In a hotel in Brighton, England, lived a man named François Sharassain. The famous doctor in Douai, Italy, in his fifties, wearing silver-rimmed glasses and clear eyes, was here to attend the annual meeting of the International School of Health.
At about ten o'clock that day, Sharasain was reading the Times and other newspapers. These newspapers published the full text of his report on "Blood Cell Counting" at the General Assembly of the International Health Science Annual Meeting. As he read it, he said, "These British newspapers are so well written!
At this moment, the innkeeper came in and told him that a gentleman named Charpper had visited. "I don't know Mr. Sharper," thought Sharasain, "so what is the matter with him?"Despite his doubts, he said, "Okay, let him in!"
When he came in, he hurriedly said hello and sat down, and said, "Our office is looking for legal heirs for those who have no one to inherit." ”
Immediately afterwards, Mr. Sharpper began to give an accurate account of the genealogy of Sharacen, and from time to time asked the doctor about his father, Ihitaur Sharacen. The doctors answered them all. At the end, Sherper said happily: "You are the heir to the fifty million francs of Bergon that I am looking for!"
It turned out that the Indian noblewoman Beacon was the wife of Maharaja Lycmicius. When the prince died, he left her an inheritance of 500 million francs.
In 1819, Bergan remarried York Langsaffan with her inheritance. This Frenchman originally served in the French ** team, and later came to Calghada, where he worked as an instructor under Prince Lu Xiumi, and became the commander-in-chief. After marrying Began, he became a British subject and was promoted by the governor of Mongara and made a baron.
After the deaths of Bégan and York Longcheffin, the 500 million francs were deposited in the banks of England as required by law.
Sarasine's grandmother, Julie Lanchefon, was the sister of York Lanchefon, and as such, Sarasine became the natural heir to the five hundred million francs. Monsieur Charpper told him: "As soon as you present to the court proof of your pedigree, you can sign a cheque to withdraw the five hundred million francs."
What is this huge amount of money used for?"This money should not belong to me, it should belong to all mankind, to the cause of human progress," Dr. Shalasain said at the annual meeting of the School of Health. He told everyone that he had decided to use this huge amount of money to build a civilized and progressive city, the Ciudad de France.
While the construction plan for the city of France was being studied, news of 500 million francs reached the German chemist Sulzer from the newspapers.
In the lace news about this huge inheritance, the name of a foreigner named Lang Chefang attracted the ugly-looking professor at the University of Jena.
As if suddenly remembering something, Professor Sulzer hurried to the fireplace and picked up a small photograph. On the back of the photograph is a name that has faded over time: Darance Sulzer, whose real name is Lang Xie Fang.
Sulzer is the grandson of the eldest sister of Jock Lancheffon, Darain Lancheffon. He thought it was a good opportunity to make a huge amount of money, and that evening, he took a train straight to London.
As a result of Sherper's maneuvering, Professor Sulzer and Dr. Sharasain shared the inheritance equally.
Professor Sulzer had heard of Dr. Shalassain's plan to build the Cité de France. In his opinion, this is ridiculous, he wants to build a large arms factory and destroy this civilized city by force.
The kind-hearted Sharasain had seen through Sulzer's cunning and cruelty. He wrote to Marseille, who was upright and courageous, asking him to help carry out his cause. Marseille is a good friend of Dr. Sharassain's son, Okduff. At this time, they were studying at the ** Institute of Technology.
Marseille's answer to the doctor was, "Don't be anxious, even if I can't come to your aid right away, even if you don't hear from me for months or even years." My only wish is to work for the cause of peace and happiness for mankind, that is, for France.
Five years have passed. In southern Oregon, 10 miles off the Pacific coast, Sulzer founded the city of Sdalstadt Steel.
Sulzer, a former professor of chemistry at the University of Jena, has now become the biggest steelmaker and the most famous gunsmith in the Americas and Europe.
He made guns of all shapes and calibers. His artillery ** to various countries: Russia and Turkey, Romania and Japan, Italy and China, and especially Germany.
Mr. Sulzer's cannon is unprecedented. Legend has it that he has a mysterious alloy in his hand, but no one knows the truth.
There was no sign of peace in the city of Sdalsted, and it was extremely heavily guarded. of the gates. If you want to enter the steel city, unless you know the code and password, you must at least have a special license with an official signature and seal and fingerprints.
One morning, a tall young worker came to the steel city of Sdalstadt. He wears a wide wool wool shirt, a wool collarless shirt, and corduroy trousers. The trousers are tucked into a pair of large boots. He whistled as he walked.
The young man came to a small window, handed a piece of paper with a word on it to the captain of the guard, and was immediately allowed to enter.
A second lieutenant of the guard said to the young man: "The address written on your ID is Foreman Selichman in Workshop 743, No. 9, K-shaped area. You follow the ring road on the right, all the way to the K-sign, and then go to the gate. If you go to another department, you'll be blasted out!
The young man walked up the ring in the direction the second lieutenant pointed. To his right is a block of buildings between them, first a double-track circular railway, then a second wall similar to the outer city.
After a while, the young man walked up to the K-shaped sign on the side of the road. The street sign faces a tall door. There was also a stone carved K on the door, and he stepped forward to find the door.
A crippled man with one leg looked at the piece of paper, stamped it with a seal, and said, "Keep going, the ninth road on the left." ”
In less than 5 minutes, he found the 9th road, Workshop 743, and came to Foreman Selichman.
The foreman picked up the document with the seals of all the relevant departments, looked at it carefully, and then asked, "Hire you as an iron melter?"Did you do it at a young age?”
The young worker said: "Being young is out of the way, I already have seven months of experience in iron melting, if you are interested, I can show you the certificate." ”
This young man, who called himself Johann Schwartz, was none other than Marseille.
The people who work here are sturdy men. They had to hammer a 200-kilogram piece of metal in the heat and stare at the scorching iron for hours. In this terrible living environment, a person will be tortured to death in less than ten years.
In order to show the foreman that he could stand down, Marseille took off his shirt and revealed his stout physique. He took a hook and expertly operated it.
By the time it was time to eat, he was exhausted. The leader said to him: "Young man, it is not suitable for you to be an iron caster, so it is better to change departments quickly, and I will not agree to you if it is too late." Marseille replied unconvinced: "If others can do it, I can do it."
The chief reported the situation truthfully to the chief engineer. The chief engineer wrote a few words on a pass and told him: "You go to the chief engineer's office in the O-zone, and he will assign you to be a caster." ”
Marseille went through the same formalities that he had gone through at the entrance of the K-zone to the O-zone. At the casting plant, he found that several of the operations he had seen had reached an astonishing level of perfection.
Marseille is familiar with this line of work. He immediately paired up with a man of his stature and tried it out in a less important cast, and he was considered an excellent casting expert.
After dinner, he did not go out to drink like the other workers, but shut himself up in his room, and took out a piece of steel and a crucible fragment from his pocket, and examined it carefully by the kerosene lamp.
Then, he took out a large hard-faced book from the box and flipped through it. The notebook was full of equations and calculations, and he wrote down methods and techniques such as casting and smelting in a language that only he could understand, as well as an analysis of the materials used.
He went on to write in the big book: "After all, I only looked at two departments, but there are at least 24 departments in total. **The headquarters, the planning office, the design office and the secret room are not included, what are these departments doing?No matter how difficult it is, I'm going to figure it out.
In order to achieve his goal, Marseille began to make preparations in various ways. He was an exemplary worker at every turn, and was soon promoted, first to second-class and then to first-class.
Every day after dinner, he went to listen to the engineer Trubre lecture. Geometry, algebra, mechanical drawing, each subject is learned very well. He has only been in the factory for two months, and in the entire steel city, he has already been listed as one of the smartest people.
Just after three months, his leaders recommended it to the ** organ, believing that this worker was outstanding in three aspects: theoretical knowledge, practical work ability, and surprise creation.
Still, there had to be a special opportunity to really get the attention of his boss to Marseille. Marseille has always worked tirelessly.
This opportunity has finally arrived. On one trip to the mine to find Carl, a suffocated thirteen-year-old child, he showed astonishing bravery.
In the aftermath, the engineer Maurersmült wrote a report on the zealous spirit shown by the foreman Raye and the first class caster, John Schwartz, that is, Marseille, in the matter, in the hope of attracting the attention of the authorities.
Eight or nine days later, Marseille received a notice: "Please come to the General Manager's Office at 10 o'clock this morning at 10 a.m. on A-shaped Road, ** headquarters." Be neatly dressed. ”
Prior to this, Marseille had gained a considerable knowledge of the general organization of the city through conversations with his companions and observations during walks. He had also heard the legend that some reckless people tried to take advantage of the fact that they were unprepared to enter the forbidden area, and only to disappear.
According to the appointed time, Marseille came to the designated place. After checking the pass, Marseille was blindfolded by two men dressed in gray**, with swords on their bodies and pistols at their waists, blindfolded them with white handkerchiefs and took them by their arms.
Approximately gone. After two or three thousand steps, I walked up another flight of stairs, and a door opened and closed again. Marseille then got permission to remove the blindfolded handkerchief.
At this time, he found himself in a very simple room. There were only a few chairs, a black table, and a large drawing board, as well as all the tools needed to draw architectural drawings.
After a while, two men who looked like university professors entered the room. One of them said, "Some people say you're an outstanding person, and we want to put you to the test, and if we can, put you in the design department." ”
The two examiners then asked questions about chemistry, geometry and algebra. Marseille answered clearly and precisely, satisfying them with every point.
Later, one of the examiners gave Marseille a rather complicated section of a steam engine for him to draw. Marseille completed the drawing accurately within the allotted two hours. The two examiners were so impressed that they wrote: "The results are excellent and very satisfying.
Although Marseille entered the headquarters, it was extremely difficult to obtain internal secrets. Because the department where he worked was a semicircular area with a diameter of 300 meters that was fenced off, they were confined here.
Four months later, he learned that at the center of a spider's web formed by Dalstadt was the Taurus Tower. It's a surprisingly large building. Sulzer's private residence is at the base of the tower, and the famous secret chamber is located in the middle of the tower.
In order to discover these secrets, Marseille thought of various ways to sneak in, such as crossing walls and applying makeup, but he knew that the chances of success were very small.
One day in March, the general manager told him: "I have received orders from Mr. Sulzer to send you to him. From now on you are a lieutenant. ”
Marseille was led through hall after hall and finally to an ornate office.
Sulzer muttered a long pipe with a glass of beer next to it. Seeing Marsey come in, the Steel King not only didn't stand up, but didn't even turn his head, but just asked coldly, "Are you a designer?"
A week later, Marseille and Sulzer were completely inseparable. Sulzer always said, "What a discovery, what a pearl this lad is!"”
After five months in the Taurus Tower, Marseille still knows very little about the inside story of the ** headquarters. But he was sure that Sulzer might have invented some kind of new kind of humanity, in addition to making a profit.
On one occasion, Marseille deliberately mocked Sulzer for not having any new inventions during a casual conversation with Sulzer, much to Sulzer's annoyance. He jumped up and said, "I'll show you if Sulzer can't invent something!."”
Sulzer led Marseille into the library. As soon as his hand pressed on a piece of the carved wall panel, a hole immediately appeared in the wall. This is the entrance to a narrow passage. There is a stone staircase in the passage that leads to the bottom of the Golden Bull Tower.
There was an oak door, which was opened by a small key, and a second door appeared, which was locked with a kind of word lock. Sulzer corrected the words and pushed open the heavy iron door. On this door is a complex of special equipment that can be **.
The two men came to the third door. The door was not visible and locked, and opened with a slight push. Of course, there is a fixed way to push this.
After passing through these three obstacles, Sulzer and Marseille ascended a 200-step ladder to the top of the Taurus Tower. Here, there is a circular casemate, in the middle of which is a steel cannon.
Sulzer took Marseille** with him, and boasted complacently: "How about it, tell you, just one shot can destroy 100,000 thousand!."”
"Today is the 5th of September," said Sulzer, "and at 11:45 p.m. on the 13th, the city of France and its 100,000 men will disappear from the land of America!"”
When Marseille heard this unexpected announcement, his blood boiled all over his body. In a trembling voice, he said, "Sir, the inhabitants of France City have not offended you in the slightest!."
Sulzer laughed indulgently: "Honey, your mind is too simple. You know, power, wealth, and sin are a trinity that is intimately linked. ”
Sulzer changed his tone and said coldly, "This plan of mine will never be known to those who can tell it again. I'm sorry you had to die at a young age. With that, the Metal King ordered his attendants Arminius and Sigimel: "Lock him up!."
Marseille was so depressed that he said to himself, "It is nothing for me to die, but how can I avoid the threat of a calamity for 100,000 people in France?"”
He thought of destroying the cannon, of blowing up the tower where the cannon was fired, but he knew that there was no hope for any of this. Here, at the slightest sign of flight and resistance, a bullet will be shot through the head on the spot.
The next day, Marseille was walking in the garden and he saw a shrub next to the flower bed. He knew that it was a poisonous plant. So, deliberately in front of the eyes of the two guardians, two leaves were picked.
Then he went back to the house, dried the leaves on the fire, and mixed them with tobacco. When he did so, it was still clearly visible.
On the sixth day, the day before the murderous day of September 13, Marseille discovered that the two men who were watching him were also picking the poisonous green leaves.
Night fell. Marseille took advantage of his last walk and walked straight to the model factory. He sat down on a stool and smoked a cigarette. The two watchmen also sat down in a nearby chair and began to gulp down their cigarettes.
Five minutes later, the two guys were staggered by anesthesia. Marseille hurried into the model factory. He took a small hacksaw from the tool rack and put it from the place where the drawings and compact models were piled up.
Sulzer arrived at the scene and saw that the house could not be saved, so he shouted: "Whoever rescues the model gun No. 3175 in the glass cabinet in the middle will be rewarded with 10,000 dollars!"”
After a long time, no one answered. In the end, it was Marseille who stood up and said, "I'll go!."Sulzer's eyes widened and he said, "I have already pronounced your death sentence, and I will not be pardoned because of this!."
Marseille said, "Sir, I don't want any forgiveness. With that, he put on the Garibe airbox and jumped into the smoke. At this point, he had only one thought: "Get out!"”
He ran to the creek, along the bank, to the drainage hole, and jumped without hesitation. A rapids brought him to.
Seven or eight feet deep in the water.
Ten minutes later, he crashed into an iron fence that closed the ditch. He pulled out his hacksaw and sawed it violently. The lock spring was sawn wide open, but it didn't break.
He shook the fence with both hands. The lock spring broke and the fence opened, but he fainted from overwork and was swept away by the water.
On the evening of Sept. 13, Dr. Shalasain invited two friends to dinner at his home. One was Colonel Handen, an old crippled soldier who had lost an arm in the Northern War, and the other was Mr. Lowndes, the chief of education in the new city.
As she spoke, Shalasain tore open the seal of the newspaper. In a New York Herald, the news of Sulzer's conspiracy to attack and destroy the city of France was published. He was a little overwhelmed for a moment.
Shalasain quickly calmed down and decided to call a meeting immediately. He rang the notice bell and carried it to the Members' apartments. Three minutes later, a "Attendance" came from each line one after another. ”
Colonel Handon read the message from the New York Herald. After that, he called on everyone to do everything in their power to defend their city. His speech won warm applause from the audience.
At 10:25, the meeting ended. Everyone was about to leave the venue. At this moment, Marseille appeared on the rostrum of the conference as if falling from the sky.
His clothes were covered with mud, blood was flowing from his forehead, and his resolute face had an expression of extreme nervousness and horror. He made a powerful gesture to tell everyone not to move.
He told the people that he had just escaped from Sulzer, who had brought disaster to the city of France, not a month later, not eight days later, but an hour later.
He suggested that some of the citizens return to their homes and go down to their burrows to escape the terrible bombardment, while others could take refuge on the hillsides on the outskirts. Young and strong men were to organize and prepare to extinguish the fires caused by the bombing.
Once everything was arranged, Marseille fell into thought. As if he suddenly remembered something, he took out a notebook from his pocket and quickly calculated ballistics. Calculating, a stretched smile appeared on his face.
He excitedly told everyone that Sulzer's calculations had been wrong. His terrible cannonball will pass over the city of France, disappear into space, and will not fall.
The hour hand points to 11:45. A large black thing flew through the sky and disappeared far away with a shrill whistle. 2 minutes later, there was a dull ** sound.
Although the matter passed, the city of France did not let its guard down. They worked out measures to defend against Sulzer's invasion by land and sea.
After some time, people rumored that Sulzer was missing. Marseille thought, "Perhaps this is a cunning tactic of war. He decided to go to Starstadt once again with Oakduff, and never return until he found out its secrets.
The city under Sulzer was in tatters, factories were suspended, and there was not a single person on the walls. Marseille and Oakduff made it effortlessly to the O-shaped door that he was familiar with.
They went to the canteen of the factory where Marseille worked. Marseille said to Oakduff while eating a can, "Go to the ** headquarters and rummage through the only door." To run through all the work areas, the only way left is to use explosives.
To blow up the wall, it is necessary to dig a loose base of the wall, pry off a stone, and then drill several parallel round holes in the gap. None of this stumped Marseille and Okdav.
They put the medicine away, lit the medicine twist, and hid in the cellar under the canteen. After a while, there was an earth-shattering loud bang, half of the factory area was blown up, and the wall of the workshop near the headquarters collapsed. They ran along the gap.
Two young men came to the inner boundary line of the ** headquarters. It took them a long time to find a door in the wall. It took only 2 minutes for Okduff to drill a hole in the door panel, and then slammed the door with a pickaxe.
Just as the door was shaking a little, they heard someone inside unlocking it with a key, and a raspy voice came out: "Who's coming?"This sudden questioning startled the two young men.
Halfway through the door, Marseille recognized the red-faced and bearded man as Siggimel, who had watched him, and said, "I am Johann Schwartz, and I want to speak to Mr. Sulzer." ”
Sigimel said sadly: "Mr. Sulzer is not here, Mr. Sulzer is gone. But the system of guards has not changed, and no one is allowed to enter without an order. ”
Octav said to Marseille, "Why do you want him to go in?"As he spoke, he pushed the door hard, but the door was chained and could not be entered.
At that moment, a gunshot was suddenly heard from the top of the wall, and the bullet grazed the brim of Okduff's hat. Marseille saw very clearly that it was another man who had watched on him, the giant Arminius, who had shot him.
Marseille raised his voice and said, "Well, I'll give you a salute!"As he spoke, he shoved a mine under the door. No sooner had the wall burst a gap than Marseille and Okduff rushed in with hussar guns.
Wounded, Sigimel and Arminius hid behind a window hole and shot at them again and again. Marseille and Okduff shot at them, but neither side missed.
Marseille took off his clothes and hung them on a pole, and hung his hat on the top of the pole. He told Oakduff to shoot at the window, only to detour behind the two guys.
After a while, Okduff heard the shouts and ran over, and Marseille and Sigimel were in a tight fight.
Ocduff pounced on him and helped Marseille tie up Sigimel. Arminius had already been shot and collapsed on a couch.
They removed the carved wall panels piece by piece, and their efforts were in vain. Marseille knew that this secret door must have been blocked by Sulzer.
Okduff was going to climb up to the lantern and tap the large carved lace that adorned the ceiling with the handle of his gun, but just as he caught the gilded lamp, the ceiling also fell, revealing a large hole in it, and automatically lowered a light steel ladder.
Marseille and Octav climbed up the steel ladder and found that the steel ladder was hooked to the floor of a large, airtight circular room.
The oak floor** of this room has a circular window opening, which is inlaid with thick glass, and a blinding white light shines from below.
Marseille and Octav knelt beside the glass disc and looked down at the room below, where a sight of horror and unimaginability caught their eye. There is a huge electric light in the house, powered by a huge battery. In the middle of the room there was a figure that looked very large under the lens, and that was Mr. Sulzer.
Mr. Sulzer was already suffocating because one of his horrific shells had been broken, and his body had been frozen by a terrible cold air!
There was a scrap of paper on Sulzer's desk. If you want to break the disc and go to the lab to get the piece of paper, you can't do it. Marseille knew that if you did that, the sour gas would come out and suffocate you.
Marseille looked closely through the disc and saw that the words refracted through the lens became larger. He could see that it was an order from Monsieur Sulzer, ordering B, K, R, and Z to complete the plan for the destruction of the City of France fifteen days ahead of schedule. At the end of the order it was written: "You bring the bodies of Sharasain and Marseille." I want to see them, and I have to get my hands on them. ”
Octav and Marseille untied Siggimel and restored his freedom. An hour later, the two young men returned home to Cité de France that night.
The people of Cité de France were overjoyed to hear from Marseille and Oakduff that Sulzer had died. They lifted the two young men up and cheered the victory of justice over **!
When Stalstadt ruled under the clutches of Sulzer, it was a factory of terror, a terrible destructive institution. Now, the arsenal is owned by the peaceful people, who manufacture agricultural machinery and industrial equipment for the happiness of mankind.