From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

After standing on the same side as Mayor Joseph, the relationship between Lawrence and the mayor has also taken a further step. Although the two of them had only met for the first time a few hours ago, driven by common interests, at least in a short period of time, the two of them The alliance is unbreakable.

Both sides understand that if they want to achieve their goals, the other party's help is indispensable.

In the next few days, Mayor Joseph did not spend too much time getting along with Lawrence. Instead, he immediately put down other work at hand and focused almost all his energy on raising funds. On that grain worth half a million livres.

Mayor Josip, who grew up in Marseille since childhood, knows the situation here very well. He also knows that it is not an easy task to allocate such a large amount of food in the name of the city hall in one month.

Whether it is mobilizing the cooperation of merchant guilds, investigating market prices, or going deep into rural farms to make purchases, the entire bureaucracy must be in operation to be able to complete this task.

Therefore, Mayor Yosip did not have any time to delay. He began to deal with related matters anxiously in the afternoon after receiving the task.

Lawrence and his party rested for two days in Marseille under the arrangement of Mayor Josip, and contacted the ship to prepare to cross the sea back to Corsica.

Lawrence himself also used this time to summon some victims fleeing from Sicily, trying to find out more news about the famine in Naples from their own mouths.

It's just that the accounts of these victims were exactly the same as the news from Mayor Josip. In addition, they were the lowest serfs and didn't know much. Lawrence didn't make any new discoveries, he just learned more about the tragedy. Just the details.

In the early morning of August 19, 1770, on the Western Mediterranean.

The sun rises very early in the morning of August. Around seven o'clock in the morning, the sky is already covered with brilliant golden light, and even the sea surface where the water and the sky meet is also glowing with light.

On the calm waves, a recently refurbished ketch sailed through the blue waves, sailing slowly towards Corsica amid the noisy chirping of seagulls.

Although this kind of ketch is small in size and has only one deck, its shallow draft, fast speed, and flexible steering make it widely used, whether it is a Mediterranean pirate ship or an anti-smuggling ship of various navies, including civilian armed merchant ships. This type of ship will be widely used by military and scientific research vessels.

Lawrence and his party boarded this sailing ship yesterday and left Marseille, heading for the long-lost Corsica.

"Ah hoo. It's a nice weather."

Grosso yawned, stretched out from the lower cabin and climbed onto the deck, looked at the quiet sea waves and sky, and said with emotion.

At this time, the upper deck was still empty. Except for a few crew members on duty as usual, only Lawrence and Rousseau were on the deck.

The two stood at the bow of the ship, holding on to the side of the ship, seeming to be discussing something intensely. At the same time, they looked up at the clearly visible outline of the land in the distance, and could even vaguely see the buildings in Ajaccio.

"Morning, you two."

Grosso stepped across the creaking deck and walked towards the two of them. While saying hello, he also looked at Corsica in the distance and interjected:

"It looks like we're almost here. We'll probably arrive at the port of Ajaccio around noon."

Rousseau frowned slightly, seeming to criticize Grosso, a strong man like a pirate, but he still politely replied:

"Good morning, Mr. Grosso."

Lawrence nodded silently. With the life-and-death relationship between him and Grosso, naturally he didn't need too much courtesy.

Grosso yawned again, smacked his lips and said:

"At the speed of this ship, we would have reached Corsica by now, but it's a pity that we have to slow down and wait for these bulky guys."

As he spoke, Grosso pointed to the surrounding heavy frigates that were flying the fleur-de-lis and were twice as tall as the sailing ship.

The frigate group formed a circle and closely guarded Lawrence's galley.

These frigates are all fourth-class ships from the Mediterranean Fleet. After the people in the fleet headquarters learned that people like Lawrence were going to Corsica from Marseille, they immediately dispatched eight fourth-class ships to ensure the safety of the route. .

Thanks to the escort of these frigates, Lawrence saw no pirate ships during this day and night voyage. Even the merchant ships from various Mediterranean countries hurriedly filled their rudders and took a detour when they saw this formation.

Lawrence glanced at the frigates, shook his head and said:

"The situation in the Western Mediterranean has been somewhat volatile recently, and one cannot be too cautious."

Rousseau next to him also nodded. With such strong ships and cannons escorting him to Corsica, the pirates and smugglers would definitely not dare to approach, and Rousseau felt a lot more at ease.

Rousseau also had a new understanding of Bonaparte's status in his heart. Unexpectedly, the headquarters of the Mediterranean Fleet actually requested to send a fleet to escort him.

Rousseau, who was falsely accused and imprisoned in the Palace of Justice a month ago, could not imagine that one day he would be treated like this.

"By the way, Monsignor Bonaparte, that's what we just talked about."

After a little emotion, Rousseau looked at Lawrence and continued to mention the topic he and Lawrence had just chatted about:

"You said that you will completely solve the land issue when you return to Corsica. What do you mean specifically?"

"That's what it means."

Lawrence stared at the outline of the island in his field of vision, and said calmly as if recounting the facts of what had happened:

"I want to abolish serfdom, let the farmers who are attached to the names of greedy landowners control their own destiny, and completely throw serfdom into the garbage heap of history."

For a small country like Corsica, the only way forward for development is to take the road of industrialization. Especially after Lawrence used the National Silver Company to collect a huge amount of foreign exchange income for it, Corsica wants to develop in the long term. We must seize this opportunity to form our own advanced productive forces.

To enter the early stage of industrialization is not so much a scientific and technological issue as it is a political issue.

Based on the current political environment in Corsica, Lawrence can almost conclude that there is no soil for industrialization here, and even the most basic labor force is a problem.

Corsica's current official report puts the island's population at less than 40,000, but Lawrence is quite skeptical about the accuracy of this figure.

Based on Pauli's ambiguous attitude towards the landlord class when he was in office, it is possible that the census he led did not take into account the serfs who were harbored by the landlords for the purpose of evading taxes.

In other words, Lawrence was 90% certain that there must still be a large number of black serfs on the land in Corsica who worked under the name of the landowners and did not pay a penny of tax to the government.

These serfs were bound to the landlord's land by land rent, and worked day and night for their masters with emaciated faces, in exchange for the meager rations that allowed them to survive in this world.

Putting aside the process of future industrialization, these serfs who were outside the power of the country alone were enough to support the landlord class to become a deep-rooted force in Corsica, which seriously hindered Lawrence's control of the island.

Considering that one of the basic conditions for industrialization is the existence of a large amount of freely mobile labor force, this strengthened Lawrence's determination to liberate the serfs from this dark and feudal exploitative relationship.

"this"

Rousseau was stunned for a moment. For an interest group like Corsica that already had countless intertwined interest networks, Rousseau knew that it would be extremely difficult to carry out any reform.

Not to mention that Lawrence expressed his intention to completely eliminate the landlord class that had existed in Corsica for thousands of years, which really shocked Rousseau.

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, your decision is really bold and courageous."

Rousseau remonstrated with great concern:

"The landowner class was mentioned more than once in the information Mr. Paoli sent me. In fact, Mr. Paoli also had a headache for this group, but their power was too stubborn in Corsica. And more importantly, in 1755 In the Corsican independence, the landowners also invested a lot of human and financial resources, which made Mr. Pauli unable to attack them. "

Lawrence nodded slightly, knowing that what Rousseau said was reasonable. Four of the nine members of the original Corsican Parliament were from landlords, which was enough to show that Pauli was afraid of and attracted them.

However, in front of Rousseau, Lawrence once again told him a sentence that had been told to many people:

"You are right, Mr. Rousseau, but you have to remember. I am different from Mr. Pauly, far different."

Rousseau hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly and heavily without saying anything else. After all, in his heart Rousseau still supported Lawrence's progressive reforms. He was just worried that Lawrence would burn himself by playing with fire.

Seeing that the conversation between the two fell into silence, Grosso, who had been listening silently, patted Lawrence on the shoulder and said:

"Lawrence, you said before that you wanted to grant me a seat in parliament, right? I will definitely support you in this matter. I was once a half-serf, and that life was really not a human life. I get angry when I think about it."

"Weren't you a hunter from your hometown before you went to sea?" Lawrence asked with a frown.

Grosso's expression rarely became heavy, as if recalling those unforgettable past, he sighed and said:

"Not all serfs are farmers. We do whatever the landlord asks us to do. I was assigned to be a hunter in the forest farm. Later, the gentleman saw that I was skilled and served him well in hunting, so he was exempted. Most of my limitations make me half a serf."

"My God, you are so lucky to have come this far, Mr. Grosso." Rousseau said with emotion.

"No, I'm so damn lucky that I didn't starve to death in Italy."

Grosso shrugged and said:

"You two have definitely never seen what those farm serfs look like. Some of them have thighs that are not as thick as my arms. They are so thin that you can see their sternum. They are covered with smelly rags picked up from nowhere. It’s clothes. Most people have never left their village in their entire lives.”

"God"

Rousseau sighed and shook his head. In fact, he had seen the living conditions of the lower class peasants during his exile, but Rousseau still felt a throbbing feeling after being reminded of these memories by Grosso.

Lawrence listened silently, and after Grosso finished speaking, he asked:

"What about the landlords? What are they like?"

"Them? What do they have to say?"

There was obvious disgust on Grosso's face, and he said in a hateful voice:

"Those small landowners are okay. Some small landowners have to work in the fields themselves, but the big landowners are different. They have three to five hundred serfs under them, including farmers, blacksmiths, and fishermen on the river. Yes, there are hunters like me who have a complete division of labor. Some big landowners even buy weapons and form a guard to patrol their territory. "

"They are only a few knights away from becoming lords." Lawrence shook his head and said.

"Don't tell me, many landowners in Northern Italy actually have titles." Grosso waved his hand and said:

"But they are all low-level baron lords. They are basically bought. The serfs below still call them master."

Rousseau stared at Corsica on the sea, frowned and said:

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, I am afraid that the situation in Corsica is not much different from that in Mr. Grosso's hometown, or even worse. If your reforms are implemented, I think there will be a turmoil or even a rebellion."

Grosso also looked at Lawrence with a little worry. Although he did not go deep into the countryside to personally investigate the landowners in Corsica, he knew from his early experiences that those landowners who had money, land and property He would definitely not lie on the chopping block and let Lawrence slaughter him.

Although the political power and legitimacy of the landlord class have been weakened by Lawrence, and the four members of Parliament had forced them to resign from the parliament before Lawrence left Corsica, the power of the landlords is still huge. If the two sides really break out, another dispute will occur. A civil war, which is undoubtedly a situation that neither Rousseau nor Grosso wants to see.

Lawrence ignored the two's concerns and continued to look at Corsica, his second hometown.

The island of Corsica in the distance slowly dilated in Lawrence's pupils. The island looked the same as before.

The towering central mountains and green vegetation extend to the entire island, dotted with gray-black buildings that can barely be identified with the naked eye; there are a few fishing boats and merchant ships scattered around the coastline, which in Lawrence's eyes are only the size of black dots. , driving leisurely out of or away from Ajaccio.

"It's like an undeveloped colony. You can smell the smell of ignorance and backwardness here." Lawrence suddenly clenched his fist and said.

Rousseau and Grosso were stunned for a moment. They glanced at Corsica on the sea, and then nodded simultaneously, with a little helplessness in their eyes.

Poverty in Corsica is as common sense to Europeans as the sun will rise in the east.

"I wonder what the Corsicans will think of my rule, or rather our rule, a hundred years from now."

Lawrence took two steps forward and came to the front of the bow. Facing the vast expanse of blue ocean and Corsica hanging alone in the sea, he said in a deep voice:

"But I know that I will never leave them a poor and backward Corsica, and I will never let any Corsican feel ashamed of their country again."

A piece of cirrocumulus clouds that shrouded the square sailing ship quietly dispersed, and a few rays of golden light transmitted from it splashed on Lawrence's back, bathing the entire sea area in the light, sacred and clean.

Rousseau and Grosso looked at Lawrence blankly and closed their mouths.

"For this reason, we can no longer follow the ruts of our predecessors. It is time to go our own way."

Lawrence closed his eyes under the dazzling light and continued:

"Grosseau, M. Rousseau, I have made up my mind. In 1770, I will personally cut off the chains of the Corsican serfs."

PS:

The author has some mild fever and cough today, and it seems that he has also been infected (sad)

Therefore, the updates in the next few days may be a little unstable, and I will try my best to update if my physical condition allows. I hope all readers will forgive me orz