"Oh my God, Major Bonaparte, those are two boxes of counterfeit coins, and although I must admit that your speech is excellent, are you going to send them these counterfeits in a year's time?"

Major Trefali sat on his horse, looked at a box of gold coins in amazement, and said worriedly.

Lawrence shook his head firmly, although these soldiers had offended him in the past two days, as long as they chose to follow him, Lawrence would certainly not use these little tricks to repay their loyalty.

Swords, guns, and tricks are reserved for the enemy, and he will never do any harm to the people that Lawrence believes to be.

Now the group was on their way back to Bastia, on the one hand, to accompany the cuirassiers on their way back, and they had helped Lawrence a great favor just now.

On the other hand, it is necessary to return these counterfeit coins as soon as possible, after all, Lawrence also knows that if a large number of counterfeit coins are circulating in the market, it will be a fatal blow to a small economy like Corsica.

On the streets of Bastia, Lawrence shook hands with the cuirassiers he led.

After listening to Lawrence's exciting speech, the cavalryman also understood that Lawrence's attack on those soldiers was not to kill innocents indiscriminately, but to encircle those disobedient soldiers into his command as soon as possible.

"Major Bonaparte, I have to admit that you have a lot of means." The cavalry said convincingly.

Lawrence smiled and said casually: "Of course, it is not as good as your superior, General Paulie's means. ”

The cavalryman's face changed suddenly, and he didn't know whether Lawrence was a casual joke or an ulterior motive when he said this. If there are ulterior motives, the meaning of this deliberate comparison between himself and Poly is obvious.

After a few seconds of deliberation, the cavalryman replied cautiously:

"Perhaps, Major, you are still so young, no one can say for sure what the future holds."

"That's right."

Lawrence took his hand and patted the cavalry on the shoulder intimately, saying goodbye to him, they needed to return to Ajaccio after their escort mission.

After bidding farewell to the cavalry, Lawrence and Trefary returned the two boxes of counterfeit coins to the quartermaster in Bastia. Due to the large number of counterfeit coins, the quartermaster just glanced at them casually, and presumably accepted them after being correct.

As for the batch of supplies needed by the fourth battalion, the quartermaster said that it was still being deployed and would be sent within tomorrow.

Before leaving, Lawrence asked the quartermaster for a map of the area around Bastia, and the situation inside the 4th Battalion was basically dealt with, and it was time to start preparing to attract the Genoese to take the initiative.

Then the two of them found a vacant, unlocked house on the street for half a day, and as for why they didn't go back to camp, Lawrence also considered the need to give the soldiers enough time to think and adapt.

It was also because the stinking conditions in the camp were unbearable for Lawrence.

"So, what is our mission?" Major Trevary spread the map he had just received on the table, and skillfully used a graphite pen to mark the location of the various strategic points on the map.

Lawrence looked at the map and thought for a moment, he really had little experience in marching and fighting, so he had to come up with a general policy, and how to implement it had to rely on Trefary, a seasoned soldier, to plan.

"Seventy miles north of Bastia, this Genoese fortress, how is the garrison in it?"

Lawrence pointed to the map and asked Trefary.

Major Trefali, though he was also a first-time visitor to Bastia, had the right to know many of the reports from the Northern Legion while he was in Ajaccio, and explained:

"We call it the Fortress of Creek, and this is the most garrisoned fortress of the Genoese, and it has always been in front of the northern legions of Bastia."

Lawrence nodded, then as long as the enemy troops in this fortress can be attracted out of the city, and the collective retreat of the Northern Army can be cooperated, the Genoese are very likely to take advantage of the situation to recover Bastia and continue to push the battle line forward, and then the withdrawal can be completed logically.

"Is there a way to engage enemy troops outside the fortress." Lawrence asked with a frown.

Major Trevally pondered for a moment and said:

"The opposing fortress is strong and well supplied, and it is unlikely that it will take the initiative to attack. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless we deliberately expose a big flaw, but that's too risky."

"Really—" Lawrence stared at the map, weighing the pros and cons.

The two men then discussed how to lure the Genoese army out of the fortress, but whatever the method, it was concluded that it would be almost impossible to do so with the strength of the 4th Battalion.

The fourth battalion was only more than two hundred men, and the defenders in the Creekwood fortress would not see them as any threat, and even if they went out of the city to meet them, they would only send small troops, not as large as Lawrence wanted.

It was getting late, and Lawrence and Trafali had to put the map away and discuss it when they returned to camp the next day.

The next morning, Lawrence and Travary sat up from the hard bed, and slept on this kind of wooden plank with only a layer of hay, which really gave Lawrence some back pain.

Simply packing their belongings, the two were about to return to the camp on the outskirts of the city, when they were suddenly stopped by a soldier on the street.

"Major Bonaparte, Major Crufarly, General Nathan asks you to meet him at command at once." The soldier saluted the two and said succinctly.

Lawrence's eyes narrowed slightly, and he and Trefary looked at each other, not knowing what General Nathan was going to do when he suddenly summoned them. However, since it was an order from their superiors, the two had to turn around and go to Nathan's longhouse.

When Lawrence saw General Nathan, he was sitting at his desk with a serious face, and the desk that was usually full of papers was now very neat, with only a flat letter on the table.

"You guys are here, sit down." Nathan's eyes were still fixed on the letter, and he casually beckoned the two to sit down.

Lawrence was also keenly aware that Nathan's words, although very concise, lacked a bit of hostility towards himself in his tone.

Seeing the two of them sit down, Nathan sighed slightly, pushed the letter on the table to Lawrence, and said:

"General Paulie's order only arrived this morning."

Since Nathan took the initiative to show himself, explaining that he had the right to know the contents, Lawrence did not give up, and directly picked up the letter and glanced at it a few times.

The letter was simple, and Paulie asked Nathan to prepare for the withdrawal from Bastia within three days, including the delivery of weapons and supplies and the evacuation of civilians around Bastia.

In addition, once the main Genoese army marched towards Bastia, it was not possible to meet it, and it was necessary to take the initiative to give up Bastia.

"As far as I know, the parliament obviously vetoed the bill of the southern return of the front." General Nathan said in a low voice with his chin in his hands.

Lawrence glanced General Nathan in the eye and said:

"We can't let the Parliament's bunch of wine bags and rice bags dictate the fate of Corsica."

General Nathan must have guessed that Pauly was trying to forcibly withdraw the army after seeing Pauly's order, which had not been revealed to him in order to prevent leaks, and now that the withdrawal plan was about to start, the supreme commander of the Northern Army could no longer be kept in the dark.

Presumably, this is also the implicit meaning of Poly's order.