From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"Huh? What's going on? Why are all the British guys disembarking?"

"Oh, they even have knives."

"What are you doing? This is."

In the port of Ajaccio, the workers shuttled on the dock soon noticed something strange about the Reasonable and started talking about it one after another.

I saw a large group of British sailors gathered on the deck, lining up in an orderly manner to climb down the gangway.

Although the presence of British sailors on the docks was not uncommon during this period, this was the first time the workers saw so many sailors appearing together.

The sailors lined up on the dock and watched silently as Captain Morris at the forefront roared for their final mobilization.

These sailors couldn't help but become nervous after learning that Lord Peter was in danger, fearing that they would also be jointly and severally responsible for this.

"Do you understand?! You brats!"

Captain Morris roared loudly, venting his anxiety and insecurity on the soldiers in front of him, shouting:

"If something happens to Mr. Peter, all of us will be waiting to go to court-martial!"

Listening to Captain Morris' roar, the sailors couldn't help but touch the machetes and pistols at their waists, knowing that a fierce battle awaited them next.

At this moment, several dock workers carrying wooden boxes passed by, and the phalanx formed by hundreds of sailors undoubtedly blocked their way.

"Hey, Brits, give way."

These cynical dock workers only thought that the British were giving a gathering speech, so they shouted to pass through the phalanx regardless of whether they could understand it or not.

When Captain Morris saw this, his face suddenly turned livid, and he pulled out his saber and walked towards the workers.

"Huh? What are you going to do?"

One of the leading workers saw Captain Morris walking towards him and was about to ask a question in confusion.

However, before he could finish his words, there was just a pop, and the tip of Morris's knife had already penetrated into his heart.

"This! This! Murder, blatant murder!"

As the worker's body slowly fell, the other workers immediately took a few steps back in horror, threw the goods in their hands on the ground, turned around and ran away.

They simply didn't understand why the British suddenly killed them.

Even the sailors on the Reasonable looked at Captain Morris in disbelief, watching him take out his handkerchief and wipe the blood on the tip of the knife with disdain.

"Listen up, all of you. You don't need to be merciful to these Corsican monkeys. They are no different from those niggers and Indian savages."

Captain Morris put the cleaned saber into its sheath, turned around and shouted sternly at the sailors:

"As long as someone stands in front of you, I'll chop him down with my knife! No matter the woman, the old man or the child, do you hear me?! Today I will make Ajaccio bleed into a river!"

At the same time, in the Governor's Palace, in Lawrence's study.

"I heard you were looking for me? Governor Bonaparte."

A burly man stood in front of Lawrence with an expressionless face, saluted to Lawrence calmly and said.

Although his tone and actions were impeccable, there was no trace of respect for Lawrence in them, and instead there was a sense of perfunctoryness everywhere.

Lawrence raised his head and squinted at the man. He was the captain of the cuirassiers, Captain Mattick.

Two years ago, Lawrence had two encounters with him in Bastia and Ajaccio, but the endings of those two encounters were not very happy.

In addition, Captain Mattick is a completely Pauli officer, so his attitude towards Lawrence at this moment is not surprising.

"Please take a seat, Captain Mattick."

Lawrence smiled and stretched out his hand to signal him to sit down, and said:

"There is an enemy situation in Ajaccio. I need you and your men to temporarily accept the command of Major Trifalli."

After Captain Mattick heard this, he didn’t even ask what Lawrence said about the enemy situation, and directly waved his hand and said:

"I'm sorry, Governor Bonaparte. All cuirassiers, including myself, belong directly to General Paoli. This will not change when he leaves office as Governor of Corsica. You have no right to transfer us."

Lawrence's smile still hung on his face, and he thought to himself:

"This Captain Mattick has a good sense of politics. He knows that I won't attack him just after I come to power. He probably relies on this to have such a tough attitude."

After all, the essential source of power is from subordinates, not superiors.

Nowadays, Corsica's military and political officials are almost all promoted by Pauli. If Lawrence attacked them when he came to power, it would inevitably cause a strong backlash.

So, Lawrence asked almost without changing his expression:

"Captain, I want to ask you a question, Corsica and Pauli, which side are you loyal to?"

Captain Mattick shook his head and replied:

"The two parties are not opposed. We are loyal to both General Paoli and Corsica."

"What about priorities?" Lawrence then asked.

Captain Mattick was stunned for a moment, thinking that Lawrence was going to use the name of Corsica to blackmail him into sending troops, so he answered truthfully:

"I won't hide it in front of Governor Bonaparte. General Paoli has a higher priority."

However, Captain Mattick did not realize that when he said this, he had already fallen into Lawrence's trap.

"So this is ah."

Lawrence chuckled and nodded. Captain Mattick's words had been expected by him, so he went on to say:

"Does that mean that after the death of General Paoli, you will be completely loyal to Corsica?"

"What do you mean?" Captain Mattick opened his mouth and was stunned for a moment before asking Lawrence.

Lawrence did not speak, but handed a piece of paper from the drawer to Captain Mattick.

This document had just been drafted by Lawrence, and it only needed Lawrence's signature to be issued as an administrative order.

Captain Mattick frowned and took the document and glanced at it. After just reading the title, he couldn't help but feel a chill running down his back. He looked up and stared at Lawrence in disbelief.

The title of the document clearly read:

"Urgent order to execute Pasquale Paoli, the treasonous criminal."

"You! Lawrence, how dare you?!"

Captain Mattick almost jumped up from his chair, slammed his hands on the table, and loudly questioned Lawrence:

"You despicable usurper! Do you still want to kill General Pauli?! Do you know the consequences of this?!"

In Captain Mattick's view, Lawrence's so-called coup was just a farce. He believed that Lawrence had no foundation and confidence to control the entire Corsica.

Because General Nathan still had two thousand troops in the Northern Army at this time. As long as he marched south, he could easily drive Lawrence out of Ajaccio and support Pauline's restoration again.

This is why Captain Mattick dared to break up with Lawrence so hard at this moment.

Now that the two of them had broken up, Lawrence stopped talking nonsense, looked directly at Captain Mattick, and said coldly:

"You don't have to think about the consequences for me, you just have to make a choice, either listen to my command or let Paulie die."

"You madman, damn it!"

Captain Mattick couldn't help but wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. His idea just now had an absolute premise, that is, General Pauli must be alive.

Once Paulie dies, his old subordinates will definitely not remain monolithic, and as a result, it is basically certain that General Nathan will be in charge.

If this happens, Captain Mattick will be ostracized and liquidated by General Nathan because he does not belong to the Northern Army.

And Captain Mattick also understood that although Lawrence had no reason to attack him, he had every reason to execute Paulie.

After all, Paoli announced the treaty with the British in front of so many representatives in Parliament, and the treason charge Lawrence laid against Paoli is absolutely undeniable.

"Don't hesitate, Captain."

Lawrence clasped his hands on his abdomen, looked at Captain Mattick and said in a deep voice:

"This order only needs my signature to take effect, and when the time comes, I will appoint you as the executioner and let you shoot Paulie personally."

"You! You're threatening me!"

Captain Mattick clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, pointing directly at Lawrence and growling.

"Yes, I'm threatening you."

Lawrence shrugged nonchalantly and raised the document in his hand in front of Captain Mattick.

"you!"

Captain Mattick was already furious and trembling uncontrollably, but he also knew in his heart that General Pauli could never die at this time, let alone by his own hands.

Thinking of this, Captain Mattick took a deep breath, suppressed all his anger, sat back in front of Lawrence, and asked through gritted teeth:

"Governor Bonaparte, what happened in Ajaccione?"

"Captain, you are a smart man."

Lawrence did not answer immediately. He looked at Captain Mattick and said with a slightly raised corner of his mouth. Then he held the unsigned document to his chest and tore it into pieces in front of Captain Mattick.

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