"Have you thought about it?" Lawrence suppressed the joy in his heart and asked in a deep voice.
Paulie closed his eyes. The wrinkles on his face seemed to be more obvious today, and he said:
"I will order the troops to retreat southward in the near future."
It was now that Lawrence's eyes became sharp. He had done all his tricks just to insert his hands into the military. Now he was only half a step away from achieving his goal.
"With all due respect, Governor." Lawrence stared at Paulie's tired eyes and said seriously:
"I do not recommend direct defiance of Parliament."
For this reason, Pauli also understands that the existence of the parliamentary system has played a huge role in Corsica's internal stability. If the decision of the parliament is blatantly violated, it may sow the seeds of unrest.
If it were not for the survival of Corsica, Pauli would not want to make such an outrageous move.
Paulie and Lawrence looked at each other and asked in confusion:
"What do you want to say?"
"We need a reason to withdraw our troops."
"You mean... stage a show on your own? Let a part of the army pretend to be Genoese to attack us and then force us back?"
Paulie frowned and asked. He had also thought about this method, but because it was too risky and very likely to leak, Paulie quickly rejected it.
Lawrence shook his head. He also understood the many drawbacks of this plan, and then said:
"We are indeed directors, but the actors are not just Corsicans."
Paulie was suddenly surprised: "You want to drag the Genoese people into this?"
Lawrence nodded resolutely. If he wanted to make the show look real, and if he wanted to prevent the representatives of the Congress from finding any clues, he had to find a way to attract the Genoese army to take the initiative to advance towards Corsica.
"What are you going to do?"
Pauli asked cautiously, when it comes to military affairs, there is no room for Pauli to be careless. In particular, he must actively attract the Genoese to attack. If it is not handled well, the northern part of Corsica will inevitably be robbed.
Lawrence had already prepared a plan and replied:
"Send someone to lead a small group of troops, take the initiative to launch a feint attack on the fortress of Genoa, and retreat immediately if there is a counterattack, pretending to be suffering heavy casualties, and repeat this many times to lure them into pursuit."
"It's somewhat feasible..." Paulie tilted his head slightly, narrowed his eyes into a straight line, glanced at Lawrence, and said:
"But you want to carry out this task yourself."
Of course, Lawrence's calculations cannot be hidden from Paulie, but Lawrence has no intention of hiding his desire to join the army now.
Because he knows that if Poly approves this plan, there will be no suitable candidate except himself.
No matter who else is chosen, there is a risk of exposing the entire plan, a risk that Poly cannot bear.
Although his intention to join the army was quite obvious, Lawrence certainly would not point it out directly, so he smiled and said:
"Everything depends on the governor's arrangements. If no one else is suitable, I am willing to take the risk and go."
Pauli also knew that even if he sent his most trusted officer, there was still the possibility that the plan would be exposed. After some hesitation, he decided to take a step back and acquiesced to Lawrence's request:
"Sending you is the safest option. I will award you a military rank in the near future. However, I will also send an adjutant to accompany you."
Lawrence nodded to express his understanding. Although he would only lead a small number of troops in the army, it did not mean that Pauli could let Lawrence act as he pleased. It was only reasonable to send an adjutant as a check.
Later, Pauli and Lawrence discussed and refined the details of the plan. Although Lawrence was quick in thinking and full of ingenuity, he came from the peaceful 21st century and knew nothing about marching and fighting.
Therefore, Lawrence had to listen to the opinions of Pauly and the future adjutant on how to implement it.
After making a complete decision to withdraw troops without telling the parliament, Pauli was obviously relieved. As the founder and leader of Corsica, he had too many factors to consider. After making up his mind to withdraw troops, he felt relieved.
.
Just when Paulie thought Lawrence was about to say goodbye and leave, Lawrence suddenly said:
"By the way, Governor Pauli, regarding the expansion of the patrol team, I need to request a batch of new equipment."
Paulie nodded and agreed. This was a very reasonable request, so he asked:
"what do you need?"
"I want eighty muskets."
"Eighty? Okay, I will send someone to your station."
After hearing this, Paulie wanted to refuse. With eighty muskets and the original twenty in the team, Lawrence could already form a small army. However, thinking that he and Lawrence would be cooperating for quite some time, he agreed.
In his eyes, Lawrence is still just a young boy who has just arrived in Corsica for a month, and Paulie is confident that he can control him.
In addition, Pauli also saw from these eighty guns that Xicheng District might not be peaceful in the next period of time.
Watching Lawrence's back disappear at the door, Paulie said to himself:
"Boy, I hope you are really capable of rectifying Xicheng District."
...
When he walked out of Pauley's study, it was already evening. The afternoon parliament had been open for four hours, which really made Lawrence a little exhausted.
Lawrence had just walked to the door of the Governor's Palace when he saw there seemed to be a commotion at the door. A short old man was being pushed to the ground by two guards, and one of the guards was putting cuffs on the little old man's wrist.
"Wait..." Lawrence frowned and glanced at the little old man, and immediately recognized that it was his subordinate, Old Sean, but because he was wearing casual clothes, he didn't recognize him at first sight.
"What happened?!"
Lawrence stepped forward quickly and asked sharply.
"Monsieur Bonaparte!" Old Sean, who was pinned to the ground, shouted excitedly and anxiously.
The two guards looked at each other, and one of them said: "Mr. Bonaparte, this man has been sneaking around in front of the Governor's Palace for a long time."
"He didn't do anything extraordinary. Let him go." Lawrence waved his hand and knelt down to help old Sean up.
"However, according to the rules, he must be imprisoned." The guard said, standing still and showing no intention of unshackling Old Sean.
Lawrence's face darkened, his sharp eyes stared into the other person's eyes, and he whispered:
"This is my person."
The guard trembled all over, as if being stared at by a strong African lion. A layer of cold sweat suddenly appeared on his forehead, and he said quickly:
"Hug...I'm sorry, I didn't know it was Mr. Bonaparte's subordinate."
After saying that, the guard wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, hurriedly unlocked Old Sean's handcuffs, and bowed repeatedly to apologize to him.
When Lawrence and Old Sean walked away, the guard recovered, touched his chest and said to his companion:
"Oh my God, this is M. Bonaparte."
"You are so protective of your subordinates. If our captain is like this...sigh"
"That old cucumber who eats everything from inside to outside? If he doesn't try to squeeze a few silver coins out of us, don't count on him."
"Having a leader like Mr. Bonaparte is truly a blessing from God."
At the same time, Old Sean was gasping for air. The pushing and shoving with the guards just now was too much for his old bones, so he said intermittently:
"God, Monsieur Bonaparte, it's true, I've been waiting for you for two hours, something big has happened."
Lawrence frowned slightly, wondering if something had happened to the patrol:
"Speak slowly, don't be in a hurry."
Old Sean took a deep breath, his expression full of panic and self-blame, and said in a trembling voice: