Chapter 200 Competition in North Africa

Chapter 201 Competition in North Africa

At the east edge of the hall, British newspaper dealer Alvin saw Lavoisier coming to the front desk. He hurriedly poked the listless young man next to him and whispered:

"Clark, the big shot is here. Record it carefully for me, but don't miss a word!"

Yes, this is the Alvin who came to Paris for an interview during Fashion Week. After he returned to China, he sold all his property and took the risk to buy the authorization of Paris Business News to translate "Breaking the Sky" and "Madam Please Stop" into English for sale. As a result, he made a lot of money in just a few months, and then he bought a small newspaper and became the boss.

This time, he came to discuss the licensing of other novels with the Paris Business Journal, but he happened to encounter the grand event of France announcing its measurement standards, so he came with his reporters to interview.

"Oh, yes, boss!"

Clark suddenly stood up straight and assumed a posture of taking notes seriously. Then he saw the Frenchman named Lavoisier raise his hands and said passionately: "First of all, let us pay tribute to the respected King. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince expresses his gratitude! It was he who promoted the standardization of measurement in France..."

Clark casually copied these words into his notebook, but felt quite disdainful in his heart. These people are really good at flattering the royal family.

He looked around the grandly decorated hall again and whispered in English:

"The French are really extravagant. They just announced a few units of measurement, but they actually made such a big show."

Alvin glared at him and said in a deep voice:

"Hurry up and put away your poor ignorance. This is not just a few units of measurement, but a great pioneering work of scientific civilization!"

On the stage, Lavoisier asked his assistant to push out a glass cover with a copper rod, and said excitedly:

"Please see, this is the original instrument of the standard unit of length 'meter'. Its definition is 'one millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole through the meridian of Paris'..."

Clark quickly recorded it in his hand, but still whispered unconvinced:

"Oh, yes, with this, it will be more convenient for French gentlemen to collect taxes. There is no need to repeatedly convert between different units."

Alvin waited for Lavoisier to finish speaking, and when the audience burst into applause, he patiently explained to the employees:

"You know why they make the definition of a unit so complicated?"

"This..." Clark scratched his head, "To show that they are powerful?"

Alvin interrupted him and said:

"Such a definition will produce exactly the same results anywhere in the world. That is, whether you are British, French, or North American, you can use the same units for measurements and calculations even if you are tens of thousands of miles apart. .

"Do you know what this means? It means that scientific theories all over the world can be described in the same 'technical language'. From here on, human science and technology will move toward perfection and unity!"

As an idealist, Alvin focused on things like "world science". In fact, standard measurement was more important to the development of national industry and commerce.

For example, baskets made in the north of France could not be sold in the south because southerners wanted to hold three "mongols" of grain at a time, but baskets in the north could only hold whole "ounces."

At this time, there were more than 800 kinds of measurement commonly used in various parts of France, and there were tens of thousands of kinds with smaller application scope. This has resulted in additional restrictions on the flow of goods between places.

What's worse is that in the field of industrial production, needless to say, between two cities, even if there are two workshops separated by only one road, the screws made here cannot be used there. How can we talk about building an industrial chain?

The unified measurement unit is the basis for opening up the industrial and commercial context.

Clark's eyes widened at what his boss said, and then he understood why the French wanted to carry out this standardized measurement with great fanfare.

Immediately afterwards, Lavoisier asked someone to fetch a pure platinum weight covered in a glass cover, and loudly announced that this was the original weight of the standard unit of mass "kilogram"...

A week later, almost all European newspapers were reporting on the measurement standards developed by the French Standardization Committee. Academic circles in various countries were greatly shocked. As for whether to support France's standard units or to develop their own, governments are even more quarrelsome.

European countries have not noticed at this time that from the beginning of Paris Fashion Week at the beginning of the year, to the birthday celebration of Louis XVI, to the announcement of metrics this time, France has always occupied the core of international news topics.

…

Barbary Sea.

Two British armed merchant ships, escorted by two frigates, were approaching Mitijah in Algiers under half sail.

In the bow cabin of the frigate "Robinson", the Duke of Leeds was using a telescope through the porthole to look at the gray-yellow coast under the scorching sun in the distance.

There is a fortress there. At this time, there were densely packed figures busy above.

He knew that it was British engineers directing craftsmen to strengthen the fort.

As the distance got closer, the Duke of Leeds could clearly see that the fort was largely completed. There was a British-made 24-pound gun tied to the end of dozens of thick cables and being dragged up to the fortress by hundreds of Algiers slaves.

"Haha, I really want to see the French people's surprised expressions when they are suddenly bombarded by these heavy artillery."

He put away the telescope with a smile and said to Stewart, the new British consul in Algiers:

"It is indeed a good move for the French to get involved in North Africa in the name of fighting piracy. Russia actually sent us many notes about this, saying that France's actions are also part of helping to maintain Russia's maritime trade."

Stewart smiled and nodded:

"Indeed, Your Majesty the Duke, it's just that the French have forgotten our close trade relationship with the Ottomans. These French guys are good at making some fashions, jewelry, etc., but when it comes to strategy, they are still a little behind."

The ship slowly stopped, and the Duke of Leeds walked towards the deck under the leadership of the captain, but he couldn't help but think of the meeting at No. 10 Downing Street three months ago.

It was also a sunny day like today...

"Mr. Fox finally remained silent." The 29-year-old British Prime Minister William Pitt Jr. gestured to the sofa in front of him with a cheerful expression, "Please sit down, Duke of Leeds, General Jervis."

Parliament had just approved his special appropriation for the situation in North Africa, and he was in a good mood.

He motioned to the servants to bring tea and snacks, then pointed at the not-so-spacious office and complained to the two of them:

"It's not easy to get the parliament to allocate some money, don't you think? Look here, there is not even a decent conference room. We can only discuss things in this narrow space."

General Jervis sat down and immediately asked:

"Mr. Pitt, the report you submitted to Parliament this morning, ah, is about the increase in food prices. Is it really related to the French? Why didn't I hear any news at all?"

Peter smiled:

"To be precise, it's very possible. But those people were very cunning and didn't leave any clues.

"I also accidentally read a report from the Intelligence Department in Dublin, saying that at the beginning of the year, an Irishman helped two grain merchants purchase a large amount of grain, amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds."

The Dublin Intelligence Department he mentioned was specifically responsible for dealing with the Irish uprising forces and was considered one of the most capable intelligence departments of the British government.

The British Empire at this time was completely unlike the godfather of world intelligence in later generations. MI6 and Scotland Yard had not yet appeared. At this time, the British accepted free thought relatively early and were very resistant to government intelligence agencies. As a result, their intelligence capabilities were only average among powerful countries.

Peter continued: "You know, those Irish and French people have always been unclear, so I had some doubts and commissioned Lloyd's of London to continue the investigation [Note 1].

"They did find out something. For example, the British grain merchants said that the people who bought the grain often talked in French in private and paid them livres. In addition, France also had a serious harvest failure and was in great need of grain.

"In short, the findings suggest that it is probably the French who are causing fluctuations in our grain markets."

The UK also suffered from a severe drought this year, resulting in a significant reduction in food production. However, the UK has been a grain exporter in recent decades. There was originally a lot of food stored in the country, and with the convenient river transportation system, there would be no famine.

Unexpectedly, when Pete wanted to allocate grain to the disaster area, he was surprised to find that since the beginning of this year, someone had purchased grain in large sums, and even bought up all the grain stocks in many cities!

When the news came out, the price of food in the British market suddenly skyrocketed. Although the government strictly limited food prices, it could not affect the prices of private transactions at all - just like the trick used by the bakers in Paris before.

Seeing that some of the hardest-hit areas in the UK were about to break out because of a lack of food, Pitt had no choice but to use government subsidies to stabilize food prices. Although riots were ultimately avoided, it resulted in a loss of five to six million pounds.

According to today's exchange rate, that is a huge sum of 14 million livres!

Fox and others from the opposition party took advantage of this incident and attacked Pitt wildly, causing him to lose face.

The Duke of Leeds laughed when he heard this:

"From what you said, it seems that the French have known for a long time that they will encounter a poor harvest this year. However, it doesn't matter what the truth is. We can use this matter to get parliament to support your special appropriation bill."

Peter gave him an approving look:

"That's true. As soon as Parliament learned that the French had caused fluctuations in food prices, there was no objection to the appropriation."

The Duke of Leeds nodded: "Those guys in the parliament have no idea the seriousness of the French's high-profile 'annihilation of pirates'!

“Once they take control of North Africa, they will greatly make up for the colonies they lost in the Americas.

"You know how many soldiers and money we lost in the Seven Years' War for those colonies. But those guys at Fox allowed France to attack North Africa just for a little appropriation."

Peter said: "Fortunately, we have now received a grant of 500,000 pounds, which is not too small."

"It's a pity that we have to take into account the attitude of the Russians," General Jervis frowned and shook his head. "We cannot directly send troops to North Africa."

"Sending troops?" The Duke of Leeds rolled his eyes at him very covertly, "No, it is not within our sphere of influence. It is too close to Spain and France. Supporting local forces is already the best choice."

Peter nodded, looked at Jervis and said:

"Your Majesty General, from your professional perspective, where is the real goal of the French?"

Although the British learned about France's North African strategy from their intelligence system in France and the Duke of Orleans, they could only infer the specific details on their own.

Jervis, chairman of the Naval War Commission, thought for a while and said: "I think it should be Algiers."

"Can you tell me your reasons?"

Jervis nodded: "First of all, Morocco is far away from France and it is within Spain's sphere of influence, so the French are unlikely to go there.

"After more than 20 years of rule, Tunisia's Bey has become relatively stable in power. In addition, Tunisia is very wealthy. If France rushes into conflict with it, it will be difficult to win quickly.

"Tripoli is similar. Its pasha holds real power. Although it is not as wealthy as Tunisia, it has a relatively strong military, especially its navy.

“So whether it’s Tunisia or Tripoli, as long as they can resist the French for a few months, Ottoman will probably step in to support them.

"And the French also know that we will not sit idly by and ignore their expansion. At that time, they will have no choice but to retreat to the northern shore of the Mediterranean."

Peter nodded thoughtfully:

"It seems that Algiers is indeed the best target."

Jervis rubbed his forehead and said: "The Guards and the Navy in Algiers are at odds, and the local forces should not be underestimated. The three parties are attacking each other, and the internal situation is very chaotic.

"As long as the French win one or two battles there, the locals are likely to fall over to them.

"Also, I heard that the French and American fleets just sank two ships of the Algiers navy."

Peter then looked at the two important ministers in front of him:

"So, what strategies do you two think we should adopt to deal with it?"

The Duke of Leeds picked up the tea cup and took a sip, and said:

"It will be very difficult for us to rashly intervene in North Africa, after all, it is not our traditional sphere of influence.

"So, we must first establish contact with the forces there."

Peter nodded and said:

"You are the Foreign Secretary. It is up to you to do something in this regard."

"The Ottomans will be the key." Liz said, "We have good trade relations with the Ottomans, and we can use this to influence them. Although the Ottomans no longer have much control over North Africa, they never want France to become the master there. .

"So, we can provide support to Algiers through Osman. We can even ask Osman to give our people an advisor or other status."

Jervis continued: "If you want to prevent the local forces in Algiers from turning towards the French, it is best to block the French fleet in the Mediterranean."

"what do you mean?"

"Send people to help Algiers strengthen the coastal defense fortress."

[Note 1] Lloyd's of London was the largest insurance service company in the UK at the time. In order to investigate the situation of policyholders and whether they were suspected of insurance fraud, they hired a large number of intelligence personnel, which resulted in the company's domestic intelligence capabilities exceeding British Government.

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