Make France Great Again-Chapter 870 - 861: Far East President
"Minister Luyis, please have a seat!"
Jerome Bonaparte invited Minister De Luyiss to sit across from him.
De Luyiss sat down and asked what instructions Jerome Bonaparte had.
"The diplomatic documents from the Far East, I suppose you have read them!" Jerome Bonaparte spoke leisurely to De Luyiss.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" De Luyiss answered briefly.
"I would like to hear your opinion?" Jerome Bonaparte asked De Luyiss again.
After a moment of silence, De Luyiss replied to Jerome Bonaparte: "Your Majesty, I believe the French Empire should end its transactions with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as soon as possible!"
"What is the reason for your judgment?" Jerome Bonaparte asked De Luyiss. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"Your Majesty!" De Luyiss explained word by word: "In terms of the interests of the French Empire, a colonial kingdom is far easier to control than a local emerging power.
Especially for a colonial dynasty in its final stages, whose purpose of existence is to prolong its rule.
To extend their rule, they are willing to communicate and negotiate with any country or power that can maintain their rule, agreeing to all their conditions.
However, a new emerging local power simply cannot do this; they will try every means to break free from the shackles.
Once they break free, all our interests in the Far East might suffer losses.
Moreover, based on the current content of the documents, there are also significant issues within this rebel government. Their ministers control the army and the government, while their king controls the religious beliefs of the entire force.
If the two sides start killing each other, then the rebel government will suffer heavy blows and even risk disintegration!
So I do not suggest the French Empire expend its efforts on a government that is destined not to obey and is highly likely to disintegrate!"
Jerome Bonaparte quietly listened to De Luyiss’s speech, and after De Luyiss finished, Jerome Bonaparte said to him: "Is that all your reasons?"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" De Luyiss replied to Jerome Bonaparte, and then with an unwavering tone, he added, "Your Majesty, I am certain! The rebel government cannot give us what we want!"
"Minister De Luyiss, you are not wrong!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded in acknowledgment to De Luyiss, then changed the subject, saying: "However, you seem to have forgotten one thing!"
"What thing?" De Luyiss asked curiously to Jerome Bonaparte.
"A powerful emerging dynasty indeed does not align with the interests of the French Empire, but it also does not align with the interests of the Kingdom of Britain!" Jerome Bonaparte said with a smile to De Luyiss.
De Luyiss was stunned for a few seconds, then immediately understood Jerome Bonaparte’s meaning, "Your Majesty, do you mean that the emerging dynasty might threaten the interests of the Kingdom of Britain?"
"Exactly!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded to De Luyiss, "I have studied that place, and all the dynasties there share one characteristic.
That is, for several decades after its founding, the rulers of each dynasty will choose to expand externally.
And the direction of their expansion is nothing more than towards the south or towards the west.
Once they choose to expand southward, then it is inevitable to engage in conflict with Britain."
"Your Majesty, their army might find it difficult to defeat Britain!" De Luyiss whispered a reminder.
"They might not win now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t win later!" Jerome Bonaparte responded to De Luyiss with a calm expression, "Besides, how many troops can Britain really commit to the Far East? Ten thousand, twenty thousand, or thirty thousand? For a country with a population of three hundred million, that’s just a drop in the ocean.
As long as they can achieve a result like in Afghanistan (where ten thousand British troops were completely wiped out), then they need not fear any threat from Britain.
Unless Britain mobilizes the national strength to launch a grand expedition, they will face enormous economic pressure.
Because the supplies in the Far East are destined to be inadequate for long-term military consumption, and if their soldiers can mobilize like we did during the Great Revolution (referring to 1793), then Britain’s mobilization is destined to fail."
"But it’s hard for them to be like us back then!" De Luyiss whispered to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Indeed! Letting them be like us, let me put it another way!
If their army could just be like the Ottoman Empire, then the British Expeditionary Force would inevitably suffer great damage!" Jerome Bonaparte said with certainty to De Luyiss, "An emerging dynasty, no matter how bad, could not be worse than the Ottoman Empire, right!"
De Luyiss nodded in agreement with Jerome Bonaparte’s statement, and then continued: "Your Majesty, what about our interests in the Far East?"
"I ask you, if a rising dynasty wants to rise and wants to industrialize like us, do they need money?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Minister De Luyss.
"Of course they need it!" Minister De Luyss answered without hesitation.
"Since they need money, and we happen to have money, can’t we just lend it to them?" Jerome Bonaparte said to Minister De Luyss in a lighthearted tone, "They can use this money to buy our old equipment and hire our engineers, while we can use this money to replace our machines with new ones.
This way, we still gain profit!
And concerning the military, if they want to have self-defense capabilities, they must surely model themselves after us to establish a strong army!
And throughout Europe, is there a country more powerful than our French Empire? Thus, in the end, they will only choose our French Empire’s weapons and people, and we can make a lot of money.
... In terms of the navy, if they want to strengthen their national defense autonomy, they must also buy warships!
We only need to show more sincerity (bribery), and they will choose to buy our warships."
"But... can they really realize this?" Minister De Luyss questioned Jerome Bonaparte with a slight hint of doubt.
"Falling behind means getting beaten! This is an unchanging truth throughout history. They are not fools! They naturally know this truth, so change is inevitable. It’s just that the current ruling government is a colonial one, similar to how Britain is in India, so they try hard to limit their subordinates’ military.
They want to prevent them from resisting, and dealing with some illegal resistance among the populace is also done through consistent massacre," Jerome Bonaparte explained to Minister De Luyss. "A normal dynasty would not be like this!
They would be more open than a colonial regime towards foreign affairs!
Not fearing the large Han population living on the broad lands over there, and their development will be faster than the Ottoman Empire.
Practically somewhere between Ossman and Russia.
If a grand-sized Ottoman Empire appeared that Britain found hard to use a large army against, yet threatened Britain’s interests in India, wouldn’t the Kingdom of Britain always be on guard against them?
Originally, a Russian Empire was enough to give Britain a headache!
If there’s an additional small-sized Russia, will Britain have the energy to manage European affairs?"
"Indeed, it will be very difficult to interfere in European affairs further!" Minister De Luyss replied to Jerome Bonaparte.
The importance of India to the Kingdom of Britain ranks before Europe; if anything happens in India, who knows how many British citizens might face bankruptcy.
"At that moment, couldn’t we easily integrate Europe, gathering the whole of Europe under the banner of France!" Jerome Bonaparte said persuasively (buoyantly) to Minister De Luyss: "Remember that France has always been a land-based country, and seeking overseas interests is not our foremost priority.
If one day we break with Britain, then all our overseas interests would be lost in an instant like before.
Therefore, the integration of all Europe is the most important thing we should strive for!
Once we can bring all of Europe under our banner, then the colonies victory over the Kingdom of Britain will be ours!"
Minister De Luyss felt a surge of passionate enthusiasm at this time.
Even though he knew that the realization of Jerome Bonaparte’s words was highly improbable, he was willing to work for this slim hope.
"I understand!" Minister De Luyss nodded solemnly to Jerome Bonaparte, "I will order the ambassador to France to adjust the diplomatic direction as soon as possible!"
"Mm!" Jerome Bonaparte showed a satisfied smile, convincing Minister De Luyss was truly no easy task.
"Your Majesty, I have a question I want to ask you!" Minister De Luyss said again to Jerome Bonaparte.
"What question? Speak!" Jerome Bonaparte asked.
"Your knowledge of the Eastern Empire, where on earth did you learn it from?" Minister De Luyss looked at Jerome Bonaparte with curiosity.
After pondering for a moment, Jerome Bonaparte said to Minister De Luyss: "I once met a sage from the Eastern Empire, and I received this information from him."
"I see!" Minister De Luyss nodded to Jerome Bonaparte in response, though in his heart he did not believe a word of Jerome Bonaparte’s explanation.
Since the Emperor himself didn’t want to tell the truth, Minister De Luyss could only assume it was God’s doing.
After Minister De Luyss left, Jerome Bonaparte heaved a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and muttered to himself: "Finally managed to fool him!"
