The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1582: Chapter 16: Cultural Trust: The Empire Publishing Group’s First Step

This is a locomotive of a traction express train, equipped with two pairs of exquisite large axles, with light, brisk wheels connected by steel arms, a broad chest, and a majestic long face. Everything is logical, everything is correct, this metal ”creature” possesses supreme beauty, showcasing a delicate use of capability. Jack loved the locomotive, gave it a female name, and always addressed it affectionately as Liché.

——Emile Zola, ”Beast in Man”

Great Dumas angrily denounced the damage caused to the entire publishing industry by various underground cheap, inferior publications. Whether it was the writers of Britain, France, or Germany, writers from all over the world rarely reached any consensus on articles and viewpoints.

Their evaluations of each other usually wandered between ”stinking rubbish too rough even to wipe with” and ”a masterpiece beyond compare, something I could never write in my lifetime.”

However, undoubtedly, their willingness to strangle the pirates was unanimous.

While works by British authors like Dickens, Disraeli, Hastings, and Carter were being mercilessly plundered by American publishers, the works of French authors like Great Dumas and Hugo suffered greatly from piracy in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and especially Belgium.

However, different people will always have different views on things.

Take Hugo for instance, this new national treasure of France constantly fought on the front lines against the pirates, frequently calling upon the literary community to stand against piracy on the pages of Parisian newspapers.

Hugo frankly stated, ”Let us establish literary property! Authors engage in a noble mission, yet all the ancient monarchist laws refuse to recognize literary property, for what purpose? For enslavement! Because a writer, as the owner of literary property, is a free writer, depriving him of his property is depriving him of his independence. Therefore, as long as the rights of the author are tightly grasped, the purpose of enslaving thought can be achieved.”

Hugo’s perspective was undeniably a unique and insightful thought, so what were the writers of ”The British” doing while the French writers were fiercely battling the pirates?

The fact is, the writers of ”The British” mostly didn’t have to do anything because their works were pirated far less than other British authors.

As for why this was?

Were London pirates thinking their works wouldn’t sell?

Or was it because the editorial team of ”The British” employed some sort of advanced anti-theft encryption technology even centuries ahead?

No, of course not, it was because at that time, the head of the committee responsible for banning illegal publications appointed by the Library Committee of the Lower House was Superintendent Arthur Hastings of Scotland Yard.

As everyone knows, Superintendent Hastings placed great importance on this work, diligently and consistently enforcing a ”zero tolerance” policy since taking office, sparing no expense to generously reward police teams who cracked major piracy cases.

Thanks to Superintendent Hastings’ effective work, typically, ”The British” pirate books were printed the day before yesterday, the sales points were raided yesterday, the trial was held today, and people were sent to the labor camp tomorrow.

Therefore, when Arthur was shot under the Tower of London, the underground publishing scene in London was truly filled with the sound of gongs and drums, fireworks and firecrackers.

Although Arthur later ”came back to life,” since he had officially resigned from Scotland Yard and was later kicked to Hanover, the underground publishing community couldn’t help but feel pleased about the good days ahead despite their disappointment.

Sure enough, as soon as Arthur left, pirates began to revert to their old ways, greedily eyeing ”The British” as a juicy target.

However, what the pirates didn’t expect was that even though Hastings was no longer in Britain, his spirit had stayed forever.

Who would have thought?

Who would have thought!

That bastard Hastings was actually involved in the underworld!

Before, when he was still at Scotland Yard, at least he followed some rules in handling affairs.

But since he left, Fiona’s subordinates were far inferior in quality compared to the officers of Scotland Yard.

Moreover, since what the pirates did was an illicit trade, they didn’t dare report such incidents to the police when they encountered them.

Even if some confused ones really did, the officers at Scotland Yard never gave them a good face, biased actions were commonplace.

Now, the entire London piracy scene truly became a classic example of people being wary after a single snake bite, afraid of ropes for ten years.

While occasionally some young newcomers, driven by the fearlessness of youth, would seek to gamble a fortune by risking it all without understanding the rules.

However, as soon as seasoned pirates saw the name ”The British,” they couldn’t help but tremble with weak legs, hanging their heads and taking a detour.

Thus, although the works of ”The British” also experienced piracy, the extent was far less severe than other magazines.

Of course, this discussion only pertains to piracy in Britain.

Since Arthur did not successfully develop a trans-Atlantic police force, American publishers, far from the Emperor, didn’t care about any of this, if ”The British” dared to publish, they dared to pirate, completely shamelessly so.

However, perhaps it was precisely because the authors of ”The British” all enjoyed the benefits of Arthur being a policeman, so whether they said it or not, deep down they all hoped their friend could continue to rise smoothly and achieve great success.