four of the "Treaty of Vienna" state, someone like Viscount Palmerston at least understands that Chapter Four mainly addresses the territorial division among the states of Italy and the restoration of their original rule.

If he's bored and insists on calling someone to pull out the treaty contents for a review, then the situation could become quite serious.

Though Palmerston acquiesced to Arthur's suggestion to provide some funding to Young Italy to a certain degree,

this does not mean he approves of Mazzini and others' plans to immediately overthrow Sardinia's rule.

Therefore, if he were to learn about Mazzini and others' actions in advance, he might just cut off the funds the Foreign Office directed to Young Italy without hesitation.

Without this funding from the Foreign Office, the 'dividends' promised to Mr. Feng Kromeier would not be able to be realized.

If this Austrian head of intelligence in France is angered, then Arthur and Schneider's plans would fall through completely.

To prevent such an outcome, even though Arthur had written the report extremely obscurely, he still left a trick up his sleeve at the end.

The task of delivering this diplomatic report would initially be carried out by Rothschild's courier department, and once it reached London, out of safety and confidentiality concerns, Arthur instructed them to switch to using the registered mail of the British Royal Post.

With the efficiency of the Royal Post, it's possible that Mazzini's side would have failed in their uprising before the letter even reached Whitehall.

To prevent Viscount Palmerston from denying responsibility, Arthur also leveraged the unique nature of his position as a 'police advisor for constitutional reform in the Kingdom of Hanover' to send the same document to His Majesty the King at St. James's Palace and to the Prime Minister's Office at 10 Downing Street.

Based on Arthur's understanding of His Majesty the King and Prime Minister Count Grey, though both are among the most respectable gentlemen in Britain and were both educated in Britain's traditional classical way, diplomatic reports like these are still too modern for these two.

This way, even if the Foreign Office investigates, Arthur would be deemed innocent, and besides, he would have the King and Prime Minister vouch for him.

At that point, Viscount Palmerston wouldn't dare accuse them of dereliction too, would he?

The Foreign Office 'promptly' received the intelligence, Sir Arthur Hastings and Auguste Schneider's work were remarkably effective, the Royalists now had a legitimate reason to 'roll out' of France by piggybacking off Young Italy's expulsion list, Mazzini, and Garibaldi could proceed with their expedition to Sardinia-Piedmont as they pleased, Mr. Feng Kromeier was promoted an additional step, and the shell bank issue would be handled discreetly by the French government after the expedition due to diplomatic implications.

As for the aid funds to Young Italy in the shell bank...

Unfortunately, just to be safe, this money absolutely cannot end up in the hands of Young Italy.

This isn't out of any personal interest, nor is it a case of being blinded by money.

Rather, from a macro perspective, if someone were to investigate afterwards and find that this bank has operating licenses in France, with funds being transferred from Britain, at that point, not only would the French government be unable to clear its name, but even the British government wouldn't be able to extricate itself.

Therefore, to prevent diplomatic disputes and further extreme events like war, it is safest to consider from the bigger picture that the approximately 10,000 British Pounds (200,000 Francs) in aid funds should go into the pockets of Sir Arthur Hastings and others.

Arthur leaned against the rail, taking a deep drag on his cigarette, and sighed from his heart: "Revolution really is more lucrative compared to writing books!"

Beside him, the Red Devil couldn't help but tease: "For the peace and stability of Europe, for the Vienna system, for the unification of Italy, this time you must sacrifice yourself. Arthur, ever since you came to Paris, your progress has been phenomenal. Could it be the rich artistic culture of Paris has infected you?"

Arthur glanced at the Red Devil and put back on his top hat, hiding his eyes under the brim's shadow: "Agares, when it comes to flattery, I don't need you. I can do that myself."

Just as Arthur finished speaking, he saw a fellow with a beaming face walking over from the bridge.

It was none other than Mr. Schneider, who was ecstatic over the incoming funds.

In any case, it wasn't surprising that Schneider was so elated; once this deal was concluded, his personal account would see a deposit of at least two thousand Pounds, more than all the salary he had earned at the Foreign Office combined versus just one month working with Arthur.

When Arthur first entered the Foreign Office, Schneider didn't take this little mud-stomper from Scotland Yard too seriously and even once tried to mentor him from a seniority standpoint.

But now, Schneider only saw that Arthur Hastings had every reason to perform so well at Scotland Yard.

Scotland Yard, which is a small institution with an annual budget of only 300,000 Pounds, and Arthur was thriving there like a fish in water.

Now in the Foreign Office, his debut saw him wrenching a solid ten thousand Pounds from the head of Young Italy.

This kid is absolutely bound for greatness!

Schneider, leaning on his cane, approached Arthur, took off his hat, and jovially greeted him in Latin: "Long live Republicanism, long live Italian unification!"

Arthur joked: "You better not let the Austrians hear that, just those two slogans would get you detained for two days in Vienna."

"So what?" Schneider replied with a chuckle: "You should see Feng Kromeier, this true Viennese is shouting even more fervently than I am now."