April 20, 1770, the fifth day of the Duke of Choiseul's visit.

With the arrival of the Duke of Choiseul and the French garrison, the situation in Corsica was much calmer, both internally and externally.

Lawrence received a report yesterday from the Northern Army that the Genoese were already retreating, and it appeared that they were preparing to abandon Corsica completely, presumably as a result of pressure from the French Army on Genoa proper.

In addition, since Genoa itself was almost included in the territory of the Kingdom of Sardinia, this deterrent action by the French army undoubtedly affected the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The Sardinian army that Lawrence had previously defeated at Bonifacio, who had remained in southern Corsica since regrouping, had now withdrawn from Corsica quite simply.

As for the British, although the Corsican garrison led by Major Serreux was only more than 2,000 people, it also formed a considerable deterrent, so that the British did not come directly to Corsica to trouble Lawrence during this time, and it seemed that they were preparing to solve the problem at the negotiating table in the future.

Although this stable environment is due to the protection of the French, Lawrence also knows that such a state of dependence on French protection cannot last long, and it is necessary to take advantage of the current stable environment to improve Corsica's own national strength as soon as possible.

As for Lawrence's negotiations with the Duke of Schwarcel, on April 15, the day of the Duke of Schwarsell's arrival, he agreed with Lawrence on the matters of the National Silver Company, which was undoubtedly the greatest gain of his visit to Corsica.

In the view of the Duke of Choiseul, as long as Lawrence's financing on the Paris Stock Exchange went smoothly, the Ajaccio silver mines would soon be on the right track, and France would be able to reap much better returns than he had expected from the meager tax revenues.

After the two sides agreed on this important matter, the next few days were discussed in a very routine and trivial way of establishing the Kingdom of Corsica.

In these matters, Lawrence and the Duke of Choiseul had reached an agreement on many fundamental questions as early as the time of Toulon, and most of what was now negotiated was of ceremonial and legal considerations.

For example, where should the coronation of Louis XV as King of Corsica take place, whether a symbolic Corsican palace should be set up, in what capacity should Lawrence attend the coronation, and so on.

The French will not be left to the French to dictate the real matters of state, since the Duke of Choiseul has promised to give the Corsicans autonomy.

......

"Doge Bonaparte, it is glad that we have agreed on the place of the coronation, which should take place at the Palace of Versailles, and possibly in the Palace of Douilleri."

In the auditorium of the Doge's Palace, the Duke of Choiseul put a pen on the agenda to indicate that the agenda had been resolved, and then spoke:

"Then the next thing to discuss is who will coronate King Louis."

Lawrence nodded, although France is often referred to as the great filial son of the Catholic Church, in such a highly ceremonial matter as the coronation of the crown, it is still necessary to crown a representative of the church.

"And who are your candidates?" Lawrence asked directly.

"Although in the position of King Louis, it should be a cardinal who crowns him..."

The Duke of Choiseul looked at the papers in his hand and said:

"But since the coronation is the Corsican crown, I think it will need to be done by the Archbishop of Corsican."

"Bishop of Corsica..."

The figure of Bishop Ekobair immediately came to Lawrence's mind, and he is still under house arrest in the Governor's Palace, like the other councillors.

Until the Kingdom of Corsican was officially established, Lawrence was not prepared to lift the house arrest of the parliamentarians and the Bishop of Ekobair.

"The Bishop of Corsica is in the Doge's Palace, do you need to see him?"

Lawrence asked Duke Choiseul.

And the Duke of Choiseul looked at the time on the pendulum clock, frowned and waved his hand, and said:

"Forget it, you can help me inform him. Except for the Pope, no clergy would refuse to crown the King of France, and that is a great blessing for them."

The Duke of Choiseul was right, the clergy of this era were not pure-hearted and devotive to the saints, and the clergy class gradually lost their theocratic status after the Thirty Years' War, but their secular status gradually increased.

They were also very willing and active in the country's economy and politics, such as Bishop Ekobair as Speaker of the Council of Corsica, and even when Louis XV was young, Cardinal Fleury controlled French politics as regent for nearly twenty years.

For Bishop Ekobar, the coronation of Louis XV was a great opportunity to expose himself to the French upper class, and it was an opportunity he had to seize if he wanted to break away from the backward and impoverished land of Corsica.

And Lawrence listened, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise slightly, since the Duke of Choiseul was not ready to communicate directly with Bishop Ekobair, then there was a lot of room for his own operation.

"Of course, I'll make it clear to him."

Lawrence smiled and nodded in response.

......

After the negotiations with the Duke of Choiseul were over, Anna leaned into Lawrence's ear and whispered:

"Sir, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Cogello, said he wanted to see you."

"Cojero? Let him see me in his study."

When Lawrence heard that Cojero was going to see him, he probably guessed that the tax reform he had asked the Treasury to compile was completed, so he said hello to the Duke of Choiseul and left.

A few minutes later, Lawrence saw in his study Mr. Cogiero, who was in a state of limbo and yellow-skinned, and it seemed that he had not slept well for a few days in the past few days to compile the eucalyptus.

"Good afternoon, Governor Bonaparte."

Corgiro grinned and handed Lawrence a heavy piece of paperwork in his hand, along with a one-page summary for Lawrence's speed

Lawrence nodded approvingly, and was able to submit the eucalyptus to himself in just five days, and this Mr. Coggeiro still has some ability.

Lawrence then picked up the summary and looked at it, and although the document was very codified, most of it was complex legal terms.

Lawrence's instruction to Cogiro was actually very simple, that is, to abolish the poll tax and replace it with a land tax, which is very similar to the well-known apportionment of acres in Oriental history.

"Hmm... Not bad."

Lawrence nodded with satisfaction as he looked at the summary, which was full of new tax rates and tax bases calculated by Cojero based on Corsican conditions.

Seeing Lawrence's satisfied look, Cojero quickly breathed a sigh of relief, and asked tentatively:

"Are you going to submit this grass to the council for discussion?"

"There's no need for that."

Lawrence shook his head and said:

"I need it to be experimented with in some area at once, to further modify the eucalyptus in the results of the experiment, and to wait until it is fully mature before it can be introduced to the whole of Corsica. In addition to this, I need you to organize the land survey and population settlement throughout Corsica in preparation for the reform in the future."

Monsieur Coggiero looked at Lawrence in surprise, and thought to himself that the Governor of Bonaparte had been very rational and had taken the liberty of carrying out this haphazard application throughout Corsica, and that this successive set of measures had been very meticulous.

"And where are you going to do it?"

But Cogiero still asked with some hesitation, in his opinion, no matter where it was implemented, there would undoubtedly be strong opposition from the landlords in that area.

And for this question, Lawrence has already answered, and said directly:

"The eastern part of the outskirts of Ajaccio."

"The eastern part of the suburbs...?" Cojero was stunned, and then hurriedly said:

"But most of it is monastery land, and the clergy don't have to pay taxes."

"From now on, they need to pay taxes." Lawrence said as firmly as if he were telling the established facts.

"But..."

Cojero was still very uneasy, and continued to dissuade:

"They are the church, and the church has the right not to pay taxes."

"But as I said, they don't have that power now."

Lawrence glanced at Cojero and said:

"Remember, Mr. Cojero, we are the Public, they are the Church. In Corsica, public authority is above clerical authority."

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Chapter 138 The Ecclesiastical Authority Must Be Read Free of Charge under the Public Authority.