Fox of France

Regarding Ben Harden Pasha's proposal, Victor shook his head.

"Dear Pasha, I think it's best to leave it to us to deal with the screening. After all, we are more consistent with their beliefs."

It's just this proposal, but Ben Harden Pasha hesitated slightly. For slaves are wealth, and more slaves are more wealth. The captured slaves are now the property of the Turkish Empire. However, the right to use these wealth is in his hands. Therefore, every additional Christian slave means that his interests will suffer a certain loss. Therefore, although he himself has a certain degree of goodwill towards the French, this does not mean that he is willing to suffer losses in terms of interests.

Therefore, Victor believed that if this matter was to be handed over to Ben Harden Pasha, at most he would give a few more Christian slaves out of consideration for face. It is impossible to really produce a large number of Christian slaves as Victor hoped.

But Victor now desperately needs a sufficient number of Christian slaves. Although according to the agreement between the two countries, the land that can be allocated to the original Christian slaves will not increase or decrease due to the number of Christian slaves, (because if the land allocated to Christian slaves will increase due to the increase in the number of Christian slaves And the increase means that the more Christian slaves there are, the less benefits will be distributed to Turkey. This will inevitably lead to the Turks using artificial means to reduce the number of Christian slaves, thus paving the way for cooperation between the two countries. Landmines.) But more Christian slaves means that communities can be formed quickly and strength can be formed. And prepare for all kinds of actions after that.

But also because of the interests involved, and Ben Harden Pasha is also very clear that Victor is very motivated to increase the number of Christian slaves as much as possible, because the more Christian slaves are rescued, the more it shows that the French The justice of this action made Bonaparte's title of "Emperor of the Romans" more like an honor, more like a European leader, and not more like a joke.

Therefore, Ben Harden Pasha believes that if the French are allowed to identify themselves, I am afraid that Victor will use all means to lure and even force those slaves who are not Christians to become Christian slaves. In fact, there is not even a need for special temptations and coercions, just tell them: If you are Christians, you will immediately become homesteaders and own your own land. Except for the really devout guy who believes in the true God, a lot of people will jump up and shout "Hallelujah".

So Ben Harden Pasha replied: "Mr. Consul, I think you are obviously not trusting us by doing this."

Victor immediately replied: "It's not that we don't trust you, but that the list you gave us last time is too unreliable. According to the information we have learned before, and even according to the documents of some pirates we captured, the pirates captured alive It can be proved that there are far more than this number of Christian slaves in the plantations near Tripoli. And through our questioning of the Christian slaves you handed over to us, we also learned that there are many , Christian slaves were not sent to us with them. So, respectful pasha, you see, how can we trust you in such a situation?"

Ben Harden Pasha froze for a moment, then hurriedly said: "It's because the bastards below are too lazy..."

"That's why we can no longer leave all those things to them," Victor said.

"Then," Ben Harden Pasha said, "then about the screening, at least we have to participate... In this way, I think this is a fair and reasonable approach."

So the two people bargained again, and finally the two sides finally reached a temporary plan on this matter, that is, in this screening, both the French and the Turks will participate, but in the screening process, every five Among the screening objects, the French can spend some time alone with one of them. The screened slaves, after claiming to be Christians, had to answer a series of questions about Christianity. If there are too many mistakes, you cannot be considered a Christian. In addition, a slave who is recognized as a Christian must also be recognized by a Christian slave working in the same farm as him, otherwise he cannot be recognized as a Christian.

Of course, this is only a preliminary verbal agreement. As for the specific implementation, Ben Harden Pasha insisted that it must wait for the representatives of the Holy See to arrive before starting.

On the surface, this is respect for the Holy See, but in fact, it is trying to delay the time to take measures to avoid the phenomenon of a large number of slaves claiming to be Christians-now people are still under their control. When you have time, coercion and lure... Ah, there is no one in the back, it is coercion and intimidation, using some heretics to just lie to you, heretics want to trick you into killing people and offering sacrifices, etc., to frighten them, Fool them.

Victor also knew this, but he also knew that the people from the Holy See should arrive soon, and there was no need to let the Turks drive a wedge between France and the Holy See just for these few days. Besides, based on his understanding of the Turks, he doesn't think that the brainwashing ability of the Turks is so high that it will take a few days for others to believe everything he said.

It should be said that the people from the Holy See came very quickly, because steam passenger ships have not yet been popularized, so they have no practical steam ships and can only use ordinary sailboats. The only sailboat that can provide high speed is the clipper boat. But the comfort level of clipper boats has always been a problem, even in the Mediterranean, where the sea is mostly calm, the comfort of clipper boats is terrible. Bishop Torres, the representative of the Holy See, is already an old man in his sixties. Considering his health, he should honestly take a normal passenger ship that can only travel a little more than four nautical miles per hour.

But at this time, Bishop Torres showed the courage to sacrifice everything for the cause of God. He took his entourage, rented a clipper boat, and rushed to Tripoli as quickly as possible. So the day after Viktor reached a verbal agreement with Ben Harden Pasha, he was in Tripoli. And God seems to have really blessed Bishop Torres, although when he disembarked, because of seasickness, he needed two attendants, one on the left and one on the right, to support him before he could get off the boat. But what is surprising is that after getting off the ship, he only rested in the temporary station for more than an hour, and immediately regained his spirits, and took the initiative to find Victor here.

"Bishop Torres, why are you here? I thought you were going to take a good rest." Victor couldn't help but said when he saw Bishop Torres.

"Ah, I really need to take a break, but thinking about those poor lambs, I can't rest." Bishop Torres said, "Consul Treville, I just arrived here, and I am still very unfamiliar with the situation here. Can you tell me something about it?"

Victor gave him a detailed introduction to the discussions between him and Ben Harden Pasha in the past two days, as well as the oral agreement they reached.

Bishop Torres listened, thought for a while, and then said: "Mr. Consul, your consideration is very thoughtful. Let's hurry up and meet that Pasha together. Time is very important now. I guess that cunning heretic, now He is using this time to intimidate our believers. We must not let his tricks succeed, and the screening operation must begin immediately, the sooner the better."

"Bishop Torres, you really don't need to take a break?" Victor said.

"The mission of saving the Lamb of God motivates me and I can't stop at this time."

So Victor and Bishop Torres went to meet Ben Harden Pasha together.

It was already night at this time, and Ben Harden Pasha had already taken a shower, and planned to go to bed and do some fitness exercises. But he didn't want a servant to come and report that the French consul asked to see him.

If it had been someone else, Ben Harden Pasha would have dragged that guy out and whipped him severely, but if it was the French consul, then... then he had no choice but to get dressed quickly and come out to meet him.

When he arrived at the living room, Ben Harden Pasha saw that two people were already sitting in the guest's seats. One was Treville, the French consul he knew, and the other was a priest with a cross on his breast and a bishop's robe. He then understood that this was the arrival of a representative of the Catholic Church.

Bishop Torres arrived in Tripoli in the evening. Of course, the Turkish guards on the pier knew about it and had to report it, but at that time, Ben Harden Pasha was having dinner, so no one dared to report it; After Ben Haden Pasha finished his meal, he was watching the dance again, so no one dared to disturb him at this time; after the dance, Ben Harden Pasha was going to take a bath again; After taking a bath, he naturally had to go to bed and do some exercise—so until now, he didn't know that the representative of the Holy See had arrived.

But Ben Harden Pasha didn't think it was his own fault. As for the fact that he didn't know this in advance, so he made preparations, he decided that it was because those bastards under him were too negligent in doing things, and everyone should be whipped. But in general, Ben Harden Pasha is still a very kind person. At least, among his punishment measures, there are more whippings and less beheadings.

"Consul Treville, I don't know why you came here so late. What's the matter? And who is this bishop?" Ben Harden Pasha asked with a smile on his face.

"Dear Pasha, this is the representative of the Holy See, Bishop Torres. He just arrived today. I originally advised him to come and visit Your Excellency tomorrow, but the Bishop felt that it would be impolite not to come to visit His Excellency immediately when he arrived, so I came with him."