The Shadow of Great Britain

553: Chapter 286: How Much is a Police Inspector’s Life Worth?

(7K2) 553: Chapter 286: How Much is a Police Inspector’s Life Worth?

(7K2) On the outskirts of Liverpool, a gentle breeze swept across the fields, bringing with it waves of greenish turnips.

Since the 18th century when Britain initiated the agricultural revolution, turnips had been introduced to Britain as a high-yield crop.

Although initially bestowed with the expectation of becoming the new generation sugar-producing crop, turnips fell out of favor as soon as Francis Blake discovered that beets contained 8% more sugar than turnips.

However, on the other hand, this fall from grace actually facilitated the widespread cultivation of turnips, as their new uses were swiftly discovered.

This high-yield crop, which grows in autumn and matures in late winter, filled the fallow period in the crop rotation system excellently.

Although it could not become the best sugar-producing crop, it was nonetheless an excellent fodder for livestock.

If one were to merely recount this story, it would seem like a rather ordinary case of agricultural breeding.

But if the matter is examined in detail, one would be surprised to find that it was not the Britons with their backs to the earth who drove the continuous improvement of crop breeding and sparked another agricultural revolution over the past two centuries, but rather a group of nobility who nurtured a passionate craze for farming and shepherding.

Among these people were both Lord Townsend, who vigorously promoted turnip crop rotation in Britain, and Sir Coke, who dedicated his life to livestock improvement.

There was the Duke of Portland who, due to inadequate irrigation of his own fields, became engrossed in studying clay pipe irrigation daily.

And there was the early enthusiast of human drainage systems, the Duke of Bedford, who contemplated converting his marshland into good farmland.

Unfortunately, although the Duke of Portland and the Duke of Bedford achieved some success in agricultural reform, the most famous figures from both their families were not those who worked in agriculture.

The most renowned member of the Duke of Portland’s family was Henry Cavendish, whose signature work is the Cavendish torsion balance experiment.

In addition, he was the first to discover carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and in his later years, he even proposed the concept of the dielectric constant alongside the young Faraday.

As for the Duke of Bedford’s family, it is at least better, the most famous of their family has not yet been born at this point, and the main focus is on mathematics and philosophy.

Nevertheless, the British nobility’s love for agriculture is evident from this account.

Unlike the nobility in most parts of Europe who prefer to reside in cities, British lords seek every opportunity to escape to the countryside.

In the 15th century, the Italian scholar Poggio Bracciolini ridiculed this incomprehensible British mindset.

“In this country, the nobility consider long-term urban residence a disgrace.

They mostly dwell in the countryside, enjoy felling trees and farming, and actively participate in various rural endeavors.

Trading wool and livestock is regarded as a noble profession.

I have met an English gentleman who sold off his property to acquire a large estate in the countryside, moving his whole family away from the town to the rural area, just to raise his son as a true nobleman.

And as he wished, after several years in the countryside, he too was accepted by the noble class.”

This deep-rooted agrarian sentiment has been passed down from the 15th century and still persists to this day, even in the 19th century, with people emulating the actions of the English gentleman from centuries ago.For example, not far from the turnip fields, in the nearby woods, the son of a well-known local Liverpool magnate is busy chopping wood with a small axe, huffing and puffing away.

December is the coldest season of the year, but William Gladstone is wearing only a thin white shirt, completely ignoring the howling north wind as he persistently chops wood.

Judging from the sweat covering his forehead and his soaked shirt, the young man had been chopping for a while now.

Even though Britons regard wood-chopping as a means of cultivating a tough will, it’s still quite rare to encounter a rich second-generation like Gladstone who could be so utterly lost in the task.

Perhaps it was the dejection from being defeated by Disraeli in the party primaries that caused the normally wood-chopping-loving Gladstone to chop each log today with an even more forgetful zeal, with extra vigor.

Before long, the chopped wood piled so high beside him that it resembled a small hill.

If Arthur were standing here now, he certainly would have recalled what Mr.

Disraeli once told him, “If Gladstone were to drown in the Thames River this winter, all of London’s heating would be in jeopardy.

God’s great flood is nothing compared to him; the work Noah did in seven days, Gladstone could complete in an afternoon.”

Although even a sharp-tongued political opponent like Disraeli highly acknowledged his ability to chop wood, at the end of the day, a person is still human, and humans, inevitably, get tired.

Gladstone set down his axe and leaned against a tree trunk, staring at the pile that was the fruit of this morning’s labor.

As he wiped the sweat from his brow with his hand, he took deep breaths.

Turning his head towards the roaring bonfire beside him, the flickering flames seemed to warp with his breathing.

Disraeli’s frivolous, self-admiring smirk was in there, and even the crackling sound of the fire turned into his sardonic taunt.

As a steadfast observer of church precepts who could recite the Bible from memory, Gladstone never wore his emotions on his sleeve.

He strove mightily to become a person with noble qualities and the spirit of a knight, as his father had wished for him.