Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 275: Two-part Tunisia ( words long chapter)

French Prime Minister Jouffry was in a dilemma at this time. Although giving up the invasion of Tunisia could end the dispute with Italy and Spain, it would make France's investment in Tunisia completely in vain.

Although France only deployed about 50,000 troops in this war, the cost of the war so far has been considerable.

Although the French army suffered few casualties, the resistance of the Tunisian new army did cause some difficulties for the French.

What would the French people think if France invaded Tunisia with great fanfare and ultimately gained nothing?

The Italian people will angrily besiege the French embassy. Will the Parisian people not angrily besiege the French government?
The Italian people can only threaten the French embassy, ​​but the Parisian people can threaten the safety of the French cabinet.

More importantly, the development of this incident also concerns the authority of Prime Minister Jouffri, who wanted to promote the invasion of Tunisia to accumulate political achievements for himself and prepare for his next re-election.

If this war is abandoned halfway, let alone whether he will be impeached, he will forget about the next prime minister election.

As his political career was at stake, Rouféry still wanted to struggle a little longer. Since Spain had proposed peace talks, France could negotiate with the Tunisian government.

Tunisia also has its own rulers and government. Isn’t the peace treaty reached between France and the Tunisian government legal?

As long as France could reach a peace treaty with Tunisia first, it could at least gain a firm foothold in occupying Tunisia.

As for what happens in the future, I believe that since France has already made the decision, the Italians can only swallow their anger.

With this idea in mind, Rouféry ordered the French ambassador to Spain to delay the Spanish government as much as possible, and at the same time issued orders to the front-line troops, requiring the French army to continue its attack on Tunis, striving to promote peace talks between the French and Tunisian governments before Spain officially intervened in the matter.

The French army, receiving the government's order, immediately accelerated its offensive and successfully captured Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.

At this time in Tunis, the Tunisian government was already in chaos.

Tunisia's ruler, Mohammed III al-Sadiq, has brought together Tunisian officials to try to find a way for the devastated country to survive.

But looking at the officials with deathly pale faces, Mohammed III Al Sadik also knew that Tunisia had long lost hope of continuing.

Even if France did not invade Tunisia, what awaited Tunisia would only be the invasion of other powerful countries.

"Bey, the French army has surrounded the city of Tunis. We need to evacuate as soon as possible. If we delay any longer, we will be buried in this city."

Ministers who were still loyal to Tunisia persuaded the ruler Mohammed III al-Sadiq to leave Tunis and go to the Ottoman Empire or other non-French regions to form a government in exile.

As long as the government in exile exists, sooner or later they will be able to return to their homeland and rebuild Tunisia.

Mohammed III Al Sadik shook his head palely. He did not want to leave this land.

As an ambitious monarch, Mohammed III Al-Sadiq also carried out certain reforms in Tunisia based on the reforms of the Ottoman Empire, and he also founded the New Tunisian Army.

Originally, he was ambitious and thought that under his leadership, Tunisia could become the most powerful country in North Africa and make Tunisia completely independent from the Ottoman Empire and become a truly independent country.

But the French invasion gave him a loud slap in the face and made him realize the gap between African countries and European countries.

It’s not that Mohammed III Al Sadik didn’t work hard, but the gap in strength between Tunisia and France was too big.

Let alone simple reforms, even thorough and comprehensive reforms would not allow Tunisia to grow into a superpower like France.

"Everyone, where can we go if we leave Tunisia? If even we give up this land, who can stop the French invasion?" Mohammed III Al Sadiq glanced at the ministers who were still persuading him, his eyes filled with tears of love for this land, and he couldn't help but say.

Mohammed III Al-Sadiq certainly understood that Tunisia's situation was hopeless. The Ottoman Empire would not offend France for Tunisia, and other powerful countries would be even less likely to do so.

Since France is confident that it can invade Tunisia, it will definitely be fully prepared. Any of their ideas are in vain. It is absolutely a pipe dream to want to preserve Tunisia from the French invasion.

When it came to where to go, the Tunisian officials started talking about it.

Some officials suggested that Mehmed III al-Sadiq flee to Istanbul (Istanbul's name was used until the fall of the Byzantine Empire, but it was not officially used as the name of Constantinople until the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Before that, Western countries called it Constantinople, and the Ottoman Empire and its vassal states called it Istanbul.), while some officials suggested that Mehmed III al-Sadiq flee to London or Rome.

Apart from the proposal to flee to Istanbul, the most popular proposal was that Mehmed III Al-Sadiq flee to Rome.

The reason why Rome has a higher voice is entirely because Italy’s previous investment in Tunisia has played a role.

Because Britain and France once prevented Italy from forcibly annexing Tunisia, this also led to Italy's colonial operations in Tunisia being mainly economic.

After influencing Tunisia's economy, Italy will naturally be able to infiltrate Tunisia's government and cultivate Tunisian officials who are favorable to Italy to come to power.

The weapons and equipment used in the Ottoman Empire's reforms were basically purchased from Britain and France, while the weapons and equipment used in the Tunisian reforms were basically purchased from Italy.

Mohammed III Al-Sadiq looked pale as he watched his ministers arguing about where to escape, feeling disappointed in his heart.

On the surface, this is just a disagreement among ministers, but in fact it represents a dispute between different forces within the Tunisian government.

Those who suggested going to Rome were the forces cultivated in Italy, while those who suggested going to London were the forces supported by Britain after infiltration.

As for those who suggested going to Istanbul, or suggested staying in Tunisia and submitting to French rule, most of them were local nobles and forces in Tunisia.

These people have extremely high status and prestige in Tunisia, and they can only continue to enjoy their power by staying in Tunisia.

Although surrendering to French rule was equivalent to having an extra master, it can also be seen from France's colonization of Algeria that as long as the local indigenous people did not resist French rule, the French would not kill them all.

This also means that they do have hope of maintaining their power by surrendering. Although they have people above them, they still enslave hundreds of thousands of Tunisians below them.

At this time, Mohammed III Al-Sadiq was extremely confused. On the one hand, he was indeed very afraid of the French and wanted to flee to Istanbul or other European cities before the French conquered Tunisia, looking for an opportunity to form an exiled government and return to Tunisia.

On the other hand, Muhammad III Al-Sadiq was unwilling to give up his power.

Although he was only the ruler of a country with a population of several hundred thousand, as the Bey of Tunisia, Mohammed III Al-Sadiq was still the supreme authority in the country.

Apart from nominally submitting to the rule of the Ottoman Sultan, Mohammed III Al-Sadiq's power had no obstacles in Tunisia, which made him very attached to this power.

Mohammed III Al-Sadiq was somewhat reluctant to suddenly leave Tunisia and give up the power he had enjoyed for most of his life.

It is precisely because of this that Muhammad III Al-Sadiq was in an inner struggle. He still couldn't figure out what choice he should make at this important juncture.

The good news is that Mohammed III Al Sadik no longer has to worry about his indecisiveness.

Because within a few minutes, the palace guards brought a piece of news that made everyone present change color, that is, the French army had broken through the city of Tunis.

The reason why Mohammed III Al-Sadiq and others still had time to hesitate in the palace was because Tunis was the largest city in Tunisia and had facilities such as city walls that could truly block the attack of the French army.

But it was clear that the walls of Tunisia were not destined to hold out against the French army for long.

If it were just an ordinary French colonial army, it would take some effort to face the walls of Tunisia, and it might even take a long time to capture them.

But this army, carefully organized by France, included an artillery regiment.

This artillery regiment was specifically used by France to break through the walls of Tunisia, and it played its due role during the siege of Tunisia.

Under the repeated bombardment of French artillery, the city walls of Tunis collapsed.

The Tunisians had never seen such a lively scene before, and they had already fled in all directions when the French army bombed the city walls.

When the guards reported, the walls of Tunis had collapsed and the French army had already marched towards Tunis.

When he heard the bad news, Mohammed III Al-Sadiq had only one thought: is it too late to surrender to France?

If Mohammed III Al Sadik had many choices before the French army broke through Tunis, then after the French army broke through Tunis, Mohammed III Al Sadik had only one choice left, which was to surrender to France as soon as possible.

Since all other choices would result in death, it would be better to live a miserable life, at least there is a hope of retaining one's power.

Mohammed III Al-Sadiq, who had figured out the relationship, no longer hesitated. He immediately looked at the officials and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, I have decided to make peace with France. I will never leave Tunisia!
If you want to leave, then leave quickly! I will live and die with Tunisia, and the Bey of Tunisia will never abandon his loyal country and subjects! "

Mohammed III Al-Sadiq's words were righteous, and there was no sign of his fear of death and greed for power.

Many officials were speechless when they saw Mohammed III Al Sadiq like this. The city of Tunis had been broken, where could they run to now?
Packing up your property and fleeing will only make you the primary target of the French. It would be better to stay with Mohammed III Al Sadik. Perhaps the French will consider keeping the Tunisian government in order to appease the Tunisians.

"Bey, we have to stay here too, and live and die with Tunisia!"

“Yes, live and die with Tunisia!”

Looking at the ministers who echoed his words, Mohammed III Al-Sadiq nodded with satisfaction, then waved his hand and issued his own order: "Open the palace gate. I want to negotiate with the French in the palace."

Having said that, the current situation actually does not require Mohammed III Al Sadiq to issue orders, because after the French rushed into the city of Tunis, their eyes quickly locked on the magnificent building of the Tunisian Royal Palace.

Although Mohammed III Al-Sadiq did not impose heavy taxes since he became the Bey of Tunisia, he even reduced the taxes of Tunisians through some reforms.

But it has been nearly 200 years since the establishment of the Tunisian Bey State. During this period of nearly 200 years, the wealth accumulated by each Tunisian Bey is enough to build this magnificent building, which also contains a large number of treasures and gold and silver jewelry.

Before the French could enter this magnificent building to find out what was inside, the door of the building had already opened, and the representative of the Tunisian Bey walked out timidly, holding a makeshift flag made of white canvas in both hands.

At that time, there was no rule that raising the white flag symbolized surrender, but there were also cases of raising the white flag to surrender during wars between European countries.

It was not until the Hague Peace Conference held in The Hague at the end of the 19th century that white chess was officially recognized as a symbol of surrender, which was nearly 20 years ago.

Tunisia is next to French-colonized Algeria, and it is not difficult to find an official in Tunisia who can barely speak French.

The Tunisian Bey representative, holding a white flag, shouted in French: "I am the representative of the Tunisian Bey. We are willing to surrender and conduct peace talks with your army." He carefully observed the attitude of the French army.

The good news is that France is indeed thinking about reaching peace talks with the Tunisian government as soon as possible.

Therefore, when the French army heard the Tunisians shouting in French and asking for peace talks, they stopped the attack out of respect. The soldiers stared curiously at the Tunisian holding the white flag, waiting for the next order from their superiors.

Seeing a Frenchman who looked like a senior officer coming out of the army, the representative of the Tunisian Bey shouted: "Dear General, on behalf of the Bey, I am willing to surrender to your army. Please order your army to stop the attack and spare those Tunisian civilians."

The French officer walked forward slowly, first looked at the Tunisian representative, then nodded and replied in French: "I will order the army to stop the attack before the peace talks are over.

But I hope you can also show your sincerity in peace talks. If you don’t intend to negotiate, or have any other plans, I won’t be able to control my army to stop at that time.”

"Of course, of course." The Tunisian representative nodded quickly, not daring to refute the French officer's words.

Afterwards, the French officer said something to his subordinates, and the French army officially stopped the attack, and the two sides remained in a stalemate.

The Tunisian representative then proposed to the French officer to invite him to the palace for peace talks, but the French officer decisively rejected the proposal.

Although the Tunisians were defeated and had no weapons left, no one could guarantee that they still had other troops in the palace.

If the so-called Tunisian Bey has hidden a small army in the palace, then entering the Tunisian palace would mean walking into a trap, wouldn't it?
The French commander said that the negotiations should either take place in the French military camp outside the city or in an open space prepared inside the city.

Moreover, France only gave Tunisia two hours to prepare. If Tunisia has not chosen a venue for the peace talks within two hours, it means that Tunisia has no sincerity in the peace talks.

Upon hearing the French officer's request, the Tunisian representative nodded quickly and then conveyed the French request to Mohammed III Al Sadik.

Although it was humiliating to accept the French demands, Mohammed III Al-Sadiq had no other choice at this time.

In the end, Mohammed III al-Sadiq and French officers agreed to hold peace talks in an open space in Tunis, and the armies of both sides would maintain peace during the negotiations.

Although it is said that it is the armies of both sides, it is only the French army that needs to maintain peace.

Because as soon as Tunis fell, most of the Tunisian troops had already fled in all directions, and those who were left were basically those soldiers who were injured and unable to move.

It is hard to say whether these people can stay awake, let alone resist, so they naturally cannot pose a threat to the French army.

The French government's plan was to force the Tunisian government to sign a peace treaty as soon as possible, so the French government had already prepared a peace treaty, and all the Tunisian side had to do was sign its name.

When the French officer took out the peace treaty that had been prepared long ago, Mohammed III Al-Sadiq just glanced at it and his eyes widened.

The French demands are not complicated, but for Tunisia, it is equivalent to handing over everything in Tunisia to the French for management.

First of all, in order to ensure that the killing of French people would not happen again, France requested to station troops in important areas of Tunisia to ensure the safety of the French.

The total number of French troops stationed in Tunisia is not large, only about 70 at most. The problem is that Tunisia itself is a country with a population of only more than , and Tunisia's original army only has more than people.

With the French attack, the Tunisian army had long been dispersed and collapsed, which also meant that France could completely control the situation in Tunisia with only these 20,000 troops stationed there.

What's more, in addition to the request for stationing troops, France also proposed to assist Tunisia in managing its finances, take over Tunisia's foreign affairs, and help Tunisia build a railway connecting it to Algeria.

If Mohammed III al-Sadiq agreed to the treaty, it would be tantamount to handing over all power in Tunisia to France.

But there is good news for Mohammed III al-Sadiq: France does not intend to completely overthrow the Tunisian government.

This also meant that Mohammed III al-Sadiq still had a chance to keep his throne as Bey and become a powerless king under French rule.

Mohammed III Al Sadik knew that he had no choice but to sign his name on the peace treaty presented by the French after a brief struggle.

After Mohammed III al-Sadiq signed his name, the French officers' attitude towards him became noticeably better.

In order to show that the French were not brutal, after Mohammed III Al-Sadiq signed the peace treaty, French officers ordered the French army to withdraw from Tunis, leaving only a small force to help the Tunisian government maintain order in Tunis. Just when Tunisia had entered peace, the diplomatic confrontation between France, Spain and Italy officially began.

Just the next day, the French ambassador to Spain officially announced to the Spanish government that France had signed a peace treaty with the Tunisian government and that the Tunisian War was over.

Upon hearing the news that the war was over, Prime Minister Canovas was stunned at first, then felt a little surprised and angry.

What Prime Minister Canovas did not expect was that the French could actually occupy Tunisia by force despite the pressure from Spain and Italy.

It is easy to understand that the peace treaty signed between the French and the Tunisian government was signed by the French under pressure from the Tunisian government.

"Mr. Ambassador, are you sure that what you said represents the attitude of the French government?" Prime Minister Canovas was silent for a moment, then asked with a gloomy face.

"Of course." The French ambassador nodded. He was not afraid of the gloomy Prime Minister Canovas. He replied with a smile: "This is the latest news from home. Since the war is over, there is naturally no need for us to negotiate."

Prime Minister Canovas nodded, his complexion returned to normal, but his voice was unusually cold: “Since your government has made a decision, I naturally cannot stop it.

I hope the Italian government will accept your excuses and Spain will stand by Italy without hesitation."

Although he was somewhat angry about the shameless behavior of the French, Prime Minister Canovas would not take the initiative to damage relations with France.

Spain’s attitude is also very clear, that is, to stand with Italy and support Italy’s decision.

If Italy wants to break up with France, Spain will choose to support Italy. But if Italy chooses to give in, Spain will naturally not be able to start a war with France alone.

So the question is, what is the attitude of the Italian government?
When the French ambassador conveyed the same words to the Italian government, the Italian government also became extremely angry.

They also did not expect that the French would actually withstand the pressure from the two countries and choose to quickly occupy Tunisia to end the war.

This also means that Italy currently has only two choices: either confront the French head-on, or pretend nothing happened and be a coward.

If Umberto I could still keep his composure, then Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli, who took the initiative to stir up public anger, was the most impatient official in Italy at this time.

There is no way, the position of the prime minister is always so embarrassing. Although the prime minister symbolizes extremely high power, in such unexpected events, it is easy to become the target of public criticism.

In European monarchies, the prime minister has a very special role, which is to take the blame for the king and the entire government.

When the king and the government face major mistakes in their decisions, the prime minister will generally resign voluntarily to appease the public's anger.

After all, compared to changing the king, changing the prime minister is simpler and will have less impact on the country.

"Your Majesty, is His Majesty Carlo still willing to support us?" Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli took the initiative to find King Umberto I and asked about Spain's attitude on this matter.

"Carlo sent a telegram not long ago saying that Spain is willing to stand on our side and support all our decisions." A smile appeared on Umberto I's face. This might be the only good news he had heard in the past few days.

As for the other good news, it is that Carlo expressed his support for the Italian government for the first time.

In other words, Italy's interference in France's invasion of Tunisia did not receive the support of other European powers, which is precisely Italy's current embarrassing situation.

Carlo's behavior was like helping someone in need, and it also made Umberto I more fond of his younger brother.

Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli finally breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Spain was still willing to support Italy.

This also means that Italy has not completely failed in this diplomatic conflict. Although France has gained the upper hand, Italy still has a chance to turn the tables.

"Your Majesty, considering the public opinion in our country, I think we must not give up Tunisia. At least we must take back some land. Only in this way can we recover the losses from our investment in Tunisia." After a moment's silence, Benedetto Cairoli turned his gaze towards Umberto I and proposed.

Umberto I sighed, but still expressed his support to the prime minister: "I will leave this matter to you. As long as we can recover some of the losses, at least we can give an explanation to the people."

Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli nodded, then his eyes became very firm, and he respectfully left the palace.

Walking out of the palace, Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli reconvened the Italian cabinet meeting and announced a bold decision, which was to send troops to Tunisia and occupy places that the French had not yet occupied, such as Kairouan, a major city in central Tunisia, Sfax and the southern city of Zarzis.

As the European country closest to Tunisia, Italy is relatively familiar with the situation in Tunisia.

Italy even invested in a highway in Tunisia that runs directly from Tunis to Gabes, connecting Kairouan and Sfax.

Now that the French had captured Tunis, Italy could only turn its attention to the central and southern regions of Tunisia.

The good news is that in order to reach a peace agreement with the Tunisian government as soon as possible, France did not choose to occupy all cities in Tunisia, but instead gave priority to attacking Tunisia from Kaf to the east.

It is worth mentioning that in order to prevent the French from reacting, the Italian government is only protesting on the surface and does not seem to have taken any unnecessary actions, trying to paralyze the French government with such behavior.

Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli secretly sent out two armies, which would go to the central and southern regions of Tunisia respectively to seize as much land and cities as possible.

Anyway, Tunisia’s population is only 70, and the number of people it can obtain is no longer within the consideration of the Italian government.

As long as they can get some land, it will not be a loss for the Italian government. If they can get some land, they can deal with the angry Italian people, and at least the anger of the people will not lead to the fall of the government.

In order to maintain his position as prime minister, Benedetto Cairoli has made up his mind.

In addition to dispatching two armies with a total of more than 30,000 people, he also mobilized the Italian fleet to escort these 30,000 troops.

Even if the Italians were discovered by the French during the landing, with the protection of the navy, there was no need to worry about the safety of these Italian soldiers.

Together, these armies and navies were enough to confront the French forces in Tunisia and buy the Italian government more time.

In order to seize as many cities as possible before the French reacted, the Italian government kept its actions completely secret and did not even notify the Spanish side.

It is for this reason that Carlo was very curious about the fact that the Italian government did not take any action after learning that France had signed a contract with the Tunisian government, and he almost sent intelligence personnel to gather intelligence.

However, thinking that Tunisia and Spain did not have much to do with each other, Carlo gave up the idea.

Anyway, Carlo still has the same attitude, that is, to stand firmly behind Italy. If Italy wants to compete with France, Spain will definitely be happy to accompany it.

But if Italy itself is unwilling to compete with France, Spain cannot force Italy and France to confront each other.

The French government was as surprised as Carlo. They were prepared for a big fuss from the Italian government, but they did not expect the Italian government's response to be so quiet.

Although the Italian government has also had various protests and even threatened local mobilization in border areas.

But the French government also understands that Italy's threats are more like verbal warnings. Unless Italy is fully mobilized, the probability of a war breaking out between them and France is extremely low.

After all, wars between great powers require sufficient preparation. Unless one has overwhelming strength, whoever is better prepared will have the advantage.

Italy's overall strength is far behind that of France, and Italy must make more careful preparations before it is qualified to launch a war with France.

Otherwise, if the Italian government hastily launches a war, all it will get is a one-sided outcome.

The French government's differences were soon resolved, and the next day, the French army sent a telegram to the mainland stating that they had spotted Italians in the central Tunisian city of Kairouan.

This telegram immediately made the French government break out in a cold sweat, and they also instantly understood the Italian government's intentions.

The Italian government is clearly making false moves while secretly attacking the city. On the surface, it is using some diplomatic protests and verbal threats to attract the attention of France, but in fact it has already sent troops to compete with France for Tunisia.

Because the two countries had not completely torn their relations apart, the French army did not dare to take the initiative to launch an attack on the Italian army.

When the French army discovered that there were already traces of Italians in Kairouan, they could only set their sights on the area west of Kairouan.

During the French cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Jouffry, after careful consideration, issued his order to the French troops in Tunisia, which was to march south with all their strength and seize Tunisian land from the Italian army.

Of course, in the process of grabbing land, try to avoid conflict with the Italian army as much as possible.

The two countries' fight for Tunisia can still be summarized as a diplomatic conflict, but if a conflict breaks out between the two countries' armies, it is likely to turn into a protracted war.

France does not want a real war to break out with Italy. How to avoid war is what Prime Minister Roufaire is currently most concerned about.

The good news is that Italy apparently doesn't want to start a war either.

After discovering that the French army had retreated, the Italian army was tactful enough not to approach the French army.

The two sides tacitly launched a battle for the Tunisian region, and the target of the battle was naturally Tunisian cities and other lands.

There is good news for France. That is, France had divided its troops into two routes when launching the war. The southern army went along the road from the Algerian border city of Tebessa to the western Tunisian city of Gafsa, and then arrived at the central Tunisian port of Gabes.

The southern army's goal was to outflank Tunisia and cut off the Tunisians' retreat to Libya.

Unexpectedly, this has backfired and ended up cutting off the Italians' path to expand southwards.

In any case, the southern army, which was about to reach Gabes, became very important. As long as the southern army could capture Gabes, the Italian army's expansion to the south would be completely blocked.

In this way, although Italy occupied many important cities including Kairouan, most of Tunisia's land was in the hands of France, so France did not suffer too much.

What's more, the land occupied by Italy will be surrounded by France on three sides. It is still unknown whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

The competition between France and Italy for land in Tunisia was quite fierce, but Tunisia's land was always limited.

The military operations between the two sides lasted about two and a half weeks and ended with the complete occupation of Tunisian territory.

Judging from the results of the war between the two sides, France was definitely the biggest winner. France not only occupied Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, but also took over the central port of Gabes, the western important cities of Rudayif and Gafsa.

The land acquired by Italy was forcibly divided into two parts by France. The northern part was mainly composed of Kairouan and Sfax, including the port city of Sousse and the coastal city of Muknin.

The south mainly includes Djerba Island and some coastal areas close to Libya, and also occupies the Bourguiba Fort along the road.

Further south from here is the desert area. The Italian army has not had time to advance deeper, and there is no need to do so for the time being.

All Tunisian regions except these areas were occupied by France, and France also occupied the most essential areas of Tunisia.

As mentioned before, Tunisia has 16 square kilometers of land, of which 9 square kilometers can be used for farmland or livestock breeding.

These lands that can be cultivated for farming or grazing are mainly concentrated in the northern and coastal areas of Tunisia, with France being the country that accounts for the largest share.

However, the land occupied by Italy is not small, at least 5 square kilometers, at least half of which can be reclaimed into farmland or pasture, which is a significant supplement for Italy.

After both sides completed the occupation of Tunisia, the next step was to negotiate between France and Italy.

Whether the status quo will be maintained according to the actual occupation of both sides, or one side will force the other side to make concessions and thus achieve the situation of occupying Tunisia alone, this depends on the results of the negotiations between the two sides.

French Prime Minister Jou Ferry, who was far away in Paris, sighed. He had never expected that his elaborate plan would end up at the negotiation table.

Although France occupied most of the land, it failed to completely occupy Tunisia, which was equivalent to failing to achieve its strategic goals for France.

Italy occupied at least one-third of Tunisia, which also meant that France and Italy would engage in fierce colonial competition in the Tunisian region in the future.

Although Ru Feili's plan did not fail, it was not a complete success, which was not a reward for Ru Feili himself, and there was still a stain on his political achievements.

Compared to Ruferi's sigh, Italian Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli's expression was obviously much better.

At least Italy got some land, so it can now report to the Italian people.

More importantly, Italy will have to face negotiations with France next. With the support of Spain, Italy may not be afraid of France in the negotiations.

As long as they can keep the land they have already occupied and get some from France, they can achieve the current situation of dividing Tunisia into two parts, which is an acceptable situation for the Italian government.

After all, compared to getting nothing, getting half of Tunisia is already a pretty good outcome.

Italy's population is not too large, so it is just right to develop half of Tunisia. Of course, this also depends on whether the French government is willing.

If the French insist on their own way, it will be difficult for Italy to take over some of the land in France's hands.

After the two sides fought fiercely for Tunisian land, Carlo finally understood the Italian government's plan.

However, Carlo did not stop the Italian government's actions. It would be great if he could use the colonial competition in Tunisia to attract France's attention.

Without Italy attracting French hatred, the French would soon discover that it was Spain that was the most aggressive in colonizing Africa and France.

By then, the relationship between France and Spain will definitely take a sharp turn for the worse, and may even become a mutually hostile relationship.

For Carlo, the reason why he strongly supports any action taken by Italy in this incident is precisely in exchange for Italy's rewards in the future.

If Spain and France engage in fierce colonial competition in West Africa, Spain will need diplomatic and even military support from Italy.

After all, Spain alone obviously cannot scare France. But if Spain and Italy unite, even if they are one of the powerful European hegemons, they will have to consider the consequences of being dragged into the quagmire of war.

10300 words updated, thank you for your support!

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(End of this chapter)