Make France Great Again-Chapter 873 - 864: Preparations for Exploring the Colony
"But those fellows probably forgot! Colonies do not always abide by the principle of first-come, first-served. Sometimes, latecomers are more easily received by the natives, just like the Kingdom of Britain back then!
Am I right, Captain Grandi?"
Jerome Patterson’s mockery of the Kingdom of Britain made Grandi a little annoyed.
Bound by current circumstances, Captain Grandi had to suppress his anger and calmly said to Jerome Patterson, "Your Excellency, what we are discussing now is how to act if we clash with the Kingdom of Portugal during our occupation of the land!"
Jerome Patterson seemed to realize that he had gone off-topic and quickly gave Captain Grandi an "apologetic" smile, saying, "Look at me! How did I get off track again? I do apologize!
Earlier you asked what to do, right? My suggestion is to use legal means to safeguard our rights!"
"Legal means?" Captain Grandi looked at Jerome Patterson in disbelief; he really couldn’t believe such words came from a colonial governor.
He truly wanted to loudly ask Jerome Patterson, which set of laws he was referring to: the Empire of France’s laws, the Kingdom of Portugal’s laws, or the indigenous laws of the residents on this land.
"Yes! Legal means!" Jerome Patterson nodded and repeated the phrase.
"Your Excellency, forgive my ignorance!" Captain Grandi candidly asked Jerome Patterson, "Which set of laws are you referring to? We lack everything here except laws!"
"Of course, according to the land transfer law signed by our government with the local residents!" Jerome Patterson confidently told Captain Grandi.
Captain Grandi immediately realized that Jerome Patterson wanted to use land control measures to turn this area into French territory, "But the Kingdom of Portugal will certainly not recognize the agreement we signed with the natives!"
"This is not up to them!" Jerome Patterson showed a slight contemptuous smile, "Mr. Grandi, have you forgotten? France boasts the most elite troops in the world!
If you encounter Portuguese obstruction, please convey my message to them!
If Portugal believes their army can defeat France, then they’re welcome to disregard the agreement.
Otherwise, they have to play by our rules!
This isn’t Portugal’s private garden where they can do whatever they want!"
After a moment of silence, Captain Grandi nodded and seriously said to Jerome Patterson, "I understand!"
When Captain Grandi finished speaking, the room fell into silence once more.
In a position where he could not be seen by Jerome Patterson and Captain Lalandy, Rastigne, who had been waiting for a long time, understood that it was time for him to come forward upon hearing no further conversation inside.
Thus, Rastigne took a step forward from the doorway, walked up to Jerome Patterson and Captain Grandi, handed a quill pen to Captain Grandi, and opened the inkwell for him.
"Thank you!" Captain Grandi politely said to Rastigne, then used the ink-dipped quill pen to sign his name on the last page of the document, and pushed the document back in front of Jerome Patterson.
Receiving the document, Jerome Patterson showed a contented smile, placed the document in his drawer, and extended his hand to Captain Grandi, "Mr. Grandi, you made the right choice!"
"Thanks to your favor! It allowed me to make such a correct choice!" Captain Grandi showed a hint of mockery on his face as he responded to Jerome Patterson.
"Mr. Grandi, I think you could ease your attitude towards me a bit! After all, I am your boss now!" Jerome Patterson spread his hands in helplessness towards Captain Grandi.
"Your Excellency! If you were forced to sign an agreement you didn’t want to, I think you wouldn’t be pleasant either!" Captain Grandi said coldly to Jerome Patterson,
"So for the sake of money, could your attitude change a little?
You should know that I employ you and your team at an annual salary of 30,000 francs to work for me; few in the whole of Africa could offer such a price," Jerome Patterson shrugged and said lightly.
Captain Grandi responded noncommittally, "Your Excellency, an annual salary of 30,000 francs is indeed a condition not many forces could offer! Such generous terms, even Mr. Livingstone might consider!"
"By the way! I have a question to ask you; I wonder if you could answer it!" Jerome Patterson said to Captain Grandi.
"Go ahead!" Captain Grandi said.
"In April this year, what was the reason you left Livingstone?" Jerome Patterson asked Captain Grandi, then added, "If it’s inconvenient, you don’t have to answer!"
"Nothing is inconvenient!" Captain Grandi said calmly to Jerome Patterson, "Because in April this year, I had a disagreement with Livingstone, so I left his team to form an appropriate team."
"What disagreement?" Jerome Patterson asked again.
"I thought the team should continue exploring along the ’Congo River’ to seek further development.
But Livingstone thought the team shouldn’t continue moving along the ’Congo River.’
That’s how the two of us disagreed on the route!" Captain Grandi spoke with a hint of grievance in his tone to Jerome Patterson: "Since neither of us could convince the other, the team was at a standstill.
In order to prevent the team from splitting apart due to the argument, and also to avoid making Livingstone uncomfortable, I voluntarily withdrew from Livingstone’s expedition team to focus on forming my own team!"
[PS: The Congo River referred to here is actually the Ouenvi River in Gabon.]
"I see!" Jerome Patterson nodded, giving a thumbs up to Captain Grandi and praised, "Mr. Grandi, you are indeed an excellent person!"
"You flatter me!" Captain Grandi responded to Jerome Patterson with a reserved smile.
Afterwards, Jerome Patterson asked Captain Grandi when they could set off.
"Your Excellency! I originally planned to leave in a few days, but now it seems we’ll need to wait a bit longer!" Grandi told Jerome Bonaparte.
"Why is that?" Jerome Patterson asked in confusion.
"Because your men are going to join our team, I need to train them!" Captain Grandi stated frankly to Jerome Bonaparte.
"The men I assigned to you are some of the best soldiers from the barracks, they shouldn’t need further training, should they?" Jerome Patterson said to Captain Grandi.
Captain Grandi shook his head and replied to Jerome Patterson: "Your Excellency, even the finest soldiers need training!
The place we’re going differs from the battlefield; the battlefield focuses on frontal battles, with all dangers coming from the enemy’s rifles and cannons.
But it’s different there, not only must we face the overt slave traders and hostile natives, but we also have to learn to contend with the environment there!
Any slight mistake could result in death!
Even in Livingstone’s team, seasoned expedition members have died in the jungle.
So we must be thoroughly prepared!"
"Alright! We’ll do it your way!" Jerome Bonaparte said to Grandi, then asked another question: "However, I’m curious! How long will you need before you can set off?"
"If fast, it can be three to four weeks, if slow, up to two or three months!" Captain Grandi replied to Jerome Patterson: "It all depends on the learning ability of the soldiers you integrate into my team!"
"I understand!" Jerome Patterson spoke seriously to Grandi: "I’ll select soldiers with excellent learning abilities to learn from you, hoping you will teach them survival skills well!"
"Of course!"
...
The next morning, Captain Grandi, residing at the Governor’s Mansion, was awakened by Rastigne.
Sleepy-eyed, he yawned and asked Rastigne: "Is there anything I can help with?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
"His Excellency asked me to inform you that he has prepared the soldiers to accompany you." Rastigne stated unemotionally to Captain Grandi.
"Alright! I understand, I’ll be over shortly!" Captain Grandi yawned again, responding to Jerome Patterson.
After a while, Captain Grandi dressed, left his room, and saw Rastigne in the corridor.
"Please follow me!" Rastigne said briefly and then left.
Captain Grandi followed Rastigne and they rode together in a carriage to the barracks.
Upon entering the barracks, Captain Grandi immediately felt a long-lost sense of familiarity, as if he had returned to eight years ago when he was serving in India...
"What’s wrong, Mr. Grandi?"
At this moment, Rastigne’s voice interrupted Captain Grandi’s reminiscence.
"No! Nothing!"
Captain Grandi shook his head and continued to follow Rastigne, soon they arrived in front of Jerome Patterson, who introduced Grandi to the people who would accompany them.
"This is Major Mirabeau Pulinkovic, he will be the leader of the escort team for this scientific expedition!" Jerome Patterson pointed to Mirabeau Pulinkovic.
Mirabeau Pulinkovic saluted Grandi humbly yet confidently, and Grandi returned the salute to Mirabeau Pulinkovic in kind.
