Chapter 1015: The Fulcrum
Half a month later, Muhammad Ali’s motley crew of bandits had already crossed the Balkan Mountains in southern Serbia and appeared in the city of Craiova, in southwestern Wallachia.
The city held fewer than five hundred defenders, who stood no chance of stopping him. Upon entering the city, Muhammad Ali immediately ordered a systematic plundering. However, he restricted the looting to the local Romanians—specifically those of the Catholic faith—while strictly forbidding his men from harassing the Phanariot nobility.
The political landscape of Wallachia was complex. The Phanariots were of Greek descent, having been dispatched by the Ottoman Sultan some seventy or eighty years earlier to govern the region. They spoke Greek, practiced Eastern Orthodoxy, and maintained a complete monopoly over the Wallachian bureaucracy.
The more numerous Romanian population had long harbored resentment toward these Phanariots. Their own native aristocracy was known as the Boyars.
Since Austria had taken control of Wallachia, a portion of the Boyars had converted to Catholicism, effectively becoming proxies for Austrian interests.
Currently, the Phanariots were barely clinging to power through political inertia, while the Catholic Romanians were steadily encroaching upon their influence.
Meanwhile, the Orthodox Romanians were being exploited by both sides. They frequently rose in rebellion, only to be suppressed by the combined efforts of the other two factions.
Two days later, Muhammad Ali continued his northward march, burdened with a staggering amount of gold and silver treasures. He pointedly left twenty percent of the spoils with the Phanariot nobles, calling them the faithful servants of the Sultan.
As news spread, Phanariot nobles in the towns along his route opened their gates to welcome the Aga’s army. Over a thousand of them even joined Muhammad Ali’s ranks, bringing their own weapons in hopes of securing a share of the loot.
Bucharest only had about four thousand defenders in total, making it impossible to send more. However, in the minds of the Austrians, three thousand men were more than enough to handle twenty thousand Albanian tribal levies. Archduke Charles had just defeated a hundred and ten thousand Ottoman troops, and their confidence was at an absolute peak.
Muhammad Ali, however, had no intention of facing the Austrian army in a head-on confrontation. Instead, he split his forces—which had grown to nearly thirty thousand—into three groups. He dispatched them across Wallachia with a single objective: the relentless plundering of Romanians.
Driven by the massive profits of theft, the enthusiasm of both the Albanians and the Phanariots within the three legions was terrifying. They advanced nearly twenty kilometers a day, and seven or eight towns fell in rapid succession.
Furthermore, his numbers continued to swell. It wasn't just the Phanariots; even Greek-speaking Romanians began joining the ranks to plunder other towns. During the period of Phanariot rule, Greek had been the official language, and many Romanians had learned it.
At this point, Muhammad Ali had effectively lost direct command over these splintered groups, but he didn't care. He took thirteen thousand of his strongest soldiers and his eight cannons and quietly withdrew toward Craiova.
The Austrian forces from Bucharest soon split into two columns as well, heading toward Locric and Severin to suppress the unrest.
Upon receiving word of their movement, Muhammad Ali immediately bypassed them by moving along the southern bank of the Danube, launching a sudden strike against the now-defenseless Bucharest.
In this manner, using nothing more than twenty thousand Albanian tribal soldiers, he managed to upend the entire situation in Wallachia.
...
London.
10 Downing Street.
William Pitt Junior was discussing potential issues for an upcoming parliamentary speech with Lord Grenville when the Foreign Secretary, Fox, knocked and entered.
Fox glanced at Pitt and bowed slightly to Grenville. "I hope I am not interrupting, Prime Minister."
"It’s quite all right; we were just finishing. What is the matter?"
"I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news. Which would you like first?"
"The bad news," Grenville replied. "That will give me more time to consider a response."
"The French have refused to sign the armistice agreement." The Foreign Secretary threw up his hands. "Now we have to figure out what excuse to use to lift the naval blockade."
According to their previous plan, the British and French were to conduct a dignified peace negotiation. Britain would propose a few minor conditions—such as France cracking down on smugglers in the port of Ostend—and then Britain would naturally withdraw the fleet blockading the French coast.
However, the French negotiators had refused without a moment's hesitation. They demanded that Britain lift the blockade unconditionally and immediately, stating that France would not agree to any terms in return.
Indeed, Joseph was in no hurry to end the war with Britain.
In a state of war, it was true that French merchant ships found it difficult to enter the Atlantic, but British trade in Italy was equally paralyzed. Even British cargo ships traveling via the Rhine were frequently stopped and inspected by the garrison of the Cologne fortress, with their release often depending entirely on the political standing of the buyer.
Grenville sighed. "We shall state that at the request of the numerous nations engaged in maritime trade with France, our country has decided to cease the blockade."
"Understood, Prime Minister."
"And the good news?"
Fox placed a document before him. "Prince Heinrich wants us to provide an aid package of seven hundred thousand pounds to deal with the Austrian forces in Silesia."
Grenville frowned. "You call that good news?"
"It indicates that Prussia’s dependence on us is deepening," Fox muttered. "I simply didn't want to say, 'Oh, I have two pieces of bad news.'"
Grenville shook his head. "We are currently implementing many reform measures that require significant funding. I believe we should tighten our belts right now; there is no need to intervene in the Silesian situation."
William Pitt Junior spoke up cautiously. "A Prussia that loses Silesia will no longer be capable of serving as our fulcrum on the European continent."
"Seven hundred thousand pounds? Good God..." Grenville lamented.
Pitt thought for a moment and suggested, "As far as I know, the Prussians intend to expand their sugar beet cultivation area by three to five times next year. This money could be used as a pre-payment to secure their sugar production."
"Since they are in desperate need of military funds, we can use this opportunity to drive the price very low."
"Once we have this stock of low-priced sugar, we will have the power to manipulate sugar prices at the Paris Futures Exchange. If we can drive the price down by thirty percent—no, even twenty percent—we can significantly reduce our fiscal pressure."
Indeed, if the British government held a large quantity of physical sugar, they could use white-glove front companies to constantly dump low-priced contracts on the Paris Futures Exchange, dragging the market price down.
Currently, to stabilize domestic sugar prices, the British government had to provide over 2.6 million pounds in sugar subsidies annually. Between these two maneuvers, it was an absolute certainty they would come out ahead.
Grenville’s brow finally smoothed over slightly. "In that case, let this sum be deducted from next year’s sugar subsidies."
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