Representative of the Holy See

Victor shook his head at Ben Haden's suggestion.

"Your Excellency Pasha, I think it's best to leave the matter of screening to us. After all, our beliefs are more aligned with theirs."

Ben Haden hesitated slightly at this proposal. Slaves were wealth, and more slaves meant more wealth. The captured slaves were now the wealth of the Ottoman Empire, and the right to use this wealth was in his hands. Therefore, each additional Christ slave meant a loss of his interests. So, while he held a certain degree of goodwill towards the France, this did not mean he was willing to suffer a loss.

Therefore, Victor believed that if this matter were to be handled by Ben Haden, he would at most offer a few more Christianity slaves as a gesture of goodwill, but it was unlikely that he would actually produce a large number of Christ slaves as Victor hoped.

However, Victor desperately needed a sufficient number of Christ slaves. Although the land allocated to the original Christ slaves would not increase or decrease based on the number of Christ slaves according to the agreement between the two countries (because if the land allocated to Christ slaves increased with the number of Christ slaves, it would mean that the more Christ slaves there were, the less benefit would be given to Turkey, which would inevitably lead the Turkey to artificially reduce the number of Christ slaves, thus planting a landmine for cooperation between the two countries), more Christ slaves meant that communities could be quickly formed, power could be generated, and preparations could be made for various actions in the future.

However, because it also involved interests, and Ben Haden was well aware that Victor was very motivated to increase the number of Christ slaves as much as possible, because the more Christ slaves were rescued, the more just the France action would appear, and the more Bonaparte's title of "Emperor of the Rome" would seem like an honor, more like a Europe leader, rather than a joke.

Therefore, Ben Haden believed that if the France were allowed to discern for themselves, Victor would likely use every means to entice, or even force, non- Christ slaves to become Christ slaves. In fact, no special enticement or coercion would be needed; simply telling them that if they were Christ, they could immediately become self-sufficient farmers and own their own land would suffice. Aside from those who were truly devout believers in God, a large number of people would rush forward shouting "Hayelujah!"

So Ben Haden replied, "Consul, I feel that your actions clearly demonstrate a lack of trust in us."

Victor immediately replied, "It's not that we don't trust you, but the list you gave us last time is simply too unreliable. Based on our previous information, and even on some pirate documents we've seized and the confessions of captured pirates, it's clear that there are far more Christ slaves on plantations near Tripoli than that number. Furthermore, through our questioning of Christ slaves you handed over to us, we've learned that many more, along with them, haven't been sent to us. So, Your Excellency Pasha, how can we trust you under such circumstances?"

Ben Haden paused for a moment, then quickly said, "It's all because those bastards down there are too lazy..."

"That's why we can't leave all those things to them anymore," Victor said.

"Then," Ben Haden said, "We should at least participate in the screening process... I think that's the fair and reasonable approach."

So the two men bargained again, and finally reached a temporary agreement: both the France Turkey would participate in the screening, but during the screening process, the France could spend some time alone with one of the five people being screened. The slaves being screened, after claiming to be Christ, had to answer a series of questions about Christianity. If they made too many mistakes, they would not be considered Christ. Furthermore, a slave who was considered Christ also needed the approval of the Christ slaves working on the same farm; otherwise, they would not be considered Christ.

Of course, this was only a preliminary verbal agreement. As for the specific implementation, Ben Haden insisted that it could only begin after the representatives of Rome Holy See had also arrived.

This appeared to be a show of respect for the Rome Holy See, but in reality, it was a delaying tactic to take measures to prevent a large number of slaves from claiming to be Christ —people were still under their control, and given time, they could use coercion and enticement... oh, no, the latter part is missing, it's coercion and intimidation, using all sorts of excuses like "the heretics are just deceiving you," "the heretics want to trick you into being used for human sacrifices," and so on, to frighten and deceive them.

Victor knew this, but he also knew that the Rome Holy See should arrive soon, and it wasn't worth letting the Turkey drive a wedge between France and the Holy See just for a few days. Besides, based on his understanding of the Turkey, he didn't believe that Turkey brainwashing abilities were so high that they could make someone believe everything they said in just a few days.

The Holy See's representatives arrived quite quickly. Since steamships weren't yet widespread, they lacked practical steam vessels and had to rely on ordinary sailing ships. The only sailing ship capable of offering relatively high speeds was the clipper. However, clipper comfort was always problematic, even in the mostly calm Mediterranean Sea. The Holy See's representative, Bishop Torres, was over sixty years old; considering his health, he should have traveled on a normal passenger ship that averaged only a little over four nautical miles per hour.

But at this moment, Bishop Torres displayed the courage to do anything for God's cause. He and his entourage rented a clipper boat and rushed to Tripoli as quickly as possible. So, he arrived in Tripoli the day after Victor and Ben Haden reached a verbal agreement. And God seemed to truly bless Bishop Torres. Although he needed two attendants to support him on either side of the boat due to seasickness when disembarking, surprisingly, after resting for just over an hour at the temporary camp, he immediately recovered and took the initiative to find Victor.

"Bishop Torres, what brings you here? I thought you were going to take a good rest," Victor couldn't help but say upon seeing Bishop Torres.

"Ah, I do need a rest, but thinking of those poor lambs, I can't rest," said Bishop Torres. "Consul Treville, I'm new here and not familiar with the situation. Could you tell me about it?"

Victor then gave him a detailed account of his discussions with Ben Haden over the past two days, as well as the verbal agreement they had reached.

Bishop Torres listened, thought for a moment, and then said, "Consul, your consideration is very thoughtful. Let's go see that Pasha immediately. Time is of the essence. I suspect that cunning heretic is using this time to intimidate our believers. We cannot let his scheme succeed. The screening operation must begin immediately, the sooner the better."

"Bishop Torres, don't you really need to rest?" Victor asked.

"The mission to save God's lamb inspires me, and I cannot stop at this time."

So Victor and Bishop Torres went to visit Ben Haden.

It was already night, Ben Haden had already taken a bath and was planning to go to bed for some exercise. Unexpectedly, a servant rushed in to announce that the France consul requested an audience.

If it were anyone else, Ben Haden would have dragged that guy out and given him a good whipping, but since it's the France consul, well... he can only quickly get dressed and come out to meet him.

Upon entering the living room, Ben Haden saw two people already seated in the guest seats. One was Treville, the France consul he recognized, and the other was a priest wearing a bishop's robe and a cross around his neck. He understood that the Catholicism representatives had arrived.

Bishop Torres arrived in Tripoli in the evening. The Turkey guards at the dock naturally knew this and were expected to report it. However, Ben Haden was having dinner at that time, so no one dared to report it. After Ben Haden finished eating, he watched a dance performance, and naturally, no one dared to disturb him. After the dance performance, Ben Haden wanted to take a bath. After Ben Haden bath, he naturally wanted to go to bed for some exercise—so until now, he was still unaware that the Holy See's representatives had arrived.

However, Ben Haden didn't see it as his fault. He believed that the fact that he hadn't known about this beforehand and thus hadn't been prepared was due to the negligence of his subordinates, and that they all deserved to be whipped. But overall, Ben Haden was a very merciful man; at least, among his punishments, whipping was more common than beheading.

"Consul Treville, I didn't know you were here so late. What brings you here? And who is this bishop?" Ben Haden asked with a smile.

"Your Excellency Pasha, this is the representative of the Holy See, Bishop Torres. He just arrived today. I had originally advised him to come and pay his respects to you tomorrow, Yes, Bishop felt that it would be impolite not to pay his respects to the host upon arrival, so I came with him."