From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"What?"

Major Serurier opened his mouth in surprise, and even the careless Grosso couldn't help but take a breath. He really didn't expect to get such news from the British ambassador.

Seeing the puzzled expressions on the two men's faces, Lawrence briefly organized some words and relayed Baron Bertula's purpose and rhetoric to Major Serrurier and Grosso.

"Hiss" Major Serurier smacked his lips repeatedly, hesitated for a while and then said:

"What the British ambassador said makes sense. The British Foreign Office is definitely not willing to see their navy launch a surprise attack on the Knights Hospitallers."

Although the Knights Hospitaller is a notorious pirate knight in Grosso's words, in the courts and upper classes of various countries, the name of the Knights Hospitaller has always been linked to charity, and the knights have always been regarded as A loyal servant of God.

This is why the original HRE Emperor Charles V gave the island of Malta to the Knights almost free of charge. The only price required was that the Knights paid a symbolic silver coin to the King of Sicily every year.

Once the British Royal Navy really seizes the island of Malta, it will cause considerable damage to its diplomatic image.

And the Holy See will naturally not sit idly by such atrocities. Pope Clement XIV will at least send a strongly worded diplomatic condemnation to King George IV, and may even send supplies to the island of Malta. and volunteer assistance will only worsen the already tense religious relations between the Anglican Church and the Holy See.

It can be said that one such mess by the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean is enough to set back the work of the British Foreign Office by twenty years.

From the perspective of Major Serulier, who is known for his keen political awareness, it is no wonder that Baron Bertula would take the initiative to find Lawrence for this incredible cooperation.

Lawrence nodded in approval. He also knew that Baron Bertula's request on the surface was completely reasonable and convincing; but what made Lawrence a little hesitant was whether the ambassador still harbored something else. Unknown purpose.

Grosso on the side also stopped his cynical laughter early and was thinking about something solemnly. After a while, he raised his head and stared at Lawrence, and asked worriedly:

"Is it possible that this is fake news? The British deliberately deceived you to go to the island of Malta, and then set up an ambush to behead you, the core figure of Corsica? I know that those British can do such a thing ”

For Grosso, and those who had followed Lawrence from his days as deputy captain of the patrol in Ajaccio, they were loyal neither to the Corsican government nor to any of the Corsican sectoral institutions; they were merely Allegiance to Lawrence himself.

Therefore, when Grosso was considering this plan, Lawrence's personal safety was also his first priority.

Major Serurier also thought deeply after hearing this. Although he was not completely loyal to Lawrence, he still hoped to use Lawrence's political power in Paris to advance in the army, so he also added with great concern:

"This is indeed something to consider, Your Excellency Bonaparte. Now that the power of the entire Corsica is concentrated in your hands, you must not risk your own life. Even if we want to intervene in the island of Malta, I think you They should also stay at home.”

Lawrence also knew that his life was vital to Corsica.

This is not because of greed for life and fear of death, but because once he, as the center of power, dies, there will inevitably be a power vacuum in the entire Corsica, and no one among his subordinates has enough prestige and ability to continue to lead Corsica. At that time, a bloody struggle for power will inevitably take place.

However, if it was decided to capture the island of Malta, Lawrence would still lead his troops to the island himself.

Because in Lawrence's mind, the best plan to seize the Knights' territory is actually the process proposed by Baron Bertula.

The difficulty of the whole plan lies in how to convince the Knights Hospitallers to agree to ambush their troops on the island of Malta. As for the subsequent fight against the Royal Navy invasion, due to the assistance of the Malta fortress group and the island knights, Lawrence saw that It seems easy.

At that time, no matter which subordinate he sent, Lawrence was not sure that he could successfully convince the knights. In this case, only by letting himself, the highest-ranking person, take action personally could the other party be more accepting of this set of arguments.

Therefore, even though both subordinates were urging themselves to put their lives first, Lawrence still shook his head firmly and explained:

"What you said is indeed reasonable, but only by going to the island of Malta in person can I convince the Grand Commander to let us deploy troops on the island in advance. Moreover, I don't think Baron Bertula will deliberately use this news to lure me Into an ambush trap, after all, my life is not as noble as the life of Lord William Pitt."

Since he still held old William Pitt as a hostage, Lawrence had enough confidence to believe that Baron Bertula would not disregard Pitt's life to plan a beheading operation against him.

After all, Lord Pitt is the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, a member of the House of Lords, and the Earl of Tatum conferred by His Majesty the King. Although his political influence is very limited, there is no doubt about his lofty status.

At this time, old William Pitt was like a valuable and flashy vase. You can leave it in the corner, but you must not break it.

It is impossible for Baron Bertula not to understand this truth. As long as something happens to old William Pitt's life, he, as the diplomat responsible for the matter, will inevitably be held accountable and punished by the cabinet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

No matter what shady secrets Baron Bertula wanted to use the island of Malta to do, his purpose could not be to directly take Lawrence's life.

"In this case." Major Serurier and Grosso looked at each other. Although they were still a little worried, they accepted the explanation given by Lawrence and did not continue to dissuade them.

Seeing that neither of them said anything else, Lawrence nodded with satisfaction and continued to describe his plan:

"In this case, we have to start preparing. The Royal Navy will launch an attack in early October. We need to deploy enough troops in advance to assist the Hospitallers in repelling the Royal Navy's attack and make them believe that the entire Knights are on the verge of being expelled. on the edge of the cliff, thus inducing them to lean towards France for protection.”

"Well" Grosso pondered for a moment, thought of something quickly, and said with a frown:

"But can we really convince the Knights to accept the protection of France? They once held out under the siege of the Turks. Maybe they want to reenact the siege of Malta in the 16th century and resist the Royal Navy's attack What about the attack?”

Even an illiterate man like Grosso, who did not receive much education, knew about the great siege of Malta that took place in 1565. Even Voltaire said: "Nothing is more famous than the siege of Malta."

This siege, which was the climax of the struggle for Mediterranean hegemony between the Western Christian Alliance and the Ottoman Empire, has been a popular story in the Christian world for hundreds of years.

The Knights Hospitaller themselves were deeply proud of this. After all, the story of two thousand infantrymen and four to five thousand civilians resisting the landing attack of hundreds of galleys from the Ottoman Empire was not common in history.

"It's possible." After hearing this, Major Serurier couldn't help but admire Grosso's quick thinking and repeatedly agreed:

"I heard that the monks of the Knights are all simple-minded guys. They may really refuse the protection of France and want to fight to the end against the Royal Navy's attack like they did two hundred years ago."

Lawrence shook his head slightly without worry and retorted:

"The situation now is different from that in 1565. At that time, the island of Malta was able to withstand the Ottoman attack to some extent because of the assistance of the Kingdom of Sicily. Today, Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily are overwhelmed by famine and have no spare time to take care of the island of Malta. The strength of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet is not much worse than that of the Ottoman fleet at that time. If the Grand Commander of the Knights Hospitallers is a smart man, he will make a reasonable choice. "

Listening to Lawrence's explanation, the two of them reviewed the entire action process again, and did not raise any other objections for the time being.

"Very good, I think we should start dealing with this matter now." Lawrence raised his head and glanced at the night outside the window, frowned and said:

"First, deploy troops on the island. I plan to lead three thousand soldiers to the island of Malta. These troops, combined with the Knights' own troops, are enough to defeat the invasion of a squadron. However, in order to avoid being detected by the Royal Navy, we Naturally, we can’t go there on a Corsican Navy warship.”

"Are you going to take a merchant ship to disguise yourself? That's easy to handle." Grosso nodded and said confidently:

"There are many large commercial ships that can be rented in Marseille. I have some ways. You also have a relationship with the city official. He will definitely be able to borrow a few ships for you."

Lawrence nodded thoughtfully, thinking of the mayor of Marseille, Josip, who, like Major Serrurier, hoped to use his relationship with the Duke of Choiseul to help him break the restrictions of his origin. thereby taking a further step forward in political status.

For someone who wanted so much from him, it was easy for Lawrence to just ask him to mobilize a few merchant ships.

And Lawrence has not forgotten that just last month on August 15, when he met with Mayor Josip, he placed a large order with him-to purchase the cheapest black bread for half a million livres With black beans, delivery is limited to one month.

Now that there are only six days left before the delivery date of September 15th, including the half-day boat trip to Marseille, Lawrence feels that it is time to go to Marseille and meet with the mayor of Josip.

Seeing that it was getting late, Lawrence stood up to signal that today's discussion was over for the time being, and then ordered:

"Grosso, you go inform the navy to prepare ships and escort warships, and set off for Marseille the day after tomorrow evening. You will come with me. As for Major Serurier, you return to the military camp and continue to prepare your army. This time, go to the island of Malta. I hope all French troops can participate in this battle.”

"I understand." Major Serulier nodded directly and accepted Lawrence's dispatch. Anyway, his political fate was deeply tied to Lawrence, and he didn't care that his French troops were at the mercy of Lawrence.

The reason why Lawrence decided to make the French garrison under Major Serulier become the main force in the fight against the Royal Navy was also very simple. The most important reason was naturally to show the Knights Hospitallers the close relationship between Corsica and France, so that the Knights' The Grand Master believed that Lawrence could offer a promise of protection to the island of Malta on behalf of France.

Secondly, it is Lawrence's little selfishness. After all, this time is different from the previous coalition forces of the landlord group. There will inevitably be fierce exchanges of fire with the Royal Navy Marines. Rather than letting the National Defense Forces suffer battle losses in the battle, it is better to let these as allies. The French troops were at the forefront. Anyway, these French garrisons would be regularly replenished from the mainland, and Lawrence would not feel distressed about their loss.

The two of them took action immediately after receiving Lawrence's instructions. Lawrence himself stayed in the study, continuing to think about the pros and cons of swallowing the island of Malta according to Baron Bertula's wishes.

The next day, September 10

In the early morning, in accordance with diplomatic etiquette, Lawrence invited Baron Bertula and Colonel Mohan, who were visiting Corsica, to have breakfast and have some non-official chats at the table.

After finishing breakfast, Colonel Mohan eagerly asked Lawrence to say goodbye. The reason was just that he had other tasks to perform in the fleet. Since Baron Bertula had been sent to Corsica, It was time for him to take command of the Saint-Denis.

Since Lawrence had already learned that the Griffin detachment commanded by Colonel Mohan would raid the island of Malta, he could naturally guess that Colonel Mohan's eagerness to leave Corsica was probably to prepare for the raid a month later. .

After all, as the military attache accompanying Baron Bertula, he is supposed to accompany Baron Bertula throughout the entire visit. It is very rare for him to leave in a hurry after only staying for one day.

Lawrence naturally spent the rest of the time with Baron Bertula.

However, the ambassador behaved extremely leisurely today, as leisurely as a tourist in Corsica. It seemed that leaking information to Lawrence yesterday was the biggest task of his trip.

In the subsequent talks, Baron Bertula not only did not continue to ask Lawrence to release William Pitt, but rarely even mentioned political and diplomatic matters, as if he was a friend of Lawrence who had not seen him for many years and came from afar. , the content of the conversation mainly focused on literature and art, anecdotes and aristocratic scandals.

And a politician as sharp as Lawrence also knew very well that Baron Bertula's behavior was undoubtedly to conceal his true purpose of leaking the intelligence.

Baron Bertula must have known that Lawrence was suspicious of his hidden intentions, so he deliberately acted like it had nothing to do with him, in order to show his ulterior motives.

So after several attempts to no avail, Lawrence also gave up on extracting information from Baron Bertula, a diplomat with deep connections in the city, and instead chatted casually with him, quietly waiting for the gears of time to turn.

No matter what Baron Bertula is hiding, the big hand of time will lift the curtain.