Chapter 257: France's Ambition
In fact, the Moroccans have long been intolerable to the French. The French came not only to eliminate pirates, but also took the opportunity to seize the Moroccan market.
In fact, Morocco not only has pirates, but also has a strong maritime merchant team. However, due to the robbery of Austrian merchant ships, they were attacked indiscriminately by the Austrian navy.
Afterwards, the French once again sent warships to cruise in the Moroccan Sea in the name of combating piracy and sank a large number of merchant ships.
At the same time, supply points and trading posts were established in its coastal areas and monopolized Morocco's foreign trade.
When Algeria fell, the new Sultan of Morocco, Abdel Rahman, knew that sooner or later the French would attack his country.
For this reason, Abd did something that no Moroccan ruler in history had done. He took the initiative to accept Algerian refugees, funded the construction of houses for them, and set aside land to provide for their livelihood.
There are many refugees in Algeria who are highly educated (junior high school diploma) and have special skills. Many of them have successfully integrated into Moroccan society, and many have even become officials.
Abd knew what the French wanted, but Morocco's strength at this time was not enough to fight France. So he pretended not to care about the behavior of the French. Not only did he strengthen trade with them, he even hired French people as instructors for his army.
But in fact, Morocco purchased a large number of weapons from France and trained an army of 40,000 people, including 8,000 cavalry alone.
At the same time, Abboud also spent money to bribe French experts, set up factories in Morocco, and manufactured weapons to secretly support the Algerians' anti-French war.
When he learned that the French supply point had been attacked, he felt that it was done by a certain tribe in his country, or by the Algerians who had fled. There were too many people in his country who had a blood feud with the French.
Abboud originally hoped to spend some money to get through, but unexpectedly the French official opened his mouth and demanded 1 million francs and 20 beauties.
The dignified Sultan of a country could only ask the other party for a few more days of grace, but at this time a letter made him murderous.
In the next week, Abboud wiped out all the French strongholds along the coast of Morocco and hunted down the French throughout the country, killing more than 800 people.
When the news reached Paris, Guizot's face turned livid and he angrily denounced Alban Roussin, the colonial secretary.
"Damn trash! First it was the Ivory Coast! Now it's Morocco! What's going on? Why did those damn barbarians suddenly become so fearless! Why did Abed, the former model chief, lead an army to rebel!"
"It wasn't him, Abd said it was pirates," Alban Rusan retorted in a low voice.
"Damn idiot! Idiot! Do you believe anything that barbarian says? Use your pig brain and don't force me to use my boots to wake you up. It's obvious that they killed people and left the responsibility to the pirates. So Those dirty bugs have been extinct for many years. How can they be so powerful to kill our great French soldiers?"
"But the Austrians were attacked by pirates not long ago and lost two merchant ships. They also specifically reminded us to pay attention to pirates."
Alban was pushed down by Guizot before he could finish his words. He was a civilized man, but recent events really made him crazy.
First, the Austrian Empire inexplicably embarked on the road of colonization, and then two young people with strong blood actually knew how to tolerate it and did not attack the British.
Just when Guizot thought that the two teenagers were going to be in trouble on the road to colonization, their colonial journey came to an abrupt end.
The matter was not over, but the successive indigenous attacks at this time made him unbelievable. First Ivory Coast, then Benin, and now even Morocco has begun to rebel.
Moreover, Morocco's military strength was much stronger than that of those indigenous countries, with an army of 40,000 people, and it was close to Algeria, which was in chaos, so he had to think carefully.
Alban, an idiot, could no longer be the colonial minister. Even if he gave more bribes, he could not make Guizot betray France.
"You must clean up the mess in Morocco, otherwise you will spend the rest of your life in prison, not to mention your position as colonial minister!"
Alban left dejectedly. At this time, Marshal Soult came in, looking radiant, and even sang "Marseillaise".
"My lord, this song is inappropriate," Guizot reminded. After all, this is the Orleans Dynasty. Although it is a constitutional monarchy, it does not mean that the king really has no rights.
"Are you happy, haha! I'm a little carried away, but it's better not to tell King Philip." Soult said.
"What makes you so happy? Miss Ophelia gave birth to your child?"
The 71-year-old Marshal Soult had a 17-year-old lover, and the French cabinet knew about it. Apart from this, Guizot couldn't think of anything that could make this half-buried old man so complacent.
"Ahem, cough, cough, Mr. Guizot, don't joke around. The love between Miss Ophelia and I is pure." Soult coughed twice seriously.
"Look at this and your scowl will disappear."
Soult handed Guizot a confidential telegram.
"This is confidential, can I see it?" Guizot asked.
"If possible, I would like to show it to everyone in France. It's so great. Long live France!" Soult said a little incoherently.
Guizot couldn't think of anything to be excited about. Could it be that Napoleon Bonaparte was resurrected?
But when he saw the content of the telegram, his eyes widened immediately, and then tears could not stop flowing out. The seven-year Carlist War finally ended, and the Spanish government army won.
When Isabelle II turned sixteen, she would marry Louis Philippe's youngest son, and then they would jointly rule Spain.
By that time, France would make the world tremble again.
Guizot's breathing became heavy unconsciously. This news was too good. All these years of hard work finally paid off.
Moreover, after the end of the Spanish Civil War, France could invest more manpower and material resources in overseas colonies. Coupled with the Spanish market and colonies, it would only take one generation for France to catch up with or even surpass Britain.
The Spanish royal family owed France a huge debt at this time. They took the opportunity to use the trade agreement to tie the former to the latter's chariot. A giant would appear in Western Europe. After that, Belgium and Portugal would be included to form a Western European customs union, which would definitely be more powerful and more domineering than the German customs union of Austria and Prussia!
After the Spanish Civil War, the troops sent to North Africa could be doubled. At that time, not to mention Morocco and Algeria, they could even send troops to Tunisia.
After taking over the entire North Africa, France would also take back what it lost in the Americas. With the influence of Spain, it is not impossible to turn the entire Americas into France's backyard.