Chapter 730: French-Turkish Trade Agreement

Chapter 731: Franco-Turkish Trade Agreement

The streets of Constantiniya were empty, and all residents followed the requirements, holding candles and taking to the streets to participate in the celebration.

Just a week ago, the Ottoman army defeated the Eastern Corps of the Mamluks in Tours, Egypt, and won a great victory.

The two supreme rulers of the Mamluks, Murad and Ibrahim, hurriedly sent envoys to apologize to Selim III.

Selim III's luxurious carriage drove out of the Topkapi Palace, surrounded by more than a dozen gorgeously dressed imperial guards, and went to the Blue Mosque for a series of celebration ceremonies.

On the carriage, Stelle, the general manager of the French East Mediterranean Trade Company, took a handful of dates shipped from Medina from the Sultan, bowed and said in Arabic:

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward!"

This is a product of the Holy Land, which is a very high reward.

The reason why Stelle was able to have this honor is because the new army of Topiz played an extremely important role in this battle.

And the previous training of the new army was arranged by Stelle.

Outside the car, there were cheerful drums and bagpipes, interspersed with the "bang" of fireworks exploding from time to time.

Styler continued: "Your Majesty, I wonder when Mustafa Pasha will launch his next offensive? Oh, you know, I have to prepare the necessary supplies for the army in advance."

More than one-third of the Ottoman army's logistics supplies this time were provided by the East Mediterranean Trading Company. The price was 30% cheaper than what the Guards raised themselves.

"You are very responsible, but the war is over." Selim III shook his head calmly and glanced at the Grand Vizier beside him.

Melka Mohammed hurriedly said: "Mr. Styler, Murad Bey has taken Karamanli and other officers who arbitrarily fought against the Sultan's army to Constantinie for trial. The merciful Sultan has decided to forgive the Mamluks.

"Of course, Hassan Pasha's authority in Egypt has been strengthened, and the Mamluk nobles will also pay more taxes to the empire to show their loyalty. "

Hassan is the governor sent by the Ottomans to Egypt.

Styler did not seem surprised when he heard this, but he sighed in his heart that the prediction of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was indeed correct.

Yes, Joseph had told Selim III when he sent troops to Egypt that the Ottomans could not completely defeat the Mamluks and could only stop when they saw the good.

It was not that he was so good at predicting things, but that he judged based on the historical records of the battles between the Mamluks and Napoleon that the fighting power of the Mamluks was definitely not weak.

This was also the reason why he dared to let Talleyrand instigate Selim III to deal with the Mamluks - the Ottoman army, with the Janissary Guards as the main force, could not bite the Mamluks. And the number of the new army was too small to decide the outcome of the battle.

The actual situation of the battle was indeed like this.

In the Battle of Tours, Mustafa defeated the Egyptians. 10,000 infantry plus 4,000 cavalry, but the total strength of the Mamluks is about 30,000 infantry and more than 20,000 cavalry, which did not hurt the foundation.

The Ottoman army also lost two and a half Janissary Corps, as well as a large number of cavalry and Balkan soldiers, totaling 7,000 to 8,000 people.

If the Ottomans continue to fight, after the new army of Topizius is consumed in large quantities, they may even be pushed back by the Mamluks.

And the current result is exactly what Joseph wants.

In this era, Egypt, or more precisely, the Suez Canal, which has not yet been opened, will be the fulcrum for prying the whole of Europe!

Whoever controls Suez can dominate the trade between Europe and Asia.

That is a trade volume of hundreds of millions or even billions of francs per year!

Historically, under the advice of Talleyrand, Emperor Napoleon also deeply understood Realizing the importance of Suez, he decided to send troops to Egypt.

However, his strategic planning was too rough.

The act of directly conquering Egypt made both the Mamluks and the Ottomans feel a huge threat, causing the two forces that had always been at odds with each other to immediately choose to join forces.

In the end, although Napoleon won a beautiful victory in the Battle of the Pyramids, he was still unable to completely control the situation in Egypt. In addition, the French Mediterranean Fleet was attacked by the British, so Napoleon could only leave the army in Egypt and sneak back to Paris in a small boat.

Therefore, in order to avoid similar situations, Joseph spared no effort to help the Ottomans train new troops, enhance the confidence of Selim III, and detonate the conflict between the Ottomans and the Mamluks in advance.

In this way, when necessary, France can mediate

At least, after this war, the possibility of the Ottomans and Mamluks joining forces again is very low.

Of course, if the strategic concept of Egypt is to be realized, there is a basic premise that the French Navy can stop the British fleet outside the Mediterranean.

Otherwise, even if the Suez Canal is repaired, it will be a gift to the British.

After the steam warship began to serve, France has initially acquired this capability.

Then the planning on the Egyptian side must keep up.

Melka Mohammed glanced at the Sultan who was opening the car window and throwing money to the people on the roadside, and said to Styler:

"Mr. Styler, the new Topizian army performed very well this time, so His Majesty hopes that your country can train more new troops for our country."

In fact, Spain, Austria, and even Russia have helped the Ottomans train new troops before, but the model is basically to send instructors to the Ottomans and select a group of new recruits for training.

This model can be regarded as a modified version of the Janissaries at most.

This time, Joseph directly took Topiz's new army to the French military camp in Tunisia for training. After completely getting rid of the Ottoman environment, he trained a truly new army.

Obviously, Selim III was very satisfied with the results of this training.

According to the combat effectiveness shown by Topiz in Tours this time, he estimated that as long as there were 5,000 new troops, they could effectively suppress the more than 100,000 Janissary Guards in Constantinia.

The Guards class was the biggest obstacle for him to promote Ottoman reforms.

The empire's revival of glory will start from here!

Stair smiled and nodded: "I am happy to serve Your Majesty. However, you know that training so many soldiers is a very time-consuming and laborious task, and it may even affect the training of our army."

The Grand Vizier immediately said: "Please rest assured that Your Majesty will pay enough to your country."

"Ah, you misunderstood." Stair said, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that he could train new troops for His Majesty the Sultan for free."

"What does Your Highness want?"

"Your Highness hopes to strengthen trade between France and Turkey. For example, a new trade agreement."

Seeing that Selim III was just throwing money out of the window, Stair added:

"As long as the types of goods allowed to enter can be increased, your country can set a satisfactory tariff rate. At the same time, the French market will also be open to your country."

Joseph knew that in the worst case, most of France's maritime trade would be blocked by Britain. At that time, the Mediterranean would be France's trade lifeline.

The Ottoman Empire is the richest country on the Mediterranean coast except France, and the market here will be vital to France.