Lawrence is also hinting that the Duke of Choiseul should save useless politeness and temptation, and go straight to the point and get straight to the point, as for whether the cooperation between the two can be reached, it must first see what the content of the cooperation is.

"Of course, of course." The Duke of Choiseul smiled with satisfaction:

"I would like to ask you a question, with your ingenuity, do you think France should intervene in the civil war in Naples?"

Lawrence frowned and glanced at the duke, and replied without a leak:

"There is no should, or should, Your Excellency, France, not a figurative person, but a collection of innumerable interests; Choosing to go to war will benefit some groups and hurt others, and the same is true for choosing to avoid war; The generals thirst for war, but the soldiers thirst for peace, the speculators thirst for war, but the people thirst for peace, you thirst for war, but His Majesty thirsts for peace..."

Lawrence paused for a moment and took a sip of black tea:

"In the final analysis, no single decision involving the national level can benefit or harm all groups, and whether a decision should or should not depend on the class and position of the decision-maker; If you stand in the people's class, you will support equality and equal rights, if you stand in the bourgeoisie, you will support free trade, and if you stand in the military class, you will support the expansion of armaments. Whether France should intervene in the war or not is also a question of inconclusiveness."

"Very wonderful speech, Your Excellency Bonaparte—" Duke Choiseul listened patiently, looked at Lawrence with great appreciation, and asked in a low voice:

"And what exactly is your position?"

Lawrence replied unhurriedly:

"I am a Corsican and I stand with the people of Corsica."

The Duke of Choiseul seemed to have anticipated this answer, and nodded with a smile:

"If I say that it will be in the interests of the people of Corsican to intervene in the war, what will you choose?"

Lawrence did not make a rash statement, but stared silently at the Duke of Choiseul and motioned for him to continue.

After all, everyone knows that Corsica is now at the center of a storm in the Mediterranean, and if it were to be unprepared for the war, the still weak island nation would be in a situation from which it would never recover.

"With Corsica's geographical location, the possibility of complete neutrality and staying out of this war is undoubtedly very slim."

Duke Choiseul's expression was a little more serious:

"And now the countries of the European continent, especially Britain and the Kingdom of Sardinia, may have further tested the king's bottom line with the Malta incident and the bombardment of the port of Calais, and are sure that France will not accept an armed conflict in any form, so that even with the king's protection, Corsica will not be able to continue to sit back and relax, right?"

Lawrence nodded his head very lightly, and he understood these truths, and after learning that the island of Malta had been raided that day and seeing Louis XV without saying anything, Lawrence had already begun to worry about the defense and security of Corsica.

The Kingdom of Sardinia and Great Britain, which had long coveted Corsica, were now united by the Neapolitan Civil War, and it is difficult to guarantee that they would not take advantage of the French king's resolute resistance to the war in southern Italy to include Corsica in their sphere of influence.

In other words, at a time when Louis XV's bottom line had been clearly understood by the British, it was no longer feasible to rely on the prestige of His Majesty the King alone to protect the safety of Corsica.

"If the Corsicans want to defend their independence and freedom, they must be ready to take up arms."

The Duke of Choiseul went on to add:

"Rather than waiting for the enemy to bring the flames of war to the mainland, it is better to strike preemptively and take the initiative to attack before the enemy army is fully assembled and coordinated."

Lawrence calmly looked Duke Choiseul in the eyes, and at this point, he also fully understood the duke's intentions.

The Duke of Choiseul's fundamental purpose remained the same, and he still needed to provoke a war to maintain and even strengthen his power and position.

After instigating the Kingdom of France to go to war to no avail, the Duke of Choiseul had no choice but to retreat to the second best thing and seek Laurence Bonaparte to lead the Kingdom of Corsica into the war in a curvilinear way to save the country.

After all, the titular monarch of the Kingdom of Corsica is still Louis XV, and as long as Corsica becomes the spoiler of this war, the Duke of Choisell behind the scenes will undoubtedly have a greater chance of pulling the entire Kingdom of France into the water.

And once the war expands, unless Louis XV wants to swallow the bitter fruit of humiliating defeat again, the position of French Minister of War can only belong to him, Duke of Choisele.

Lawrence did not respond recklessly, but first closed his eyes and pondered the interests in between.

In a sense, Lawrence did think of being with the Duke of Choiseul.

He also planned to quickly return to Corsica in the near future to preside over the overall situation, and use the war situation to use iron and blood force to seek opportunities for Corsica to expand its territory and expand its power.

"I certainly won't leave the Corsicans alone, Lord Bonaparte."

Seeing that Lawrence was silent for a long time, the Duke of Choiseul no longer made a false accusation, and directly threw out his own conditions:

"As soon as the Kingdom of Corsica joins the war, I will use all my network to assist you, most of the Kingdom of France will be your back, ships of gold and munitions will be transported from Toulon to Ajaccio day and night, and I can even sign a contract with you now as a guarantee."

After pondering for a long time, Lawrence nodded lightly under the expectant gaze of the Duke of Choiseul.

This war is an opportunity for Corsica to soar and abyss.

Going to war in person does risk being shattered and never recovered, but for Corsica, a small island nation that is weak and poor, if it wants to become a new power in the Mediterranean in a very short time, it can only seize the opportunity of the moment.

Even if the Kingdom of Corsica had nothing to gain after the war, the war and economic aid it received from France alone would have been enough to give the small island nation a take-off.

"There is no need for a contract, I trust your character." Lawrence got up and shook hands with the Duke of Schwarcel, agreeing to another cooperation between the two, and casually quipped:

"Besides, I don't know in what name you should sign a contract with me now."

Despite his rhetoric, Lawrence had no doubt that the dismissed Duke of Choiseul would still be able to use his connections and connections to lead France's aid to Corsica's war.

And the Duke of Choiseul, who had just lost his post as Minister of War, also didn't care at all about Lawrence's slightly sarcastic jokes, and smiled lightly:

"The future Chief Minister and Regent, perhaps? Just kidding, but on your side, you should be able to convince His Majesty to allow the Kingdom of Corsica to enter the war, right?"

Lawrence squinted and lowered the right hand of the Duke of Choiseul without making any assessment of the Duke's undisguised ambitions:

"I'm about 80% sure, but if you can send a letter to the Spanish ambassador to France, you'll be sure."

The Duke of Choiseul also understood Lawrence's intentions in the blink of an eye, and handed over this important task to the Corsican man in front of him with complete confidence:

"Spanish ambassador? Yes... I will."

......

Three days later, on 7 June, the news of the dismissal of the Duke of Choiseul sent another shock to Île-de-France politics.

According to various gossip and newspaper reports, His Majesty ordered the Duke to be expelled on the afternoon of 4 June, and did not even allow him to remain in Versailles for his coronation, but ordered him to leave within twenty-four hours and return to the fiefdom.

The Duke of Choiseul obeyed this order, returned to his manor house in the afternoon to pack his bags, and left Versailles overnight with a large retinue.

However, before leaving, the Duke of Choiseul held a grand farewell dinner in his estate.

Strictly speaking, this dinner was not organized by the Duke himself, but by the nobles and officials in the court and government who were reluctant to give up their love for the Duke, who spontaneously came to Choiseul Manor to see off the duke, who had been in power for more than ten years.

It is said that several cabinet ministers and dozens of high-ranking officials spontaneously attended the dinner, and it is said that His Majesty the King personally ordered against anyone to see off the Duke of Choiseul, but a large number of nobles and officials still chose to come to the Schwarcel estate in defiance of His Majesty's ban.

Many political commentators and analysts have claimed that the Duke of Choiseul was making an invisible protest against His Majesty, telling the king that the mainstays of the French court and government were still looking down on him.

In addition to the news of the dismissal of the Duke of Choiseul, another bombshell news also brought a great shock to the political circles of Île-de-France - the return of the Duke of Richelieu to the political arena.

In response to the boiling events in Port Calais a few days ago, His Majesty did not hand over the task of negotiating with the British to the Foreign Office, but specially invited the Duke of Richelieu, who was under house arrest, to re-emerge and appointed the seventy-five-year-old minister to be in charge of the negotiations with Baron Betula.

The Duke of Richelieu did not live up to His Majesty's trust, and after only two days of negotiations with Baron Betula, the English and French reached a mutually satisfactory agreement, which stifled the threat of war in its cradle.

During this period, Baron Betula signed a settlement agreement directly in the name of the ambassador plenipotentiary, without even asking for instructions from the mainland.

Neither Britain nor France disclosed the details of the treaty of settlement, except that Great Britain paid an unknown amount of reparations to France, while France made concessions in territorial disputes with the British in North America and the West Indies.

Since the exact amount and details have not been released to the outside world, it is not known which side made more concessions.

The French people considered themselves undoubtedly the beneficiary, and the British must have paid them a large sum of reparations; The British people believed that they had won a diplomatic victory, winning a large area of colonial territory in the Americas at a very small cost.

In any case, the vast majority of people were glad that peace had continued, and the Duke of Richelieu was praised by people from all walks of life in Île-de-France for his exploits.

But there were also those who were resentful of the peace treaty, such as the Duke of Choiseul, who had returned to his fiefdom and openly denounced Richelieu for his traitorous treaty, which had undone a decade of French colonization efforts in the West Indies.

In addition to the successful settlement of the events in the port of Calais, the Duke of Richelieu brought Louis XV an unexpected surprise during the negotiations – a new Anglo-French non-aggression pact.

In addition to the usual clauses in the non-aggression pact, Britain and France also placed special emphasis on the recent outbreak of the Neapolitan Civil War.

Both sides pledged in the treaty that neither Britain nor France would directly intervene in the Italian war, in order to prevent the war from expanding and leading to a dispute between Britain and France.

Historically, the existence of such non-aggression pacts has turned into a fragile piece of paper, at least for the time it has been signed, it is a source of comfort to His Majesty and the people who want peace.

In particular, the clause that Britain and France would not intervene in the civil war in Naples made Louis XV even more overjoyed, and it is said that His Majesty personally hosted an extraordinarily lavish celebration dinner for the Duke of Richelieu on the evening of the day he received the news.

Of course, not everyone was happy with the continuation of peace between Britain and France and the decision of both countries to promise not to expand the Italian war.

Both the Spanish and the Kingdom of Naples expressed their anger at the non-aggression pact, accusing the Duke of Richelieu of violating the family covenant between France and Spain by negotiating peace with the British.

Both ambassadors urged the Kingdom of France to immediately fulfill its family covenant with Spain and join in the suppression of the Sicilian rebellion.

For this reason, the Spanish ambassador even went to the Palace of Versailles every half day to personally persuade His Majesty to comply

The Covenant, and stated that if Louis XV refused to send troops, King Carlos III of Spain would carefully consider whether the Covenant between the two countries would be necessary.

For the sake of France's military security, Louis XV naturally wanted to retain his alliance with Spain, so he chose to meet the Spanish ambassador in person every time.

But every negotiation between Louis XV and the Spanish ambassador was a waste of time, and the two men met five times in just a few days, but so far Louis XV has not made any valid commitments.

In any case, despite some opposition, Louis XV did not hesitate to reward the Duke of Richelieu for these two great diplomatic exploits.

Not only did the king completely lift the duke's house arrest and surveillance, but he also promoted another mainstay of the Richelieu faction, the Duke of Agillon, to the Finance Council as the Grand Treasurer.

The Richelieu faction, which had fallen into decline as a result of Madame Dubarry's death, now seems to be gradually regaining its former position.

Lawrence spent almost all three days in the Vicell's Mansion with the Count of Vergerg, negotiating with ambassadors and keeping an eye on the changes in the Neapolitan civil war and the situation in the Mediterranean.

As for the deal with the Duke of Choiseul before his departure, Lawrence naturally did not forget it, but was just patiently waiting for a suitable time.

On June 7, Lawrence learned from the Count of Vergegue that the Spanish ambassador had gone to Versailles this morning to ask Louis XV to send troops to Italy to help suppress the rebels.

After quietly calculating the moment, Lawrence left the Foreign Secretary's residence and rode alone to the Palace of Versailles.

Free to read.