On the morning of June 10, 1771, a breaking news was announced, which suddenly made the Neapolitan Civil War, which was about to fade from public view, once again become the focus of discussion in Paris:

His Excellency Lawrence Bonaparte, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Corsica, officially issued a declaration of war against the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Milan and the rebels of Sicily at 10 Champs-Elysées in Paris.

Lawrence Bonaparte handed over a declaration of war to the ambassadors of the three countries on the spot, and then concluded an alliance with the ambassadors of Spain and Naples who were also present, agreeing that the three countries would work together in this war.

Since the monarchs of Corsica, Naples and Spain all had Bourbon blood in their veins, the outside world took the opportunity to call this Triple Alliance to suppress the rebels the Bourbon League.

The French side responded immediately, and Foreign Secretary Charles Gravier made a public speech in front of the gates of the diplomatic residence that afternoon.

According to the Count of Vergeg, the Kingdom of France still adhered to the non-aggression pact with Great Britain and would not change its policy of non-intervention in the Italian war because of the entry of the Kingdom of Corsica into the war.

However, the Count of Vergegue also revealed to the public that the Kingdom of Corsica, as a natural friend of France and a close ally united under the same great monarch, would do its best to provide it with all assistance except for armed intervention, and to fully guarantee the independence and freedom of Corsica.

Although the outside world did not believe that Louis XV would really sacrifice his life to protect Corsica after the Malta incident, judging from the generous assistance given by France to Corsica, Louis XV really valued this Mediterranean island country.

At the end of his speech, the Foreign Secretary also regretted that the official coronation of Louis XV as King of Corsica had to be postponed again due to the impact of the Kingdom of Corsica's entry into the war.

The nobles who had traveled thousands of miles to Versailles for the ceremony were naturally disappointed, but politically astute people could well understand Louis XV's cancellation of the coronation.

After all, it is still unknown whether the Kingdom of Corsica will survive this war, once Louis XV is crowned King of Corsica, then he must bear the obligation to protect Corsica, and if the island is annexed by the enemy in the war, then Louis XV has two choices:

Either to give up the Corsican crown that had just been put on his head in disgrace and shame, or to pull France into the quagmire of war, it was clear that neither option was acceptable to Louis XV.

...

Immediately after the declaration of war was issued, Lawrence began to prepare to return to Corsica to preside over the situation.

During the week between convincing Louis XV to agree to Corsica's entry into the war and issuing the proclamation of war, Lawrence had been negotiating with the French ministers and generals and marshals about aid for the war.

After all, the reason why Lawrence was sure to take a huge risk to get Corsica involved in this dangerous war was by relying on the two hole cards in his hand:

One of them was the new rifled guns and mini-rounds produced at the Trefali arsenal in Marseille.

Although this new musket did not yet have the epoch-making significance and combat power of the firing pistol, as the pinnacle design of the flintlock era, the rifled musket was undoubtedly able to give the Corsican army the upper hand in battles with little difference in strength.

The second is the aid and support of the Kingdom of France.

Although Corsica's economic strength had grown greatly after the full implementation of the agricultural tax reform and land reform, Lawrence was not sure that Corsica's own production capacity would support him to lead thousands of troops to win a long war.

After all, before the birth of Napoleon's strategy, the essence of the European Continental War in the eighteenth century was logistics warfare, and the most advanced and effective tactics of various countries during the Seven Years' War were all arranged and targeted around the logistics and supply of the enemy.

And even if Corsica were to meet the needs of the war with all its might, too much emphasis on military production would inevitably lead to a decline in the standard of living of the people and a regression in the economic level, which Lawrence also did not want to see.

Therefore, although the situation has become tense to the point of racing against time, Lawrence still has to arrange the French aid first.

Fortunately, with the strong support of Louis XV and the Count of Vergeg, as well as the covert cooperation of the generals of the Choiseul faction, Lawrence's negotiations with the ministers and generals went very smoothly, and the agreement was signed in less than a week.

Otherwise, it would not be easy to get a large amount of military aid from these ministers and generals at a time when France was in financial difficulties, after all, the more Corsica would have to pay less for the budget of their own department.

According to the final agreement between the two sides, France will be responsible for all the logistical supplies that the Corsican military will need in the war.

Everything from marching tents to matches, uniforms to boots, sabers to gunpowder, one general even proudly stated at the negotiating table that Corsica only needed to pull a naked man into battle, and the French supplies would be able to arm him into a qualified soldier.

In addition to material aid, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had always been a scrambling force, was forced to agree to financial aid to Corsica under triple pressure from the king, the foreign ministry and the generals, promising to issue an interest-free loan of 40 million livres to Corsica in instalments.

The first tranche of three million livres was also issued to the Corsican government in the form of French bonds on the same day that the negotiations were reached.

And with the aid deal in place, Lawrence was left with one last thing left to deal with in Paris.

......

On the evening of June 10, inside the Military Academy in Paris.

At the end of the day's classes and training, the exhausted students were about to return to the school building to rest after dinner, when they suddenly received an unbelievable notice:

The school committee suddenly issued an order for all members of the Charles Gang to assemble in the auditorium of the military academy within half an hour, which was said to be the order of the headmaster, General Balor.

Not only the rest of the students were surprised, but even the members of the Charr Gang were puzzled by why the headmaster, General Balor, had specially summoned them together.

The gang members quickly came to sit in the auditorium of the military academy according to the instructions, although they didn't know what the purpose of this gathering was, all the members had a bad premonition in their hearts.

Sitting in the front row of the auditorium, Bertier, who was the president of the Federation of Students and the acting leader of the gang, was even more solemn and worried.

After all, the power of the Charr Gang can be said to be in full swing in today's Paris Military Academy, and even some military academy teachers are very optimistic about the future potential of this gang and choose to join the gang in the name of the instructor.

In Bertier's eyes, it may be difficult for the school committee to accept the existence of such a student organization that is not under their control, especially since this student organization has completely replaced the status and power of the student association, which once held great power.

And this time, the headmaster, General Barroll, personally came forward, most likely on behalf of the will of the entire school committee, to personally rectify this uncontrolled and barbaric student gang.

In the auditorium, not only Bertier made such an analysis and judgment, but many gang members also made this conclusion in their hearts, and their faces couldn't help but feel a little more nervous and anxious.

Soon, within half an hour's assembly time, more than 300 members of the Charr Gang were sitting in the auditorium one by one.

At the last second of the assembly time, I saw the headmaster, General Balor, suddenly push open the door of the auditorium.

His face was extremely gloomy, and he just glanced at the people in the auditorium, and then walked quickly to the podium without saying a word.

"Good evening, Mr. Headmaster, may I ask..."

As the president of the association, Berthier took the initiative to stand up and greet General Balor and ask about the purpose of the gathering.

However, he was only halfway through his words when he was interrupted by General Balor's roar:

"Shut your dogs, scum of the Paris Military Academy! You want to ask why I called you here? Okay, I'll give you one

Prompt! Remember what the you all did three months ago?"

Bertier's pupils were shocked, of course he clearly remembered what happened three months ago - Charles Polnaba personally led a group of gang members into the Count of Isak's Moon Lake Manor in order to rescue him.

It's just that after the end of this incident, not only did the outside world not carry out any investigation, but even the military academy only gave some members some painless punishments, and Berthier at that time, although he thought it was strange, also thought that the incident was over.

And General Barol specially brought up this matter today, which suddenly deepened the bad premonition in the hearts of Berthier and the gang members:

Could it be that their gang leader, Charles Polnaba, had not been on leave of absence because he was unwell, but had already been secretly arrested by a court-martialed for his crimes in attacking Moonlake Manor?!

"Do you think you can get away with committing such a bloody crime?"

General Balor snorted coldly, and his sharp and gloomy gaze swept over the members below one by one:

"Breaking into an administrator's estate, wounding a noble earl, and killing dozens of manor guards, any of these acts alone could have you convicted you of a death sentence in a court-martial, not to mention all of you! I didn't pursue you before because the investigation was not yet complete, in order to stabilize your emotions, and now, it's time for you to bow down!"

As soon as the words fell, I heard a chaotic and heavy footsteps outside the auditorium.

Immediately, under the shocked and horrified gaze of the gang members, dozens of heavily armed armed gendarmes rushed to the auditorium with the howling evening breeze, occupying all corners of the auditorium in an instant, and aiming their deadly black guns at the Shire gang members present.

Obviously, General Balor was not at all alarmist, and these gendarmes were not the paper tigers of the military academy, but the real internal purges of the Île-de-France Military District Court.

In front of these cold-blooded gendarmes, let alone a group of unarmed cadets, even if a colonel-level officer dares to openly resist their arrest, the only end is to be shot on the spot.

The gang members, who realized this, also went blank in their minds.

Some were blinded and prayed silently for their fate, others bit their lips and regretted that they had joined this damned gang, and some cursed the missing Charles Polnaba in their hearts, scolding him for his recklessness that would kill everyone.

Bertier, on the other hand, stood still, staring at the dozens of muskets in a daze, his body instinctively trembling slightly at the fear of death.

It seems that his guess is really correct, General Balor is going to take this opportunity to completely eradicate the shorn in the side of the school committee, the Shire gang.

Crown Prince Louis, who was sitting next to him, also looked nervously at the gun-wielding gendarmes, looking hesitant.

Duke Charles stared at General Balor on the stage with interest for a while, smiled and sighed, and then began to close his eyes and recuperate.

The gang members present were also terrified in the face of this deadly gun.

Although they are also soldiers, the elite of future officers, as long as they are humans, they will involuntarily fall into panic and despair when they are pointed at the head by this pitch-black gun.

Especially when thinking about their lives after being arrested and taken to a court-martial, many of the members turned pale and bloodless, and some even slipped off their chairs with limp bodies.

General Balor looked coldly at the group of criminals in his mouth, as if he was deliberately appreciating their ugliness, and did not immediately order the gendarmes to arrest them:

"However, for the sake of you still being military academy students, I won't go too far, and remind you that after the investigation, the military court only knew that the attack that night was a student organization called the Charr Gang, but they are not sure how many people participated in the operation, and they are not sure who the members of the organization are, in other words, I don't need to arrest all of you and hand them over to the military court, I just need to give an explanation to any of your members,

So..."

Looking at the wide eyes of the gang members, General Balor sneered triumphantly:

"Those who think they are still part of that reactionary gang continue to stay here and prepare for a court-martial; Whoever thinks he is just an innocent cadet will immediately get out of the door for me, and then desperately forget all memories of this reactionary gang, and pray that you will not be found out by me and the investigators of the military court that you were involved in the crime of that night... I'll only give you three minutes!"