After Georgiana changed clothes and left her room, she was unable to meet Sardinia's envoy at once, because General Laubart, Italy's chief engineer, had arrived. He was the engineer who had been surveying the defensive works from Nice to Savoy when Austria captured him.
He brought several sets of plans, the most important of which concerned the Ligurian coastal road. The Ancient Romans had once built the Via Julia Augusta, completed after Augustus conquered the Southern Alps. Its main purpose was to link the Po River plain with Gaul. It probably turned near present-day Savoy, entered the Maritime Alps, and then reached Piacenza and Parma.
Because the road had fallen into disrepair over the years, many sections were no longer passable. Only a few pilgrims still used it. With the rise of sea transport, nearly all the towns along the coast traveled by sea.
Bonaparte's instructions were to first repair the road from Nice to Monto. It did not run along the coast, but halfway up the mountainside.
"Is it necessary to repair it now?" Georgiana asked General Laubart.
"I'm merely informing you that this project exists." Laubart rolled up the plans, seeming about to take them away. "I heard someone came from Nice just now?"
She was speechless for a while.
"I don't think you need to take it too seriously... Take a look at this." Laubart spread out another drawing, another densely packed "network diagram."
"What is this?" Georgiana asked.
"Turin's water supply system. There are several private operators who formed a water company and hope to subcontract part of it from us." Laubart pointed at several spots. "They will also be responsible for future maintenance and upkeep of the pipeline network."
"It seems you've already taken care of it," Georgiana said.
Laubart shook his head.
"I'm handing