Chapter 426: The Great Development of Tunisia
Just as Camelia was overwhelmed with nervousness, Perna, who had been secretly peeking from the end of the corridor, saw the beautiful girl — a sight that made even her own heart stir — run out of the Crown Prince's chambers and return to her own room. Only after waiting for a good long while did Perna finally let out a deep sigh of relief.
She wasn't sure why she felt compelled to act this way. All she knew was that ever since the girl named Camelia appeared, an inexplicable sense of crisis had welled up inside her.
Especially since, as his private doctor, she hadn't ridden in the same carriage as the Crown Prince for a long time – His Royal Highness often worked in the carriage, and Mr. Eman said it would disturb him – yet throughout their journey from Vienna, Camelia had been in the Prince's carriage the entire time.
Perna turned and pressed her back against the wall, silently shaking her head. 'No, I shouldn't be having any other thoughts.' But the next moment, the Crown Prince's handsome face filled her mind.
'Perhaps I should be braver, otherwise His Royal Highness will be...'
She seemed startled by her own thought, suddenly giving a jolt and hastily fleeing back to her room, all the while muttering to herself, 'God, please guide me!'
From the next day onwards, Joseph unexpectedly found that Dr. Perna seemed to be constantly finding excuses to linger around him.
After he coughed a few times on one occasion, she even insisted on staying in his carriage to confirm whether his pneumonia had recurred.
The carriage grew a bit crowded. Eventually, Eman reluctantly disembarked and rode his horse beside the Crown Prince's carriage.
In this strange atmosphere, Perna was so mortified she felt she could have dug a hole to Versailles with her toes, yet she gritted her teeth and remained seated, occasionally stealing glances at the Crown Prince's captivating presence as he diligently handled state affairs.
And so, escorted by the two girls, Joseph finally arrived in Paris after a bumpy journey, without any "incidents."
Perna never truly "braved" herself. And Camelia still hadn't found the "knack."
Joseph, on the other hand, was well taken care of, and full of vigor as he brought Camelia to the Petit Trianon to check in with his mother.
Queen Mary held young Miss Delvaux, her tears flowing like a stream, and then announced her intention to make Camelia her third lady-in-waiting.
However, the Countess of Debeninac immediately and cautiously reminded her that, given Miss Delvaux's background, she was not suitable to be a lady-in-waiting to Her Majesty the Queen.
Ultimately, Queen Mary had to abide by court rules, making Camelia her personal maid instead, which allowed her to keep the girl by her side.
Joseph emerged from his mother's residence and arrived at the entrance of his own chambers, where he saw Brienne waiting.
The latter greeted him from a distance, bowing and saying, "Your Royal Highness, congratulations on the series of important diplomatic achievements you secured in Vienna. Our alliance with Austria has deepened even further."
"It is all by the grace of God," Joseph said, fluently making the sign of the cross, then motioned for the Chief Minister to enter the room. "Do you have something urgent? Oh, please, sit down."
Brienne nodded briskly. "Yes, Your Royal Highness. It concerns Tunisia. Your previously formulated 'Tunisian Trade and Construction Plan' has begun implementation, but we've encountered some trouble due to the actions of certain tribes."
Joseph frowned slightly upon hearing this. After Moreau and Ney held Tamra, General Schérer's legion completely drove the Moroccan army back into Algiers, significantly improving Tunisia's security environment.
Subsequently, under government promotion, France embarked on a second wave of grand development for Tunisia, with tens of thousands of commercial and agricultural immigrants pouring into the region, showing signs of an economic boom.
Joseph had prepared in advance, enacting decrees that abolished local tariffs and road tolls between different regions of Tunisia, lowered commercial taxes, and initiated infrastructure projects such as widening roads and laying wooden tracks.
Within Tunisia's political landscape, tribal forces dominated the villages and towns. There had been an issue of tribes refusing to pay taxes before, which Joseph resolved with the "Versailles Palace" model. And now, another problem had cropped up?
He looked at Brienne and said, "Please provide the details."
"Yes, Your Royal Highness," Brienne nodded. "The main problem is that large tribes prevent certain foreign goods from entering villages and towns.
"At the same time, almost all tribes continue to charge exorbitant 'security fees' on roads under their control.
"Furthermore, they often extort merchants and the farmers who come to cultivate the land."
He wore a pained expression. "As you know, Tunisia has insufficient troops, only able to garrison near large cities. We are utterly powerless to govern these more distant tribes. Even if we send troops to intimidate them, they will outwardly comply with the decrees, but immediately revert to their old ways once the troops leave."
Joseph's expression also grew solemn.
Not to mention 18th-century North Africa, even in the 21st century, many governments struggle to effectively manage local forces.
Especially tribal entities, bound by kinship, making it even harder for external forces to intervene.
As for taxation, something that had existed since Phoenician times, the Tunisian tribes were more or less acceptable. But now, when asked not to levy arbitrary fees or to allow free circulation of goods, they began to resist.
Joseph had initially intended to use Tunisia as a pilot to test local tax reforms, which he could then promote in France. He hadn't expected to encounter such great resistance.
Brienne cautiously suggested, "Your Royal Highness, perhaps we should first implement the decrees in the larger cities, and then expand their scope once the Tunisians have grown accustomed to them."
Joseph immediately shook his head. He was waiting for Tunisian dividends to feed back into the French treasury; if they proceeded so slowly, it might not be fully implemented even in ten or eight years.
Moreover, this would make the Tunisian tribes realize the government had no leverage over them, and any new decrees in the future would still encounter various obstacles.
He fell into deep thought. Fundamentally speaking, the reason local forces defied government management lay in transportation and communication.
Poor roads and too little contact with the outside world would inevitably lead to the formation of independent "small worlds." Only through increased interaction with the outside world, forming common interests, could they integrate into the entire nation.
This would require building roads quickly, but implementing infrastructure projects across all of Tunisia was not something that could be achieved overnight.
Another option was to significantly increase the number of troops or police, using the machinery of state power to constantly supervise and deter tribes, so they wouldn't dare defy decrees.
However, this would consume enormous funds. Maintaining over a hundred thousand troops throughout Tunisia might solve the problem, but most of the tax revenue would be eaten up by military expenses.
As Joseph considered this, he suddenly paused. 'Wait, to deter tribes with military force, it's not necessarily about stationing troops near the tribes...'
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