Chapter 273: Gazing Toward New Zealand
Joseph appeared somewhat regretful:
"If those tens of thousands of Guards had been used to build roads, the ‘King’s Highway’ between Tunis and El Aouina might have been completed by now."
Currently, various regions of Tunis were imitating France by constructing “King’s Highways,” “local roads,” and “secondary roads.” However, they couldn’t match France’s luxury. The so-called King’s Highway here was merely about ten meters wide.
"The Guards?" Joseph looked at Joey, almost forgetting about them.
"Yes, Your Highness. Although many of the Guards fled to Anatolia during the great uprising, more than 30,000 remained in Tunis. They’ve all been confined to Djerba Island."
Djerba Island, located off the eastern coast of Tunis, had harsh natural conditions. Without supplies from mainland Tunis, the island couldn’t sustain 30,000 people.
Joey continued, "These men are not like the prisoners captured in Algiers. They’re familiar with Tunis and even have some connections. If we have them build roads, many would escape quickly."
Hearing this, Joseph narrowed his eyes. This many people were an enormous asset in this era.
Don’t misunderstand—he had no intention of selling the Tunisian Guards as slaves. Such a despicable trade was beneath him.
Where should these tens of thousands of people be put to use?
Joseph thought for a moment and said to Joey, "Leaving them to die on the island would be inhumane. We must find them a way out."
"What do you mean, Your Highness?"
"There’s an undeveloped golden island in the Pacific—New Zealand. We could send the Tunisian Guards there to work and live."
Joey hesitated, recalling something:
"Your Highness, I remember that the British have laid colonial claims to that area..."
Joseph smiled:
"They discovered it only a few years ago and haven’t done any actual colonization. Currently, New Zealand is still dominated by the native Maori people."
In fact, the Dutch were the first to discover New Zealand. The name “Zeeland” referred to a city in the Netherlands. When British explorers reached the island, they found it desolate and its natives fiercely hostile. It wasn’t until 1837 that Britain even considered colonizing New Zealand.
Joseph intended to act swiftly. After all, New Zealand was a vital source of wool. Its favorable natural conditions allowed sheep to graze freely on the grasslands, requiring only annual wool collection, with minimal need for shepherds. Before Australia rose as a competitor, New Zealand would be the world’s largest wool producer!
France’s textile industry lagged behind Britain’s due to two significant shortcomings: a lack of vast colonial markets and a scarcity of wool production centers.
Britain was Europe’s largest wool producer, and if France hoped to compete with Britain in industrial development, it couldn’t afford to neglect the textile industry. That’s where New Zealand’s value came in.
In this era, Europeans were reluctant to settle in the distant Pacific. Even in the 19th century, when Britain colonized New Zealand, only around 2,000 people went there. Yet Joseph had over 30,000 men at his disposal!
Though many were old, weak, or sick, at least half could actively contribute to production. With just a few thousand French supervisors, a colonial foundation in New Zealand could be rapidly established.
Of course, the key to successfully taking New Zealand lay in dealings with the native Maori people. Joseph, equipped with lessons from Britain’s colonial history in New Zealand, felt confident in his strategy.
As merely a local official in Tunis, Joey had no understanding of the Crown Prince’s Pacific strategies. He simply followed instructions:
"Your Highness, I’ll arrange for food supplies to be sent to Djerba Island and organize a headcount. Once the navy’s transport ships arrive, we can load them up and set sail."
"Thank you for your efforts," Joseph replied. "However, it won’t be the navy transporting them—it’ll be the Gemini Trading Company."
Initially, Joseph had wanted to partner with the Dutch to form a joint East India Company and assign New Zealand’s development to that venture.
However, the Dutch, still wary of Britain after their defeat in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, hesitated to collaborate with France. Thus, the task fell to the Gemini Trading Company.
After incorporating the Tunisian navy’s ships, the Gemini Trading Company’s transport capacity had greatly expanded. Currently, it managed over 70% of Russo-French trade, as well as commerce involving Nauru, the Caribbean, and the United States, making it a sizable enterprise.
Reflecting on this, Joseph couldn’t help but admire the Russians. Unlike the Dutch, the Russians were straightforward in their dealings. When they considered you a friend, they genuinely supported you. Alexei had secured nearly all possible trade concessions for the Gemini Trading Company, significantly boosting Russo-French trade volumes.
That said, even among close allies, clear accounting was necessary. While the Gemini Trading Company would handle New Zealand’s trade and transportation, only French personnel could set foot on the island.
...
At the evening banquet, the main dish was Joseph’s favorite: tagine. However, as he had arrived in a rush without the palace chefs, the flavor wasn’t as exquisite as that in Versailles. The meal did include local specialties like roasted camel meat, nut-stuffed sausages with yogurt, and... a dish resembling fried moth larvae.
Joseph naturally ignored the last dish, enjoying his meal heartily before returning to the conference hall.
It was only then that Consul Joan finally brought up an important matter prepared for discussion before Joseph’s visit.
"Your Highness, regarding the rumors, they began circulating about a month ago," Joan reported. "In addition to word-of-mouth in the streets, there’s also a pamphlet spreading the same ideas."
He gestured to an assistant, who presented the pamphlet to Joseph with both hands:
"The core claim is that most Tunisians originate from Egypt and are followers of the Prophet, while the Berbers have always lived in the desert and have no ties to Rome. It also fabricates numerous stories of European, particularly French, persecution of Tunisians, encouraging them to kill or expel us from North Africa."
"Oh?" Joseph looked at the pamphlet with surprise. These rumors were clearly aimed at disrupting French governance in Tunis, falling under the category of cognitive warfare. Whoever devised this plan in the 18th century was undoubtedly a political genius!
Still, even the greatest mind of this era couldn’t rival someone who had lived through 21st-century cognitive warfare.