"The situation is delicate? Western Mediterranean?"

After hearing this, Lawrence immediately frowned and recalled that in his memory, the area around Corsica in 1770 on the original historical timeline was considered peaceful, with no conflicts or tensions.

"It seems that it was affected by my butterfly effect..."

Lawrence pondered silently, basically confirming that the delicate situation mentioned by Duke Choiseul had some of his own factors.

However, Lawrence was still a little confused. The area around Corsica, except for France in the northwest, was Italy in the east, and it was logical that there would be no tense situations in Italy.

The Republic of Genoa in the north has been weak for two centuries, and now it has completely abandoned Corsica under pressure from France. It is completely out of date and can only survive in a few coastal cities on the mainland.

Although the Kingdom of Sardinia is considered a rich and powerful kingdom in northern Italy, it is still not a country of the same magnitude as France, which borders France, and it is unlikely to provoke any disputes. After all, northern Italy is a country between France and Austria.

A feast that only the two great powers are entitled to enjoy.

Although the Papal State in the central Apennines was trying to encroach on the small countries in northern Italy in order to expand the papal secular power, it would not launch an expansion war that even the Duke of Choiseul would take seriously.

The Kingdom of Naples further south is a vassal state of Spain. Although it has relatively high autonomy, it has no diplomatic or political sovereignty.

From this point of view, although the Italian region is broken into pieces and has many states, the overall situation is relatively balanced, and it is unlikely that any internal problems will occur.

"In other words...are there external forces involved..."

Lawrence nodded slightly to confirm his idea, and then asked in a deep voice:

"Is this situation related to the British?"

Duke Choiseul glanced at Lawrence in surprise, nodded repeatedly and said:

"Yes, how did you know that?"

"Wherever there is trouble in Europe, you will find the British." Lawrence shrugged.

"What you said is true."

Duke Choiseul couldn't help but laugh, then immediately returned to seriousness and said:

"Yes, I received a report from the Mediterranean Fleet that the British fleet stationed in Gibraltar has been acting strangely recently. Not only has the number of permanent fleets increased, but it also often cruises to the area east of Sicily, seemingly for reconnaissance.

, this kind of radical behavior was not common before.”

"This is indeed a bit abnormal." Lawrence frowned and said.

"Humph, I even summoned the British ambassador for this matter, that Baron Bertula."

Duke Choiseul recalled his meeting with Baron Bertula and said with some dissatisfaction:

"In the end, he told me that it was just a normal escort fleet, used to protect British merchant ships. Damn it, I've only heard of escorts with light sailing ships, but never heard of escorts with seven or eight third-level line battleships."

After all, the Duke of Choiseul had served as Minister of the Navy for several years, and he knew that Baron Bertula's remarks were completely nonsense.

Most of the warships used to escort trade routes are light and fast sailing destroyers, just like the USS Constitution, the spiritual symbol of the Americans. These warships are only classified as fifth-class ships.

The powerful but relatively bulky third-level line battleships would never be used to combat pirates and pursue privateers.

"I'm afraid this is also a unified rhetoric to the outside world. It is indeed a good excuse for people who don't understand the navy."

Lawrence closed his eyes and said while thinking:

"It seems like the British are indeed going to take some action, but it's also strange. Instead of focusing on their own colonies, the British went to Italy to join in the fun. It's difficult for their influence to spread to the Apennines.

.”

"Yeah, I thought the British were worried about all the bad things going on in their colonies."

Duke Choiseul said with approval:

"Their colonies in America have been filled with public resentment recently. I think it won't be long before those colonial farmers will throw away their hoes and pick up the barrels of their guns."

Although it was only in 1776 that the thirteen colonies formally united to rebel against the British government, farmers in these colonies had begun to resist sporadically since the mid-eighteenth century.

This also made many politicians in history predict the outcome of the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, including the Duke of Choiseul and former British Prime Minister William Pitt Sr.

The Duke of Choiseul even sensed the resistance of the people in the Thirteen Colonies in 1765 and strengthened the deployment of military forces in the West Indies in advance.

The British government at that time could naturally anticipate the resistance of the colonial people. However, on the one hand, they overestimated their military strength and believed that they could suppress the rebellion with force; on the other hand, they also underestimated Louis XVI's willingness to sell iron to resist the British.

Determined to aid the United States, I did not expect that the French even donated the king's small treasury to aid the Americans.

"Anyway, thank you for the reminder, Your Excellency the Duke."

Lawrence nodded, smiled and said:

"I will ask the Corsican Navy to keep an eye on the movements of the British fleet."

"No, in addition to the erratic behavior of the British, there are also problems in southern Italy."

Duke Choiseul shook his head and said solemnly:

"To be precise, there is something wrong with the Kingdom of Naples."

"Kingdom of Naples? What happened to the Spanish vassals?" Lawrence asked with a frown.

"famine."

Duke Choiseul uttered the word heavily and said slowly:

"Food prices are soaring throughout the kingdom. It is said that in some places a florin can only buy ten loaves of bread. A large number of urban residents have begun to flee because there is no food, but the situation in the countryside is just as bad.

Countless peasants abandoned their land and houses and joined the huge fleeing team. This famine is only the beginning, but it will not be long before it begins to spread to the entire Kingdom of Naples."

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Hearing the word famine, Lawrence couldn't help but sit up straight, frowning and listening solemnly.

No matter what era or region, the word famine carries such a heavy weight.

When people's basic survival needs cannot be met, all civilization and order, morality and restraint will immediately fall apart.

The instinctive desire to survive will turn into a savage urge to acquire anything that can fill the stomach, no matter what it is.

Tragedies of cannibalism and cannibalism could happen in every inch of land in southern Apennines at this time. Even the most loving couple might stab a dagger into each other's heart in a fight for a piece of bread.

After a brief shock, Lawrence immediately came back to his senses.

Generally speaking, large-scale famines are caused by severe natural disasters, but Lawrence clearly remembered that in July 1770, there were no large-scale climatic disasters in Italy.

Moreover, considering the geographical climate of the Kingdom of Naples, July is the time when the wheat harvest is coming to an end.

This is supposed to be the time when food reserves are most abundant, so why does famine occur at this time?!

"Something's wrong..."

Lawrence frowned and asked:

"Sicily in the Kingdom of Naples is rich in food and can be considered half of Europe's granary. How could there be a famine in a place like this?"

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, with an area more than twice that of Corsica, and is separated from mainland Italy by only a strait four to five kilometers wide.

Although the terrain of Sicily is mainly hilly, its land is fertile and the climate is very suitable for farming. Therefore, agriculture is very developed. It has been the granary of the empire since the Roman Empire. The population of the island is conservatively estimated to be more than 500,000.

"This is also my doubt." Duke Choiseul said in a low voice:

"And what's even more strange is that Sicily, the island with the most developed agriculture, was the core of the famine. It is said that tens of thousands of people have fled Sicily. Many poor farmers did not have money to take a boat, and even tried to escape from the northernmost tip of Sicily.

If they swim to the other side, or even carry their young children on their backs, I'm afraid the number of people who will drown in the strait will be no less than those who will starve to death."

Lawrence held his forehead and sighed and asked:

"What's the cause of the famine? Is it a natural disaster?"

Although Lawrence was asking questions, he was basically certain in his heart that this famine was definitely not caused by a natural disaster.

Duke Choiseul was silent for a moment, and then said a little irritably:

"The ambassador of Naples sent me a diplomatic note in which he mentioned the matter only briefly. He said that the disaster was caused by the eruption of a volcano in Sicily. But my intelligence told me that the volcano in Sicily

There have been no recent eruptions at all.”

There are indeed two volcanoes on Sicily, one active and one extinct.

"Zhufan Zhi" from the Southern Song Dynasty in China mentioned the volcanoes on Sicily:

"The country of Sgariya is close to the border of Lu Mei. The island is a thousand miles wide. Its clothes, customs and pronunciation are the same as those of Lu Mei. There are deep caves in this country, and fires appear in all seasons. From a distance, there is smoke and fire at dusk, and when you look close, you can see the intensity of the fire.

It is so violent that the people of the country throw a big stone weighing five hundred or one thousand kilograms into a hole, and it will explode in an instant and break like pumice."

However, Lawrence's memory and the Duke of Choiseul's intelligence both proved that the cause of the famine was not a volcanic eruption as claimed by the Naples ambassador.

"The Ambassador of Naples concealed the actual situation?"

Lawrence asked, feeling more and more strange that this great famine that suddenly broke out in the Kingdom of Naples did not exist in history.

It stands to reason that France and Spain are staunch allies. As a vassal state of Spain, the Kingdom of Naples should have tried to seek help from France after suffering such a disaster.

However, the Naples ambassador acted as if he was deliberately downplaying the matter, and did not want France to pay too much attention.

"I suspect so." Duke Choiseul's face turned slightly gloomy, and he stroked his beard and said:

"I have secretly sent people to the Kingdom of Naples to conduct an investigation, but it is estimated that it will take some time to get the results. And what is even more strange is that the Kingdom of Naples did not even ask for assistance from Spain. The reason was actually autonomy. And the reason is.

King Carlos III of Spain has yet to respond to this rhetoric."

Although the Kingdom of Naples is a vassal state of the Kingdom of Spain, it still has independent legal principles and a high degree of autonomy.

In this sense, the relationship between the Kingdom of Naples and Spain is very similar to the relationship between Corsica and France, and the autonomy of the Kingdom of Naples is even higher than that of Corsica.
To be continued...