From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"Based on what I know."

The Ambassador of Naples spread out a map on the table, briefly marked and sketched it, and explained to the French ministers:

"Sicily was the area most severely affected by the famine, and the rebellion broke out here; an Austrian nobleman obtained a large amount of arms and supplies from nowhere, relied on these supplies to win over the victims in Sicily, and soon armed an army The troops come out."

The ministers looked at the map on the table attentively. According to the ambassador's outline, almost the entire island of Sicily had fallen, with only a few large towns along the coast and several fortresses near the strait still resisting.

As for the vast rural areas on the island, I am afraid that they are all under direct control of the rebels.

Lawrence was not surprised by this situation. In such a calamity year, a bag of black bread could gain the loyalty and following of a mature man. If the Austrian noble had sufficient material aid, he would indeed be able to help him very quickly. Build a massive army from scratch with speed.

As for the spoilers who provided supplies, Lawrence could already conclude that the British were causing obstruction, but he didn't know if there would be interference from other forces.

Moreover, Lawrence was also very concerned about what the Naples ambassador said that the leader of the rebels was an Austrian noble:

"Your country has determined that the leader of the rebels is a nobleman from Austria?"

"At least that's what he calls himself."

The Ambassador of Naples nodded. Although he dismissed the rebel leader's claim, he still explained in detail:

"That man claimed to be a direct descendant of the Duke of Sicily, who was canonized by the last Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. This time he came to South Italy to raise an army to regain the family's legal territory."

"No wonder. Austria is indeed inextricably linked to Sicily." Lawrence nodded thoughtfully.

Since the Sicilian Vespers War in 1268, the influence of the French Angevin dynasty in Sicily was completely eradicated, and Sicily was controlled by the Kingdom of Aragon.

With the Iberian Marriage in 1469, after the union of Aragon and the Kingdom of Castile, Sicily came under the control of the Kingdom of Spain.

For more than two hundred years, this agricultural island with rich products and fertile land has been under Spanish governance.

At the beginning of the 18th century, after the War of Spanish Succession, although France and Spain, as defeated countries, achieved their initial goal of letting the Bourbons take over Spain, the Spanish Bourbons were also forced to make decisions to the Grand Alliance countries. Promise that they would forever renounce their claim to the throne of France.

At the same time, the Kingdom of Spain also lost large areas of overseas and continental territory due to its defeat, and Naples and Sicily were also ceded to the Austrian Habsburgs.

Afterwards, although the Spanish Bourbon royal family made a commitment to give up their claim to the French throne, when the Sun King Louis XIV died and the weak and sickly five-year-old Louis XV succeeded to the throne, the then King of Spain, Louis XV His uncle, Felipe V, still coveted the throne of France.

Such dangerous ambitions naturally attracted opposition from other powers. The three major powers of Britain, Austria, and the Netherlands formed the Triple Alliance, and together with the weaker Duchy of Savoy, began to jointly fight against Spain's ambitions.

At that time, Spain was also trying to obtain the throne of France through political means and intrigues. They appointed ambassadors to France and planned to conspire to overthrow the Duke of Orleans, who was serving as the regent of the young master at that time, so that King Felix of Spain, who was the uncle of Louis XV, could Père V served as regent of France.

However, Spain's series of plans, known as the Ceramare Conspiracy, were eventually exposed. The French court was also extremely angry about this, and directly submitted a declaration against Spain, joining the three major powers, thus triggering The famous Four-Power Alliance War in European history.

After the war, the Duchy of Savoy received the Austrian island of Sicily in return for their participation in the war, as agreed.

However, Austria certainly did not want to give this fertile land to others in vain. The then Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa's father, Charles VI, forcibly forced the Principality of Savoy to accept Austria's exchange of less important Sardinia for its fertile land. of Sicily.

The Duchy of Savoy, which had an average national power, naturally had no choice but to succumb to the power of Austria and was forced to give up Sicily and accept Sardinia, thus establishing the current Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.

After that, Austria did not control Sicily for too long.

In 1734, the 19-year-old Carlos III, now the King of Spain and the Duke of Parma at the time, took advantage of the fact that Austria was busy with the Polish Succession War at home and had no time to look south, and directly sent troops to seize Naples and Sicily. , and became King of Naples and Sicily as Duke of Parma.

In the more than thirty years since then, Naples and Sicily have once again returned to Spanish control.

However, from a legal perspective, Austria did not recognize Spain's legal control of southern Italy.

According to the Treaty of Utrecht after the War of Spanish Succession in 1714, both Naples and Sicily had been officially ceded to the Austrian Habsburg dynasty by Spain.

Austria at the time had no time to care about Carlos III's actions to seize southern Italy, and now Austria turns a blind eye to it because it wants to maintain its alliance with France and Spain and does not take the initiative to pursue it.

However, there is no doubt that Austria's legal claim to southern Italy still exists.

Now the Austrian aristocrat in Sicily who holds high the flag of justice and claims to be a descendant of the Duke of Sicily canonized by Charles VI, undoubtedly uses this legal principle as the reason for his rebellion.

As for whether his true identity is a speculator who steals his reputation and is waiting for opportunities, or whether he is really the heir of an ancient and declining duke family, it actually doesn't matter. As long as the rebel leader uses this banner, at least legally You can get the support of a group of Neapolitans.

After all, it has been more than thirty years since Carlos III recovered southern Italy. There must still be a group of old tribes and remnants of the former Austrian rule in the Kingdom of Naples. Now the self-proclaimed Duke of Sicily can easily recruit these people. Under his command.

“And beyond that”

Lawrence listened silently to the Naples ambassador's explanation of the war situation, already aware that the situation in southern Italy might be more complicated than he expected:

"Since the rebel leader claims to be the Duke of Sicily canonized by the Holy Roman Empire, Austria's attitude towards this civil war will probably be very ambiguous. There is a high probability that he will not side with France and Spain. Prince Neo No wonder he accepted the cooperation with me so readily, he is indeed a man who hides his secrets.”

Although he had just heard the news of the civil war in Naples, Lawrence was already certain that the Austrians would not miss this opportunity to restore their influence in Italy.

What's more, the self-proclaimed Duke of Sicily has already sent this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to Austria. As long as the rebels can win the war and annex all of southern Italy, Austria can logically take back the Kingdom of Naples, which was independent from Spain. within the sphere of influence.

In other words, the Austrians may not abide by their alliance with France this time and join in the suppression of the rebels.

But in the final analysis, Lawrence at this moment did not dare to make a conclusion as to whether the Kingdom of France would intervene with force in this civil war.

After the Naples ambassador's lengthy explanation, the ministers almost understood the current situation in Sicily.

The self-proclaimed Duke of Sicily is named: Marco Fusco-Leopoldo di Alando.

He had already begun the layout a few months before he officially launched the rebellion, and sent people on a large scale to spread the news, saying that the famine spreading in southern Italy was all caused by foreign forces behind the scenes.

As for which country caused this famine that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, the Duke of Sicily unabashedly pointed the finger at their sovereign country, Spain, and placed all responsibility on the West.

It is said that the Duke emphasized in several public speeches that the famine was entirely the result of the unscrupulous exploitation of the Italians by the extremely wealthy Spaniards.

The Duke of Sicily complained in tears:

Those vicious grain collectors and tax officials used all means to squeeze out the last grain of wheat from the cellars of Sicilian farmers, and then loaded boxes and bags of grain onto ships and sent them to the sovereign country of Spain, where they were provided with life-saving grains from Sicilian farmers. The Spaniards eat and drink with open bellies.

If it were not for the oppression and exploitation of the Spanish, Sicily, which is known as the granary of the Roman Empire, would never have experienced such a tragic famine without natural disasters.

Although these remarks are so extreme and full of doubts, the hungry and poor farmers are the group most vulnerable to incitement.

These poor people in desperate situation believed in the Duke of Sicily without any reservation. With anger towards the sovereign country of Spain and resentment towards the royal family of Naples, large numbers of victims chose to follow the Duke of Sicily one after another, vowing to save the lives of their homeland. The shackles were broken and it became an independent nation-state.

The Duke of Sicily also took advantage of the situation and gained high prestige among the victims of the island. Even on the other side of the strait in Naples, there were a considerable number of farmers and small townspeople who supported his claims of Spanish exploitation. They were resentful of the current royal family. It's about to move.

It was also thanks to this that when the Duke officially started to raise his troops to rebel, he gathered an army of more than 30,000 people in a very short period of time, and directly led this army to capture the capital of Sicily, Baja. The town of Lemo.

The several royal garrisons scattered on the island were already at a disadvantage in terms of strength. As a result, they were slow to respond to this sudden rebellion. Before they had time to gather together, they were defeated by the Duke of Sicily's troops one by one.

After several crushing battles, except for a few coastal towns and fortresses that were still resisting, the Duke of Sicily could be said to have controlled the entire island.

Today, the Duke is not in a hurry to march towards Naples, but relies on the natural barrier of the strait between Sicily and the mainland to confront the royal army.

He also seemed to know that his peasant army, which was temporarily recruited, would definitely be at a disadvantage when facing the Royal Army of equal numbers, so he chose to stick to Sicily and receive material assistance from abroad while training and expanding the army. He should have to wait When the time and combat power are mature, they will launch an offensive on Naples itself.

And after Lawrence sorted out the causes and consequences of this rebellion, he couldn't help but admit that he could achieve this in such a short period of time. Regardless of whether the identity of the Duke of Sicily was true or false, he could be regarded as a man of outstanding talent. So heroic.

"Everyone, this is the situation in our country." The Naples ambassador sighed, and turned to look at the French ministers expectantly and sincerely:

"To be honest, the situation in our country is not optimistic. Although the kingdom's senior officials, including the subordinates, have taken precautions against the outbreak of this rebellion, no one thought that the rebel leader would be able to recruit soldiers in such a short period of time. and arm an army of tens of thousands.”

The Ambassador of Naples put down the quill in his hand and requested more earnestly:

"I must ask the Kingdom of France to lend a helping hand to our country in the war. It is really difficult for our country alone to cope with the offensive of the rebel leader. Moreover, in accordance with the family alliance between His Majesty the King of France and His Majesty Carlos, I want your country to It is also an obligation to join the Kingdom of Spain in suppressing these lawless rebels.”

Facing the request of the Naples ambassador, the ministers couldn't help but look at each other. After all, no one of them could clearly agree or reject the request before His Majesty the King issued a decree, not even the Count Verges, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The atmosphere in the room was silent for more than half a minute. Seeing this, Lawrence took the initiative to drop the topic and asked in a deep voice:

"Before discussing the matter of assistance, Mr. Ambassador, I would like to ask you to explain your country's attack on the island of Malta. Until this insulting diplomatic incident is resolved, I am afraid that no one will agree to your request for assistance. "

"Malta? Attack?" The Naples ambassador suddenly became confused. His expression was not a deliberate disguise, but he did feel a little confused:

"No attack occurred, Your Excellency Bonaparte, our navy is only temporarily borrowing the port of the Knights; you also know that it is extremely important to block the routes for the rebels to receive overseas aid in this war, so our navy needs Malta very much. The island is a port base located in the enemy’s hinterland waters.”

Archimandrite Giotto on the side could no longer bear the resentment in his heart. He directly slapped the table and stood up and shouted angrily:

"What you mean by borrowing is to bombard our ports, expel our knights, and massacre our civilians?!"

The Ambassador of Naples was stunned. He quickly recognized the meaning of the octagonal cross logo on Archbishop Giotto, but this only made his expression more confused:

"There must be some misunderstanding. Brother, I am convinced that our navy is only temporarily stationed in the port of Malta in a friendly manner, and this is also based on legal basis. Legally, the island of Malta was originally leased by our country to the Knights. , it is completely reasonable to borrow the Knights’ port this time due to the crisis of war.”

"I'll fart your motherfucker!"

Archimandrite Giotto roared angrily. Even though he was a pirate, he didn't care about the red tape at this moment. He directly lifted up his monk's robe and pointed at the several knife wounds and bullet marks that were still scabbing on his chest. It was obvious that It was left behind by him in a bloody battle with Naples soldiers not long ago:

"You want to say that I caused these scars myself? Do you want me to recreate how these scars came about on you?"

"Sir, please calm down. My information will not be wrong." The Naples ambassador timidly took half a step back, and anyone would feel threatened when a bull-like man like Archbishop Giotto roared in his face. tremble with fear.

"Grand Priest, calm down." Lawrence also gently pressed Arch Priest Giotto's arm. He could see that the Naples ambassador did not lie. I am afraid that the intelligence coming from the mainland did not mention the specific process of the attack on Malta. .

Archbishop Giotto was also convinced by Lawrence, so he only glared at the Naples ambassador fiercely, and then stood silently in the corner of the room.

Lawrence then looked at the Naples ambassador and said tentatively:

"Since your country claims that it is only using Malta's port on a friendly basis, you should be able to allow the members of the Knights who are now separated to return to the island of Malta, right?"

"I can't guarantee that, Your Excellency." The Naples Ambassador hesitated for a moment before shaking his head:

"Borrowing the island of Malta is an act of the military and has nothing to do with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of our country. Especially now that it is a war, all ministries of our country must actively cooperate with the military's actions. I also guarantee that your request will be approved by the military. "

"What do you mean?" Lawrence's face immediately darkened:

"Does your country intend to return the island of Malta?"

"It's just a temporary loan. After the civil war, our country will naturally give up its right to be stationed on the island of Malta. Well, I think the matter on the island of Malta can be over here. Can we now talk about the Kingdom of France's participation in the war?"

"What if I say no?" Lawrence had already noticed the ambassador's anomaly. He seemed to be extremely persistent in occupying the island of Malta, so he pressed in a cold voice:

"I am also a member of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and my monarch is the Grand Master of the Knights. Before the Malta incident is resolved, I will not rashly join the war in France."

Just when the Naples ambassador was about to retort, a powerful and majestic shout suddenly came from outside the room:

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, there is something wrong with this."

The ministers in the room were all shocked, because they were very familiar with this voice. Although they had not heard this voice for several months, they would never forget the owner of this voice - Choiseul. Duke of Er.

The ministers subconsciously stood up from their chairs and looked neatly at the door.

Lawrence and Count Vergenin sat unmoved, even though they had already recognized the owner of the voice.

And as the door creaked open, the Duke of Choiseul, who had been away from the center of French power for several months, once again stood in front of the ministers.

The Duke of Choiseul ignored everyone's surprise, nor paid attention to his archenemy in the diplomatic community, the new Foreign Minister Count Vergenin, or even showed any special emotions towards Laurence Bonaparte, who had just betrayed him. Smiling confidently like before:

"Mr. Ambassador, I think France will soon provide all necessary assistance to your country, and will actively consider military intervention. We will do our best to ensure your country's freedom and independence; as for Your Excellency Bonaparte, the island of Malta is of course It’s important, but it’s nothing compared to the civil war in the Kingdom of Naples, our ally. Please think again.”

Hearing these words, the Naples ambassador couldn't help laughing in surprise:

"Oh! Your Excellency, this is true"

As a foreign envoy, the Ambassador of Naples is naturally extremely sensitive to changes in diplomatic power.

He knew very well that although Lawrence Bonaparte and Count Vergenin were now in charge of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a short period of time, the only person who could control the entire French foreign policy was the Duke of Choiseul.

Since the Duke has readily promised war aid in front of all the ministers, there is no doubt that this matter is a sure thing.

However, just as the Naples ambassador was organizing a set of gorgeous words of praise in his mind to compliment Duke Choiseul's wise decision, an old and haggard voice suddenly came from outside the room and completely disrupted everyone's thoughts:

"It's you who should think twice, Choiseul."

The expressions of the ministers changed again, and they bowed their heads to the door without hesitation in the most respectful manner. Even the Ambassador of Naples quickly joined in the bowing procession.

The speaker this time is undoubtedly His Majesty the King of France.

I saw Louis XV being supported by two maids, standing at the door of the room with difficulty. His face was covered with traces of suffering from illness. Neurosyphilis was like a sharp knife that left a mark called morbidity on the king's face. of scars.

But despite being haggard and old, Louis XV's face at this moment was still as cold as ice, showing the majesty of a king without anger.

The king's gaze swept across the ministers and finally rested on the Ambassador of Naples:

"France will not send a single soldier to Italy. Mr. Ambassador, please go back."

As soon as he finished speaking, without any reaction from others, Duke Choiseul subconsciously lowered his eyes, turned to face the king and retorted hastily:

“France’s interests will not be served by watching from afar.”

Louis XV's eyes were equally gloomy, staring directly at Duke Choiseul:

"Foreign affairs are not your concern, my brother."

Duke Choiseul's pupils trembled, but he did not take a step back. Louis XV remained calm and stared into Duke Choiseul's eyes. The two spoke almost at the same time:

"Your Majesty, please put the interests of the country first!"

"Choiseul, don't cross the line!"