I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 514 The Future of Corsica
It's getting dark.

Filippo was still sitting on the hillside opposite the village of Nonza, with torn newspapers at his feet. He stared at the village in the distance as if in a daze, his heart in a painful struggle.

He knew that the Restoration Movement was facing a huge dilemma, and that the village had to be set on fire to solve all the problems, so that the Restorationists could continue to compete with the French...

However, that would also allow a guy who committed rape and corruption to continue to serve as the leader of the Restoration Organization - Filippo had previously believed that Paulie's embezzlement of the organization's funds was a false accusation, but after the rape case in London, he believed that it should be true.

But if he didn't start this fire, the restoration organization he had been fighting for since he was a child would fall into division, then lose control of the parliament, and ultimately fail.

At present, the only person who is capable of integrating the Restoration Organization is Paulie...

But he is a filthy, shameless beast, a criminal!
Then, will the ideal of national restoration that he has been pursuing for decades come to nothing?

After an unknown amount of time, Filippo showed a miserable smile on his face and kept shaking his head, unable to make a decision at all.

He suddenly stood up and walked briskly towards the steep slope on the left.

Since I can't make the decision myself, I'll leave it to God...

As he thought this, he jumped down the nearly vertical slope. His body rolled rapidly, bouncing on the rocks several times, leaving a trail of bright red blood.

At noon the next day, a villager found a man's body at the foot of the mountain and hurried back to the village to tell the parish priest.

Agosta and the captain of the guards hadn't seen Filippo all night, nor had they seen the fire in Nonza Village, so they came to look for him nearby, and happened to meet the villagers who were rushing to check on the dead...

……

Although only half a month had passed, Paulie's rape case had lost its heat in London, and he had paid bail and returned home - an influential politician like him was unlikely to be brought down by such a "small case" - but the matter continued to ferment in Corsica, occupying everyone's chat content, and it was already known to everyone.

Of course, this was the result of vigorous propaganda by the anti-Poly faction, with the pro-French faction cooperating secretly. The front pages of newspapers every day were almost entirely about the Poly case.

Battolio even had thousands of copies of the London Gazette, which reported the case, bought and placed them in various towns for people to read for free.

Under such a wave of public opinion, the Paulist faction's election prospects plummeted. In the parliamentary election after the incident, they only won one seat.

The anti-Poly faction became the biggest winner, especially those who had previously criticized them and slandered Poly, who turned around and voted for them.

Some other people also developed a dislike for the Restorationists because of the bad deeds of Paulie, the Restorationist leader, which led to the pro-French faction unexpectedly gaining some votes.

A month later, the provincial elections in Corsica ended.

The anti-Paoli faction led by Bartolio won 35% of the seats. Meanwhile, Girolamo, the insider, started to compete for the position of speaker with the support of Chamos, and currently has a clear advantage.

Count Buttafuoco led the pro-French faction to win 33% of the seats, the best result since France ruled Corsica.

Although the Paulist faction suffered a crushing defeat in the later stages, it still held 18% of the seats in parliament thanks to its huge advantage at the beginning of the election.

The neutrals suffered the most, as they were labeled as sympathizing with Paulie, and thus only won 14% of the seats - in political struggles, having an ambiguous stance has never been popular.

……

In a vineyard on the outskirts of Ajaccio, Girolamo saw from afar a bloated nobleman appear at the gate and whispered to Bartolio beside him: "He's here."

The latter straightened his collar and took the initiative to greet him. Without giving the other party a chance to salute, he said in a stiff tone: "Tell me what you want, and leave as soon as you finish speaking."

"You are so cold." The visitor was Count Butafuoco. He still raised his hat and said, "But you'd better change your attitude. After all, we will see each other often after the cooperation. Wouldn't it be better to have a more harmonious atmosphere?"

"Cooperation?" Bartolio sneered, "Why should I cooperate with you?"

Count Butafuoco did not take it as an offense and smiled and said: "Didn't you notice?
“Your faction and mine together already hold more than two-thirds of the seats in Parliament.

"You know what that means."

Bartolio frowned. He knew that two-thirds of the seats were enough to make a law, but he still said coldly, "So what?"

"We can work together to push for legislation that will bury Paulie and his men once and for all."

Bartolio was stunned.

Although the anti-Pauli faction gained an advantage in the parliamentary elections, Pauli still has a great influence in the restoration organization.

If the Poly faction can be eliminated at the legislative level, then his own anti-Poly faction will inevitably become the backbone of the restoration organization.

He could even be promoted to become the new leader of the restoration organization.

His mind raced. If he could achieve this goal, it would not be impossible to make use of the pro-French faction.

Bartolio's expression softened a little, and he gestured towards the house: "Please come in and tell me more."

A few hours later, Count Buttafuoco completed his mission and left.

In the house in the vineyard, Bartolio looked at Girolamo and asked, "What do you think of cooperating with them?"

"This is a good opportunity." The latter said confidently, "It's just a matter of pushing a legislative bill, and then we won't have any more dealings with the pro-French faction."

Bartolio nodded in agreement.

However, he only cared about the immediate interests and ignored the fact that legislative votes in parliament were conducted in public.

As long as he joins hands with the pro-French faction to suppress the Paoli faction this time, he will be seen as a collaborator of the pro-French faction in the eyes of the Corsicans in the future.

As for political struggle, once you succeed once, you can't help but continue to use it.

In addition, the financial backers behind the Battolio faction are also "Infernal Affairs". It can be predicted that it won't be long before they will be completely tied to Count Buttafuoco.

To be honest, these newbies in electoral politics seemed as naive as elementary school students to Joseph, who had witnessed all kinds of Western political conspiracies in later generations.

a.

Under the chairmanship of the new Speaker Girolamo, the Corsican Parliament passed a new bill with a high vote.

The bill stipulated that Paulie was permanently deprived of her Corsican citizenship. No Corsican could contact Paulie in any way, otherwise she would be convicted of treason. All of Paulie's private property was confiscated by the Corsican Parliament to compensate for his embezzlement, and his works were prohibited from being sold in Corsica.

This series of decrees seemed to be aimed only at Paulie himself, but in fact they dug out the roots of the Paulie faction in the restoration organization.

(End of this chapter)