After Victor said this, Bishop Torres also bowed to Ben Haden Pasha. Considering that the other party was a pagan, he said that the words "God be with you" were omitted from his greeting. Despite the fact that Bishop Torres was an "evil heretic" and a "viper spitting letters" when talking to Victor, he was still very polite when facing real people.

But Ben Harden Pasha would certainly rather he not be so polite than have him come to him at this time. This was not only because he disturbed his own interest, but also because the emissary of the Holy See came so quickly that many of his arrangements were too late.

However, at this time, he still had to make a very enthusiastic appearance and said to Bishop Torres: "Welcome, Bishop Torres. We've been looking forward to seeing you here for a long time. ”

After the greetings, everyone sat down, and the maid brought coffee. Ben Harden Pasha asked, "Consul Treville, Bishop Torres, you must have been visiting late at night, you must also have business, right?" ”

Victor smiled and said, "Pasha, we agreed last time, as soon as the representative of His Majesty the Pope arrives here, we can start the screening of slaves. So we came here to discuss with Pasha and see when this work could officially begin. ”

In this regard, Ben Harden Pasha naturally wanted to delay as much as possible, and he first excused himself by saying that Bishop Torres had come from afar to work hard and should have a good rest first; Then he said that his side was not quite ready. In short, it is for one reason or another that this screening work has to be postponed a little longer, and it will definitely not work tomorrow, and it will be too late the day after tomorrow, even if it is a week later, it is still enough.

When Victor heard this, he immediately said in a very relaxed tone: During this time, the French fleet has been on duty at sea for too long, and a large amount of coal and shells are consumed every day, and now, there are not many coals and shells on the warship, and I am afraid that it will soon need to return to Toulon to add water to coal.

If, at this time, the French fleet suddenly withdrew halfway, the siege of Tunisia would naturally have to be delayed, and now that the battle was halfway through, the empire would have to spend a lot of money for every additional day of delay. The value of a few Christian slaves is nothing compared to this expenditure.

But Ben Harden Pasha is not the kind of person who will be bluffed casually. Although he knew that the commander of the French Navy, Admiral Tréville, was the uncle of the Consul Tréville in front of him, he did not think that the French would make a big deal for such a small matter, not to mention that if such a thing really happened, it would be the interests of the Reich that would be lost; But when it comes to screening Christian slaves, it is at the expense of one's own interests. Compared with its own interests, the interests of the empire, no matter how great, are nothing?

Moreover, if the war dragged on, it would be equally detrimental to the national interests of France, although the damage to the interests of France would not be as great as the interests of the Turkish Empire. And Ben Harden believes that under normal circumstances, France will never allow the interests of the country to be seriously damaged for the sake of small personal interests. Otherwise, France would not have become the most powerful country in the whole of Europe. What's more, the Consul of Trevil in front of him is only surnamed Trevill, not Bonaparte after all.

Therefore, Ben Harden said quite strongly that he fully understands the needs of the French fleet and hopes that the French fleet can return to the battlefield as soon as possible after completing the task of refueling coal and ammunition.

When Victor saw Ben Haden Pasha say this, he couldn't do anything about him for a while, but Bishop Torres opened his mouth: "Venerable Pasha, in addition to the matter of starting the screening as soon as possible, I have one more thing to trouble Pasha. ”

"Bishop, if there's anything, just ask. You know, we in the Turkish Empire have always been very religiously generous, and we are happy to let the requests of the Scripture come true. ”

The term "Scripture" refers to Jews and Christians. Relatively speaking, at least in this era, compared to the Christian dominions, the Eutheistic Church is indeed very generous to the "people of the Book".

"Since there are so many believers of God who are going to settle here, of course they need a church." "I would like to buy a piece of land from the Pasha for the construction of the church. ”

"Isn't the land for the construction of the church already allocated to you?" Ben Haden Pasha asked.

"Ah, Venerable Pasha, it is here, there is a little problem with that land, it is too close to the harbor, it is too noisy, so I hope to buy another piece of land from you for the construction of the church."

Ben Haden Pasha pascinated slightly, then laughed: "Bishop, you shouldn't have sold that piece of land to Consul Tréville, right?" ”

In the original plan, the land allocated to the Holy See for the construction of the church was quite close to the pier, and in terms of value, it was probably one of the higher places in the whole city. Selling the land to someone else and then using the money to build a church elsewhere at a lower price is likely to make a profit.

Bishop Torres did not admit to this speculation, but he did not deny it either. Instead, he smiled and said, "In addition, how big this church is and how big a piece of land should be bought has a lot to do with the number of believers." Therefore, I still hope to start the process of screening believers as soon as possible. ”

Ben Haden Pasha understood exactly what the other party meant, and he thought, "I must stand firm, this heretic is trying to corrupt me." I must stand firm, and I must not agree easily, unless he can come up with a real, heart-warming price. ”

So the negotiation quickly went from discussing when to start the screening of slaves, to buying a piece of land there, how much land to buy, and how much it would cost per unit. Ben Harden Pasha also asked someone to bring the map, and everyone discussed it on the map together. In the end, Bishop Torres and Ben Haden Pasha negotiated the sale of a piece of land in the city at a price that was clearly at a premium.

After talking about this purchase, the attitude between the three of them suddenly improved a lot, and even Ben Harden Pasha felt that although these two guys disturbed his normal life, if every time he disturbed, such a result could be formed in the end, then he would be disturbed a few more times, and he was very willing.

"Dear Pasha," Bishop Torres added, "about the screening of slaves......

"Ah," said Ben Harden Pasha with a laugh, "though this matter is a bit troublesome, but it will surely satisfy you, Bishop, if it is wrapped up in me." Well, it's a bit too late to start tomorrow, and I'll see what you think from the day after tomorrow......"

After everything was settled, Victor and Bishop Torres took their leave.

On the way back, Victor said to Bishop Torres convincingly: "My lord, I really learned a lot from you today. ”

"Ah, that's nothing. Those heretics are not gentlemen in the first place, so when you talk to them, you can only talk about interests. Bishop Torres smiled, "Also, Mr. Consul, I don't know what kind of offer you would give me for the original site of the church. Well, it must be a little higher than the price I negotiated with the infidel just now, because I don't have the money to pay the price of the land. ”

To be honest, it is definitely financially worth to buy the location of the original church at a slightly higher price than the new location of the church they just negotiated.

"But Bishop, I don't have that much money either." Victor Road.

"Ah, that's not a problem, we also have a bank in the Holy See that can lend you money, and I can guarantee a favorable interest rate......"