North Africa Development Plan

As the Nobility in the Hall of Mirrors finished their greetings and the murmurs of admiration subsided, Queen Mary looked at Joseph, her expression filled with doting affection and pride.

"And my excellent son, your Crown Prince! As everyone knows, it was he who first proposed the plan to go to North Africa to combat the Barbary Pirates, and he provided many crucial suggestions on the specific implementation process. In the end, we achieved this great victory!"

Yes, that's right. She mentioned her husband first just to save face for His Majesty the King. What she really wanted to praise from the beginning was her precious son.

She couldn't help but smile as she recalled her son's various outstanding achievements—first, when he suggested joining forces with the United States to fight pirates, which saved France a large sum of money and earned gratitude from the US and Russia.

Then, last month, her son suggested that the newly formed Bell -King Legion should be mobilized to North Africa to provide support. She initially thought it was to help the navy, but unexpectedly, this small legion of about 3,000 men directly destroyed the pirates' stronghold and also helped the young King of Tunisia regain the throne, winning huge benefits for France in Tunisia.

Yes, the Queen only knew that Berthier Legion of 3,000 men had been sent to North Africa. As for the more than 1,100 Police Academy students, His Crown Prince had funded their vacations abroad without informing her at all.

The Nobility in the Hall of Mirrors immediately bowed to Joseph again, showering him with compliments.

"His Crown Prince will bring a bright future to France!"

Praise be to the Child of Divine Grace!

"France's most outstanding crown prince..."

"Your Highness is the embodiment of talent and wisdom..."

Even though Joseph had become immune to flattery after nearly a year of "training," he still felt goosebumps all over his body.

Meanwhile, Louis XVI patted his son's shoulder with a proud expression, looking even happier than when everyone had praised him earlier.

The Queen, needless to say, had only one thought running through her mind: her son's exceptional judgment and talent truly made him worthy of her bloodline...

The Nobility ladies in the Hall looked at Joseph with even more admiration and infatuation— the Crown Prince was indeed still the most outstanding, the most handsome, and the most suitable prince to be their dream lover!

Moreover, His Highness has gained something more compared to last year.

Yes, he's clearly grown taller and stronger, even his Adam's apple is more prominent! Clearly...

Thinking of this, the Beauties blushed instantly; His Highness was clearly "ripe."

So, what method can I use to get him into bed first? He doesn't even have a proper mistress yet!

They had automatically ignored Clementine was trying hard to appear cute and fierce beside His Highness. After observing her for the past few months, everyone knew that the little princess of Tuscany only seemed loud and boisterous; she was actually quite easygoing, and most importantly, she was not scheming at all.

And so, the Beauties ' minds began to stir again— Versailles Palace has always had the rule that the Crown Princess Consort is the Crown Princess Consort, and a mistress is a mistress. Everyone can talk things out, right?

As the cheers of praise subsided, Louis XVI, accompanied by Queen Mary, arrived at the center of the Hall and began the opening dance to Handel's "Water Music".

Standing at the back of the crowd of Nobility, a Lesser Nobility in a brown coat gazed at the grand celebration and muttered to himself with some doubt:

"We've just caught a lot of pirates, is it really necessary to hold such a grand ceremony? We didn't do this when we caught pirates before..."

A middle-aged Nobility nearby overheard his words and immediately corrected him:

"This celebration isn't just about eliminating the pirates. You see, France gained enormous benefits in North Africa with almost no money and only 3,000 soldiers."

"Indeed," the fat man beside him nodded. "According to the reports, we will be able to purchase land and set up factories in Tunisia in the future. Moreover, France will have Most-Favored-Nation Treatment Tariff status in Tunisia [Note 1]."

He chuckled as he spoke, "You could say that, except for the lack of power to appoint and dismiss officials, it was practically a France Colony."

The Nobility in the brown coat widened his eyes. "I see! Then we should certainly celebrate! Since the Seven Years' War, France has been unable to acquire overseas interests due to the United Kingdom interference for a long time!"

The fat man continued, "Moreover, Tunisia is a very nice place, with fertile land and production of iron and Olive, making it quite prosperous."

"It seems that in just a few years, that place will bring France substantial profits. Our Minister of Finance will certainly be very pleased."

"Ha! God bless our King, God bless France!"

God bless our king!

Unlike the vast majority of people in the Hall, a small group of Nobility with military backgrounds standing near the band did not appear to be very happy.

An officer whispered, "Does anyone know anything about the Berthier Legion?"

The man next to him also lowered his voice. "It seems that Berthier used to be under General Custine, and later came to Paris to serve on the recommendation of Breteuil. After the French Guard incident, he took over some of the soldiers and formed this legion."

"Judging from this, he must be very rich, otherwise how could he have climbed the ranks so quickly..."

A middle-aged officer with deep wrinkles around his eyes interrupted him, saying angrily, "I don't care about his resume, I just want to know, how dare he lead troops to North Africa without informing us?! I heard that even the Marquis of Saint-Priest didn't know about his deployment!"

These military Nobility had long ago formed a "community of interests," monopolizing military resources in their own hands. Any large-scale military mobilization had to go through their discussions before it could proceed.

Otherwise, either the troops will be unable to move, the officers involved will be ostracized, or you'll be unable to win a battle that would normally cost you 1 million Livre even if you spent 5 million.

"The mobilization was ordered directly by the Royal House," another officer said, "Without the approval of the Minister of War."

"How can this be allowed?!" the general, whose eyes were lined with wrinkles, exclaimed excitedly. "We absolutely cannot set this precedent! I mean, to allow the Royal House to use force at will..."

Several people around him quickly gestured for him to be quiet, but fortunately the music was quite loud and no other Nobility heard it.

Even disregarding political factors, if their people were used to fight in North Africa this time, they would at least make a profit of a few hundred thousand Livre.

But Berthier went behind their backs, so the money was wasted.

The other generals nodded in agreement. "The Royal House is trying to bypass us."

"We must prevent the Royal House from controlling the army!"

A slightly younger officer waved his hand and said, "General Astu, you don't need to be so nervous."

"That's just a small legion of about 3,000 people; they can't do much."

"Like this time, if they hadn't been lucky enough to encounter the coup in Tunisia, they wouldn't have been able to enter the Tunisia City with their small number of people."

"When a real large-scale battle comes in the future, the Royal House will still have to come to us. At that time, we can negotiate with the Royal House based on the ownership of the Berthier Legion."

"Wouldn't that solve all the problems?"

After the King and Queen finished their opening dance, Joseph, as was customary, danced the second dance. His partner was naturally Clementine.

It was still the simplest Sarabande. The two people, who were obviously different in height, held their heads high and struck various poses, while politely turning around in front of each other.

That was absolutely the most awkward moment of the entire event.

After the dance, Joseph immediately fled to a quiet corner. Soon after, Mirabeau, who also didn't like dancing much, came over and started talking to him about Tunisia's investment plans.

This task was originally the responsibility of the Minister of the Interior, but Joseph knew Mono's capabilities, so he had Mirabeau lead a team to make a plan, which would then be submitted directly to the Cabinet Meeting for approval.

However, when Joseph heard Mirabeau say that "it will take three to four years" and that "the plan is to send 50,000 people to Tunisia," he couldn't help but frown slightly.

His plan was to harvest a large quantity of grain from Tunisia next year to alleviate France's food shortage. It would be even better if there were also substantial revenues from industry and trade.

But if only 50,000 people immigrate every three or four years, it will have almost no effect.

"Could the speed and scale of this immigration be accelerated?" he asked Mirabeau.

"Your Highness, this is the fastest solution we came up with after our research." Mirabeau said with difficulty, "You know, although land prices in Tunisia are very cheap, it still costs a lot of money to buy a large piece of land. In addition, the travel expenses and settlement costs for traveling to a foreign country are considerable, and there is no output in the first six months. Therefore, people without a certain amount of wealth simply cannot go there."

"And wealthy people are rarely willing to leave France, after all, the environment in North Africa is not so comfortable. If the first group of people who went there made money, and the news spread back home, then more people with the means would be willing to take the risk, but it will definitely take a long time to reach a significant scale."

Joseph fell silent upon hearing this.

It seems I had underestimated the situation.

The real world isn't like playing a video game, where you can just swipe the mouse and hundreds of thousands of people immediately follow your commands.

Asking every living, breathing person to take out their savings and venture into a completely unfamiliar land is something most people would be unwilling to do.

Is it really impossible for achievements in North Africa to translate into profits in the short term?

He searched through all the immigration cases in his mind, and suddenly it dawned on him: wasn't the unprecedented immigration movement of the United States a century later the best example? They could totally learn from their Westward Expansion Plan and create North Africa Development Plan.

Joseph organized his thoughts and said to Mirabeau, "Perhaps we can solve the problem from a different angle."

You mean...?

"Since the rich are unwilling to go to North Africa to suffer, then let the poor go!"

Mirabeau hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, saying, "Your Highness, that's probably impossible... The poor can't even afford the necessary travel expenses."

"The government will provide loan support." Joseph, following the United States approach of the past and considering the current situation in France, said, "Travel expenses, seed money, farm tool money, and even living expenses for the first six months will all be covered by bank loans to France farmers. Do you think 300 Livre per person is enough?"

"This shouldn't be necessary, Your Highness. 200 Livre should suffice. If we organize a large-scale fleet transport, we can reduce the number even further."

"Very good." Joseph nodded. "As for the land, the bank will buy it from the Tunisia and hand it over to the farmers to cultivate. After 10 years of cultivation, the land will belong to them. During this period, they only need to pay a portion of the grain harvest to the government each year."

"Tunisia's land is fertile; they will soon be able to repay their loans with the harvest."

Mirabeau exclaimed in surprise, "Your Highness, but that would cost the government a lot of money... probably tens of millions of Livre."

"That's worth it!"

Joseph knew that the drought in the next two years would lead to a significant reduction in crop yields. By the middle of next year at the latest, an unavoidable Famine would occur. At that time, the government would have to spend a lot of money to buy food for Disaster Relief.

Instead, we could invest some of the money in Tunisia. The increased food harvest could help cope with the Famine. Moreover, it would be a stable source of food—the country has plenty of sunshine and rain, and you could easily harvest three crops a year.

"It won't be long before Tunisia's abundant resources will allow it to recoup its initial investment."

Mirabeau pondered and nodded slowly. Indeed, as His Crown Prince said, if the number of France people in Tunisia increased, the large quantities of iron products, Olive, and livestock there could be developed, because there would be market demand. And then they could be sold throughout North Africa.

He suddenly thought of another problem, "Your Highness, but with such a large investment, our Finance are probably..."

"I'll figure something out."

Joseph couldn't help but sigh, thinking that he could start by setting up a Tunisia development fund to attract private investment, but he didn't know how much interest domestic capital had in North Africa.

If all else fails, they can issue a batch of high-interest government bonds. Fortunately, France's debt situation has been somewhat alleviated, and given the current Finance situation, it should be able to barely afford it.

However, that would cause the recently lowered Government Bonds interest rates to rise again.

Sigh, money, why is it so hard to earn?

United Kingdom.

London.

Parliament Hall, St. James's Palace.

"Clearly, the France have successfully deceived us." A bespectacled member of parliament glanced at the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Duke of Leeds, and said sarcastically, "We've spent Pound Sterling 400,000 to fortify the coast of our unrelated North Africa 'neighbor,' Algiers, and oh, dozens of cannons."

"As a result, they could only watch helplessly as France reaped benefits in Tunisia that were almost equivalent to those of Colony."

The Duke of Leeds clenched his fist under the table. While these Whig Party were enjoying the Mediterranean Sea breeze and eating cured meat and drinking sour wine every day, they were living the high life in their London mansions.

But then he jumps out and blames himself!

His eye twitched, but he put on a smile, "Councilor James, you must be mistaken. It's Pound Sterling 360,000. I didn't spend the entire budget."

[Note 1] Most Favored Nation (MFN) means that if country A enjoys Most-Favored-Nation Treatment from country B, then any trade preferences and exemptions that B grants to other countries must also be granted to A. Simply put, B's import Tariff on A will be lower than those on any other country.

(End of this chapter)

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