Chapter 473: A Dream of Yellow Millet
Polly smiled and said, "Of course, as long as it's something I can do, I will certainly serve you."
He wasn't joking; £20,000 was equivalent to 500,000 livres—such a large sum could make him sell out anyone.
"I want to ensure that all the funds I donate are used for the great cause of Corsican independence, so I hope to know the specific use of the money."
Chalmers showed an apologetic expression. "Please understand, this is by no means a sign of distrust toward you and your companions."
He looked around and lowered his voice. "Actually, a few years ago, I funded the Irish Republicans with a lot of money, but those guys pocketed more than half of it!"
The so-called "Irish Republicans" were the organizations involved in the Irish independence movement. After Britain occupied Ireland, they resisted in secret and reached a peak in the late 18th century. Historically, they even planned to ally with France to declare war on Britain during the French Revolution.
Polly exchanged glances with his three subordinates. Although they were not too pleased, since the wealthy donor had made a request, Polly could only nod in agreement.
After the salon ended, Chalmers directly followed Polly back home to listen to his plans for the funds.
"Half of your donation will be used to purchase weapons and organize public protests and uprisings," Polly patiently explained. "The rest will mainly serve as campaign funds to help the members of the Restoration Organization gain more seats in Parliament."
"You know, Parliament is the political core of Corsica. As long as we can control Parliament, we can marginalize the French government. This is a crucial part of our independence plan."
Chalmers nodded repeatedly. "You are indeed a great freedom fighter, with much experience. I feel much more at ease now."
He paused and continued, "But from my experience in Ireland, stirring up riots is far less effective than gaining control of the upper echelons of power. So, I think we should invest more money in supporting the parliamentarians."
The three members of the Restoration Organization who were present immediately lit up at his words, as they were either current Corsican parliamentarians or preparing to run in this year's elections. If they could get a large amount of campaign funding, their chances of winning would multiply.
Polly was quite frustrated with this meddling donor, but he patiently explained why the funds had been allocated this way.
Chalmers suddenly grew a bit impatient and waved his hand. "You mentioned earlier that over twenty parliamentarians in the organization will face competition. How can £9,000 be enough to distribute? How about this—you listen to me, and I'll add another £5,000 to the donation."
Polly was stunned by the wealthy man's generosity. After quickly weighing his options, he agreed to Chalmers' proposal—£17,000 would be distributed to the organization's parliamentarians to help them win the elections.
Chalmers was also very straightforward; the next afternoon, he solemnly handed two heavy suitcases of banknotes to Polly, witnessed and verified by three high-ranking members of the Restoration Organization.
"Your cause for freedom will ultimately succeed!"
Chalmers took the receipt from Polly's hand, then generously added, "After my East India Company dividends next year, I'll donate another £25,000 to you."
After sending off the wealthy donor, Polly checked the time—it was already past 5 PM, and the banks were closed. It would be best to exchange the banknotes for gold coins, which would make it easier to purchase weapons in the United States, Northern Europe, and other places.
So, he had no choice but to lock the money boxes in the study's safe and repeatedly instructed the butler to have someone guard the gates tonight, ensuring that nothing went wrong.
Night fell.
The maid in Lady Polly's living room tiptoed out of bed, took a package of tools from a box under the bed, and then crept toward the study on the second floor.
Twice along the way, she encountered night watchmen, but both merely glanced at her before turning away as if nothing had happened.
Yes, they were all agents sent by the French Intelligence Bureau.
After obtaining Polly's whereabouts from the British government, the Intelligence Bureau had infiltrated Polly's household over the past six months. Now, nearly half of the servants in this villa were on the Bureau's payroll. If it weren't for the fact that killing Polly would cause more harm than good, he would have died dozens of times already.
The maid entered Polly's study with a key she had prepared long ago, took out her tools, and started setting fires in various places...
At 2 AM, Polly was awakened by the sound of a woman screaming.
Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he vaguely heard the servants shouting, "Fire!"
"Hurry, put out the fire!"
Then came the butler, knocking forcefully on his door, anxiously saying, "Sir, there's a fire! You and Madam need to get out quickly!"
Polly jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, and rushed out of the bedroom. He immediately smelled the pungent scent of smoke and, looking up, saw that the stairs leading to the second floor were filled with thick smoke. Servants were running up and down, carrying buckets of water.
The three high-ranking members of the Restoration Organization staying in the guest rooms were also awakened. They exchanged glances with Polly and exclaimed in unison, "The money!"
They immediately tried to rush to the burning second floor, but the butler hurriedly called for people to hold them back tightly.
Two and a half hours later, after the combined efforts of the servants and the London Fire Brigade, the fire was finally extinguished.
Polly and the others, despite the lingering smoke, ran madly to the second floor, only to freeze on the spot—the second floor, including the study, had half of its rooms burnt to a crisp.
Coughing, Polly stepped into the study, only to find the safe burned through—the safes of this era were mostly made of iron sheets wrapped in wood, unlike the iron lumps commonly seen in later centuries that would not appear until the 19th century—and inside was a pile of charred remains.
One of the men beside him stepped forward to examine the contents of the safe. He could vaguely see the blackened shapes of paper, and his face turned ashen. "Damn, that was £25,000..."
...
Over ten days later, at a secret meeting of the Corsican Restoration Organization, Bartorio slammed the table and roared, "We originally had a chance to take over more than two-thirds of the parliamentary seats! It's all because of that fire!"
He was one of the three who had witnessed the £25,000 burn to ashes that night.
The others in the room were also gloomy. They already knew that a wealthy Scottish man had provided a large sum of money for them, each of them could have received nearly £1,000, which was over 20,000 livres.
And now, because of one unfortunate incident, everything was gone.
Suddenly, someone spoke up, "Mr. Bartorio, how did the fire start all of a sudden?"
"I'm not sure either. The firefighters said it might have been caused by rats."
The room fell silent again.
Then, one of the organization's leaders, Giuseppe, clapped his hands and said, "Everyone, pull yourselves together. Mr. Polly has sent instructions to organize an uprising in Cargèse, and we need to discuss this matter now."
Meanwhile, an American lawyer arrived in London and knocked on Polly's door.
(End of Chapter)
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