Shared prosperity

Marion du Fresne familiarly presented small gifts to Tuai, the chief of the Tainui Iwi, and the High Priest Mataro, and the Maori's attitude immediately warmed up. 👻♕ 👺♥

After a somewhat awkward exchange of pleasantries through an interpreter— Tahiti don't speak the same language as Maori — Marion du Fresne went straight to Tuai about the purpose of his trip:

"Your Excellency, I have come on behalf of His Majesty the King of France to purchase some land from you. As for payment, you may choose weapons, clothing, furniture, or even technology. I assure you you will be absolutely satisfied with this deal."

Tuai and the High Priest exchanged a glance, then smiled at Marion du Fresne, "How much land do you intend to buy?"

Seeing that the other party did not seem to resist, the latter thought to himself that His Crown Prince overestimated these people; they were still just ignorant natives. Following the usual tactics of colonists—just like the Spain had used on the Native Americans—they could exchange large tracts of land for worthless trinkets.

He immediately replied, "If possible, I would like to purchase 50,000 mu initially, and then continue to purchase as needed."

The translator spent a long time discussing the unit of measurement, "mu," with the Maori chief, Tuai suddenly sneered and shook his head, saying, "At most 500 mu. We need some Musket."

Marion du Fresne's face stiffened instantly, and he hurriedly said, "You have so much useless land here; 50,000 mu is nothing to you."

"500 mu."

"50,000 mu (approximately 3,333 hectares) – we can provide the Musket you require."

"500 mu (approximately 33 hectares), there's no other possibility!"

Little did Marion du Fresne know that the Maori had already mastered agriculture and valued Farmland highly. Wars frequently broke out between tribes over land, so why would they easily sell it?

In fact, decades later, the United Kingdom encountered the same problem and had to go to great lengths to send troops to "persuade" the stubborn Maori.

Marion du Fresne took a deep breath and hurriedly returned to the "script" the Crown Prince had given him.

He gave a harmless smile, "You might have misunderstood. What we need isn't Farmland, but Wasteland."

Tuai remained adamant. "Even Wasteland are out of the question."

Marion du Fresne, left with no other option, resorted to his trump card. "Your Excellency, what if the land I purchased still belongs to you, that I only use it to raise sheep, and that the land remains under the management of your people?"

"Huh?" Tuai seemed a little taken aback, and asked tentatively, "Then will you still provide me with Musket?"

"Of course!" Tuai gestured to his assistant behind him, took an old-fashioned Matchlock Gun from him, and handed it to the Maori chief. "500 of these guns, along with 10,000 rounds of ammunition and Gunpowder. Plus 500 Flax coats and skirts, and 300 Blankets, in exchange for your 50,000 acres of Wasteland."

Tuai asked again, incredulously, "The land doesn't belong to you, yet my people are still allowed to set foot there?"

"Absolutely correct!"

Tuai was overjoyed. What difference did it make if the land wasn't sold at all? He'd essentially gotten a huge amount of Musket, clothes, and Blankets for free!

Marion du Fresne smiled and said, "But these 50,000 acres must be used to raise sheep."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll provide the sheep, you just need your people to help raise them."

"Oh, please rest assured, I will pay your people sufficient compensation, whether it be Musket or something else."

"And these sheep belong to you too."

"What?!" Tuai's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets—could such a good thing really exist? Not only were they giving away land for free, but they were also giving away sheep! And they even paid for raising the sheep!!

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Marion du Fresne continued, "Of course, you cannot slaughter these sheep at will, unless they are too old to produce wool. And your people must take good care of them, and if any sheep die or are injured, the cost must be deducted from their wages."

"My only requirement is that all the Wool produced must be sold to France. Yes, sold, since the sheep belong to you. We will provide corresponding supplies in exchange for the Wool."

This is Joseph's New Zealand strategy.

With the French Navy completely outmatched by the United Kingdom, the only strategy available to France to establish a stable Colony in the Pacific Ocean, especially against the worldly, highly capable, and united Maori people, was to employ a single approach.

That means distributing the benefits to the Maori!

The land is still yours, the sheep are yours, I'll pay for the labor of raising the sheep, and I'll buy the Wool they produce.

Anyone who refuses this is a complete fool!

This is the model commonly used by meat processing plants in later generations: providing piglets to farmers, raising them to adulthood, and then buying them all. However, in New Zealand, the land price, labor cost, and Wool price are all so cheap that they are almost negligible.

New Zealand's natural conditions make it easy for even the indigenous people to raise sheep.

Everything is perfect!

At the same time, France formed a community of shared interests with the Maori people, and even armed them by paying them for their services.

When the United Kingdom try to cause trouble, the fierce Maori will give them a run for their money.

It's important to know that although the Maori people were still in the Stone Age, they possessed an extremely powerful weapon—the Pa.

This is a military defense system.

Typically built on high ground such as hills, the Maori would transform the hillside into a terraced landscape, and then build fences and towers layer by layer—the former using sharpened wooden stakes, and the latter using stones, secured with large amounts of Flax.

Then, trenches were dug behind the fences, reaching depths of up to 4 meters. This way, after each fence was breached, the enemy would have to face the deep trenches and the next fence.

The most amazing thing is that these "fortresses," which were almost built by primitive people, were actually born with the ability to defend against cannons!

When faced with cannons, the Maori would immediately take cover in the trenches behind the palisade, as solid shells were ineffective against them. Once the bombardment ended, they would jump out and engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.

The United Kingdom suffered heavy losses when they sent troops to attack New Zealand in the mid-19th century, and it was on these "pa" that they attacked. Almost every "pa" required thousands of shells and a very long time to conquer. And after the United Kingdom broke through the last tower of the "pa", the Maori would escape through tunnels that had been dug in advance.

And each Maori tribe needs to build several of these "pa," so they're everywhere in New Zealand...

Even the mighty United Kingdom in 1840 could only rely on deception to sign colonial treaties with the Maori tribal chiefs. Soon after, they were overwhelmed by Maori uprisings and ultimately had no choice but to agree to Maori autonomy.

Therefore, taking a hard line is not an option for New Zealand.

Joseph's initial plan was for the Maori to speak French, raise France sheep, and practice France Catholicism, so that everyone could prosper together.

As for whether the Maori would collude with the United Kingdom?

Putting aside the Maori people's honesty and stubbornness, the France penetration and influence in New Zealand after many years of cultivation were not something the United Kingdom could easily accomplish.

At the very least, United Kingdom would have to pay ten or eight times the price it would have paid to colonize New Zealand in the past in order to possibly manage the situation.