Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

As for the other major countries on the European Continent, they likely will not react too strongly to France's deployment of troops to Tripoli.

Austria is getting beaten to a pulp in Silesia and is pleading for France to send reinforcements.

Spain is a relative of ours, after all, and we have a secret agreement with them to recapture Gibraltar and then unify the Iberian Peninsula. At most we give them some benefits, and they will certainly keep out of it.

Russia, even more so, is hoping France will send troops to Tripoli since the 12,000 soldiers stationed there are part of the Ottoman Imperial Guard. If Russia wants to control the Black Sea, they must utterly crush the Ottoman Empire. If France can eliminate more Ottoman forces in North Africa, then Russia will have fewer enemies to deal with on the battlefield in the future.

Moreover, the most frequent routes of the Gemini Trading Company are in the Mediterranean, so if France gains control of another trade port there, Russia will also reap more benefits.

In Poland, a national awakening is rife, with the elite giving speeches in the streets every day, organizing public marches, causing quite a stir, and they simply have no time to deal with other countries' affairs.

The only great power that would oppose France's assault on Tripoli is Prussia. But as for the Prussian navy... let's not even go there; they hardly have a navy to speak of, so even if they had objections, what could they do? Besides, the conflict in the Southern Netherlands has already begun, and if worst comes to worst, we could just send more troops and see if my uncle dares to burst Prussia's bubble in Silesia!

Other smaller countries, like Sardinia, Denmark, Bavaria, and the like, who would dare to meddle in France's affairs?

So, this time, Tripoli is as good as ours, Joseph!

Come to think of it, we should thank the British. If it wasn't for their meddling in the background, encouraging Ben Guerir to attack Tunisia, we wouldn't have found such a solid reason to deploy troops.

In fact, at this point in time, Tripoli in the eyes of the various European countries is basically a desolate land with a population of just under 700,000. Although its territory is only slightly smaller than Tunisia[注1], neither its output nor its port locations are impressive, with only a few habitable cities like the City of Tripoli and Zavia, and the port of Tripoli holding some value.

However, Joseph is very clear that Tripoli will be an important passage to Egypt. Without Tripoli, the idea of excavating the Suez Canal in Egypt would be an unrealistic fantasy—the opening of the Suez Canal would halve the maritime trade route between the Far East and Europe. It can be said that whoever controls the Suez Canal will control the economic lifeline of Europe.

In this context, the British would definitely go all out to prevent France from acquiring the canal. Before we can shake the British's dominant position at sea, we can only rely on the land supply through Tripoli to gain a foothold in Egypt.

Joseph must take advantage of the favorable international situation he has created at the moment and take swift control of Tripoli. Once other nations react, it will be too late for them to intervene.

Bertier looked at the Crown Prince in shock, and it was a while before he spoke,

"Your Highness, a large part of our forces is tied up in the Southern Netherlands and Silesia. If we rashly attack Tripoli and the Ottoman Empire reacts violently..."

No matter what you say, Tripoli is nominally still a province of the Ottoman Empire, and his concern is not unfounded.

Joseph said indifferently, "Selim III is mainly focused on pushing through reforms domestically and will not waste resources for the distant Tripoli City. Should the Ottomans send a large number of troops from their homeland, the Russians will immediately gleefully take the opportunity to swoop in and swallow up all their territories along the coast of the Black Sea.

"And even if the Ottomans truly decide to fight, we have sufficient forces."

Bertier was taken aback, and hesitantly said, "Your Highness, forgive me for speaking frankly, but our forces are perhaps..."

Joseph smiled, "If I'm not mistaken, the war in the Southern Netherlands and Algiers will end by the end of the year, and we'll be able to divert over 60,000 troops to Tripoli."

...

October 25, 1789.

Paris.

The rain was pouring down heavily, occasionally punctuated by flashes of lightning that made the whole sky look gloomy.

Several inconspicuous black carriages were parked in the Versailles Palace Square. The door of the leading carriage was pushed open, and a footman shrunk his neck as he stepped out, placing the steps in front of the carriage door and hurriedly opened an umbrella.

The British Foreign Minister, the Marquess of Wellesley, bent over as he got out of the carriage and looked towards the entrance of the Palace of Versailles. He didn't see anyone coming to greet him, only a few guards at the door watching coldly from their post.

Wellesley's face was even darker than the storm clouds above. Just this morning, he had received a confidential letter from the Governor of India, Cornwallis.
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The letter stated that the Maratha Confederacy was demanding 250,000 British Pounds in military funds, as well as 20 cannons and 15,000 flintlock guns, in order to continue sending troops to support Carnatic.

Hyderabad was making an exorbitant demand, asking Britain to return the Kondavidu region and, after defeating Mysore, to be given possession of Nelluru in Carnatic.

Cornwallis had already, on behalf of the East India Company, agreed to the Marathas' demands. As for Hyderabad, he could only say he would wait for the board to make a decision in an attempt to stall for time.

Wellesley took a deep breath of the chilly air. He couldn't understand why Hyderabad, which had allied with Mysore decades ago, would suddenly cause such a hindrance, though that was somewhat excusable. However, the Marathas had long sided with Britain, so why would they also suddenly make things difficult?

What he didn't know was that the French Consul in Mysore, Salah, had secretly made contact with the Marathas a few months earlier.

Salah remembered that His Highness the Crown Prince once said that Indians feel aggrieved if they don't gain an advantage in everything. Thus, he and Mysore's representative Shah made extravagant promises to the Marathas, even suggesting they would give a part of North Karnataka to the Marathas, as well as offering 200,000 British Pounds as a bribe in exchange for their support of Mysore.

The Marathas then turned around and used this as a benchmark to make their demands to the British.

As for Hyderabad, they raised their demands by thirty percent over the bribe given by Salah to negotiate with Britain.

Wellesley knew that the East India Company had no choice but to agree to their demands—without the assistance of the Indian princely states, the British troops alone, laboring thousands of miles to fight Mysore, would eventually be worn down.

Grinding his teeth, he stepped into the puddles on the ground and led a few diplomats towards the entrance of the Palace of Versailles.

Whether it was the heavy rain or the servant's failure to hold the umbrella properly, by the time Wellesley finally faced Talleyrand, bringing him great irritation, one side of his clothing was completely soaked through, with water droplets dripping from his sleeve, which made him look extremely disheveled.

[Note 1]At the end of the 18th century, Tripoli had a more significant population only along its narrow coastal strip; the inland southern areas were almost uninhabited. Moreover, Benghazi and regions further east were also not part of Tripoli at that time. Thus, it wasn't nearly as large as Libya is in the 21st century.