Standing at the pinnacle of the kingdom's power, the two looked at each other, confronting each other in the Palace of Versailles like dragons and tigers.

The invisible aura of the two violently collided together, and the surging coercion spread like a huge wave of wind surging and spreading in all directions, making the ministers present tremble and shudder.

The King and the Duke stared at each other silently, and although their expressions had now returned to calmness, anyone present could see that there was a murderous intent hidden under their calm expressions.

In this small side hall, every second seems to be stretched out to a century by the confrontation between Louis XV and the Duke of Choiseul.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the Duke of Choiseul was the first to break the deadlock.

He took a deep breath, looked away from His Majesty's eyes, and then slowly lowered his proud head, and said in a low manner:

"It's me who is too excited, Your Majesty, and please accept my sincerest apologies."

Everyone, including Louis XV, knew that the Duke of Choiseul was only superficial obedience and concession.

The Duke may simply have felt inappropriate to clash with His Majesty on the first day of his return to Versailles, even though he had confronted Louis XV several times before, and almost always the Duke of Choiseul had the upper hand.

Lawrence looked at the two without saying a word, this was the first time he had seen the confrontation between the Duke of Choiseul and Louis XV, and it seems that the historical record that "the Duke of Choiseul was able to threaten and intimidate the king" is not groundless.

"I accept your apology, but you have to remember—" Louis XV's voice was low and cold, and he did not know if it was because of physical reasons or if he wanted to give a warning to the Duke of Choiseul:

"During the Neapolitan Civil War, I would not let a single French soldier shed a drop of blood in Italy."

Louis XV did not forget to glance at the ministers in the room out of the corner of his eye, and it was clear that His Majesty's words were also addressed to all the ministers.

Louis XV was already telling his courtiers, especially those who supported Choiseul, in the most straightforward terms, that France would never and would never again get involved in war.

The Duke of Choiseul did not react in any way to this admonition, and His Majesty's attitude towards war avoidance and neutrality had been expected by him.

But the duke still knowingly and tentatively asked:

"Since the last defeat, our army has been expanding its armaments and fighting for nearly ten years, and now your majesty, why would you take the initiative to give up this opportunity to be a shameful one."

"What do you mean—" Louis XV snorted coldly, and stretched out his hand to point to where the Neapolitan ambassador had just been seated, and his tone was already extremely unkind:

"This group of ungrateful Italians has captured the knights I have sheltered, and now they want me to crush the rebels for them at the risk of the wounds of the last great war, the financial deficit at home, and the risk of bringing France into the abyss of war?!"

The Duke of Choiseul nodded quietly, and did not give any further advice.

However, the Duke of Choiseul knew it from the bottom of his heart, as did Lawrence and the Earl of Vergeg, including the ministers:

The Maltese affair, the fiscal deficit, the trauma of the last great war, these are really just excuses for His Majesty.

The real reason for His Majesty's strongest determination against the war was not financial and diplomatic constraints, but a crucial political one:

A new continental war would elevate the status of Duke Choiseul to unprecedented proportions.

Everyone knew that in the French military system, the men and cronies of the Duke of Choiseul were the most powerful factional group in the entire army, and the Duke himself held a high position in the hearts of soldiers and officers.

The key officers who came out of the Paris Military Academy alone occupied a very important place in the army.

Therefore, once war broke out in France, unless Louis XV was willing to risk the collapse of his army

The risk of collapse and organizational collapse of Choissell was greatly reduced, otherwise this duke would have been the one who would have coordinated the entire war and military affairs, and no one else had the ability and prestige to replace Choiseul's position.

And if the already powerful Duke of Choiseul still held the power of war in his own hands, Louis XV would not have wanted to eradicate him.

After all, the power of any wartime leader is almost always naturally strengthened as the war progresses.

For example, William Pitt Jr., the British Prime Minister during the Napoleonic Wars and the son of William Pitt, served as Prime Minister for ten years in the turbulent British political arena at that time because he led the war against France.

Had it not been for his untimely death from a sudden illness, he would have held power much longer.

Including President Roosevelt during World War II, he was also elected president for four consecutive terms because of the war.

The same was true for the Duke of Choiseul, who was desperate to burn the flames of war to France, and indeed to all of Europe, so that his eternal scepter could be forged with the blazing flames of war.

As long as France, the giant of Western Europe, went to war, the Duke of Choiseul, who stood on the shoulders of the giants, was unshakable.

As far as His Majesty the King was concerned, as long as France was dragged into the war, whether it was won or lost in the end, Louis XV was completely unacceptable:

If France was defeated, Louis XV could indeed take the opportunity to get rid of Choiseur, but if France, already devastated in the Seven Years' War, accepted another humiliating defeat, the consequences would be even more unacceptable than Schwart's dictatorship.

What's more, Louis XV did not want to accept the shame of a defeat in the last time of his life, the disastrous defeat of the Seven Years' War had already made the reputation of the king and even the entire royal family plummet, and if this Mediterranean War was lost again, Louis XV also knew that he would inevitably be nailed to the pillar of shame in history.

And even if France won the war, it would never be good news for the king.

The Duke of Choiseul, who was in power and opposition, would be honored and become a hero among the people and soldiers, and His Majesty would probably have to pay a great price to shake Choiseul's position.

In other words, Louis XV had only one choice – to prevent France from being caught in the Mediterranean by all means.

The Duke of Choiseul, on the other hand, had the same goal - to drag France into war at all costs and to provoke a continental war in order to consolidate his power and regain everything he had lost in the Seven Years' War.

This sudden civil war has become the last fuse between the king and the duke, and southern Italy will inevitably become the final stage of the power struggle between the two rulers.

The side that was the first to end from the stage of competition will also end forever on the stage of history.

As for Lawrence Bonaparte, who stood silently in the audience, he was no longer satisfied with continuing to be a cold witness.

...

On May 28, 1771, four days had passed since the French court learned of the civil war in Naples.

The singing and dancing Paris did not react much to this news, and the citizens only felt that it was just a small war that was lamented by the ordinary and unremarkable, after all, the most important thing in this era was war.

Compared with the civil war in a distant foreign country, the head-on conflict between the Duke of Choiseul and His Majesty the King a few days ago attracted more attention.

It is said that His Majesty directly rejected the Ambassador's request for assistance from Naples in person, and then parted ways with the Duke of Choiseul, not even attending the dinner in the Hall of Mirrors that evening.

In the days that followed, Louis XV refused to meet with the ambassadors, especially the ambassadors of Naples and Spain, on the grounds of ill health, both of whom urged France to abide by the Covenant and join the war of repression as quickly as possible.

The Duke of Orleans, as regent, was in frequent contact with envoys from various countries, but he never made a clear commitment to any of the ambassadors, and his conversations with each of them were vague and unpredictable.

It is not known whether the Duke of Orleans did not dare to act rashly without the king's instructions, or whether His Majesty the king deliberately asked him to delay time in this way.

On the other side, the Duke of Choiseul acted much more aggressively.

Although His Majesty made it clear that he would not intervene in the war, the Duke relied on the authority of the War Minister and the forces in the army to begin to deploy, many of which were mobilized even before the Duke rushed back to Versailles.

Units from several southern military districts have already begun to mobilize and prepare for war and are ready to assemble on the Alpine border.

Quartermasters have also been instructed to procure logistical supplies almost at all costs, and several arsenals in Lyon have been working at full speed to transport boxes of munitions to the major military districts day and night.

The Mediterranean Fleet stationed in Toulon also left port in the name of patrol exercises, cruising in the western Mediterranean region in a combat-ready manner, and even took the initiative to have several frictions with British ships in the past few days.

Louis XV watched the Duke of Choiseul's actions, but the king did not respond rashly, and seemed to feel that the two should avoid another conflict in the short term.

Moreover, the actions of the Duke of Choiseul were also a source of comfort to the chattering ambassadors of Naples and Spain, and Louis XV temporarily tolerated Choiseul's recklessness in order to appease the Spaniards and maintain their alliance with them.

Of course, subjects inside and outside the court knew that His Majesty's patience was not a concession.

When His Majesty really can't bear it anymore, a bloody storm may be inevitable.

...

On the morning of the 28th, in Paris, near the Quai d'Orsay, in the residence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the Comte de Vergegue has been the busiest minister in all of France in the last few days.

As the new foreign minister, he was undoubtedly the central figure in dealing with the Neapolitan civil war, and thousands of eyes were on him inside and outside the court, inside and outside the kingdom, speculating and analyzing his every word and deed, every move.

Especially when he understood that this civil war was also about the final political game between His Majesty the King and the Duke of Choiseul, the Count of Vergegon did not dare to be sloppy at all, and did not return home for several nights in a row, and had to talk with his subordinates and ambassadors until late at night.

Even when Lawrence arrived at the Foreign Secretary's residence to meet him, the Foreign Secretary was still dozing on his desk with a tired face.

"Oh! I'm really sorry, but I've been so tired lately..."

The Earl of Vergeg, who woke up, hurriedly wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, sorry for his gaffe.

Lawrence also knew the hard work of the other party, and sat down opposite the Count of Vergegon without any hesitation, and went straight to the point:

"It's been more than half a month since the outbreak of the civil war, so all countries should have expressed their stance on the Naples civil war, right?"

Count Vergegon also quickly got into the groove, and nodded solemnly.

Through the frequent meetings and exchanges with ambassadors of various countries in the past few days, as well as the information transmitted from foreign countries, Count Vergegon also completed his analysis of the diplomatic situation of the civil war in Naples last evening.

Of course, the Foreign Secretary had not forgotten who had brought him to such a high position, nor who the real master of the Foreign Office was, so the Earl of Vergegaux was the first to meet with Lawrence before presenting this top-secret report to His Majesty the King, and gave it to him for first inspection.

He handed Lawrence a summary of several pages and explained in detail:

"Spain is undoubtedly the most reactive of the major powers at the moment, having begun to mobilize their armies and fleets and are ready to go to Italy to suppress the rebellion; Their ambassador is almost living with me, and every day he asks France to intervene in the war as soon as possible."

"Your Majesty is probably a headache because of this." Lawrence looked at the summary and said with a slight chin of his head:

"Your Majesty does not want to keep the covenant and enter the war, nor does he want to lose Spain as a natural ally, and if the Franco-Spanish alliance is really broken, it will surely happen

The biggest diplomatic defeat in 30 years."

The Count of Vergegon agreed:

"Indeed, if we do fall into that situation, our enemies will probably laugh from ear to ear, and the British would most like to see a France isolated in Western Europe."

"Austria's move... And so it was." Lawrence looked at the report on Austria in the summary, and although he was not surprised, he still frowned slightly:

"They recognized the independence of the Duchy of Sicily so quickly, and also tried to provide military assistance to Sicily in the name of the Duchy of Milan and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany."

After Austria won the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714, they also made great gains in northern Italy.

The Duchy of Milan and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, two states formerly controlled by Spain, were also ceded to Austria and have remained under Austrian control ever since.

Thanks to its control of these two principalities, Austria was also able to exert great influence in northern Italy.

This time, the Austrians must have taken advantage of the civil war in Naples to envelop southern Italy into their sphere of influence, so that the whole of Italy could return to the territory of the Holy Roman Empire.

Of course, Maria Theresa did not seem to want to show too much ostentatious ambition, and at this stage she was only providing a small amount of aid in the name of the Duchy of Milan and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and Austria had only nominally granted the Duchy of Sicily independent recognition, and had not even officially recognized the Duke of Sicily as a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire.

But if the war situation spreads further, it is unclear whether Austria will join the war itself.

For the Austrian Habsburgs, the recovery of the Kingdom of Naples at the lowest cost was undoubtedly what they wanted to see the most.

And after reading the part about the attitude towards Austria, Lawrence couldn't help but think of the unfathomable Austrian ambassador in his mind:

"Prince Neo... This man also took advantage of me by the way."

In fact, as early as a few days ago, when he learned the news of the Neapolitan Civil War, Lawrence had already instantly understood why Prince Neo would join the conspiracy against the Duke of Choiseul so readily.

As for Austria, they naturally did not want to see France intervene in the war, so that the alliance between France and Austria could be successfully preserved, and Austria would have one less strong enemy in the war for Italian hegemony.

And in order to achieve this goal, the most direct way is undoubtedly to get rid of the core of the main battle faction - Duke Choiseul.

That's why Prince Neo was so neat, and he agreed to cooperate with Lawrence just through a recommendation from Crown Princess Mary, and the two had not even seen each other before the royal meeting that day.

And Prince Neo's previous stated reason for cooperation, in order to give Crown Princess Marie more control over the French court, although it is not a lie, now seems to be just an inconsequential secondary reason.

"It seems that His Royal Highness the Prince should also pay more attention."

However, Lawrence only chuckled and shook his head, not showing any emotion about Prince Neo's concealment.

After all, at that royal council, Lawrence, Prince Neo, and Louis XV were using each other.

Prince Neo used Lawrence and Louis XV to attack the pro-war Foreign Secretary Caesar Gabriel, thus reducing the likelihood of French intervention in the Italian war.

Louis XV also used Lawrence and Prince Neo against the Choiseul faction, and in one fell swoop eliminated the Duke of Choiseul's influence from the Foreign Office.

Lawrence used the two of them to prop the Count of Vergeg into the high position of Foreign Secretary, and transferred the de facto control of the Foreign Office to his own hands.

The three of them just took what they needed, and they were all happy, and no one owed anyone.

"In addition to Austria, Britain is already certainly on the side of the rebels." The Count of Vergegon then added:

"But they don't seem to want to get directly involved in the war, and have been providing indirect assistance, and Baron Betula is even with me

to contact and want to sign a non-aggression pact between Britain and France."

Lawrence glanced at what was on the summary:

"Non-aggression pact... It is not surprising that His Majesty would have been keen to see an agreement come to fruition, but the Duke of Choiseul was the other way around."

Although the British fanned the flames in an attempt to expand their influence in the Mediterranean, Great Britain was perhaps more afraid of an all-out war than France at the moment.

The anti-British sentiment in the overseas colonies, especially in the Thirteenth Colony, had already overwhelmed the British, and with the fact that they had to digest the fruits of the Seven Years' War, the millions of square kilometers of French colonies in North America, the British certainly did not want a major war at such a time.

This is why the British frequently engaged in proxy wars in the Mediterranean, and they certainly did not want to spend too many resources on a region far from their homeland, let alone get bogged down in the quagmire.

At the same time, it was a big reason for Baron Betula to oppose Choiseul, because the British did not want the French army to be in the hands of a war-mongering warmonger, and they preferred a pro-British faction like the Duke of Richelieu to come to power.

After all, the Duke of Richelieu's biggest political proposition was to make France give up competition with Britain in overseas colonial trade, and instead focus on continental Europe, unite Britain against Germany, and take advantage of the Prussia and Austria to fight for German hegemony to march eastward, expanding France's borders to the Rhine and even to the east.

"All in all," concluded the Count of Vergeg.

"Of the four Anglo-French-Western powers that had a decisive influence on the Italian question, except for Spain, which had already mobilized for war as the suzerainty of Naples, the other three countries do not seem to have any intention of directly participating in the war at present."

In such a diplomatic situation as the European continent, the participation of any major power in the war will undoubtedly affect the whole body, so the current attitude of the major powers is also very cautious, after all, no one is ready for another European continental war.

"What about the reaction of neighboring countries?" Lawrence then asked.

It would also be a good thing for Lawrence to be able to control the scale of the war, in which case the weaker countries would have a place in the war, and Corsica's national security would be more assured.

"Apart from the small states of northern Italy that are under Austrian control, the Kingdom of Sardinia needs the most attention."

The Count of Vergegue looked at Lawrence very seriously, and he also knew that the movements of the Kingdom of Sardinia would greatly affect the neighboring island of Corsica.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Sardinia had already revealed its coveting of Corsica, and launched an attempted invasion from Sardinia, only to be repelled by Lawrence at Bonifacian:

"The Kingdom of Sardinia not only recognized the independence of the Duchy of Sicily, but also entered into a direct alliance with it, and officially declared war on the Kingdom of Naples, and they were the first spoilers to officially enter the war."

"The Kingdom of Sardinia... No wonder they were so close to the British."

Lawrence narrowed his eyes slightly, remembering some time ago information about the acceptance of British troops by the Kingdom of Sardinia and joint exercises with the British.

It seems that in the current Neapolitan civil war, in addition to supporting the Duke of Sicily, the British chose the Kingdom of Sardinia as their indirect agent.

The Kingdom of Sardinia was dominated by most of the fertile Po River Plain, and although its national strength was not as strong as that of the surrounding powers, it was undoubtedly able to put a lot of pressure on the Kingdom of Naples from the north with the assistance of the British.

Of course, Count Vergeg's greatest concern was not the Kingdom of Naples:

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, at the moment Corsica is under great threat, and the Kingdom of Sardinia, with British assistance, may not only focus on the Kingdom of Naples."

In these turbulent times, it would be foolish to place the safety of the entire country entirely under the protection of others, despite the protection of France, but also the island of Malta, which was also under the protection of France.

Lawrence was well aware of this, but did not show concern, and only nodded lightly in agreement:

"Sa

It's not been a day or two since the Kingdom of Ding tried to encroach on Corsica, but they are coveting Corsica, and my eyes are on Sardinia."

Lawrence was now fully confident of victory in the second confrontation with the Kingdom of Sardinia and the annexation of the mineral-rich island of Sardinia to Corsica.

But even if Lawrence knew it would be best for him to return to Corsica as soon as possible, with the coronation of Louis XV looming, it would take some opportune opportunity to get back to home early.

"What an opportunity..."

Lawrence looked out the window at the seemingly peaceful and prosperous city of Paris, and thought calmly:

"If nothing else, I don't need to take the initiative to create any opportunities this time, and this turbulent situation will naturally create opportunities that can be exploited... Richelieu... Whatever his and Baron Betura's last resort is, it's almost time to do it."