I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1083 A calculated scheme to undermine someone's career
Rahman and dozens of Berber nobles walked out of the governor's mansion in Uster in high spirits.

On his first day back in Mittja after more than three months of "disappearance," the governor summoned the nobles, officials, and tribal leaders of Algiers, announced the establishment of the French Algiers province in the name of the king, and promulgated a series of new decrees.

The contents of the decree made Rahman and others ecstatic.

"How much did you get?" Lazarz asked the tribal chief beside him in a low voice, beaming with delight. "I have more than 6 rials here."

The latter, who was related to him by marriage, also made no secret of it: "I received 4 rials."

Yes, just now Uster announced that each tribe can keep one-third of the property confiscated from the Imperial Guard and the Navy, while the remainder will be handed over to the provincial treasury for the construction of towns, irrigation facilities, roads, and the like.

Although this reduced the tribe's income, it laundered the money that used to be illicit, so no one had any objections.

Moreover, the governor certainly couldn't find out the exact amount, so they could keep a little more for themselves.

Several tribal chiefs nearby discussed loudly: "I just calculated that under the new tax system, our tribe will pay more than 200 rials less each year."

"There will be no more damned tax farmers collecting taxes at will!"

Someone shouted in broken French, "Long live His Majesty the King!"

“Faisal, I envy you for speaking French. Now you might be able to become an official in Mittja.”

“Listen to me, it’s not hard to learn. There’s no navy now, you can buy a ship, go to Europe to do business, and you can learn French in two years.”

"I don't know how to do that, let's buy more land instead."

"That's right, land is really cheap right now. I plan to use all my savings to buy land."

"Does your tribe have enough people to cultivate the land? Abandoning land will result in fines..."

"At worst, we can just buy some black slaves. Black slaves in Morocco only cost 25 riyals each."

No wonder they were so excited.

When the Guard and Navy controlled Parliament, Berber-Arabs could only engage in the lowest-level jobs such as farming and portering, and at most, they could only do business.

All the ports and ships were in the hands of the navy, and they pocketed 80% of the profits from trade.

Now, only the "descendants of Rome" in Algiers are allowed to hold official positions and engage in maritime trade, which has given them a new lease on life.

What pleased them most was that the new decree stipulated that any Algier could apply to the government for 35 acres of land free of charge, and that the land would belong to them if they cultivated it continuously for 10 years.

If you want to buy more land, you can, but you'll need to pay a little money, though the price is very cheap, only about 30% of what it was during Day's reign.

Of course, the condition is that the land must be cultivated continuously for ten years, and the yield must reach more than 80% of the average level of nearby cultivated land. Otherwise, the first offense will result in a fine of 3 riyals per acre, and the second offense will result in the land being confiscated.

These Berber tribal leaders were so engrossed in dreaming about how much land they would buy that they were completely unaware that this decree was actually a blatant plot to undermine them.

Joseph knew that more than 90% of the Berber-Arab population in Algiers lived in their respective tribes.

These tribes are highly cohesive, practice the religiously significant "Kanon" law, and adopt an elders' council system, making them difficult for the government to effectively manage.

He had suffered at the hands of tribes in Tunisia before, and it took a lot of effort to invite the tribal chiefs to live in Cahill Palace before he could barely squeeze tax collectors and police into the tribes.

Even so, the government still had no say in the daily affairs of the tribe. This time, Joseph was prepared to resolve this issue once and for all in Algiers.

The key is the land.

Previously, the best arable land in northern Algiers was occupied by the Imperial Guard, while the coast was dominated by the navy, so the Berber tribes could only live in the central mountainous areas. This resulted in their arable land being of very poor quality.

Now that the Imperial Guard and naval forces have been eliminated, their lands have all been returned to the Governor's Office, which can attract Berber tribes to come and cultivate them.

The original ruling forces in these areas have been broken up, and the French government can plan the towns and villages from scratch and send officials to manage them, naturally enforcing the laws of the Algiers province.

The Berber tribes used to operate on a "tribal common land" model, where the harvest was distributed among the tribes. It's easy to imagine that many people were dissatisfied with this system—even utopia couldn't guarantee fair distribution, let alone the North African tribes of this era.

Therefore, if people in a tribe could obtain their own land for free and have all the harvest belong to them, they would naturally flock to it.

Once these people acquired land and became self-sufficient, who would still be willing to obey the tribal elders? In effect, they broke free from the control of the tribe.

After several years of this, the tribes in the mountains will be gradually "hollowed out"—the younger and stronger they are, the more they want to go to the north to become self-sufficient farmers.

These newly established towns will also introduce various advanced European facilities, and their goods will be far more abundant than those in the mountains, quickly becoming densely populated areas.

At the same time, French immigrants could also acquire land here, thus enhancing the Europeanization of the local population through mixed settlement.

This model will fundamentally undermine the tribal power in Algiers.

As for the claim that there isn't enough land to distribute?
No need to worry at all.

Algiers covers more than 30 square kilometers north of the Sahara, most of which has a Mediterranean climate that is very suitable for agriculture. The total Berber-Arab population is only 150 million.

Let alone 35 mu of land per person, even 500 mu per person would not be a problem.

In contrast, mainland France, with an area of ​​55 square kilometers, supports a population of 3 million.

Just as Joseph had predicted, after the new land laws were introduced to the various tribes, a frenzy of applications for farmland immediately ensued.

In less than a month, more than 20,000 people applied for "new farmland".

Meanwhile, French agricultural service consulting companies have also launched operations in Algiers, mainly renting out farm tools to farmers on "new farmland" and also offering seeds and fertilizers on credit.

The consulting firm's employees also taught people how to compost for free and offered grain sales services.

After learning about these support measures, the number of applications for "new farmland" immediately doubled the following month.

Hundreds of villages sprang up almost instantly in northern Algiers.

……

Lazarz was among the first tribal leaders to realize something was wrong.

His tribe has lost three to four hundred members in the past few months, and most of them are able-bodied men. This will significantly impact the tribe's spring planting.

(End of this chapter)