Chapter 639 The world's first steam-powered battleship

Chapter 640 The world’s first steam-powered battleship

It is now the end of March. Judging from the situation in the Caribbean, at least this year's sugar cane planting is definitely gone.

Joseph couldn't help but think of the report on sugar beet cultivation submitted by the Minister of Agriculture a few days ago.

Agricultural Consulting Services has signed a contracting agreement with the church. Much of the church land was converted to sugar beets. Currently, France has sown 37,000 hectares of sugar beets, and nearly 10,000 hectares are being cleared of previously sown grains. Sugar beets can be planted in a month at most.

France has the most suitable climate and soil for growing sugar beets in the world, so the sowing period is very wide, and even sowing in early May can ensure a bumper harvest.

This year, the sugar cane harvest in the Caribbean will inevitably be severely short-lived. By then, the entire Europe may have to rely on French sugar beets to obtain sugar. As for whether a pound of sugar sells for 3 francs or 5 francs, it really all depends on your mood.

Joseph then thought about the future political landscape of the Caribbean.

Judging from the current situation, it is inevitable that the major islands will achieve independence. In fact, because the Caribbean is far away from the European continent and difficult to control, even if we don't promote it in advance, there will be an independence boom there in a decade or so.

Then France might as well follow the trend and be the first to recognize the independent status of Caribbean countries and gain political benefits from it as much as possible.

In fact, if done properly, many colonies will still be under the control of their former sovereign state to a large extent hundreds of years after independence.

As for the specific means, such as controlling the economic lifeline, supporting the rulers, and winning over the aristocracy, there should not be too many lessons that future generations can copy.

If you want to make it simpler, you can also adopt the "Korean Procuratorate Model" [Note 1], which not only provides stable control, but also avoids arousing opposition from the local people.

In addition, it was to cultivate anti-British and anti-American sentiment in the Caribbean from the beginning. Especially the latter can make Caribbean countries an important force in containing the United States in the future.

Joseph suddenly remembered Brigadier General Wayne's poisonous plan of "killing two birds with one stone."

The world in the 18th century still followed the law of the jungle, so this kind of thing was actually very common and would be quickly forgotten without making any waves.

But if someone spreads the word and constantly reminds people to remember their hatred, the result will be different.

That is what later generations often call "rhythm".

Let the reporter write a long press release about this matter, and let the Caribbean countries know the inside story of Booker's black rebel army being deceived and massacred by the Americans. Millions of black people there must feel the same way and are incompatible with the United States.

Of course, we must try to downplay the shameless behavior of the Indians inside, so as not to cause the blacks and Indians to fight first.

The morning after Joseph arrived in Brittany, Fouche followed closely and handed him the report Brissot had just returned from Saint-Domingue.

The news was still a month and a half ago.

Joseph rubbed his forehead. In this era without telegraphs, communication efficiency was appallingly low.

However, when he saw the content of the report, he almost couldn't help laughing: "The British asked us for help?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Fouche nodded. "Brand's army continues to suffer losses. Currently, there are only more than 2,600 soldiers left, which is barely enough to cope with the riots in Barbados." At the same time, intelligence sent back from London showed that, The British are organizing a second expeditionary force with more than 5,000 troops, but it will take more than a month to set off.

"Before that happens, Brand needs our troops to stabilize the situation in the Bahamas."

At the end of Joseph's report, he saw Brissot rejecting the British request on the pretext that "the black riot situation in Saint-Domingue has worsened."

He thought for a moment, shook his head and said, "We should agree to General Brand."

Fouche: "?"

He knew that the abolitionist movement in the Caribbean was started by his own family. Could it be that he wanted to fight against himself?

Seeing his surprise, Joseph smiled and said: "First of all, you can help, but you must be paid. Previously, the sponsorship given by the Duke of Leeds was almost exhausted, which just allowed Brand to supplement some military expenses for the rebel army."

Well, the main fund for the vigorous abolitionist movement in the Caribbean was the 250,000 pounds that Auger obtained from the Duke of Leeds. The French government only provided less than 500,000 francs.

Fouche hesitated and said: "Your Highness, what then? The Bahamas is the territory of the British. If we really want to send troops there, I'm afraid we won't be able to fool them by just showing off like we did in Saint-Domingue."

Joseph shook the tea cup in his hand: "Then let's have a fight in the Bahamas. If there happens to be a loss in Saint-Domingue at this time, all countries will definitely blame Britain, and then we will do this again..."

Half an hour later, Fouche left with the crown prince's instructions, and Joseph took a car to Brest Bay in high spirits.

There were hundreds of soldiers in ceremonial uniforms lined up neatly on the pier. When Joseph got off the car, they raised their guns at the same time, and then military music blared all around.

The Marquis of Castelli, Minister of the Navy, came up with a group of officers and directors of the shipyard. After some routine salutes and greetings, Castelli couldn't wait to point to the sea in the distance, unable to conceal his excitement. Said: "Your Highness, everything is ready and can start at any time."

Joseph looked in the direction he pointed and saw four warships anchored there. Among them, the ship with a large number of colorful flags on the cables and a faint black smoke floating above it is the world's first steam-powered warship - the Mediterranean Light.

This new type of warship, which carries all the hopes of the Navy, was completed in less than half a year due to the desperate work of the Brest Shipyard.

The crowd surrounded Joseph and walked towards the frigate "Brown Quartz" moored at the dock. This maiden voyage ceremony will be demonstrated far away on the sea, so you need to take a boat to watch it.

Murdoch followed the Crown Prince and introduced like he was taking credit: "Your Highness, the current mean failure interval of the LJ52A steam engine has exceeded 30 hours, which can fully meet the combat needs. Mr. Trevithick has made great achievements in this improvement process. played a huge role.”

Upon hearing this, Trevithick hurriedly bowed and said, "It is a great honor for me to leave my mark on this great machine."

Joseph noticed that an A was added to the model number of the high-pressure steam engine, indicating that a very major change had been made. Previously, Sandel said it would take a year to complete reliability improvements, but with the joint efforts of these three geniuses in the steam engine industry, it took only half a year.

Of course, the Poles also contributed to this.

Dozens of high-pressure steam engines were installed in the Tarnovsk Mountain Silver Mine to pump water, which operated almost day and night, thus providing a large amount of actual usage data and allowing Murdoch to significantly increase their improvement speed.

[Note 1]: The Korean Procuratorate is an independent inspection agency in South Korea. It basically has no superior department. From the president to actors, they can investigate whoever they want. Can direct the police to investigate cases and have extremely high authority (such as checking private phone calls, deciding which evidence to use in the trial and which not to use). At the same time, the personnel appointments of the South Korean Procuratorate are basically controlled by the United States and are an important tool for the United States to influence South Korean politics.