In the markets of the north and south districts, the turmoil caused by Captain Harley has not dissipated.

Under his coercive orders, the patrolmen were forced to rein in the vendors, and then emptied each of their wallets with fines and fees under various guises.

At first, a few young and strong men stood up to resist, but soon, as their bloodied bodies collapsed in the market, no one dared to dare Harled's atrocities.

At the same time, Ajaccio's East Town is not quiet.

"Alas... Alas..."

Carlo lay down on his desk, staring at a beautifully printed gilded envelope and dozens of pages of stationery inside, sighing incessantly.

On the envelope, which had been opened, it was a letter from the Doge's Palace, and it was a personal letter sent by Paulie himself.

While singing a lullaby in a low voice, Maria walked into Carlo's study with the sleeping little Napoleon in her arms, looked at Carlo who was still sighing, and asked in a worried whisper:

"Honey, what's wrong with you? Your sighs haven't stopped, it's been almost an hour. ”

Carlomo stood up silently, walked up to Maria, took little Napoleon from her hand, and gently brushed the broken hair on Napoleon's forehead.

"You first carry the baby to the nurse for a while, and then come to me, and remember to close the door when you come in."

Carlo only hugged it for a moment, then handed it back to Maria, and then looked at the letters on her desk.

After a few moments, Maria returned to her study, slammed the door tightly, and sat down across from Carlo, tilting her head to see what was in the letter on the table.

"Such a thick letter, is it a case you are responsible for?" Maria asked with a slight frown.

Carlo shook his head slowly, picked up the letter and sorted it out, then carefully put it in the drawer, looked at Maria and said solemnly:

"Honey, you can't say what I'm going to say next, at least not for the next few days."

"Swear to God, I won't." Maria said with a cross drawn on her chest.

Carlo took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and hesitated for a moment before speaking:

"We... It's time to be British. ”

"British?" Maria looked at Carlo in amazement, wondering why her husband said that.

"Corsicans, to be exact, are going to be British."

Carlo held his forehead, couldn't help but sigh, and said:

"The Governor of Poly has sent me this letter saying that at the Parliament at the beginning of next month, I will need to vote in favour of the annexation of Corsica to England."

The two men in the study stared at each other in silence for a moment.

Maria patted Carlo on the shoulder and said with a soft smile:

"Whatever you decide, my children and I will support you."

"Thank you, Maria." Carlo shook his head with a wry smile and added:

"Governor Poly did promise me generous terms, that he would retain my status as a member of Parliament, and that he would make me Lord of England. It's just that... I think I'll have to talk to Lawrence about it. ”

Maria also nodded in understanding and said:

"Isn't your brother visiting Count Marbeov, though? Is he back? ”

"I don't know, maybe I should write a letter and ask Count Marbeov."

Carlo stood up in distress and said that although his brother had been dismissed, he still had a lot of influence in Ajaccio, which was an important reason why Carlo wanted Lawrence's opinion.

However, there is only a week to go before the regular meeting at the beginning of next month, and Carlo is also a little worried about whether Lawrence will be able to return in time during this time.

Just as Carlo was a little hesitant, he heard his butler suddenly knock on the wooden door of the study.

"Come in." Carlo said casually.

The butler pushed the door open, still holding an open envelope in his hand, and bowed to Carlo:

"My lord, a little boy just knocked on the door and said that he had sent a letter at someone's request. The content has been viewed and appears to be an invitation. ”

For such a letter of unknown origin, the butler will naturally confirm the content in advance, so Carlo was not angry, but took the letter from the butler's hand with some confusion and glanced at it.

The content of the letter was very simple, just hoping that Carlo would immediately change into civilian clothes and go to a common tavern in the southern part of the city.

"This handwriting..."

Carlo stared at the letter for a long time, and then suddenly exclaimed:

"This is Lawrence's handwriting!"

"Really?" Maria asked, somewhat incredulous:

"He's back to Ajaccio? Why not just come here? ”

"I don't know, he maybe... There are his considerations. ”

Carlo glanced at the name of the tavern on the letterhead again, then swallowed nervously and folded the letter in his hand and tore it to shreds.

Paulie's letter and Lawrence's letter were delivered at about the same time, which also made Carlo faintly aware of something.

......

At Lawrence's request, Carlo changed into a plain cloth shirt with long sleeves and walked to the tavern mentioned in the letter.

"Here."

As soon as Carlo entered, a young man who covered half of his body with a linen cloak poked him in the back stealthily, and then led him to a table in the corner to sit down.

"Lawrence, it's really you! Why are you dressed like this? Also, why did Governor Poly remove all of your official positions? ”

Carlo looked at the face under the cloak, it was indeed his younger brother, and he was also surprised and delighted and hurriedly asked in a low voice.

Lawrence just shook his head and said in a deep voice:

"Poly is going to give Corsica to the British, I don't want to, that's all."

Carlo was surprised and said:

"Huh? How did you know that Governor Poly was going to annex Corsica to the British? ”

Lawrence was also stunned for a moment, and asked rhetorically:

"Wait, it's you, Carlo, how do you know?"

"Governor Poly sent a letter just a few hours ago, the letter mentioned." Carlo explained in a low voice.

Lawrence couldn't help frowning when he heard this, lowered his head and pondered for a while, and said to himself:

"If that's the case... All parliamentarians should have received this news, that is..."

Lawrence jerked his head up, looked at Carlo and asked:

"Regular meeting at the beginning of next month?"

"Yes, that's right." Carlo didn't expect Lawrence to deduce so much information from his own words, and nodded subconsciously.

Lawrence waved over to the waiter and ordered two beers at random, making the two look more like real drinkers.

Picking up the wine glass and tasting it, Lawrence swallowed the sour beer in his mouth with the feeling of vomiting, then put the big glass aside and whispered solemnly:

"Carlo, what do you think of Pauly's approach?"

"I—" Carlo paused for a moment's hesitation, and whispered:

"Governor Poly gave me good conditions, but... I think for other people, I mean ordinary Corsicans, maybe that's not a good thing. ”

Lawrence listened silently, occasionally nodding in agreement.

"That's right, Lawrence."

Carlo's face already showed a worried look, he sighed, looked at Lawrence and said:

"You just said that you opposed Governor Pauly's resolution, so what are you going to do? You don't have an official position anymore, you don't have a parliamentary vote, and my vote won't make any difference..."

"Overthrow him."

"What?"

"Overthrow him."

"You... Overthrow? Governor Poly? ”

Carlo almost couldn't control the volume, and even the hand holding the glass couldn't help but shake and spill the beer on his legs.

"At the Parliament on April 1st, I will put an end to the Poly era."

Lawrence whispered quietly, as if to say what to eat for dinner today.

"I... I don't understand, how to overthrow, it's not a joke, Lawrence. ”

Carlo looked around nervously, making sure that no one else heard their conversation.

Lawrence leaned forward, lowered his voice, and informed Carlo of his pact with the Duke of Choiseul.

"It's... It's crazy, but..."

Carlo didn't come back to Lawrence's plan for a while, and it wasn't until he took a sip of beer that he came to his senses and said:

"This is the only way we can continue to call ourselves Corsicans."

"What are you going to do, Carlo?" Lawrence asked, nodding.

Carlo took a deep breath and said with determination:

"I'll support you, Lawrence."

......

After Carlo had left the tavern, Lawrence continued to sit in his seat and drank all the sour beer in small sips so as not to arouse suspicion.

"I wanted to ask Carlo to help me pay attention to Poly's movements, but I didn't expect to know the time when Poly made the treaty public."

Lawrence moved the empty wine glass aside, beckoned to the waiter, slapped a few silver coins on the table, and then got up and whispered:

"April 1st... For Paulie, he probably wished that everything that day was just an April Fool's joke. ”