The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 760 - 361: Your Name, Britain and France - Part 2

However, it’s not that you have no chance of meeting him; he’s quite active at various social gatherings. Besides organizing his posthumous works, you could also attend more social events. You never know, you might just bump into him some evening."

Following this, Dickens chimed in, "The situation with Arthur is similar. He was just promoted to Assistant Commissioner. Scotland Yard needs him to oversee operations, and he even has to set up a new police agency and do some frontline work in the streets. Not just you, we haven’t been able to get together with him for quite a while either."

"Is that so..."

Madam Shelley could hardly hide her disappointment, but she ultimately expressed understanding, "It’s not urgent for Mr. Benjamin, but as for Mr. Hastings, I’ve boasted in front of one of his ardent supporters that I could definitely arrange a meeting with Mr. Hastings for her... "

"She? An ardent supporter?"

Hearing this, Dickens, new to the drama circle, couldn’t resist teasing Great Dumas, "Madam, if it were Alexander, she would have already had her wish fulfilled. But with Arthur... we’ll have to see further down the line."

Great Dumas glared at Dickens upon hearing this, and secretly flipped him off behind his back.

But he indeed had no way to refute, as the matter of his illegitimate child had already spread throughout the offices of the "British."

Even "British’"s rival, "Blackwood’s," somehow got wind of insider information. They launched several columns on their pages, sarcastically attacking Great Dumas for his misconduct and claiming that this ’fatty’ brought the undesirable French mannerisms to London’s drama circle, tarnishing Britain’s glorious tradition of theatre since Shakespeare.

To prevent everyone’s focus from shifting to himself, Great Dumas quickly steered the conversation back to France.

He inquired of Stendhal, "Let’s return to the matter of the workers in Lyon."

Stendhal nodded and spilled everything he knew, "The workers demanded higher wages, but the authorities were firm in their response. Governor Bouvier-Dumolard refused any negotiations, even declaring, ’Expecting me to tell employers to raise wages and cut hours is sheer folly.’ Seeing the government and factory owners unwilling to budge, the workers began contemplating rebellion."

After a month of deadlock, the authorities and factory owners, unable to withstand the pressure, finally decided to sit at the negotiation table to see the situation. However, they didn’t actually want to solve the issue but used the negotiations as a delaying tactic. Unexpectedly, on the day of the negotiation, six thousand textile workers went on strike, gathering outside the venue and singing "La Marseillaise."

The representatives of the government and factory owners got scared, so they were forced to accept the negotiation agreement. At that moment, everyone thought the workers had won. But just days later, the situation drastically changed. Factory owners sent men to Paris to intercept the messengers spreading the news, and they collectively petitioned the prime minister in the Cabinet to oppose implementing the just-negotiated wage agreement."

Upon hearing this, Great Dumas immediately responded sarcastically, "Needless to say, Louis Philippe’s government definitely chose to support the factory owners, right? I’m not wrong, am I? Though he doesn’t represent those hereditary nobility, behind him are those bankers and factory owners, the millionaires."

Stendhal didn’t answer Great Dumas’ question and continued calmly, "I only know General Rogier said, ’If the workers dare to rebel, I’ll make their bellies blossom.’ Not only that, but he also sent a deputy to Paris to request Louis Philippe send reinforcements to Lyon. Yet before his reinforcements could arrive, Lyon’s textile workers had already launched a rebellion.

In just three days, Lyon’s City Hall, the police department, and major streets were all under the rebels’ control. Rogier attempted a counterattack, but after a night of fighting, all he had left was a small squadron of cavalry, the arsenal was seized, and the logistics transports were ambushed."

Seeing this, Rogier had no choice but to lead the cavalry squadron to break out toward Paris in the veil of night. At that time, the Paris literary scene was jubilant; both republicans like you and Bonapartists like me thought a new round of revolution was inevitable.

But it turned out, our assessment of the situation was too optimistic. Louis Philippe’s government was not as fragile as we imagined. There remained many in France who were loyal to him, and the workers’ committee in Lyon was too naive and foolish.

They didn’t want to escalate the situation with the government too much, so they released the captured Governor Bouvier-Dumolard and reinstated most of the city government and police department personnel, even inviting the chief of police to join their legislative discussions.

They should have known that in France, you either don’t rebel, or you rebel all the way. The enemy won’t be grateful for your kindness and generosity; they’ll just smile at you while plotting revenge behind your back.

Sure enough, as soon as news of Lyon being occupied by the rebels reached Paris, Louis Philippe immediately mustered troops in Paris. The newly-formed French Foreign Legion was used in the crackdown against Lyon’s workers, along with six infantry battalions, a cavalry battalion, and an artillery battalion, totaling sixty thousand men were deployed in the conflict.

And the person commissioned to command this force, besides his son Duke of Orleans, there was another you certainly wouldn’t expect."