Lawrence's words echoed in everyone's ears, like a mantra that froze the time in the auditorium for a few seconds.
Those congressmen were already stunned in place with their minds blank. In their opinion, in the Corsican dictionary, these words could not form a sentence at all.
Old Sean, Grosso and Ya'an couldn't help but open their mouths at this moment and turned to stare at Lawrence.
Even though they had known Lawrence's purpose for a long time, when Lawrence actually said these words to Pauly, their hearts still accelerated rapidly.
Even William Pitt couldn't help but look up at Lawrence and improved his opinion of the young man.
"abdicate..."
There was no shock or anger on Paulie's face. He was no longer the powerful governor who held Lawrence in his hands. All he could do was rely on his current status to find an escape route for himself.
"I want to say that I should have the right to refuse."
Paulie raised his eyebrows, looked at Lawrence and said.
Peter on the side nodded slightly after hearing this, knowing that Pauly was testing Lawrence's bottom line.
Lawrence also knew this well, sneered and said directly:
"Of course you can refuse, but..."
Lawrence suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and then took off the short knife from his waist, including the blade and sheath, and slapped it heavily on the stage, making a dull sound.
"In that case, I will not be able to guarantee your safety after transferring you outside the Governor's Palace."
Along with the oscillating echo, Lawrence touched the scabbard on the table and added slowly:
"After you left the Governor's Palace, the conditions of your residence were naturally not very good. If a Genoese assassin or a Corsican mob broke into the house... that would be normal."
Although Lawrence's tone was very calm, it still made the congressmen and Paulie present shiver.
A threat, a naked threat, and the most direct threat of life.
However, the most direct method is also the most effective.
Paulie's face visibly shrank, he didn't expect that Lawrence would directly break his face, and in the blink of an eye he had the blade in front of him.
"Lawrence, you..."
Paulie frowned, raised his eyes and stared at Lawrence, and said harshly:
"You do this and don't care what the people of Corsica think of you?!"
The reason why Pauli has the confidence to say this is because he is the founder of the Republic of Corsica after all. Although he has attracted a lot of criticism, he still has a good status in the hearts of the people.
But I saw Lawrence looking down at Pauli, first nodded slowly, then slowly shook his head, and said threateningly:
"Of course I care, but...when you unfortunately die, will the people still support you like that?"
Paulie was stunned for a moment and asked subconsciously:
"What do you mean?"
"When you lie in the coffin, no matter how magnificent your life is, it is just a blank canvas in my eyes."
Lawrence slowly walked down the podium, stood in front of Pauly, and said coldly:
"Some of your negative letters, remarks, and actions will be mentioned repeatedly, and they may not even be true. And it won't be long before the people will find out that the Governor Pauli they once supported is such a bad person.
As for you, a dead person lying in a coffin, how can you defend yourself?"
"you...!"
Paulie's eyes widened even more. He originally wanted to use his fame to blackmail Lawrence into giving in, but he never expected that Lawrence would directly threaten him to compromise.
And Pauly also knew that what Lawrence said was right, a dead person's evaluation could be arbitrarily altered by living people.
By then, if such a situation really happens, then Poly will not only lose his power during his lifetime, but he will also be unable to retain his good reputation after death.
And with Pauli's defeat in this round of confrontation, he also completely understood that his so-called bargaining chips and trump cards were completely useless in the current situation.
From the moment he broke into Parliament, Lawrence had no intention of giving himself any room for maneuver.
"Your Majesty the Governor..."
The congressmen could not help but show expressions of disbelief. They looked at Governor Pauli, who had eyes wide open in their eyes, and gradually lowered his head under Lawrence's words and remained silent without saying a word.
After a long time, Paulie raised his head again, his face was completely pale, and said to Lawrence:
"I see."
...
After Pauley was forced to accept Lawrence's request to abdicate, the two of them went to Pauley's study to get the blank order document, while the others continued to stay in the auditorium.
Paulie sat behind his desk as a habit, found a blank document from the drawer, picked up a quill and began to slowly write his abdication announcement.
At the same time, he also knew that all his actions in this study were the last.
"I admit that I underestimated you." Paulie buried himself in writing and said casually to Lawrence:
"When did you return to Ajaccio from Florence?"
Lawrence's eyes were fixed on the tip of Pauli's pen, while he shook his head and said:
"I didn't go to Florence."
"Huh?" Pauli couldn't help but stop the movement of his hands, frowned and asked:
"Impossible. The report I received said that you boarded a merchant ship bound for Florence."
"The captain was bribed and sent me to Toulon."
"Toulon..." Pauli couldn't help but open his mouth. He felt lost for a moment and said slowly:
"So, you went to find the French?"
"That's right."
Lawrence nodded in recognition, and then directly informed Paulie of his contract with Duke Choiseul.
After hearing Lawrence's plan, Paulie's expression was dull for a while before he recovered, and then he suddenly burst out laughing twice.
"Why are you laughing?" Lawrence asked with a frown. He could tell that Paulie's laughter was obviously self-deprecating.
Paulie held his forehead, grinned, paused and said:
"The two leaders of Corsica are also very interesting. I want to sell the sovereignty of Corsica to the British. You just make Corsica into a crown and put it on the heads of the French."
"This is only temporary." Lawrence shook his head and said.
"Temporarily?" Paulie was stunned and asked in confusion.
"The crown I gave to the French with my own hands, I will take back with my own hands."
"You..." Paulie raised his head and stared directly into Lawrence's eyes, but he didn't see a trace of confusion in these eyes.
"Oh, Lawrence, I knew it."
Paulie suddenly smiled with relief, handed the completed document to Lawrence for review, then shook his head and said:
"You are a born rebel. You will definitely stab Louis XV in the back just like you betrayed me."
Lawrence didn't say anything, he just took Pauli's paperwork and began to review it.
Seeing that Lawrence didn't reply, Pauli still kept to himself and said:
"However, since you told me so much, that means..."
After Lawrence confirmed that the document was correct, he stood up directly, looked at Pauly and said:
"I will let you live comfortably, but that's all."
When Paulie saw that Lawrence had decided his fate in just one sentence, he couldn't help but bow his head and smile bitterly.
He already knew that he would spend the rest of his life under house arrest, so he said calmly:
"Then, from now on, I shall call you Governor Bonaparte?"