I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1117 Busy with Government Affairs
Everyone immediately started rubbing their hands together in anticipation.

Gibraltar was as important to Britain as the British mainland; attacking it would be tantamount to starting a full-scale war with Britain.

Previously, although Spain was engaged in fierce fighting with the Portuguese and British armies, it never reached the level of a national war.

Joseph pondered, “To give the Spanish confidence, we need to send troops first. At least 5 men, and a large number of heavy artillery pieces weighing over 32 pounds.”

Yes, capturing Gibraltar would be extremely difficult, and Spain is unlikely to want to take it on its own.

Gibraltar itself is a rocky mountain by the sea, with a very steep side facing the land. It is connected by only a winding mountain road a few hundred meters wide. As long as some cannons are placed on the top of the mountain, no matter how many soldiers there are, they will not be able to attack it.

The British had been operating here for over a century, deploying heavy artillery in every possible firing position. The entire fortress had nearly 300 cannons in total.

Historically, Napoleon once planned to send 15,000 soldiers to besiege the small fortress of Gibraltar, but found that he had nowhere to start and had to give up in frustration.

It can be said that unless Britain cut off its maritime supply to Gibraltar, leaving the fortress without ammunition or food, it would be almost impossible to capture the place.

However, Britain never announced the end of the anti-French alliance, and no armistice agreement was ever signed between Britain and France. In other words, the two countries were still theoretically at war.

Therefore, France had no psychological barriers to sending troops to attack Gibraltar.

Now, with Portugal's ability to resupply Gibraltar significantly reduced, Britain has to constantly transport supplies from its own territory. This could become another drain on Britain's resources.

Joseph thought for a moment and said, "We can tell the Spanish that our fleet will also be stationed in Granada to support the attack on Gibraltar."

Granada is just over 200 kilometers east of Gibraltar. The Franco-Spanish fleet could depart from there at any time to harass British supply ships.

As everyone was discussing, Emmanuel knocked on the door and entered, handing Joseph two newly delivered "telegrams": "Your Highness, these were sent from Lisbon this morning. This one was brought back by a warship returning from Santo Domingo."

Joseph opened the report from Portugal first, and after only a quick glance, his face darkened.

The report first confirmed that the Portuguese royal family had fled to Brazil with the Lisbon nobility. Later, it mentioned that after the Talavera Legion entered Lisbon, it forced the Portuguese to "sponsor" military expenses, amounting to more than 50 escudos, or 550 million francs, causing widespread resentment in Lisbon.

At the same time, Talavera dissolved all local councils in the southern provinces of Portugal, declaring that he was "awaiting His Majesty the King to send a governor."

Joseph handed the report to Berthier, shaking his head and saying, "Spain's continued decline is no accident."

He had previously set numerous examples in northern Portugal that had brought about basic social order, but the Spaniards couldn't even copy his work.

In fact, if it weren't for the huge profits brought by the gold mines in California, given the poor performance of the Spanish army, they would most likely have been the ones who couldn't hold out and had to withdraw.

Talavera amassed over 500 million euros, directly prolonging Spain's process of integrating Portugal by at least 10 years.

However, from another perspective, it's not necessarily a bad thing for France that a neighboring country of considerable size is performing so poorly.

Joseph then unfolded the letter that had been sent from the Caribbean to examine it.

It was written by Brisso. According to intelligence gathered by the Santo Domingo intelligence service, the civil unrest in Jamaica, Dominica, and Saint Vincent was beginning to be brought under control, reportedly due to Britain cutting off funding to the rebels. Only Aaron in the Bahamas continued his reign of terror, still supported by the United States. "Finally some good news."

Joseph instructed Berthier and other officers to first devise a plan for the attack on Gibraltar, and then had Emmanuelle summon Talleyrand and Baie.

After reading Brisso's letter, Baie immediately exclaimed with delight, "Your Highness, you can send troops to help restore order to the Caribbean countries. This year, sugar production there will increase significantly."

Joseph shook his head and said, "We can provide appropriate support to the governments of these countries, but we don't need to force them to resume sugarcane cultivation immediately."

"We should even try to get them to switch to growing crops like corn and bananas."

"Sugar production can be concentrated entirely in Santo Domingo. As long as the land there is fully developed, the output will be sufficient to support European consumption. This will also help maintain the price of sugar beets in our country."

Sugarcane cultivation in the Caribbean was extremely inexpensive—even after gaining freedom, Black people earned less than a fifth of what French farmers paid—while yields were enormous.

Even including shipping costs, the cost of producing cane sugar in the Caribbean is still significantly lower than that of beet sugar in France.

If sugar production there returns to its peak levels, it will inevitably lead to a sharp drop in sugar prices in Europe. This would be a heavy blow to sugar beet farmers.

Moreover, at this time, the political level of these countries ruled by blacks was very poor, and they might switch sides to Britain at any time for some benefit.

So they simply suppressed their sugar production.

Growing crops like corn and vegetables not only feeds their own population and maintains basic social stability, but also provides food to Santo Domingo, reducing the latter's dependence on American wheat.

Talleyrand immediately bowed and said, “Your Highness, this should not be difficult to do. We just need to attach some conditions when providing them with the loans. For example, the loans must be repaid with corn.”

Bai added, "You could also link sugar to their previous riots, claiming that 'the chaos was caused by the British coveting sugar,' and appropriately raise the purchase prices of corn and soybeans."

Having served under the Crown Prince for so long, he was well aware of the immense power of propaganda.

Joseph continued, "As for the Bahamas, there's no need to pay them any attention. Let the Caribbean countries see what happens when they get too close to the United States."

"Of course, we still need to send ships regularly to transport the labor force there to Santo Domingo."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Speaking of sugar prices, Joseph remembered something else and asked Emman to summon the Minister of Agriculture, instructing him: "Starting this year, we must gradually control the area under sugar beet cultivation. The high price of sugar cannot be sustained indefinitely; sugar beets will become an ordinary crop in just a few years."

As night falls, Versailles Palace begins its regular balltimes.

Today's ball is attended by Russian Foreign Minister Andreyevich Osterman, so Joseph has to go.

As soon as he stepped out of his room, Talleyrand limped up to him, bowed, and then whispered, "Your Highness, I've heard that Count Ostermann may propose a Franco-Russian alliance this time."

(End of this chapter)