From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

After handing Jean du Barry to Grosseau, Laurence left the mansion and went to the Tuileries Palace to accompany Prince Louis.

For a sailor as experienced as Grosso, Lawrence believed he could leave Du Barry with some memories that he would never want to revisit again.

The reason why Du Barry was subjected to such horrific torture was not because Lawrence was determined to avenge his personal revenge for attacking him.

It was because Lawrence could see that Jean Du Barry was just a man who wanted to have both sides.

For this kind of person, Lawrence must let him know the consequences of being hostile to him and leave a terrifying shadow in his heart that will never be erased in his life, just like farmers in the countryside domesticating native dogs.

After all, both fear and favor are excellent means of dominating others.

Although Lawrence prefers the latter, he will not completely give up using the former, and many times a two-pronged approach is the best option, just like Lawrence did with Oga Koumas.

After that, some small favors and psychological tricks were applied to Du Barry. Lawrence believed that Mr. Du Barry could make the choice he wanted to see of his own free will.

The next day arrived, which was also the first day of July 1770.

Early morning, breakfast time.

Anna and Ya'an were receiving guidance on dining etiquette and French learning from their tutors as always, so there were only Lawrence and Grosso at the big dining table.

Lawrence picked up a butter knife and spread a layer of slightly fishy butter on the soft white bread. Then he glanced at Grosso, who was a little tired, and said casually:

"It seems that you and Mr. Du Barry get along very well."

"Hey, how did you know that?" Grosso asked with a grin.

"You have dark circles under your eyes. Are you still with Mr. Du Barry most of the night?" Lawrence pointed at Grosso's eyes and said.

Grosso rubbed his sore eyes, yawned and said with a smile:

"It's a pity that you weren't there yesterday. I haven't even finished a complete set of interrogation and criminal laws, and he said all kinds of things."

"Oh? What did he do?"

Lawrence asked casually. He was not interested in Du Barry's dark history. Lawrence knew what a domineering gang leader could do without having to guess.

"It's quite a lot. I'm too lazy to write it down. How many women have been raped, how many people have been tortured and killed, how much money has been bribed, it's all these things. From Lisbon to Venice, this kind of person has done everything the same."

Grosso thought boringly for a while, shrugged and said:

"He did talk a lot about the attack."

"What did you say?" Lawrence became a little more interested and looked at Grosso and asked.

Although Lawrence could guess the general process of the attack and knew that his guesses must be accurate, he had not yet fully confirmed these guesses.

"That count, the one who dueled you, suddenly approached Du Barry and asked him to do something to you."

Grosso took a big gulp of beer and said with a laugh:

"He couldn't refuse the earl anyway, so he could only order that beggar king to attack you. Hehehe, you should have seen his crying and regretful expression yesterday. It wasn't until two days later that he knew he was being raped. We were the ones attacking.”

"Okay, it's pretty much what I guessed."

Lawrence nodded and said that the person who launched this attack was a person with motives and abilities but no brains. Except for Count Falcone, Lawrence could not think of any reasonable candidate.

"By the way, how is our Mr. Du Barry doing now?"

Lawrence then asked, he didn't want something to go wrong with Jean Du Barry, a key figure in advance.

"Now? She should be sleeping soundly now, or she might be in a coma, it doesn't matter."

Grosso scratched his head and said with a smile:

"Don't worry, there won't be a trace of abuse on any part of his skin. Of course, he just suffered a mental breakdown."

Lawrence nodded slightly, it would be much easier to control someone who was on the verge of collapse.

"But he shouldn't commit suicide, right? Bite his tongue or something?" Lawrence asked rigorously.

"Can you commit suicide by biting your tongue? I've never heard of it." Grosso was stunned, tried biting his tongue, and immediately shook his head and said:

"Forget it, if he has such determination, why would he be tied here by us? And he seems to be very convinced that the Duke of Richelieu can save him, and he will definitely not commit suicide."

"Well that's true."

Lawrence nodded and dealt with it, and suddenly thought of something.

Since Mr. Du Barry has such expectations for the Duke of Richelieu, when these expectations are completely shattered, he will probably fall into complete despair.

In the middle of breakfast, the old housekeeper came to report:

"Your Excellency, Bonaparte, I have two gentlemen asking to see you. They claim to be auditors of the Bank of Commerce de France and are here at your invitation."

"Oh, that's right, just bring them over here." Lawrence nodded and said.

After a while, the two auditors nervously followed the old housekeeper and came to the restaurant while looking at the luxurious mansion.

Although these two people are considered wealthy among the middle class in Paris, their apparent annual income is nearly 10,000 livres, not to mention the invisible gray income.

But the two auditors were shocked by the lavish mansion on the Champs Elysées and its well-trained servants. Not even their employer, Mr. Montmartre, had such a mansion.

"You are here, sit down."

Lawrence didn't put on any airs and casually invited the two of them to sit down at the dining table and asked:

"Is everything done?"

One of them quickly took out a delicate silver coat of arms, held it in his hands, handed it to Lawrence respectfully and said:

"Your instructions have been carried out, Monsignor Bonaparte."

Lawrence took the silver coat of arms and put it into his pocket. It was a symbol of his status as the royal tax collector.

Yesterday Lawrence gave the silver medal to the two auditors and asked them to collect all financial information such as account books and receipts of the property under Jean Du Barry's name in their own names.

You know, taxation is something like this, no matter what era it is, if you want to find something, you will definitely be able to find something.

Jean Du Barry has dozens of properties under his name. Even if each property has only a slight financial problem, it adds up to a huge financial handle.

Naturally, what Lawrence has to do is to hold this handle firmly in his hands.

Another auditor added:

"All the ledgers and documents have been collected, enough to fill a carriage, and they are parked outside now."

"Not bad." Lawrence looked at the two of them and asked approvingly:

"I wonder if you two are willing to work here for a period of time and audit all the account books. Of course, I have a small request, that is, you two cannot leave this mansion before the work is completed. What do you think?"

The two auditors looked at each other and nodded with almost no hesitation, their faces full of excitement.

Working for Mr. Bonaparte in front of them has a brighter future than working for Mr. Montmartre. Even if there are some insignificant restrictions on freedom, the two of them don't care at all.

"Very good" Lawrence turned to the old butler and said:

"Arrange guest rooms for them, and then send someone to bring in the ledgers from outside."

"By the way, Your Excellency Bonaparte, I have a situation I want to tell you."

One of the auditors remembered something and frowned and said:

"We have gone to all the properties under Jean Dubarry's name. Their managers were very cooperative after seeing your silver medal, with one exception."

"exception?"

Lawrence raised his eyebrows and asked, indeed a little surprised that a manager would disobey his order in order to protect Du Barry.

"Yes, it is the house of Jean Du Barry himself, which the steward forbids us to enter under any circumstances."

The auditor said cautiously:

"So we haven't gotten the records there yet."

"Du Barry's House."

Lawrence frowned and glanced at Grosso. Grosso obviously noticed something was wrong. He touched his chin and recalled for a while and said:

"Either the housekeeper there is ignorant of the world, or there is something really shady in there. Du Barry did not mention that there is anything in his house that cannot be seen."

"interesting."

Lawrence wiped his hands with a napkin, stood up and said to Grosso:

"Dubaly can recruit as many people as he killed last night, but he doesn't want to mention the situation at his home. Anyway, we have to go there in person. You bring a few precision shooters with only swords, and we Let’s go.”

Jean Dubarly's residence is located near the Place des Vosges in the Marais district. The Marais district is also a traditional bourgeois area. Basically, wealthy businessmen or industrial owners live in this area.

Following the directions of the road signs, Lawrence's carriage soon stopped in front of Du Barry's residence.

This is a two-story single-family villa with a small garden and a large front yard, with a beautiful and pleasant environment.

Before he even stepped out of the carriage, Lawrence could already see something was wrong from the window.

On this sunny morning, the doors and windows of this villa were closed, and each window was covered with thick dark red curtains. Not even a trace of the interior of the house could be seen.

The iron door to the vestibule was also tightly closed, as if to refuse visitors.

"It looks like there's something going on." Grosso said with narrowed eyes.

"That's right. Logically speaking, if there was something shady, they must have disposed of it after the two auditors came to the door yesterday."

Lawrence nodded and analyzed:

"But today they still look like they are facing a formidable enemy. I'm afraid the things inside are both inaccessible and difficult to deal with."

After the two of them observed the car for a while, Lawrence and Grosso got out of the car with several guards and went straight forward and smashed the iron door twice.

Following several loud banging sounds, the window curtain of a room on the second floor was slightly lifted, and then half a cautious head poked out from behind.

After a while, an old man with silver curly hair walked out unsteadily, stood behind the iron gate and looked at Lawrence.

"Sir, I am the butler here."

The housekeeper looked at the sabers on the waists of Lawrence and his party uneasily, tried to calm down and asked:

"I wonder how many of you want it?"

"Is this the residence of Mr. Du Barry? He is involved in a financial fraud case, and we need to search his residence."

Lawrence took out the Wang family tax collector's silver medal, waved it in front of the housekeeper, and said expressionlessly:

"I am Laurence Bonaparte. In the name of the Royal Tax Collector, I ask for your cooperation."

"This is me." A layer of cold sweat suddenly broke out on the steward's forehead, and he said incoherently:

"Sorry, I can't open the door for you without M. Du Barry's order."

"I repeat, please cooperate." Lawrence put away the silver medal and said coldly.

"I'm very sorry, Monsignor Bonaparte, but I can't"

The housekeeper subconsciously took two steps back, shook his head in fear and said.

Lawrence stared at the butler, raised his hand to signal to the guard behind him, and said in a deep voice:

"Everyone, just hit me!"

"What?! Monsignor Bonaparte, you can't"

The housekeeper was shocked and frightened when he saw this. He rushed forward, grabbed the iron door and said:

"This is not trespassing, this is intrusion! If you insist on having your own way, I will call someone!"

"Call someone?"

Lawrence snorted, smiled disdainfully, looked directly at the housekeeper and asked:

"Who are you going to call, the police? The security team? The patrol? The mounted police? Do you want to try which side they will support? These are all my people. You are alone and helpless. What do you want to do to disobey me?"

"I" the housekeeper stood there speechless, his hand holding the iron door key full of sweat.

"Besides, I can tell you." Lawrence glanced at the housekeeper who was already shaking, and said softly:

"Your master is in my hands. I can throw him to the gallows at any time. No matter how loyal you are, he won't be able to see you. Unless...you want to go to the execution ground in person to show your loyalty...?"

"No, no. I don't want to."

The butler said tremblingly, knowing that Lawrence was not threatening him. As long as such a big shot had the evidence, he could really throw himself on the gallows and hang him like a bug.

Having said that, the housekeeper didn't dare to delay any longer, inserted the key into the keyhole with trembling hands, and opened the iron door of the vestibule.

Seeing the butler's panic, Lawrence lowered his voice and said to Grosso next to him:

"Just now I was only 70% sure, but now I am 90% sure. There is definitely something wrong here."

"Oh? Why?" Grosso asked in confusion.

"This butler accepts threats too easily. If he were really innocent, he wouldn't be so scared."

Lawrence narrowed his eyes and said:

"He must know what's in this house."

"I see. This Du Barry is really secretive." Grosso nodded in realization.

"Whatever it is, I can already expect it."

Lawrence looked at the panicked back of the butler and whispered:

"Our M. du Barry will soon have to consider his position."

No matter what secrets are hidden in the house, there is no doubt that it will be a fatal weapon against Jean Du Barry.

And Lawrence also believed that such a handle would allow Mr. Du Barry to clear his tired mind after being tortured by Grosso for a day.