Triple Win

After Victor finished speaking, Bishop Torres bowed to Ben Haden. Considering that the other party was a pagan, he omitted phrases like "God be with you" from his greeting. Although Bishop Torres had been calling Victor, he was still very polite when facing him in person.

However, Ben Haden would certainly prefer that he wasn't so polite rather than have him come to him at this time. This was not only because he had spoiled his mood, but also because the Holy See's envoy had arrived so quickly that many of his plans had fallen through.

However, at this moment, he still had to put on a very enthusiastic demeanor and greeted Bishop Torres, saying, "Welcome, Bishop Torres. We have been looking forward to your arrival for a long time."

After exchanging pleasantries, everyone sat down, and a maid brought coffee. Ben Haden then asked, "Consul Treville, Bishop Torres, your visit so late at night must be on official business, right?"

Victor then smiled and said, "Pasha, we agreed last time that as soon as His Holiness the Pope's representative arrives here, we can begin the process of identifying the slaves. So we've come to discuss with Pasha when this work can officially begin."

Ben Haden naturally wanted to delay as much as possible. He first made the excuse that Bishop Torres had come a long way and needed to rest; then he said that he wasn't fully prepared yet. In short, for one reason or another, the screening process had to be postponed. Tomorrow was definitely not an option, the day after tomorrow wouldn't be enough, and even a week later would be difficult.

Upon hearing this, Victor immediately replied in a relaxed tone, "The France fleet has been at sea for too long recently, consuming large amounts of coal and shells every day. Now, the warships are running low on coal and shells, and we will probably need to return to Toulon to refuel soon."

If the France fleet were to suddenly withdraw halfway through the campaign, the siege of Tunisia would naturally be delayed. Now that the war is halfway through, every extra day the empire has to spend a large sum of money. Compared to this expenditure, the value of a few Christ slaves is negligible.

However, Ben Haden was not one to be easily intimidated. Although he knew that Admiral Treville, the commander of the French Navy, was the uncle of this Consul Treville, he didn't believe the France would make a big fuss over such a trivial matter. Moreover, if such a thing were to happen, it would be the empire's interests that would suffer; but to easily concede on the issue of identifying Christianity slaves would mean sacrificing his own interests. Compared to his own interests, what did the empire's interests, however great, matter?

Moreover, a prolonged war would also harm France's national interests, although not to the same extent as it would harm the France Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, Benhaden believed that France, under normal circumstances, would never allow its national interests to be severely damaged for the sake of personal gain. Otherwise, France wouldn't be the most powerful nation in Europe. Besides, the Consul Treville before him was only surnamed Treville, not Bonaparte.

Therefore, Benhaden stated quite firmly that he fully understood the France fleet's needs and hoped that the France fleet could return to the battlefield as soon as possible after completing its mission of refueling and resupplying.

Seeing Ben Haden's attitude, Victor was at a loss for what to do. However, Bishop Torres spoke up, "Your Excellency Pasha, besides the matter of starting the screening as soon as possible, I have another matter to trouble you with."

"Bishop, please don't hesitate to ask. As you know, our Ottoman Empire has always been very lenient in religious matters, and we are always happy to grant the requests of those who have the scriptures."

The term "people of the Book" refers to Jews and Christ. Relatively speaking, at least in this era, compared to Christianity- dominated areas, the True God Church was indeed very lenient towards "people of the Book."

"Since so many Catholics want to settle here, they certainly need a church," Bishop Torres said. "I hope to purchase a piece of land from the Pasha to build the church."

"Hasn't the land for building the church already been allocated to you?" Ben Haden asked.

"Ah, Your Excellency Pasha, the matter is this: there is a problem with that piece of land; its location is too close to the harbor, too noisy. Therefore, I wish to purchase another piece of land from you for the purpose of building the church."

Ben Haden paused for a moment, then laughed, "Bishop, you didn't sell that land to Consul Treville, did you?"

In the original plan, the land allocated to the Holy See for building a church was quite close to the docks, and in terms of value, it was probably one of the most valuable plots in the entire city. Selling this land to someone else and then using the money to build a church in another location with lower land prices would likely result in a profit.

Bishop Torres neither confirmed nor denied this speculation. Instead, he smiled and said, "Furthermore, the size of this church and the amount of land to purchase are also closely related to the number of believers. Therefore, I still hope to begin the screening process for believers as soon as possible."

Ben Haden now fully understood what the other party meant. He thought, "I must stand firm. This heretic is trying to corrupt me. I must stand firm and not agree easily unless he can offer a truly tempting price."

The negotiations quickly shifted from discussing when to begin the slave screening to where to buy a piece of land, how big a piece, and at what price. Ben Haden even had a map brought out, and everyone discussed it together. In the end, Bishop Torres and Ben Haden reached an agreement on the sale of a piece of land in the city at a price that was clearly a bit overpriced.

After the purchase was finalized, the attitudes between the three improved considerably. Even Ben Haden felt that although these two had disrupted his normal life, if each disruption resulted in this outcome, he would be more than willing to be disturbed a few more times.

"Your Excellency Pasha," Bishop Torres continued, "Regarding the matter of slave screening..."

"Ah," Ben Haden chuckled, "This matter is a bit troublesome, but leave it to me, I'm sure it will satisfy you, Bishop. Hmm, starting tomorrow is really too late, how about starting the day after tomorrow...?"

After everything was settled, Victor bid farewell to Bishop Torres and left.

On the carriage ride back, Victor said to Bishop Torres with heartfelt admiration, "Your Excellency, I have truly learned a great deal from you today."

"Ah, it's nothing. Those heretics are never gentlemen, so when we talk to them, we can only talk about interests," Bishop Torres smiled. "Also, Consul, I wonder what kind of offer you would be willing to give me for the original site of the church. Hmm, it must be slightly higher than the price I just negotiated with that heretic, because I don't have the money to pay for that land."

Frankly speaking, buying the original church site for a slightly higher price than the new location they just discussed would be economically worthwhile.

"Yes, Bishop, I don't have that much money either," Victor said.

"Ah, that's not a problem. Our Holy See also has banks that can lend you money, and I can guarantee a favorable interest rate..."