I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 338: Bride Price and Dowry (Please Read)
Ambavira Palace, Mysore.

This was originally the palace of Maharaja, the ruler of the Mysore Kingdom, but now most of it has been "expropriated" by Tipu Sultan.

In a spacious and cool hall on the west side of the palace, Tipu Sultan could not hide his excitement and grabbed Sheikh Khan: "Are you saying that France wants to marry a princess to Mysore?"

According to the arrangement of Salah, the second French consul in Mysore, he did not come directly to Tipu to tell the matter, but let Sheikh Khan tell Tipu. This would make Sheikh Khan the de facto promoter of the marriage between France and Mysore, greatly improving his political status and facilitating his future cooperation in overthrowing the pro-British Jahanzeb.

"Indeed, great Sultan." Sheikh Khan sat up straight and stroked his chest, "And she is a princess who believes in Islam!"

Tipu Sultan was stunned when he heard this. He was quite familiar with European countries. France was considered the pillar of Catholicism in Europe. How could a princess who believed in Islam appear in the royal family?
Sheikh Khan saw his confusion and quickly repeated Salah's original words: "Your Majesty, the French consul said that this princess is from Tunisia, her name is Amira Slihi, she is 15 years old, beautiful and intelligent..."

"Tunisia?" Tipu Sultan blinked, then he remembered the news not long ago - Tunisia has been incorporated into France, "How can a Tunisian be a princess?"

Sheikh Khan continued to explain using Salah's words: "Your Majesty, although Tunisia has merged with France, it still belongs to a kingdom. Princess Amira's brother is the 'Bey' of Tunisia. Oh, now he is called the Duke of Tunisia."

Tipu Sultan could not help but nod slightly. He knew that this situation was very common in Europe. For example, in the Holy Roman Empire, their states had a common Holy Roman Emperor, but the states below also had their own Grand Dukes, whose children and sisters were also princesses.

However, even though she was a princess from Tunisia, he was very satisfied because she was a princess of a French state. Looking at the kingdoms of the entire peninsula, no one could marry a European power.

This will greatly increase Mysore's reputation and make it the first-class kingdom on the peninsula!

"The princess is 15?" he thought. "Prince Pratibha is 17, so let them..."

Sheikh Khan, however, had a smug smile on his face and interrupted him rudely: "Your Majesty, the French consul means that Princess Amira is going to marry His Highness Nawaz."

Tipu Sultan’s eyes instantly widened because Nawaz was his son!

Although Tipu is now the ruler of Mysore, he actually has a Maharaja above him, who is the supreme ruler of Mysore. Tipu's father, Haider, was originally an officer of Mysore. After completely controlling the army 30 years ago, he sidelined the king of the Wadiya family and took control of the real power of Mysore.

The Wadia family became a giant in India's food industry in the 21st century. They also manipulated legal provisions in their cooperation with the French Danone Group, sued Danone, and eventually killed Danone for $24 billion...

At present, the nominal ruler of Mysore is still the Wadia family, so Tipu has always believed that France wants to marry the Wadia family.

But I didn't expect that the French would choose me!
This meant that the French government considered itself the ruler of Mysore, at least in the future.

With the support of France, he would be able to completely throw the Wadia family into the garbage dump!

He looked at Sheikh Khan excitedly and was about to agree, but suddenly remembered that the French asked him to deal with Britain, and he suddenly became a little depressed.

Although he hated the British, he was reluctant to provoke them because they were powerful and had the support of the Marathas and Hyderabad. Sheikh Khan saw his hesitation and threw out the "cake" given by Salah: "The French Consul also said that Princess Amira's dowry was a cannon factory with at least 30 technicians and a full set of production equipment."

Tipu Sultan's breathing suddenly became rapid.

This is not a cannon, but a cannon factory!

He had been learning cannon-making from Europe, and even spent a lot of money to hire European craftsmen, and was able to make some cannons. However, the quality and power of those cannons were far inferior to the original ones bought from Europe.

There are two main reasons for this.

One is that Mysore learned from Osman, but the latter himself was a half-baked person and his artillery technology lagged behind Europe for many years. If he taught it to Mysore, he would have to give a discount.

The second reason is that cannon casting is a systematic project. You can't just get a blueprint and a few craftsmen to make a good cannon. From the most basic processing tools, such as rulers and pliers, to advanced processing equipment, such as boring machines and drills, Mysore is far behind. Don't underestimate a pair of pliers. Without a solid foundation in handicrafts, you can't make a qualified one.

Therefore, up to now, the cannons that Mysore relies on most are still the dozen or so cannons smuggled from Europe, and there are nearly a hundred cannons processed by itself, with a total of no more than 120 cannons.

Although these guns were powerful enough in the Indian Peninsula, they were still far from enough when facing the British.

Now the French have directly provided a complete set of production equipment, plus dozens of skilled technicians. From now on, Tipu Sultan only needs to invest money to obtain cannons in an endless supply!
He has ten times more soldiers than the British. If he has enough cannons, he may be able to defeat the British!
Of course, Joseph still had a way out for himself. Although Mysore got the artillery factory, it still had to rely on France for both raw materials and spare parts.

Even the most basic gunpowder was not something that Indians could easily make - without the fine chemical industry, the power of gunpowder would be at least 10% or 20% lower.

Moreover, arming Mysore would not harm France, after all, this was the British sphere of influence. Given the political environment in India - numerous small states, sharp religious and ethnic conflicts, and the caste system - there was no need to worry that Mysore would unify the peninsula and form a powerful empire.

Tipu Sultan immediately stopped hesitating and stood up and said to Sheikh Khan, "Invite the French consul to the Ambawila Palace tomorrow. I want to discuss the marriage with him."

He remembered something and ordered, "You can tell the consul that I am willing to pay 50 pounds as a betrothal gift."

Of course, the betrothal gifts he mentioned are not exactly the same as those in East Asia, but they are generally the money paid to marry a wife.

Joseph never expected that in order to instigate Mysore to fight against the British, he would actually gain a huge profit of more than 1200 million livres out of thin air.

But this is enough to show how prosperous the Indian peninsula was at that time.

And how much profit did Britain, which controlled the India-Europe trade, reap from it?

(End of this chapter)