I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 473 A Dream

Paulie said with a smile: "Of course, I will serve you as long as I can."

Just kidding, 20,000 pounds is 500,000 livres, such a large sum of money is enough to make him sell hooks.

"I want to make sure that the donated funds are used for the great cause of Corsica's independence, so I hope to know the specific use of the funds."

Chalmers showed an apologetic expression: "Please forgive me, this is by no means a lack of trust in you and your companions."

He looked around and lowered his voice and said: "In fact, I gave a lot of money to Irish Republicans in the past few years, but those guys put more than half of it into their own pockets!"

The so-called "Irish Republicans" are the Irish independence movement organization. After the British occupied Ireland, they have been resisting secretly and reached their peak in the late 18th century. Historically, they even took advantage of the French Revolution and prepared to join France to declare war on Britain.

Paulie and his three men looked at each other. Although he was not very happy, since the sponsor had made a request, he could only nod and agree.

After the salon, Chalmers went back home with Paulie and listened to him arrange the use of funds.

"Half of your funding will be used to buy weapons and organize protests and riots." Paulie explained patiently, "The rest is mainly used as campaign funds to help the members of the Restoration Organization get more seats in parliament.

"You know, the parliament is the political core of Corsica. As long as we can control the parliament, we can marginalize the French government. This is an important part of our independence plan."

Chalmers nodded repeatedly: "You are indeed a great freedom fighter with rich experience. I feel much more at ease now."

He paused and continued: "But based on my experience in Ireland, riots are far less effective than mastering the upper power. So, I think more money can be invested in supporting the members of parliament. "

The three members of the Restoration Organization nearby suddenly brightened up when they heard this, because they were Corsican MPs, or were preparing to compete in this year's parliamentary elections.

If they could get a large amount of campaign funds, their chances of winning would increase exponentially.

Paulie was quite troubled by this kind of sponsor who liked to dictate things, so he had to explain to him earnestly why he had to allocate funds in this way.

Chalmers suddenly waved his hand impatiently: "You just said that more than 20 MPs in the organization will face competition, so how can 9,000 pounds be enough? Let's do this, you listen to me, and I will sponsor another 5,000 pounds. "

Paulie was stunned by the local tycoon on the spot, and after a quick weighing in his mind, he agreed to his proposal-17,000 pounds will be distributed to the MPs of the Restoration Organization to help them win the election.

Chalmers was also very straightforward. The next afternoon, he solemnly handed over two heavy suitcases of banknotes to Paulie, and the three senior members of the Restoration Organization who came with him witnessed and verified it.

"Your freedom cause will eventually succeed! "

Chalmers took the receipt from Paulie, and then said generously: "Next year, after the dividends from my East India Company's shares are distributed, I will provide you with another 25,000 pounds."

After sending the financier away, Paulie looked at his watch. It was already past 5 o'clock and the bank was no longer open. And it would be better to exchange these banknotes for gold coins, so that it would be easier to buy weapons in the United States, Northern Europe and other places.

So he had to lock the cash box in the safe in the study, and repeatedly told the housekeeper to send someone to guard the door today, and there must be no mistakes.

At night.

Mrs. Paulie's living room maid got up quietly, took out a bag of tools from the box under the bed, and then walked towards the study on the second floor in the dark.

She met the night watch servants twice along the way, but both of them glanced at her and turned away as if nothing had happened. Go over.

Yes, they are all agents sent by the French Intelligence Agency.

After learning Paulie's whereabouts from the British government, the Intelligence Agency has infiltrated Paulie's family like a sieve in the past six months. Now half of the servants in this villa are paid by the Intelligence Agency. If it weren't for the fact that killing Paulie would do more harm than good, he would have died dozens of times.

The maid came to Paulie's study, opened the door with the key that had been prepared, and then took out the tools and started to light fires everywhere...

At two o'clock in the morning, Paulie was awakened by a woman's scream.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes and vaguely heard the servants shouting, "Fire!"

"Put out the fire!"

Then the butler knocked on the door and said anxiously: "Master, it's on fire! You and your wife should go out and take shelter! "

Paulie jumped up from the bed, put on his clothes and rushed out of the bedroom. He smelled a choking smell. He looked up and saw that the stairs leading to the second floor were full of smoke, and servants were running up and down with buckets of water.

The three high-ranking members of the Restoration Organization who lived in the guest room were also awakened. They looked at Paulie and exclaimed at the same time, "Money!"

Several people were about to rush to the second floor where the flames were rolling. The housekeeper hurriedly asked someone to hold them tightly.

Two and a half hours later, the fire was finally put out with the joint efforts of the servants and the London Fire Police.

Paulie and others ran up to the second floor like crazy regardless of the large amount of residual smoke, but they were stunned on the spot - including the study, half of the rooms on the second floor were burned black.

Paulie walked into the study while coughing, and saw the safe that had been burned through - most of the safes in this era were made of wood wrapped in iron sheets, and the iron lumps that were common in later generations would not appear until the 19th century - and a black mass inside.

The person next to him stepped forward and took out the contents of the safe. He could still vaguely see a black object in the shape of a piece of paper, and his face suddenly turned pale: "Damn, this is 25,000 pounds..."

…

More than ten days later, at a secret meeting of the Corsican Restoration Organization, Bartolio banged the table and roared: "Originally, we had hoped to win more than two-thirds of the parliamentary seats! It's all because of the fire!"

He was one of the three people who witnessed £25,000 being burned that day.

Others in the room also looked gloomy. They already knew that the Scottish rich had provided them with a large sum of money, and each of them could receive close to 1,000 pounds, or more than 20,000 livres.

But now, because of an accident, everything is gone.

Suddenly someone asked: "Mr. Bartolio, why did the fire suddenly happen?"

"I don't know about that. The fire police said it might be a rat."

Everyone fell silent again.

Later, Giuseppe, one of the top leaders of the organization, clapped his hands and said: "Everyone cheer up. Mr. Paoli has sent an order to organize a riot in Calgès, and we have to discuss this matter now."

At the same time, an American lawyer came to London and knocked on Paulie's door.