Chapter 145 I'll Eat You, Barbary Pirates!

"North Africa?" Talleyrand seemed to have not expected the crown prince to suddenly bring this up, and was slightly stunned. "I know something about it. Your Highness, what do you want to hear?"

"Anything is fine, the more detailed the better."

Talleyrand limped along beside Joseph, and said carefully: "North Africa is roughly located on the southern coast of the Mediterranean. From west to east, there are Morocco, Algiers, Tunisia, Tripoli, Egypt and other countries.

"Ah, how do you say these places? Except for Morocco, the others may not be considered countries. According to the needs of different situations, they can change between Ottoman provinces and countries at any time..."

He suddenly realized that the crown prince should not want him to talk about these basic geographical concepts, and hurriedly changed to the perspective of the political system: "Morocco is currently under the rule of the Alaouite dynasty. However, in recent decades, rebellions have often broken out there, and court struggles have been very fierce. Their sultans often die just a few years after taking office. In short, Morocco is now very weak, and it has to rely on sending pirates to plunder merchant ships in the Mediterranean to maintain its finances..."

Talleyrand quickly glanced at the crown prince and saw that he was very interested, so he continued: "On the east side of Morocco is Algiers, which was established two hundred years ago by pirates, oh, or maybe they can be called the Ottoman Navy, anyway, it's almost the same."

"Those pirates controlled the Berbers who originally lived in Algiers, but faced huge pressure from the Spanish Navy, so they voluntarily became an Ottoman province in order to seek Ottoman support.

"After that, the Ottomans sent an elite guard there. After hundreds of years, the Ottomans have lost control of distant Algiers. The guards stationed there have become rulers. At present, the guards, pirates and locals in Algiers have formed a parliament, and they elect the governor of Algiers.

"Oh, by the way, their navy, which we think of as pirates, has great power in Algiers. Several governors there were born as pirates."

Joseph smiled and nodded: "You have explained it in detail, please continue."

"Oh, okay, Your Highness. Tunisia is adjacent to the east of Algiers, a small but very rich place, with fertile fields and abundant products almost all over the country.

"But Tunisia ended the repeated coups that lasted for nearly half a century only 20 years ago. The current Pasha there, oh, similar to the governor, is Hamud Bey.

"Due to the previous war, Tunisia has lost its former prosperity, and because Algiers participated in the previous coup in Tunisia, the relationship between the two sides is extremely bad. Algiers often plunders the Tunisian border.

"But our textiles, glass, wine and other products are very popular in Tunisia. It is our largest market in North Africa.

"Of course, Tunisia is also one of the nests of Barbary pirates. Our merchant ships are looted from time to time. The navy needs to go there frequently to clear them out.

"In fact, we are relatively good, after all, there is a powerful fleet stationed in Toulon. Merchant ships like Denmark, Sardinia and the United States are robbed more. Oh, do you know that in order to avoid being robbed by pirates, Americans have to pay millions of livres in tribute to pirates every year?"

Joseph frowned: "Why do I hear you always mention pirates?"

"Oh, yes, Your Highness." Talleyrand nodded, "The Mediterranean Sea was originally a paradise for Barbary pirates.

"They used to be part of the Ottoman navy, responsible for attacking merchant ships of Catholic countries. But later, the Ottomans were not as powerful as before, and gradually lost control of the navy. Those navies became pirates. They established strongholds in various parts of North Africa, and even directly ruled as governors-just like Algiers.

"The Barbary pirates have received formal naval training, so they are far more powerful than ordinary pirates. They cruised the Mediterranean, attacking all merchant ships, unless the country the ship was from had paid tribute to them. Every year, European countries had to spend a lot of money to redeem hostages hijacked by pirates.

"By the way, the Barbary pirates would also attack the European region north of the Mediterranean, abducting the residents there as slaves and selling them to North Africa, the Ottoman Empire or the Arab region.

"The Spanish Navy has repeatedly attacked the Barbary pirates for hundreds of years, but the pirates are rooted in North African countries - Tripoli is also one of their bases - so they can't be eliminated at all. ”

When Talleyrand repeatedly mentioned the "Barbary Pirates", Joseph suddenly remembered that the famous Barbary War would break out more than ten years later. The Americans could not stand being robbed by the Barbary Pirates, so they sent almost all of their naval forces to the Mediterranean to fight the pirates.

However, it was not until decades later that the Barbary Pirates were completely eliminated with the assistance of France. During this period, the United States spent 20% of its national fiscal revenue to pay the pirates' ransom!

Joseph's eyes suddenly lit up, and he patted Talleyrand's shoulder excitedly: "Thank you for your reminder, Dean Talleyrand! I think we should make up our minds to eliminate these scourges in the Mediterranean."

He had always been obsessed with the historical route of the Emperor's march into North Africa, that is, starting from Egypt, but at present, France's power was not enough to get involved in Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire was still strong and would definitely reinforce Egypt - Egypt was still nominally an Ottoman province.

But the Barbary Pirates provided Joseph with new ideas.

It is entirely possible to start with the Barbary pirates, attack the pirate bases in North Africa, and then turn the pirates' territory into spoils of war.

Moreover, eliminating pirates is what everyone wants, especially the Americans who have suffered greatly from them, and will definitely support it strongly. It is estimated that the Spanish will also contribute.

In this case, if the British want to interfere, first of all, they will not find an excuse. They can't say "I oppose the elimination of the Barbary pirates", right? Secondly, they will offend the United States and Spain. If the factor of France and Russia joining forces to deal with the Ottomans is taken into account, Russia will definitely support France's actions in the Mediterranean.

If Britain really insists on going its own way, maybe it can even come up with an "anti-British alliance" or something like that, which would be a big profit.

France's North African strategy gradually took shape on the field path outside the Petit Trianon Palace.

Talleyrand was very puzzled and said, "Your Highness, the Barbary pirates are powerful. It will cost a lot of money to wipe them out. Given France's current financial situation, I'm afraid..."

Joseph smiled and shook his head, "No, Dean Talleyrand, this time we will only make money by fighting the pirates, and it won't cost too much."

He stopped and looked at Talleyrand, "Perhaps you are willing to accept a diplomatic position."