I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 408 Queen Mary and the "Dauphin"

In the small theater of the Petit Trianon, Joseph unbuttoned his bulky costume, pointed at the actors reciting their lines on the stage, and said to Talleyrand:

"Sorry, please speak louder. It's too noisy here and I can't hear you clearly."

"Oh, yes, Your Highness." The Foreign Minister hurriedly raised his voice, "The British have two main demands.

“First, our country will no longer provide any support to Mysore, including recalling the Marquis de Lafayette.

"Second, our country issued a statement to clarify that Britain had no involvement in the export of revolution in the Southern Netherlands."

"As expected." Joseph nodded. "So what did we gain?"

Talleyrand seemed excited, took out his notebook and read aloud:
“First, Britain must refrain from providing support to North African states, including Morocco, and publicly condemn the aggression against Tunisia by Algiers, Morocco and Tripoli.

"Second, Britain will recognize Tunisia, Tripoli, and Anada in Algiers as French spheres of influence."

"Anada?" Joseph looked at the archbishop with some surprise. This was not originally on his "list".

Talleyrand raised his chin with some pride:
"I offered some Southern Netherlands spies in exchange, and the British quickly agreed."

"You did a great job." Joseph nodded in praise. Anada Province is the only passage for Algiers to enter Tunisia - if the road in the southern desert is not counted - if it can be controlled here, the security of western Tunisia will be greatly improved.

In addition, this is also a bridgehead from Tunisia to Algiers. The Algiers Guards provoked France twice, and this account cannot be let go.

Moreover, the area of ​​this place is not small, almost the same as the French province of Montpellier, and there is a good port. Although it overlaps with the port of Bizerte, it is better than nothing. In the future, the freight cost of grain sold from Algiers to France can be reduced.

"This is what I should do." Talleyrand bowed and then read out his "results". "Third, Carnatic will remain neutral forever, and Britain will not seek an alliance with it."

Given the strength of Britain, the Indian princely states and their so-called alliances actually recognized Britain as their father. This meant that Britain would have a gap in power in the southeast of India, leaving an opportunity for France to re-enter the Indian peninsula in the future. Pondicherry, the only French foothold in India, was adjacent to Carnatic.

"Fourth, Britain will use its influence to persuade Russia not to intervene in the war in Silesia."

This was Joseph's request, and Wellesley agreed to it without even thinking about it - Russia was currently at war with Sweden and had no intention of intervening in Silesia at all.

But Joseph knew that Catherine II had never stopped coveting Poland.

If she wanted to defeat Poland at the lowest cost, she had to win over Prussia and Austria to attack Poland at the same time, so she had to mediate the war between the two countries first.

The Russians' usual mode of mediation is - stop fighting, or I will send troops.

Talleyrand closed his notebook:
"Fifth and last, the UK will reveal Oscar Pauley's whereabouts to us, but he must not die in the UK."

This was also Joseph's request. Oscar Paoli, the top leader of Corsican Restorationism, must be dealt with as soon as possible.

Not to mention that Emperor Napoleon had always regarded him as his spiritual mentor. He was the biggest obstacle for Emperor Napoleon to truly return to France. As far as the stability of the Corsica region was concerned, getting rid of him was also a top priority. Under his command, those restorationists fought for power in the Corsican Parliament all day long, slandered the French government everywhere, and incited Corsicans to resist national policies, preventing Corsica from developing normally.

Historically, it was only after Emperor Napoleon used force to deal with the Corsican Restorationists that the island gradually prospered. But that was after Emperor Napoleon became the first consul and ruled France - the butt determines the head. Joseph could not give him the position of first consul now, so he could only deal with Paoli.

But the British request was a bit troublesome - Paulie could not be killed in the UK. This was understandable. Unlike the female swindler in the diamond necklace case, the British government handed her over to the French without hesitation. For a person like Paulie who had great political influence, the British had to take the impact into consideration. If he died in the UK, who would dare to set up an exiled government in the UK in the future? Being able to reveal his whereabouts was already a huge concession by the British.

Joseph couldn't help but narrow his eyes. Perhaps, for such a politician, social death is more likely to destroy him than physical death...

As he was thinking, the foreman of the palace troupe came over carefully and bowed to him:

"Your Royal Highness, your Anne is here."

Seeing Joseph stunned for a moment, the foreman hurriedly explained:

"Oh, the heroine in your play."

Joseph smiled awkwardly. He had even forgotten that he had changed the name of the heroine in "Breaking the Sky" to Annie Xun'er Xiao.

"I know, I'll be right over."

"Okay, Your Highness."

Talleyrand quickly spoke to the Dauphin about some details of the treaty and then said goodbye and left.

When Joseph arrived at the stage of the theater, he saw the troupe leader push aside the crowd and bring a little guy who was not even as tall as Joseph's chest to him, saying respectfully:
"Your Highness, this is Alexandra Pavlovna who plays Anne..."

Joseph looked at the chubby little face and the gentle big eyes in front of him, nodded and smiled:

"Hello, we meet again."

Alexandra immediately lifted her skirt and knelt before him, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Archduchess."

A shy smile flashed across Alexandra's lips, and she took a step closer and whispered:

"Your Highness, your amusement park is simply the greatest invention in the world!"

"I'm glad you like it." Joseph said politely, and then looked at the troupe leader suspiciously, "You mean, the Grand Duchess will play Anne?"

"Ah, yes, Your Highness." The latter said stiffly, "Grand Duchess Alexandra is the most suitable candidate for this role."

He secretly groaned in his heart, this role was clearly arranged by Her Majesty the Queen herself, but Her Majesty ordered him not to tell anyone else, so he could only bear it by himself.

Well, this was the brilliant idea that Queen Marie came up with for her son’s love – to let all the nobles in the Palace of Versailles see with their own eyes the Dauphin and Alexandra perform as lovers on stage!

In this indirect way, the nobles gradually accepted the fact that they would have a Russian crown princess. Queen Mary thought she was a genius for coming up with this idea.

(End of this chapter)