A Millet Dream

Paoli smiled broadly and said, "Of course, I'll do anything I can for you."

Just kidding, Pound Sterling 20,000 is 500,000 Livre, that's a huge sum of money enough for him to sell hooks.

"I want to ensure that the donated funds are used for the great cause of Corsica independence, so I would like to know the specific uses of the funds."

Chamos gave an apologetic look. "Please forgive me, this is absolutely not a sign of distrust towards you or your companions."

He glanced around and lowered his voice, saying, "Actually, I gave a lot of money to the Ireland Republicans a few years ago, but those guys pocketed most of it!"

The so-called "Ireland Republicans" were the Ireland Independence Movement Organization. After the United Kingdom occupation of Ireland, they secretly resisted, reaching their peak at the end of the 18th century. Historically, they even took advantage of the French Great Revolution to prepare to Combination Acts to declare war on the United Kingdom.

Paoli and his three subordinates exchanged glances. Although they were not happy about it, since their sugar daddy had made the request, he could only nod in agreement.

After the salon ended, Chamos went directly home with Paoli to hear his instructions on how to use the funds.

"Half of your funding will be used to purchase weapons and organize public protests and riots," Paoli explained patiently. "The remainder will mainly go as campaign funds to help the Restoration Organization's members of Parliament win more seats."

"As you know, Parliament is the political core of Corsica. By controlling Parliament, we can marginalize the French Government, which is an important part of our independence plan."

Chamos nodded repeatedly. "You are indeed a great Freedom Fighter, very experienced. I feel much more at ease now."

He paused, then continued, "However, based on my experience in Ireland, seizing power at the top is far more effective than instigating riots. Therefore, I believe more money should be invested in supporting members of parliament."

The three members of the Restoration Organization standing nearby immediately lit up upon hearing this, because they were Corsica parliamentarians, or those preparing to run for parliament this year.

If they can secure a large sum of campaign funds, their chances of winning will increase exponentially.

Paoli was quite annoyed by this bossy client and had to patiently explain to him why the funds were allocated in this way.

Chamos suddenly waved his hand impatiently. "You just said that more than twenty members of parliament in the organization will be facing competition, how can 9,000 Pound Sterling be enough to go around? How about this, you listen to me, and I'll sponsor an additional 5,000 Pound Sterling."

Paoli was stunned by the tycoon's generosity. After a quick mental assessment, he agreed to the proposal—to distribute Pound Sterling 17,000 to the Restoration Organization MPs to help them win the election.

Chamos readily agreed and solemnly handed over the two heavy Trunk of Paper Money to Paoli the next afternoon, which were witnessed and verified by the three high-ranking members of the Restoration Organization who had accompanied him.

"Your cause for freedom will ultimately succeed!"

Chamos took the receipt from Paoli and then said generously, "After my East India Company shares are distributed next year, I will also provide you with another Pound Sterling 25,000."

After seeing off the client, Paoli checked his watch; it was already past 5 p. m., and the banks were closed. He figured it would be better to exchange these Paper Money for Gold Coin, which would make it easier to purchase weapons in the United States and Northern Europe.

So he had no choice but to lock the money box in the Safe in his Study, and repeatedly instructed the steward to send someone to guard the main gate today, so that nothing could go wrong.

Night falls.

Mrs. Pauli's maid tiptoed out of bed, took a bag of tools from a box under the bed, and then made her way upstairs to the Study in the dark.

She encountered the night Servant twice along the way, but both of them glanced at her and then turned away as if nothing had happened.

Yes, they were all agents sent by the French Intelligence Bureau.

After obtaining information about Paoli's whereabouts from the British Government, the Intelligence Bureau had infiltrated the Paoli family home thoroughly in the past six months. Now, nearly half of the servants in the Villa are paid by the Intelligence Bureau. If it weren't for the fact that killing Paoli would do more harm than good, he would have been dead dozens of times over.

The maid entered Paoli's Study, used a pre-made key to open the door, and then took out tools and began to light fires everywhere...

At two o'clock in the morning, Paoli was awakened by a woman's scream.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes and vaguely heard the servants shouting, "Fire!"

"Quickly, put out the fire!"

Immediately, the butler knocked loudly on the door, anxiously saying, "Master, there's a fire! You and Madam must get out of here immediately!"

Paoli jumped out of bed, threw on his clothes, and rushed out of the Bedroom. He immediately smelled a pungent odor and looked up to see thick smoke billowing up and down the stairs leading to the second floor, with Servant carrying buckets of water.

The three high-ranking members of the Restoration Organization staying in the guest room were also awakened. They exchanged a glance with Paoli and exclaimed at the same time, "Money!"

The group immediately tried to rush towards the second floor where flames were raging, but the butler quickly ordered his men to hold them back.

Two and a half hours later, the fire was finally extinguished thanks to the combined efforts of Servant and London fire Police.

Ignoring the lingering smoke, Paoli and the others frantically ran up to the second floor, only to be stunned on the spot—half of the rooms on the second floor, including the Study, were charred black.

Paoli coughed as he stepped into the Study, where he saw Safe that had been burned through— Safe of this era were mostly made of Wood wrapped in Sheet Metal; the kind of iron lump that would become common in later generations would not appear until the 19th century—and a blackened lump inside.

One of the men next to him stepped forward and took the contents out of the Safe. They could still vaguely make out black, paper-shaped objects. His face turned ashen. "Damn it, that's 25,000 pounds..."

More than ten days later, at a secret meeting of the Corsican Restoration Organization, Bartorio slammed his fist on the table and roared, "We had a chance to win more than two-thirds of the Parliament seats! It's all because of that fire!"

He was one of the three people who witnessed Pound Sterling 25,000 being burned to the ground that day.

The others in the room also looked gloomy. They already knew that the Scotland tycoon had provided them with a large sum of money, with each person receiving nearly Pound Sterling 1,000, or more than 20,000 Livre.

And now, because of an accident, everything is gone.

Suddenly someone asked, "Mr. Bartorio, how did the fire suddenly start?"

"I don't know either. The fire Police said it could be a rat."

Silence fell upon everyone again.

Then, Giuseppe, one of the organization's top leaders, clapped his hands. "Everyone, perk up! Mr. Paoli has sent orders to organize a riot in Cargèse; we need to discuss this now."

Meanwhile, an United States Lawyer arrived in London and knocked on the Paoli family's door.