Chapter 120 The history of Shishawei's defeat

What we have just seen can be said to be the opposite of this matter. In fact, its process is very simple. On the day of Fantine's death, Javert arrested Jean Valjean at the bedside of the deceased. Jean Valjean had escaped from the prison of Montreuil-sur-Mer that night. The police authorities believed that the fugitive convict must go to Paris. .Paris is the swirling vortex that engulfs all, the abyss of the earth, as the ocean engulfs all eddies.No forest hides a man's tracks so easily as the stream of people there.Desperadoes of all stripes know this.When they entered Paris, it was as if they had entered a bottomless pit, and some bottomless pits can indeed solve human troubles.The police know this too, and they come to Paris to look for anyone who has escaped elsewhere.Here they were hunting down the ex-mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer.Javert was transferred to Paris to solve the case together.Javert had indeed made a powerful contribution to the arrest of Jean Valjean.The devotion and intelligence of Javert in this case had been noted by Monsieur Chapuille, the police secretary to the count of Angles.M. Chapuille, who had previously promoted Javert, transferred the scout from Montreuil-sur-Mer to the Paris police.Javert, since his arrival in Paris, had performed many meritorious deeds, and had behaved--let us say the word, though it is somewhat abrupt for a position of this nature--dedicated and efficient.

Just as a hunting dog who hunts every day forgets yesterday's wolf after seeing today's wolf, Javert later stopped thinking about Jean Valjean, and he never read newspapers, but in December 1823, It suddenly occurred to him to read the newspapers, because he was a monarchist, and he wanted to know the details of the triumphant "Prince Grand Marshal"'s entry into the city at Bayonne.Just after he had read the passage which concerned him, the name of Jean Valjean caught his attention at the bottom of the newspaper.The newspaper declared that Jean Valjean, the convict, had died, and described the circumstances of that day with such certainty that Javert believed it.He just said: "This is a good end." After saying that, he threw the newspaper down and didn't think about it anymore.

A short time later, the provincial government of Seine-et-Oise sent a police notice to the Paris police, mentioning a case of abduction of a child in the town of Montfermeil, which was said to be strange.The notice said that a girl of seven or eight years old was entrusted by her mother to be raised by a local innkeeper, and was abducted by an unknown person. The girl's name was Cosette, and she belonged to a woman named Fantine. Daughter, Fantine has died in a hospital, when and where is unknown.The notice fell into Javert's hands, which aroused his doubts again. The name Fantine was familiar to him, and he remembered that Jean Valjean had asked him three days' grace to claim the thief's child, and had made him, Javert, laugh.He also remembered that Jean Valjean had been arrested when he was traveling from Paris to Montfermeil.At that time there were some indications that it was the second time for him to take this bus. He had been near the village once the day before. We said nearby because no one in the village had seen him.What was he doing at Montfermeil then?No one can guess.Javert could guess now.Fantine's daughter lived there.Jean Valjean was going to find her.And now the child has been abducted by an unknown person.Who is this unknown person?Could it be Jean Valjean?But Jean Valjean was long dead.Javert, without having discussed the matter with anyone, went to the cul-de-sac, hired a cab from the tin-pan dealer, and drove straight to Montfermeil.

He thought that he could find out the truth by visiting there, but in the end it was still dark. The Thenardiers were somewhat annoyed in the first few days, and some rumors had leaked out.News of the lark's disappearance spread through the village.Immediately, several different legends emerged, and it turned out that the incident was said to be a case of child abduction.That's where the police notice came from.But Thenardier, after his momentary anger subsided, with his natural intelligence, he quickly realized that it is never a good thing to alarm the Crown Prosecutor. He had a lot of unclear things in the past, and now To complain again about the "kidnapping" of Cosette had, first of all, to draw the eyes of the judiciary to Thenardier and to his other ambiguous affairs.The most taboo thing for an owl is when someone sends candlelight to it.In the first place, how could he absolve himself of having accepted the fifteen hundred francs?So he immediately changed his attitude and blocked his wife's mouth. When someone talked to him about the "abducted" child, he deliberately expressed surprise. He said that he didn't know it himself. So he "took" his beloved little girl away, he was really reluctant, and originally wanted to keep her for two or three days longer, but the person who came to find her was her grandfather, and this was the most common thing in the world.He added a grandfather and it worked out great.That was what Javert heard when he came to Montfermeil. "Grandfather" concealed Jean Valjean.

But Javert asked a few more questions after hearing Thenardier's story, wanting to find out the truth: "Who is this grandfather? What is his name?" replied Thenardier nonchalantly. "A rich peasant. I have seen his passport. I remember his name was Guillaume Rambert." Rambert is the name of a respectable man, and it is reassuring to hear it.Javert turned back to Paris. "Jean Valjean is dead," he said to himself, "I am a fool." He had quite put the matter out of his mind, but in March, 1824, he heard talk of a strange man in the parish of St. Meda, nicknamed "The Changer of Money."It is said that he was a rich man who lived on interest, but no one knew his real name. He lived alone with an eight-year-old girl who knew only that she was from Montfermeil. Other than that, she didn't know anything.Montfermeil!The name of this place was always on people's lips, and Javert's ears perked up again.An old churchbearer, formerly a spy dressed as a beggar, who was often given alms by the strange man, gave other details. "The rich man is a very lonely man", "he never goes out until it is dark", "talks to no one", "only occasionally talks to the poor", "and does not let people come near him, He often wears a very old yellow coat, which is full of bank notes worth millions."These words really aroused Javert's curiosity.In order to get a very close look at the grotesque rich man without disturbing him, one day he borrowed his rags from the old secret agent who had been a church servant, and squatted in his bed every evening, humming his prayers and writing his prayers. Where scouting works.

Sure enough, the "suspicious guy" came towards the disguised Javert and made alms.Javert took the opportunity to look up, and Jean Valjean was startled, thinking he saw Javert, and Javert was equally startled, thinking he saw Jean Valjean. But it was already dark at that time, he didn't see the truth, Jean Valjean's death was also officially announced, Javert still had doubts in his mind, and they were important questions, Javert was a cautious man, and when he had doubts, he would Never grab people. He followed the man as far as Gorbo's old house, found the "grandmother" and asked her about it, which didn't take much effort.The old woman confirmed that there were millions in the overcoat, and told him how the thousand-franc note had been changed the last time.She saw it with her own eyes!She touched it with her own hands!Javert took a room.He stayed there that night.He had gone to the door of the mysterious tenant to eavesdrop, hoping to hear his voice, but Jean Valjean saw the candle light in the keyhole and did not make a sound, and he saw through the spy's plot.

The next day Jean Valjean was about to slip away.But the falling of the five-franc piece was heard by the old woman, who, hearing the sound of the coin, thought that the family was about to move out, and hastened to inform Javert.When Jean Valjean went out in the evening, Javert was waiting for him behind a tree by the road with two men. Javert asked the police to send an assistant, but he did not say whom he intended to arrest.This is his secret.He has three reasons to keep it secret: first, a little bit of news will alarm Jean Valjean; second, Jean Valjean is a fugitive convict, and everyone thinks he is dead. It would be such an excellent feat to catch such a criminal that he was included in the category of "the most dangerous gangster," and the senior members of the Paris police would never have entrusted such a case to a newcomer like Javert. Go in and do it; in the end, Javert is an artist, and he wants to surprise.He loathed the kind of victory that had been publicly talked about as boring long beforehand.He wants to make extraordinary achievements in secret, and then reveal it suddenly.

Javert followed Jean Valjean from tree to tree, from street corner to street corner, without ever taking his eyes off him.Even when Jean Valjean thought he was perfectly safe, Javert's eyes were always on him. Why didn't Javert arrest Jean Valjean then?That's because he has concerns. It must be remembered that the police at the time were not completely free to do whatever they wanted, because free speech was somewhat of a constraint.Several cases of illegal arrests had been exposed by the newspapers, which had also aroused criticism in Parliament, so that the police authorities had some scruples.Violation of personal liberty is a serious matter.The police dare not make mistakes; the police commissioner holds them accountable, and if they make a mistake, they are suspended.Imagine the effect in Paris of a short news story published in twenty newspapers: "Yesterday, while walking with his eight-year-old granddaughter, a kind and amiable white-haired rich man was recognized as A fugitive convict and detained in the police prison!"

Besides, Javert also had his own scruples, and to the instructions of his superiors he had to add the instructions of his own conscience.He was really uncertain. Jean Valjean kept his back turned to him, and walked in the shadows. The daily sorrow, distress, anxiety, and fatigue, together with the new disaster of being forced to escape at night, the need to find a hiding place for Cosette and himself, and the need to walk in step with the child, all these, Jean Valjean himself Unknowingly, he has already changed his walking posture and added a kind of senility to his actions, so that the police station represented by Javert may also have an illusion, and it does have an illusion.It was impossible to get too close to him, with his downcast Sisi old master's attire, the grandfatherhood that Thénardiga had given him, and the idea that he had died while serving his sentence.All these deepened Javert's growing doubts in his mind.

For a moment he thought about stepping up suddenly to check his papers.However, even if that person was not Jean Valjean, even if that person was not an honest and good old man with a fortune, he was most likely a strongman with close and subtle ties to various secret organizations that were doing evil in Paris, and a member of a dangerous gang. The leader, who usually gives small favors, is just an old trick to conceal his abilities in other aspects.He must have henchmen, associates, and a place to hide at any time.The detours he took in the streets seemed to prove that he was not an ordinary man.If arrested too early, it would be tantamount to "killing the hen that laid the golden eggs".Wait and see, what's wrong?Javert was quite sure that he would not escape.

So he followed along all the way, hesitant in his heart, and asked a hundred questions to that riddle-like strange man. It was only at a rather late hour, in the Rue Pontoise, that he really recognized Jean Valjean by the strong lights of a hotel. There are two creatures whose shudders run deep inside: the mother who has rediscovered her children, and the tiger who has rediscovered her prey.Suddenly Javert felt such a chill in the depths of his heart. After he recognized the fierce fugitive Jean Valjean, he found that there were only three of them, and he rushed to the post on the Rue Pontoise to ask for reinforcements.In order to hold a spiked stick, gloves must first be worn. This delay, combined with another stop at Roland's Crossing to confer with his men, almost disorientated him.But he soon guessed that Jean Valjean would use the river to separate himself from his pursuers.He tilted his head in thought, like a hunting dog who puts his nose to the ground to read his tracks.Javert, judging by his own instincts and judging quite correctly, went all the way up the Austerlitz Bridge, and after talking with the person who collected the bridge tax, he understood better: "You see a man with a small The girl's man?" "I made him pay two sous," answered the bridge tax collector.Javert came to the bridge just in time to see Jean Valjean across the river, leading Cosette by the hand, across a moonlit clearing.He saw him enter the Rue St. Anthony's Green Lane, and he thought of the trap-like cul-de-sac ahead of Jeanlot and the only exit through Straightwall Street to Piccubs Lane.As the besiegers said, he "outflanked the way out," and he hastily sent an assistant around to guard the exit.A patrol that was going back to the arsenal's barracks was passing there, and he called it up and followed him.In this case the soldier is the trump card.Besides, that's a principle. To hunt wild boars, you have to let the hunters work hard and the hounds work hard.He could not help taking a pinch of snuff at the thought of Jean Valjean's dead end at Jean Valjean on his right, and an ambush on his left, and that Javert himself was following him, when that arrangement was in place. So he began to put on a good show.At that time, he was really smug and murderous, he deliberately let his enemy wander here and there, he clearly knew that he was sure to make a deal, but he tried to delay the time to strike, he knew that he was in a tight siege, but he watched him move freely. It was as much pleasure to him as the spider to the fly, the cat to the mouse, and he never took his eyes off him, and his heart delighted.The teeth of beasts of prey and the claws of birds of prey have a murderous sensuality to feel the slight writhing of creatures trapped in their grasp.Putting people to death is beyond fun! Javert was triumphant.His net is strong.He is convinced that he will succeed, and he only needs to squeeze his fists together now. He had so many men that Jean Valjean, no matter how stubborn, how brave, how angry, could not even think of resisting. Javert walked forward slowly, searching every corner of the street along the way, just like looking through every pocket of a thief. When he got to the center of the spider web, the fly was gone. It's not hard to imagine the anger in his chest. He questioned the sentry guarding the corner of Straight Wall Street and Piccubs Street. The spy had remained at his post and had never seen the man pass by. The stag would sometimes get away with the head covered when surrounded by dogs, that is to say, would also escape, and the old hunter was left speechless when it happened.Duvivier, Lenivere and Deppler also suffered from shortness of breath."It's not a deer, it's a demon," Ardonz exclaimed when he suffered that kind of defeat. Javert probably felt the same way at the time, and wanted to yell likewise. Napoleon made a mistake in the Russian war, Alexander made a mistake in the African war, Cyrus made a mistake in the Scythian war, Javert made a mistake in this campaign against Jean Valjean. is real.Maybe he shouldn't have recognized the fugitive convict at a glance.An initial glance should solve the problem.When he was in that shabby house, he shouldn't have caught him straight up.Nor should he have failed to arrest him when he had indeed been identified in the Rue Pontoise.Nor should he exchange opinions with his subordinates at Roland Crossing under the moonlight. Of course, everyone's opinions are useful. For a reliable dog, you might as well understand and ask for its opinions.But in the pursuit of suspicious beasts, such as jackals and convicts, the hunter should not be too careful.Javert was too cautious, and he was determined to let the dogs see the tracks first, so the beast sensed it and fled.The biggest mistake was that, having rediscovered the traces on the Austerlitz Bridge, he still tried to play the dangerous and childish trick of hanging such a person on a string.He overestimated his abilities, and thought he could play with a lion for a mouse.At the same time, he considered himself too small, so he would think that he would have to call in reinforcements.Javert made this series of mistakes, but he was still one of the shrewdest and most disciplined spies who ever lived.In hunting terms he was quite worthy of being called a "good dog."And, who can be perfect? Even the greatest strategists miscalculate. A big mistake is like a thick rope, it is composed of many small parts. If you divide a rope into threads, you separate all the decisive factors one by one, and you can break them one by one, and you will still Say, "That's all!" If you weave them together and twist them together, they can produce a great effect.It was Attila hesitating between Marcian in the east and Valentinian in the west, Hannibal rising late at Capua, Danton sleeping soundly at Arcy-sur-Aube. In short, Javert did not lose his mind when he discovered that Jean Valjean had escaped.Convinced that the fugitive convict would not be far away, he deployed surveillance posts, set up traps and ambushes, and searched the vicinity all night.The first thing he noticed was the untidy condition of the street lamp, whose cord had been snapped.This precious flaw just led him astray, and turned his search work completely to Jeanlot's dead end.In that cul-de-sac there were some rather low walls behind which were wide open spaces enclosed within walls.Jean Valjean had evidently escaped from those places.The fact is that if Jean Valjean had taken a few more steps to the end of Jeanlot's dead end, and he might have done so, then he was really finished.Javert searched the gardens and heaths like a needle. At dawn, he left two able-bodied men to continue guarding, and returned to the police station by himself, full of shame, like a bully who was plotted against by a petty thief.