Napoleon IV's Struggle

The string of victories on the African battlefield did not keep the French happy for long. Defeating the rebels did not mean everything was over; dealing with the aftermath was the real trouble.

The scattered defeated soldiers in the countryside could be set aside for now. Egypt had already been ravaged almost beyond recognition anyway, and the French settlers who had escaped disaster had all fled into the cities for refuge. There was nothing much to worry about there.

But the overflowing Nile could not be ignored. It was currently the dry season, so its destructive power was not yet too alarming.

If the river channels could not be dredged in time, then once the flood season arrived, no harvest could be expected anywhere along the Nile, including the most fertile delta.

Looking at the Egyptian reconstruction plan in his hands, Napoleon IV's face darkened. Not even the good news from the front—that the main rebel force had been crushed—could bring him the slightest comfort.

"Why does it cost so much money?"

Napoleon IV had seen grand scenes before. For something to move him, it naturally could not be a small figure.

The cost of Egypt's postwar reconstruction plan was already nearing one-fifth of France's post-civil-war reconstruction plan, requiring an investment of several billion francs.

This was a colony, not the homeland. At such an immense cost, they could only restore social order in Egypt; it was still far from any true large-scale development.

The newly appointed Prime Minister Terence Bulkin hurriedly explained, "Your Majesty, the rebels went too far.

"The Nile, Egypt's greatest river, has suffered devastating damage. More than a hundred sections of its channel have been blocked, creating seventy-three barrier lakes of varying sizes.

"Severe blockages have caused the river to continually overflow onto both banks, destroying