From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"Exchanging an island? What are you talking about?"

Baron Bertula couldn't believe his ears. He couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, shook his head repeatedly in shock and anger, and said to Lawrence:

"Let me guess, what are you going to replace? Ireland? Scotland? Why don't you just replace the whole of Great Britain!"

Even the Duke of Choiseul couldn't help but frown. Although he didn't know which island Lawrence was planning to exchange, he also thought Lawrence's proposal was too whimsical.

In the eyes of Baron Bertula and the British government behind him, William Pitt was just a former prime minister anyway, and his imprisonment in Corsica would only affect Britain's international reputation at most.

Even from the perspective of the private interests of the current Prime Minister of England, the current Prime Minister is happy to see William Pitt continue to be under house arrest in Corsica, because if Pitt stays in Corsica for one more day, his prestige in the domestic political arena will drop. This further cut off the possibility of Pitt's resurgence in politics.

After all, as the Prime Minister who led Britain to win the Seven Years' War, Pitt still has good prestige in the hearts of the people, which makes the current Prime Minister somewhat afraid.

Even so, in order to maintain the national system, the British government still has to solve the problem of William Pitt as soon as possible, but they will not accept an exorbitant price, especially Lawrence's proposal of exchanging territory for someone, which was even more thought by Baron Bertula. He refused reluctantly.

"Governor Bonaparte, with all due respect, this was said only between the three of us."

Baron Bertula spread his hands, his head was still shaking, and he said speechlessly:

"It involves territorial issues of sovereign countries. Even if King George III falls into your hands, we will not accept the practice of exchanging territory for hostages, and I myself will not set such a precedent."

Lawrence was not surprised by Baron Bertula's reaction, because once such an approach started, it would be difficult to stop it.

Today's William Pitt can be exchanged for territory, but tomorrow a captured British general can also be exchanged for British land. This situation is naturally something that Baron Bertula and the British government absolutely do not want to see.

So Lawrence said very understandingly:

"Of course I won't ask for the core territory of England. In fact, I just want to exchange a colonial island with you."

"Colony?" Baron Bertula's expression relaxed a little. After all, land sales and transfers in colonies are very common even among countries.

The two most famous cases of buying and selling colonies were Russia's sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million, and France's sale of French Louisiana to the United States in 1803 for $15 million.

Considering that exchanging colonies for hostages is essentially similar to paying a ransom, Baron Bertula also regained some of his willingness to negotiate, frowned at Lawrence and asked:

"Governor Bonaparte, since you said this, it means you have already made a plan, right? But I have to tell you in advance that England's colonies are also England's sacred and legal territory. Even if it is an island, its value will not be Lower than William Pitt."

Lawrence nodded slightly, understanding that Baron Bertula's words also expressed his attitude:

He could reluctantly accept a piece of colonial land in exchange for William Pitt, but it was impossible to promise to give Lawrence an island rich in resources or rich in population. This not only exceeded the authority of Baron Bertula, but also the British government did not have the authority to do so. conditions that will be accepted.

"Of course, all I ask for is a tiny Caribbean island."

So Lawrence leaned closer and said to Baron Bertula:

"St. Kitts, a volcanic island located at the northern end of the Pearl Islands."

"St. Kitts? I don't think I've ever heard of that name."

Baron Bertula was stunned, rubbing his head in confusion as he recalled which colony this was.

Lawrence smiled, turned over the prepared map and handed it to Baron Bertula, pointing to a tiny black spot on it and said:

"It's here, the northernmost point of the Pearl Islands in the Caribbean. It's only one-fortieth the size of Corsica, and it's just an ordinary sugar cane plantation island."

The Duke of Choiseul, who was on the side, also came over to take a look, but it was not until he took out the glasses from his pocket and put them on that he saw the small black spot that Lawrence pointed to.

The Duke of Choiseul couldn't help but glance at Lawrence with some surprise. Although in terms of ransom value, William Pitt as a former prime minister was almost worth such a small colonial island, but such an island was too small for Lawrence. It's a completely useless existence.

With Corsica's scarce population, they can't even fully develop the mainland. There are still large areas of wasteland waiting to be reclaimed in Corsica, let alone traveling across the ocean to develop this remote island.

Moreover, in Duke Choiseul's impression, there was really nothing special about the island of St. Kitts. It was just a sugar plantation with an estimated population of less than a thousand.

"Did I make a mistake? It's impossible. This island of St. Kitts has been colonized for more than two hundred years. If there is something special about it, I won't know about it."

Duke Choiseul's expression of surprise became more and more intense, and his eyes shifted from the map to Lawrence, thinking silently:

"However, with Lawrence's character, he will definitely not engage in loss-making business."

Baron Bertula was also staring at the map and frowning in thought. His thoughts were similar to those of Duke Choiseul. He knew that St. Kitts Island was an ordinary colonial island, or that it was a relatively desolate and barren colony. It was purely used for The kind that makes up the numbers.

"What are your intentions?"

Lawrence waved his hand to interrupt Baron Bertula who was deep in thought and asked. He believed that neither Baron Bertula nor the British government would reject this good deal.

"Well this is indeed an interesting condition."

Baron Bertula nodded slowly, and hesitantly traced the map with his finger. After taking a final look at the black dot on the map, he made up his mind and said:

"I will report this matter to the local government as soon as possible. Of course, from my personal point of view, I think we have a good chance of reaching an agreement on this matter."

"That's great, but I have a small request."

Lawrence smiled and nodded.

"Request? Please say it." Baron Bertula said with the same smile.

After Baron Bertula made up his mind to trade St. Kitts Island for William Pitt, he felt a lot happier. The biggest problem hanging over his head was finally solved today.

Moreover, in Baron Bertula's opinion, using St. Kitts Island in exchange for William Pitt actually brought him a lot of advantages. After all, he thought that Lawrence would use the power of Duke Choiseul to ask for a huge price and ask for a piece of more money. A rich colony.

Unexpectedly, Lawrence directly chose a piece of dispensable land for exchange, which made Baron Bertula feel that he had gotten a big bargain.

Therefore, after the two reached an agreement, Baron Bertula immediately became generous in the face of Lawrence's small request.

Lawrence looked at Baron Bertula and said:

"Now that both of us have agreed to this condition, I hope you can issue a transfer document signed by you shortly."

"Signing in a moment?" Baron Bertula said puzzledly:

"Let's not talk about when the official land transfer will take place. The transfer document signed by me, the ambassador, has no legal effect."

Lawrence shook his head indifferently and said:

"You only need to issue this document with your signature. It doesn't matter whether it is valid or not. Anyway, your government will issue a formal agreement in the future."

"This is a violation for an ambassador abroad." Baron Bertula said with some resistance and hesitation.

Lawrence didn't change his expression when he saw this, he stretched out his hand and pointed on the map, and said with a bit of threat:

"But when your country's approval comes, maybe I will change my mind then.? I think I should ask for a more fertile land. A few main islands of the Pearl Islands would be good."

"hiss"

Baron Bertula took a slightly embarrassed breath. The cheap deal of exchanging St. Kitts for William Pitt was of course what he wanted to achieve. After all, it could also become part of his diplomatic merits.

And if Lawrence really wants to claim several main islands of the Pearl Islands, let alone whether this deal is in England's interests, the time to reach an agreement may be delayed until the year of the monkey.

If something happens to William Pitt again during this period, then Baron Bertula will not only have no success but have a success.

After weighing the balance, Baron Bertula had no choice but to grit his teeth and make concessions to Lawrence, sighing and saying:

"Okay, I'll draft a standardized transfer agreement right away. Of course, I will indicate the conditions on it."

After that, Baron Bertula took out his pocket watch, took a look at it, stood up in a hurry and said:

"It's already late then, so please forgive me."

Then Baron Bertula bowed slightly to the two of them and quickly left the garden.

Although there are still many matters waiting for the two to continue to negotiate in this Corsica incident, such as the handling of the prisoners of war on the Reasonable and the recognition and compensation of the losses caused by the two governments to each other, but compared with the release of William Pitt, the first-class matter , these things seem not so important.

Baron Bertula was eager to leave and was also prepared to immediately draft the transfer agreement Lawrence mentioned, lest Lawrence regret midway through this transaction that had benefited him greatly.

After Baron Bertula left, Lawrence and Duke Choiseul were still sitting there, drinking hot tea leisurely.

"How? Governor Bonaparte, what do you think of this ambassador?"

Duke Choiseul said flatly, still thinking about why Lawrence would specifically ask Baron Bertula for such a remote and small island.

Lawrence pondered for a moment and then said:

"He is a fairly shrewd diplomat, but there is nothing special about him. But when he first arrived, I was very concerned about his reaction when you mentioned the Duke of Richelieu."

"Yes, I noticed it too."

Duke Choiseul still nodded calmly and said:

"Combined with what you said, Ambassador Bertula has been staying with Richelieu these days, so they must have some plans."

Lawrence glanced at the calm Duke of Choiseul and added:

"And judging from the current situation, this plan is probably aimed at you. Don't you care?"

"Hmph." Duke Choiseul obviously didn't take the collusion between Baron Bertula and Duke Richelieu to heart. He snorted disdainfully and said:

"That damn old man has quite a few plans against me, but his methods are basically to get Madame Du Barry to blow some feathers with King Louis, and to launch his scoundrels to slander and attack me."

Lawrence could probably guess these methods. After all, Duke Richelieu's focus must be on Louis XV within the palace, so the methods used basically had nothing to do with political means.

However, this time the English Ambassador to France actually joined the Duke of Richelieu, which still made Lawrence vaguely aware that something was wrong:

"That may be the case, but Baron Bertula doesn't have much influence on the court of Versailles, but Duke Richelieu takes the initiative to win over him. There must be something wrong here."

"What you said makes sense." Duke Choiseul pondered for a moment and nodded before admitting:

"But since they just got together, it means that the plan is in its infancy. We can't see any clues for the time being, so let's put it aside for now."

After that, Duke Choiseul added with great interest:

"But your negotiation just now surprised me. I thought you would use Pete to replace other resources. Moreover, even if it is to replace the colony, the St. Kitts Island you proposed is too conservative, right?"

Although Duke Choiseul did not understand Lawrence's approach, he still believed that Lawrence had his own plans, so he did not interfere with the negotiations between the two.

Faced with Duke Choiseul's inquiry, Lawrence just smiled lightly and said:

"I think one island of St. Kitts is enough, and even if it is such a small island, the current Corsicans are not capable of developing it."

"Oh? Then you still insist on claiming this island?"

Duke Choiseul frowned and asked:

"Even if the British issue a formal transfer agreement to transfer the sovereignty of St. Kitts to Corsica, I estimate that the Corsicans will only be able to plant a few flags on the island."

Lawrence looked up at the sky. The sunshine was already much softer than at noon. In a while, the banquet hosted by Louis XV for himself would begin.

"I'm going to see King Louis soon, so I'm a little nervous."

Lawrence suddenly said with a smile.

"Huh? King Louis? What do you mean...wait"

Duke Choiseul was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized what he was doing, and couldn't stop laughing and said:

"I see, that's why you specifically asked Ambassador Bertula to issue a transfer agreement immediately. This is really a good trick."

Facing Duke Choiseul's compliment, Lawrence just shrugged and said:

"I hope our King is as generous as the rumors say."