I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 493: Conclusive Evidence (Recommended, please read!)

"How is this possible?" The square-faced middle-aged man who had raised the question earlier shook his head vigorously. "Mr. Paulie might go to the United States to hide, but he will never go along with the French!"

"Mr. Cesare, then why did he swallow up the money that Chamos used to fund the Restoration Organization?" Bartolio said coldly.

"Obviously, Mr. Paulie went to America to retire," Girolamo added, "and the 2 pounds was used as his pension."

Everyone nodded:

"That's probably the only explanation."

"He may have received some money from the French."

"This is not surprising. If he had not compromised, he would probably have been assassinated by the French."

Only Cesare still refused to believe it, but he could not find any reason to refute it, so he just kept shaking his head.

Girolamo put on a sad expression, looked around at everyone and said:

"Gentlemen, let's not talk about the money for now. I remembered something more important. We are going to hold a riot in Carges soon. If Mr. Paulie colludes with the French, the riot will become very dangerous."

Bartolio immediately frowned and nodded:

"You are right. But the riot has been prepared for a long time. If we cancel it just because of our suspicion, I am afraid that other members of the organization will not agree."

The Corsican Restoration Organization was large in number, with nearly 40 members of parliament and important leaders. The seven of them alone had no authority to change the riot plan.

Girolamo pretended to think about it, looked at the others and said, "I do have an idea. But it may make Mr. Bartolio responsible."

"You tell me, I'll do anything for the restoration organization."

"On behalf of the Corsican people, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you." Girolamo patted him on the shoulder and continued, "You are responsible for contacting London. You can tell Mr. Pauli that something unexpected happened in Carges and that after discussion, everyone agreed that the date of the riot should be moved forward by three days.

"And the rest of us are not allowed to leave here from now on to ensure that the news does not leak out.

"If the French are prepared by then, it means that Mr. Paulie has betrayed us."

Bartolio frowned. If Paulie had no problem, then he would be betraying the organization. But if Paulie really colluded with the French, he could save a large number of members of the Restoration Organization who participated in the riot.

He quickly made a decision and nodded:
"Okay! I agree with your plan and am willing to bear the consequences."

He firmly believed that Poly had embezzled everyone's funding, so what he did would only serve the organization.

Half a month later...

At dawn, hundreds of people with red cloth wrapped around their arms and carrying unidentified objects silently rushed to the Carges City Hall, and more people joined them along the way.

When they arrived in front of the town hall, the leader took out a long object from the cloth bag on his back and swung it vigorously. Before they could shout, a large number of troops suddenly appeared from all directions. Due to the poor political order in Corsica, police reform has not been carried out so far, so public security is still the responsibility of the army. They surrounded the people wearing red cloth strips and pointed flintlock rifles at them.

Immediately, an officer shouted, "I order them all to be arrested for rioting."

As soon as he finished speaking, several people wearing red ribbons protested tremblingly:
"Sir, we are only here at the City Hall to ask for a pay raise."

"You have wronged us. We really did not riot."

"You see, we are just poor porters..."

As he spoke, he took out a wooden sign from his cloth bag and held it up. On it was written the words "Increase by 3 francs per month."

The officer was a little confused and ordered his men to check. As expected, they found that all the people were carrying wooden signs and banners, and no weapons. He had no choice but to take the leaders away for questioning and dismiss the others.

That afternoon.

In Girolamo's house, seven members of the Restoration Organization were sitting randomly with gloomy faces.

After a long while, Girolamo finally broke the silence: "We must thank Mr. Bartolio. He saved the Restoration Organization."

Everyone nodded to Battolio when they heard this. If he hadn't gone to test Paulie, hundreds of members of the organization who participated in the riot would have been arrested.

"I just did what I had to do."

The latter waved his hands tiredly, and then said in a cold voice:
"It's clear now that Paulie betrayed everyone. He was the only one I told that the riot would start three days in advance, so he must have leaked the news to the French!"

Everyone nodded in agreement with this conclusion, but in fact they were in a blind spot in their thinking.

Although no one who participated in the plot left the room that day, the riot three days in advance could be discussed in advance and proposed by Girolamo. The Corsican army only had to wait for the date to come and perform in Carges.

Now even Cesare, who had trusted Paoli the most, remained silent. He lowered his head, clenched his fists, and his eyes were full of anger.

Bartolio continued:
"I think Oscar Paulie can no longer be the leader of the Restoration Organization. He should be expelled from the organization!"

Girolamo didn't expect that his lines were taken away by others again, so he added fuel to the fire:

"I agree! It has always been us who have taken risks to promote the restoration movement, but Paulie has only been hiding in England giving orders. Now he has betrayed us!"

Cesare also shouted:

"He is not fit to lead the organization! Get him out!"

Bartolio nodded and sighed:

"Then we will split up and contact other councillors to expel Paulie at the next rally!"

The next day.

The seven Corsican parliamentarians reunited at Girolamo's house. There were also six other senior members of the Restoration Organization and a slightly plump middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

Bartolio bowed to the middle-aged man with glasses, and then introduced him to everyone:

"This is Mr. Chalmers. He is very famous in Scotland. I think everyone has heard of him."

More than a dozen people in the room greeted Chalmers respectfully.

This is the "big brother" who once spent 2 pounds on the organization. Everyone seems extremely attentive and enthusiastic.

Chalmers nodded in return, then his expression became serious and he said in a deep voice:

"I recently came to Ajaccio to invest in vineyards, but I heard about Mr. Paoli, which made me very sad and angry!"

He raised his arms again and said in a high voice:
"But the great cause of national restoration cannot be interrupted by him alone! Here, right in front of me, there are many brave national restoration fighters."

He looked around at the crowd:
"So, I decided to take out another 2 pounds to help everyone run for the Corsica parliamentary election next year! Without that bastard Paulie getting in the way this time, the forces of national restoration will surely be able to take control of the parliament in one fell swoop!"

(End of this chapter)