Victor shook his head at Ben Harden Pasha's proposal.

"Dear Pasha, I think it's best to leave the matter of screening to us. After all, we are more in tune with their beliefs. ”

It's just that this proposal, Ben Harden Pasha hesitated slightly. Because slaves are wealth, and more slaves are more wealth. And the captured slaves are now the wealth of the Turkish Empire. And the right to use this wealth is in his hands, so that every additional Christian slave means that his interests will be lost to a certain extent. Therefore, although he himself has a certain amount of goodwill towards the French, this does not mean that he is willing to suffer losses in his interests.

So Victor believed that if the matter was to be dealt with by Ben Haden Pasha, he would at most give a few more Christian slaves for the sake of face. It was not possible to create a large number of Christian slaves, as Victor had hoped.

But Victor was now in great need of a sufficient number of Christian slaves. Although according to the agreement between the two countries, the land that could be allocated to the original Christian slaves did not increase or decrease according to the number of Christian slaves, (because if the land allocated to Christian slaves increased due to the increase in the number of Christian slaves, it means that the more Christian slaves, the less benefits will be given to Turkey, which will inevitably lead the Turks to artificially reduce the number of Christian slaves, thus laying a landmine for cooperation between the two countries.) But more Christian slaves means being able to quickly form a community, to build power. And prepare for various actions thereafter.

But also because of the interest involved, and Ben Harden Pasha was well aware, Victor had a very strong incentive to increase the number of Christian slaves as much as possible, because the more Christian slaves were rescued, the more the French showed the righteousness of this action, and the more the title of "Emperor of the Romans" ruled by Bonaparte was more like an honor, more like a European leader, and more like a joke.

Therefore, Ben Haden Pasha believes that if the French are left to their own screening, they are afraid that Victor will use all means to seduce and even force those who are not Christians to become Christian slaves. In fact, there is no need for special temptation or coercion, just to tell them that if you are Christians, you can immediately become yeoman farmers and own your own land. Except for those who are really devout believers in the true God, a whole bunch of people will pounce on them and shout "Helloluia."

So Ben Haden Pasha replied: "Mr. Consul, I think you are clearly distrusting us by doing so. ”

Victor immediately replied: "It's not that we don't trust you, it's that the list you gave us last time is so untrustworthy that according to what we have learned before, and even according to the documents of some pirates we have captured, the confessions of the pirates captured alive can prove that there are far more Christian slaves in the plantations near Tripoli than that." And in our inquiries about the Christian slaves that you have given us, we also learn that there are many Christian slaves with whom they have not been sent to us. So, you see, dear Pasha, how can we trust you in such a situation? ”

Ben Harden Pasha paused for a moment, and then hurriedly said: "It's all because those bastards down there are too lazy......"

"That's why we can't leave all those things to them anymore." Victor Road.

"Well," said Ben Harden Pasha, "then as far as the screening is concerned, at least we have to participate...... In this way, I think this is a fair and reasonable approach. ”

So the two men 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 were involved, but in the selection process, out of every five screening objects, the French could have a period of time alone with one of them. 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 identified as a Christian. In addition, a Christian slave must be recognized as a Christian slave who works on the same farm as him, otherwise he cannot be recognized as a Christian.

Of course, this is only a preliminary verbal agreement, and as for the specific implementation, Ben Haden Pasha insisted that it must wait until the representatives of the Holy See also arrive before it can begin.

This was ostensibly a sign of respect for the Holy See, but in reality it was an attempt to stall for time and to take measures to prevent the emergence of a mass mass of slaves claiming to be Christians, who are still in their hands, coercive and inducement, given the time...... Ah, the latter one is no, it's coercion and intimidation, what kind of heretics just deceive you, and the heretics want to trick you into killing people and sacrificing or something, to scare them, to fool them.

Victor also knew this, but he also knew that the people of the Holy See should be able to arrive soon, and he could not afford to let the Turks drive a wedge between France and the Holy See for the sake of these few days. Besides, with his knowledge of the Turks, he did not think that the brainwashing skills of the Turks were so high that in a few days they would be able to convince others of everything he said.

To say that the people of the Holy See came very quickly, because steam passenger ships have not yet become popular, so they do not have steam ships that can be practical, and can only use ordinary sailing ships. The only sailboat that can offer higher speed is the clipper. But the comfort level of the clipper has always been very problematic, and even in the Mediterranean, where the sea is calm most of the time, the comfort of the clipper is terrible. The representative of the Holy See, Bishop Torres, was already an old man in his sixties, and given his health, he should honestly come over on a normal passenger ship that could only walk a little more than four nautical miles an hour on average.

But Bishop Torres showed the courage to do whatever it took for the cause of God, and he took his retinue, rented a clipper, and rushed to Tripoli as fast as he could. So the day after Victor and Ben Haden Pasha reached a verbal agreement, he arrived in Tripoli. And God seems to have really blessed Bishop Torres, although when he got off the ship, because of seasickness, he still needed two attendants to support him one on the left and one on the right to get off the ship. But what is surprising is that after disembarking, he only rested in the temporary station for more than an hour, and immediately recovered his spirits, and took the initiative to find Victor here.

"Bishop Torres, why are you here? I thought you were going to get some rest. As soon as he saw Bishop Torres, Victor couldn't help but ask.

"Ah, I do need a rest, but I can't rest at the thought of the poor lambs." Bishop Torres said, "Consul Treville, I have just arrived here, and I am still very unfamiliar with the situation here, can you tell me about it?" ”

Victor gave him a detailed account of his negotiations with Ben Haden Pasha over the past two days, and the verbal agreement they had reached.

Bishop Torres listened, thought for a moment, and then said, "Mr. Consul, you are very thoughtful. Let us go and meet the Pasha together, time is of the essence now, and I reckon that cunning heretic is now using this time to intimidate our followers. We can't let his tricks succeed, and the screening must begin immediately, as soon as possible. ”

"Bishop Torres, you really don't need a break?" Victor Road.

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

So Victor and Bishop Torres went to see Ben Haden Pasha.

By this time, it was already night, and Ben Harden Pasha had already taken a shower and was going to go to bed to do some fitness exercises. But he didn't want a servant to come and report to Consul Fafranci asking to see him.

If it were someone else, Ben Haden Pasha would have dragged that guy out and whipped him hard, but it was the French consul, so ...... Then I can only hurry up and get dressed and come out to meet people.

When he reached the living room, Ben Haden Pasha saw that two people were already sitting in the guest seats. One was the French consul Tréville, whom he knew, and the other was a priest with a cross on his chest and wearing a bishop's robe. He understood that it was the arrival of a representative of the Catholic Church.

Bishop Torres arrived in Tripoli in the evening, and the Turkish guards on the dock naturally knew about this matter, and naturally they had to report it, but at that time, Ben Haden Pasha was having dinner, so no one dared to tell him; When Ben Harden Pasha finished eating, he was watching the dance again, and naturally no one dared to disturb him at this time; By the time the dancing was over, Ben Haden Pasha was about to take a shower again; By the time Ben Haden Pasha had finished his shower, he was naturally going to go to bed and do sports - so until now, he did not know that the representatives of the Holy See had arrived.

But Ben Harden Pasha didn't think it was his problem, and he decided that it was because his bastards were too lazy to do things, and they all deserved to be whipped. On the whole, though, Ben Harden Pasha was a very merciful man, at least, his punishment was more whipping and less beheading.

"Consul Trevier, I wonder why you came to me so late? 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 had just arrived today, and I had advised him to come back tomorrow, but the Bishop felt that it would be rude not to come to the master at once when he arrived at the place, so I came with him. ”