Chapter 1048: The Louisiana Strategy
The southern suburbs of Paris.
At the Ministry of Agriculture's breeding base.
Joseph gazed out at the endless expanse of green before him, feeling a surge of vitality within himself.
The fields were planted with the latest variety of triploid sugar beets. Once they were harvested this year, their seeds would be supplied to the entirety of Europe.
Of course, the plot here in Paris was only a small portion; Champagne and the northern provinces were the primary production areas for sugar beets.
Just last week, the Ministry of Agriculture had reported to him that as soon as Prussia learned France was willing to sell sugar beet seeds with high sugar content, they had immediately ordered enough to cover nearly 27,000 hectares.
Moreover, as if fearing that France might go back on its word, they had paid the full amount immediately after signing the contract.
It was no wonder the Prussians were so eager. The small amount of sugar beets they had grown clandestinely last year had yielded a profit of over 600,000 Thalers, or roughly 2 million Francs.
This was more than double the profit earned from growing wheat.
Consequently, the Prussian government had formulated a plan to quintuple the sugar beet planting area again this year, only to find they lacked sufficient seeds.
It was at this moment that the French Agricultural Services Consulting Company unexpectedly approached them, expressing a willingness to provide an unlimited supply of sugar beet seeds with a sugar content as high as 12 percent.
Naturally, the French had a condition: all sugar beets produced by Prussia, once processed into sugar, had to be sold through the Paris Agricultural Products Futures Exchange.
The Prussians signed the procurement agreement almost without hesitation.
In truth, when they had obtained a loan of 700,000 pounds sterling from Britain earlier, they had already pre-sold next year's sugar to the British.
The price was somewhat lower than the market rate, but at the time, they had no choice if they wanted to save the government's finances.
As for the agreement with the French, no one really cared.
Once the sugar beet harvest came in next year, Prussia would become the second-largest sugar exporter in Continental Europe, and they would never lack seeds again.
They figured they could just set aside ten or twenty percent of their output to appease the French, claiming that management during the tax collection phase was lax, and then make up for the shortfall after the following year's harvest.
After Achard introduced the breeding plan for sugar beets with even higher sugar content, Vergniaud, the Minister of Agriculture, spoke to Joseph with some concern. "Your Highness, according to news from the Far East, the sugarcane crops in Bengal and several states in northern India are expected to have a bumper harvest this year."
"While the planting area there is not yet very large, it is likely to have an impact on sugar prices."
Joseph nodded slightly.
It wasn't just the Indian region; Britain was also encouraging Portugal to plant sugarcane in Brazil.
Furthermore, the Bahamas in the Caribbean had been heavily infiltrated by the United States in recent years, with over eighty percent of the sugarcane plantations controlled by Americans. The Bahamas had originally been a British colony with some British influence remaining, and its proximity to the United States made it very easy to infiltrate.
At the same time, the original white population there consisted of British subjects who had all fled the island after the outbreak of the independence movement. Following their departure, the government was run by Black leaders, whose previous political experience was largely limited to being tribal chiefs.
This led to the collapse of the Bahamian treasury in the second year after independence. The elected president, Corey Aaron, gathered a group of cronies, dissolved the assembly, and declared the abolition of the republic, crowning himself king.
Meanwhile, the Vice Speaker and several assembly members organized a resistance army, engaging in a bloody civil war against the Royalists.
Saint-Domingue was managing reasonably well under Brissot's leadership, but due to the British blockade, its economic situation was dire, leaving it completely unable to assist the Bahamas.
Ultimately, with American support, Aaron defeated the assembly and subsequently sold a large number of "ownerless" sugarcane plantations to the Americans at low prices.
At that time, France was facing a British naval blockade and knew very little about the situation there, let alone being able to intervene.
In short, with the supply of sugar from these regions secured, the British sugar shortage would gradually ease.
Joseph wasn't particularly worried about falling sugar prices. The current high prices were destined not to last forever, and France's cost for producing beet sugar had already been driven down significantly. They could fully withstand prices dropping to the levels seen before the Caribbean independence movements.
However, the status of the "Sugar Franc" could not be allowed to waver because of this.
Joseph pondered his counter-strategies as he left the breeding base with a frown.
Just as he returned to the Palace of Versailles, he saw the Director of the Security Bureau hurrying toward him.
"Your Highness, you've returned," Lavalette said, performing a quick bow. "News has just arrived from North America. The United States is gathering militia from Memphis, Choctaw, and other areas. It is estimated they will launch another attack on New Orleans as early as the beginning of next year."
"Additionally, nearly 2,000 militia are moving from South Carolina and Georgia toward Alabama. They appear to be preparing to attack the Creek tribes."
Joseph wasn't surprised. The United States was entering a period of accelerated development and was bound to seek expansion.
The Westward Expansion was their national policy, so the occupation of Louisiana, which blocked their path to the west, was only a matter of time.
He asked for more detailed information about the situation in North America before turning to Eman. "Have Count Segur notify Madrid. I will be going to see His Majesty Carlos IV soon."
Since the Americans had already lit the fire, he could begin moving forward with the Louisiana Strategy.
Two days later, Joseph's carriage train left the Palace of Versailles, heading toward the Pyrenees Mountains.
On the evening he arrived in Soria, Spain, the local head of the Security Bureau, Major Vernier, rushed to the estate where he was staying.
"I apologize for disturbing you at this hour, Your Royal Highness," Vernier said as he handed Joseph a document that had just arrived via the Chappe signal tower. "But the Director insisted this must be delivered to you immediately."
Joseph took the report and opened it. "What happened?"
"It seems a rebellion has broken out in Medjana," Vernier explained. "Two months ago, the Kabyle tribes announced they would stop paying taxes to the Algiers Council. Citing the 'Analysis of Tunisian Origins,' they now claim to be 'Roman descendants.'"
"Kuloğlu immediately led his army north to launch a suppression campaign against Medjana."
"Roman descendants?" Joseph looked at the report in surprise.
Medjana was a province in the far northeastern part of Algiers, adjacent to Annaba on the westernmost side of Tunisia. The area was under the autonomous management of the Berber Kabyle tribes. They maintained a high degree of independence but were required to pay regular taxes to the Algiers Council.
Kuloğlu was the current Dey of Algiers, elected a year and a half ago. He was a hardliner from the Janissary ranks who had begun expanding the military as soon as he took office, and had recently started invading the M'zab tribes to the south of Algiers.
The Kabyle tribes had long shown a tendency to break away from Algiers.
Two months ago, the Malik of the Kabyle, Bouzid Mukrari, took advantage of the Algiers army's engagement with the M'zab to formally launch the rebellion.
"Malik" was the Berber term for a tribal leader.
As it turned out, the M'zab tribes only managed to hold out for less than two months before being defeated and annexed by the Algiers army.
Comments