Chapter 583 Caribbean Strategy (asking for double monthly tickets)
The group of people walked along the edge of the sugar beet experimental field, and Joseph continued:
"Then, before October next year, we can ensure that we can prepare for the refinery Does the sugar factory provide enough sugar beets?"
Archad knew the plan of the French sugar industry and immediately nodded confidently:
"Yes, your highness is already here. Learn the planting technology from me. As long as there are enough farmers to plant it, the monthly output of 5,000 tons of sugar is just the minimum."
Joseph nodded slightly when he heard this.
In this case, your own sugar production strategy can be implemented.
This time we must hit the British until the pain reaches their bones!
He then visited the experimental field of hybridization of wheat and corn, and then returned to the Palace of Versailles.
He is planning to leave for Brittany tomorrow to push the steam engine onto the ship. He may have to stay there for a while, so he has to have dinner with his parents today to save his mother from nagging him again.
It just so happens that Talleyrand is also here, so I can explain to him the arrangements in the Caribbean.
An hour later, the Foreign Minister had appeared in the Crown Prince's drawing room.
He came on his own initiative.
Talleyrand hurriedly saluted, took out a report and said:
"Your Highness, I am going to the Tuileries Palace to find you.
"This It was an urgent report sent by the Marquis Vidal de La Valletri of Saint-Domingue a month and a half ago. Booker rioters were killing plantation owners in the northern part of the island, and the scale had reached thousands.
"Vincent Auger called on people who sympathized with black slaves in Port-au-Prince to put pressure on Parliament to hinder the suppression of the rioters..."
Joseph took the report , and listened to Talleyrand's detailed description, and finally understood the situation on Saint-Domingue Island.
Right now, the biggest trouble is a black slave rebel army called the "Booker Movement".
These black slaves believed in voodoo and were extremely hostile to white people. Even their flag depicts the corpse of a white baby.
The Booker Movement would kill all white people wherever they went, often brutally, even white people who supported abolition were not spared.
Of course, there is a reason for their hatred - they tortured white people in the same way that plantation owners tortured black slaves.
At the same time, although Vincent Oge, who led the abolition movement on the island, opposed the Booker movement, which did not even let him go, he was very sympathetic to the blacks in the rebel army, so he often used himself political influence to help them.
This resulted in the Governor of Santo Domingo conducting numerous campaigns against the Booker movement, but always failed.
The scale of this black slave riot is now larger than ever before - hundreds of planters and their families have been killed in the north of the island, causing great panic.
Talleyrand looked anxious and said:
"Your Highness, regarding the current situation in Saint-Domingue, I suggest that an expeditionary force be sent immediately to quell the chaos!"
Also No wonder he is so anxious. Saint-Domingue is really too important to France.
This small island was acquired by France in exchange for millions of square kilometers of land in Canada. The annual trade income is as high as 40 million francs, and it also supports the supply of sugar for the entire France and parts of Germany. If the riots on the island are not quelled as soon as possible, France will not only lose tens of millions in revenue, but will also have to hold its nose and eat the British high-priced sugar - by then the British will definitely dare to sell sugar for 10 francs per pound. !
Joseph shook his head slightly.
He roughly remembered that this riot should be the trigger of the event known as the "Haitian Revolution" in history.
Just a few months later, Augé would personally lead the riot, eventually leading to the true "monster" Toussaint Louverture.
Louverture was born as a black slave, but he was very good at fighting. After the riots in Saint-Domingue, he led a rebel army composed mainly of black slaves and some mixed-race people, and defeated the French army on the island.
Subsequently, he defeated the Spanish army who tried to take advantage of the chaos to invade Santo Domingo, and the British army with the same purpose.
In the end, Napoleon sent Charles Leclerc to lead 30,000 French troops to land in Saint-Domingue to quell the rebellion.
After a series of hard battles where it was still difficult to win, Leclerc could only lure Louverture into a false peace negotiation before capturing him.
However, Louverture's successor quickly defeated Leclerc's troops, and as many as 30,000 French troops were killed or wounded in the end.
So, to deal with the uprising on the island, military suppression is definitely the worst option. Because the distance is too long, the cost of military delivery is extremely high. Even if it can win, the cost of the war will be a disaster for France's finances.
If it were in the past, Joseph might have adopted a strategy of dividing blacks and mixed-race people. At the same time, freedom was given to black slaves and the black people were divided. and getting the Catholic Church to invest in a “holy war” against Voodoo. This should take a year or two to quell the uprising.
However, now that he had Archard's beets, the available strategies were completely different.
First of all, France is self-sufficient in sugar, which gives it confidence.
Secondly, France’s sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean only earn less than 40 million francs per year, while Britain earns as much as 140 million francs!
And if Britain loses Trinidad and the West Indies, there will be no other place to get sugar - with the exaggerated sugar consumption in the UK, the unsatisfied people can even make the government Step down!
Joseph looked at Talleyrand and said: "I don't want to send the army to Santo Domingo, but I hope you can go there."
"Huh? Me?" Talleyrand Lang was startled, "Your Highness, with all due respect, the niggas there are not in the habit of negotiating."
"That's because we gave us too few chips." Joseph smiled, "If we deal with it this way ..."
After a while, Talleyrand no longer looked anxious as before, lowered his head and said thoughtfully: "Your Highness, although your plan is very risky, it is undeniable that the benefits are also extremely amazing."
He suddenly shook his head: "However, I am not the suitable executor of this plan. With my current status, as long as I appear on the island, I will immediately attract the attention of the British."
Joseph thought for a while and agreed: "So, do you have anyone to recommend?"
"Jacques Pierre Brissot," said Talleyrand, "a fervent abolitionist, very capable, knowledgeable, and especially good at speaking."
"Brissot?" Joseph quickly remembered the name. One of the leaders of the Girondins, he once drafted a petition to depose the king. After taking power, he urged France to declare war on Britain, the Netherlands, and Spain.
Talleyrand continued: "He had been the clerk of the Duke of Orleans before, so he never had the opportunity to become an official. But as far as I know, he and the Duke of Orleans actually do not have a deep relationship."
(End of this chapter)