I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1156 The Vineyard Commander
Furthermore, with the joint efforts of Grenville and George III, electoral reforms in Britain were completed in just three weeks.

While not many "rotten constituencies" were eliminated, emerging cities like Manchester and Liverpool gained a significant number of seats. The MPs in these constituencies voted for Pete Jr. according to pre-arranged deals.

And so, after nearly three years, William Pitt returned to the position of British Prime Minister.

Pitt Jr. disliked Grenville's approach of "cooperation" and "leveraging resources." After taking office at 10 Downing Street, he immediately replaced all cabinet ministers except for the Home Secretary, the Duke of Portland, with a full complement of Tories.

Yes, the Duke of Portland was very tough and decisive in suppressing the previous civil riots, which earned him the praise of young Pete.

After delivering his inaugural address in the morning, Peter Young quickly convened his first full cabinet meeting in the afternoon.

He was well aware of the enormous challenges facing the empire, and that the increasingly powerful adversary across the strait would not leave him any opportunity to relax.

The strategic plan was something he had conceived long ago.

The newly appointed Foreign Secretary, Lord Hawkesburg, has been sent to Austria to promote a new Anglo-Austrian alliance.

Second Foreign Minister Viscount Kasuri traveled to Russia to continue the task that Fox had failed to accomplish—to persuade the Tsar to devote his power to Europe.

Speaker Henry Addington traveled to the Americas and signed secret agreements with the United States and the United Kingdom of Portugal and Brazil.

Lord Melville, the newly appointed Lord Minister of the Navy, received a grant of nearly one million pounds to oversee the large-scale construction of new battleships.

However, Pete Jr. did not completely abandon steam warships. Instead, he allocated £8 to Chatham Shipyard to repair the steam warships that had been built previously.

Chatham Shipyard was in the interest of naval officers such as Lord Middleton, and Bolton-Watt Company, under the protection of Congressman Egerton, had to be given some preferential treatment.

Meanwhile, Pitt Jr., accompanied by the Second Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Earl of Temple, negotiated with the Bank of England and four private consortia, including the Rothschilds.

With his excellent oratory skills, he persuaded them to purchase a total of £700 million in special government bonds with an interest rate of only 15%.

Well, most members of parliament failed to notice a clause among the tens of thousands of words in the agreement—authorizing the Bank of England to issue an additional £700 million in currency to stabilize public finances should the UK government face a debt default.

Pitt the Younger's intention was very clear: if he could not quickly defeat France, he would rely on the vast profits from Britain's overseas colonies to unite with the German states and wear France down.

……

Elba Island.

"When I count to 1, step with your left foot! Left foot, you idiot!" Napoleon grabbed one of the vineyard farmers standing in a line and shouted, "You haven't learned such a simple thing in over two months?!"

He tugged at his old military uniform and pointed to the grape trellis behind him: "Group one, grab the buckets and move forward! Group two, check your gloves. You must defeat the pests on these 20 acres today..."

A farmer then started banging on a bucket, and the group of eight people followed his "drumbeat" and marched into the field ridge.

"Group Three, here are the results of your pruning of the diseased branches last time..."

As Napoleon was giving his address, he heard the vineyard owner's voice from behind him: "Mr. Bonaparte, someone wants to see you."

Napoleon immediately turned around and saw a tall man in military uniform walking out of the plantation gate, accompanied by two guards.

In the moment he was stunned, a figure wearing a light gray dress flashed out from behind the three of them.

His eyes widened instantly, and he exclaimed, "Desirée?!" The girl lifted her skirt and rushed over, her voice choked with emotion, "Darling, are you alright?"

"It really is you!" Napoleon embraced her, greedily absorbing her warmth. "God, how did you get here? Did you encounter any storms on the way?"

"No, no..."

Napoleon then looked at the officer, released his fiancée, and gestured with his hat: "You brought Miss Clary, didn't you? Thank you so much!"

Desirea quickly introduced him: "This is Major Garrel, he brought me here."

"Oh, it's an honor to meet you, Major Garrel."

Garrel nodded to Napoleon: "You have three days. I won't disturb you any longer."

He and his guards turned and left. Napoleon immediately pulled his fiancée toward his cottage—a gift from the vineyard owner in gratitude for training the farmers. In truth, aside from smiling less, the farmers hadn't become much more efficient.

"How did you obtain the license?" Napoleon asked, moving a wooden stool over and turning to rummage through a box in the corner. "You must taste these wines! I made them myself."

Desirée sat down at the table and said quietly, "I spent some money."

Napoleon brought over some wine, poured it into a small wooden cup, and handed it to her: "It's so good to see you! By the way, tell me about what's been happening outside lately. I remember seeing in the newspaper that Talavera actually launched an attack on Lisbon?"

Although he could see some newspapers on the island, most of them were from several months ago, or even half a year ago.

Desirée hadn't expected him to bring this up. After a moment's hesitation, she replied, "He occupied Lisbon. The Portuguese royal family had to flee to Rio de Janeiro."

"That's not bad. Then he should start his full-scale attack on Gibraltar, right?"

The girl shook her head: "No, he went to attack Morocco. Apparently, a tribe raided Melilla."

"This idiot!"

"The Spanish suffered a defeat in Morocco. However, for some reason, the Moroccans later surrendered and gave up two coastal territories. A place called Ceuta was even ceded to France."

She was naturally unaware of Sirte's risky attack on Marrakesh.

"It was most likely His Highness the Crown Prince who reinforced the Spanish." Napoleon seemed somewhat dejected. "Sigh... such an interesting battle. If I hadn't been trapped on this island, perhaps I could have..."

Desiree continued with the news: "However, I heard that we later besieged Gibraltar with the Spanish and even fought with the British fleet."

Napoleon asked anxiously, "And what was the result? What was the outcome?"

“They must have won. The newspapers say that two British ships were towed back to Toulon.” The girl thought for a moment and said, “It seems that General Massena also landed in Egypt, but he didn’t fight the Ottomans. He withdrew back to his country very quickly after the battle.”

“Egypt?” Napoleon raised his hands excitedly. “I told you it was very important! His Highness the Crown Prince made the right decision after all! Hmm, was it the defeat of the Mamluks?”

"Yes, that seems to be the name."

(End of this chapter)