The market Franz meant was naturally Tunisia. After all, rebellion required supplies and weapons too.
As The Art of War put it:
"The highest form of warfare is to attack strategy; next is to attack alliances; next is to attack armies; the lowest is to attack cities. Besieging a city is a last resort."
But Franz did not need his partners in Tunisia to be too clever. After all, he had never regarded them as companions.
And Ahmed Bey, the Bey of Tunisia, could hardly be someone who cared about keeping things respectable.
Tunisia's army claimed to number 150,000. For a country with barely over a million people, maintaining an army of that size was almost impossible.
Still, they had thirty to fifty thousand men. Twenty thousand of them were Ahmed Bey's own loyal troops. Naturally, those seeking to overthrow him came from among them as well, so a great battle had better take place.
After all, it would clear the obstacles to the new ruler's ascent on one hand, while making the Austrian Empire's gradual invasion easier on the other.
Franz understood well the principle that to destroy a nation, one must first destroy its history.
Beyond the necessary cultural and religious infiltration and the reconstruction of history, it was also necessary to make them loathe their own national culture—perhaps even despair of it.
Of course, there was also the most efficient and thorough method: physical persuasion.
Do not think Franz's methods cruel. In truth, throughout history, most conquerors would proceed directly to that final step.
At this time, Ahmed, the Bey of Tunisia, had not sensed a thing. He was busy fulfilling the targets Britain had set for him.
To gain recognition from Britain and France, he had to carry out sweeping equal-rights reforms. Equality naturally meant abolishing