From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

1770, February, Carlo's residence in the eastern district of Ajaccio, Corsica.

"Dear Lawrence, your tea."

Carlo's wife, Maria, enthusiastically placed a set of white porcelain cups and saucers on the dining table in front of Lawrence, then picked up the teapot and filled Carlo's cup with black tea.

"Thank you." Lawrence smiled and took the teacup, held it to his mouth and took a sip.

Carlo looked at Lawrence holding the tea cup, laughed twice and said:

"Hey, Lawrence, I'd say you've learned to enjoy life."

Lawrence put down the teacup with a wry smile and nodded.

Since killing Ciro two years ago, Lawrence has not had any strong enemies in Ajacciola.

Politically, he has the protection of Carlo and Pauli. In terms of force, he has a patrol team that is completely obedient to his orders. Economically, he has the ability to sort out and inspect the huge amounts of money collected by the gang members.

This also made Lawrence's life finally less stressful. Besides completing his job, he could occasionally be invited to Carlo's house for afternoon tea.

Of course, such a leisurely life is also because of Paulie. After Ciro's death, he paid great attention to not giving Lawrence a chance to increase his power. This made Lawrence have to wait silently for a suitable opportunity.

After all, in such troubled times, opportunities to turn around are not uncommon.

In addition to this, Lawrence did not forget to maintain his existing influence. He would regularly give speeches to citizens, lead his subordinates to visit orphanages and other welfare institutions, and would often personally lead patrols on the streets to mediate disputes between people.

As for the army, Lawrence maintained an exchange of letters with the men of the 4th Battalion.

At the same time, he did not forget his promise to the soldiers. A year ago in 1769, Lawrence sent all the wealth promised to them to everyone by mailing remittances.

Such a generous act caused quite a stir in the army at the time, and also allowed more soldiers to see how Laurence Bonaparte treated his subordinates.

"If father knew what you are like now, he would definitely be very happy."

Carlo sighed suddenly and said a little lonely.

Lawrence also sighed and patted Carlo's shoulder to express comfort.

Also a year ago, at a similar time in history, Lawrence and Carlo's father, the old Count Bonaparte, passed away.

Although Lawrence had not seen this father since traveling back in time, he still followed Carlo to the funeral.

As the eldest son, Carlo inherited the title of count from Bonaparte Sr., and as the second son, Lawrence was awarded the non-hereditary knighthood in his will.

Although these two titles were inherited by the Archbishop of Pisa and were historically certified by the French Civil Service, they only had nobility titles and no substantial territory.

After comforting Carlo, Lawrence was about to pick up the tea cup, but felt the corner of his clothes being gently pulled.

Lawrence turned around and saw a two-year-old boy on the ground staring at him with wide eyes, smiling inarticulately and saying:

"Uncle, uncle, stories, stories."

Lawrence also looked at the child with a smile, took a piece of sugar cube from the dining table and fed it to his mouth, touched his head and said:

"Okay, Joseph, be good. I'll tell you a story next time."

Joseph Bonaparte, the eldest son of the Carlo family, had just been born when Lawrence came to Corsica and was now over two years old.

When Joseph heard this, he kept stamping his feet vigorously, waving his hands dissatisfiedly, and was about to cry.

As soon as his mother Maria heard the noise, she hurried over and held Joseph in her arms, slapped him moderately and scolded:

"Joseph! Why don't you imitate your brother? Look at how well-behaved Napoleon is. Now, don't disturb your uncle!"

Seeing this, Lawrence couldn't help but take a sip of tea. His second nephew, Napoleon Bonaparte, was born last year, which is almost the same as the birth time in history. He is only six months old now, and fortunately he is still a boy.

When the Carlo couple named him, in order to commemorate their child named Napoleon who died young, they still named the new child Napoleon.

Lawrence couldn't help but sigh. Fortunately, the butterfly effect he had appeared was not that strong. Otherwise, if Napoleon had become a girl, he would probably be quite uncomfortable every time he came to Carlo's house.

Maria carried Joseph back to the bedroom and placed him next to the sleeping little Napoleon, leaving Carlo and Lawrence to continue chatting.

"This kid always pesters me to tell stories every time I come here."

Lawrence glanced at Joseph on the bed and said with a helpless smile.

Carlo laughed and responded:

"Hahaha, that can't be helped. I can't get tired of hearing about your personal experiences. It's just like a knight novel. It starts with escaping from an exploding ship."

"If possible, I would rather not be so irritated." Lawrence touched his nose and shook his head with a smile.

Boom, boom, boom!

Just as Lawrence and Carlo were about to continue enjoying their leisure time, there was a sudden knock on Carlo's door.

Lawrence and Carlo frowned and looked at each other. Logically speaking, the people living in this area were polite gentlemen and would not knock on the door so rudely.

As the host, Carlo put down his tea cup, stood up and opened the door. Outside the door was a strong young man. He was panting and holding on to the door frame, as if he was running all the way.

Lawrence glanced outside the door and found that this person was clearly his subordinate Ya'an, so he quickly stood up, walked to Ya'an and asked:

"Yan? What's so urgent? Is it from the port?"

During the past two years, Lawrence continued to work with Paiyaan and Grosso to reorganize the West City area while maintaining the orderly operation of the docks.

And Ya'an worked so hard to go all the way from Xicheng District to Dongcheng District to find Lawrence. I'm afraid there is something major happening that makes both him and Grosso unable to decide.

Ya'an held on to the door frame, breathed for a while, and then said:

"Sorry, sir, it's the port and a ship has arrived."

"Ship? What ship?"

"Warship, British warship."

"British?"

Lawrence frowned. What was a British warship doing at the port of Ajaccio? But no matter what, Lawrence had to rush to the scene quickly.

"Sorry, Carlo, see you next time."

Lawrence said to Carlo hastily.

Carlo also nodded with understanding and said:

"Wait a minute, I'll ask my coachman to take you there."

Not long after, in Carlo's carriage, Lawrence asked Xiang Ya'an:

"What's going on in the port?"

"The warship was not blocked by the navy. After docking at the port, their sailors disembarked. Our people came forward and asked them not to stay on the dock with weapons, but they were refused, and then a conflict broke out. "

"Conflict? Fire at each other?"

Lawrence asked seriously, feeling a little headache. He didn't want such a conflict to eventually lead to a diplomatic incident or even a war.

You know, Britain in this era had just won the Seven Years' War and had taken a big step towards the empire on which the sun never sets. If a small island country like Corsica were to engage in firefights with British sailors, the consequences would be something Lawrence could not even imagine. .

Ya'an quickly shook his head and said:

"No, the two sides just pushed and cursed, but now they are confronting each other with guns. We have also evacuated the rest of the people on the dock."

After hearing this, Lawrence breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ordered the coachman to speed up.

However, Lawrence always had a question in his heart. What did it mean for the British warships to arrive in Corsica at this time?