I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1049 The Great Game

Kuroglu then led his troops northward and launched a siege on the Kabylia tribe.

In fact, the Algiers Parliament had long been dissatisfied with Meijana, a "country within a country", and the latter's unexpected rebellion this time was exactly what they wanted.

The tribe in the mountainous area of ​​Kabylia had a population of only more than 100,000. When they saw the tens of thousands of troops from Algiers coming, they were immediately frightened and panicked, and hurriedly asked the Berbers in Annaba for help.

After the Crown Prince finished reading the report, Major Fournier continued, "Your Highness, the Director General asked me to ask you if we need to provide support to the Kabyle tribe?"

Joseph subconsciously wanted to nod.

Lavalette has a very keen sense of smell, and this is indeed a rare opportunity for France.

Algiers was the largest country in the Barbary region and the core target of France's North African strategy.

When Algiers invaded Tunisia with the support of the British, Joseph had already wanted to destroy it.

However, at that time, France's most important task was to stabilize the political situation in Tunisia, and it did not want to arouse the vigilance of European countries, so it did not take action for the time being.

Now, the Cabirian tribe has provided a perfect excuse to send troops - everyone has accepted the views in the "Analysis of the Origins of Tunisia", and as a "Roman compatriot", isn't it only natural for France to lend a helping hand?
As for other European countries.

Now that France has to deal with North African affairs, I'm afraid no one will have any objections except Britain.

When Joseph thought of this, he suddenly frowned.

Yes, this is also a rare opportunity for the UK.

Although Algiers' military strength is not good, if Britain provides financial and weapons assistance, France is likely to be trapped in an endless guerrilla war in Algiers - the Atlas Mountains run through the entire Algiers, especially in the southwest, where the mountains are high and dense, and many tribes live in it. It would be a very troublesome thing to be dragged into such a place.

Moreover, two years ago, Morocco had established an offensive and defensive alliance with Algiers. They would also provide support to the western mountainous area of ​​Algiers at the behest of Britain, and even send troops directly.

So it would be best to avoid British interference.

A smile appeared on Joseph's face. Then let the British be busy so much that they will not have time to take care of North Africa.

He said to Major Fournier, "Tell Lavalette not to get involved in the battle at Mejanas."

The latter seemed a little unwilling: "Your Highness, but if this is the case, the Kabyle people may be..."

Joseph waved his hand and said, “You can send someone to remind them not to fight the Algiers army head-on, but to retreat into the mountains first.

"If they can hold on, maybe they can see a turnaround in half a year at most."

Although Fournier was extremely puzzled, he did not dare to ask more questions and quickly took the order and left.

Joseph waited for the door to close, took out a pen and paper, and said to himself, "It seems that the progress in Persia needs to be accelerated."

He began to write on the paper while thinking, and the title was three words - Big Game.

late at night.

Joseph looked at the first draft of "The Great Game" in front of him and frowned again: "But who should submit it to the British government? Arthur Connolly may still be a child now..."

Arthur Connolly was the first intelligence officer to propose Britain's Middle East strategy in the 19th century.

He had made many in-depth investigations in the vast area from Transcaucasus to Afghanistan and then to Central Asia, and believed that Britain must engage in strategic competition with Russia from Central Asia to Persia, otherwise it would be easy to lose Afghanistan, an important barrier to prevent Russia from getting involved in India. His strategic proposal was quickly adopted by the British government and was called the "Great Game".

Now that Connolly is not taking action, Joseph can only reluctantly help the British improve the theory of the Great Game.

His draft will then be polished by experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure it is persuasive and provocative.

But without Connolly, it would be a bit difficult to submit this strategic report to the British government - if we just find a small shrimp, Grenville might not take it seriously. It would be difficult to find an influential British strategist in a short period of time.

A person suddenly flashed through Joseph's mind, and he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh: "Why bother thinking about it? Those Irish people must have an insider in the British government, just let them do it."

He immediately thought of South Africa.

Although it is difficult for the Boers to pose any threat to the British at present, they still have something to lose, so let them participate.

Joseph picked up his pen again and wrote two detailed orders, which he handed to Emand along with the manuscript of The Great Game, asking him to send someone back to Paris overnight.

noon the next day.

Royal Palace of Madrid.

Carlos IV personally welcomed his old friend, the Crown Prince of France, with great ceremony.

After a series of tedious etiquette procedures and banquets, Joseph was finally able to talk to Carlos IV about business in his reception room.

"Your Majesty, I hope you can transfer the Louisiana territory to France." Joseph did not intend to beat around the bush and started with a shocking statement.

It is impossible to accomplish such a major event as a colony of more than 200 million square kilometers by deception. It is better to be straightforward and save time. [Note 1]

King Carlos IV and several important ministers around him were all stunned by his words.

After a while, Gombos coughed and said, "Your Highness, thank you for your help in the New Orleans incident, but Louisiana is our country..."

Joseph said calmly, "You should have heard that the Americans are gathering their troops. By next spring, New Orleans will be attacked on a larger scale than before."

Count Aranda immediately shouted: "We will declare war on the United States and send an expeditionary force to defeat them!"

Joseph nodded: "Yes, I have no doubt about the courage of your soldiers. But in the North American war, for every gold coin invested by the Americans, the Empire will have to spend 1 gold coins to respond.

"Besides, the Americans are only harassing militarily now. If a full-scale war were to take place, they would be able to mobilize 40,000 to 50,000 troops."

He didn't continue, but everyone present understood what he meant.

Spain currently does not have the ability to transport 4 troops to North America.

Even if they had, they didn't dare to send so many soldiers to North America, because that would mean the Portuguese battlefield would collapse immediately.

At that time, it would not be a question of whether to keep Portugal or not, but whether the Anglo-Portuguese coalition would take advantage of the situation to push back against Madrid.

Obviously, compared with controlling the entire Iberian Peninsula and then retaking Gibraltar, the desolate piece of land in Louisiana is not worth mentioning at all.

【Note 1】The Louisiana Colony included the states of Montana, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana in the United States in later generations, covering a very large area. However, at the end of the 18th century, only some areas near the Mississippi River were truly colonized, covering an area of ​​about 50 square kilometers. Most of the land further west was uninhabited or under the control of Indian tribes.

(End of this chapter)