Chapter 405: The channel connecting Egypt

Chapter 406 The Channel Connecting Egypt

As for the other major European countries, they should not have much reaction to France sending troops to Tripoli.

Austria was beaten to a pulp in Silesia and was begging France to send troops to reinforce it.

Spain is a relative of theirs, and has a secret agreement with France to jointly recapture Gibraltar and unify the Iberian Peninsula. At most, if you give him some benefits, he will definitely stay out of it.

Russia is even more looking forward to France sending troops to Tripoli. After all, the 12,000 soldiers stationed there are all Ottoman guards. If Russia wants to control the Black Sea, it must completely defeat the Ottomans. If France can destroy more Ottoman troops in North Africa, they will have fewer enemies on the battlefield in the future.

In addition, the most frequent routes of the Gemini Trading Company are the Mediterranean routes. France can control one more trading port in the Mediterranean, and Russia can also gain more benefits from it.

Poland is experiencing a national awakening. The elite class goes to the streets to give speeches and organize public demonstrations all day long. It is so exciting that they have no time to care about other people's affairs.

The only big country that would oppose France's attack on Tripoli is Prussia. But the Prussian navy... forget it, he basically has no navy, so even if he has an opinion, what can he do? Anyway, Prussia and France have already started a war in the Southern Netherlands. At worst, we can continue to increase our troops and see if my uncle will blow your ass in Silesia!

Other small countries, such as Sardinia, Denmark, Bavaria, etc., dare not meddle in France's affairs?

So this time Joseph of Tripoli is determined!

Speaking of which, we have to thank the British. If they hadn't manipulated behind the scenes and let Benjiul attack Tunisia, he really wouldn't have found such a solid reason to send troops.

In fact, in the eyes of European countries at this time, Tripoli is basically a desolate place with a population of less than 700,000. Although the land area is only slightly smaller than Tunisia [Note 1], both the output and the port location are very average. Only a few livable cities such as Tripoli and Zawiya, as well as the port of Tripoli, are of slight value.

However, Joseph knew very well that Tripoli would be an important passage to Egypt. Without Tripoli, it would be an unrealistic fantasy to want to dig the Suez Canal in Egypt. After the Suez Canal is opened, the sea trade route between the Far East and Europe can be shortened by half. It can be said that whoever gets the Suez Canal can control the economic lifeline of Europe.

In this case, the British will definitely risk their lives to prevent France from getting the canal. Before the British maritime hegemony can be shaken, it is only possible to gain a foothold in Egypt through land supplies in Tripoli.

Joseph must take advantage of the good international situation created at the moment and take actual control of Tripoli as soon as possible. When other countries react and want to intervene, it will be too late.

Berthier looked at the crown prince in surprise, and it took a long time before he said:

"Your Highness, a large number of our troops are tied up in the Southern Netherlands and Silesia. If we rashly attack Tripoli, what if the Ottomans react violently."

In any case, Tripoli is still a province of the Ottoman Empire in name, and his worries are not unreasonable.

Joseph said calmly: "Selim III focuses his main energy on promoting domestic reforms and will not waste his strength for the distant Tripoli. As long as the Ottomans send a large number of local troops, the Russians will immediately take advantage of the situation and swallow up all their territories along the Black Sea coast.

"And even if the Ottomans really want to fight, we have sufficient troops."

Berthier was stunned and hesitated: "Your Highness, forgive me for being blunt, our troops may..."

Joseph smiled: "If I'm not mistaken, the war in the Southern Netherlands and Algiers will end by the end of the year, and we can withdraw more than 60,000 troops to Tripoli. ”

…

October 25, 1789.

Paris.

It was raining heavily, with a few quick flashes of lightning from time to time, making the whole sky look gloomy.

Several inconspicuous black carriages stopped on the Versailles Square. The door of the front carriage was pushed open, and a butler got out of the car with his neck shrunk, put the steps in front of the door, and then hurriedly held up an umbrella.

The British Foreign Secretary, the Marquis of Wellesley, bent down and got out of the car, looking towards the gate of the Versailles Palace. He didn't see anyone coming to greet him, only a few guards staring at this side coldly at the door.

Wellesley's face was darker than the dark clouds in the sky. Just this morning, he received a secret letter from Cornwallis, the Governor-General of India.

The letter said that the Maratha League asked Britain to provide 250,000 pounds. Military expenses, as well as 20 cannons and 15,000 flintlocks, can continue to send troops to reinforce Carnatic.

And Hyderabad is asking for a sky-high price, asking Britain to return the Condavidu area and get the Carnatic's Nelu House after repelling Mysore.

Cornwallis has agreed to the Maratha's request on behalf of the East India Company. As for Hyderabad, he can only say that he will wait for the board of directors to make a decision to delay time as much as possible.

Wellesley took a deep breath of cold air. He didn't understand. Hyderabad had allied with Mysore decades ago, so it was understandable that it suddenly hindered it. But the Maratha had long since surrendered to Britain, so why would it suddenly make things difficult?

How could he know that Salah, the French consul in Mysore, had secretly contacted the Maratha a few months ago.

Salah remembered that the Crown Prince had said that Indians would feel that they had suffered a loss if they did not gain an advantage. So he and the Mysore representative Shah made promises to the Marathas, even saying that they would give North Kannada to the Marathas and provide 200,000 pounds of benefits in exchange for their support for Mysore.

The Marathas turned around and used this as a price standard to put forward conditions to the British.

As for Hyderabad, it raised the price to the British by 30% on the basis of the benefits given by Salah.

Wellesley knew that the East India Company could only agree to their request - without the assistance of the Indian princely states, the British army would be exhausted sooner or later if they traveled thousands of miles to fight Mysore.

He gritted his teeth, stepped on the puddles on the ground, and led several diplomatic officials to the gate of the Palace of Versailles.

I don't know if it was because the rain was too heavy or the servant didn't hold the umbrella properly, but when Wellesley finally saw Talleyrand's angry face, half of his clothes were soaked by the rain, and water was dripping from his cuffs, making him look extremely embarrassed.

[Note 1] At the end of the 18th century, Tripoli was still populated only in the narrow coastal strip, and the inland part to the south was almost uninhabited. In addition, Benghazi and the areas further east are not currently part of Tripoli. So it is far less than Libya in the 21st century.