Chapter 512: 425: The Great Development of Tunisia

Chapter 512: Chapter 425: The Great Development of Tunisia

At the moment when Camellia felt so nervous that she didn’t know what to do, Perna, who had been hiding at the end of the corridor and peeping, saw the incredibly beautiful girl run out of the Crown Prince’s bedroom and then return to her own room. It was quite some time before she was able to finally take a long breath of relief.

She didn’t know why she was doing this, but ever since that girl named Camellia appeared, an inexplicable sense of crisis had emerged in her heart.

Especially since, as a personal physician, she hadn’t shared a carriage ride with His Highness the Crown Prince for a long time—His Highness often worked in the carriage, and Mr. Eman said that it would affect His Highness. Yet on the journey from Vienna, Camellia had been in His Highness’s carriage all along.

Turning around to lean her back against the wall, Perna shook her head silently; no, she shouldn’t entertain any other thoughts. But in the next moment, the handsome visage of the Crown Prince dominated her mind.

“Perhaps I should be braver,” she murmured, “or else His Highness might be…”

Startled by her own words, she suddenly jerked, hurriedly lowered her head, and scurried back to her room, praying silently, “God, please guide me!”

...

The next day, Joseph unexpectedly found that Doctor Perna seemed to be incessantly finding excuses to linger around him.

After he coughed a few times, she even insisted on confirming whether his pneumonia had recurred, and stayed in his carriage.

The carriage became somewhat crowded. Eventually, Eman, with no other choice, alighted from the carriage and rode on horseback beside the Crown Prince’s carriage.

Inside the carriage, Joseph started to get busy with reports on Tunisian immigration policy. The two girls exchanged polite greetings and then fell silent, each bowing their heads.

In this awkward atmosphere, Perna felt so embarrassed she could carve a replica of the Palace of Versailles with her toes, yet she stubbornly stayed put, occasionally stealing glances at the Crown Prince’s charming deportment while he attended to his official duties.

This way, with the accompaniment of the two young ladies, Joseph finally reached Paris without any “accidents” occurring.

Perna, in the end, did not muster up the “courage.” And Camellia still hadn’t found the “knack.”

Joseph, well-cared-for, energetically took Camellia to Petit Trianon Palace to report to his mother.

Queen Mary, holding the granddaughter of Madame Delvaux, cried as though her tears were a brook before announcing her intention to appoint Camellia as her third attendant.

However, Countess Debreninac immediately cautioned prudently that with Miss Delvaux’s background, it was unsuitable for her to serve as an attendant to Her Majesty the Queen.

In the end, Queen Mary had to adhere to court protocol and made Camellia her maidservant so that she could stay by her side[Note 1].

When Joseph emerged from his mother’s place, he saw Brian waiting for him at the door of his bedchamber.

The latter came up to him from a distance, greeted him, and said, “Your Highness, congratulations on the series of important diplomatic achievements attained in Vienna. Our alliance with Austria has been further strengthened.”

“It’s all thanks to God’s blessing,” Joseph made the sign of the cross proficiently, then gestured for the Chief Minister to come inside, “Do you have urgent matters? Oh, please sit and talk.”

Brian nodded hurriedly and said:

“Yes, Your Highness. It’s about Tunisia. The ‘Tunisian Trade and Construction Plan’ you previously enacted has started to be implemented, but due to certain tribal actions, we have encountered some difficulties.”

Joseph frowned slightly upon hearing this. After Moro and Ney had defended Tamire, Sherelle’s Legion completely drove the Moroccan Army back into Algiers territory, greatly improving the security environment in Tunisia.

Then, under government propaganda, France began a second wave of major development in Tunisia, with tens of thousands of commercial and agricultural immigrants flocking to Tunisia, indicating a surge in economic activity.

Therefore, Joseph made preparations in advance, issuing decrees to abolish local tariffs and tolls among different regions in Tunisia, lower commercial taxes, and begin infrastructure projects such as broadening roads and laying wooden railway tracks.

In the political landscape of Tunisia, tribal forces dominated the villages and towns. There had been issues before with tribes refusing to pay taxes, which Joseph resolved using the “Palace of Versailles” model. Now, were they causing trouble again?

He looked at Brian and said, “Please tell me the details.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Brian nodded, “The main issue is that the large tribes do not allow certain foreign goods to enter their villages and towns.

“At the same time, almost all tribes are still charging exorbitant ‘security fees’ on the roads they control.

“In addition, they often extort merchants and the farmers who went there to till the land.”

He looked troubled: “You know, Tunisia’s army is insufficient and can only be stationed near major cities. For these tribes that are far away, we basically have no power over them. Even if we send troops to intimidate them, they will comply with the laws only when the army is present. As soon as the troops leave, they immediately revert to their old ways.”

Joseph’s expression also turned serious.

Let alone 18th-century North Africa, even in the 21st century, many countries’ governments have difficulty effectively managing local powers.

Especially with tribes, which are held together by kinship relations, it’s even harder for external forces to intervene.

Tribes in Tunisia, which have been dealing with taxation since the Phoenician era, were somewhat accepting of it, but now that they’re being asked not to charge fees at will and to allow the free circulation of goods, they started to resist.

Joseph had originally planned to use Tunisia as a pilot for local tax reforms before promoting them in France. He hadn’t expected to encounter such strong resistance.

Brian cautiously said, “Your Highness, do you think we should first implement the laws in major cities and wait until the Tunisians are accustomed to them before expanding the scope?”

Joseph immediately shook his head. He was counting on the profits from Tunisia to feed back into France’s finances. Going this slow, it could take ten to eight years before the policies were fully implemented.

Moreover, this would let the Tunisian tribes realize that the government couldn’t handle them, and future new laws would still face various obstacles.

He fell into deep thought; fundamentally, the reason local powers did not submit to government control was due to transportation and communication.

When roads are poor, tribes have little contact with the outside world, inevitably creating their “little worlds.” More interaction with the outside world and the formation of mutual interests could lead them to integrate into the nation.

This required rapidly improving roads, but constructing infrastructure across Tunisia wasn’t something that could be done overnight.

Another option was to significantly increase the number of troops or police to supervise and intimidate the tribes constantly with the threat of force, preventing them from defying the laws.

But this required the expenditure of a vast amount of funds. Maintaining an army of over a hundred thousand in Tunisia might solve the problem, but the taxes would also be largely consumed by military expenses.

At this thought, Joseph suddenly paused; wait, to intimidate the tribes with the military, it wasn’t necessary to station troops near the tribes…

[Note 1]: A queen’s lady-in-waiting is considered a court position, usually filled by nobles of higher status and close relationship with the queen, who can join the queen for walks, games, and other activities. A maid is simply a servant, the kind who would only stand at the doorway.