Gazing toward New Zealand

Joey, however, seemed somewhat disappointed:

"If those tens of thousands of Guard Corps could also be used for road construction, the ' King's Road ' between Tunisia City and Ariana might already be completed. 🐼♡ ❻9şĤǗX.ⓒόⓂ 🍮♪"

Currently, various parts of Tunisia are following the example of France, building "King's Road," "local roads," or "side roads." However, they cannot be built as luxuriously as those in France; the so-called King's Road here are only about Domi.

"The Guard Corps?" Joseph looked at Joey. He had almost forgotten about this group.

"Yes, Your Highness. Although many Guard Corps fled to Anatolia during the great uprising, more than 30,000 remained in Tunisia. They have all been driven to Djerba Island."

Djerba Island is a small island in eastern Tunisia with a very poor natural environment. Without supplies from mainland Tunisia, the island would be unable to support its 30,000 inhabitants.

Joey continued, "These people aren't like the prisoners captured in Algiers. They're very familiar with Tunisia, and they even have some connections. If we make them build roads, some of them will escape very quickly."

Joseph narrowed his eyes upon hearing this. So many people—that's a tremendous asset in this era!

Don't get me wrong, he had no intention of selling the Tunisia Guard Corps into slavery. He wouldn't stoop to such a heinous act as human traffickers.

Where should we use these tens of thousands of people?

Joseph thought for a moment and said to Joey, "It's inhumane to let these people wait to die on the island. We need to find a way out for them."

What do you mean?

"There's a golden island in the Pacific Ocean that's still undeveloped— New Zealand. We can send the Tunisia Guard Corps there to work and live."

Joey thought for a moment, then hesitated and said:

"Your Highness, I recall the United Kingdom making colonial claims there..."

Joseph smiled:

"They only discovered the area a few years ago and haven't done any colonization yet. New Zealand is still largely inhabited by Maori people."

Actually, the Dutch people were the first to discover New Zealand; "Zeeland" was a city in the Netherlands. After the United Kingdom explorers went there, they thought the island was extremely desolate and the natives were very fierce, so they didn't think of colonizing New Zealand until 1837.

Joseph, however, intended to get there first, given that New Zealand was a major Wool- producing region. Its natural conditions were so favorable that all that was needed was to drive the sheep to the grasslands and send people to collect the Wool each year; even shepherds were largely unnecessary. Before Australia's rise, New Zealand was the world's largest Wool producer!

Compared to the United Kingdom, France's Textile had two major shortcomings: a lack of vast Colony markets and a lack of Wool- producing regions.

United Kingdom is the largest Wool producer in Europe. If France wants to compete with the United Kingdom in industry in the future, it must not lag behind in the Textile. This is where New Zealand's value becomes apparent.

In that era, European were not very willing to go to the distant Pacific Ocean to make a living. When the United Kingdom colonized New Zealand in the 19th century, only about 2,000 people went there. But Joseph had more than 30,000 people under his command!

Although there are still many elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people among them, at least half of them are actually capable of contributing to production. By sending a few thousand France people to manage them, the colonization of New Zealand can be quickly established.

Of course, how to deal with the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand was also a key factor in whether or not New Zealand could be successfully conquered. Joseph had learned a lot from the lessons of the United Kingdom colonization of New Zealand, so he was naturally well aware of this.

→

Joanne was merely a local official in Tunisia and had little knowledge of the country's Pacific Ocean strategy. He simply did as the Crown Prince instructed, nodding in agreement.

"Your Highness, I'll send some food to Djerba Island in the meantime, and also send people to count the number of people. Once the navy's transport ships arrive, we can load everything onto them and take it away."

"Then I'll have to trouble you," Joseph said. "But it won't be the navy picking them up; it'll be the Gemini Trading Company."

He originally intended to bring the Dutch people together to form the United East India Company and entrust the development of New Zealand to this company.

However, ever since the Netherlands was soundly defeated by the United Kingdom in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War a few years ago, it has always been somewhat afraid of the United Kingdom, so it has been unable to make up its mind to cooperate with France until now.

Then this lucrative opportunity will have to be handed over to Gemini Trading Company.

Since acquiring ships from the Tunisia Navy, the Double Company's transportation capacity has been greatly enhanced. Today, the Double Company handles more than 70% of the trade between Russia and France, and also has involvement in trade with Nauru, the Caribbean Sea, and the United States, making it a sizable company.

Thinking about this, Joseph couldn't help but sigh that the Russians were indeed more decisive than the Dutch people. Furthermore, the Russians had another advantage – if they considered you a friend, they would genuinely help you. Alexei secured almost every possible preferential treatment from Russia for the Double Company, significantly increasing trade between Russia and France.

Of course, even brothers need to keep clear accounts. The Double Company can handle trade and transportation in New Zealand, but only France personnel can go to the island.

The main course for the dinner was still Joseph's favorite Tajine. However, he had come in a hurry this time and hadn't brought the royal Imperial Chef, so the taste was slightly inferior to that of the Versailles Palace. Nevertheless, there were some local Tunisia specialties on the menu, such as roasted camel meat, roasted sausage with nuts and yogurt, and... a dish that looked like fried moths.

Joseph naturally ignored the last dish, devoured it, and then returned to the Meeting Hall.

Only then did he hear Joanne tell him about the important matters she had prepared to handle before coming to Tunisia.

"Your Highness, those rumors started around last month," Joanne reported. "Besides people spreading rumors on the streets, there's also a Pamphlets about it."

He gestured to his assistant to bring a Pamphlets, which he presented to Joseph with both hands:

"The core argument is that most Tunisia originated from Egypt and are the children of the Prophet. The Berbers, on the other hand, have always lived in the desert and have no connection to Rome. Furthermore, the rumors fabricate many stories of European, especially the France, persecuting Tunisia, advocating that the Tunisia should kill or drive us out of North Africa."

"Oh?" Joseph looked at the Pamphlets in his hand with some surprise. These rumors were clearly intended to disrupt France rule over Tunisia, falling into the category of cognitive warfare. Anyone who could come up with such an idea in the 18th century was definitely a political genius!

However, if we're talking about cognitive warfare, then even the most brilliant minds of this era are far less capable than an ordinary person who has personally experienced the cognitive warfare between major powers in the 21st century.