"Oh my gosh, Major Bonaparte, those are two boxes of counterfeit coins. Although I have to admit that your speech was excellent, are you going to send these counterfeit coins to them after one year?"
Major Cui Farley was riding on his horse, holding a gold coin in a box and looking at it in surprise, and said worriedly.
Lawrence shook his head firmly. Although these soldiers had offended him a lot in the past two days, as long as they chose to follow him, Lawrence would definitely not use these little tricks to repay their loyalty.
Swords, guns and tricks are reserved for the enemy, and he will never treat those whom Lawrence considers to be one of his own.
Now the group of people is on the way back to Bastia. On the one hand, they are accompanying the cuirassiers on their return journey. They have helped Lawrence a lot just now.
On the other hand, these counterfeit coins must be returned as soon as possible. After all, Lawrence also knows that if a large number of counterfeit coins circulate in the market, it will be a fatal blow to a small economy like Corsica.
On the streets of Bastia, Lawrence shook hands with the cuirassiers leading him and said goodbye.
After listening to Lawrence's exciting speech, the cavalry also understood that Lawrence did not attack those soldiers to kill innocent people indiscriminately, but to win over those disobedient soldiers to his command as quickly as possible.
"Major Bonaparte, I have to admit that you are very capable," the cavalryman said with conviction.
Lawrence smiled and said casually: "Of course it's not as good as your commander, General Pauli's methods."
The cavalryman's expression suddenly changed after hearing this. He didn't know whether Lawrence said this as a casual joke or if he had an ulterior motive. If he had an ulterior motive, the meaning of these words that specifically compared himself with Pauli would be obvious.
After thinking for a few seconds, the cavalryman answered cautiously:
"Maybe, Major, you are still so young, no one can say for sure about the future."
"makes sense."
Lawrence held his hand, patted the cavalryman's shoulder intimately, and bid him farewell. After completing the escort mission, they needed to return to Ajaccio to resume their duties.
After bidding farewell to the cavalry, Lawrence and Trifali returned the two boxes of counterfeit coins to the quartermaster in Bastia. Since there were so many counterfeit coins, the quartermaster just glanced at them casually and accepted them after they were probably correct.
Already.
As for the batch of supplies needed by the Fourth Battalion, the quartermaster said that they are still being allocated and will send someone to deliver them within tomorrow.
Before leaving, Lawrence asked the quartermaster for a map around Bastia. The situation inside the Fourth Battalion had basically been dealt with, and it was time to start preparing to attract the Genoese to take the initiative to attack.
Then the two of them randomly found a vacant, unlocked house on the street to stay for half a day. As for why they didn't return to the camp, Lawrence also considered that they needed to give the soldiers enough time to think and adapt.
In addition, it was also because the smelly environment in the camp was really unbearable for Lawrence.
"So, what is our mission?" Major Cui Farley laid out the map he just got on the table, and skillfully marked the locations of various strategic points on the map with a graphite pen.
Lawrence looked at the map and thought for a moment. He really had no experience in marching and fighting, so he could only come up with a general policy. The specific implementation had to be planned by Cui Fali, an experienced soldier.
"Seventy miles north of Bastia, this is a Genoese fortress. How is the garrison situation here?"
Lawrence pointed to the map and asked Trifali.
Although Major Trifalli came to Bastia for the first time, he had the right to know many reports sent back from the Northern Army when he was in Ajaccio, so he explained:
"We call it Ximu Fortress. This is the fortress with the largest Genoese garrison. It has been confronting Bastia's Northern Army."
Lawrence nodded, so as long as they can attract the enemy troops in this fortress to leave the city, and cooperate with the collective retreat of the Northern Army, the Genoese will most likely take back Bastia and continue to push the front line forward. Then it will be a matter of course.
Completed the withdrawal.
"Is there any way to fight the enemy outside the fort?" Lawrence asked with a frown.
Major Cui Farley pondered for a moment and said:
"The opponent's fortress is strong and supplies are sufficient. It is unlikely that they will take the initiative. Unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless we deliberately reveal huge flaws, the risk is too great."
"Really..." Lawrence stared at the map closely, weighing the pros and cons.
The two then discussed how to lure the Genoese army out of the fortress, but no matter what method they used, they came to the conclusion that it was almost difficult to do so with the strength of the Fourth Battalion.
The fourth battalion only has more than 200 people, and the defenders in Ximu Fortress will not regard them as a threat. Even if they go out to fight, they will only send out a small force, which cannot reach the scale that Lawrence wants.
It was getting late at this time, so Lawrence and Cui Fali had no choice but to put away the map and prepare to discuss it when they return to the camp tomorrow.
The next morning, Lawrence and Cui Fali sat up from the hard bed. Sleeping all night on this kind of wooden board with only a layer of hay really gave Lawrence some back pain.
After simply packing up their belongings, the two were about to return to the camp on the outskirts of the city, when they were suddenly stopped by a soldier on the street.
"Major Bonaparte, Major Trifalli, General Nathan requires you to go to the headquarters to see him immediately." The soldier saluted the two and said succinctly.
Lawrence narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at each other with Trifali, wondering what General Nathan was going to do when he suddenly summoned them. However, since it was an order from their superiors, the two had no choice but to turn around and go to Nathan's longhouse.
When Lawrence saw General Nathan, he was sitting at his desk with a serious face. The desk that was usually filled with various documents was very neat at the moment. There was only a flat piece of letter paper on the desk.
"You are here, sit down." Nathan still stared at the letter and casually asked the two of them to sit down.
Lawrence also keenly noticed that although Nathan's words were very concise, his tone lacked some hostility towards him.
Seeing the two of them sitting down, Nathan sighed slightly, pushed the letter on the table to Lawrence, and said:
"General Pauli's order only arrived this morning."
Since Nathan took the initiative to show it to him, indicating that he had the right to know the contents, Lawrence did not refuse and directly picked up the letter and glanced at it.
The content of the letter was very simple. Pauli asked Nathan to prepare to withdraw from Bastia within three days, including the transportation of weapons, equipment and supplies, and the evacuation of civilians around Bastia.
In addition, once the main force of Genoa marches towards Bastia, they must not fight it, but must actively give up Bastia.
"As far as I know, the parliament clearly rejected the motion to move the front south." General Nathan said in a low voice with his chin in his hands.
Lawrence glanced at General Nathan's eyes and said:
"We cannot let the losers in the Parliament determine the fate of Corsica."
After seeing Pauli's order, General Nathan must have guessed that Pauli wanted to force the army to withdraw. In order to prevent the news from leaking, it had not been disclosed to him before. Now that the withdrawal plan is about to be launched, the supreme commander of the Northern Army naturally
We can no longer be kept in the dark.
Presumably this is also the implicit meaning of Pauli's order.