From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"How?" Lawrence asked softly.

Grosso glanced at Lawrence's eyes. The things in these eyes were no longer the confusion, restlessness and struggle he saw when he first saw Lawrence.

Then Grosso closed his eyes and seemed to be thinking about something.

Looking at his subordinates not far away, these people were either his young companions who were as close as brothers, or they were slum boys who trusted Grosso. No matter what they were, Grosso did not want to treat them badly.

Grosso also believed that the patrolman position was coveted by his men.

"I agree, as long as the Silona beast can die."

Grosso finally sighed, nodded and agreed to Lawrence's proposal, then stood up, stretched and said:

"By the way, One Eye is dead, and the things in his gang belong to us."

Now that he had agreed to Lawrence, Grosso also wisely classified One-Eye's property as the common property of the patrol.

After Grosso's reminder, Lawrence remembered that One-Eye was quite wealthy. The private treasury alone contributed two thousand gold to Lawrence.

The two returned to their respective subordinates and agreed to meet at the headquarters of the Sea Serpent Gang in an hour.

Lawrence first asked the seriously injured people to return to the station to recuperate, and then told Old Sean and Ya'an about the recruitment of Grosso.

"What?! They are part of a gang, just a bunch of gangsters."

Old Sean had the biggest reaction and almost jumped up in surprise.

Ya'an said nothing. He had vowed to follow Lawrence alone, and the team's affairs had almost nothing to do with him.

"To deal with one group of gangsters, it's best to use another group of gangsters." Lawrence shook his head slightly and insisted on his decision.

"But... I don't always feel at ease with these people." Old Sean was still very worried and said hesitantly.

This issue is actually what Lawrence is worried about. Although Grosso is his savior, it is still the common enemy Ciro that maintains the trust between the two.

Once Ciro dies, Lawrence is still unsure whether Grosso will obey his orders.

"After Grosso and the others officially join the patrol, they must find a way to differentiate Grosso's absolute leadership over his men."

Lawrence thought of this and glanced at Ya'an behind him from the corner of his eye. The scene of him fighting to protect himself in a bloody battle was still vivid in Lawrence's mind.

For Ya'an, Lawrence will choose to trust unconditionally. In this case

"Yan, there is a task for you." Lawrence walked to Ya'an and said softly.

"My lord, tell me straight, I won't refuse." Ya'an replied firmly without asking what it was.

Lawrence lowered his voice again and said:

"I will let you and Grosso be stationed in the Xicheng District together. You have two tasks. One is to cooperate with Grosso to eliminate several major gangs, and the other is to try your best to establish prestige among Grosso's subordinates and seize leadership."

Ya'an just nodded briefly and said, "Understood."

Hearing Ya'an's answer, Lawrence breathed a sigh of relief. With him and Grosso in Xicheng District, and the muskets that Pauly promised to send, with just a little training, dealing with those gangs would not be a big problem. .

And with Ya'an's reputation in the Xicheng District Patrol Team, Lawrence won't have to worry too much about whether Grosso will part ways with him in the future.

After resting on the spot for a while, Lawrence led everyone to the Sea Serpent Gang's station. When Lawrence arrived, Grosso had been waiting here for a long time.

In front of you is a large iron warehouse. The walls of the warehouse are covered with rust. It seems to have been there for many years. I don't know when it was occupied by the Sea Snake Gang.

Since One-Eye brought the entire gang out when he ambushed Lawrence, and there was no one in the warehouse at this time, Grosso directly sent someone to break open the door of the warehouse.

The warehouse has two floors, and the second floor is where the gang members live. Although the simple environment reminds Lawrence of the construction site dormitories in his previous life, it is much more comfortable than those slum shacks. At least living there will not be exposed to wind and rain. Rain.

On the first floor, there were a lot of debris scattered here and there, and even a few machetes were thrown on the ground. It seemed that these rough guys had no habit of collecting them at all.

In the center of the warehouse, there is a large wooden box covered with oilcloth. I don't know what is inside.

As soon as Lawrence entered the door, he ordered to Old Sean: "Take someone to search. All you need is cash."

Grosso walked up directly and pulled off the huge oilcloth, revealing three wooden boxes underneath.

Grosso glanced at the three boxes, his eyes immediately lit up, and he couldn't help but scream:

"This damn One-Eye actually smuggled such good goods in his hands."

"What?" Lawrence frowned and stepped forward. He didn't know what could make Grosso, who had seen strong winds and waves, so excited.

"Tobacco, and it's a high-end product. Look here, it's produced in the Viceroyalty of Brazil. It has the flag of the Portuguese royal family printed on it. It's definitely a high-end product smoked by noble gentlemen."

Grosso explained while stroking the wooden box lovingly, with an unstoppable smile on his face.

"How much is it worth?"

Lawrence asked. He had never smoked and was not curious about the high-grade tobacco from two hundred years ago. He was only interested in how much these three boxes were worth.

"It's hard to say. If we find a good buyer, we can sell it for five thousand gold coins of your Corsican people." Grosso touched his chin and struggled to convert the lira he usually used into Corsican gold coins.

"Can you find the seller?" Lawrence asked with a frown.

Grosso curled his lips, shrugged and boasted:

"I have been floating on the sea for decades. I have traveled from America to Venice. I guess many of them are interested in this batch of goods."

"It's up to you. You can find a way to sell it yourself. The money will be distributed to you in the name of the patrol." Lawrence knocked on the box and said calmly.

The cost of stationing the patrol team permanently in Xicheng District is naturally not small. Just food, drink and daily necessities for a population of dozens of people will cost a lot. Fortunately, Duyan's death was a surprise for Lawrence, and this windfall was used as the start-up fund for the Xicheng District Patrol Team.

"Okay, this money will probably be used for the first half of the year."

Grosso nodded excitedly and ordered several subordinates to carefully move the boxes back to his headquarters.

At the same time, Grosso couldn't help but glance at Lawrence. If it were him, he would definitely take this batch of goods into his own hands. He didn't expect Lawrence to give it up so generously.

"Maybe it's right to follow this guy." Grosso thought silently.

At the same time, Old Sean also excitedly brought a heavy wooden box over and said:

"Lord Bonaparte, we found it. All the treasury of the Sea Serpent Gang is here."

Lawrence opened the box, and in front of him was indeed a golden mountain of half a gold coin. From a visual inspection, it was even more spectacular than One Eye's two thousand gold private property.

"Approximately how many are there?" Lawrence said, picking up a gold coin and looking at it for a moment, confirming that it was a genuine coin, and then threw it back into the box.

"There is a ledger next to the box, which records three thousand five hundred and forty coins. This is a private account and it cannot be wrong." Old Sean couldn't hold back his excitement and answered while rubbing his hands.

Such a number surprised Lawrence, but it made sense when he thought that One Eye was one of the few gang leaders in Xicheng District.

If other leaders were as wealthy as One Eye, I am afraid that Pauli would be the first to be unable to sit still and directly send troops to turn Xicheng District upside down.

"Add three thousand gold to the patrol's subsidy share, and all the remaining five hundred or so gold will be distributed to the patrol who was injured today."

Lawrence skillfully allocated this huge sum of money and did not keep a single penny of it for himself.

This scene made Grosso and his subordinates even more stunned. A mountain of gold was placed in front of them. Lawrence didn't even take a second look and distributed it to his subordinates in two sentences.

Even the patrolmen under Lawrence who had already received their share could not help but look at Lawrence enthusiastically. The visual impact of this box full of gold coins was too great.

The experienced Grosso frowned tightly and stared directly at Lawrence.

He has been traveling at sea for nearly twenty years, and he has also heard that some pirate captains do not care about money and give it all to their subordinates. And the names of those people are still sung as legends throughout the Seven Seas. .

Grosso thought to himself:

"This young man might be worth following."