March 31, 1770, in the Governor's Palace in Ajaccio.
"Governor, the replies from the congressmen have been collected."
Pauli's secretary knocked on the door and walked into the study, neatly placing a stack of letters on the table and saying.
"Ah, not bad, not bad."
Pauli immediately put aside the work he was doing, happily picked up the replies from the congressmen and quickly browsed them.
For Paulie, as long as the resolution to annex England is formally passed in Parliament tomorrow, this poor and backward island will have almost nothing to do with him anymore.
With a generous annuity, he can buy a large homestead in the countryside of London and enjoy the service of hundreds of maids and male servants. Whenever he walks on the streets of London, people will nod to him respectfully and call him Corsica.
Earl or Duke.
All this is much more comfortable than staying in Corsica and guarding this rotten land.
"Well, in general, all the members have expressed support for your motion. Of course, there are a few people who are not very satisfied with their treatment. I hope to discuss it with you after the meeting."
The secretary also knew that Pauli did not have time to read all the letters that were full of red tape and flattery, so he skillfully repeated the main contents for Pauli.
"Okay, you can draft a unified reply for me and tell those dissatisfied members to meet with me after the session. At the same time, warn them that I don't want to see any mistakes in the session tomorrow."
Paulie randomly picked out a few replies and glanced at them. He quickly lost interest in these hypocritical words. After sorting out the replies, he gave instructions to his secretary.
"Oh, right..."
Paulie suddenly remembered something, rummaged through the envelope in his hand again, and asked at the same time:
"Is there a reply from Carlo Bonaparte?"
"Yes, and there is nothing wrong with Mr. Bonaparte's reply."
The secretary stepped forward and said, taking out a very plain white envelope for Pauli and handing it to Pauli.
Paulie took out the letter and glanced at it with a frown. The content of the letter was the same as that of other congressmen, filled with a lot of flattering praise for his wise decision-making and a pledge to support him in the parliament.
"Humph, Carlo is quite sensible. He is much more reassuring than his younger brother."
Only then did Pauli put all the envelopes aside with satisfaction, stretched out, and said with a pleased smile:
"Oh, I almost forgot, Lawrence is also a young man who is aware of current affairs. He left Ajaccio and has not come back yet."
In Pauly's mind, he had not felt this relaxed for a long time. Everything was progressing smoothly. Lawrence, his biggest enemy, had given up fighting him, and all the congressmen had succumbed obediently to coercion and inducement.
This feeling of having absolute power and having everything done as he wished made Pauli feel like he had returned to the state of power he had when he first established the Republic of Corsica.
"Ahem, Mr. Governor, I have something else I need to tell you."
The secretary stood there and hesitated for a while, but finally interrupted Paulie's complacent state, lowered his head and said:
"Didn't you ask the original patrol captain to take over the affairs of the team a few days ago? He seemed to be in Ajaccio recently..."
"Huh? You mean that..."
Although Pauli was very unhappy at being suddenly interrupted, he still rubbed his forehead and thought for a while before saying:
"That Harald? What trouble did he get into?"
"he..."
The secretary thought hard for a while, as if he was looking for a tactful way to say it, then shook his head and said:
"He takes people to various shops every day to extort money, even street vendors. In the process, many people bleed. In addition, it is said that he also... kidnapped several girls, and they were in his residence.
inside..."
"This damn country bumpkin." Paulie frowned in displeasure, but didn't express anything, he just said in disgust:
"But that's okay. Didn't he always do this in the past few years?"
"This was indeed the case in the past few years, but..." The secretary glanced at Pauli carefully and said slowly:
"But since Laurence Bonaparte reorganized the patrols, nothing like this has happened again, and now Haled is going the other way, which makes it difficult for many citizens to accept it, and they all miss Laurence Bonaparte."
"Tsk..." Paulie shook his head with an unkind expression, waved his hand and said:
"There's nothing we can do about it. Lawrence must be removed from his official post before I can feel at ease. As for the citizens' comments... Well, they can't make a difference anyway. Let's give them a hard time first and leave this matter to the British.
"
The secretary looked at Pauli in surprise. If this happened normally, Governor Pauli would still do superficial things to win people's hearts. Now that he was about to leave Corsica, Pauli could not even do such a thing to appease the citizens.
Don't want to do it.
"Is there anything else?" Paulie looked at the secretary who was stunned and asked impatiently.
The secretary woke up quickly, looked at the schedule in his hand, and reported:
"By the way, there is also Mr. Peter. He will meet you at two o'clock in the afternoon, that is, in ten minutes."
"Well, you go and inform him now, I'll wait for him here."
Paulie nodded and said, then picked up the replies from the congressmen and read them with interest as reading material to pass the time.
...
"Sir Peter, you don't seem to look well."
Paulie frowned and looked at Peter who was slowly being helped in by his entourage at the door, and said with great concern.
"It's an old problem, it's nothing."
Peter sat down on the chair tremblingly, waved his hand and said:
"It was getting better a few days ago, but after that young man Lawrence left, there was no one to guide him in his recovery, so it got a lot worse."
Paulie nodded in understanding, patted his chest and said:
"Don't worry, Lawrence has agreed to your invitation, and it is estimated that he will be able to return to London with you on the Reasonable in a few days."
"Well, that's good, let's not talk about this for now..."
After sitting down on the chair, Pete's eyes became sharp again, staring at Paulie and said in a deep voice:
"Is everything arranged?"
"Of course." Paulie nodded seriously and continued:
"The congressmen have all reached an agreement. I have also invited representatives from all walks of life in Ajaccio to observe the meeting and let them witness and recognize the legality of the treaty."
"Very well, Governor Pauli, I believe you will not let me down."
Peter nodded with satisfaction. His eyes softened and relaxed a bit. In this way, his mission to Corsica was successfully completed.
For Pitt, his negotiations in Corsica were a bounty of money. He secured an extremely important Mediterranean port for the Kingdom of England without any effort, and what he promised was only a small amount of money.
They are just some insignificant noble titles.
After returning to the country, Pitt could use this feat to silence his political opponents for a while, and he might even regain the favor of King George III to achieve the goal of returning to politics.
Paulie got up and opened the window and looked at the scenery outside.
From here, you can just see the bell tower of the Doge's Palace, as well as the Corsican flag fluttering in the sea breeze above the bell tower.
Paulie stared at the flag for a moment, seeming to recall that he had designed and hung the flag himself.
But such an idea only flashed through his mind like a revolving door for a moment. Paulie quickly shook his head and laughed twice, then turned around, pointed at the flag and said to Peter:
"Tomorrow at noon, the red cross flag will be flying here."
Peter also stood up holding on to the table, squinted at the Corsican flag in the sun, and said flatly:
"For Corsicans, a new era is coming."
Paulie nodded slightly, but did not move his eyes from the bell tower. After being silent for a while, he slowly said:
"No matter what era it is, it has nothing to do with me."
Peter raised his eyebrows in surprise and said:
"They are your people, and you don't care about their fate?"
Paulie shook his head slowly and firmly, and spit out a sentence effortlessly:
"I do not care."
However, after hearing this, Peter couldn't help but smile. At the same time, he patted Pauly on the shoulder and said with a smile:
"Governor Pauli, for us British people, having you have such an awareness is actually what we most want to see."
Paulie was stunned for a moment, but quickly understood what Peter meant.
"It seems that the Corsican people will not have a good life under British rule."
Paulie glanced at Peter expressionlessly and said. Before Peter could reply, he shook his head, closed the window, sat back and said:
"But forget it, as I said, all this has nothing to do with me and I don't care."
