Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 1142: Chapter 1048: The Great Game

Kurulu immediately led his army north to launch an encirclement and suppression against the Kabylia Tribe.

In fact, the Algiers Council had long been displeased with Majana, this “state within a state,” and now that the latter unexpectedly rebelled, it played right into their hands.

The tribes in the mountainous region of Kabylia, numbering only a little over a hundred thousand people, were panic-stricken at the approach of the massive Algiers Army and hastily sought help from the Berbers in Annaba.

After the Crown Prince finished reading the report, Major Funiere continued, “Your Highness, the Director asked me to seek your instructions on whether to provide support to the Kabyle Tribe.”

Joseph instinctively wanted to nod.

Lavallette’s intuition was extremely sharp; it indeed was a rare opportunity for France.

Algiers was the largest country in the Barbary Region and also the core target of France’s North Africa strategy.

Earlier, when Algiers invaded Tunisia with British support, Joseph had already thought about effortlessly wiping it out.

However, at that time, France’s most urgent task was to stabilize the political situation in Tunisia and avoid alerting the European countries, so they temporarily refrained from acting.

Now, the Kabylia Tribe has delivered a perfect excuse for military action—their acceptance of the views in the “Tunisian Origin Analysis” has made it perfectly legitimate for France, as a “Roman compatriot,” to extend a helping hand.

As for the other European countries,

now that France is handling North African affairs, apart from England, probably no one will object.

Thinking of this, Joseph suddenly frowned slightly.

Indeed, it’s also a rare opportunity for England.

Although Algiers’ military strength was weak, if England provided financial and weapon support from behind, France might end up mired in endless guerrilla warfare in Algiers—the Atlas Mountains span the entire Algiers, especially in the southwest, which is rugged and dense, with numerous tribes residing within. If truly entangled in such terrain, it would be a highly troublesome affair.

Moreover, two years ago, Morocco had established a mutual defense alliance with Algiers. They would also, under British instigation, support Algiers’ western mountainous regions, even directly sending troops.

Therefore, it would be best to prevent the British from intervening.

A smile appeared on Joseph’s face, intending to keep the British busy to the point where they couldn’t spare any effort for North Africa.

He instructed Major Funiere, “Tell Lavallette, for now, do not get involved in Majana’s battle.”

The latter seemed somewhat reluctant, “But Your Highness, in that case, the Kabyle might be…”

Joseph gestured with his hand, “You can send people to remind them not to engage the Algiers Army head-on but to retreat into the mountains first.

“If they can hold on, they might see a turning point in at most half a year.”

Though Funiere was extremely puzzled, he dared not ask further and quickly departed to carry out the orders.

Once the door closed, Joseph took out paper and pen, murmuring to himself, “It seems the pace on the Persian side needs to be accelerated.”

He began writing while lost in thought, and the title noticeably read “The Great Game.”

Late at night.

Joseph, looking at the freshly completed draft of “The Great Game,” frowned again, “But who should submit it to the British Government? Arthur Connolly might still be a child now…”

Arthur Connolly was precisely the intelligence officer who first proposed the British Middle East strategy in the 19th century.

He had repeatedly ventured into the vast regions from the Transcaucasia to Afghanistan and then to Central Asia, conducting detailed surveys and believed that Britain must strategically compete with Russia along the Central Asia-Persia line, or it would easily lose Afghanistan, a crucial barrier preventing Russia from encroaching on India.

His strategic proposals were quickly adopted by the British Government and came to be known as “The Great Game.”

Since Connolly wasn’t taking action, Joseph had no choice but to reluctantly assist the British in perfecting the Great Game theory.

His draft would later be polished by experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure its persuasiveness and influence.

But without Connolly, determining how to submit the strategic report to the British Government became somewhat troublesome—randomly choosing some nobody, Grenville likely wouldn’t take it seriously. Finding an influential British strategist on short notice would probably not be easy.

Suddenly, someone flashed in Joseph’s mind, and he couldn’t help but chuckle, “Why bother racking my brains for this? Those Irish definitely have insiders within the British Government, let them handle it.”

He immediately thought of South Africa.

Though the Boers present little threat to the British for now, even something small adds up, so let them participate as well.

Joseph picked up the pen again, wrote two detailed orders, and sent them along with the “Great Game” manuscript to Eman, instructing him to have it sent back to Paris overnight.

The next day at noon.

The Royal Palace of Madrid.

Charles IV, with great pomp, personally welcomed his old friend—the Crown Prince of France.

After a series of cumbersome ceremonial procedures and a banquet, Joseph finally got to discuss serious matters in Charles IV’s reception room.

“Your Majesty, I hope you can hand over the Louisiana region to France,” Joseph began straightforwardly with his request without any roundabout approach.

In such matters concerning a colony of several hundred thousand square kilometers, relying on coaxing would never work; it was better to be direct and save time.

Charles IV, along with several of his key ministers, was taken aback by his words.

After a while, Campos dryly coughed and said, “Your Highness, thank you for your help during the New Orleans incident, but Louisiana is our…”

Joseph unhurriedly continued, “You must have heard, the Americans are gathering their troops. At most by next spring, New Orleans will be attacked on an even larger scale than before.”

Count Aranda immediately shouted, “We will declare war on the United States and send an expeditionary force to defeat them!”

Joseph nodded, “Indeed, I have no doubt about the courage of your soldiers. But fighting in North America, for every 1 Gold Coin the Americans spend, the Empire has to invest 20 Gold Coins to counter it.

“Moreover, currently, the Americans are only engaging in military harassment. If a full-scale war erupts, they can mobilize forty to fifty thousand troops.”

He did not continue, but everyone present understood his implication.

Spain currently lacks the capability to transport 40,000 troops to North America.

Even if they could, they would not risk dispatching so many soldiers to North America because that would immediately cause the Portuguese front to collapse.

At that point, it wouldn’t be about having or not having Portugal; it would be whether the Anglo-Portuguese Army would seize the opportunity to advance on Madrid instead.

Clearly, compared to controlling the entire Iberian Peninsula, and eventually reclaiming Gibraltar, the desolate and barren land of Louisiana hardly holds any value.

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