Negotiations

Just as Joseph was setting conditions for Pauline, Selim III of Turkey also summoned the France envoy, Saint-Mélan, once again.

This time, however, Selim III did not receive Saint-Mélan in the opulent Topkapi Palace; instead, he invited Saint-Mélan to go hunting at a royal estate in the countryside.

Selim III rode a snow-white Arabian horse, with Saint-Mélan following behind on a chestnut Arabian horse.

"Mr. Saint-Mélan, how have you been in my country these days?" Selim III stopped on a hill covered with shrubs and asked Saint-Mélan with a smile.

"Your Majesty, I am very grateful for your hospitality," Saint-Mélan said, placing his right hand on his chest and bowing slightly on horseback.

"Ah, that's good." Selim III jumped off his horse and handed the reins to a guard standing beside him.

Saint-Mélan then dismounted, and a guard followed and led his horse away.

"Mr. Saint-Mélan, let's go for a walk over there," Selim III said, pointing to a grassy area with several flat stones.

"Yes, Your Majesty, as you wish," Saint-Mélan said.

Selim III then walked in that direction, followed by Saint-Mélan and another Turkey officer.

Selim III stopped beside a large blue stone, gently tapping it with his riding crop, then turned to Saint-Mélan and said, "Mr. Saint-Mélan, let me introduce you to this, my most loyal general, my Grand Vizier, Alandar Mustafa Pasha. Well, regarding what you mentioned last time, he has some questions he needs to ask you about."

"I am happy to accept the advice of Your Majesty and His Excellency Grand Vizier," Saint-Mélan replied.

"We've heard that your country will become an empire after this Olympics?" Arundar Mustafa Pasha asked.

"That legend is inaccurate," Saint-Mélan replied. "Our country will always be a republic, that is beyond doubt. Of course, I have also heard that the Holy See intends to entrust the crown of the Western Roman Empire to our First Consul, but that is the crown of the Rome, not the crown of France. France is a republic, and the leader of France remains the First Consul."

"However, the First Consul also serves as the Rome?" Alandar Mustafa Pasha asked again.

"Your Excellency Grand Vizier, it is not appropriate for me to speculate too much about things that have not yet happened," Saint-Mélan replied.

Selim III and Arundar Mustafa Pasha exchanged a glance; they knew that this guess was probably correct.

"So how many troops does your First Regent intend to deploy to help us reclaim our territory?" Arundar Mustafa Pasha asked.

"Reclaim territory?" Saint-Mélan couldn't help but sneer inwardly. To be honest, although the Barbary States all bore the Turkey name and claimed to be the Pasha of Turkey, the land they ruled wasn't actually conquered by the Turkey. It was originally conquered by Hayreddin and his pirate brothers. They only used the name of the Ottoman Empire Turkey Company to facilitate resupply. This territory was truly conquered by those pirate kings themselves.

"Your Majesty, Your Excellency Grand Vizier, our country will primarily utilize naval forces. As for the number to be deployed, that depends on your country's needs. For our country, deploying a fleet costs money, and the fewer fleets we deploy, the more money we can save..." Saint-Mélan said.

Saint-Mélan's words clearly implied a bargaining stance. The implication was that if the Turkey performed admirably, they would contribute less and receive a smaller share of the spoils—or rather, a smaller share of the profits. However, if the Turks were ineffective and unable to defeat the pirates, requiring more tactical guidance from them, they would demand a larger share of the spoils.

So the three of them got together and discussed the principles of dividing the spoils. Finally, they reached an agreement on a few key issues.

"First of all, our France army went to fight in North Africa to overthrow tyranny and achieve freedom and peace. Therefore, slavery in the Barbary States must be abolished, and all slaves, whether white or black, Christ or Muslim, will be freed."

"That's acceptable." Arundar Mustafa Pasha nodded. Although these slaves were actually quite valuable, they weren't his, and considering the effort the France had put in, the request wasn't too unreasonable. Besides, most of the slaves in the Barbary States, especially the Christ slaves, were plundered from their pirate activities over the past few centuries.

"Do you intend to take these slaves back to France?" Selim III asked.

"They are free now that they are free. But they need France passports to go to France. We will send some of them to Americas, and for the rest, mainly the Muslims, I think it would be more convenient for you to take care of them," Saint-Mélan replied.

One of the provisions in the above arrangements for these slaves was that they should not be heretics.

This arrangement pleased the Turkey, since gaining one more person, even a free one, meant one more person to collect taxes, right? It's a pity that those who remained were Muslims; if they were Christ, they could collect even more taxes.

In fact, because Islamic law stipulated that Muslims received many tax benefits, the Ottoman Empire was not particularly enthusiastic about converting non-Muslims in conquered territories to Islam, since every time a non-Muslim turned to Islam, the empire lost a tax revenue.

"Furthermore, regarding the leasing of ports, the construction of railways, and the development of mines..."

North Africa is rich in mineral resources, including large quantities of oil and natural gas (which are not currently needed), substantial shale oil reserves (which are not expected to be used in the foreseeable future), and abundant phosphate rock, which can be used to make fertilizer. It also has copper and iron ore. While the iron ore mines here are not large in scale, the quality of the ore is significantly better than that of the local mines, though still not as good as those in Northern Europe.

While Saint-Mélan was negotiating with the Turkey, Pauline was also negotiating with her new lover Berdon, in her villa. Due to the time difference, it was already a bright, sunny morning in Istanbul, while it was just the first light of dawn in Paris.

Pauline poked her hair up Berdon's nose, waking him up, and then the two of them made love again. Afterwards, Pauline leaned against the headboard, took out a pipe, lit it with a lighter, and began to contemplate life as usual. Berdon was a little tired from the vigorous activity, lay down beside her, put one hand on her abdomen, and dozed off again.

"Hey, wake up." Pauline gently kicked Berdon.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"I have something important to tell you," Pauline said, exhaling a round smoke ring.