From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

At the end of August 1771

In a small monastery near Versailles, France.

Since the end of the Paris riots and the worsening of Louis XV's illness, he declared the Duke of Orleans as regent, this quiet and secluded monastery has become the permanent residence of His Majesty the King.

Although retiring to the monastery was just an excuse for Louis XV to give the Duke of Orleans the power of regent to check the Richelieu faction, since he had promised in front of all the ministers to serve God for the rest of his life, Louis XV simply moved into the monastery.

Anyway, for this old king who was getting weaker and suffering from illness all the time, the singing and dancing in the Palace of Versailles, which he used to be accustomed to, was now a candle in the wind and he could no longer enjoy it.

The old king also knew very well that in his remaining life, he had only one thing to do - to clean up the mess he had made in his fifty-six years of ruling France and pave the way for the crown prince to succeed to the throne.

For this purpose, Louis XV, who lived in the monastery, had no intention of cultivating himself in peace and quiet. He paid as much attention to political affairs as he did in Versailles.

Even if the news of the war was as far away as the Mediterranean, Louis XV was definitely the first person in and outside Versailles to know:

"You mean, after successfully repelling the Sardinian army, the Corsican army also went south to occupy Sardinia?"

Louis XV, dressed in a plain white silk dress, leaned on the bed with a slightly tired look, listening to the report of a servant beside him, with a very focused look.

The attendant also unconsciously raised his voice several times, and reported to His Majesty the King with joy the victory news from Sardinia:

"Yes, Your Majesty, Lawrence Bonaparte defeated the last resistance force in Sardinia in Cagliari, and then accepted the oath of allegiance from the Governor of Sardinia in the city of Cagliari, and announced that Sardinia would become a province of the Kingdom of Corsica."

In the eyes of this attendant, such a rare victory news will surely make His Majesty, who is physically and mentally exhausted, happy for a while.

However, after listening to the report, Louis XV just nodded expressionlessly, said nothing, and then closed his eyes and leaned on the bed to rest.

The attendants beside the bed looked at each other and were at a loss. According to their experience, His Majesty the King is very happy to hear news about Lawrence Bonaparte, especially this kind of victory news, which should make His Majesty smile.

The silence in the room lasted for a long time, and then Louis XV opened his eyes and gave orders to his attendants.

The king's order was very brief and his voice was very weak:

"Send the regent Duke of Orleans to see me immediately."

After receiving the order, the Duke of Orleans, who was in the Bishop's Palace, only pondered for a short while at his desk, and then immediately put down all the government affairs in his hands and rushed to the sickbed of Louis XV.

Louis XV did not greet the Duke of Orleans too much, just casually greeted him twice and went straight to the point:

"Philip, have you also received news from Sardinia?"

The Duke of Orleans' answer was flawless, without any subjective color, and he simply repeated the facts:

"I also received news from the Navy this morning that Lawrence Bonaparte defended Corsica, occupied Sardinia to the south, and announced the establishment of the Sardinian Province."

"What do you think?" Louis XV asked expressionlessly.

Although the Duke of Orleans was not interested in politics, he was an excellent politician. He immediately saw that His Majesty the King had concerns, so he responded tentatively:

"Lawrence Bonaparte's approach is somewhat unsafe. Let's not talk about whether the Kingdom of Corsica can still keep Sardinia after the war. Even if the Kingdom of Sardinia is forced to cede Sardinia, he should not arbitrarily include it in the rule of the Kingdom of Corsica without consulting the court."

Hearing this, Louis XV first nodded approvingly, then sighed, and the sigh was full of His Majesty the King's displeasure and depression:

"You said all my thoughts, Philip."

The Duke of Orleans who was praised was not proud. As early as when he was notified that His Majesty the King had summoned him, he had guessed the reason for this meeting.

Sardinia is different from the poor and backward Corsica. Although its prosperity is still not as good as Sicily, the rich mineral resources on Sardinia are enough to make a king jealous.

Especially the Argentiera silver mine near Cagliari, which has been mined for hundreds of years without being exhausted, and is much larger than the rumored Ajaccio silver mine.

Even if we don't consider the strategic value of Sardinia, its economic and trade value alone is enough to make Louis XV feel excited, especially when France's financial crisis is becoming increasingly severe.

But if Sardinia is really included in the governance of the Kingdom of Corsica as planned by Lawrence Bonaparte, although Louis XV will be the nominal monarch of Sardinia at that time, he and France will hardly get any benefits from this silver island.

After all, when Lawrence led Corsica to surrender to Louis XV, the two countries had already made a clear agreement that the Kingdom of Corsica enjoys a high degree of autonomy and economic autonomy, and Sardinia, which is governed by the Kingdom of Corsica, naturally does the same.

"Alas, Lawrence Bonaparte."

Louis XV sighed again and complained:

"He is an outstanding and loyal minister, but this is the second time in this period that he has made me unhappy. He has not yet finished arbitrarily mobilizing the Mediterranean fleet to Corsica two months ago. The British Ambassador is still Accusing us of violating the treaty and intervening in the war."

Two months ago, Lawrence used the connections of the Duke of Choiseul to understand the siege of Ajaccio, and used the French Mediterranean fleet to push back the Sardinian army that attacked Ajaccio.

Louis XV was naturally extremely unhappy about this. The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Corsica's arbitrarily mobilizing the French Mediterranean Fleet was a serious overstep of his authority, and this move was even more likely to directly drag France into the quagmire of the Italian War.

If a conflict really broke out between the Sardinian fleet and the French Mediterranean fleet, then Louis XV would probably risk everything and recall Lawrence to Versailles to investigate.

After listening to His Majesty the King's complaints, the Duke of Orleans took the initiative and said after pondering for a moment:

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Bonaparte's unauthorized mobilization of the fleet has been basically settled through diplomatic means. Count Vergenin is indeed an excellent foreign minister; and Prime Minister Bonaparte's behavior can be said to be excusable. , I heard that the situation in Ajaccio was completely critical at that time, and the entire city was almost reduced to rubble under the fire."

Although it was not stated explicitly, the implication of the Duke of Orleans was already very obvious - the Kingdom of Corsica suffered such heavy losses in order to participate in the war for France, so there was no need to be too harsh on these matters.

"You have said these things to me before." Louis XV waved his hand in annoyance:

"I also know that the Kingdom of Corsica responded to the call of Spain and Naples for France and got into the quagmire of war for us, so I did not pursue the matter with Laurence Bonaparte, but this time about Sardinia."

"Your Majesty, what do you mean?"

"Is there any way to convince Lawrence to turn Sardinia into a direct royal domain?"

"I'm afraid this is difficult. The ownership of Sardinia has not been officially determined yet, and the end of the war is still far away. If you directly ask Prime Minister Bonaparte to return Sardinia at this time, I am afraid that Prime Minister Bonaparte will Chilling."

Louis XV nodded silently, agreeing with the Duke of Orleans' statement. It does seem too hasty to covet Sardinia now.

Upon seeing this, the Duke of Orleans also added:

"And if the Kingdom of Corsica really gets Sardinia in the end, then it would be a good choice to leave Sardinia to the Corsicans for early integration for the time being."

Louis XV turned to look at the Duke of Orleans and motioned for him to continue.

"The Italians have always been resistant to French rule. If France directly rules Sardinia, it will probably provoke local civil unrest, just like the Vespers War four hundred years ago; why not let Corsica France can then seek to take over Sardinia if they want to integrate it early."

"After that, my time is running out."

After closing his eyes and thinking for a moment, His Majesty the King took the initiative to change the topic, which seemed to be acquiescing to the other party's suggestion, and then asked the Duke of Orleans about other aspects of government affairs.

Towards evening, the Duke of Orleans left Versailles and returned to the Bishop's Palace in Paris, while Duke Charles had been waiting in his study for a long time.

"Father!"

Before the Duke of Orleans could take off his frock coat, Duke Charles rushed forward impatiently and asked about the conversation in the abbey:

"Did the king summon you because of Lawrence? How is the situation?"

The Duke of Orleans slowly took off his coat and put it on the hanger, his expression not particularly good-looking.

Because his son had a good personal relationship with Lawrence Bonaparte, and the Duke of Orleans also recognized that Prime Minister Bonaparte was an excellent partner, he had just tried his best to defend Lawrence's position in front of Louis XV.

But even so, the Duke of Orleans could still feel that there were inevitable cracks in the relationship between Louis XV and Laurence Bonaparte.

Although under his own persuasion, Louis XV decided not to deal with the ownership of Sardinia for the time being, the Duke of Orleans was not sure whether the dying old king would make other moves in the future.

“The situation is not particularly optimistic”

The Duke of Orleans walked behind the desk and sat down, holding his forehead and saying in a deep voice:

"His Majesty the King is very dissatisfied with Laurence Bonaparte's unauthorized establishment of the province of Sardinia. Sardinia's products and population are not comparable to Corsica. Even a king would do it. And tempted.”

Duke Charles couldn't help frowning when he saw this. He not only regarded Lawrence as a friend, but also regarded him as a major ally after he inherited the Orleans family and entered the political world:

"Perhaps some agreement can be reached between Lawrence and the king? For example, the Kingdom of Corsica transfers part of the tax revenue directly to the French treasury."

"No, no, no, kid, that's not the point."

The Duke of Orleans interrupted Duke Charles's advice and began to patiently teach his extremely smart but still too young heir:

"His Majesty the King values ​​not only Sardinia, but also Laurence Bonaparte himself."

"itself?"

"If the Kingdom of Corsica really annexed Sardinia, then Lawrence Bonaparte's own power would far exceed the King's expectations, and this would inevitably cause His Majesty's concerns."

"You mean?" Duke Charles did not react for a while.

The Duke of Orleans looked at the sunset outside the window and said earnestly:

"The reason why His Majesty the King is confident in letting Lawrence Bonaparte become the whip of the Golden Iris Party and let him lead the ministers of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is that, in addition to the friendship between Lawrence Bonaparte and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the most important thing is that he has no political foundation in France. He can only be loyal to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"But Lawrence still rules Corsica after all."

"It's just a poor, backward and insignificant island. Compared with our noble families, Bonaparte's power in Corsica alone will not give him much say in the kingdom; but what if Lawrence Bonaparte also manages Sardinia? Then the situation is completely different. The military and political power of the two islands are in his hands alone. Which governor in the kingdom can have such power as him?"

Duke Charles is smart and extraordinary Chang also reacted instantly at this time, sweating profusely:

"At that time, Bonaparte held the military and political power of the two islands. Even if he did not rely on the influence of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, his power in France would not be inferior to that of the princes and dukes."

The Duke of Orleans sighed with relief:

"His Majesty the King originally hoped that Lawrence Bonaparte could stay with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the name of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Corsica, manage the court and command the ministers for His Royal Highness, but according to the current situation, the future Bonaparte will be both the head of the court and a frontier official, and his power will far exceed that of Choiseul and Richelieu today. Alas, even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has no objection to this, how can His Majesty the King tolerate the birth of such a powerful minister?"

"But. Lawrence Bonaparte is loyal to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and even His Majesty the King has praised his loyalty many times." Duke Charles still has some reluctance to give up.

"Your Majesty does not doubt Bonaparte's loyalty, but what about Bonaparte's descendants? What about his successors? Who can guarantee that they will always be loyal to the royal family? As a king, your Majesty will not tolerate such unstable factors in his kingdom."

"Then what will your Majesty do?"

"During the war, your Majesty should not take any action against Bonaparte, and once the war is over, there are only two options left for Bonaparte."

The Duke of Orleans closed his eyes and said skillfully:

"Either leave Paris and Versailles forever, leave His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and be his frontier official in Sardinia and Corsica with peace of mind, or give up his power in the two Mediterranean islands and stay with His Royal Highness to lead the inner court wholeheartedly."

"What will Lawrence do?" Duke Charles asked as if talking to himself.

The Duke of Orleans shook his head:

"I should ask you this question. I don't know that young man. Based on your relationship, what choice do you think he will make?"

Duke Charles lowered his head and remained silent for a long time. Finally, he said something that he himself found incredible:

"I think he will choose the third way."

The Duke of Orleans looked at his child calmly, without making any comments, and just repeated lightly:

"The third way?"