Although Paoli has vigorously developed the navy since he took charge of Corsica in 1755, to this day, due to the Corsican government's embarrassing financial situation, the Corsican Navy only has two line battleships.
Both line battleships are third-class ships, and the number of artillery pieces is less than the 74 of conventional third-class ships, with only 64 guns.
In Lawrence's memory, the Royal Navy of this era had more than 250 such third-class ships.
But for Nelson, this was, after all, his first visit to a ship other than the Reasonable, and it was also a foreign warship.
This also made the boy jump up and down on the way to the dock where the warship was docked. He did not hide his inner joy and swept away the timid haze on his face just now.
The dock where the navy is parked is still some distance away from the merchant ship dock. In addition to the two line battleships, there are also many frigates and frigates parked here and there.
When the three Lawrence men approached the Navy Pier, a Corsican sailor immediately spotted them, stepped forward to stop Lawrence and shouted:
"Stop! Ahead is the Corsican Naval Station."
Although Lawrence was not wearing a military uniform, he always carried his identity stamp with him. After identifying himself to the sailors, Lawrence asked to meet with their commander.
The sailor carefully took Lawrence's seal and looked at it for a while, occasionally glancing at Lawrence and Grosso behind him, and then confirmed that the person in front of him was indeed the famous Laurence Bonaparte of Ajaccio.
"Sorry for wasting your time, sir, I will inform my superiors right away."
The sailor handed the seal back to Lawrence with respectful and adoring hands, saluted neatly, and then turned and left to make the report.
After a while, I saw a man with an unkind expression walking towards Lawrence with a few guards. He was wearing a dark blue three-cornered hat with three silver stars embroidered on the cuffs, indicating that he was a man.
Colonel officer.
"Lieutenant Colonel Bonaparte, I forgive you for not inviting you to the drawing room."
The naval captain walked up to Lawrence without saluting or shaking hands. He just put his hands behind his back and said dissatisfiedly:
"Please express your intention quickly."
Although Lawrence had not had any dealings with the Navy in the past two years, the Navy Captain still remembered the fact that Lawrence used Major Trifali to threaten them to stand still.
Lawrence knew this very well and knew that he had no right to speak in front of the colonel, so he coughed slightly to ease the awkward atmosphere a little and said:
"Colonel, as you know, a British warship has come to visit."
"Humph, of course I know."
The naval captain snorted disdainfully. As the naval commander stationed at the port of Ajaccio, he had already received news from Pauli about such a major event.
"Also, Governor Pauli just personally brought the British captain to the Governor's Mansion."
Lawrence said with a smile, ignoring the colonel's disdainful expression.
"Oh? General Pauli himself?"
The naval colonel was stunned for a moment. He didn't know the news. After all, Lawrence was at the scene just now, so he would definitely get the news faster than the colonel.
However, Lawrence's words also answered a question in the colonel's mind: Logically speaking, the visit of British warships should be received by the Corsican Navy.
But apart from ordering them to release the "reasonable number", Poly had no other requirements.
"It seems that General Pauli attaches great importance to this visit, so he personally welcomed it." The colonel thought silently.
Lawrence looked at the colonel's thoughtful look, and the smile on his face became even brighter. Under his guidance, the colonel had already thought that Paulie attached great importance to this visit.
Then as long as Nelson's identity is exaggeratedly emphasized, the colonel will definitely not refuse such a small request as visiting a warship.
"Lieutenant Colonel Bonaparte, you probably didn't come here to tell me the news out of kindness, right?"
The colonel looked at Lawrence with suspicion, wondering what Lawrence wanted to do.
Lawrence smiled and pushed Nelson behind him in front of the colonel, patted Nelson hard on the back and said:
"Forgot to introduce you, this is Horatio Nelson, the nephew of the captain of the Reasonable."
"The captain's nephew?"
The colonel calmed down his somewhat hostile expression and looked down at Nelson for a few times.
Judging from Nelson's size and appearance, he looks exactly like a little boy.
At such an age, he could join the Royal Navy and go to sea on a ship. The colonel also believed that this boy must have taken some backdoor steps. After all, even the Corsican Navy would not recruit sailors at such a young age.
Lawrence also saw from the colonel's expression that he already believed Nelson's identity, so he went on to say:
"The captain of the Reasonable is being received by Governor Pauli, and I will temporarily entertain his nephew. The boy is very interested in Corsican warships. I wonder if the colonel can allow us to visit...?"
"visit?!"
The colonel moved his lips. He wanted to refuse without hesitation, but then he thought that this boy was a relative of the guest at the Paoli seat.
In addition, Nelson is indeed too young, so it is unlikely that he came to visit the warship with ulterior motives.
As for stealing military technology, the colonel rejected this risk without even thinking. The shipbuilding technology of the British Royal Navy is much more advanced than that of a remote place like Corsica.
After weighing the pros and cons for a while, the colonel could not think of a reason to refuse, and since Lawrence was vouching for Nelson, he had no choice but to reluctantly nod to Lawrence.
"That's... okay, but I will send navy soldiers to follow you all the way."
"Of course, thank you for your cooperation, Colonel."
Lawrence politely raised his lips and saluted the colonel.
After the colonel and his men left, Grosso laughed twice, patted Nelson on the shoulder, and said to Lawrence in Italian:
"This guy is so proud, Lawrence. Even you, it's not so easy to get on a navy ship."
Lawrence looked back at Grosso, smiled and shook his head and said in Italian:
"Grosso, speak English, don't tell the truth."
After hearing this, Grosso was slightly startled. He lowered his head and glanced at Nelson, who had a confused face. He blinked and immediately understood what Lawrence meant, so he said angrily to Lawrence:
"Lawrence, you kid, you can even plot against a little kid."
Lawrence smiled nonchalantly and gave Grosso a look, signaling him to start quickly.
So Grosso shrugged helplessly, patted Nelson on the shoulder, and said in broken English:
"Hey, kid, you have to cherish this opportunity."
Nelson touched his hair in confusion and asked:
"Ah? What does this mean?"
Grosso pointed at Lawrence, pretended to sigh to Nelson and said:
"Just now, in order to give you this opportunity, Lieutenant Colonel Bonaparte paid a high price, even going through the sword and the sea of fire for you."
"What?! Is that really what happened?"
Nelson looked at Lawrence in surprise. He didn't understand Italian at all and didn't know what Lawrence had just said to the colonel.
But Nelson could also see that the colonel's face was very unkind when he first arrived. When he heard Grosso's words again, little Nelson, who was new to the world, immediately believed what Grosso said.
I saw little Nelson immediately bowing to Lawrence three times at 90 degrees, and at the same time said repeatedly:
"Thank you so much, your enthusiastic Excellency, Your Excellency Bonaparte, I will definitely remember what you have done for me!"
Taking advantage of the gap between Nelson's bows, Lawrence couldn't help but rolled his eyes at Grosso and said softly:
"A mountain of swords and a sea of fire? This is too much."
Grosso pouted and said:
"You're going to fool this kid anyway. Look at how grateful he is. I wish I could stay here and hang out with you."
"That doesn't mean he owes someone a favor."
Lawrence shook his head and said that he didn't expect these small tricks to make Nelson fall in love with him. At most, he would just form a good relationship with him.