I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 574: The Troublemaker Reaching Out to North America
"You may be too pessimistic." Lord Grenville comforted the old man with a smile, "We are not without gain.

“More than three months on from the start of the programme, the cost of producing the goods in French factories must be in excess of £50. This falls short of our original target but is still a blow to their industrial competitiveness.

“In addition, after this incident, France will inevitably resent Austria and Italy, and dividing them is exactly our strategic direction.

“You’ve done a great job.”

The Duke of Leeds was originally prepared to accept the punishment, but he did not expect Grenville to be able to "explain" it like this. He immediately looked at him and asked, "Do you really think so?"

"I swear," the British Foreign Secretary smiled. "In fact, that's what I wrote in my report to Parliament."

He was well aware that victory or defeat was inevitable in the strategic struggle between major powers, and that one must not complain about one's own incompetence because of a failure, thereby affecting morale.

"You are so full of wisdom! Thank you so much."

"It's nothing." Grenville smiled and waved his hand, adding, "But we must also seize this opportunity to continue to strike at French industry."

"what do you mean?"

"Mr. Hope's plan is just a trick after all. If you want to defeat a huge industrial system like France, you must start from the raw materials and market at the national level."

Grenville opened the car door for the Duke of Leeds, leaned forward to let him in, and then sat down opposite him: "I brought back some good news from Russia this time.

"For example, the Russian empress agreed to exchange interests in the Balkan Peninsula and threatened to send troops to intervene in the situation in Silesia in order to force Austria and Prussia to cease fire."

The Duke of Leeds said excitedly: "This is indeed good news!"

Grenville nodded: "But we must convince Prussia to send more than 8 troops to cooperate with Russia in attacking Poland, and at the same time ensure that Austria does not object to this action."

He raised his hand and made a downward gesture: "Let's get back to trade.

"I have signed additional trade agreements with Russia, which will expand the import of raw materials from Russia. In addition, my country has also obtained authorization to mine coal and iron in the southern part of Donbass, and the conditions are exactly the same as those of France."

His two sentences may seem insignificant, but in fact they achieved considerable diplomatic gains.

For example, in the Russian-British trade, the previous tsars had always been wary of Russia's high dependence on the British market, and thus constantly sought alternative markets, such as France, and tried to reduce exports to Britain.

However, in order to promote the war against Poland, Catherine, contrary to her usual practice, agreed to expand exports to Britain.

You know, in terms of purchasing power, French companies are not yet rivals of Britain. The increase in British imports will inevitably reduce France's source of raw materials - Russia's exports are basically industrial raw materials.

As for Donbas, if Britain can successfully develop large-scale coal and iron mines there, it will be able to divide the current largest Russian-French cooperation project and even squeeze out French companies there through vicious competition.

Grenville continued: “So we are now turning our attention to another major source of raw materials in France.”

The Duke of Leeds groaned and said, "You mean, America?"

"Yes." The Foreign Minister nodded, "So, I hope you can go to Philadelphia."

The Duke of Leeds frowned slightly: "But, France and the United States are very 'intimate' at the moment, I'm afraid it will be difficult..." "As long as we are willing to give up some interests, we can do it." Grenville said with a relaxed look, "For example, the Indians."

The Duke of Leeds was a little surprised: "The parliament agreed?"

"Yes, His Majesty signed it last week."

After the United States gained independence, Britain has been secretly funding the Indian tribes in North America in retaliation for the Americans who drove them away.

Over the years, Indians dressed in British fabrics and carrying Brown Bess muskets fought against invading American pioneer groups in the mountains and wilderness, posing a considerable obstacle to the westward expansion of the United States.

Some Indians even fled to areas controlled by Britain after being defeated. In addition to Canada, the British still had many scattered strongholds in North America, which were not gradually occupied by Americans until the 19s.

If Britain gave up its support for the Indians at this time, the United States would be able to gain a large amount of territory in a short period of time.

It is definitely a huge benefit at the strategic level!

The Duke of Leeds was delighted: "The Americans have always been eager for our market. If I can give their parliament a reason to accept us, I am confident that I can convince them to give up the French!"

As a former British colony, the United States' commodity production was originally planned according to British demand. It was only because of the War of Independence that it turned to France.

If the previous level of trade with the UK could be restored, it would undoubtedly be more beneficial to the United States.

Grenville had no intention of stopping: "While you are negotiating with the Americans, you can take some time to go to Saint-Domingue to carry out activities.

"You may have heard that there are fierce disputes between the abolitionists and the slaveholders. Those "Second Order" people are leading the black slaves to riot in order to get the right to vote.

“Of course, the French still have strong control there, but if the second-order people get weapons and funds, with the huge number of blacks, it will definitely cause a headache for the French government.

"Even, drive the French out of there."

Saint-Domingue, later known as Haiti, is located in the Caribbean region in the southeastern United States and is currently one of France's most important colonies.

Sugarcane is abundant here, and it is the world's largest single sugarcane producing area besides Brazil and the British West Indies. French plantation owners bought a large number of black slaves to grow sugarcane here, contributing 3 to 4 million francs of sugarcane trade income to France every year.

However, it was precisely because of the cruel exploitation and abuse of black slaves by the plantation owners that the black slaves rebelled fiercely.

After more than a hundred years of colonization, a large number of white and black mixed-race descendants were born in Saint-Domingo, the so-called "second-class people" - people here are divided into three classes: white people are the first class, mixed-race people are the second class, and free blacks are the third class. As for black slaves, sorry, they do not belong to the category of people.

There are currently 3 white people in Haiti, more than 50 black slaves, and tens of thousands of mixed-race people and free blacks.

Under the influence of the European abolitionist movement, and also in order to gain more political rights, the mixed-race class began to promote the abolitionist movement and demanded that black slaves be granted citizenship.

The white plantation owners carried out a bloody suppression. However, as time went on, the second and third orders became more and more powerful, and Saint-Domingue was on the eve of the storm.

Historically, at the end of August this year, the blacks of Saint-Domingue launched the largest uprising and ended the French rule two years later.

(End of this chapter)