From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"Ah, Mr. Peter, yes, maybe he once discussed this study with Mr. Pauley." Lawrence played with the empty tea cup in his hand and said with a smile:

"I think Lord Peter likes the Corsican decoration style. After all, he has lived here for so long and has no complaints."

Baron Bertula resisted the urge to roll his eyes, smiled, took out a document from the handbag he carried with him, handed it to Lawrence, and said:

"Your Excellency Pitt may like Corsica very much, but I think he misses his days in London more. Your Excellency Bonaparte, according to the treaty between you and me at the Palace of Versailles that day, you should release Your Excellency Pitt."

Lawrence glanced at the document in front of him. It was a copy of the treaty signed that day at Versailles.

"Don't worry, Mr. Ambassador." Lawrence gently pushed the document back, shook his head and said:

"According to your agreement, I have to wait until St. Kitts Island is officially handed over to the Bourbon royal family before I can fulfill the treaty and release Lord Pitt. In fact, I have not received news yet that the royal family has taken over St. Kitts Island."

Baron Bertula's face suddenly turned very ugly. After all, St. Kitts Island is located in the West Indies. If the royal family is really allowed to send people to take over the island slowly and then slowly send back the news, then there will be at least one round trip. It's been more than a year.

Moreover, Baron Bertula's treaty of using St. Kitts Island in exchange for William Pitt has not actually been voted on by the British Cabinet meeting. If these government process times are also included, I am afraid that old Lord William Pitt will still be there. I have to live in Corsica for a few more years.

Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Foreign Secretary would ever allow such a thing to happen. As the ambassador to France directly subordinate to the Foreign Minister, Baron Bertula would naturally not wait for Lawrence to release Lord Pitt in a few years.

Baron Bertula licked his lips, took a deep breath to calm down, and then said slowly:

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, to be fair, you have already squeezed enough benefits from Mr. Pitt; 'Shechem's lust brought disaster to all the men in the city', Genesis Chapter 39, Section 1, this is Jesus Warn us not to be so greedy.”

Lawrence shook his head indifferently, indifferent to Ambassador Bertula's behavior of citing scriptures, and retorted:

"Mr. Ambassador, compared to the harm caused to the Corsican people by His Excellency Peter and the officers and soldiers on the Reasonable ship, the benefits I extracted from him are only negligible."

The citizens of Ajaccio will never forget how the sailors on the Reasonable warship aimed their butcher knives at those unarmed civilians five months ago.

Baron Bertula couldn't help but frowned. He also knew that it was impossible to convince Lawrence to release William Pitt and the captured sailors now with words alone; diplomatic negotiations were still essentially an exchange of interests, Bertula If Baron La wants to achieve his goal, he needs to pay some extra costs.

Taking another deep breath, Baron Bertula calmly rummaged in his handbag for a while, then pulled out a portrait and placed it on the table.

"This is...?" Lawrence glanced at the sketch on the table. There was a very realistic drawing of a bearded man who looked very rough, but Lawrence didn't recognize this man.

Baron Bertula smiled conspiratorially, and seemed to mention it accidentally:

"By the way, I heard that you have successfully dealt with a rebellion recently. Your Excellency Bonaparte's vigorous and resolute methods are really commendable. However, I guess you haven't caught the initiator of this rebellion yet, right?"

After hearing this, Lawrence raised his eyebrows, took another look at the appearance of the man in the portrait, and instantly understood the intention of Baron Bertula.

The person in this portrait is most likely the big landowner Justin Bartley, and Baron Bertula probably wanted the southern landowners headed by Justin to exchange for William Pitt. This is in line with the usual British practice , and then sell out the useless allies to others.

"I only received a report from my servants two days ago, saying that a group of Corsican manor owners came to me and wanted to seek political asylum." Baron Bertula told a set of lies that he made up casually without a red face and a heartbeat:

"However, since these people are the leaders of the Corsican rebels, considering the friendship between us, I think it is better to repatriate these people to you."

Lawrence snorted dissatisfied, poured the black tea that Anna had just brewed into the tea cup, took a sip from the tea cup, shook his head decisively and said:

"Huh, if Mr. Ambassador is going to exchange a group of rural manor owners for the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, then I can only say that Your Excellency Pitt will be very sad when he learns about this. Moreover, I heard that these rebel leaders and you The British are very close, you might as well keep them."

For those landowners who had long been unable to make any waves, Lawrence had no worries at all about them, and it was even less likely that he would accept Baron Bertula's exchange of these worthless captives for William Pitt.

Faced with Lawrence's sarcasm, Baron Bertula did not show any embarrassment. Instead, he smiled and explained:

"Ah, I have received news that the Corsican rebels have hired many British soldiers and have established relationships with some British smugglers. However, this has nothing to do with our government. If your Excellency Bonaparte cares, If so, I will urge the relevant departments to issue arrest warrants for those smugglers and mercenaries.”

For a seasoned diplomat like Baron Bertula, such scenes and lies are easy to come by.

Seeing Lawrence's disdain for this rhetoric, Baron Bertula was still not discouraged. He kept a smile on his face and suddenly stared at Lawrence and continued:

"Of course, I know that His Excellency Bonaparte will definitely not accept such a deal. However, what if I send you another piece of information?"

When he said the second half of the sentence, Baron Bertula lowered his voice subconsciously, even though he and Lawrence were the only two people in the study, as if they were discussing some royal secret that must not be leaked.

"Intelligence?" Lawrence frowned and looked at each other with Baron Bertula. He did not expect that the other party would suddenly propose such a deal. At the same time, Lawrence was also confused as to what kind of information could be worth William Pitt's personal freedom.

Baron Bertula nodded in confirmation, then turned to look around and asked in a low voice:

"Is there an atlas?"

Lawrence frowned slightly, but he still stood up and walked to the bookcase to find a set of recently printed maps and spread them out on the desk.

Baron Bertula, who was opposite the desk, didn't waste any time. He opened the atlas to the Mediterranean section. Then he picked up the quill on the table and drew a circle under Sicily.

Lawrence stared at the circle for a while, then suddenly looked up at Baron Bertula: "Is this the island of Malta?"

"Yes, the island of Malta, the heart and back garden of the Mediterranean, the residence of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Of course, you can also call them the Knights of Malta for short." Baron Bertula put down his quill gently and simply added an explanation.

Listening to Baron Bertula's explanation, Lawrence did not ask rashly, but first looked down at the map while recalling all the historical records about the island of Malta in his mind.

In the 18th century, the island of Malta had been the territory of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitaller.

When the Knights were driven out of Rhodes by the Ottomans in the 16th century and were displaced across the continent for seven years, the then HRE Emperor Charles V presented him with the island of Malta as a new base for the Knights, which has continued ever since. Until now.

The history of the Knights of Malta was also ill-fated. When Napoleon went on an expedition to Egypt in 1798, he looted the territory of the Knights that had been in existence for hundreds of years and expelled the Knights from the island of Malta. French troops occupied it.

Later, in order to seek asylum, the Knights sailed to Tsarist Russia and elected Tsar Paul I as the Grand Master of the Knights. The people on the island were resentful of the French army and actively invited the British to station in 1800, making the island of Malta self-governed. Since then it has become an important hub for the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean.

However, in 1770, the island of Malta is still occupied by the Knights Hospitaller.

Due to the lack of resources on the island, not to mention farming and animal husbandry, even fresh water resources sometimes require external supplies. Therefore, it is completely unrealistic for the Knights of Malta to be self-sufficient. Their main business is piracy, mainly piracy. Attack and plunder the merchant ships of Muslim countries in North Africa.

However, despite the lack of resources on the island, the island of Malta has a unique advantage, and that is its geographical location; not only is it located in the heart of the entire Mediterranean, the island also has several natural harbors suitable for large fleets to be stationed.

After silently sorting out his memories, Lawrence then raised his head and looked at Baron Bertula:

"What does the information you mentioned have to do with the island of Malta?"

Baron Bertula leaned back in his chair proudly, clasped his hands on his abdomen, but did not answer Lawrence's question directly:

"Let's not talk about this first. When I was in Marseille, I heard that you seemed to be purchasing grain on a large scale in Marseille?"

Lawrence nodded without hesitation. It was definitely impossible to hide the purchase of food in Marseille. After all, it was a big order. Mayor Yosip needed to mobilize the influence of the entire merchant guild to meet Lawrence's request. This In the process, news will inevitably spread that Governor Bonaparte is purchasing grain on a large scale.

As an ambassador, Baron Bertula's main job is to collect intelligence and news. It was natural that he would not let go of this key information after staying in Marseille for so many days.

"Let me guess. Are you planning to send this batch of food to the Kingdom of Naples? There is a famine there." Baron Bertula asked with a chuckle, but his tone was full of certainty.

Lawrence shrugged and responded casually:

"Josip, the mayor of Marseille, was able to give me a very low purchase price, and the price of food in southern Italy has been very high. This export trip can earn a lot of trade volume."

"Really? I heard that the Kingdom of Naples has already raised tariffs on food imports. Hahaha, but you naturally have your own considerations when doing things, so I won't interrupt."

Baron Bertula laughed twice at first, then calmed down and added seriously:

"It's just that, Monsignor Bonaparte, whatever you want to do in southern Italy, especially if you want to do something with Sicily... Malta, if you can have this island as an outpost, it will be very useful to you." It must be of great benefit, right?”

"Own Malta? What are you talking about?" Lawrence licked his lips and did not answer the other party's words.

Both sides understand that for an island country like Corsica, if it can really occupy the island of Malta, it will be an extremely beneficial decision whether it is to build a navy in the future or expand trade routes in the Eastern Mediterranean and even the Arab region. .

But Lawrence knew in his heart that trying to conquer the island of Malta by force was definitely not a wise choice.

In 1565, the Ottomans tried to expel the Knights Hospitallers from the island of Malta again just like they conquered Rhodes Island. However, the Ottoman Sultanate faced resistance from almost all the people on the island of Malta. After several bloody battles, it was still Instead of capturing it, the Ottomans lost most of their own navy.

Naturally, Lawrence would not let Corsica, whose military strength was far inferior to that of the Ottomans, repeat the same mistakes. Therefore, it was very important to listen to the information from Baron Bertula.

Seeing that Lawrence's interest was aroused, Baron Bertula stopped being pretentious and directly leaned towards his head and whispered:

"The British Royal Navy attempted to capture the island of Malta as their bridgehead in the Mediterranean in early October."

"Royal Navy? Attack the island of Malta? What a bold plan." Lawrence said slightly shocked. It seemed that this was another butterfly effect caused by his own appearance. The Royal Navy had never had such an attempt in history.

While in shock, Lawrence frowned and looked at Baron Bertula, wondering why he would reveal such top-secret information to himself, or how to determine the authenticity of this information.

Baron Bertula did not respond to Lawrence's questioning gaze, and was still talking eloquently:

"At that time, the Royal Navy will hide its soldiers in merchant ships and raid the Knights. If it is discovered, it will use the Knights of Malta to rob British merchant ships as a pretext of war and forcefully land on the island of Malta; the one who will carry out this offensive operation is the Mediterranean Fleet Griffin Detachment, you have already met the commander of this detachment, Colonel Mohan."

Lawrence narrowed his eyes and looked at Baron Bertula, tapped his knuckles on the table rhythmically, and said slowly:

"This is indeed top secret and extremely valuable information, but I can't believe you leaked such information to the Governor of Corsica."

Baron Bertula chuckled twice, knowing that Lawrence was doubting the authenticity of the news, in other words, doubting his own motives, so he explained confidently:

"As you are also a ruler, you should know that the government is not always monolithic. The plan to raid the island of Malta was decided by the Admiralty. They have always wanted a base in the middle of the Mediterranean; but our diplomacy The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is strongly opposed to this. After all, raiding the Knights Hospitaller, which is known for its charity, is a very disgraceful thing and will extremely affect Britain's diplomatic image in front of other countries."