## Chapter 210: Secret Report
**Knight’s Bridge, Southeast corner of Hyde Park, Wellington’s Private Residence – London No. 1, Apsley House.**
The Duke of Wellington held a goblet in his hand, his face filled with surprise as he looked at Arthur, who had come to report.
“Young man, I thought it would take you a while to get back something useful for me. You’ve got something so quickly?”
Arthur smiled and replied, “A bit of a pleasant surprise. While it may not be of much use, considering the meeting is getting closer, I think even the smallest piece of information should be reported to you immediately. After all, in your hands, sometimes even a tiny breakthrough can help Britain gain enormous national interests.”
The Duke of Wellington couldn’t help but chuckle, “What a smooth talker you are. Care for a drink? I recommend the Margaux white from Château Margaux.”
Arthur nodded, “I haven’t been stationed in France, so I don’t know much about their wines. Since you think it’s good, I’ll trust your judgment.”
The Duke of Wellington, in a good mood, hummed a tune and took a bottle of white wine with a label from the wine cabinet, pouring two glasses. He handed one to Arthur and kept one for himself.
He leaned back on the sofa, took a sip of wine, and then asked with a smile, “Alright, kid, tell me, what good news have you brought me.”
Arthur said, “Following your orders, I visited the Russian Embassy this morning and met with the Austrian Chancellor, Klemens von Metternich.”
“Hmm… Metternich…” The Duke of Wellington stroked his chin, “I knew he would go straight to Dorothea as soon as he arrived in London. I guess I was right.”
Hearing the Duke’s words, Arthur wasn’t foolish enough to ask why Wellington guessed that. Instead, he continued, “Besides that, I also brought back a piece of Austrian specialty with Russian style from the embassy.”
“Specialty?” The Duke of Wellington chuckled, “Is that some kind of black slang from your Scotland Yard officers?”
Arthur smiled slightly, “Not from Scotland, but from LPS. Forget it, I’ll just tell you straight. I got a bit of Lady Leven’s personal belongings.”
“Lady Leven’s personal belongings?” The Duke of Wellington couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “Coincidentally, I have one too, a very intimate one.”
Arthur was caught off guard by the Duke of Wellington. He was stunned for a moment, then realized the other party was telling a dirty joke.
For a while, he was neither laughing nor crying, and only after a long pause did he blurt out, “Your Grace, the one I got is not made of cloth.”
“Huh?” The Duke of Wellington raised an eyebrow, “Not made of cloth? That’s new.”
Arthur emphasized, “To be precise, this personal item doesn’t belong to Lady Leven, but to Mr. Metternich.”
“Ah?!” The sixty-year-old Duke almost spat out the wine in his mouth, “Arthur, you young man, should I praise your excellent skills or say you are too young and naive. Take that thing back, I don’t need that kind of collection.”
Seeing things getting worse, Arthur quickly clarified with a righteous expression, “To be more precise, this is a gift from Metternich to Lady Leven.”
“Oh, that’s alright.” The Duke of Wellington took out a handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped the sweat from his brow, “Young man, although we Britons are quite reserved in our speech, you should try to be more concise in front of someone like me, a military man. You scared me with your words. I thought you did something terrible.”
Seeing that he was getting more and more off track, Arthur quickly took out the letter and translation and pushed them across the table, “This is a love letter Metternich wrote to Lady Leven in 1818. Please take a look.”
“Love letter?”
The Duke of Wellington’s white eyebrows shot up. The old man pulled out a magnifying glass from his drawer, squinting his eyes and carefully examining the original letter and translation from top to bottom, “Metternich has a good writing style. No wonder he can thrive in Vienna, a city of romance, and it’s no surprise that so many ladies and misses are attracted to him…”
Arthur pretended not to hear the Duke’s literary appreciation. He simply stated the points he had prepared beforehand.
“According to reports from LPS special intelligence personnel, we only found this letter in Lady Leven’s bedroom. But based on the information in the letter, we can reasonably infer that Mr. Metternich must have written more than one love letter to Lady Leven.
However, Lady Leven deliberately chose to bring this letter out during today’s meeting. Combining the fact that this love letter was written in Brussels, Belgium, I reasonably suspect that besides renewing their friendship, Mr. Metternich and Lady Leven must have also discussed the issue of Belgian independence today.
That’s why I came here to report to you as soon as I got the news. Although I don’t know what stage they’ve reached, I think you might consider the possibility of Austria and Russia standing together.”
Although Arthur spoke euphemistically, the Duke of Wellington naturally understood his meaning.
Although the Tories were worried about the July Revolution in France and Belgian independence, the Tories were merely worried, while Russia and Austria were directly anxious.
As countries on the European continent, these two traditional European powers have always been highly vigilant against the revolutionary wave.
And Metternich, as a staunch supporter of absolutism, it’s not surprising that he wants to stand with Russia against France and Belgium.
However, even though they had prior assumptions, being able to confirm Metternich’s true intentions beforehand was always a good thing. After all, the Duke of Wellington was having dinner with Metternich tonight. As a veteran who had seen many battles, the Duke of Wellington loved fighting such familiar battles.
And so far, he has been undefeated, having the advantage of information.
With Arthur’s prior warning, he had already determined what questions to ask and what tone to use when talking to Metternich tonight.
If Metternich refused to budge, the Duke of Wellington thought he might have to talk to this powerful Austrian Chancellor about the huge war debt Austria owed during the Napoleonic Wars.
As far as the Duke of Wellington knew, Austria’s debt problem had reached a point where they had to issue new bonds to pay interest on old bonds.
Admittedly, Russia could take on a portion of Austria’s new bonds, but a large part of Austria’s old bonds were held by the UK.
If Metternich, that old fox, dared to show any sign of firmness, the UK would dare to sell Austrian bonds, lowering their new bond issuance price and raising their bond interest payment costs.
As long as they focused on this point, the Duke of Wellington guaranteed that the Austrians would not have a good Christmas in the next few years.
Of course, he didn’t intend to confront Metternich so quickly. After all, Austria’s tough stance was also a bargaining chip for the UK to use against France.
Although the UK felt that Belgian independence was acceptable either way, even if Belgium became independent, it couldn’t become a pro-French regime.
Whether it was the Netherlands or Belgium, they had to be Britain’s loyal little brothers.
And this was the focus of his constant tug-of-war with Talleyrand, the French ambassador to the UK.
Now, with Austria in their grasp, all they had to do was focus on how to deal with France and Russia.
Judging from Talleyrand’s attitude over the past two days, France’s bottom line seemed clear. As long as the Netherlands let Belgium become independent, other issues could be discussed.
After all, after their defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, they had been facing the problem of being trapped in an anti-French encirclement. As long as they could break through the encirclement, it would be a huge improvement compared to before.
But Russia’s appetite might not be so easily satisfied. Nicholas I was a ruler with a strong desire for power control, and Tsarist Russia, with its expanding power westward, naturally hoped to suffocate France, the Western European power, in the encirclement.
If Austria backed down, Russia’s attitude might soften, and the rest would depend on how they negotiated.
However, just as Britain didn’t want a powerful France, they also didn’t want a Russia spanning Eastern and Western Europe.
It was already bad enough that they saw Russia’s Mediterranean fleet sailing freely through the Dardanelles Strait. Now they were planning to expand westward on land, which Britain couldn’t accept.
The Duke of Wellington pondered, perhaps he could have Foreign Secretary Palmerston contact the Prussian delegation, or perhaps have King William IV of the UK write a letter to King William I of Prussia?
Although the King of Prussia was the cousin of the King of the Netherlands, after all, our King William IV also held the title of King of Hanover, and Hanover was part of the German Confederation.
If we talk about geographical relations, Hanover and Prussia were closer than the Netherlands and Prussia, right?
Thinking about this, the Duke of Wellington put down his goblet and got up, “Arthur, I’ll leave this to you this time. I’ll report Metternich’s matter to the Foreign Office. If this London conference is successful, your contribution will be indispensable.”
Arthur also got up, “Your Grace, this love letter is a pleasant surprise. According to my plan, LPS intelligence personnel will try their luck at the Russian Embassy later this week. To divert the attention of the Russian delegation, I just sent Lady Leven a few tickets to a concert today. Judging from her attitude, she will definitely attend this weekend.”
Speaking of this, Arthur took out a few tickets from his jacket pocket and placed them on the table, “If you intend to meet Lady Leven in person, the concert this weekend is also an opportunity. I’ve reserved the tickets for you here. If you don’t have time, you can give them to friends or family. This concert will feature Mr. Moscheles, Mr. Mendelssohn, and even Mr. Clementi. It would be a shame to waste the tickets.”
“Clementi will be performing?” The Duke of Wellington was surprised when he heard this, then picked up the tickets and glanced at them, “It’s indeed a good concert. The performers are all of a high caliber!”
As he said this, his peripheral vision suddenly caught Arthur’s name. The Duke couldn’t help but chuckle, “What? Are you in it too?”
Arthur smiled slightly, “I have to be in it. Otherwise, it would be too suspicious if I gave this ticket to Lady Leven. But don’t worry, although I’m not a good player, I can barely manage one piece.”
Hearing this, the Duke naturally put the tickets in his jacket pocket, “It’s okay if you can’t manage. Don’t you have that phonograph? Just bring it. I’m quite curious about that little gadget. Is it really as magical as everyone says? If it is, I’ll consider getting one to play with some other day.”
Arthur, hearing this, suddenly remembered something that Wheatstone had mentioned to him. He spoke up at the right moment, “If you want to get one, I’ll just have someone deliver it to your residence later. However, you may have to wait a bit, because Mr. Wheatstone, the maker of the phonograph, has been too busy with patent applications recently and can’t focus on making products.”
“Patent? That’s easy!”
Wellington took a quill from the table and wrote a note, handing it to Arthur, “When that Wheatstone applies for the patent, have him take this with him. If anyone asks, just say I sent him. It should be done in about a week. If it weren’t for the possibility of getting stuck at the King’s, it could be done in three days. If it’s not done by then, come and tell me. I’ll personally go ask the Home Office and the Court of Chancery what they’re doing.”
I feel a little better these past two days. I’ll resume 2 chapters, 6K+ each day for now. I’ve updated 127K this month. I’ll gradually increase the update frequency and try to make up for the 180K update target for this month.
(End of Chapter)