Southern Netherlands Initiative

Austria.

Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna.

Joseph II struggled to raise his withered right hand, only managing to utter a muffled sound, "Tali..."

Leopold II, standing nearby, quickly guessed, "Your Majesty, are you referring to Talleyrand?"

Seeing that His Majesty the Emperor nodded, he continued, "You seem quite concerned about what he said, about the United Kingdom intention to Export Revolution?"

Talleyrand had just concluded a three-day visit to Austria, during which he traveled throughout Vienna criticizing the United Kingdom plot to overthrow monarchs around the world.

"Worth being... wary of." After pausing for about ten seconds, Joseph II continued with difficulty, "First, utilize..."

Leopold II followed up, adding, "You mean we can use this to weaken United Kingdom influence over the situation in the Southern Netherlands?"

The Holy Roman Emperor nodded weakly. "Cooperate, France."

France and Austria were in complete agreement on the point of excluding the United Kingdom from German Territories.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I understand. I will handle it."

The Almeria Bay located on the western side of the Mediterranean Sea.

In the conference room of the Royal Navy's third-class battleship HMS Colossus, Lord Tamos, the British envoy to the Maghreb countries, was giving a report to the Foreign Secretary:

"The Sultan of Morocco has agreed to launch an attack on Bizerte if we make concessions on food import Tariff and allow Morocco to serve as a transit point for Textile trade in North Africa. Currently, 14,000 Morocco Imperial Guards are on standby in Annaba, and these men have been largely re-equipped with Brown Bess Flintlock Gun and are armed with 20 cannons."

Marquess Wellesley nodded almost without thinking:

"Tell the Morocco that their demands will be considered by Parliament."

Compared to the situation in India, the Empire could easily relinquish some of its interests in North Africa. Moreover, using Morocco as a trade transit point would not significantly impact United Kingdom profits.

"I will proceed to Morocco as soon as possible, Your Excellency," Lord Talmos continued. "Algiers has also prepared an army of 12,000 men, but as you know, their fighting strength is not worth anticipating."

The Algiers Guard Corps had been severely damaged by Joseph, and even after more than half a year, they had still not recovered.

"Yes, we can have their navy increase its harassment of France merchant ships."

The Marquess Wellesley gave the order, then asked, "What about Tripoli?"

"Benjiul currently has 12,000 Ottoman Guard Corps," Talmos said. "However... as you instructed, he has made secret contact with him, and he is only willing to send no more than 800 troops for plunder. After all, Constantinople has never wanted to offend France."

Marquess Wellesley waved his hand dismissively. "It's alright, I came here to resolve this matter."

He has secured a grant of Pound Sterling 350,000 from the British Parliament, which is nearly 9 Livre. Of this amount, Pound Sterling 100,000 was used to bribe Benjiul.

He would then travel to Constantinople, offering the Ottoman a degree of diplomatic support and trade preferences in exchange for Selim III turning a blind eye to the unauthorized actions of the Tripoli garrison.

Wellesley was absolutely confident that Bengiur, the Ottoman warlord, driven by enormous profits, would have enough audacity to provoke the French army in Tunisia, provided the Ottoman Sultan did not hold him accountable.

In addition, Tripoli has a fleet of nearly 300 ships, most of which are small and no match for the French Navy. However, if they can obtain United Kingdom intelligence, artillery, and port supplies, they still have the ability to seriously disrupt France trade in the Mediterranean Sea.

Wellesley knew that the East India Company's troubles in Mysore were very serious—this time United Kingdom would definitely have to concede some benefits to France in order to resolve the matter.

Therefore, he must try to create leverage for himself so that he can minimize his losses during negotiations.

He even planned to have pirates from Algiers and Tripoli harass the Southeast coastal cities of France after the French Army in Tunisia was put on the defensive—besieged by nearly 40,000 troops from both sides, leaving the French Army of only 20,000 men in a state of utter chaos—in order to increase the pressure on the France domestic situation.

Combined with his own arrangements in the Southern Netherlands, if he's lucky, he might be able to secure France's withdrawal from the Mysore situation without paying much.

However, just as the Colossus arrived at Port of Mitija for a brief resupply and was preparing to set sail, the Royal Navy's fast galley HMS Gasp came rushing after it from Gibraltar.

Marquess Wellesley was in the ship's cabin discussing with Talmos how to use United Kingdom's naval superiority to cripple France trade in the Caribbean Sea —although Britain and France were bound by a series of treaties, there were certainly ways to circumvent them to deal with the France. Saint-Domingue's Cane Sugar exports contributed over 40 Livre Finance annually to the French Government!

Just as the two were beginning to make progress in their conversation, an officer from the Gasp " knocked on the door and handed Wellesley a copy of the latest intelligence from the European Continent.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs pulled a few pages of documents from the mailbox, waved them at Talmos, and smiled:

"I guess there's good news from Van der Noot's side."

He unfolded the Paper, read only a few lines, and his smile froze on his face.

"My lord, how is the situation in the Southern Netherlands?" Talmos asked rather tactlessly.

"Damn France!"

Wellesley, his face grim, put away the documents. After a moment's hesitation, he gritted his teeth and shouted towards the outside of the cabin:

"Tommy, call Captain Taylor for me."

He then looked at Talmos:

"I'll leave the affairs of Tripoli and the Ottoman to you. I must return to Europe first."

The intelligence report mentioned that Austria, Spain, Bavaria, Mainz, and other countries had submitted Diplomatic Note to the United Kingdom, requesting clarification on the United Kingdom's stance on the Southern Netherlands Rebellion and the connection between the United Kingdom and the previous Liberals riots in France.

The Diplomatic Note from Austria and Spain, in particular, were very strongly worded, and their wording was full of criticism of the United Kingdom's Export Revolution to the European Continent.

Wellesley turned away irritably to look out the porthole. He had been careless; he hadn't expected the shameless France to link inciting riots with "Export Revolution"!

He knew very well that if this matter was not handled properly, it could very well lead to a diplomatic disaster...

More than ten days later, just as Wellesley was leaving Cologne for Prussia —yes, even William II had questioned United Kingdom —he suddenly received news that Ludwig IX, the head of Hesse-Darmstadt, had proposed some kind of "Southern Netherlands Initiative."